To Those We Owe (Drumming) Allegiance

Some geniuses I'd just like to share.
I'm not sure how many of you are into drumming or are familiar with well-known forefathers of drumming, but I wanted to post/introduce you all to some.

Meet Weckl, Calaiuta and Gadd.

They are fantastic. Let me know what you think. Similarly, another good musician to look into is JoJo Mayer.

Frank Zappa influenced Italian rapper.

Here's a pretty interesting guy.

From what I've gathered, most of his work is this weird and musical. Lot's of unusual combinations to bring into his rap. It often works well, and it's often very interesting. The only thing I wish is having the ability to understand what's being said.

Good Ol' Boy

Ray LaMontagne. If you're not listening to him already, you should be. He's a relatively new musician who seems to have found his knack on the first try. This soft-spoken yet gravely singer hits folk and country with a blues influence that is really fantastic to listen to. Not to mention, his lyrics leave you wanting for those "good ol' days".

Enjoy.

Hey Me, Hey Mama-Ray LaMontagne.
Beg, Steal or Borrow-Ray LaMontagne.
Trouble-Ray LaMontagne.

The Long, Cold Dark

While I think that music should always be creatively structured, compositionally coherent and even intricate I've never assumed those expectations translated to a need to be pleasant. The bias toward slow, perceptible melodies, instrumental softness and filler-esque percussive repetition is one that ignores that rhythm is a product of sound and pattern recognition. Its about the way your sounds are used, not their level of clarity, accessibility and conformity to what soothes your ears. The "do I like this" consideration is ultimately secondary to whether and how it works.

I point this out because that's the question you need to ask yourself to see the appeal of the next mixtape. Somewhere between the gaudy loudness of Rhythmic Noise, the structural/instrumental versatility of IDM and an ambient that's internalized Industrial's melodically schizophrenic lessons is something of a musical sweet spot that captures not only music as rhythm, but music as effect. It's evocative not just for what it requires to like, but for the mood that attentiveness to contrasts between conventionally defined "beauty" and harshness can produce. But only in concert.

By themselves, Power Noise and Industrial are weakened by an excessive attentiveness to their gimmicks. It's so concerned with being hard and loud that it's ignored any requirement to be interesting. It's a genre that works better as a supplement and an influence than as a pursued standard, which is why my preferred forms of the music are informed by the lessons of other genres. It's music that revels in dichotomy, but maintains an icy caliginosity that's thematically integral to almost every song. Enjoy.

Or not.

The Long, Cold Dark: 

 01. Gridlock - Song23

 02. S:Cage - Glass

 03. Pneumatic Detach - Sona (Remix by O2)
 04. Stendeck - Steal Flowers To Make Drugs

 05. Architect  - Speed OJ

 06. Ginormous - The Sound of Love Impermanent

 07. Ahnst Anders - Phonique

 08. Sielwolf - Beweglich Animalisch

 09. Displacer - Lost Mission (S:Cage Remix

 10. :10: - Pathogen

 11. Schwester Seziert - 54TR

 12. Converter - Gateway Rite

Pokey LaFarge

Toe-tappin' good ol' timey listenin'.
Pokey LaFarge-La La Blues
Go pick up this album. Seriously.

Waters of March

I can't understate Jobin's influence. He effectively created bossa nova.

Waters of March.

Offered Without Much Comment

Suntoucher-Groove Armada.

Nothing I want to say other than that I think this piece is incredibly well-produced and deserves a post.
Its textures are fantastic and it's well-layered.

Also, this is much better than pretty much ALL other Groove Armada.

The Devolution of Music Writing

Over the past several weeks, I've been told what particular artists writers like and how what they like makes them feel. I've been told what bands and DJ's are getting "mad respect", "pushing the envelop" and "innovating" for x genre. I've been told what's been exploding in specific, regionally focused scenes. I've been told what's popular and what isn't. I've been told what their (eerily similar) "best albums of 2011" are and which of these I should buy. I've indulged various top 10 lists which find songs, albums or artists that conform to their pithily named subject. I've been given insights about what the Biggest Artists of the year think about when they make a song and what they're like interviews. I've been given windows into upcoming albums from yesteryear's Big Artists - each dripping with breathless anticipation. I've even been given tour dates for hot, new talent and listings for what clubs or shows are upcoming in numerous areas. 

In essence, I've been shown the how of music, the when of music and the where of music. I've been exposed to music as feeling and music as mood. I've been showered with the establishment of music as a social construct and a regional/cultural encapsulation. I've been encumbered by music as style, as technology, as fashion - all of this by various magazines, e-zines, websites and blogs. What hasn't happened - and what I had hoped my unusual consumption of music-related media would do - is clarify why those who are writing about music are primarily the ones doing this. 

Because if music is as they paint it; if music is inseparably tied to genuinely popular, important or interesting things; if music is simply the codification and expression of trends and preferences that they report on, then the inspiration for their existence isn't premised on music itself, but rather on the social and cultural trends that music can act as an embodiment of. To accept that view is to accept that music is essential to the expression of fashionable and interesting social currents but not, in itself worthy of being essentialized. As such, I find myself returning to a question so basic that the ambiguity of the answer is almost inherently damning. What, exactly, is the function of music writing to music writers? 

Beyond the presence of scores, their "reviews" serve as a means to document impressions instead of reflecting on and critically viewing a specific work. In most cases, there's only the scarcest acknowledgment of craftsmanship and far, far more attention paid to "impact" - both on the listener and the "scene/genre" (a metric always reached by assessing critical and popular consensus). This isn't to say that such approaches are automatically invalid: indeed, they can be useful for contextualizing your opinions or the music itself. But shouldn't we be troubled by the ubiquity of writing about music without describing, understanding, explaining, analyzing and disassembling the music itself? 

They don't write like people tasked with thinking through and analyzing the music. They don't write like they have a view that requires justification or elaboration. They don't speak to me like I've heard the album and have my own opinion of it. They don't speak to me like I'm interested in the history of the music or capable of grasping the technique and comprehending individual flourishes. They speak to me like I'm a consumer. Someone to be marketed to, appealed to, pleased and flattered.

When you look at the club/underground sensitivity of sites like Resident Advisor, or the  dishonest perceptional consciousness of sites like Pitchfork or the brochure-style presentation of sites like Mixmag, you don't get the impression that they're sites that write about music so much as they're sites that exist to shape and "represent" the various subcultures that music is peripheral to. They're weather vanes that gain their prominence from identifying what "hipster/underground/clubber/gangsta/rocker/emo/goth/indie" looks like and and then embodying it for consumption with the feigned authenticity that each sect recognizes. It's not music as music, it's music as fashion: where the only thing that measures what's "good" coincides with what appeals to the niche your music magazine is trying to represent. And I can live with that, to a point. But if they see themselves as advertisers, sponsors and publicists they're being contemptibly dishonest by failing to clearly say so.

There's a line between criticism and scene promotion that's mutually exclusive by its very nature and a failure to observe it invites a culture of bad analytical and writing practices that are otherwise avoidable. It's inarguable that pieces like this are almost completely distinguishable from advertisement. And it's just as inarguable that a publication that's invested in the energy, prominence and mood of a particular "scene" has a vested interest in making sure that nothing fundamental to the scene is criticized. If your paycheck hinges on, say, boosting dubstep as an important musical genre, you may criticize specific dubstep artists, but you're never going to say that what makes those artists bad is endemic to dubstep's dance/club-centered musical expectations and conventions - even if that were true. It's a massive conflict of interest inherent to music journalism and it's one that rewards publications for finding, funding and boosting the New Thing and being the site/magazine that represents it. But by tying their resources into social trends, they put themselves on a leash that limits the extent of what they can say or do.

The tonal and conceptual similarities between a lot of the sites is a stylistic and substantive limitation that's the natural consequence of that conflict. When promotion is their intent, then top 10 articles and attempts to stay "current" while writing interviews or gossipy articles about "Why x artist is hot!" are perfect for packing sites with content without actually being forced to say anything reflective. The problem isn't necessarily that this is sleazy and dishonest - though it's both - it's that it's inhibiting. Unless you belong to the scenes in question (and even if you do), all you're learning is what they think is popular, where to go to listen to what they think is popular, and whether you're cool enough to agree with it's popularity. In the absence of a "why" as any justification for musical interest, all you're left with are the peripheral, aesthetically schizophrenic trappings that flash/image sites bring you. All you're left with are the what, where and how. All you're left with are the things that take you to what they want you to spend money on. And because they always want you to spend money, they're always restructuring the pantheon of "acceptable" and "new" and finding the most marketable things to stuff into it.

Music deserves a better class of writers. And listeners deserve a more expansive range of description. The deprivation of a thorough attempt to put language to song, and to put thought behind what critics favor handicaps our ability to process and understand the music. It's impossible to identify talent and skill if music is thoughtlessly reduced to impressions and gimmick-awed emotional reactions - and that's the point. If you're capable of saying "that's wrong" to a music review, they lose the basis for their power and they lose the promotional value of influence. 

Language is what makes it possible to reproduce and identify specific concepts, and this brand of music writing subsists on selling albums by appealing to the familiar and inarguable; to the emotional and the non-musical. Because they know - as I do - that if they provided a means of discussing and describing music, their claims would be disagreeable on grounds that are subject to reason. But by making the discussion of music about everything but the music, they forfend any requirement to justify their biases/investments and most importantly, they forfend any requirement to demand musical progression. To enrich themselves, they must cheapen an art. To succeed, they have to neuter our ability to contest them. I'll be more willing to respect them when I can discern a difference between music reviewing sites and billboards - or at least a willingness to acknowledge that no such difference exists. 

Beatles esque pop music that isn't bad.

Here it is.

Bryan Scary and the Shredding tears is the name of the band, mostly obscure. It has the obviously Beatles pop sound to it in the vocals and beats, but at least manages to be entertaining and enjoyable.

And the song is about the fate of the Venus Ambassador, so it's of importance!

The Self Evident Truth of an Intuitive Mind

This is not only one of the best titles used on this blog; it's the title of one of my favorite DnB albums. T Power's non-Chocolate Spaghetti magnum opus is a testament to an intra-genre progressiveness that the genre is disappointingly contented with avoiding. Unlike many of the genre's offerings, it's layered, rhythmically intricate, impressively programmed and most importantly: there isn't an Amen Break in sight. Every track is an exploration of the sound's potential without being confined by its traditions. And it just so happens that I can embed it:
   
Kneel to the internet.

Going Where They Want You To Go

The Cinematic Orchestra - Panoramica - Piero Umiliani (The Cinematic Orchestra Remix)

Of all the artists I've favored, The Cinematic Orchestra is perhaps the most formulaic; a quality that's as much a function of their vision as it is a tool of their musical expression. For musicians and listeners alike, jazz is frequently viewed as an expanse; something that can shift as wildly as an artists skill and style can allow - often within the same song. It's never been clear to me that The Cinematic Orchestra disagrees: only that they have a vested interest in structurally seeming like they disagree. The compositional feint their style rests on makes a foundation out of melodically prominent repetition, and while that never acts as the substance of their music, it's often the basis for what their music becomes.

It's a style encompassed by letting form and structure guide musical progression. The constant, often unchanged application of a compositional refrain isn't fairly viewed as a gimmick or a flaw: it's a path. And one they deviate from with a pristine, calculated delicacy that makes their constant divergences almost unnoticeable. It's music with a wordlessly narrative quality that seems to gradually depict something intangible rather than simply being a forum to flaunt apparent skill.

So Much With So Little

Aes Dana - Perimeters 

The song's instrumentally sedated qualities shouldn't deafen you to its quality. It's a contemplative and self-conscious track that uses minimalism to mask what's more correctly described as understatement. The clinical and frigid composition that the isolated percussive effects and the forlorn soundscapes invoke function as a means to mask its subtle progression and punctuate the atmosphere that gives the song its coherence. It's a deep track that marks its depth through the way its patience brings impact to notes that make its melodic qualities clearer. It's easily the best song from one of the most skillfully crafted albums I've heard all year. Both Perimeters as a track and as an album set a high standard for what downtempo Psychill sounds like when it's done properly.

Norway Is A Strange Country

Mungolian Jet Set - Jet Setter

I'm not sure what it is with these artists. Xploding Plastix, Jaga Jazzist, Farmer's Market and to a lesser extent Bugge Wesseltoft don't really approach jazz like normal artists or talented fanboys; they approach it like radicals. Each of them managing to consistently alter and deconstruct Jazz's instrumental and structural expectations while expanding its instrumental scope. Even Jet Setter is a song that's only superficially related to the Miles Davis-era Cool Jazz that supposedly inspired it. It's crisper, more deliberate and more precise than much of the skillful but compositionally discordant improvisation that characterizes the era. 

There's a lot to be said for its invocation of Cool Jazz as a standard to draw inspiration from, because I see Mungolian Jet Set's and Wesseltoft's style (at their best anyway) as a denser, more polished extension of that era's best stuff. Which simply leads me to ask: where do these people come from? Why does the quality-tiering of nu-jazz seem to overwhelmingly skew toward Norwegian artists?

The Annual 'Woe Is Detroit' Fest

Here's Resident Advisor's contribution to the ever-increasing popularity of Detroit-as-poverty-porn: 

I don't want my description to dismiss this documentary's virtues. It's sharply edited, the photography is stunning and the interviews are engaging - if sparsely elaborated. There should be more documentaries about Detroit that benefit from the production quality and editing standard that RA has effectively established. Regardless of any ensuing criticism, nothing about this documentary is inherently discrediting and we're better with flawed documentaries about the subject than none at all. To the extent that I have ought with the presentation is to the extent that I find their portrayal of Detroit dishonest. To the extent that I forgive that is to the extent that I find their dishonesty unintentional.

It's true, Detroit has severe structural problems: enormous amounts of the population are migrating away from the city, many of the people who actually spend the most time there don't reside in the city limits, manufacturing has vanished along with the population - leaving scores of empty buildings - and the class make-up is overwhelmingly impoverished. But to make a documentary that emphasizes those elements as defining reeks of a gratuity that sees Detroit's flaws as arresting photographic gimmicks instead of components to a more nuanced picture (that - surprise, surprise - includes the existence of middle and upper classes). Their exclusion is partially explicable as foreign eyes caricaturing and simplifying dynamics that being native or at least invested in a country/city would add some dimension to. But that topical exclusion is more grounded in an intellectual judgment that suffers from a willingness to embrace easy narratives which coincide with already existing assumptions and stereotypes. 

Black people are poor. Black cities are poor. Black youth need help. Having black electronic artists means that black youth have an outlet for escaping poverty. Those of us in more comfortable positions can sit back and nod sympathetically as the pictures lull us into thinking that we understand their plight before torrenting the albums with the songs we liked from the documentary. But the internal narrative of the video is contradicted by the history of the very music it's is intended to cover. Belleville, Michigan - the acknowledged origin of Detroit techno - isn't some kind of ghetto city, and Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson weren't poor kids that found Roland TR-909's by digging through suburban trashcans and going on to create a whole genre by themselves. Painting the rich history of Detroit music as yet another incident of gems managing to exist in dirt (though there's some of that) is a tiresome trajectory that completely misses the substance of what Detroit techno is informed by: the presence and subsequent decline of the black middle class that nearly all of the first and second wave of Detroit artists belong to. 

The afro-centric futurism, the Underground Resistance-style black radicalism and the escapist-ridden need to embrace and encapsulate the aesthetics of a society that doesn't exist through subtle invocations of black empowerment is a black middle class artistic tradition that predates their own contributions by several decades. You simply can't understand their music by looking at its origins and going "Oh, Detroit's poor, so everything that comes from it is a result of poverty". The mono-generational accumulation of black wealth faced with the impending promise of its loss is what gave birth to it to begin with. That's an entirely different thing with entirely different implications. I find it odd to see intra-black class dynamics and how they influenced the societal alienation/futurism Detroit techno embraced go almost entirely unmentioned in favor of the "Detroit is just poor" narrative. But let's assume that the picture they paint is true. Let's assume that "Woe Is Detroit" is a warranted refrain and let's assume that Detroit's distinction as a sad city with nothing but the irrevocably poor is true. 

What do they plan on doing about it? 

Everyone knows that Electrifying Mojo was integral to giving a bunch of kids who would have never heard anything outside of Motown a more international musical experience. Everyone knows that radio is a cheap and accessible form of entertainment. Why hasn't Resident Advisor proposed making a Detroit office in addition to their Berlin and London offices that's dedicated to igniting and popularizing Detroit music, from Detroit, to Detroit? I mean, if this is not poverty porn, if they truly care about paying respect to the Place That Started It All, if they really, really want to honor electronic music's origins, wouldn't it be nice if they desired to reignite or at least fund and market a positive intra-city influence similar to this:

We were blessed. The guy who really laid the blueprint for Detroit Techno, you know him many times he's been mentioned - in fact a woman in France, Jacqueline Caux did a movie about this guy. His name was Electrifying Mojo. Mojo was a Vietnam war veteran, he was a radio man in Vietnam, he did DJing for the troops, and that's where he learned all the different types of music from around the world, and when he got back from Vietnam, he brought that to Detroit, that perspective, so we got to hear progressive rock up next to Falco, Euro synth pop. Of course he introduced Kraftwerk, which for Detroit was huge, he introduced Prince, George Clinton, all these great synth artists that used synthesizers for bass lines and stuff. 'Flashlight' was first played, I'm sure, in Detroit, because Mojo would break the records for the artists. He broke Juan [Atkins'] early records, Juan's early Model 500, Cybotron stuff. We were really blessed with that wide perspective. I thought it was happening all over the country, because Mojo was so huge, but of course it wasn't, it was only happening in Detroit. So I think he really opened up the ears, and the inspiration, and the minds of young Detroit kids, and I think that's where the whole concept for Detroit techno came from, from Mojo.

We listened to music that I guess in other places would be considered geeky music, or dorky, or whatever. I think personally, and I never got to say this in the interview that I did for the movie for him, I think he ended gang warfare in Detroit with one band. A lot of guys will know what I'm talking about. That summer, the gang warfare was at a height, and Mojo would get on the radio and ask for peace, pray for peace, and then drop the B52s, man. 'Rock Lobster'. You know it. Truthfully, you can't be too much of a tough guy while doing the rock lobster. The whole vibe of being mean.

The gang thing was deep in 78 and 79, it had to be early 80s when he dropped that, that shit ended it. It was the B52s and cocaine, because once cocaine came, a lot of the gangs started selling the drugs. But the B52s had a huge influence, I don't why, but cats wouldn't fight off that record. You know, when you play Funkadelic, that's fighting music, 'Flashlight' was a fighting song, 'One Nation Under a Groove' was a skating song, but B52s had a calming effect.

It's easy to flaunt our "realistic" bona fides and observe that something like that will never happen, but I'm reminded of the Mad Mike segment quoted in a previous post bemoaning Europe's near-exclusive interest in consuming and taking the music with no interest in popularizing it or supporting it external to their regionally narrow consumption. This strikes me as another contribution to that approach. It takes inspiration from Detroit, it takes clout and authenticity from its artists European-centric popularity, it takes aesthetic poignancy from its visuals. By portraying Detroit as an empty, dead city with nothing to offer but a few poor guys willing to endure its mediocrity to make good music it even takes Detroit's dignity. What is it giving back? 

Proof I Don't Hate All European Techno

Adam Beyer - Ignition Key

See? My distaste for European techno is neither pathological, constant or unfair. Even glorified club songs can be done reasonably well, as evidenced above.

Music From People Who Dislike Their Own Music

This is Ciarin Walsh in 1997: 

This is the same artist three years later: 

Instead of looking at both of these clips as drastically different songs, you'd understand the shift that took Deviant Electronics from Brainwashing Is Child's Play to Blunt Instruments if you view them as the same compositional concept attempted by two different kinds of artists. In the first, a catchy bass-driven dub/psytrance song is pursued with a predictable structural linearity that the artist seems reluctant to play with beyond the gradual removal and return of its more integral instrumental touches. Indeed, Oystadub is musically distinguished by its concept overtaking the artists ability and desire to play with a conventionally catchy - if well executed - hook. The artist that did Suspense Hypothesis is not similarly encumbered. 

The Ciarin Walsh of 2000 not only has a more confident and varied approach to his playstyle, he's internalized the lessons and influences of other genres. You don't just hear an underexplored dub-inspired bassline acting as a catalyst for the instrumental fluttering inherent to psytrance; you hear an IDM/DnB percussive hybrid adding layers to a more creative and transitional expression of psytrance and ambient expectations. An artist that was limited to rigid adherence to a musical concept became an artist for whom the concept is his to flexibly and manipulate. The skillful execution of his transitions, the seamless integration of genres and the astute improvisation with his instrumental choices don't just indicate a superior degree of capability; rather, it implies that the development of his skill is a consequence of his ability to individualize his play style in a way that simultaneously incorporates what he can do and what he listens to. I wouldn't be surprised if the Ciarin Walsh of 2000 matured as a consequence of developing a more varied range of quality music.

Stacey Pullen Presents Kosmic Messenger - The Collected Works of Kosmic Messenger

Kosmic Messenger - Soundscape (Intricate Mix)

The album I found this track from is basically going to be one of my most difficult-to-find contributions to the internet. If the labeling feels off, that's largely due to Elypsia ruining the track listing on the sleeve. I tried to get it as right as my research could allow, but there may still be discrepencies. My sharing this with you isn't necessarily an endorsement of the album so much as it's giving you what I've received: a chance to actually have a fair and decent quality opinion on Stacey Pullen's collective non-Silent Phase/live DJing output. Enjoy (or not): 

Stacey Pullen Presents Kosmic Messenger - The Collected Works of Kosmic Messenger

Triple Six, Five, Forked Tongue

I didn't get a chance to say much about this in my last post, but Ex Military from Death Grips is one of the best albums I've heard all year, and certainly the best rap album. It's genuinely good music that flaunts its antagonistic apathy to being likable. Beyond the skillful production, beyond the confident delivery, beyond the incoherent morbidity of the lyrics, there's an aggression to the vocals that brutally threatens and dares the listener to continue. It's the tonal distinction of the album, and it characterizes itself through harshly percussive and bass-driven beats accompanied by a rapper that breathes hostility. It's difficult to like, and it's clearly not trying to be liked, but there's a compositional attentiveness that belies its posture. That, if nothing else, warrants respect.

Feigning Musical Diversity

The New Yorker - always a valuable bellwether for what's in vogue with New York-driven cosmopolitan thought - adds fuel to the New Millennium trend of well off white people suddenly discovering that rap exists. Under normal circumstances, I'd gladly call this a good thing and I welcome their introduction to the early 90's, but this trend comes with a rather pretentious and tedious condescension that's evolved from quaint-but-hilarious to insufferable. 

It would be one thing if they admitted that their introduction to the genre was an introduction. It'd be nice if they embraced rap with the humility of people getting engaged with something they probably haven't given much attention to and probably don't know well enough to comment on. I'd even like it if they were open to a little intra-genre exploration and made an attempt to semi-retroactively give a little attention to underground/old school rappers and freestylers or the culture that informs their prominence. But the Hipster-induction to the community of rap listeners has to come with a series of artists just for them, and needless to say, they're all better than the lazy, normal rap you (and Those People) like. You can tell because all of them are described as edgy artists taking rap in unprecedented directions. 

But really, there's no need to shy away from what this is. It's a pretty homogeneous sect of usually-indie/post-rock/shoegaze listening suburbanites padding their playlists with honorary black faces and pretending their inclusion was because the artists and the genre has done something more or different to earn their hallowed attention. And since we're in the age where this demographic is most capable of exerting cultural dominance, that attention has transformed into a canonical truth that makes reality instead of reflects it. While the Odd Future's, Shabazz Palace's, Death Grips (with one qualification in the comments section) Lil B's and - to a lesser extent - Kanye's and Lil Wayne's of the world greatly benefit from this (just like Eminem benefited from being more ethnically and culturally relatable to a media clamoring for gateway material), rap as a culturally ingrained genre in the tradition of folk offshoots like Celtic and Country suffers from the glib ignorance of their formulation. And that's the point.

The new pantheon of artists included in the "Acceptable Rapper" category aren't necessarily chosen to subvert rap. They're chosen because - Lil Wayne and Kanye notwithstanding (and even those exclusions aren't clear-cut) - they shift, deflect and detach themselves from the qualities typically associated with rapping and rappers. No obscure references to gang-related activities, no stark or straightforward depictions of ghetto/hood life, no afro-centric politicization or moralizing, little real instrumental frugality, and lyrics that conform to semi-juvenile (read: acceptable) definitions of "catchy", "witty" and "edgy". It's not favored because it's substantively different from artists who've previously provided good material in the genre. It's favored because it's safe. It's different enough to be different to the newly enchanted while being sufficiently detached from minority experiences and stereotypes about rap to be deemed likable and even new. With this new set of rap, a slew of people with rather monolithic tastes can now enjoy the wonder of having the musical equivalent of a black best friend. 

Except people will actually believe that this precludes them from unfortunate biases. 

This isn't necessarily a judgment of the artists themselves. I like some of their work, have varied opinions of them and tend to think that they don't have a creative or moral requirement to be representatives of x culture. My issue is almost exclusively with the typically electronic/indie reviewers at Pitchfork-style media outlets and newly christened rap fans who think that their sudden exposure to new genre of music makes their opinions on it definitive and informed. There's an almost insultingly arrogant undercurrent to "This is the evolution of rap"-style remarks that doesn't just stand as a commentary on the artists they like, but as an automatic rejection of the artists they don't (regardless of whether they've listened to them). In some cases and some genres, this has a degree of justification. This isn't one of them. I'm willing to accept that in certain, limited circumstances my critique is inapplicable, but it's strange looking at, say, Odd Future's borderline all-white fanbase and hearing "This is the evolution of rap" comments from well dressed white teenagers. In a perfect world, this would be an innocuous - if beautifully ignorant - sentiment. In the world we actually live in, it's quite telling and more astute people should be irked by what it says.

Upbeat classic Jazz for all.

Here's an always moving and always impressive feat of Jazz mastery. And it's a classic! Art Blakey does good.

Black Sun...In A White World

Dead Can Dance - Black Sun

Characteristic to Brendan Perry's Dead Can Dance work, this song deftly walks the balance between using narrative to enhance the music and using music to enhance the narrative by doing both at once. I often bemoan the undue emphasis lyrics receive in music and how good lyrics - which are products of good writing - are mistakenly viewed as musical quality. But this song manages to capture a vocalist and musician's ability to give narrative force to a conceptual abstraction. While I'm not willing to deem that a distinctly musical quality, I'd gladly concede that it's an impressive artistic one.

At its pith, Black Sun is as eloquent and three dimensional a reflection of death as you'll find. At once accusatory and resigned, despairing and triumphant; it manages to capture the essence of the subject with a subtlety and exactitude that's both stunning and evocative. But what brings the song its quality isn't the strength of its writing, it's the inseparability of the elements. The mood of the song and the starkness of its imagery doesn't exist without the lyrics. The lyrics have no life and resonance with the vocals. The narrative depicted by the lyrics and the vocals have lesser force without the instruments. The instruments have no purpose without the vocals/lyrics acting in concert. It's a song crafted to perfectly play to its advantages and it's fully self-aware of the expressive qualities inherent to song and word. Excellent work from an excellent group. You would be remiss to ignore it.

Today In Songs That Should Be Three Minutes Longer

Claude Young - Reborn: You wouldn't think that a song with a bass-driven backdrop, electro-African percussion, maracas, constant cymbal-clashes and permeating synth/soundscapes would actually qualify as atmospheric - almost ambient - music. Which only demonstrates how successfully ambient artists have misled listeners into thinking that atmosphere is a product of instrumental and compositional austerity. The steady build-up and the gradually frantic nature of the percussive structure acts as a musical counterfactual that goes out of its way to prove that atmosphere can be as readily evoked by compositional progression. It's an excellent song, even if I wish it were longer, it's difficult to see how the elements that stand out to me would be built on without needless repetition. Reborn gets the Q seal of approval.

Riow Arai - Inter: This. Song. Is. Awesome. I dare you to find as much awesome packed into less time. Inter starts off by entirely dismissing the concept of a "beginning" and just throws you into a fast-paced, layered and multifaceted, breakbeat orgasm. It's basically the musical equivalent of someone punching you with cement and then waiting for you to praise them after watching their arm fall off. Even still, I'd like to have seen whether more content could be added. In addition to sounding like nothing else on the album it's from, it basically gives you the taste of potential without giving you enough satisfaction to be fulfilled by it. My reaction to the song whenever it randomly comes up is "That's it?". It's a fair question. But no matter. Inter gets the Q seal of approval. 

Speedy J - Fill 4: Fill 4 is the only song in this post that feels genuinely incomplete to me. This sounds more like a contemplative intro to a moving and instrumentally rich piece than a standalone, self-contained ditty. The slow formation of the melody is finely crafted and almost beautiful, in its way, but it's a concept that feels prematurely aborted rather than wholly or even partially developed. That does little to diminish my fondness for the piece, though. It has a forlorn and imaginative quality, and its minimal length does nothing to tarnish its tangibly atmospheric tone. Fill 4 gets the Q seal of approval. 

That is all.

A Little Welcome Back Bombast

Reutoff - Eating The Dust

In the off-chance that I'm not the only one who likes this song, I'll just note that what little I can find from Reutoff sounds nothing like this. This song is basically what zombies rising from Stalin's gulags and taking over the world after a nuclear holocaust sounds like. Reutoff itself is apparently more interested in the musical trend of lying to listeners by saying that background noise combined with sound effects qualifies as music. Might as well just celebrate those rare instances where lightning strikes true.

The Missing Link

On another blog, in another time, a question that still carries a degree of weight was posed:

I purposefully didn't mentioned anything above on the Space Afrocentrism, the Aztec cultural references or the political content of some of the older Detroit releases. It needs a lot of space to talk about that. Also, racial discrimination is something I hate and try to avoid at all costs. But I will lay my shields down for a bit and ask: isn't it strange that most if not all of the 1988-1995 Detroit artists were Afroamerican or Hispanic (they were not called that way back then...), when most if not all today's neo-Detroit heroes are white?

Yes.

And if one is to map the various ways techno has changed over the past decade and a half, you're closer to finding out why with that observation than you would be by simply noting that a lot of the music sounds differently now. No music is created in a vacuum. It's at once an expression of creativity and taste. As such, musicians are as much defined by what they listen to, like, and are influenced by as they are by their level of skill and compositional imagination. An entire genre of music was created by marrying the instrumental and technological components of Kraftwerk to the stylistic underpinnings of Parliament. The significance of ethno-cultural divergences becomes clearer when you realize that the ability to reproduce the style diminishes if it's taken up by people who don't know what Parliament sounds like. 

I'm not going to call the emerging crop of "neo-Detroit heroes" posers, wannabes or whatever; just as I'm not going to call their boosters "sell-outs" or "liars". As Juan Atkins said after he bemoaned the R&B system, techno never came with a series of strictly heeded rules that measure its authenticity and I think it was wise to maintain that stylistic posture. But the looming constant with a good portion of "neo-Detroit" techno artists is that they were more influenced by the sound of Detroit techno than the style. When people who weren't informed by the Motown musical context processed the music, they didn't hear the callbacks to funk and soul. They heard the latent futurism, the pervasive synths, the robotically distorted vocals, the artificial bass and drum loops, the electronic chords, etc and tailored their sound with those qualities as a foundation for dub-centered influences. And that's fine. 

People will inevitably play what they know and can't be expected to mimic and mine what they don't. But there's a dynamic here that I don't find entirely explicable by saying "Well, techno is Euro-centric now so its influences are Euro-centric". Like Nightlight's formulation, it's too passive, too indirect and it makes a portrait of substantive dominance seem like it was reached unconsciously and at random. There's an appeal to thinking that. One that lets you maintain positive assumptions about people, deals and companies you don't know the inner workings of; but on its face, there are two problems. The first is that it's deceptively convenient, and the second is that it doesn't make any sense. Buying that premise requires buying that a thriving genre of American, regionally inspired, ethnically centered music just stopped developing and being developed once its reach expanded beyond one American city. Mad Mike has another theory: 

Techno & House struggle today because in the late 80′s when the U.K. discovered it? Many brothers believed that this “discovery” would help them in the US markets they were having some moderate “underground” success in. They believed that with The U.K. and Europe’s support this would give them the same promotional budgets Rap artists were getting here from Major labels in the states and that they would be able to “Make it Big” and eventually be signed to a major record label. Due to well documented historical reasons me and Jeff were skeptical.
Unfortunately what they didn’t know was that European Record Companies not only lacked the interest but they also lacked the muscle and experience to compete in the urban US market. So consequently companies who for a few thousand dollars would license the music with “WORLD RIGHTS” chose to not even try selling into our communities and still don’t to this day.
Instead they repackaged the shit and sold hundreds of thousands of records into the U.K. & Europe only! An easy sell market we had already established! Totally neglecting the states! Of course the artists and DJ’s were financially benefited by increased demands for their performances across Europe and some as individuals have done well. But the dream of electrifying the inner city with hi-tech, sci-fi thoughts and dreams was negated and we haven’t recovered since.
There has never been any attempt by any of Detroits European licensors over the whole 20 year period to secure ANY radio time from a major station here in Detroit! Not even for Ritchie Hawtin!
I have often been accused of being difficult with European Record Companies as being racist or not liking white people. The truth is I would simply ask for something that would give back to our community from these people. A simple reciporical deal … something like for small companies a donation to a local charity or something. Maybe for a bigger company I would ask for US distribution and promotion of this music in urban communities and college radio. Some made the donations but all too often I would be faced with a common European question: “Those people don’t listen to Techno Music they only listen to Rap don’t they?” It was and is still one of the most difficult aspects of making this music. It’s as if we are smart enough to make this music but too fucking dumb to listen to it.
Hip Hop never abandoned its original audience. It spoke to the hood first and it stays in the hood and expanded outward later which is beautiful! Detroit Techno and Chicago House never had time to root themselves as deeply into all the US cities. They were diverted to Europe at the height of their inner city influence. I can distinctly remember on Jeff Mills “WJLB Wizard Show” all three of those musics existed side by side. A style still carried on by Detroits mixshow jocks and Cabaret DJ’s to this day.
Many other factors also contributed. Booking agencies had a big hand in the transformation of this music! As more and more of our most talented PRODUCERS left Detroit to DJ abroad for the big money being offered. Less and less records were being produced. More and more was being learned about how to produce the sounds, beats and rhythms of techno first hand as many naive and friendly producers displayed their craft at clubs, studios and magazines to future competition that would soon coin them “Old School” or collaborate with them in hopes of jump starting their own careers. Booking Agency’s with no concern for these producers record labels musical output or their employee’s often booked these guys one year in advance! Leaving them “zero” time to produce music and more time for the world to catch up and study Detroit. Very few other than Jeff Mills, Ritchie Hawtin and Carl Craig have demonstrated the discipline for such schedules! And I know all three of those guys and they run the show … not the agents!
And to be fair you can’t just blame the agencies there was a tremendous lack of insight on behalf of a lot of the producers and artists for allowing themselves to be manipulated this way. For me its especially painful to see people who are Sonic Pioneers reduced to mere entertainers and now struggling to survive waiting for some agent to send them a check when they used to write their own!
The lesson is: Detroit and Urban America’s loss was the world’s gain.

Dumb business decisions will always be the fault of the people who make them. But let's not insult the intelligence of record labels - who saw an opportunity and successfully capitalized on it - by implying that their success was unintentional. We're in a world where wide swaths of America can hear the term "Detroit techno" and reasonably go "huh?"; we're in a world where techno is predominately defined as European club/minimal music and where its niche is sufficiently small and foreign enough to forget-to-the-point-of-losing its once-obvious American associations and origins. To paint this as anything but a success from the standpoint of those who talent-spotted and eventually co-opted Detroit's music and artists is an understatement that borders on dishonesty. Techno's international origins are founded on something that was not-quite-but-bordering-thievery, and given the ignorance or apathy of the people who played along with that, I'm willing to say fair's fair and call that "fine". People jumped into a fire they didn't know was hot and should have known better, etc, etc. But can we have just a little bit of honesty here? 

The gradual transformation of techno from what it was into what it is isn't an expansion or exploration of the sound, it's not an evolution or polishing of the genre: it's whitewashing. It's taking a genre steeped in a rich musical heritage and wringing that heritage until all that's left is the sponge. If techno's international origins are a product of pseudo-theft, then its adaptation to modern prominence is a function of deliberately ripping the sound from the style. And why not? Neither Americans or inner city neighborhoods - where the influences would be most obvious - were target demographics. By centering the sound in Europe and marketing it to Europeans, the requirement to be guided by something more than Electronic Futuristic Instruments and an occasional pounding bass disappeared. The music no longer had to speak to an audience connected to the musical experience of American minorities, nor did it have that ingrained cultural backdrop to speak against. And in response, the demands of profit - which usually coincides with a requirement for accessibility - formed a new creature: a techno with no obligation to the things that made techno potentially ostracizing and risky.

How do you market music that revolves around a fringe American experience to non-Americans? And how do you reproduce their inspirations without constantly and expensively shipping artists out of Detroit? Europe's answer to both of these questions was - by and large - pretty simple: you don't. When, inevitably, the labels' Euro-centric focus began to give birth to a crop of Non-American musicians sufficiently influenced and even partially schooled in the "Detroit sound", they not only had fertile ground to make and perpetuate an audience, but they had a pretext to form musical expectations wholly detached from Detroit's actual influences. That perfect storm didn't just make way for influential copycats. It made it possible for the knock-off to become the standard. And since techno didn't really grow anywhere else and since Detroit artists were getting their butter breaded overseas, who was really around to say "wait, wait, hold up"?

Techno's renovation was an extended and successful effort to make it more broadly marketable to the established audience. The steady influx of white, non-American faces to a black-created genre is little more than a symptom that marks the extent of that success. And as I said, that's fine. It's the name of a game that Detroit (and America generally) lost. I simply have one request: let's stop tap-dancing around it, denying it and getting defensive when it's brought up. When people say something's changed or something's different about the music, they're not describing a condition, they're avoiding description. What's true coincides with what many seem unwilling to say: something's missing. And it's not gone because everyone grew out of it, it's not gone because its creative potential has been stripped, it's not even gone because people dislike it. It's gone because it was taken. That may not be obvious now, but when the remnants of Detroit's first and second wave of talent dries up, all that will be left are memories of a sound with the only successors to it being self-anointed. But hey, at least Europeans can get European records printed at Archer Record Pressing and say it was made in Detroit. That's basically the same thing, right?

Venetian Snares - Ghetto Body Buddy

Combine vocals and fantastically structured instrumentals...

To get an otherworldly experience with vocals working perfectly with the instruments backing them up. I point to Imahoritsuneoyoshidatatsuya – Silence.


http://www.mediafire.com/?2k6207sge357epe


Just listen. There's parts where the vocals have this... symphonic perfection, so to speak.


Edit: yeah, I know I used gay language. That translated means: super awesomeness.

Celebrating Ripoffs II: Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Edition

Though both of these soundtracks will be summarized together and though they're in the same series, they sound nothing alike. One is a subtle, atmospheric and melodically nebulous assortment of effects and sounds. The other is a bombastically orchestrated jumble that gains its notoriety from never hiding its epic or melodic compositional intents. Both of them are and try to be entirely different things, mostly because the soundtracks serve the tone of two entirely different games/concepts, and I intend to bear that in mind. But let's make one thing clear: preferences aside, what Ico is trying to do is considerably more interesting and difficult than what SotC is trying to do, and any analysis requires that acknowledgment. 

To put it simply, Shadow of the Colossus' soundtrack sounds like it's supposed to accompany a lone person riding through desolate terrain to kill creatures the size of mountains with a situationally effective sword. The ominous application of the strings followed by the blast of a pronounced horn section is supposed to give you the idea that you're fighting (or building up to fighting) something Big and Powerful. The occasional choral flourishes that accompany those instruments are supposed to make you feel as though you're playing out a legend in the making. But since the goal is singular, the approach suffers from that singularity. And what begins as an exhilarating soundtrack that compliments the enormity/impossibility of the concept quickly starts to sound like the last songs you listened to.

The problem with "epic music" - especially in games - is the assumption that there's only way to do it. So themes that - by themselves and outside of the context of the OST - are well composed and engaging, begin to sound suspiciously like other themes that are well composed and engaging in exactly the same way. This leaves you with a long and ponderous OST with songs of varying tempo and quality that try to capture the supposed magic of its surroundings but crumble under the internal and unnoticed need for instrumental variety. It's so consumed with the desire to sound "larger than life" that it makes that desire a compositional constraint. It's no coincidence that some of the best songs on the soundtrack are ditties that barely resemble its more "pertinent" tracks. Shadow of the Colossus demands your attention but the inherent blandness of its chosen course does little to compel it. Through contrived instrumental chest-pounding, it performs the musical equivalent of screaming without ever thinking to alter the pitch of the sounds you hear.

Contrast this with Ico's OST, which compositionally lives behind the music you're listening to. The instrumental sparsity, the muddled distortion of the effects, the pacing between and around the sounds; all of it builds up to music that's intended to be contemplated beyond the atmosphere it evokes. Whereas SotC defines itself through its obviousness, Ico uses the sounds to weave a veil of mystery that deepens the impact of the music under the cursory pretense of doing less. Unlike its successor's music, it doesn't merely content itself with existing: it boldly begs the question. It forces you to ask what the story behind the music is - which makes it more engrossing and effective both in-game and outside of it. There's a confidence to its ability to make you want for more that's impossible to hear behind Shadow of the Colossus' bluster. It's a skillfully executed and imaginative soundtrack that feels no need to prove itself, which is largely what makes it superior. 

The ultimate irony is that Ico does all of this in under half an hour of music. Shadow of the Colossus takes almost two hours before it mercifully decides to end. If nothing outlines the differences between the OST's, that by itself should.

Unrelatedly, I despise Shadow of the Colossus' production. I actually didn't believe it was done by a real orchestra at first because of how the instruments sound. There's an almost tinnish quality to the instrumentation that makes it sound like they're using samples instead of the real thing. It's particularly unfortunate since I can't think of a soundtrack that would benefit more from greater clarity, but alas.

Side note: Out of fairness to both soundtracks, I'm not going to link the stand-out tracks this time. At least not in the post itself (though I'll be glad to share if prompted in the comments). You can't properly get the feel of the songs or the soundtracks unless you're listening to them in context. With both OST's, a bad song might sound inspired and a good song may sound underwhelming if you're listening to them in fragments.

Side note 2: I dislike both games.

Celebrating Ripoffs I: Zone of the Enders 2 Edition

I hate E3. I hate HD rereleases. However, since both will presumably be quite prominent this week, I might as well dedicate a little space to the parts of the games that are - for all intents and purposes - free: the soundtracks. ZOE2's soundtrack is essentially a more polished and less empty extension of its predecessor's sound. Which simply means it's less boring than ZOE1's OST. 

Stylistically, it does little more than try to be a semi-contextually fitting take on techno. By tailoring the technoish instrumentation to the orchestral synth and heavily distorted vocalizing, it tries to carve an original and surprisingly melodic backdrop to the space-centric sci-fi/mecha setting. Tries. More often than not, it retreats into the sometimes generic beats and sacrifices its sporadic experimentation for tired conventionality. At its worst, when combined with the lack of instrumental and stylistic variety, even its more experimental tracks can seem bland, phoned in and ineptly composed.  

Given that this is a video game soundtrack, it further suffers from the fact that its primary function is as background noise. That allowance forces a talented and potentially interesting team to either create a number of filler tracks or to make a song that stands better with a level or a scene than on its own. It's a shame, too. Many of these songs while imperfect are capable, and at their best, they offer an interesting merger of influences and styles that I'd love to see explored outside of their in-game requirements.

I wouldn't recommend this OST at all. I'd absolutely recommend several songs on it, however, and suggest giving it a once over just to see the ways that gaming compels interpretations of established genres that likely wouldn't be naturally attempted.  


Side note: There are two ZOE2 soundtracks. One official, one fan made (which includes songs the official version idiotically omitted). If you want a complete idea of the kind of music ZOE2 has, get both. Stand out tracks:

- Anubis Encounter

- Bahram Battleship

- Beyond the Bounds (Mitsuto Suzuki Mix Feat. Sana) 

- Seek Taper

I like my post-rock best when it's not post-rock.

Tortoise, the band described by post-rock by some. They're pretty false on this, as the band has enough elements to push it past the post. It dabbles in minimalism, sometimes, but it incorporates enough other to make it more than a few drum hits, guitar strokes and electronic additives.

It's experimental, sure, and I want to see them experiment more.

Take a look.
Compare:

with

Obligatory File Dump

Ian O'Brien - Veksel: This is a stylish and innovative take on a funk song with purely electronic instrumentals. Built up and layered through an intricate interplay between the established structure of the percussion and the playful fiddling of the bass, synth and background effects. The connected disconnection of the sounds only serve to emphasize how skillfully made the track is and his willingness to use the instrumentation to play with your expectations makes this an enlightening song to relisten to. Veksel gets the Q seal of approval. 


Unforscene - Switchin' It On feat. Laura Vane: Switchin' It On is a fun song that has no desire to be anything else, and that's exactly what I dig about it. The fact that it's unambitious doesn't stop it from being a groovy, well paced and solidly produced fusion of broken beat nu-jazz. Switchin' It On gets the Q seal of semi-approval.


Opiate - Pk 50: I do and don't know what I think of this song. You'd think its fluffy, almost saccharine atmosphere would be incentive to ignore it, but it stands as part of what makes the song distinctive and appealing. In Objects For An Ideal Home - and in this song, particularly - Opiate was able to draw stylistic inspiration from a variety of electronic genres from IDM to glitch to drum and bass. But its refreshing qualities come from how deftly they removed the detached, "machineish" components of those genres from the instrumentation. It's...warm. Which is strange to say about an electronic album. Ignoring the nausea, Pk 50 gets the Q seal of approval.

Entheogenic - Love Letters to the Soul: You know, I came into this track with a smidgen of hope. I expected a sprawling, ambitious apology for their last several albums and instead got confirmation that Entheogenic's last good album was their very first. It's sad, because you know they can do better. You know it. But here they are pimping an unremarkable, sloppy and completely disconnected testament to all of the things they should be doing right but aren't. 

What's so glaring about it is that all of the influences that made them interesting are still there. They still have the middle eastern and western vocal influences. They still have the ethnic percussive elements. They still have working synth. They still have the capacity to craft an orchestrally inspired soundscape. But in 25 minutes of music, they had no coherent plan for bringing those elements together. It's more of an idea for a song than an actual song, and every time it seems to start, it just boringly devolves into another several minutes of background effects. Love Letters to the Soul gets the Q seal of "WTF HAPPENED TO YOU?"

That is all.

RIP Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011)

Well this fucking sucks. Just as it looked like GSH was finally turning the corner, death snatches him.

The "Godfather Of Rap" experienced something of a career revival in 2010 with the release of his first record in 16 years, the terrific "I'm Still Here". The buzz surrounding Scott-Heron's return to music led to a number of high-profile festival appearances around North America and Europe, and I was lucky enough to witness one of them in early September at the Isle Of Wight's Bestival. I managed to persuade my friend to abandon the tent where The Antlers were playing and accompany me to the main stage. It was clear that much of the young audience weren't at all familiar with Scott-Heron (why would they be?), and were probably only there to ascertain a good view for the bigger names who were following his set, but after a couple of songs, some improvised stand-up comedy and a fair bit of rambling, Gil Scott-Heron and pals had a few thousand brand new fans under his belt as they strolled off stage to rapturous applause. It was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the weekend.

It's unfortunate when any special talent dies prematurely, but given the events of recent years, this is particularly sad.

I'll probably write something more comprehensive later on. This is really just to acknowledge his sudden passing.

So for now, let's just start with "The Bottle"...

...and end with "Me & The Devil"!

Quote About Music #1

"It was an ecstasy; and an ecstasy is a thing that will not go into words; it feels like music, and one cannot tell about music so that another person can get the feeling of it." - Mark Twain

Afro Blue - Mongo Santamaria

I couldn't decide on a version... the first has a fantastic intro by Mongo himself. Wonderful musician. The second has solos with Tito Puente! However could I decide?
For the past couple of months I've been playing and perfecting this song with some friends who I play in a jazz ensemble with. It really is a spectacular piece.
Enjoy.

My picks for the potential proficient performers... for Ottawa Jazz Fest.

My picks for the potential proficient performers... for Ottawa Jazz Fest.

Coeur de pirate. Mainly vocalist orientated, but with enough of an appealing voice and mellow background, it makes this artist a potential hit.
http://ottawajazzfestival.com/index.php/coeur-de-pirate/
Sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fg1dk-j6P8

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones. A contemporary sounding Jazz band, but with Tango influences. Could be a good see. Manages to have enough beyond-contemporary-jazz flow for me to not fall asleep.
http://ottawajazzfestival.com/index.php/bela-fleck-the-flecktones-the-original-line-up/
Sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFzZXvivo4c

Elio Villafranca. Some progressive builds up (at least from the samples), and some pleasant sounding Jazz beats. Clearly talented and varianced  production. Mmm that xylophone use.
http://ottawajazzfestival.com/index.php/elio-villafranca/
Sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOSsYiI0voc

Jaron Freeman Fox and the opposite of everything. A very new, and very obscure band. They're good, from what I've heard. Combining folk, jazz, with middle-eastern influence is a combo for success.
http://ottawajazzfestival.com/index.php/jaron-freeman-fox-and-the-opposite-of-everything/
Sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt0xd1RwTcU Awesome.

Jayme Stone: Room of Wonders. From what I gather, this group combines classical and folk. Interesting combination. Could flourish.
http://ottawajazzfestival.com/index.php/jayme-stone-room-of-wonders/
Sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-IKGkDpIBk

Mike Essoudry’s Mash Potato Mashers Parade. Sweet sounds, with a big-band sound with it.
http://ottawajazzfestival.com/index.php/mike-essoudrys-mash-potato-mashers-parade/
Sample in the link directly above.

Shooglenifty. Celetic folk, with subtle electronic mixes. Stands out as something unique.
http://ottawajazzfestival.com/index.php/shooglenifty/
Sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmNVaxE7OEg


The PepTides. Cool swing. See for yourself, check out their music video and song in the link directly below.
http://ottawajazzfestival.com/index.php/the-peptides/
Sample in the link directly above.

Jaga Jazzist. Jazz, electronic. It's not that simple, but it has many glorious influences that makes it what it is.
http://ottawajazzfestival.com/index.php/jaga-jazzist/
Sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN90uEDk3bQ

One Song, (Almost) Every Day #2: Ilija Rudman

So a couple of months back I had this album playing during on one of my semi-daily wanders through London. I strolled into Starbucks on the Tottenham Court Road as this track began, and with one earbud still in place, I nonchalantly ordered a Café Latte. Because that's how I roll.

This song now reminds me of Caffeine and milk.

I'll leave it to renowned youtuber nanogod to conclude my thoughts:

"latin freestyle RULES"

nanogod 3 weeks ago

Nujazz: Keep You Kimi-Hird

I really enjoy the layering of this piece, and the textures of those sounds.
I think they add a certain vibe that you can just feel as the song progresses.

Hail To The Prince

I was going to comment on this, but then I recalled that other, better writers had done so before me. Several times. I defer to him:

One thing I've appreciated about Prince, as I've aged, is that he knows how to sing about sex, like a man honestly singing about sex. Much of the misogyny in hip-hop (and I suspect in other art forms too) comes from, forgive my profanity, a deep-seated fear of ass. Men--and especially young men--fear what they will do to be physically involved with a woman with whom they're infatuated. They compensate by turning this fear on its head and projecting. They make women into temptresses, gold-diggers, and villains, and make themselves into conquering heroes. Pussy don't rule me, they'll say--even though pussy ain't thinking about them. Which is the problem, or rather their problem.

But Prince was never afraid of himself, or what he'd do. On the contrary, he embraced it. In a song like "Erotic City" he earns the right to say "We can fuck (funk) until the dawn," by first saying,"Every time I comb my hair\Thoughts of you get in my eyes," or "All of my hang-ups are gone\How I wish you felt the same." He revels in the wanting, in the potential for rejection, he does not fear it.

Since this can't really be said often enough, I just want to "Seconded" Ta-Nehisi's remark. Lyrically, Prince has always struck a balance that managed to overrule the prevailing dominance of "You're my one and only ever" and "Get on the flo' now!" He doesn't really do this by avoiding romance or avoiding sex, he does it by speaking to women in their language. Something lyricists still don't know how to do.

He doesn't cast himself as some Grand Provider who will treat women like a dependent or a queen. He doesn't cast women as mindless repositories for sex. He approaches women as an equal and promises affection instead of worship and socialization instead of romantic posturing. It's a testament to a self-confidence and understanding that's not so much missing in music as it's understudied and underutilized. It's unsurprising that Prince would be one of the undisputed masters of that space.

The Influence Of The Visual Medium

Click Play, listen and watch. Your ears will be surprised by the mix, and hopefully you'll enjoy it.



This song represents a childhood memory for me, remembered both for the upbeat tune itself, but more so for the claymation music video it has. Not only had the video helped me remember the song, but it has improved the reach of the song and its popularity. The video was made in 1986 and prompted a reissue of the song, which in 1957 reached #6 on the UK singles chart, that would prove to be a #1 hit for four weeks, nearly 30 years after its original release.

The song itself is an ecclectic mix of early R & B, with aspects of soul, jazz and more. The vocalisation shows raw power as well as controlled, almost scat-like scales, combining with a contrasting subtly building verse. The music seems to be a transition between early 50's music, and the famous Motown Records styles of music, which incidentally, it is. The writer of the song, Berry Gordy, made enough money from the early success of Reet Petite, that he was able to start the Motown Record label.

One Song, Every Day #1: The Weeknd - House Of Balloons/Glass Table Girls

R&B is going places. Over the last 4 years or so, The-Dream has almost single handedly steered contemporary R&B into new areas, paying mind to both commercially feasible and sonically vigorous principles. Now the likes of How To Dress Well, Autre ne Veut and more recently Frank Ocean of OFWGKTA are following suit, each bringing their own grooves and tics to the table.

This year, Toronto's The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) announced his arrival on the scene with his debut LP, House Of Balloons.

Check it out:

In The Shadow of Detroit

I don't expect you to like every track on this - I don't. I don't expect you to think this is a reflection of my musical preferences/tastes - many of these songs aren't. But this mixtape is an attempted corrective to the pernicious and historical handling of Detroit techno's legacy. It's a legacy that's been simultaneously discarded and debased, and seeing precisely how requires understanding what "Detroit techno" did and does sound like. It's a genre that electronically draws from the influences of funk, soul, and R&B. It's a genre that musically speaks in the language of afro-futurism and atmospheric desolation. In itself, the music is both a class judgment and a conscious critique of the Motown legacy (while, ironically, drawing heavily from it). 

In comprehending and discussing techno, it's instructive to understand how it started and what techno has functionally drawn away from. Detroit is still there and some people are capable enough to apply its atmospheric and stylistic tendencies well (see: earlier Speedy J circa Ginger, Ken Ishii or, to use a recent example, some of Instra:Mental's Resolution 653), but more frequently, musicians have only sought to draw from its instrumental influence while entirely ignoring its stylistic influences and flourishes. As a result, this has limited and stunted the genre under the guise of expanding it. The artistic focus on its least impressive element has weakened the structural and compositional potential of techno while contributing heavily to its inability to evolve in ways that are worth listening to. And you know what?       

I blame Europe. Particularly Berlin and the UK.                                                                               

You can't strip an entire genre down to its "essential elements" without understanding what those "essential elements" are. You can't make a musical testament to techno that's premised on systematically removing the very things techno was based on. The arguable "dominance" of minimalism has created an entire genre that borrows heavily from and owes a lot to Detroit while musically dismissing it - and it's annoying to listen to. Not just because it bores me or because I find it intentionally bland, but because that dismissal compromises the relevance of a genre that could be and should be good. This isn't to say that minimalism is always underwhelming, so much as it's an acknowledgment that it often is and has little desire to be anything else. 

Such a flaw would be easier to correct if it were just a structural and stylistic issue, but the problems are foundational in nature (just as they would be if rap evolved in another country as nothing but beats). Once that foundation moved away from techno's considerably richer origins, it washed away both its versatility and its potential for versatility. To see how true that is, download the following mixtape and tell me whether you'd prefer it if techno's evolution were founded on what you hear there, or what you hear in today's minimalism saturation. Detroit techno gained prominence in an environment where a once great city was starting to decay under the strain of domestic automative collapse. It's a bitter irony that its last great musical scene was similarly co-opted by foreign elements and left to suffer the same fate.  

In The Shadow of Detroit:

01. Cybotron - Cosmic Raindance
02. Derrick May - Daymares, It Is What It Is
03. Mad Mike - Jupiter Jazz
04. Reese - Funky, Funk, Funk
05. Model 500 - No UFO's (Instrumental)
06. Juan Atkins - Game One
07. Suburban Knight - Nocturbulous 
08. Eddie 'Flashin' Fowlkes - 420 High 
09. Reese - Just Another Chance
10. The Detroit Escalator Co. - Point of Entry
11. Carl Craig - Science Fiction
12. X-103 - Temple of Poseidon
13. Dopplereffekt - Rocket Science
14. Silent Phase - Waterdance
15. 69 - Desire
16. Kenny Larkin - Q
17. The Detroit Escalator Co. - Gathering Light