Recently I was lucky enough to catch a true legend perform in concert. Ornette Coleman has blazed his own singular musical path for 50 years now, and has no peers when it comes to the music he plays. He defines his musical approach through the term harmolodics, a musical philosophy which is not bound by chords, key or time signatures, and has no tonal center whatsoever.
Listening to Ornette's type of music is often jarring and off-putting at first, but once you open up to it, it is mind-blowing in its expressiveness. Here's my review of the show for Jambase:
To get a sense of what a powerful experience seeing this man live is, here is a clip of him performing at Bonnaroo 2007. You either get it, or you don't. If you don't, you're missing out:
The unfortunate hairstyle commonly referred to as a "mullet" is commonly known to have reached its fashionable peak in the 1980s. And though this fashion abomination may be most commonly associated with clueless hicks and douchebags, few may know of it's curious beginnings - particularly in Britain during the early to mid-1970s.
Granted, over the years there have been countless other rock and roll fashion tragedies worth mentioning (just look at this sad, pathetic sight), but the mullet's prevalence amongst England's rock and roll royalty (approx. 1972-1976) is a phenomenon too widespread to not warrant a closer examination. Around this time, a particular proto-mullet was sprouting from Brit Rocker dome-pieces left and right, making for a blimey brotherhood of bitchin' hair that was probably cool at the time (but unconceivable to us in 2009). These brave men were trailblazers ahead of their time, and helped to make the world safe for mulleters everywhere throughout the 80s. They rocked their Brit-mullets with gusto, and pulled them off, sometimes. Here is a list of said Brits:
Faces-era Rod Stewart
Faces-era Ronnie Wood
Exile-eraKeith Richards in 1972
Genesis-era Phil Collins (minus 50 points for balding mullet)
Wings-era Paul and Linda McCartney (what the fuck, Paul? I mean, really.)
And finally, the man who's proto-mullet broke down more doors towards mullet acceptance than all of the previous rockers combined.... Ziggy era David Bowie, 'nuff said. He actually makes it cool, somehow, even today. Not sure how, but Bowie pulls it off. Good job, Bowie.
For a period in my life back in '07 or so, it seemed like Toto's "Africa" was following me around everywhere I went. Granted, I went through a phase where I was thoroughly obsessed with the song and its accompanying album, Toto IV (probably due to my discovery of Toto through the Yacht Rock series). This obsession started off as ironic, and gradually morphed into a genuine, authentic love for the song, which to my ears still exudes sonic and melodic perfection. The Toto boys were the master craftsmen of studio work in the early 80s, and it is no coincidence that Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson, in their plotting to rule the world, recruited them to help with production on Thriller.
My obsession aside, it got a little weird there for a while. I was hearing "Africa" on the radio way more than I had ever remembered hearing it before. This reached a head when I took a vacation to Jamaica. In all the cabs we took around the island, the radio played dancehall and reggae music almost exclusively. But then, in the midst of all this Jamaican music, while riding in the back seat of a cab to Treasure Beach watching the sunset, the only American song I've heard all week starts playing - "da-da-da-da-da-da-da-daaaa..." Who knew that Jamaica loves Toto? I was amused, if not a bit spooked.
So the vacation ends, and I take my plane home to Boston. Plane lands, I walk to baggage claim, wait for my luggage. Amidst the terminal echoes and P.A. announcements, the carousel turns, my bags round the corner, and the ceiling speakers go "da-da-da-da-da-da-da-daaaa..." What the fuck?!!
It must be noted that this is one of the few songs that I can listen to hundreds of times, and it simply does not get old. All my weird run-ins with "Africa" have made my day a little better, resulting in happy sing-alongs.
And so I was super-psyched to stumble across this version yesterday by a Slovenian acapella group. This is awesome and must be watched, even if you don't like acapella. It's fairly ridiculous, as they take themselves a little too seriously, but check out their take on the synthesizer solo at 4:43. Love it!
Here is a review that steps outside the comfort zone, as it is of a band that I don't particularly love. The Infected Mushroom show was a particularly intense mind-fuck barrage of beats and noise, and as I'm not a raver at heart, I couldn't truly get into it. Regardless, it was an interesting musical experience. And a note to you all: Psy-Trance is not for the faint of heart. It is utterly relentless.
So I don't know about you, but ever since I heard of MJ's death last week, I've had some serious case of MJ obsession. It seems like the world feels the same way, as his albums are currently taking up 13 of the 15 top spots in Amazon's bestselling music list as I write this.
It's been consistent for me lately that whatever I'm doing, be it working or grocery shopping or whatever, that my thoughts always eventually drift back to MJ, like they're being pulled by a super-funky magnet of some kind. I've found myself browsing the internets late into the night for breaking MJ news, or footage from his final rehearsal. I can't help it, I've been consumed by the man, the concept of MJ. In terms of cultural magnitude, his death is going to be right up there with Kennedy, Elvis, and Princess Di's. We'll always remember where we were when we heard that MJ died. This is a big fucking deal.
The man was, and will always be peerless. Dude's music is blasting from every other car that passes on the street these days, and will dominate most DJs playlists for months to come. But it seems like it's always the obvious, super-saturated cuts that are getting spun, i.e. "Billie Jean," etc. In response to this, in my current obsessive MJ mode, I've made an Essential Mix of super-fresh MJ Deep Cuts for y'all to download and get down to. You probably have heard some of these songs, but most will still be fresh and new to your psyche, and offer optimal danceability as a result.
An MJ Mix - The Deep Cuts
1. Jackson 5 - I Want You Back (Z-Trip Mix) 2. Jacksons - Lovely One 3. Jacksons - Give It Up 4. Jackson 5 - Stop! (The Love You Save) 5. Jackson 5 - Darling Dear 6. Jacksons - Everybody 7. Jacksons - Blame It On The Boogie 8. Jacksons - Your Ways 9. Paul McCartney w/ MJ - Say Say Say 10. Michael Jackson - Come Together 11. Jacksons - Walk Right Now 12. Michael Jackson - P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
No matter how freaky he got, MJ was always the fucking MAN. It goes without saying that no one can ever hold a candle to the raw talent that oozed from every pore in this guy's body.
But it's hard not to see MJ's life as a tragic one. Growing up in the public eye in front of a camera since the age of seven, he was deprived of any kind of real childhood, and so he spent his entire adult life obsessed with recapturing his lost childhood as a result. However bizarre he got, it could always be attributed to the fact that he was a victim of his own celebrity.
But putting that aside, he was simply the best at what he did. Dude felt the funk straight to the core, and could sing and dance better than ANY man, period. He was fuckin' MJ, for god's sake...
In tribute, here's his performance from the 1988 Grammy awards, back when he was still at the top of his game. The first song is lip-synced, but it honestly doesn't matter a bit, because "The Way You Make Me Feel" is just an excuse for MJ to bust out the hardcore-nasty show-stopping moves: he's all like, "Check this sick shit out, America!" Then MJ gets all gospel on our ass like only he can with "Man in the Mirror." It seem like the first half of this is lip-synced as well, but they turn his mic on right when the gospel choir comes out, and he proceeds to preach it like Sunday morning and bring the funkin' house down. Be sure to watch this one 'till the end.
Come on, how can you not love this guy? You have no soul if you don't.
Next we have a Jambase.com review I wrote of the recent Ozric Tentacles show in San Francisco. Most have never heard of these guys, who are criminally underrated kings of space/prog/trance rock. Their music will melt your face clean off your skull, and it is also beautiful. Ed Wynne (pictured left) is a guitar god in every sense of the word.
We have assembled inside this ancient and insane theater to propagate our lust for life and flee the swarmy wisdom of the streets. - Jim Morrison, "Ghost Song"
Here is a threesome of concert reviews of mine that have been posted on Jambase in the past month or so. They all were fantastic shows, all for different reasons:
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