CGYT on WHFR (7)

What happened to four, five, six? They'll be posted soon. Along with my last DJ night recording, maybe. Along with maybe some new records soon.

My right turntable seems to have a problem. I'm not really sure what's causing it, first the right channel goes a bit low, then gets fuzzy, then the needle starts to skip. Happens with many records—including some on this show, so excuse the occasional skip. Also excuse the incredibly poor condition of "Carrie-Anne," I forgot that it sounds like a song pressed onto a piece of sandpaper.

CGYT on WHFR no. 7 (broadcast June 29th, 2008)

Isao Tomita, "'Star Wars' Main Title"
Buddy Holly, "Crying, Waiting, Hoping"
Roy Orbison, "Crying"
Cliff Richard, "The Young Ones"
Petula Clark, "Downtown"
Cat Stevens, "Lovely City,"
     Very Young and Early Songs
Everly Brothers, "Cathy's Clown"
The Hollies, "Carrie Anne"
The Coasters, "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart"
The Impacts, "Tears"
Them, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"
Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town"
Loudon Wainwright, "Clockwork Chartreuse,"
     Attempted Mustache
Richard and Linda Thompson, "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight,"
     I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
Joe South, "These Are Not My People"
The Kinks, "Apeman,"
     Lola versus Powerman and The Moneygoround
Hunger, "Workshop,"
     Endless Journey: Phase Two
The Music Box, "Take A Look Outside"
The Blackbirds, "Golden Sun,"
     No Destination
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, "Transparent Day,"
     Part One
Dion, "Josie"

I picked up the 1-buck Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, and Cliff Richards best-ofs in the last week, and was motivated to pull out some of the light pop I have on hand. It's summer, it's either that or a Jamaican themed show. I thought I might do an entire show of songs that skip. Maybe next week.

CGYT on WHFR (3)

Last night's Come Get Your Tomorrow (number 3, MP3 and playlist below) had a bit of an Asian theme. I've been reading The Last Samurai by Helen Dewitt (the book has nothing to do with that movie with the midget from Top Gun) and there's lots in that about The Seven Samurai, and so I was also then listening to some Kurosawa soundtracks. Radio show no. 3 starts out with a Masaru Sato song from Sanjuro, which is followed by some Japanese and Chinese pop, and then some Indian stuffs, which leads into jazz, and um, Donovan.

CGYT on WHFR no. 3 (broadcast May 18th, 2008)

Playlist:

(I can't recall exactly what all of them are and some are also not in languages I understand, but I'll fill in the blanks later.)

—, "?,"
     ?kids record?
Masaru Satô, "Sanjuro,"
     Sanjuro
?, "?,"
     "?Japanese pop record?
Kyo Sakamoto, "Sukiyaki,"
     7"
The Lucky Trio, "?,"
     ?Lucky Record?
Andy MacKay, "The Loyang Tractor Factory,"
     Resolving Contradictions
—,"?,"
     ?kids record
Sri Chimnoy,"Invocation,"
     Music For Meditation
Pia Srinivasan,"?,"
     Music For Vina, South India
Buddy Rich and Alla Rakha, "Rangeela,"
     Rich á la Rakha
Daniel Lentz, "Is It Love?" or "Wolf Is Dead..." (I can't remember),
     On The Leopard Alter
—, "?,"
     ?kids record?
Donovan, "I'll Try For The Sun" (with skip and double start),
     Fairy Tale
Blackbirds, "Golden Sun,"
     No Destination
Pharoah Sanders, "Japan,"
     Tauhid
John Tchicai & Strange Brothers, "Lost And Found,"
     John Tchicai & Strange Brothers
Ornette Coleman, "Friends And Neighbors (vocal),"
     Friends And Neighbors

The show lacked a bit of cohesion, but I'm happy without it came out. That Andy MacKay record is surprisingly good. And the Buddy Rich & Alla Rahka track is much better than I remember it being the first time I heard it.

CGYT on WHFR (2)

Come Get Your Tomorrow week number two aired yesterday on WHFR. The MP3 and playlist are below. I realize that since this post is immediately proceeded by the first CGYT post, I have clearly failed at my goal of posting once a week. It's partly because I have a bunch to do at work lately, and also that many of the records I've been listening to most lately are still available. I only want to post here records that are unavailable—both out of print and very hard to obtain.

Currently on repeat: Pete Seeger's soundtrack to Indian Summer which is available on CD, I believe, from the ever-in-print Folk Ways (or at least soon available as download from the Smithsonain), which combines great folk melodies on Banjo and rustic flute with sounds from the film such as dynamiting and barn-burning. Archie Shepp's Live at the Pan-African Festival, available on CD and vinyl (and probably MP3) from that label that keeps doing the BYG/Actuel reissues (sun-something? or is this one Get Back?), on which Shepp and I forget who else play soulful free jazz over north African drones and percussion. And John Tchicai and Strange Brother's self-titled release on the FMP label's sublabel, SAJ (FMP stands for Free Music Production and is Germany's most famous free jazz label; I don't know what SAJ stands for), which sounds very much like late 60s Ornette Coleman—fluid and somehow lyrical. The Shepp was on the last radio show. The Seeger is on this radio show. The Tchicai is not, though I had hoped to fit it in, so maybe next week.

CGYT on WHFR no. 2 (broadcast May 11th, 2008)

Playlist:

—, "Lion,"
     Sounds Of Our African Heritage
The Apollo Stars, "We're Moving In,"
     Power Of Source
Frank Lowe, "Chu's Blues,"
     Fresh
Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, "Sun Spots,"
     Forces And Feelings
—, "Elephant,"
     Sounds Of Our African Heritage
Oliver Lake, "Whap,"
     Passing Thru
Richard Landry, "4th Register,"
     A First Quarter
—, "Hippo,"
     Sounds Of Our African Heritage
George Lewis, "Triple Slow Mix,"
     Shadowgraph
Pete Seeger, "The Many Colored Paper,"
     Indian Summer
—,"Leopard" & "Vervet Monkey,"
     Sounds Of Our African Heritage

CGYT on WHFR (1)

I'll be preparing a weekly radio show for Washington Heights Free Radio (WHFR), a free-form pot-luck community internet radio station broadcast out of NYC.

The name of my show is Come Give Your Tomorrow (CGYT). You can hear it on WHFR by tuning in to whfr.org on Sundays at 4pm EST, which is 10pm CET.

I'll also be posting the mp3s here with an eventual podcast link to come.

CGYT on WHFR no. 1 (broadcast May 4th, 2008)

Playlist:

Van Q. Temple, "Down on the Highway,"
     "It's a Riot" no. 2: Allow Me To Demonstrate
Rahsaan Roland Kirk, "Celestial Bliss,"
     Prepare Thyself To Deal With A Miracle
Archie Shepp, "We Have Come Back Part 1,"
     Live At The Panafrican Festival
Van Q. Temple, "Black Power,"
     Allow Me . . .
ZANU choir, "Zvinozibwa ne ZANU,"
     Chimurenga Songs: Music of the Revolutionary
     People's War in Zimbabwe
Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin, "Sanctus,"
     If... soundtrack 7"
Longfellow Martin Magarula, "The Freedom Of Africa,"
     Uhuru Wa Afrika
Pompey, "Vampire,"
     12"
Sonny Okosuns Ozziddi, "Mother & Child,"
     Mother & Child
Van Q. Temple, "King Of The Road,"
     Allow Me . . .
Eddy Grant, "Hello Africa,"
     Message Man
Van Q. Temple, "Grand Wizard,"
     Allow Me . . .

Imagine the Sound

Archie Shepp / Bill Dixon - Peace (BYG 196?, recorded 1962)

Yesterday, on my way from work I was listening to Archie Shepp and Bill Dixon's record Peace and noticed that what really makes it such a great record is the rhythm section. Or really the way the two lead men play against the rhythm section.

The record starts off with staccato melody from the leads—syncopated harmonies, Dixon out in front with flourishes, Shepp playing every other note and mixing in sax-growls. Shepp's skipping of notes in the melody reminds me a bit of Steve Lacy & Don Cherry's version of Thelonius Monk's "Evidence." Right off the bat the rhythm section provides the propulsion for the song: Paul Cohen lays down a tinkling metronome on the drums that accents the On/Off feel of the melody with three beats of symbol play followed by three full of snare. Don Moore alternates between two heavily plucked chords. Bludgeoning his bass from the sound of it. Really beating it and getting such a thick sound.

But then the melody tapers off and the end of the opening is signaled by one last heavy pluck from Moore. The song sets into its groove: Shepp drops out (the song is called "Trio"), Cohen plays an unceasing cymbal tick with the occasional snare accent, and Moore changes tack completely, playing a fast and funky walking bass line that is changed up occasionally for heavy beating of the bass and some high end frills. The rhythm section reminds me a lot of Ornette Coleman's "Friends and Neighbors" (a record that's also been on my turntable a lot lately). The momentum of the rhythm section in Coleman's song allows the chorus to sing a sloppy, playful pop song; here it allows Dixon to play a slow, clean solo full of drawn-out, austere notes. Shepp pops up a little ways into the solo, first grumbling and growling, like a little kid complaining he's not being heard, and then peeping a really catchy riff, like he's goating Dixon into quickening his pace. And Dixon responds: Shepp stops, Dixon plays a couple last long notes and then starts again, this time overblown and quicker.

Dixon ends his solo and drops out, Cohen reduces his playing down to a ringing ride, and Moore is back to alternating chords; then Shepp enters with barely-audible breathy growls. He proceeds to lay down one really soulful solo. He takes advantage of everyone nearly dropping out but Moore, and starts off really busy, nearly covering the full range of his sax. He brings the pace of the song up, not by making it faster, but by packing more notes into the measure. Moore catches up, playing harder, jumping around more. Cohen comes back in with much less subtlety, adding more snare, many more accents. Dixon comes in now and then, as Shepp did during his solo, but in juxtaposition to Shepp's accompaniment to his solo, he adds drawn out background notes to Shepp's chaos. It builds and builds and then it ends. Everyone comes together again to play the melody and then seems to collapse from exhaustion.

I don't wish to dissect every song and I think I've already said too much, so I think I'll just leave the rest of the record to be discovered without description.

I'm surprised that the recordings don't seem to be available anymore. The record was originally on Savoy, but the copy I have is on BYG. I'm surprised that whichever label is up to all the BYG/Actuel reissues hasn't hit this one yet. I've seen mention of a Savoy CD, but the Savoy Jazz website, Amazon, nor the internet in general turns up info on its availability. But there is another release: a split LP of the Bill Dixon 7-tette and Archie Shepp with the New York Contemporary 5, which is really good, but doesn't have Shepp and Dixon on any tracks together.

Shepp and Dixon both played in Cecil Taylor's group in the 60s appearing on some of his records, but never at the same time: Shepp was in the group briefly in 1960, and Dixon for a short while in the middle of the 60s. The only recording I know of them together is this record. An amazing record.

I Come In Rocking, I Come In Sweet

I've been traveling a bit recently. That meant an interruption to the regular posting schedule I had promised myself I would stick to. It also meant new records of the sort I don't usually find in Munich. I was in Hamburg for a week on work, and then New York City for two weeks on vacation.

Pompey - "Vampire" / "Rockin' Calypso" (Rix Records, 1985)

I picked up this record at Gimme Gimme records in NYC. Obviously, I pulled it out of the bin because of the cover, but I bought it because the songs are great. I regret that I didn't pick up This Is Soca, which was sitting next to it in the bin and is listed on the Pompey discography.

Pompey, as far as I can glean from the internet, was a Barbadian soca/calypso band of the early 80s. These tracks are arranged by Ed Watson, the producer credited with creating the soca sound—a sound most well known from "Hot Hot Hot" (yeah, the song Buster Poindexter covered).

Up until now, the only calypso I've owned/heard has been cheapo LPs of the stuff I imagine was (is still?) played in Barbados hotel lobbies. In fact, I think a couple of the LPs I have even advertise on their sleeves that they are from true hotel-proficient bands. It's good stuff, but it's not as grooving as this record. "Vampire" sounds like a weird mixture of the lite calypso I'm used to and early 80s digital reggae; except it's missing any sense of the bravado cool of such reggae. Plus it's about Caribbean calypso vampires. Best idea for a movie. (Has that movie already been made?)

Adoring Their Sweethearts And Abusing The Spanish Conqueror

Attention! Los Incas!

(cover image to come)

Where exactly is the line between world music and international music? By international music I mean basically field recordings of ethnomusicological interest—that is, true folk music played by local folk musicians. Of course, the idea of calling it international music instead of folk music is Western-Europe- / North-North-American-centric. Field recording is the term I prefer to use, since this seems to be applied to all regions and cultures, from East Asia to West Virginia, African tribes to Bahamanian Catholic churches. But is international music a broader category than just field recordings? (A lot of record stores have international sections where they also put famous musicians from non-western countries or even just non-english language singers. It's where you find, say, Ravi Shankar, or the lesser-known Frenchies. I'll leave this category aside, though.)

By world music I mean, well, that shit that hippies buy in Barnes and Noble or the Earth Store or the Body Shop. It's usually staged in a clean studio and often doesn't use local musicians. Some of the interesting international LPs I've bought, however, are also recorded in studios and I think some may use western musicians.

Attention! Los Incas! is definitely recorded in a studio, but there's no mention of who is playing on the record at all, aside from an implication that the group itself is called Los Incas. (Very little info is given, though it's mentioned that the recordings were made by German Phonogram in 1970/72.) I guess because much of the record is boring (though often at least enjoyable), I feel like I could easily categorize it as world music. World music also seems to have an element of exploitation, whereas international music should be about celebrating and preserving a great tradition (which is what field recordings are usually about, hopefully). Los Incas has the feel of exploitation, or western-voyeurism.

But I bought it, and transfered it and now post it here, because it has two standout tracks. "A la orillas del Titicaca" is a perfect pop song. I have listened to it over and over since buying the record. It's so simple. The percussion is barely there, sounding like just a faint banging on a tight drum head, but it still manages to give the song such propulsion. On top of that is just two stringed instruments: one high pitched, accenting the beat with an alternating pluck strum pluck strum; one higher pitched, arpeggiating a melody from the chords. The strings sounds so tight and tinkly that they could be from a harpsichord. Maybe it is a harpsichord (though it sounds plucked). And that's the instrumentation: two plucked string-instruments (guitars? mandolins?) and a tom drum; and then a soothing voice.

"Jilicatas" has the same basic percussion sound, but much more of it. So much more that it has a martial feel. It's also so very simple: pounding drums, two breathy woodwinds (flutes? panpipes?) skidding along on the same melody not exactly in sync with each other, and some yelps. It's downright experimental sounding. I could pass this off as a Herds and Words recording. It's unfortunate that the track is only 1 minute 30, especially since the sleeve says it's an excerpt. The label (Fontana?!) could have cut out all the other tracks and given me 20 more minutes of "Jilicatas," I would have enjoyed that much more.