Twittering Machines

Marion Brown
(September 8, 1931 – October 18, 2010)

Reeds ‘n Vibes
Afternoon of a Georgia Faun
In Sommerhausen
from on Thurston Moore’s “Top Ten From The Free Jazz Underground”

from the short film New York Jazz Renaissance ’90s

Another living at 97th Street & Amsterdam Avenue ritual/destination, albeit in the opposite direction from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was Augie’s. Located at 106th Street and Broadway, I understand the full name was “Augie’s Jazz Bar” although I never thought of Augie’s that way. Sure, I heard some great music at Augie’s and I’d call it jazz but Augie’s was just Augie’s. If you know what I mean.

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The Durutti Column
The Return of The Durutti Column

Originally released on Factory Records in 1979 with this very cool sandpaper cover:

Which was a nod to the Situationists Guy Debord & Asger Jorn’s Memoires (book, w/sandpaper cover; original edition published 1959) which looked like this:

The basic idea is that this roughshod book will rub its neighbors the wrong way

After 2,000 hand-made sandpaper copies of The Return… were put together by the hands of the boys from Joy Division (fun trivia!) Factory decided to go with a machine-made and darker version (and a 1980 release date). This more common jacket also holds a slightly different set on side 2 as explained by Discogs:

- The first pressing has five tracks on the B side. If the first pressing is correct, the track “In ‘D’” is actually a different mix of “Sketch For Winter”.

- The second pressing has six tracks on the B side, track B1 is new. If the second pressing is correct, “In ‘D’” is its own composition (it was track B1 on the first pressing), “Beginning” was missing from the first pressing, and the different mix of “Sketch For Winter” is an unlisted bonus.

I don’t know about you but I find that fucking confusing. In any event, The Return of Durutti Column is guitarist Vini Reilly’s debut album (fun if confusing trivia!) and also features Martin Hannett (Joy Division, Buzzcocks) on “switches” and electronics. The story goes Martin was infatuated with his new electronics, Vini Reilly just improvised along and three days later they had a record.

While overall I’d say this a lush, beautiful-sounding record it’s also got that empty Factory feel and Martin Hannett’s “switches” and electronics add a space-age inhuman edge which fits nicely against Reilly’s trickling classical folk jazz krautrock infused arpeggios and prickly shimmering harmonics. I think its just a plain old really lovely tasty record.

Besides, so much of the recent guitar-based music reminds me so much of The Durutti Column, I thought it worth another direct reminder. This record is also readily available in a fresh re-issue by those 4 Men With Beards.

When I first moved to NYC after college, I lived on Amsterdam Avenue and 97th Street. While you could refer to this as the ‘upper west side’, it wasn’t. For reasons having to do as much with a preponderance of rent stabilized buildings, history and accident, Amsterdam Avenue was Columbus and Broadway’s unwanted middling stepchild. At night, men and women worked Amsterdam Avenue around 97th Street selling drugs and bodies.

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Giovanni di Paolo
The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise (1445)
18 5/16 x 20 1/2 in. (46.5 x 52 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Giovanni di Paolo
Paradise (predella panel) (ca. 1445)
Overall 18 1/2 x 16 in. (47 x 40.6 cm); painted surface 17 1/2 x 15 1/8 in. (44.5 x 38.4 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tom Waits
Bone Machine

Bob Dylan
World Gone Wrong

Neil Young
Harvest Moon

Part of an ongoing series – How about a US LP reissue, fellas?

Note: all three were only released on LP outside the US; Bone Machine (1992) in the UK, Croatia and Germany, World Gone Wrong (1993) in the Netherlands, and Harvest Moon (1992) in Germany. These just happen to be on my mind and represent a few cubes from among icebergs-worth of records begging for a proper US LP reissue.

Eric Dolphy
Last Date

Thanks to Andrew for this gift and thanks to Jonathan for reminding me there’s no such thing as a bad Eric Dolphy record. Recorded live on June 2, 1964 in Hilversum, Holland, Last Date is as the title suggests Dolphy’s last recorded performance. He died on June 24, 1964 at the age of thirty-six. On this date Dolphy plays flute, bass clarinet and alto sax, Misja Mengelberg is on piano, Jaques Schols on bass and Han Bennick drums.

The liner notes by Nat Hentoff include a number of quotes from Charles Mingus penned after Dolphy’s passing – “Usually when a man dies, you remember – or you say you remember – only the good things about him. With Eric, that’s all you could remember.” and “He had such a big sound, as big as Charlie Parker’s. I mean, he didn’t need a microphone. In that way, he was like the jazz musicians of the old school. Inside that sound was a great capacity to talk in his music about the most basic feelings.“

And “One of the last times I saw him was at a party in Europe. When I got there, the room was full of people talking and drinking. In a corner, listening to a Charlie Parker record, there was Eric practicing along with the record.“

This date closes with Eric Dolphy talking to the audience – “When you hear music, after it’s over, it’s gone in the air. You can never capture it again.”

What a wonderful thing to say for the record.

worker in the basement of the Edison Museum

Menlo Park NJ (CNN) - News broke early this morning from the Thomas A Edison Center in Menlo Park, NJ which is currently under renovation, “We were digging in the sub-basement of the small, two-room museum and hit what we thought was a gas pipe,” explained Fred Reynolds the overnight supervisor, “so we were real careful and boy am I glad we were!”  It turns out the workers uncovered a small chest filled with the rarest and earliest Edison cylinders.

the Kruesi tin type recording c. 1877

“The real find”, explained Harold Spivacke, Jr. an Edison expert from the Library of Congress who is overseeing the renovation, “was a tin-type cylinder which appears to predate the famous ‘Mary had a little lamb recording’ making it the first recording ever made by man.” According to Spivacke the voice on the cylinder does not appear to be Edison’s but rather that of his assistant, John Kruesi. While steeped in the haze of dust and history, Kruesi’s voice utters, “Buying a record player and playing some music on it is not a creative act. I know it’s going to feel like it is, but it isn’t. So get over yourself already and just enjoy this amazing gift.”

John Kruesi

The President of the Audiophile Associations of America, Cryrius Lee Moribund has filed an official statement on behalf of  its members in response to this important discovery: “While we have the greatest respect for Mr. Edison, this is clearly the doings of the Obama Administration and yet another attempt to rob us of our freedom. The AAA is founded on the belief that it is our God-given goal to pursue the impossible dream of capturing an uncolored performance with uncolored recording equipment, played back through a perfectly uncolored  hi-fi.”

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Tom Waits for no one? (apologies, I couldn’t resist)

Preservation Hall Jazz Band & Tom Waits On 78 rpm Vinyl!

It’s a fund raiser! It’s a record! It’s a Preservation Hall Jazz Band record with Tom Waits! It’s a 78! It’s a record player! It’s, it’s, it’s at least five treats in one!

From the press release: On November 19th, Preservation Hall Recordings will release 504 limited edition hand-numbered 78 rpm vinyl records featuring two tracks by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band with very special guest Tom Waits. Proceeds from the sale of this very special project will benefit the Preservation Hall Junior Jazz & Heritage Brass Band.

Mr. Waits traveled to New Orleans in 2009 to record two songs with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for the critically acclaimed project Preservation: An album to benefit Preservation Hall and the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program,“Tootie Ma Was A Big Fine Thing” , and “Corrine Died On The Battlefield”. Originally recorded by Danny Barker in 1947, these two selections are the earliest known recorded examples of Mardi Gras Indian chants.

This special limited edition recording will be made available in two different tiers, based on the level of donation: Deluxe Donation Tier: $200 – Limited Edition 78rpm record featuring Tom Waits & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band AND a custom-made Preservation Hall 78 record players – and Basic Donation Tier: $50 – Limited Edition 78rpm record featuring Tom Waits & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Both packages will be available for in-person purchase at Preservation Hall in New Orleans on November 19, 2010 at 10:00am Central and available for purchase online November 20th here.

as life would have it, these just showed up yesterday! at our home courtesy of my father-in-law and I’m in the midst of reading a book about the history of the phonograph

This news follows on the heels of Elvis Costello’s announcement of his planned double 78rpm release from his new record National Ransom. And don’t forget about A Hawk and a Hacksaw’s 2009 “Foni Tu Argile” 78rpm release still available here.

Oh baby. I don’t know about you, but I view this reference to our shared musical heritage as a beautiful thing. In all three cases above, the artists are referencing music from the age of the 78rpm so I find the physical embodiment of their inspiration heartwarming, even in such limited editions.

EMT OFD 65i (78RPM)
photo (c) Matthew Rotunda courtesy of Tone Imports

Yes, music, records and even hi-fi has a history worth repeating. The EMT OFD beckons…

John Coltrane
“LIVE” at the Village Vanguard

“I like,” Coltrane said after the taping, “the feeling of a club, especially one with an intimate atmosphere like the Vanguard. It’s important to have that real contact with the audience because that’s what we’re trying to do – communicate.”

Is there any doubt that this record communicates? No, there isn’t (unless you’re that kind of audiophile). I have a superficial observation/hunch/hope and that’s to suggest one reason Eric Dolphy hits those tremendous low bass clarinet notes and holds them beyond apparent reason is to serve the same purpose as those Tibetan monks when they blow those long-assed horns (and that reason has absolutely nothing to do with testing the frequency extension of your hi-fi just in case any of those kind of audiophiles are reading. This is not a test. Disc.).

It’s difficult to write anything about John Coltrane and not sound like a complete idiot so it’s best to let him say things like,  “I’ve already been looking into those approaches to music – as in India – in which particular sounds and scales are intended to produce specific emotional meanings. I’ve got to keep probing. There’s so much more to do.”

“Chasin’ the Trane” which fills Side 2 is flat out some of the most emotionally stirring music I’ve ever experienced talking about things in ways I cannot have imagined otherwise (and no it’s not because he, the band, the recording engineer, producer or my hifi is being accurate, ibid).

Recorded November 2 and 3, 1961 at The Village Vanguard, NYC. Personnel: John Coltrane – soprano sax, Eric Dolphy – bass clarinet on “Spiritual”, McCoy Tyner – piano, Reggie Workman – bass, Elvin Jones – drums.

You can get more from this 1961 Live at the Village Vanguard session on LP on The Other Village Vanguard Tapes and Impressions both also on Impulse!

pledge here

Julianna Barwick and M’lady’s Records are trying to get at least $4,000 pledged by Friday, Oct 15, 8:17pm EDT toward the release of Julianna’s debut album “Sanguine” (originally a CD-only self-release from 2007) on limited edition vinyl. Julianna is another Brooklyn artist in residence and she makes dreamy looping patterns of angelic sound mainly with her voice and electronics.

photo credit: Giulia Mazza

There are a number of pledge choices starting at $1. Here are a few of my favorites:

Pledge $15 or more

“Sanguine” on LP, shipped USPS Media Mail, if you live anywhere in North America.

Pledge $25 or more
LIMITED REWARD 163 of 178 remaining (item counts are as of 8:30am today check the kickstarter site for the latest)

ULTRA DELUXE EDITION of “Sanguine” on LP, with a very special bonus 7″ (limited to 200 copies worldwide) that contains music not found on any other release! shipped USPS Media Mail, if you live anywhere in North America.

Pledge $50 or more (the AK Special)
LIMITED REWARD 4 of 15 remaining

Test pressings of both “Sanguine” and its accompanying limited bonus single, with a personal thank you from Julianna and the M’lady’s staff, shipped postage-paid worldwide. LIMITED TO 15 COPIES!

Pledge $600 or more (the Monkeyhaus Special?)
LIMITED REWARD 1 of 1 remaining

All of the above, PLUS Julianna will come to your town (anywhere in North America) and perform a show just for you! Well, you, and whomever else you choose to tell about the show!

Mark McGuire
Living With Yourself

Sounding like he soaked in some inspiration from Vini Reilly’s Durutti Column days, Mark McGuire’s Living With Yourself is a lovely, personal, guitar-driven song-fest showering cascades of layered sumptuous strings over percussion and tape sounds gathered over 9 years building up to a pulsating sonic atmosphere. A beautiful ball of sound. It’s all Mark McGuire and it works very well for me and even the tough crowd at ILS during a quick listen – “I have to get that” the resounding chorus.

We seem to be amidst a renaissance of sorts with these simply lovely one-person-guitar-driven LPs from the likes of Julian Lynch, Stian Westerhus and the blissed-out soundscapes of Sarah Lipstate’s Noveller. I say yippy-ki-yay. Here’s what Mark McGuire says:

“‘Living With Yourself’ is a record that has been building in my mind for years now, and was recorded over a period of seven months in 2009. these songs were inspired by my family, the friends i’ve known the best throughout my life, and everything that has led me to where i am right now. musically as well, i feel like all my cdrs and cassettes thus far have led up to making this record. needless to say i’m very excited about this one!“

Released on Editions Mego (who appear to be making finding new and wonderful music easy) and already sold out at the source. McGuire is also the guitarist for Emeralds who sound most definitely worth checking out.

Keep a cold beverage close at hand without chilling your fingers with this beer cozy. Perfect for tailgating, ice fishing, or any other wintertime activity. Top edge bound with nylon tape. Fits 12-oz. cans or bottles.
$9.00 Beer cozy in gray multi. 5″H. Wool/nylon. Hand wash. USA.

Typically the idea with these things is to keep your beer colder longer in hotter weather (which always struck me as unnecessary) but this Orvis woolen beer overcoat appears to be designed to transfer the heat from your hand to the beer in cold weather. While I suppose it does impart that ruggedly handsome in an outdoorsy kinda way vibe to that can of — Pabst Blue Ribbon, I have to wonder what were they thinking? (originally spotted on Selectism)

Pabst Blue Ribbon, nude

(March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010)