Jan 31 2008
I’m in a shopping mall, in the food court. From around the corner, some distance away, I can hear the sound of throbbing rock and roll guitars. No distinct rhythm or melody, just a low ominous churning rock and roll growl, getting slightly closer.
David Byrne has an excellent blog, and this is my favourite post so far. Who hasn’t had nightmares about that Rammstein sound? :)
Jan 30 2008
Bookmarks for the last few days:
Jan 30 2008
I was introduced to Afro Celt Sound System by my friend Jeff (at least that’s how I remember it; some of those mid 90s parties are a bit hazy :). They’re a UK-based crossover outfit that marries Irish traditional music with West African influences and wraps the whole thing into electronic/dubby sounds (guess that’s the “Sound System” part).
What’s great about ACSS is that they came right out of the gate with a fully formed sound - the first track on the first album already had all the elements they would develop and iterate later. I’ve always been fascinated by the swirly jigs and reels of Irish and Scottish music - my sense is that this is an Ur form of trance music because of its repetitive nature (and social performance for singing/playing along or dancing). And I really like bagpipes, fiddles, accordions and flutes. And I think the bodhran (pronounced ‘boh-ran,’ as I just learned yesterday) is a wonderful percussion instrument. So the idea of melding these things with West African music - percussion, guitars, koras, vocals - seemed like a good idea. In the same way that sometimes, what seems like a good idea bombs terribly and turns into a failed experiment, especially in the ‘world fusion’ department.
But Afro Celt Sound System pull it off resoundingly. In fact, they’re one of the best examples of how sensitive musicians can forge something net-new by merging age-old traditions (other examples may be Nitin Sawnhey and Nigel Kennedy and the Kroke Band).
Much of ACSS’s strength lies in strong production from founder Simon Emmerson and vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird. The production values on each of its 5 studio albums (there’s also a remix CD/DVD set) are very high. It’s all on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label and he even guests on a track (’When You’re Falling’ on Volume 3: Further in Time). Other guests, spread across the records, include Sinéad O’Connor, Robert Plant, Sevara Nazarkhan, Jesse Cook, Eileen Ivers and Shooglenifty.
I like the gentle but pronounced progression in these albums - volumes 1 through 5 really do constitute a journey, a growth series for this band.
Volume 1: Sound Magic flexes its wings, opens up possibilities and tries things out while staying close to a tribal/dance/electronica format in many respects, meeting the predominant genre of the day head-on. Even the slow, reflexive tracks have heavy bass lines and thick, dubby rhythms. Volume 2: Release was the great coming-out of ACSS into the world or world music, a time - I seem to remember - when they toured a lot and were quite highly regarded in circles ranging as far as world music fans and trance/tribal house kids. Volume 3: Further in Time was searching, establishing more of a pop sound and leveraging some famous guests. It was musically very accomplished but perhaps not as exciting as the first two records.
Seed (no ‘Volume’ here but really Volume 4) was quieter and maybe a little confused. It was a more acoustically focused affair, more ‘ethnic’ and folky sounding. Then came Pod, a collection of remixes - some are excellent, but overall it’s probably not worth spending the money (however, the real selling point for me was the DVD which has the video for ‘When You’re Falling’). Finally, Volume 5: Anatomic seems to be the mature artist statement - a beautiful, measured, deeply touching and highly entertaining work.
I certainly hope they’ll keep making music. I think (naively, perhaps) that the world needs more successful crossover acts. I find them musically more engaging and fulfilling than most ’straight-up’ things I hear. I appreciate this for its subtlety and quiet beauty - which is not to say it’s quiet. Some of it is quite raucous, good for toe-tapping or dancing a jig.
Jan 30 2008
One of my permanent annoyances/constant amusements about living in the English-speaking world is what happens to my name when others try to pronounce it. My first name, Carsten, is a typical Northern German/Danish first name, widely used in Scandinavia and Germany. It means ‘Christian,’ I believe. In German, you’d pronounce it ‘Kah-stn.’ With a silent R and the vowel in the last syllable is sort of swallowed. For most of my adult life - since I’ve lived in English-speaking countries - I’ve been ‘Car-sten,’ with a pronounced R (level or rolling tends to depend on where you are… South Africans roll it one way, North Americans another).
My last name is where it gets interesting (I’m not sure if that should be ‘last name’ or ’surname’ - that’s another North America versus Europe discussion). Knoch is really hard to pronounce for any English-speaking person from just having heard or read it - none of the German sounds make any sort of sense to their tongues, teeth and palates. What I get most frequently is ‘Notch’ or ‘Knock.’ (At the pharmacy, they pronounced it ‘Notch’ and couldn’t find my prescription because they’d filed it under ‘T’. Still no medication for stupidity. Go figure.)
My parents lived in Canada for a couple of years before I was born. So for most of my childhood, I heard field reports about how North Americans would say our name. Their observations turned out to be accurate.
Pronouncing my last name properly isn’t really that hard. The K is pronounced (it’s not a silent K - English doesn’t have this in any convention or exception [think knight, knife…]). The rest of the word sounds Scottish, like the ‘och’ in Loch Ness. Knoch. How hard can it be?
Jan 27 2008
Bookmarks for the last few days:
Jan 27 2008
(Direct URLs: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007DBJMI/ and http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007NMKOY/)
Always experimental and always an outsider musician as far as a general sort of listenership would be concerned, Bill Laswell’s contribution to popular music has nevertheless been a fantastic journey of the offbeat and powerful. I’m familiar with Laswell’s work primarily through his remixes/reworkings/dub plates. All of those terms, incidentally, don’t really seem to capture what he does, though: it’s a creative re-imagining of a source body of work, executed by someone who has complete mastery of the digital audio production realm (I think of Bill Laswell as someone with the same level of limitless production capabilities as Amon Tobin, for example - only Laswell’s been at it a few decades longer). I’ve immensely enjoyed his reworkings of Bob Marley, Miles Davis and Sussan Deyhim over the years. (I’ve toyed with his ‘Imaginary Cuba’ disc in the record store but haven’t bought it yet. And everyone who can get their hands on them should listen to the Gigi albums he produced.)
These two CDs are collections of classic dub tracks by famous creators like King Tubby, Sly and Robbie, The Upsetters, Prince Jammy, Augustus Pablo and others. And Laswell gently re-imagines them, strings them together, interlaces them with small bits of sound that weave them together into a coherent whole. Levels are adjusted, the bass made maybe a little crunchier, dubbier, tighter (some of the originals were way out there in terms of crazy analogue dub production… and today’s ears may have slightly different expectations). Bill Laswell also reigns in the pervasive tape hiss from the originals (a result of endlessly spliced, erased, overdubbed tapes that were basically in tatters by the time the producers were through with a track). Everything gets a new sheen, but one that’s appropriately analogue-sounding and respectful of these classic tracks and their immense straight-on assault on the ears.
On a good stereo, with good headphones, late at night, these two discs are a wonder of sonic exploration. It’s the sort of thing that can keep you up a good deal past your bed time. Time well spent.
Jan 25 2008
(Direct URL: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ICLT9G/)
My sister introduced me to this a few years ago. She lived in New Zealand then, as do Fat Freddys Drop, a live dub band. This is basically dubby roots reggae played by a (very good) live band. It loses momentum a little during the second half of the record, but much of it is spectacular. It’s really great late-night music.
This is one of those sleeper CDs, the records that someone recommends, and you start to like them a little… and then they just sort of stay in your CD player/on your MP3 player and never really go away because there’s always some new aspect to be heard. Highly recommended.
Jan 24 2008
Today’s bookmarks:
Jan 24 2008
(Direct URL: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000WTBMBK/)
For anyone still standing at the end of the long, strange journey through the tunnel of electronic music, particularly all the different forms of house over the years, this is lovely, emotional, introverted and perhaps a little nerdy. It’s also very, very good in a genre-transcending sort of way. The producer (whose real identity is apparently a secret, woo hoo) makes dubby headphone soundscapes based on the fast-yet-somehow-serene broken beats of two-step and grime. It’s really great to put on repeat while working. Not sure what that says about it, but I find it strangely motivating :)
Detailed Pitchfork piece here.
Jan 23 2008
Today’s bookmarks:
