Sun Ra Sunday

Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra: On Jupiter (Art Yard CD)
Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra: Sleeping Beauty (Art Yard CD)

These two 1979 Saturn sessions present Sun Ra at his most accessible – groovy, dreamy, spacey, and suitably cosmic while reigning in the full-blown freakouts that can make Sun Ra’s music difficult for some (or maybe not quite the right thing on a Sunday evening). That is not to say that these are lesser albums. Quite the contrary! This is simply beautiful music! Essential! Note that these CDs are extremely limited editions and sparsely distributed. I got mine from Downtown Music Gallery. See also Lanquidity (Evidence).

--rgc

Summer Reading 2008

Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (Touchstone, 1945/2007)
I had been looking for a single-volume reference guide to philosophy and Lord Russell’s classic text nicely serves that purpose. Based upon a series of lectures at the Barnes Foundation in Pennsylvania, Lord Russell presents an imminently readable (and sometimes dryly humorous) history from the ancient Greeks to quantum theory and he clearly elucidates even the most esoteric concepts. Please don’t test me on any of this material, but I conclude that (1) no one has figured it all out and (2) the most recent advances in philosophy and science have begun to resurrect long-dismissed elements of ancient animism. What goes around comes around.

Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Cultural Life (HarperCollins 2000)
Apparently, Jacques Barzun has read most every book ever written and has something witty and erudite to say about each one, making this somewhat unwieldy tome a remarkably enjoyable read. Beginning with Martin Luther and the Protestant Revolution which sought to overthrow centuries of Roman Catholic hegemony, Barzun organizes this sweeping history around a number of themes which, for him, define the “Modern Era”: abstraction, analysis, emancipation, primitivism, reductivism, secularism, self-consciousness, scientism, and specialism. Barzun seems to argue that the high point of western culture coincided with the court of Louis XIV, where the administration of the state and the arts were most closely allied. And that it was all downhill from there to our contemporary “demotic” times where individualism eviscerates any remnants of widespread cultural values. It is difficult to refute his thesis, yet while empires come and go, cultural production continues and these products reflect the realities in which it finds itself. A telling blind spot is Barzun’s dismissal of “jazz” and other African-American cultural contributions in a mere handful of paragraphs. Nevertheless, this is a useful overview of western history through the lens of its arts and letters.

Peter Gay, Modernism: The Lure of Heresy: From Baudelaire to Beckett and Beyond (Norton 2008)
Tracing a broad outline of the history of the modernist movement from its roots in late-romanticism to its eclipse by the rise of “pop art” in the 1960s, each chapter examines a facet of artistic production from painting and sculpture, prose and poetry, music and dance, architecture and design, and drama and movies. Gay posits that the Modernist impulse was fundamentally a rebellion against established societal and cultural norms: an act of heresy that imbued the work with a power that is now lost in a contemporary world that is fractured and lacking any norms against which to rebel (hence, the term “post-modernism” to describe our present situation). This neo-Freudian approach prevents the book from being merely an encyclopaedic recitation of names and works; rather, Gay uses representative examples to bolster his argument and thereby constructs a useful framework in which to view the Modernist movement across artistic disciplines. But, as with Barzun, jazz and other African-American contributions are largely absent in Gay’s account and therefore fails to address one of the greatest modernist heresies of all: “free jazz.”

George E. Lewis, A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music (Chicago 2008)
The Eurocentricism of Barzun and Gay is ably countered by George Lewis’s magisterial history of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music. As a virtuoso musician and fellow member of the AACM, Lewis not only provides a detailed, insider’s account of the collective’s ups and downs and inner politics, but also devotes serious scholarship to effectively assert the AACM’s cultural importance. Lewis demonstrates that the modernist project was taken up by African American “avant-garde” jazz musicians where post-serialist techniques and post-Cage experimentalism were enthusiastically adopted by AACM musicians such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell and the Art Ensemble of Chicago who produced a vast and hugely influential body of work that is to this day sadly neglected by the fine arts establishment despite its obvious aesthetic merits. Hopefully, A Power Stronger Than Itself will serve as some corrective to this racist blind spot.

--rgc

Blackmail

Sun Ra Sunday

Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Research Arkestra: Black Myth / Out In Space (MPS)

Recorded live Donaueschingen 10/17/70 & Berlin 11/7/70

It's after the end of the world! Don't you know that yet?!

--rgc

Election 2008

I have always tried to avoid politics on this blog, but that is just too funny.

--rgc

Anthony Braxton Trio (Victoriaville) 2007

Anthony Braxton Trio (Victoriaville) 2007 (Victo 108)

Diamond Curtain Wall Trio:
Anthony Braxton: sopranino, soprano, alto, baritone, bass & contrabass saxophones, electronics
Mary Halvorson: electric guitar
Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, bugle, trombone, bass & piccolo trumpets, hats, mutes

Recorded live Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville 5/20/07

Braxton goes psychedelic! Well, not exactly. Braxton’s laptop emits spacey whooshes, squeals, and keening wails of noise and Halvorson exhibits an incredible array of delightfully sensuous guitar sounds: from woody, Jim-Hall-like jazziness to excoriating metallic shredding a la Robert Fripp; from gentle acoustic fingerpicking to skittering, scumbling scrapes and glitchy electronic processing — and everything in between. Mary Halvorson is perhaps the most interesting guitar player since Derek Bailey and here she is given an opportunity to really stretch out. Meanwhile, Taylor Ho Bynum wields an arsenal of brass instruments and mutes to bring a kind of smeared, pre-bop vocalizing to post-Webern pitch material which is utterly unique and highly effective. As for Braxton himself, he plays the various saxophones like stops on a gigantic reed organ. His virtuosity is astonishing, not just in the fleetness of his facility (which is, of course, remarkable), but in his presentation of a unified voice across the diverse and increasingly massive and unwieldy instruments. Lovingly recorded, Braxton’s blasts on the contrabass saxophone will rattle your windows! Both Halvorson and Bynum are long-time veterans of Braxton’s ensembles and their telepathic interplay blurs the distinction between composition and improvisation. With repeated listening, however, the music reveals a coherent and singularly Braxtonian architecture supporting its hour-plus-long duration. While the absence of percussion lends the proceedings a quasi-chamber-music feel, any expectations of cerebral politeness are met with the most boisterously rock-ish music of Braxton’s career. Frankly, this is one of the most exciting discs I’ve heard in a long time and is, so far, my candidate for “Record of the Year.” Essential.

--rgc

Visitor

Railroad Crossing, Kingston Springs

Grateful Dead: Winterland 1973

The Grateful Dead: Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings (GDP)

About a year ago, Winterland 1973 was made available for purchase on dead.net, but then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it was removed. Credit card charges were refunded and the buzz on the Internet was fierce. It was perplexing as the flow of new product had slowed to a standstill since the controversial “merger” with Rhino in 2006 and loyal fans were hungry for something – anything - to be released. And Winterland 1973 was something for which even the most cynical Deadhead might shell out the big bucks. So, when it was pulled from the website and labeled a “hoax”, some folks were mighty annoyed – including me. What were they up to? Gauging audience response after the surprise sell-out of the limited edition Fillmore West 1969 box set? Possibly.

Now, a year later, Winterland 1973 is actually here; and it is a truly magnificent thing. This nine-CD box set is so lovingly well-done, I can easily forgive them their previous bait & switch routine. After all, 1973 is widely considered to be one of – if not the – peak of the Grateful Dead’s career (and who am I to argue?) and these shows in particular are especially prized, considered by many to be the best Dead shows EVAH. Maybe so.

The passing of Pigpen (who was, from the start, if not the leader, then the soul of the band) barely slowed the band’s momentum that had been building since the Fall of 1971 with the introduction of Keith Godchaux on piano (and, for better or worse, his wife Donna Jean on vocals). New songs like “Eyes of the World” and Weir’s “Weather Report Suite” were taking the music in overtly jazzy, harmonically complex directions while primal, modal standards like “Playing in the Band”, “Dark Star” and “The Other One” were evolving into symphonic-length tours de force of collective improvisation and brain-melting psychedelia.

Indeed, Winterland 1973 presents an exquisite three-night run on the Dead’s home turf in San Francisco and, yes, it really is about as consistently good – no, downright mindblowing – a run of shows as they ever played. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the Grateful Dead knows that consistency was never their forte. One had to take the good with the bad on any given night, and it was the moments of magic (and the promise of more) that kept the Deadheads coming back night after night. Here, the band sounds supremely confident from the get-go: relaxed, unfussy, yet highly polished – heck, even the cornball “El Paso” is performed with subtlety and finesse. Extraordinarily tight when they need to be, yet willing and able to “take it out” at any moment - this is the Grateful Dead at their most expansive, dynamic, and synergistic. Phil Lesh once characterized the Grateful Dead as “electric chamber music” and these three concerts surely epitomize this ideal.

Despite the somewhat constricted repertoire of the time, each concert has its own particular flavor with 11/9 easing into things with a focus on songs rather than big blow-out jams, while 11/10 features the brilliantly executed palindrome of “Playing in the Band>Uncle John’s Band>Morning Dew>Uncle John’s Band>Playing in the Band.” Of course, 11/11 is already widely circulated amongst tape traders and is considered one of the all-time-great shows with its incredible “Dark Star>Eyes of the World>China Doll” sequence deep in the second set. It doesn’t get much better than this, folks – even with the unfortunate reel-flip during “Eyes.”

Recorded on the fly by roadie Bill “Kidd” Candelario using a splitter and a ¼” Nagra reel-to-reel, the sound quality is stunningly good, given the circumstances. The mastering process utilizes a remarkable new software program called Clarity, developed by Plangent Processes in Nantucket, Massachusetts. The program identifies and corrects timing errors as with the inevitable (and sometimes disastrous) wow-and-flutter problems that occur with analog tape, thereby restoring the music’s proper timing and pitch. Compared to the version of 11/9/73 that previously circulated amongst Deadheads, the Clarity process is truly miraculous.

The three shows, each in a deluxe gatefold sleeve, are housed in a psychedelic “cigar” box along with a replica 1960s-era “Good Old Grateful Dead” button and a facsimile of a “Deadheads Newsletter” circa. 1973. When you open all the gatefold sleeves, you can assemble a large version of the very trippy “eye-ball” cover image. Nice. Oh, and this time, the “bonus disc” really does feel like a bonus, consisting of most of the second set from Cincinnati, OH 12/4/73, including an outrageous, teeth-grindingly intense space jam. While I wouldn’t recommend this to the merely curious, if you’re a hardcore fan, then Winterland 1973 is well worth the $100.00 asking price.

--rgc

King Crimson: Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, TN 8/2/08

1. [drum duo]
2. ConstruKction Of Light
3. Level Five
4. Neurotica
5. Three of a Perfect Pair
6. Indiscipline
7. Frame By Frame
8. Dinosaur
9. One Time
10. Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream
11. B'boom
12. Elephant Talk
13. Red
14. [drum duo]
15. Thela Hun Ginjeet
16. The Talking Drum
17. Larks' Tongues In Aspic II

Encore:
18. Sleepless
19. VROOOM/Coda: Marine 475

Adrian Belew: guitar, vocal
Robert Fripp: guitar
Tony Levin: bass, stick, vocal
Pat Masteletto: drums, percussion, electronic percussion
Gavin Harrison: drums, percussion

Folks from all over the world descended upon the tiny Belcourt Theatre for the first King Crimson concerts since 2004, a “warm-up” for the upcoming 40th Anniversary Tour. As we made our way into the tiny theatre and noticed the two enormous drum sets that dominated the stage, Liz remarked, “It’s going to be loud, isn’t it!” Yep. We were in for a pummeling.

The performance itself was exciting, but also predictably rusty, with several near-trainwrecks preventing the music from ever truly taking flight. Nevertheless, there were moments of hair-raising intensity, terrifying displays of raw power, and glimpses of sublime beauty. Highlights for me included newcomer Gavin Harrison’s jaw-droppingly complex drum fills on “Indiscipline”, an achingly tender version of “One Time”, and Tony Levin’s relentless groove on “Sleepless.”

As for the Venal Leader himself, Robert Fripp, he has taken to hiding behind a large stack of equipment, rendering himself virtually invisible to the audience. From our vantage point, we were able to watch his fretting hand if he was playing down by the nut and, occasionally, we could see the top of his head as he made adjustments to his gear or a foot pressing a pedal. He further made a point of exiting the stage from behind a scrim and refusing to come out from behind his rack for a bow with the rest of the band at the conclusion of the performance. Now, Mr. Fripp’s aversion to photography is well known and if these kinds of defensive maneuvers allow him enough peace of mind to continue performing, then so be it; after all, we’re there to listen more than to see (although seeing is nice, too). But this behavior makes even Miles Davis’s notoriously hostile stage persona seem downright gregarious and it’s difficult not to read it as utter contempt for the audience. And yet, a recent diary entry indicates that, despite all appearances, Mr. Fripp doesn’t take himself too seriously.

In any event, the tactics seemed to work: I saw no photography, audio/video recording, or cell phone abuse and that alone was welcome indeed. In fact, the audience was rapturous and the rest of the musicians seemed to be having a pretty good time. So, whatever. I was grateful to be there and Fripp’s guitar playing was typically brilliant, combining raging shards of metallic bombast with delicately intricate flatpicking and otherworldly high-tech textures, sometimes all within the same song. Too bad we couldn’t see him.

I’ll be curious to see if the setlist varies at all over the course of the tour. I suspect the band will work out the kinks and the larger venues should allow the full power and fury of this version of the band to fully blossom. Happy 40th Birthday KC!

--rgc

Now Playing: Morton Feldman

Morton Feldman: The Viola In My Life I-IV (ECM)

Cikada Ensemble
Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Marek Konstantynowicz, viola
Christian Eggen, conductor

This series of compositions was written for violist Karen Phillips in 1970-1971 and signaled Morton Feldman’s transition away from indeterminacy and the overt influence of John Cage and towards precise notation and the development of his own singular and recognizably mature style. Indeed, parts of Number I contain the seeds of the monumental, multi-hour works of the 1980s: a two note figure with chiming accompaniment gently oscillates without exactly repeating itself before trailing off into silence. However, these pieces remain somewhat unique in Feldman’s oeuvre for their explicit, almost conventional melodicism. Number IV, an orchestratral "translation" of the chamber pieces that precede it, goes even further afield: there is a moment of swelling, voluptuously expectant tonality wherein Feldman’s seemingly incongruous affection for Sibelius becomes strikingly audible.

During this period, Feldman sought to use such elements as singing melodies and (non)functional harmony in the way his friend, Robert Rauschenberg, utilized photography on his canvases, in order to introduce “perspective” to the “flatness” and “stasis” of his music, but later abandoned this kind of literalism (“in music, it just doesn’t work the same way,” he remarked in 1980) [FN1]. And yet, these melodic and quasi-tonal fragments succeed in unsentimentally evoking a memory of a lost past, a role the viola plays again to great effect in Feldman’s contemporaneous masterpiece, Rothko Chapel (1971). Accordingly, these pieces are some of Feldman’s most immediately accessible and downright likable works and, therefore, an excellent entry point into Feldman’s sometimes forbiddingly austere sound world [FN2]. Highly recommended.

--rgc

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[FN1]: Morton Feldman Says: Selected Interviews and Lectures 1964-1987, ed. by Chris Villars, London: Hyphen Press, 2006, p.91. See also Give My Regards to Eighth Street: Collected Writings of Morton Feldman, ed. By B.H. Friedman, Cambridge: Exact Change, 2000, pp.90-91.

[FN2]: Of course, Feldman himself would disapprove of such an approach. In a 1972 interview, he characteristically stated: “I could have had big performances of The Viola In My Life in Berlin. But I didn’t. The trouble is that they’ll like it. They must earn the right to like it by getting to know my earlier works first. I want them to forget their background and their education.” (Morton Feldman Says, p.44.) Nevertheless, such elitism is not necessarily very helpful to the novice listener.

Keeping Up With Robert Pollard (June 2008 edition)

Robert Pollard Is Off To Business (GBV, Inc. CD/LP)

Robert Pollard Is Off to Business is a straight-up pop LP that should make all fans of the prolific, beer-soaked genius rejoice. Producer/multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias concocts a gorgeously convincing classic-rock soundbed upon which Pollard delivers an especially committed vocal performance, making this immediately enjoyable right from the shrinkwrap. Anthemic singalongs, creamy ballads, punky jumpers, poppy prog rock – this album has it all while Pollard’s oblique songwriting commands repeated listenings. However, at barely 35 minutes, Off To Business would have been further improved with the inclusion of the equally excellent B-sides found on the “Weatherman and Skingoddess” EP. Regardless, I would highly recommend this one, even to the merely curious. LP is limited to 500 copies.

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The year-long Happy Jack Rock Records singles series finally came to a close last month with “Miles Under the Skin”/”Frostman (long version)”. “Frostman” first appeared as a mere fragment on 2001’s Isolation Drills (TVT), but is presented here in complete form. An achingly nostalgic ballad as only Pollard can write, this is a poignant end to this ambitious project.

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So, what’s next in Bobland? Well, this oddity was just announced this week:

Carbon Whales: South EP/7” (Happy Jack Rock Records). This is a Bob SPONSORED release. The Carbon Whales are an obscure band from the late 70s that actor Paddy Considine turned Bob on to. The 4 songs on this EP are apparently the only things they ever recorded. It was never released. Bob really loved it so we tracked the band down and asked if we could release it. The singer sounds EXACTLY like Bob. Check out the song writing team of Bob Evans and Joustin Clark.

Hmmm. I’m suspicious. Bob Evans? This sounds to me like another pseudonymous release a la Nightwalker. On a hunch, I pre-ordered the 7”. Available exclusively from Rockathon.

More concretely, Bob has formed a new band with Chris Slusarenko and John Moen called Boston Spaceships. They will release a CD/LP, Brown Submarine (GBV, Inc.), on September 9th and then hit the road for a tour. Far out! This will be Bob’s first live performances (except for a handful of one-offs) since 2006. Boston Spaceships will play Nashville on October 18th and I hope to be there. Preview an mp3 of “Go for the Exit” here.

--rgc

Now Playing: Evan Parker

Evan Parker/Transatlantic Art Ensemble: Boustrophedon (in Six Furrows) (ECM)

Evan Parker: soprano saxophone; Roscoe Mitchell: alto & soprano saxophones; Anders Svanoe: alto saxophone; John Rangecroft: clarinet; Neil Metcalfe: flute; Corey Wilkes: trumpet, flugelhorn; Nils Bultmann: viola; Philipp Wachsmann: violin; Marcio Mattos: cello; Craig Taborn: piano; Jaribu Shahid: double-bass; Barry Guy: double-bass; Tani Tabbal: drums, percussion; Paul Lytton: drums, percussion

Recorded live at Muffathalle, Munich in September, 2004.

This is an essential companion to Roscoe Mitchell’s brilliant Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 &3 (ECM) which I wrote about here. Same extraordinary musicians, but this time featuring Evan Parker’s music. Keep in mind that Parker has long been a standard bearer for “total music” or pure free improvisation - and the concomitant disdain for composition that this implies [FN1]. So it is interesting to hear him taking a dip into the Third Stream with substantial portions of fully notated material and tightly controlled improvisations. As such, Boustrophedon is unique in Parker’s massive discography and worth hearing for that fact alone.

Parker adopts some of the strategies that Mitchell used to marshal the large-ish forces of the Transatlantic Art Ensemble such as prelude-like themes, conducted tutti figures, groupings and sub-groupings of individual instruments, and climaxes built on the staggered entry of simultaneous soloists. There are even moments of swingin’ timekeeping. But the music remains uniquely Parker’s, even if his horn is often silent. Comparing the two releases, it is striking how adept these musicians are at realizing the creator’s intentions while still retaining their own individuality and free expression. Manfred Eicher’s live sound manipulations give the proceedings an otherworldly (if sometimes murky) ambience, in keeping, I suppose, with Parker’s Electroacoustic Ensemble recordings on ECM, though I might have preferred Steve Lake’s clarity and transparency of texture as found on Mitchell’s disc. Sonic quibbles aside, this is an exceptional recording.

--rgc


[FN1]: The partisan Free Jazz Blog repudiates both records for apostasy here.

Now Playing: Anthony Braxton

Anthony Braxton: Nine Compositions (DVD) 2003 (Rastascan)

Anthony Braxton: reeds; Liz Allbee: trumpet, electronics; Kyle Bruckmann: oboe, English horn, etc.; Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, flugelhorn, etc.; Greg Kelly: trumpet etc.; Matt Ingalls: clarinet, bass clarinet, violin; Dan Plonsey: reeds, violin; Gino Robair: percussion, etc.; Scott Rosenberg: reeds; Jay Rozen: tuba, electronics, etc.; Sara Schoenbeck: bassoon; John Shiurba: guitars, banjo; Justin Yang: reeds,
etc.

Rastascan gives Braxton the deluxe treatment with over six hours of PCM audio at better-than-CD resolution (24 bit/48 KHz) on one standard DVD [FN1]. This expansive format suits Braxton’s prolific nature, documenting (with startlingly high fidelity) a mere three days of activity. The disc contains a complete 12tet concert at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco from December 11, 2003 and an additional four hours of studio recordings from December 12th & 13th. That’s a lot of music.

What’s interesting about this recording is that Braxton’s large ensemble works of a recent vintage (Compositions 322, 327 & 328) appear side-by-side with much older pieces performed by trio and quartet (Compositions 23e, 72h, 74e & 75). Hearing these earlier compositions in this expanded context sheds some light on the mysterious goings-on of the Ghost Trance Musics (GTM). One of the key components of GTM is its collage-in-performance aspect wherein any part of Braxton’s enormous oeuvre can appear (either spontaneously or by design), played by any instrument and some of these early compositions can be heard, if fleetingly, within the GTM performances. Listening to these older pieces in situ also confirms that Braxton’s music has always been abstract, ambitious, and contingent on sympathetic interpreters. For Braxton, composition is more than merely notation as an end itself, but a means to guide improvisation. As the hour-plus long GTM compositions unfold, an astonishingly diverse and limitless music gushes forth from the musicians, who are all clearly inspired by Braxton’s admonishment to “kick it about, have some fun” [FN2] and totally dedicated to giving these pieces a proper performance - which means improvising with both force and empathy within the vast realm of Braxton’s complex written material. The inclusion here of two earlier GTM compositions (Compositions 190 & 292) demonstrates that, given committed performances by capable musicians, GTM can yield music of extraordinary richness and complexity.

Nine Compositions (DVD) 2003 is an essential document and an excellent introduction to Braxton’s unique musical vision. Highly recommended.

--rgc

[FN1]: Everybody knows that the recording industry is in the dumps and everybody knows the myriad reasons for this sad state of affairs. What I don’t understand is why the recording industry has refused to take advantage of the DVD format with its better-than-CD sound unbounded by the 80 minute track limit. Sure, DVD-Audio and/or SACD have even higher resolution and sound better, but the standard DVD supports a stereo PCM track that can be played on any DVD player - you can have video too! The CD is dying (if not already dead); please give us something better. /end of rant.

[FN2]: Taken from the rehearsals for this disc, the full quote is instructive regarding Braxton’s aims with GTM: “Don’t worry about playing everything perfect. It’s not even about that; we’ll just do the best we can do. Kick it about, have some fun, try to work together. That’s what I’m interested in: the concept of the group as a family…where the musicians are working together, looking out for one another.” (From the liner notes).

i-Pod Blog

Here’s a terrific blog that virtually writes itself: What I Listed To On My Way To Work Today. This pseudonymous NYC-area commuter has a forty-five-minute to one-hour one-way trip to work via mass transit. So he takes his fully loaded i-Pod, puts it on shuffle and tabulates what transpires, adding commentary as necessary or so inspired. Sometimes he posts camera-phone photos and random factoids about his journey. Brilliant! It helps that he has fairly catholic tastes, including jazz and other esoteric music amidst the indie-rock – he even admits to one-time Deadheadom. My kind of guy. But, what I really want to know is: what does he listen to on his way home?

I hope he keeps it up – over time it could make for a wonderful book.

--rgc

Kansas City

While visiting family in Kansas City last week, Liz & I had a chance to re-visit the Nelson-Atkins Museum and check out the new Bloch Building: a radical - yet breathtakingly beautiful - piece of architecture. Sheathed in walls of glass, the Bloch Building somehow seamlessly integrates itself with the original building’s 1920s-era traditional monumentality (pictured) while still asserting a supremely modern and functional aesthetic.

The Bloch Building also houses the contemporary collection, which include works from some of our very favorite painters: Rothko, DeKooning, Kline, Diebenkorn, and four (4!) by Wayne Thiebaud. Lunch at the Rozzelle Court Restaurant in the “old” building was quite elegant as were the newly-renovated galleries. The whole place is first class all the way. And get this: admission is free (though we did make a donation).

The New York Times gave the Bloch Building a rave review upon its opening last June and another nice article and many great photographs of the complex was featured at arcspace. Even more photographs can be found at Steven Holl Architects.

I wish we could have seen the building at night, glowing against the sculpture garden; it really is a stunningly gorgeous campus.

--rgc

Keeping Up With Robert Pollard

Robert Pollard: Superman Was a Rocker (Happy Jack Rock Records CD/LP) So, Bob goes rummaging through the infamous Suitcase and finds some old cassette tapes containing instrumental tracks and goofy snippets of audio verité recorded over the past 20 years with various versions of Guided By Voices. Then he takes these tapes over to Todd Tobias’s studio and overdubs vocals and, voila, a new EP - 13 songs in 30 minutes. Billed as “the most FUN Bob album in a year.” Well, initially I didn’t think it was very fun at all; in fact, I thought it was merely more tossed-off junk on par with such abominations as Acid Ranch or The Howling Wolf Orchestra. Don’t get me wrong, being a devout and penitent fan, I actually enjoy Pollard’s abominations and tossed-off junk for what it is. Even so, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. But, as is usually the case with any new Pollard record, after several listens I began to appreciate Superman’s eccentricities. Nevertheless, “Love Your Spaceman” is the closest thing to a straightforward pop song on here and, while some of the “skits” are hilarious, I can only recommend this to completists like myself. LP is limited to 500 copies.

Psycho & the Birds: We’ve Moved (Happy Jack Rock Records CD/LP) Psycho & the Birds is a relatively recent conception wherein Pollard records songs to a primitive boombox (which is his usual songwriting modus operandi) and sends the tapes to Tobias for instrumentation. The previous All That Is Holy LP (FCS #41) and Check Your Zoo EP (FCS #43) contain some wonderful songs, but they sound a bit too much like the demos they ultimately are; several of those songs wound up, in more fully fleshed out form and with sometimes different titles, on later “official” records. On We’ve Moved, Tobias takes it up a notch and grandly orchestrates these little gems in inventive and compelling ways. For example, on “Corona Grande”, Tobias alternates what sounds like samples of Pollard and Elvis Presley combined with a nifty riff that manages to make this nothing of a song into a charming bit of pure pop. The whole record is full of moments like this and, if these be demos, then all the better – bring on the final product! This may not be for everyone, but if you’re a fan, it is essential. LP is limited to 500 copies.

The Takeovers: “Little Green Onion Man” EP (Off Records/HJRR CD/7”) The long-delayed “Little Green Onion Man” EP was worth the wait for those of us who appreciate the Takeovers’ brand of psychedelic cock-rock and this EP makes a fine companion to last year’s Bad Football (Off). The brainchild of former GBV bassist Chris Slusarenko, the music is, as you would expect, bass-centric and groove-oriented which makes for a change of pace from Tobias’s sometimes monolithic constructions. It’s sorta nice to hear Pollard in this setting, where rocking out is of primary importance and pretensions of any sort are held in check. As a result, of course, nothing really new is happening here and, to me, Pollard sounds slightly bored with it all. Still, this is an enjoyable romp if you don’t think too much about it. Both the CD and the 7” are limited to 950 copies, of which the first 500 7-inchers are hand-numbered - perfect for record-collector geeks and only available from the website.

Robert Pollard: “Weatherman and Skin Goddess” EP (GBV, Inc. 1-1 CD/12”) Here’s a preview of Pollard’s next “official” album on yet another new label, Robert Pollard Is Off To Business, due on June 22nd. On “Weatherman”, Pollard and Tobias explore the sort of multi-part epic art-rock they began in earnest with on the wonderful Silverfish Trivia EP (Prom Is Coming). Pollard sounds particularly engaged and his singing is superb. If this song is any indication, Off To Business will be a real winner. Two equally excellent B-sides (“Kiss the Quiet Man” and “Chat Factory Zero”) make this an especially delightful EP and definitely leaves me wanting more. The CD is limited to 1000 copies and the 12” is limited to 500 copies. Another Off to Business preview, “Gratification to Concrete”, is available as an MP3 here.

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The year-long Happy Jack Rock Records singles series is finally winding down with the final volume due at the end of next month. As with previous volumes, the B-sides range from the sublime (“Speak Again”, which appeared in instrumental form as “Speak In many Colors” on Silverfish Trivia) to the ridiculous (“Battle For Mankind 2”) with some minor gems (“Street Velocity”) and random oddities (“Revolver Tricks” sung by Stanley West – who?) in between. It’s been fun getting these in the mail every month or so, but I have to say the pressings have left a lot to be desired: almost all of them are off-center to one degree or another making for sometimes queasy listening. The promised CD of the B-sides will definitely be worth having if only for the stable intonation.

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Keeping up with Robert Pollard is neither easy nor inexpensive, but it’s a lot of fun for the fan. God bless him. The release of Robert Pollard Is Off To Business in June will coincide with the publication of Town of Mirrors: The Reassembled Imagery of Robert Pollard (Fantagraphics), a collection of Pollard’s collages and album cover art based upon his NYC gallery debut last year. After that, things appear to be tapering off until a new Circus Devils album, Ataxia, due in the fall. I can’t wait.

--rgc

Happy Record Store Day!

I made my way over to Grimey’s around 11:30 this morning since I didn’t want to miss out on the 20% off sale. The place was packed! The queue for the cash register stretched all the way across the store and took almost thirty minutes to get through. Nevertheless, everyone was happy to be there. The vast majority of folks, young and old, seemed to be purchasing new vinyl records which I thought was interesting. Myself, I took advantage of the sale to pick up the Sly & the Family Stone reissues on Sundazed. Gorgeous packaging and nicely pressed, these LPs look and sound fantastic.

Rain put a little bit of a damper on the outdoor festivities while I was there. I would have enjoyed hunting through the $1 bins, but I figured I had already done enough damage as it was. I did have a Yazoo Pale Ale before heading out (yum!).

Fun!

UPDATE: This article from yesterday's New York Times is worth reading.

UPDATE 2: Finished the day watching High Fidelity, possibly the ultimate record store movie. The book, by Nick Hornby, is even better.

--rgc

April 19th is Record Store Day!

Record Store Day is an attempt to get independent record stores together to promote themselves as an alternative to big-box chain stores. My personal favorite local indie record store, Grimey’s, will be having a big party all day with DJs, bands, beer, and food – and lots and lots of records on sale. Sounds like a good time to me!

I’ve always loved record stores and they’re the only places really that I’ve ever become a “regular” – you know, go in at least weekly, the staff know me, etc. While I still miss Tower for its breadth and depth (particularly with jazz and classical music), it was never as much fun as going to Grimey’s. Unlike a lot of record stores, with their aloof disdain for the unhip customer, the folks at Grimey’s are super-friendly and, more importantly, helpful to all comers. They are always totally psyched to help you find the music that you get off on. Righteous!

Sure, I order a lot of stuff online when I can’t find it elsewhere, but, if I can, I try to buy my records at Grimey’s simply because I just love hanging out in record stores. If you find yourself out and about on Saturday, swing by your local indie record store and buy something (there will be bargains!) to show your support for Record Store Day!

--rgc

Now Playing: Spring Heel Jack

Spring Heel Jack: Songs & Themes (Thirsty Ear/Blue Series, 2008)

Roy Campbell, Jr.: trumpet, pocket trumpet, flugelhorn, flute
John Coxon: guitars, bass, samples, violin, glockenspiel
Ashley Wales: samples
John Tchicai: saxophones, bass clarinet
John Edwards: bass
Tony Marsh: drums
Orphy Robinson: vibraphone
J. Spaceman: guitar (tr. 9 & 12)
Mark Sanders: drums (tr. 7)
Rupert Clervaux: drums (tr. 8)

It may appear that today’s Spring Heel Jack has little to do with their roots in the UK jungle/drum’n’bass scene of the 1990s, but their relationship to so-called “jazz” was always at least implicit. There are moments on 68 Million Shades (Island, 1996) and Busy Curious Thirsty (Island, 1997) where the mechanized beats subside and a pregnant space is opened up in the music that might be filled with, say, a breathy saxophone. Nowadays, the beats have been dispensed with altogether and the music is made up entirely of those open spaces.

Admittedly, Songs and Themes is not the bracing amalgam of cool electronics and free-jazz skronk found on the brilliant Masses (Thirsty Ear/Blue Series, 2001) or Amassed (Thirsty Ear/Blue Series, 2002), but this may be their most listenable record yet. Behind this hideously drab cover lies music of rare beauty.

Sure, it’s all atmosphere and much of it sounds a little bit like what ECM was doing in 1970s (minus the cavernous reverb), but that’s OK with me. I have always believed "fusion" was worth pursuing, regardless of its obvious failures. Sometimes, this record is just the right tonic: lush textures, tasteful contributions from all the musicians (notably, the sensitive hornplay of Roy Campbell and John Tchicai and the restrained feedback psychedelia of J. Spaceman), and there’s enough harmonic adventurousness to reward close, repeated listening. What’s not to like?

Even Liz especially enjoys this one and recommendations don’t come any higher than that!

--rgc