Unfortunately, due to moving and other circumstances, I might not be able to post much this week. So, if updates are erratic or non-existent, that’s the reason. But October will definitely see the return of scheduled postings.
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* Borbetomagus: Bergen Community College (15.5 mb)
From Sauter, Dietrich, Miller : Agaric Records : Agaric 1982
The past couple of weeks I’ve had to go visit my local Doctors. And, oh boy do I ever hate going to them. The past two times, I’ve had appointments at a certain time, get there (I even get there early) and sit and wait. Sit and wait. Sit and wait. My last appointment, I had to wait over 2 (two) hours before the doctor saw me, which made me late for a concert. Not to mention the complete waste of time. I could’ve gone home and taken a nap, if I had known that it was gonna be a two (2) hour wait.
But what does this have to do with today’s post? Well, whenever I get that pissed off, I like to blow off some steam and listen to some good ole noisy stuff. Some, spine tinglin’, nasty-assed, blow off some major steam, sort of noise. And that’s what these fine fellow do. Borbetomagus, comprised of saxophonists Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich and guitarist Donald Miller, have been blowin’ their brand of over-the-top, balls-to-the-wall free jazz for over twenty years now, and show no signs of slowing down. But it’s not just about the aggression and the noise.
Their very physical performances are routinely described in terms of muscle and sublimated homoerotica, largely down to the onstage action. But clearly there’s a lot more going on. Borbetomagus use noise to clear a real-time space within which the armour of personality can dissolve like candyfloss, leaving them free to assemble a meaningful syntax from volume, speed and texture.
Everytime I post something like this, I always feel like apologizing, since I know most people wouldn’t even consider this music. But really, give it a shot. It won’t kill you, and who knows, if the volume is up high enough maybe it’ll even open up some doors you didn’t know existed.
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* Roscoe Holcomb: Moonshiner (2.0 mb) | Little Birdie (2.5 mb) | Walk Around My Bedside (4.0 mb)
From The High Lonesome Sound : Smithsonian Folkways Recordings : SF CD 40104
There’s something that’s just so magical to me about that old tyme sound. The idea that this whole musical style developed in relative backwoods isolation, with self taught musicians passing songs down from generation to generation, utilizing the oral traditions, is just incredible to me. And Mr. Roscoe Holcomb was one of the finest of them all.
Though he had been playing music all his life, content to sit on his back porch in Daisy, Kentucky, pickin’ music after a hard day at the mines, his “discovery” in 1959 changed a lot of that. John Cohen (the recorder of this here album), using a combination of intuition and information, drove down a dirt road that would introduce him to Roscoe Holcomb, a rail-thin ex-miner/lumber/construction worker. There, he proceeded to get to know Mr. Holcomb and record this amazingly pure music.
Appalachian posture, hard work, hard life, broken health, coal mines, lumber mills, moonshine, and conflict between old and new ways all gave an edge of his music. Although he rarely talked about the poverty he was raised in, it clearly shaped his outlook. He never saw himself as important, and he was neither assertive nor ambitious. Yet there was something heroic and transcendent in his singing. It had a power that went straight to the listener’s core. His spiritual concern was beautiful and always present, revealed with a sharp, cutting expression of pain. He said,
“You know, music-it’s just spirtual. You can take just a small kid, I’ve noticed, that can’t even sit alone, and you pull the strings on some kind of instrument, fiddle or banjo, you watch how quick it draws the attention of that kid. And he’ll do his best to get ahold of that. It draws the attention of the whole human race. You never see a man pick up an instrument but what everybody is looking and listening at this music. It sounds better to some than it does to others; some can learn it, and some can’t learn it, and that’s why I say it is a gift.
His inherent sense of musicality was highly developed; the finely honed quality of his voice coupled with the wildness it conveyed. As Bob Dylan commented, “Roscoe Holcomb has a certain untamed sense of contrl, which makes him one of the best.” (from the liner notes)
This “wildness” is readily apparent from even the first listen to this music, it strikes at the heart strings and never lets go.
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* Brush: Tears Of Child (6.5 mb) | Tomb Stone (13.5 mb)
From Brush!? : Shadoks Music : Shad 047CD
Apparently, this album is considered to be one of the rarest albums to come out of psychedelic Japan. And judging by the complete lack of information on the interweb about this band/release (it’s not even listed on the Shadoks Music website and every blurb I’ve seen about this band is taken from promotional copy), I’d say that this is probably pretty rare. Helmed by Masayoshi Tokanaka of Flied Egg fame, this album combines a bit of the harder West Coast psych with some very nice jazz and progressive touches.
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* The Beach Boys: Wouldn’t It Be Nice (2.5 mb) | I’m Waiting For The Day (3.5 mb) | I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times (3.5 mb)
From Pet Sounds : Capitol Records : CDP 7 48421 2
I remember the first time I’d ever heard this album, it was at a record store in the Twin Cities. I remember one of the clerks put it on, and Wouldn’t It Be Nice came blasting out of the speakers. I remember my ears perking up when I heard it, and my mind being blown when I saw that it was The Beach Boys. I thought, there’s no way that they sound like this. It wasn’t until a couple of years later that I finally got past my own preconceptions, bought the album and was blown away again. There’re just so many layers to this album.
It’s strange to think that Pet Sounds, the Brian Wilson masterpiece is now celebrating it’s 40 year anniversary. And it still sounds as fresh now as it did back when it was first released. In fact, if a modern day group could even come close to the psychedelic pop perfection that is Pet Sounds, I don’t know what I would do. Actually, I know what I would do, I would eat my own ass, if there was another group who could even come close to this kind of perfection. It just cannot be done. The music itself is pure perfection, paired with the world weary lyrics and the immaculate vocal harmonies, and you have an album that rightly belongs in the top 1 of all psychedelic pop albums ever made.
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* Raymond Scott Quintette: Egyptian Barn Dance (2.5 mb) | The Penguin (2.5 mb) | Pretty Petticoat #3 (3.0 mb) | Powerhouse (3.0 mb)
From Microphone Madness : Basta Music : 30-9109-2
In addition to writing cartoon music and minimalist masterpieces for children (look here), Raymond Scott composed and recorded some amazing jazz music. Despite being a six-piece jazz group (seven, if you count the microphone), the Raymond Scott Quintette powered their way through some furiously paced jazz.
An argument could be made that the six-man “Quintette” was in fact the Raymond Scott Septet - if you count what Scott considered one of the most important “member” of the band: the microphone. In viewing photographs of Scott and his late-’30’s ensembles, it’s curious how many tableaus include the mic. Granted, most of these images were snapped in radio and recording studios, where mics are ubiquitous. But the prominences accorded to microphones in these pictures seems to indicate that Generalissimo Scott - who, just as he drilled his musical troops, doubtless barked orders during phot shoots - wanted to emphasize the mic as a “silent” partner in the band.
Another tool of Scott’s composition process was the transcription disc. Rehearsals were recorded and the discs were taken home for scrutiny. Scott employed recombinant DNA on these fledgling works, frafting together unrelated passages to create a larger, “compound” work. This explains why so many RSQ compositions contain seemingly unrelated passages and radical tempo shifts. “The fellows would be around the piano, and I’d say, ‘You play this, you play that, you play this,’ and then we’d record,” explained Scott. “Then I’d throw out half of it. I’d make another rehearsal recording, and I’d take that home and study it. Then I’d come back the next day and change it, or add a couple more parts.” The result: sound sculpture with a zigzag pulse. (from the liner notes)
Of course this music couldn’t happen without an able ensemble backing him up, which he most definitely had. They all, in a way, had a big part in the way that the music was composed. Mr. Scott would give them melodies and general feelings on the piano, which the ensemble would then interpret in their own, unique way. The music on this double disc set is a treasure trove on unreleased, rehearsals and radio performances. Lovingly curated, this release definitely brings to light the musical genius that is the Raymond Scott Quintette.
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