∆RCHITECT- A RELIGION ON YOUR WRIST
‘Dis ma shit. I recorded this on January 7, 2011 over a span of 44-or-so minutes, using only a crate bass amplifier, a bass effect pedal, tenor saxophone, flute, bass recorder, my vocal chords, an African xylophone-esque instrument, etc. I hope you enjoy it. More to come.
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ORNETTE COLEMAN- TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION!
1959 appeared to be a prolific year for jazz musicians endeavoring to produce new and highly unconventional sounds in order to break away from the ever-monotonous bebop and straight ahead jazz agenda that ultimately defined jazz in the 1940’s and 50’s. Artists such as Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Miles Davis, etc. really started incorporating rather unusual approaches into their methods of composition and improvisation, utilizing the concepts of “levels of dissonance” (most-likely brought about by the development of atonal/avant-garde music in Europe and the U.S.) and free form improvisation, really portraying the spontaneity and vigor of the beat generation and other counter culture movements to come. What’s interesting about this album is that it is more of a crossover album from straight ahead and bebop into the developing free jazz genre than it is just visceral free jazz. The compositions are still rather conventional as far as consonance and accessibility goes, albeit Coleman and Don Cherry’s (Trumpet) solo motifs are rather detached from the main melodies and sporadic in time and key. All-and-all, fantastic album. Can’t stop listening to it. Get hip to it and listen for yourselves.
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STEVE REICH- MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS
This is an album that I could completely immerse myself in for an infinite amount of time. Heavily hypnotic, captivating, and repetitious motifs (produced by both synthesized and acoustic voices) make the listener (or me, at least) feel sedated, yet oddly enough stimulated in the sense that they (I) become extremely transfixed on either the music itself or a current task and tend to disregard all extraneous distractions. For me, it was the music—I had a hard enough time trying to write this description… sorry if this is complete nonsense haha. Definitely worth a listen.
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KEVIN DRUMM- SHEER HELLISH MIASMA
Static-heavy cacophonous mayhem comin’ at you from Kevin Drumm. Turn on, tune in, and drone the fuck out.
PIERRE SCHAEFFER-L’OEUVRE MUSICALE (DISK II)
It’s amazing and a tad perplexing for me to think that electronic music and the concept of sound-manipulation has dated back all the way to the early 1940’s. While Jazz, Blues, and “Conventional” Classical Music virtually dominated the airwaves of the U.S. and Europe, composers and musicians such as Pierre Schaeffer—the pioneer of “Musique Concrète”—, Karlheinz Stockhauzen, Iannis Xenakis, etc. were experimenting with unconventional and highly innovative methods of composition via electronics and field recordings, creating vast dissonant soundscapes that portrayed the highly surreal message of the developing Avant-Garde movement. As an Avante-Garde/Noise musician I feel that we owe a lot to this man for paving the way in today’s electronic/fluxus music and urge that we try to preserve and emulate this music as much as possible.
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REFUSED- SONGS TO FAN THE FLAMES OF DISCONTENT
Swedish post-hardcore super-group Refused incorporates swirling torrents of breakdowns, emotionally driven left-wing lyrics, etc. to create a sound unlike any other hardcore band you’ve heard in your life. What really makes these guys for me is the relatively disjointed (yet completely on-tempo) motifs that they throw down, making the music almost sound jazzy in a sense… Makes perfect sense considering they’re Swedish. This is a must for everyone who legitimately likes hardcore music.
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MIGHTY SPARROW- FIRST FLIGHT
Good vibes all around from my man The Mighty Sparrow (the moniker of Trinidad Calypso legend Slinger Francisco). His songs are absolutely euphoric and infectious, albeit hinder on the point of risque and repugnant lyric-wise. Simply put; fun music that’ll get your ass shaking!
