the of mirror eye

Due to moving to a new place, where I won’t have internet access for a week and going on a mini-vacay, I’ve decided to take a small break.  Don’t worry, it’ll only be a couple, two - three week vacation.  Hope everyone continues to do well and definitely check back soon.

-cb

* John Zorn: At the same time as performing and producing for his new label (8.5 mb) | John Zorn’s appetite for improvisation (1.0 mb) | Stephen Drury - Carney (4.0 mb) | A close collaborator and friend of Zorn’s (1.5 mb) | Aporias. Requia for Piano and OrchestraThe volume and diversity of his output (5.5 mb) | (3.5 mb) | Closing (0.5 mb)
From Documentary (Part 4) : BBC Radio 3 : London, England

Well, here’s the last of the Zorn documentary. I apologize that I had to stretch it out this much, but download limits and such came into play. I hope you’ve been enjoying this series as much as I have. John Zorn is truly one of the greats of the modern/improv/avant/jazz/noise/metal/NY downtown scene and it’s great to be able learn more about him. He’s a man who does what he does with absolute conviction and sincerity and it’s too bad more people aren’t like that.

Well I don’t really have these wild dreams that I want to do this or want to do that. I’m very pragmatic, I work with the people that are available to me. I will continue to do improv concerts, I will continue to make music with the Masada band, I will make file card pieces. Everything kind of continues concurrently, and each piece is done, completed and move on to another one. Instead of regurgitating the same thing over and over and over in different contexts, which seems to be what most people are comfortable with. I meant every single note I ever made and I played it and created it with as much passion and sincerity as I could. (John Zorn)

This last section is where things kind of break down, as they tried to stuff too much into this part. I wish they would of produced a couple more parts to the documentary, but I’m grateful for what they got.

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As before, the whole dealie can be found (here).

Also, if you’re interested, here’s a listing of all the music profiled over the four parts.

Program 1: “Soho Music Gallery”
(July 1, 2000 London, England, BBC Radio 3)
- John Zorn: Spillane
- John Zorn: Wind Ko / La
- Anthony Braxton: To Pianist Cecil Taylor
- John Zorn: Mikhail Zoetrope
- John Zorn: Lacrosse
- John Zorn: Hockey
- John Zorn: Cobra
- John Zorn: Cartoon Music
- Derek Bailey: Improvised Music NY 1981
- Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet: Minor Meeting

Program 2: “The Big Gundown”
(July 8, 2000 London, England, BBC Radio 3)
- John Zorn: Shuffle Boil
- John Zorn: The Big Gundown
- John Zorn: Spillane
- John Zorn / Kronos Quartet: Forbidden Fruit
- Kronos Quartet: Cat O Nine Tails
- Napalm Death: The Missing Link
- John Zorn: WRU

Program 3: “Torture Garden”
(July 15, 2000 London, England, BBC Radio 3)
- Naked City: Lonely Woman
- Naked City: Snagglepuss
- Naked City: Igenious Ejaculation / Blood Duster / Hammerhead
- Naked City: Demon Sanctuary
- Naked City: Perfume Of A Critic’s Burning Flesh
- Painkiller: Pashupatinath
- Painkiller: Black Chamber
- Naked City: Grang Guignol
- Naked City: La Cathedrale Engolou
- John Zorn: Shteti (Ghetto Life)
- Masada: Halisah
- Masada: Ruach

Program 4: “Masada And Beyond”
(July 22, 2000 London, England, BBC Radio 3)
- Nani Nani: Eep Man
- John Zorn: In The Temple Of Hadjarim
- John Zorn: Night Hotel 2
- Satlah: Hasar Hamemuneh
- Satlah: Prem 17
- Milford Graves: Grand Unification
- John Patton: Congo Chant
- James Blood Ulmer: Devotion
- Stephen Drury: Carny
- John Zorn / American Composers Orchestra: Impetuoso
- John Zorn: Fils Des Etoiles

* John Zorn: Intro, fourth part (0.5 mb) | John Zorn & Yamatsuka Eye - Nani Nani (1.5 mb) | Could that have been the sound of a lone saxophonist (2.5 mb) | Night Hotel 2 (2.0 mb) | With the composer’s series and an archival series (3.0 mb) | Zamir - Poem 17 (4.0 mb) | As well as giving new talent an outlet on his label (2.5 mb)
From Documentary (Part 4) : BBC Radio 3 : London, England

Well, coming up are the last two sections of this documentary series. This one goes into the formation of Tzadik Records, John Zorn’s label. Tzadik Records is an amazing label that is so wide ranging in genres that it’s mind blowing. With everything from a Composer Series to a New Japan Series to a Radical Jewish Culture Series to a Lunatic Fringe Series, John Zorn really gives all “out there” musics a chance to shine.

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As before, click (here) for one-stop shopping for the above tracks.

* Mathematicians: LCD (10.0 mb) | Weapons Of Math Instruction (6.5 mb)
From Level Two : Make Your Fate Records : MYF 4

This band, Mathematicians put on one of the best shows that I’ve seen in a long time. I knew nothing about them beforehand, but they immediately drew me in from the first note. They somehow mixed together aspects of the Beastie Boys, Devo and Revenge Of The Nerds into an amazingly cohesive whole. Hailing from the tri-county region of upstate New York, this trio (plus video dude) of Pete Pythagoras on bass, Albert Gorithm IV on drums and Dewi Decimal on synths are absolutely amazing. They’re all fantastic musicians and really pour their all into their performances. I would definitely check them out if you can. Totally worthwhile.

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* Eric B & Rakim: Microphone Fiend (7.5 mb) | Lyrics Of Fury (6.5 mb) | Eric B. Never Scared (8.5 mb)
From Follow The Leader : Geffen Records

For a glorious couple of years, the partnership of DJ Eric B and MC Rakim produced some of the finest hip-hop ever made. Even though Paid In Full (1987), their debut release fully cemented their place in the hip-hop hall of fame, they didn’t rest on their laurels. Their follow up, Follow The Leader (1988) managed to expand on the groundwork they laid on Paid In Full.

Rakim redefined the art of the rap. He was “…neither a battler, a freestyler, nor a “put-your-hands-in-the-air” master of ceremonies, he took his time to write a rhyme, and it showed. He specialised in the elliptical, spring-loaded rap-as-poem, delivered in the silky-steel voice of a gentleman criminal. Compared to the simple-minded nastiness of 1990s thug-lifers, Rakim comes off like Hannibal Lecter in a room full of B-movie baddies, his measured modulation only adding to the menace. In the days before MTV embraced rap and the Benz ‘n’ booty video became drearily ubiquitous, Rakim slayed the crowd with mere words, ideas and the rough grain of his voice (Global Darkness)”. This isn’t to say that Eric B didn’t contribute just as equally to the albums. He was a master of the turntable and created amazingly smooth cut ups of 808 kicks and samples. Even though these beats were created twenty years ago, they still sound fresh and hip.

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* Guided By Voices: Tractor Rape Chain (5.0 mb) | The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory (2.5 mb) | I Am A Scientist (3.5 mb) | Peep-Hole (2.0 mb) | You’re Not An Airplane (1.0 mb)
From Bee Thousand : Scat Records : Scat35

Back in my senior year of high school, I started dabbling more in the indie music realm, started reading smaller music magazines in search of other music and started to try and expand my horizons. I remember reading about this band Guided By Voices recording this completely amazing album, Bee Thousand. So, I decided to check them out at the local record mart (this one allowed free listens). I wish that I could say that I was cool enough to totally appreciate the band on first listen. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

My first listen to Bee Thousand resulted in total and utter confusion. I mean, here were a load of half-finished, barely recorded, nonsensical songs that I just didn’t understand. I guess I just wasn’t ready to grasp the genius that is Guided By Voices. I also wish that I could say that I quickly realized the errors of my ways, but it really wasn’t until a year or so later that I, at the urging of some friends, finally gave it a real listen. And to my surprise, I totally loved it.

Guided By Voices got it right back in 1994. Bee Thousand is the band’s definitive moment, the point when the ringing Who-isms of Pollard’s youth– filtered through four-tracks and his own post-punk, X-Men, stream-of-consciousness quirks– finally matured beyond the atonal growing pains of Vampire on Titus and Propeller. The distinction was slight but unmistakable– like learning to harness all the jaw-dropping, stadium-quaking power of Propeller’s triumphant exclamation (”I’m much greater than you think!”) without all the run-up or refining the unworked defiance of “Exit Flagger”. On Bee Thousand, GBV mastered all those fragments of greatness and assembled an entire album from them. (from Eric Carr)

This is a completely amazing album that’s quite possibly one of the defining artifacts of the lo-fi revolution. The songs, are absolute pop gems that shine with their brilliance.

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