Free Jazz

Stay with me here.

Ken Vandermark is amazing. He's a sax player based in Chicago and is one of the driving forces in improvised music today. I'm sure most people shut down entirely when the words free jazz flash through their mind like a signpost for a road that you never ever want to end up on, but if you can deal with a bit of discomfort, if you can pay close attention and open your mind to identify and connect influences and avenues, then there's a lot to love in this music.

When I was in Portugal, in Lisbon, the proprietor of what would become my favorite bar--a place called Bar Lisboa--turned me on to a Vandermark project called Tripleplay. It's a trio, improvised music, very powerful stuff and very connected to Portugal. (Funny that there's such a strong following for this music there--back to the Euro support of jazz in the absence of it in its birthplace.)

I recently came across a review for a record Vandermark put out last year, called Elements of Style, Exercises in Surprise. All it took was a single listen to the muscular movement, the solid riff that anchors the opening track, and I was hooked. Check the link, you can listen. Give it a shot. The whole thing is up for download on emusic--grab the track called Knock Yourself Out and see if you don't agree.

SXSW Blog

My man Oko in Austin has set up a new blog. He's working for THE man, Sr. Raoul Hernandez, laying down the info for the Chronicle's coverage of the big SXSW, and has parlayed his knowledge overflow into a blog to benefit the rest of us.

Check it out, and check back often. It's growing rapidly. Like a weed. Or a virus. Or a suburb. *shudder*

Sold Out!

McMurtry sold out the Neurolux on Friday night. The last tickets were bought during the instore that day at the Record Exchange. Great show, great crowd.

Early on, McMurtry said into his mic, "I knew there were people in Idaho. It just took me 16 years to find you." That's an amusing reference to his previous, less-than-spectacular receptions here. Just goes to show what can happen when you show up in town with a bit of motivation and a little publicity behind you.

McMurtry

We pulled it off!

Today at 12:30 we at the Boise Community Radio Project broadcasted our first live music show. James McMurtry, who's playing tonight at the Neurolux, played an in-store at the Record Exchange in lovely downtown Boise, and the whole thing was relayed live on the web at www.radioboise.org. Apparently the sound was running a bit hot, which is a shame for folks who were trying to listen, but for us that's just a matter of dialing it in.

We announced the show live on the air, we relayed the whole thing, and then we did a back announce and fed right into my show, Range Life. It went smoothly, and now we're ready to do more of these things.

Sheesh, it's almost like we're a real radio station.

By the way, McMurtry's new record, Childish Things, is quite possibly his best work to date. And for anyone who knows the dude's output, that's saying a lot. I'll write more about it later.

Heavy Ornamentals, Part 1

There's a new Gourds album on the shelves, and it is reason to rejoice. Heavy Ornamentals is a great record. I'd go so far as to call it a triumphant return to form, but I'm thinking that maybe my own form has changed more than theirs, so that may not be accurate.

Let me explain.

Anyone who is into music experiences changes in interest and fluctuations in appreciation throughout their lives. Most of the time it's as innocuous as the old "Lately I've been listening to a lot of [enter your own new genre here]." But sometimes it's more than that. Sometimes you move away from music that has been very important to you, indeed has made up much of what you consider great about music in the first place. Fads come and go, tastes change, geography changes, groups of friends change--there are reasons uncountable for why we are such fickle creatures. But still, the impact can be great.

An example: When I moved from high school to college, everything changed. I largely stopped listening to what I thought was great metal (Metallica, Iron Maiden, etc) and even not-so-great derivative metal (Motley Crue, KISS, et al) and started listening to completely different music. REM, The Cure, The Alarm, The Smiths--prototypical college rock took over my life because it was new and great and interesting and, quite simply, I realized that what I had been listening to was total crap. I mean, Bon Jovi lyrics dominated interpersonal relationships for a time, and I knew no better. Scary.

Sometimes it's not so cut and dry.

When I moved to Austin, I thought I knew it all. Armed with Pavement and REM enough to prove I knew what-for, I went down there to immerse myself in music. And my world flipped again. The Reverend Horton Heat, Ed Hall, Alice Donut, The Supersuckers, Spoon--suddenly everything was new and wonderful. So I did nothing but rock out as hard as I could.

Then I met my wife-to-be, who not only couldn't stand to have this loud-ass shit going on in the house all the time, she was also interested in that other Texas music, and we found we had this in common. Fugazi gave way to James McMurtry, The Jesus Lizard stepped aside for The Flatlanders, and a new interest took hold. This was new and fascinating to me--country was good! And there my obsession lived for a while.

The Gourds were a HUGE part of that. They were my favorite band in all the world for a long long time. In many ways, they still are. However, when we left Texas and moved to Idaho, our exposure to and cultural connection to that kind of music suffered from distance. I discovered rock again--and so did Cathy. Things changed. Doug Sahm stayed out of the carousel for a while and Franz Ferdinand stayed in. And now, as I bathe more fully in the newly acquired knowledge that electronic music doesn't automatically suck, the distance seems greater than ever.

But then, The Gourds go and do this. They make a great record. Their last few have been good, of course--but good in the sense that it takes a few listens to grab onto why it's good, while shadows of doubt over this or that track or how much I actually do love thee linger. This time, first listen. That's it. This is a great record. From the obvious singles to the deeper buried gems, it's like I'm 26 and living in Austin and hearing "Dying of the Pines" on late night radio all over again. Holy shit, this is good.

Anyway, I'd like to spend more time talking about this actual record, but that'll have to wait. Meantime, go get this album. That way we'll be on the same page for part 2 of this post.

Dirty Three

I'm not sure how this one missed my best-of year-end list, but it did, and I'm sorry.

The Dirty Three are a trio from Australia that make hauntingly beautiful instrumental music based around drums, violin, and guitars. They first entered my world as the band behind Chan Marshall's voice and songs on Moon Pix, far and away my favorite Cat Power record. Dirty Three were no small part of that record's beauty, playing perfectly off Marshall's ethereal, breathy, captivating vocals, conjuring worlds for her to sing within.

They brought out a new record last year called Cinder, and it's a thing your ears will not be able to get enough of. At times dark and moody, at others buoyant and celebratory, at all times this record embodies musicians at the heights of their powers, working with material that offers them space to do their thing with no intrusions or interruptions. You just wish you could be in the room when they get together to practice.

As a bonus, Ms. Marshall appears for vocal duties on one song, called Great Waves, that is one of my favorite tracks of all last year. I dare say it could stand up to anything on Moon Pix, and wouldn't be at all out of place on that record.

Remodel

Don't do this. Leave your home as it is, keep your life your own, and maintain the solidity of your marriage. I'm serious. This is a bad idea.

We're nearing the end of a month and a half or two month remodel process on the whole upstairs of our house. We're very close--it should all be done by the end of the week--but it has not come without cost. The financial, obviously, but also the mental, the spiritual, the marital. It's been tough. Life has been hectic and rushed and cluttered and hectic, and we've both seen the ends of our ropes come frighteningly close. But we've survived.

Our house will be transformed. The results will be dazzling. We will be much happier. But, if I had it to do over again, unless some things were drastically changed, I wouldn't. I'd slap some paint on and leave it the hell alone.

Anyway, this nonsense comes by way of an excuse as to why this blog has been so lame and inactive lately. I've been gathering loads of new music, I've had some great outdoor adventures, I've sort of got a new job, and there's been plenty to write about, I just haven't had time. But, come next week, hopefully, I will. That is, if the friggin house is done.

Much too much

Busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.

More folks fighting the odds than on payday in Jackpot, Nevada.

More shit to work through than the squeegee man at a hog farm.

Sometimes life throws so much at you that you don't even know where to begin. This time, life's taking pot-shots at friends and family, leaving me alone but fucking with damn near everyone else I know.

All you can do is all you can do. Help out, be there, keep your own shit together.

Treading water.

Meanwhile, dig this track:

http://www.myspace.com/builttospill

That's right, chirdrens, new Built to Spill is finally visible on the horizon. Keep your eyes peeled. It's gonna be a good one.

Bovaflux

Bovaflux

When There Was Nothing

This is a new one I just picked up after hearing a track on KEXP's morning show. (Incidentally, this is where I get turned on to loads of new music, so check out John in the morning on www.kexp.org. It's out of Seattle.) I've listened through a couple times and am definitely digging this. They've got it on emusic.

It's pretty lush, fairly chill electronic music along the lines of Boards of Canada. The songs feel like songs, melodies emerging from the loops and blips and moving along of their own volition, repeating phrases and evoking moods as slyly and smoothly as can be.

This is mood music. Sitting on a train, rolling through foreign countrysides, perhaps watching rain clouds gather or clear, feeling alone but alive--that's where this music takes me.

Happy New Year

We had a fantastic time out in Driggs ove rthe weekend, alpine skiing up at Grand Targhee, going nordic up Teton Canyon, and snowshoeing in and around Darby Canyon. The cabin we stayed in was out of this world--the perfect mountain getaway, and far more posh than rustic. We were blown away by the place when we got there, and we spent lots of time lounging in pajamas and slippers.

We rang in the new year watching Scarface and playing the millenium edition of Trivial Pursuit.

We're old.

So, hope y'all had as refreshing and rejuvenating a new year's as we did. Here's to a good, healthy, adventurous 2006.

New Year's

This will be me for New Year's this year.


















At least, that's how I hope I'll look, as opposed to a giant tumbling snowball with skis and poles poking out in all directions. Cathy and I are headed to Driggs, ID, way over just this side of the Grand Tetons, to spend a long New Year's weekend. Grand Targhee resort is just a few miles from where we'll be staying, so we plan to spend at least one day there. The above pic was taken there yesterday.

Both of us are pretty inexperienced skiers. Cathy's been doing it for some years, though never more than once or twice a year--not quite enough to get really good. I just learned how to ski last February, and have only been out twice this year, once up at Bogus, and once at Brundage. Both times felt great; both made me feel like I was learning and doing better than the time before. And while these trips were both in decent snow, I'm really looking forward to great snow.

So, we'll be out of town and largely out of touch until next Tuesday. Hope y'all have a happy new year's, and a great 2006.

Taking Time

I'll be honest: It's all to easy to rush and cut corners when putting together a show for Radio Boise. I'm busy, it's late, it runs tomorrow, I'm tired, blah blah. I've done it--though I know those of you who have listened to Range Life will find that shocking. I'm very sorry. I'll try my best to do better.

And, for that last part at least, I mean it. I put time into these shows. I read about music a lot, I search out new music, I log hours and hours both mobile and stationary listening to new music, and I love it all. Nowadays, I especially love the process of assembling a version of Range Life, the show. I love firing up the iBook and the Creatures and setting out in my office/bike shop for hours on end, listening to track after track and assembling playlists and listening to them and changing them and trying to create a good flow, with good transitions, with a healthy balance of new stuff and old stuff and brand new stuff and not so old stuff and whatever else grabs my attention.

So, why would I cut corners? Why would I spend less time on it than I could or should? Because I'm stupid, that's why. And so are you. We all are. We lose sight all too easily not only of the big things that give life meaning, but the little things that give each moment of life purpose and contain the potential to turn into big things or to alter or affect big things. We avoid things that make us happy for things that don't. I'm no hedonist, but I do think this happens far too often. And when you can make a small change that you're damned sure will affect big change, you do it. Or you should.

I'll be spending more time on this. It'll be better. And by this I mean both the radio show and this blog. If this is starting to sound like your run of the mill resolution, so close to New Year's as we are and all, I suppose maybe it is. I didn't set out to do it, but I think it's a natural thing to put things in order at this point of the year, to think of what was and what could have been, and to take the next step and start planning for the next year. This is just one way I'll make it better.

On Thursday, we're heading for Targhee. Friends of ours have a family cabin that we've been granted permission to use, and we're spending New Year's there. Not sure who-all yet, but it's coming soon. We're very excited. It's nice to be excited about New Year's. Staying at the cabin, taking the dogs for romps in the snow, skiing Grand Targhee, celebrating New Year's with a mess of other friends who will be out there, all of it. Can't wait. I've never skied powder before. This seems like the perfect time and place.

Top 10 of 2005

Since everyone else on the planet is doing it, why not me? In the time-honored tradition of end-of-year wrapups, here it is, my very own Top Ten Albums of 2005.

I preface this list by saying that, for me, this year has been remarkable for the depth of new music. So many great records have come out, so many exciting new bands have popped up, that it was extremely difficult to choose just ten. (So, of course, there will be a long also-ran list here.)

Perhaps this has been simply an effect of my re-awakening.

As I've written about here before, the first part of this year saw me wake up and walk out of my deep, dark, musical hole. I was and am still amazed at what I've found. I was so totally engaged in music for so long, so focused on finding it and writing about it and thinking about it and acquiring it and sharing it, that when I got married and left Austin, I just stopped paying attention. It was nice for a while. And during that time I sort of forgot what it was like to care so much about it.

Now I remember. And what a fantastic year it's been.

So, without further ado, here they are.

CHess' Top Ten Albums of 2005

1. Broken Social Scene ~ s/t
2. WHY? ~ Elephant Eyelash
3. Four Tet ~ Happiness
4. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah ~ s/t
5. 13 & God ~ s/t
6. Wolf Parade ~ Apologies to the Queen Mary
7. Animal Collective ~ Feels
8. The National ~ Alligator
9. The Decemberists ~ Picaresque
10. Brazilian Girls ~ s/t

Honorable mentions in no particular order which, in a lesser year, would have made this list easily: Okkervil River (Black Sheep Boy), The Books (Lost and Safe), Stephen Malkmus (Face the Truth), Spoon (Gimme Fiction), Art Brut (Bang Bang Rock and Roll), Wilderness (s/t), Sleater Kinney (The Woods), Boards of Canada (The Campfire Headphase), Bloc Party (Silent Alarm), Franz Ferdinand (You Could Have It So Much Better), New Pornographers (Twin Cinema), Beck (Guero), MIA (Arular), Caribou (Milk of Human Kindness), Iron and Wine & Calexico (He Lays in Reins), Death Cab for Cutie (Plans), American Analog Set (Set Free), LCD Soundsystem (s/t), Jeff Parker (Relatives)

So, there you have it. I'd love to see your lists, to hear criticism, or to share music with any of y'all who are interested.

WHY?

WHY?

Elephant Eyelash

(Anticon Records)

OK, so I've been sitting with this one for a while, soaking it up, marinating in it, and while I'm not so sure that it's "the Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain of our modern indie times" (Filter Mini, 10/05), it's a pretty damn good slab of music. Labels are lazy, but this band just invites you to try. Folk-rap? Avant-hop? Indie artrock hip-hop experimental freak folk... all of it comes into play during a listen to this record from front to back.

Yoni Wolf, who was Why? as a solo project for a few years and now heads up WHY? as a band, comes up with verse after verse of totally accessible everyman-as-freak lyrics, rolling them out in a near-deadpan singspeak that, after the necessary acclimatization, is just really cool. It's like my internal dork has found voice and form at long last.

The sound of light rain and burning leaves is the same... I'm fucking cold like a DQ blizzard, you act like a slut but you're really a freezer... Inhaling crushed bones through a dried up white out pen and writing the backwards racer in hot June rain in a matching blue and gold plastic bag poncho raincoat... In London where the sirens yelp like a helpless dog with his paw stepped on...

He goes from smart and sharp rap lyrics to weirdo free-association all a microsecond behind the beat, shifting the layers off time just a bit, making the music more dense and busy and turning the beat into a jarring shuffle that's tough to nail but wonderful to listen to.

The appeal of this record is, so far, for me, tough to put into words. If you don't think this is your kind of thing, just listen. Suspend judgement for the first few trips through, then listen to it again.

Chris Loves Macha: Macha Knows Chris Not

Alright, so I'm a little slow on this one, but in all honesty I didn't know this band was still making music.

Back in the day, when Macha and Bedhead sort of teamed up for the little indie lovefest Macha Loved Bedhead: Bedhead Loved Macha, I thought for sure that this would end up being my next favorite band. They brought the chill, but they threw down some cool crazy drums and Asiany percussion, putting a crashy ambient vibe onto the narcotic haze of Bedhead's style. F'ing brilliant.

Then they went away. Or at least that's the way it seemed.

And now (or, more accurately, last year) they're back with Forget Tomorrow, a gorgeous record full of exactly the stuff that made me love them: at turns ambient and lush, at others raw and spare, at all times totally unique and affecting. They have a gift for melodies that don't smack of melody--of tunes that are both immediately catchy and yet subversive enough to not fully reveal themselves until you've spent some time with them.

Thanks to Harlan for laying this on me. I heart Macha.

Freaky Friday

Hot times in Les Big Bois. Tonight, the queens of the country dirge, Freakwater, hit the Neurolux for some much needed good, dark, country music. This is good. Nothing can better reawaken a passion for a certain type or genre of music than catching a great show. It's been a while since I've felt like I give a rat's ass about country or country-related music, possibly a backlash to my ODing on it in Austin as well as a normal response to the lack of good music of this type up here in Whitaho. It'll be good to want to seek it out again.

Then again, I've seen Freakwater play a couple times, and although I love their records, and I wouldn't say either of the shows was 'bad,' I would say they did not blow me away. For whatever reason, I came away both times thinking that I expected it to be better. But, I go tonight with a clear head (well...) and an open mind (ahem), and in not expecting the world, I may come away with a renewed love for this music. At the very least, I'll get to hear the gorgeously rusty pipes of Catherine Irwin and the beautifully clear and high crooning of Janet Bean. (And I'll get to stare at the lovely Ms. Bean for at least an hour or so, which ain't so bad on its own.)

But anyway.

Their new album, Thinking of You (listen here), was made with the help of the fine fellows of Califone, and I'm anxious to hear how they'll pull that off live.

Art Brut

So, y'all ready for the next Brit band that's about to storm the US with a newer, sillier, snottier take on rock and roll? Like it or not, they're coming, and you are soon to hear the name Art Brut bandied about by hipsters and music geeks as the next Franz Ferdinand.

That statement may be a bit misleading, especially if it conjures thoughts of new and improved disco rock or dance punk or whatever the hell you want to call that pop-rock with the infectious backbeat and judicial use of high hat that the boys from Glasgow made so famous. You know what I'm talking about. Art Brut aren't doing that. They're doing something far sillier, far more basic--far more rock and roll, really.

They're ridiculous. Their songs are about themselves being in a rock band, themselves partying, themselves being themselves. It's absurdly self-referential, but that's the thing about it. As the singer says in "Formed a Band," "We're just talking... to the kids!"

Check out that track plus a couple others at their website.

http://www.artbrut.org.uk/release.html

I downloaded this CD from emusic because I was in a weird mood. (Apparently it's not available in stores in the US yet--ah, another great thing about emusic. And by the way, if you check out emusic and want to join, contact me first, that way you get a sweet trial offer and I get 50 free tracks for getting you to sign up. Everybody wins. Especially me.) I'm still not quite sure what to make of it, except for the obvious: It's silly; It's full of great hooks and catchy basic riffs; it's silly; and it's a hell of a lot of fun.

Check it out. It'll also be in the rotation over at RangeLife this week and, likely, many weeks to come. (RangeLife airs Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 3pm, mountain time.)

Animal Collective

Animal Collective
Feels


I've resisted this band for a while now, based on a couple tracks I'd gleaned from various compilation CDs. It's weird. Its sounds are strange and delayed in ways that are hard to describe. The songs are assembled like they're a joint math-music project by genius kids on acid. Seemed to me that the tunes were either scary fairy tales that screeched in the night or teletubbyesque slackjawed daydreams.

But, I just downloaded the new album, and I may be changing my mind.

I'm on first listen as I write this, but man--and now I mean it in a good, intriguing, innovative sense--this shit is WEIRD.

Admittedly, I'm listening to this on crap computer speakers and haven't yet given it full attention or full stereo treatment, but so far, I'm being sucked in to this strange childish zap-brained netherworld. More to come, for sure.

Meantime, check out the first track, Did You See the Words, at the FatCat Records site, here. There are more to listen to, too. Flesh Canoe? WTF? And it's too bad Purple Bottle isn't one of the free listens. This is quite a track.

Statement

TV On the Radio, about whom I've written here before, have posted a free track and a very potent political statement.

Check it:
http://www.tgrec.com/bands/album.php?id=367

It's a track called Dry Drunk Emperor. Here's the chorus:

all eyes upon
dry drunk emperor
gold cross jock skull and bones
mocking smile,
he's been
standing naked for a while!
get him gone, get him gone, get him gone!!
and bring all the thieves to trial.

Guess who it's about...

Oh, and while you're there at the Touch and Go Records site, get ya a little learning on Dirty Three. I just got their new album, Cinder, and it's a good one. More to come on that later.

Back to the Life

We're back from the Big New Orleans Adventure, and it's now time to get back to normal life. Strange and hard to do so after all this, but it'll be good to get stable in the brain again.

So: Music.

I've gotten the big dump from friend Allison through her connection in Oregon, a certain someone involved in radio who's hooked me up to many a new band or latest CD. And all this from someone I've never met. God, I love this whole sharing business.

Cream of the crop so far: Lali Puna's offering of remixes and rare tracks, called I Thought I Was Over That. Fantastic stuff, much chill electronic beatifying and reworking of strong tracks by folks like Two Lone Swordsmen and Dntel. You can listen to a good bit of it at the Morr Music website. Lali Puna's take on (This is the Dream of) Evan and Chan is really something to get lost in. Taking the ethereal melody out and laying it on some skittering beat and nice effects, the track surprisingly does not suffer from the absence of trance-like fuzz or Ben Gibbard's vocals.

Other standouts include Koushik, some more chill deep thought electronic music that lives in the hazy fog between rock and dance music.

The most surprising thing to have captured my attention is the new album by Blackalicious, The Craft, which I'm really enjoying diving into. I've been through it a couple times now and it seems there's not a down or weak moment to be found. Great great beats and some outstanding vocal work. I know as much about hip hop as Brownie knows about disaster relief, but I'm enjoying checking this release through ears untainted by knowledge. Ignorance is bliss here.

Alright, back to normal. This ain't so bad.