t yp i n g in a sm a ll ro o m

I worked in a record store for awhile back in the 80s and, along with spending most of my salary on store product, I got to hear all the new stuff coming out.  I first heard Midnight Oil there (just saw, by the way, that Peter Garrett has become part of the new Aussie government – about time) and Paul Kelly (those two are worth the price of admission alone).   A raft of others.  Some really bad (this was the 80s after all). 

An interesting idea back then was I.R.S. Records’ No Speak series.  Miles Copeland (of Sting-management and Stewart-brother fame), head of the label, commissioned a series of albums that were instrument-only and had a rock sensibility.  I remember that there was talk of folks who grew up with rock wanting to be able to have something to play in their offices, etc. that was a bit less intrusive than the hair-band wails that were then the vogue.  I thought it was a great idea.  Alas, as mentioned, this was the 80s. I remember most of them as being pretty marginal (I’d have to dig out my old LPs to verify that) – too many synths, drum machines, etc. I think there was a Stewart Copland set that was decent. Anyway, great idea (and nice logo).

This came to mind the other day because I was talking to someone about how I’d been listening to all these great instrumental pieces on Pandora (mentioned previously).  This is what No Speak should have been (maybe could have been if it had stuck around).  Some really inventive, meditative, quirky, driving tunes and improvisations from bands like Barky, Kinski, Major Stars, Don Caballero and Red Stars Theory.  Great stuff.  The Music Genome is a great idea.  I’m using it to create my own ‘No Speak’ threads but it could as easily be 80s hair-band wailing (though not with me in the room).

Listening as I write this to ‘back on top’, the latest set of tunes from happy apple.  I love these guys.  I spent a good bit of time awhile back telling everyone who would listen (and some who wouldn’t so much) about how great these guys are.  The new disc continues – wonderful, quirky, funky, beautiful tunes.  Someone along the line made a comment that they were jazz for the ears of folks who grew up with rock ‘n’ roll.  Maybe.  I’ve listened to a lot of jazz (and the arguments about who’s continuing/not continuing/destroying/supporting the genre) and I think these guys are just carrying it forward.  It makes me smile.  It makes me think.  It makes me tap my toes.

There are side projects and other bands that tie into this group (and they are pretty cool in their own right – gang font, bad plus, etc.) but for me this mix is at the front.

[A few of their latest tunes can be heard here]

Another note from the Times, this one in the Book Review from a week or so back.  The Up Front bit is a note about Geoff Dyer (who reviews ‘The Rest is Noise’ in that issue) and quotes him as saying that “he is listening to lots of Indian classical music (though he also wondered why the Necks aren’t better known in America).”   Yes, good question, why aren’t the Necks better known in America?  [And pointing back to the previous post, I first heard the Necks on the ultrahang a tiloson site.]

addendum – 21nov2007 – just found this nice little video out on YouTube: the necks

As I write this I am listening to the disc I just got in the mail yesterday (thank you aquarius records) – Derek Bailey & The Ruins.  I’d heard a cut from this some time back (on Tilos Rádió via the online site ultrahang a tiloson [highly recommended]) and just got around to ordering it.  Very nice.  Derek’s spiky improv over the top of the drum & bass sometimes-groove of the Ruins.  I think I was brought back to this because of my ongoing interest in Uchihashi Kazuhisa.  His recordings with Yoshida Tatsuya, the ongoing force (and drums) behind the Ruins, are great skeins of amplified guitar improvisation.

I recently picked up ‘Improvisations’, the Uchihashi Kazuhisa/Yoshida Tatsuya recording, while on a brief stay in Kyoto.  I’m still after the second set of recordings made with an extended group (not found at the Tower Records Japan that I was wandering in).  I came upon Uchihashi/Tatsuya through Pandora, an excellent source of interesting tunes.

This is all joyously connected (at least in my head) even if it sounds a bit scattered.  I just realized that this post is a bit like the music I’m listening to – improvised, loosely related, a bit jangly but (I hope in the case of the post, certainly as it pertains to the music) interesting. 

Speaking of prog rock…

I don’t remember the path I followed (series of links and articles) to these guys but I was very pleased to happen upon them.  Steamboat Switzerland is an amazing swirl of riffs, crunches and improvisation.  After listening to the MP3s available here I finally got ahold of two of their discs - ”ac/dB[hayden]” & “Budapest” – really nice stuff.

I see now they have a new disc out, ”zone 2“, which is mostly played on acoustic instruments.  Anxious to hear what they’ve come up with.

(Not sure if this is a good way to start off on this blog thing or not.
Or if starting off is a good thing.)

Collected bits:

Came across this in the Times the other day – an article on Tom Stoppard’s play “Rock ‘n’ Roll”. The play deals, in part, with the Czech band “Plastic People of the Universe” and their place in the recent history of Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). A lot of this was new to me and I went looking for some more information (and MP3s). I quite like what I found here on the band’s page. Looks like more recent stuff. It’s a great mix of sounds and influences, especially nice for that 70s prog-rock sound.

[photo, from the band's site, by Jakub Dospiva - 2006]