Twittering Machines

Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus

Another Jonathan Halpern recommendation / loaner. I have a sneaking suspicion this LP came my because of a comment I made during our first group analog drunk-fest. During beers at d.b.a., I said something like “Mingus can be difficult.” Months later, Jonathan hands me this LP to take home. And it’s so easy. Easy to listen to, easy to love. Featuring Mingus on bass and vocals, Eric Dolphy alto sax and bass clarinet, Ted Curson trumpet and Dannie Richmond drums and vocals.

While it may sound like a live club recording, this was actually recorded at the Nola Penthouse Sound Studios on October 20, 1960 but Mingus invited a crowd. From Mingus: “I finally realized that a lot of jazz records don’t make it because guys almost unconsciously change their approach in a studio from what they do every night. I finally wanted to make an album the way we are on the job.” And one reason this record appears on Nat Hentoff’s Candid Records and not Columbia was the inclusion of the vocals for Mingus’ “Original Faubus Fables” which Columbia refused to include. Considering Orval Faubus, then Governor of Alabama, sent out the National Guard to prevent the integration of Little Rock Central High School by nine African American teenagers in 1957, I’d say Mingus hit that nail on its Nazi fascist head.

The lyrics to “Original Faubus Fables”:

Oh, Lord, don’t let ‘em shoot us!
Oh, Lord, don’t let ‘em stab us!
Oh, Lord, don’t let ‘em tar and feather us!
Oh, Lord, no more swastikas!
Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!

Name me someone who’s ridiculous, Dannie.
Governor Faubus!
Why is he so sick and ridiculous?
He won’t permit integrated schools.

Then he’s a fool! Boo! Nazi Fascist supremists!
Boo! Ku Klux Klan (with your Jim Crow plan)

Name me a handful that’s ridiculous, Dannie Richmond.
Faubus, Rockefeller, Eisenhower
Why are they so sick and ridiculous?

Two, four, six, eight:
They brainwash and teach you hate.
H-E-L-L-O, Hello.

here’s that Philip Guston painting I mentioned at Patrick’s
Head and Bottle

For a painting that’s roughly 5′ square, that tiny space between the eyeball and bottle is wonderfully comically pathetic. Painted in 1975, Head and Bottle sold at auction at Christie’s in 2007 for over $6.5M.

Christina Carter
Electrice

Carter of Charalambides fame (?) goes solo and so low-fi minimal; a few strummed chords, watery reverb and supposedly just started playing and singing whatever came out. Think late night, lights out dream-along songs. Originally an ’06 CD, recently re-released as a 500 copy limited edition LP from Wholly-Other with hand-painted and signed cover art by Christina.

“Subterranean song writing … eliminating excess elements … more cinematic or sculptural, feeling of being a human body… piano-like guitar… two personal songs, two universal songs … idealization and memory… songs created instantly, not knowing what i was going to sing about until i sang… inspired by 60′s album art and band photos of floating heads, slight physical ‘defects’ and skeletal uncoordination, anachronistic futurisms, the idea of ‘drone’ (4 different songs from the same basic musical elements), dance choreography, and living with chronic pain…” – Christina Carter

The Durutti Column
The Guitar and Other Machines

1987 release from Vini Reilly & Co. My friend Joe turned me onto this in ’87 and I’ve always had a soft spot for this rather soft and gentle music. Guitars machines violins drums and vocals sparingly. Venture beyond…Rock & Roll.

Trivia: this was the first commercially released pre-recorded DAT in the UK .

Magik Markers
Boss

Limited edition re-release of ’07′s Boss. Hand-screened jacket, low tech xerox inserts, no words anywhere else and a raw, bitchin, drivin’ sound from the duo of Elisa Ambrogio (lead guitar, vocals) and Pete Nolan (drums, guitar, piano, electronics, vocals) with Lee Renaldo helping out on guitar, glokenspiel (who knew he could glok so well?) and doing Producer duties. Ambrogio was a guest on the much hyped Six Organs of Admittance’s Shelter from the Ash (she’s Ben Chasny’s girlfriend. ew). I think Boss rules.

Just a killer example of the best period of Soul Jazz. Freddie’s best(?) record as a leader, he’s got a monster supporting cast with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, George Benson, etc…

As a bunch of these guys are fresh from playing with Miles, there’s a bit of the recent Silent Way in there, but Hubbard digs deeper into the grooves, and relaxes the vibe with a more live feel. As the BBC points out, “Despite sidemen usually associated with Miles Davis; (drummer Jack DeJohnette, pianist Herbie Hancock and first call bassist Ron Carter) and that was a ghost that hovered over Hubbard for a long time, this is as far away in approach and sound to the Prince of Darkness that you could get.”

“Prince of Darkness…”

The record is only three songs, and all smolder down were it counts. The first side is a one-song, 17 minute groove, Straight life that never gets lost, or thin. Fatness. (That clip is a different lineup, a bit more frantic, but damn!).

Didn’t know anything about it when I picked it up, but one look at the rear cover and…

Here, let me stop it for you.

Robert Wyatt
Comicopera

A great, grand sweeping album. 3 sides, 3 acts (you get an engraved poem on side 4) of varied adventurous comicopera. The cast of characters includes Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, Paul Weller…Beautiful sounds, wonderful music and sad poetry. No wonder everyone had this LP on their best of list for ’07.

“It’s really about the unpredictable mischief of real life – it’s sort of chaotic our life. It’s about humans and the things we turn to, and looking for fun and stimulus and meaning and stuff.” Robert Wyatt

Marissa Nadler
The Saga of Mayflower May

Mysterious, quirky folksy lost-love shanties sung in warbled but beautifully clear birdsong tones with mostly simple finger-picked 6 and 12 string accompaniment. If I walked into a bar in some desolate snowy seaside town and heard this playing I might just sit, drink and feel the cold and melancholy and wonder what year it was.

Mutant Sounds is an excellent blog of very off-the-wall music. A regular stop for me and there’s always some fun (always hard to find) unknown surprises.