Twelve Sine Tone Generators and a Bizarre Delay Technique

Nummer drei: the DHFI's Hörtest- und Meßplatte

This probably should have been the first record I posted, since it measures the quality of the stereo system used to transfer everything else. The DHFI is the Deutsche High-Fidelity Institut. This is one of those records one is supposed to use to test out and calibrate his hifi setup. I've been wanting one of these records for a long while—because I imagined the sounds and the instructional narration would be awesome. They are. Especially so in German.

You can hear that my system is not very good with very low and very high frequencies. My speakers were even less capable than everything else, as there are tones that were recorded by the computer that didn't make it out the speakers. I also discovered that there's an approximately 1 to 2 dB discrepancy between my left and right channels (haven't pinpointed the source yet, but I have managed to compensate for it). Neato, right?

Forgetting it's a calibration record, one can imagine it's a Richard Maxfield or Pauline Oliveros composition. It lacks the artful structuring (the actual hand of the composer or performer) of minimalist electronic composition; but that's precisely what allows it to be more minimalist than minimalism—there's no worry about putting in too much structure, when the structure is dictated by the purpose. 'Course, it's probably bullshit to analyze the artistic value of a test-record.

Take Up The Gun And Establish Self-Rule

Transfer #2: The ZANU Choir's Pamberi ne Chimurenga

(back cover)

ZANU is the Zimbabwe African National Union, the political wing of the Maoist faction of the majority-rule movement in Zimbabwe in the 1970s; the militant wing being ZANLA, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army. They and ZAPU—the Zimbabwe African People's Union, the Soviet backed faction (with its Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army, ZIPRA)—used song to stir up the masses. "Chimurenga" is shona for "struggle"; these are songs of the struggle.

This LP, recorded in the soldier camps sometime in the 1970s, most likely in Mozambique (see Thomas Turino's Nationalists, Cosmopolitans, and Popular Music in Zimbabwe for info, especially pp. 206–207), contains folk songs, church songs and European choral music with the words changed to spread the revolutionary message. The idea was to use songs familiar to the people, allowing for easy teaching. Most songs are purely vocal, since instruments were not widely available in the soldier's camps; but a few have really great hand percussion.

My favorite track is the first one, "Zvinozibwa NeZANU," apparently hymn-based, according to Turino. It tells the story of ZANU:

of how "The sons and daughters of Zimbabwe came together to form a Party," and how they "chose Mugabe to lead the people." It told how "after our leaders left the country, we followed them, one by one in small groups until there were many of us." The song tells of how nationalist leaders were jailed and murdered, and concludes, "Now we are armed to the teeth, Our soliders are spoiling for a fight" (Turino, p. 211)

Come Give Your Tomorrow

I have a real record player for the first time in over three years. Two actually. A mixer, an amplifier and now also two cassette recorders/players. Since coming to Germany, aside from DJing at bars, or going over to a friend's place, I've been listening to my records on either shitty plastic Telefunken Hit 2000s or my trusty (though no-fi) Phillips UFO. But now I have a real hifi system with—and this is the first time in my life I've had this—real speakers. Like big speakers. Speakers I can annoy neighbors with, if I choose to. My friend Bernd just recently had his first child, and moved around apartments, and needed to make space, and so he's lent/given me all this equipment and it's awesome.

I used to transfer all my records to my computer for listening to on the go (until my ipod died) and for sharing with friends. Especially the odd items which you could never expect to download from any p2p network. I was using the shitty telefunkens (the only record players I had with outputs) to do the transfers; so the quality was beyond poor. I even continued when my work computer's left-input stopped working and I had to transfer everything in mono. But then I bought a computer of my own, and was able to search the p2p networks for most of what I bought on vinyl. And my shitty telefunkens all broke, one after another. So I stopped.

Since I can finally transfer records to the computer with real fidelity, I've started again. And I plan to put the odd, rare items (mostly field recordings) up on this blag.

First up: Roy Ayers - "If I Were A Carpenter" / "All Blues" (1968)

  


I bought this a few months ago at a shop in Munich. I think what caught my eye was Sonny Sharrock in the cover photo. It's a 45 rpm 12"; something I haven't seen before in jazz. It's pressed in Japan, and all the details of the recordings are in Japanese. I figured these tracks had to show up on a compilation of Ayers' material from this time period, but I don't see mention of it anywhere on the web.

It's recorded as a quartet (the Roy Ayers Quartet 2): Roy Ayers on vibes, Miroslav Vitous on bass, Bruno Carr on drums, and "Sony" (sic) Sharrock on guitar. Both songs are really sparse with no one musician laying down a rhythm or keeping time alone throughout. Though you can feel a regular tempo on both (though not always on "All Blues"), it's hard to pinpoint where it comes from. The musicians trade off little lines that keep the tempo, without one person holding it for very long—an interesting way to be free. Neither the drums nor the bass serve a pure rhythm function: Carr comes in and out, with frequent heavy crashes, providing texture and the occasional time keeping. Vitous basically solos the whole time. Occasionally he and Ayers hint at the melody of "If I Were A Carpenter," but the song provides mostly just a guide for (nearly) free improvisation. Sonny Sharrock is awesome as usual, alternating thick hard-strummed texture and quiet background-noodling.

Looking for info online (I didn't find anything substantial), I found that Herbie Mann (who "presents" this 12") recorded a version of "If I Were A Carpenter" for his 1968 album Windows Opened. Roy Ayers, Miroslav Vitous, Bruno Carr, and Sonny Sharrock—aka the Roy Ayers Quartet 2—are Herbie Mann's band. It's really interesting to compare the two versions. Herbie Mann's is a straight jazzed cover of the Tim Hardin song. It's not bad. Actually, it's quite good. Ayers, Vitous, Carr, and Sharrock lay down such a solid, thick, well-textured rhythm; but that's all they do. As Herbie Mann solos around the melody, they never depart from their rhythmic roles. Quite a contrast to the Ayers 12" version.

(Windows Opened is overall not bad. I rather like the cover of "There Is A Mountain," which is possibly Donovan's best song. The band achieves a nice groove on most of the songs, due to the great rhythm section.)