Juana Molina, and no, I'd never heard of her either

 

 

Working in bookstores, I've had access to what are called "Advanced Reader's Copies" or "ARCs". These are 'raw' versions of upcoming books, usually bare bones editions without accurate page counts, lacking illustrations and author notes. The idea is that bookstore staff will read it, write a short review that might end up as an advertising blurb when the book is officially released. One such ARC that I have is "1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die" by Tom Moon, and one of the recordings he mentions is the subject of this blog entry, "Segundo" by Juana Molina. His review was interesting enough that I went to Allmusic.com to preview some tracks, and I am so glad I did.

 

I've referred to the album as 'Bjork Lite', and it's full of electronic squiggles and programmed percussion, but there's more of an acoustic feel, and Juana's vocals are breathy Brazilian whisper rather than Bjorkian belting. Lyrically, I'm totally in the dark, because Juana is Argentinian, and the lyrics are all sung in Spanish (?) But there's a sweetness to her delivery, and a few songs features electronically derived animal noises in the background, birdcalls, metallic purring and yapping that enhance the mood in delightful ways. I'll check into more Juana Molina, but my sense is that this is one perfect little gem of an album, and that may be enough for me. More later!

Hariprasad Chaurasia, Indian Classical Flute, and yes... from Value Village!

In preparing for this post (yes, I do), I was going to say Hariprasad Chaurasia is my favorite North Indian flute player -- but after rifling through my CDs, I guess it's more accurate to say he's just about my ONLY North Indian flute player (sorry, G. S. Sachdev, almost forgot you.) I've got some of Hari's releases on the Nimbus label (they are the pinnacle, and they take advantage of the 70+ minutes available), and his classics "Call of the Valley" and "The Valley Recalls".

But I enjoy this little jewel ("Flying Beyond") from Value Village because it stays in "the zone" for the entire album. The Indian albums that record whole ragas follow the classical pattern -- a slow introduction, a lengthy development, then things kick in rhythmically and the pace picks up until the blistering finale. What's nice about the "Flying Beyond" album (and it is an album as it was back in the day, 2 sides at 20 minutes per side) is that it resides in the slow intro for the entire CD. Perfect if that's your mood, and many summer nights as we wait for the house to cool down, it's just the thing. 

RIP Paul Horn

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Horn's "Inside" album set him on his path; he left behind his jazz background and explored what was eventually termed "new age" (why yes, I did recently post on that very thing!) "Inside" explored the reverb inside the Taj Mahal, Paul Horn's flute tones bouncing off the walls. I actually preferred "Inside II", which paired Horn's flute reverb with earth/air/fire/water ("The Elements"), and included some really sweet 'flute chorales', classical works arranged for multi-tracked flutes. Paul continued with more "Inside" albums (Great Pyramid, etc.), he played for whales at the Vancouver Aquarium, and if I remember correctly, played on "For Free" on an Joni Mitchell album.

 

And the whole "reverb" thing? Modern classical performers like Pauline Oliveros and Stuart Dempster have carried on Horn's experiments, even (both) recording works in a subterranean cistern on Port Townsend's Fort Worden -- there's a 45-second delay! 

Miles (and the title that dare not speak its name -- not on this blog, mister!)

I referred to this album a few posts ago, upset that someone hearing it thought it was "weird". Sigh.

I took a few Film Appreciation classes in college (don't judge me!). During the evaluation phase, one of my professors said "This class easily understands the visual 'language' of the foreign films we'd discussed in class, while I've had to study it." Well, we'd had been exposed to that 'language' in commercials and contemporary film; one generation's cutting edge is another's common denominator.

So that was my beef with the diss 'weird' aimed at one of Miles Davis' groundbreaking (again!) albums. It's not weird, it makes perfect sense -- but only if you were steeped in music current at the time. A critic with an ear tilted back to Basie, Ellington and even Charlie Parker would find "BB" alien, as I think one reviewer termed it.

Here's my take: many people think of this as the beginning of Miles' fall from grace, when he adopted rock star trappings in sound (loud) and clothing (louder) to tap into those rock star dollars. But (again?), as one critic said, this was not pandering, it was some of the most uncompromising music of his entire career. I think he discovered "the pulse", the rhythm that supports almost all music. Rock music pushes the beat to the fore, and I think Miles heard that, thought "Let's simplify the drum patterns, and if we focus on a simple pulse, we can pile all sorts of stuff on it -- it's the support, and as long as it's strong and prominent, we can go for it."

So yes, it doesn't sound like "Stella By Starlight" or "It Never Entered My Mind", and yes, there's no melody/solo/melody format -- but it's not 'weird', just different, and if you listen without preconceived ideas, I think you'd find it intriguing, challenging -- and not at all weird. I was disappointed to read how much producer Teo Macero formed the record, sifting through the hours of tape, splicing and editing the raw material into 'compositions'. The edits are more obvious on the remastered version -- I was always blown away how, in the first few minutes of "Pharaoh's Dance", the band stops for a nano-second, then starts at the top again (twice!). Oh, editing. I intend to find a crappy un-remastered version just so I can listen without seeing/hearing the man behind the curtain pulling the levers.

One final BB anecdote (and for the record, ha! -- I hate the album title, and I refuse to type it out because as someone who loves women, I won't use the derogatory term): I was working in the newspaper office one afternoon at Skagit Valley College, editing the school newspaper, and the instructor/newspaper advisor who shared the space was in one corner listening to a student project. It somehow involved the very album I've been blogging about, and he warned the instructor "Okay, this is pretty weird!" (Oh, crap, that word again!) The teacher said "That's okay, I've heard Pharaoh Sanders!"  -post-Coltrane squonk. Student proceeds to play the title track, which starts with some low bass notes, drum splashes, spiky electric piano chords, and some Miles trumpet blasts with echo effects. Weird, I know! And that's what the student says -- and after a few more minutes, I can't take any more. "Did you listen to the whole piece? Did you not understand that 'weird' part is just the introduction? Like a trumpet fanfare as the band enters the performing arena? Then the piece proper starts, proceeds, and then the intro starts again -- 3 times!!! It's not 'weird', there's a formal structure here!!! Auuugh!" As I remember, I went back to my desk seething, and I think they quietly concluded their business.