Another Late Pass...

Another band I kind of slept on; Seattle's Master Musicians Of Bukkake always turned me off from listening to them with their name, but after having been DRAGGED to a show of theirs recently, I'm a believer. The name is a godawful pun off of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka, a discovery of The Rolling Stones Brian Jones. The music is a sort of Sun City Girls styled world music, opening with "Bardo Sidpa" crackling fire, bells, eerie atmospherics, and it just gets better from there. My favorite track "Prophecy Of The White Camel/Namoutarre" is a stomping handclapping, chanting, rousing number. Fun to listen to, fun to sing along to when you're all by yourself! Also really great is the last track "Failed Future", which sound like a cut off of a John Carpenter soundtrack or the latest Zombi album. There's a lot of top shelf instruments being played on here, things that I have no idea what they are. World music may be a horrible way to describe the Master Musicians, but it's the closest comparison that works. I still don't like their name, I feel like it cheapens the music. Maybe that's a bad reason to not be into a group, but for me it's just how I feel. I'm glad I gave the Master Musicians Of Bukkake a chance though. I used up one of my "free CD's" stamp cards at Easy Street to buy mine, not exactly a bargain, but I'll take it. I highly recommend seeing these guys; their show is one of a kind, every one is different, fun, unpredictable. Try to find their records now, as they seem to be out of print already, this one the third in their "Totem Trilogy" being the easiest to find.

7 songs makes the count at 12996....

Good Grief...

January has been a weird month for me, my computer kind of pooped out on me, nothing special has been turning up in the bins at any of the stores I frequent, I've been buying a lot of music, putting it on my computer and not really listening to it either, there's a lot of catching up to do also. As a result of that, I haven't been buying a lot of music lately. But, when you come across a .99 cent copy of Jawbox's "For Your Own Special Sweetheart", you've got to pick it up. I found this at Jive Time and since I know I only have the "Grippe" album, I knew I needed this one. Next to "Grippe", this is my favorite Jawbox album. I have had many musician friends tell me that they are envious of the guitar tone on this album, and it does sound glorious. Kim Coletta's bass is perfect too, caught right in the middle of the guitars and drums, with enough character to stand out just a bit, without being too pushed up in the mix. A masterful lesson in recording an album in my opinion. Ted Nicely assisted Jawbox on this and got them to make their watershed album, probably the best sounding one that ANY DC band ever managed to. I owned this album when it came out, but probably sold it or gave it to someone, I honestly have no idea. Either way, I've been missing it. Everyone I knew was a bit surprised when Jawbox left Dischord for Atlantic records, many crying "Sell Out!", but all of that washes away when you listen to this. Atlantic seemed to have a lot of the better bands during the whole "Alternative" craze of the 90's. Jawbox was amongst the best along with the Melvins. Good god; "Savory" is amazing. Should have been such a big hit instead of the minor "college radio" smash it was. The whole album hits as hard and great as that track too, especially "Green Glass", one of my personal favourites. Such a great, moody album. After not having listened to it for many a year, it sounds as fresh as it did when it came out.

12 songs makes the count at 12989...

Spirits Rejoice...

I've been rediscovering my love for Jazz lately. A coworker of mine has been talking to me about Jazz nonstop. One of our shared loves is for the highly spiritual Albert Ayler. If John Coltrane was the heart of the new "Free Jazz" sound emerging in the mid to late 60's, then Albert Ayler was the soul. His themes were simpler than Ornette Coleman or Coltrane, but whereas those two had raw talent to back them up, Ayler only had dogged determination to have his voice heard. His sax was blistering, unleashing sharp spikes of fire at you. "Spirits Rejoice" isn't as well known as his "Spiritual Unity" album, but many of the themes that are on that classic album are on this earlier one; his simple folk melodies that harkened back to an earlier era of jazz. Poor Ayler wasn't as well received as a lot of the other new "Free Jazz" musicians, but his reputation for being a firebrand was well known in Europe where he almost always received a warm welcome. Albert's' brother Don Ayler played the trumpet on here and for most his later albums, as did Gary Peacock on bass and Sunny Murray on drums. These guys kept their albums rooted so that Ayler could find his spiritual Ecstasy in trying to send his notes out as far as possible. I'm convinced that no one else could have done a better job for him. This might not be the best first album to get into Albert Ayler, that one would be "Spiritual Unity", and his later discography is a bit of a thorny path when he decided to cut an R&B album, some people hated it, but really, you can't go wrong with any Albert Ayler, dude was one of a kind. I picked this up a at Easy Street for $5. And it's the sweet ESP reissue edition that looks real nice and has great liner notes. Get this....

5 songs makes the count at 17977....