#black psychedlia

[idontreallyexistokay]

[reptileshrine]

A Collaboration by Aluk Todolo & Der Blutharsch and the Infinite Church of the Leading Hand

[theloniousbach]

50 YEARS OF GOING TO SHOWS, Pt. 6: BECOMING A JAZZ FAN IN KANSAS CITY

As  I often do, let me start this reminiscence with a guitar player or three.  My brief here is to recall the formative jazz experiences that have been part of being in the thrall of live music just as often as I can.

So, even though this is jazz and the piano is the most versatile and enthralling instrument at the center of the music for me, I do come to this iteration of musical virtuosity, intelligence, and intricacy from '60s rock--blues and psychedlia.  Fusion, jazz-rock was created for the likes of me and Miles's "Bitches Brew" with John McLaughlin was the first jazz album of my teen years. So we start with seeing the Mahavishnu Orchestra at the University of Kansas.  I remember being in the balcony and so leaning forward physically while metaphorically being blown back into my seat.  They were loud, both actually and filling every aural space with rapid fire notes in intricate array, mostly from McLaughlin's still just a single neck guitar but also Jerry Goodman and Jan Hammer.  But it was equally Billy Cobham's drums that just pulsed in astoundingly complex rhythms.  Later when I got to know Balkan music, I wondered if those rhythms were head trips, intellectual exercises, or tied to Eastern European dance rhythms (Hammer is Czech, after all).  Pure invention.  It was amazing.

In the same hall, I saw the beloved Jerry Hahn, with Brotherhood brothers, but playing a straight ahead jazz show.  He warmed up for this just emerging band with some local appeal, Kansas.  They too were loud and already pretentious.  We left wrapped in our own pretension of jazz snobbery.

One last guitarist, Pat Matheny, a local hero just a year older than us.  The drummer in Fast Eddie and the Juicers, the garage/basement band I hung out with with some very good friends, had played in a middle school jazz band with him.  He was 16, maybe 17, when he played numerous sets at the all day Kansas City Jazz Festival in Municipal Auditorium.  It was a mostly Buddy Rich, Clark Terry, Marilyn Maye (who was then just the jazz singer in town), Gene Harris and the Three Sounds kind of show.  But Matheny played his own set in late afternoon and then kept being asked to sit in.  He later did two or three Xmas season shows often at UMKC (my alma mater, my Dad's employer) with his original quartet with Lyle Mays with "Phase Dance" to open and "San Lorenzo" to close gloriously.

But, particularly now, I don't seek jazz guitar and appreciate more than enjoy such luminaries as John Scofield (though I have seen him with Joe Lovano and also in Jack DeJohnette's Hudson and do like to see him in rockish setting with Phil Lesh and Warren Haynes) and Bill Friesell.  No, it's the piano, best with just bass and drums, that defines the music for me.  

I had a singular formative experience--seeing Oscar Peterson with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen open ($#%Q%#) for the New Christy Minstrels at UMKC in about 1964.  I was 8 or 9 and felt at home where Dad worked, so I just was drawn into the music and sat on stage behind the speaker column.  They were playing selections from the "Canadiana Suite," so that was an album I got my parents to buy for "us."  But they were magical, so fluid and telepathic and powerful.  I treasure the drum sticks Ed Thigpen gave me.  I got to see him here at a conference on Miles Davis with Sam in tow when he was about the age I was then and told him how meaningful that was.

I saw Count Basie (and possibly Duke Ellington) at a free concert but that made little impression except that Basie was bluesy and from Kansas City.  I saw him, once again in Lawrence, probably in that same auditorium, in the 1970s.  By then I had absorbed the Basie aesthetic.  Even if big bands were more than a little corny, this one swung hard, Basie was eloquently powerful with his little right hand lines, Freddie Green was unflappable, and the horns played the charts well with Jimmy Forrest being the tenor star.

Since I've already talked about Herbie Hancock with both his Mwandishi band and the Headhunters as well as Chick Core with Return to Forever and even Weather Report, I will proceed into a remarkable series of largely free jazz in the park concerts, mostly in Kanas City.

A glorious exception was seeing Charles Mingus with the Changes line up (George Adams, Don Pulled, Dannie Richmond, not necessarily but possibly Jack Waltrath) in Bryant Park, for a noon time set while we were in New York City.  That same band did a concert in the park in Kansas City.  I remember no juicy details--particular tunes from the deep Mingus canon, only Mingus in black fully unprepared to suffer fools.

The Kansas City Parks had a great series with Gary Burton a couple of times (I was also a hanger on at a master class on vibraphone at a music store the next afternoon and saw something about how to use two mallets in each hand) and San Getz with Richie Beirach, maybe George Mraz.  It might have been that I saw Mraz with Roland Hanna and homeowner Richie Pratt on drums in another open air setting.  I was probably just another punter in the crowd; I think anymore I would be annoyed at people there for atmosphere and the party.

I saw the Modern Jazz Quartet with the Kansas City Symphony with the orchestra contributing to some suite, almost certainly John Lewis's, before a few tunes by the MJQ itself.  I was bouncing in my seat a bit too enthusiastically for the regular Symphony goers around me.  Sigh.

Dizzy Gillespie played KC a couple of times.  I saw him out of reverence but wished I could have brought more to the table, more lore.  He wasn't Miles but he was playing probably with James Moody and solid jazz guys on Rhodes and electric bass.  I should have gotten more out of that experience than to say, yeah, I saw Dizzy's cheeks and schtick (certainly a subtle Latin rhythm). I lived in Chicago and had a friend with great jazz ears.  He introduced me to Arthur Blythe and some South African players among many others.  I was part of a gang that went a couple of times to the Jazz Showcase, including once to the original near North Side location, once to the one in a Loop hotel, to see Dexter Gordon in the post-Homecoming days.  Again I wish I could savor more details than the impression of his tall elegance, liquid lines, and deep deep repertoire.  That's as much a reconstruction from the albums and the legend but, details aside, I have a strong image of Dexter Gordon and he was the most formidable tenor player I ever saw.  Now, I did see Sonny Rollins in his late 70s and that was remarkable (more in a follow up to this on my jazz revival) but Gordon was in significant command of his craft then and was doing vital music.

Finally, the Chicago Jazz Festival was a relatively new thing when I was there in the late 1970s/early 1980s.  I'm sure I saw as much as I could.  My sole memory--and it is a grand one--is sticking out a rain shower to see Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition to play to a too small crowd, including the absolutely stunning "Pastel Rhapsody" with DeJohnette starting on piano.  It's a glorious tune and DeJohnette's piano is both strong and revelatory.  I learned so much about him as a drummer from that tune.

My rediscovery of jazz over the past four years or so is based on this foundation.  It is also been the basis of so much of this ongoing writing exercise.  

These are powerful memories.

[doomedandstoned]

Gévaudan Trade Tales of Gods and Mortals on Forthcoming LP, ‘Iter’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

Artwork by Aiden Moore

The Hertfordshire based doom metallers Gévaudan have a new album looming on the not so distant horizon. The album in question, called 'Iter' (2019), will be out on CD and digital formats starting October 4th.

Gévaudan delivers "a balanced blend of story-telling, heavy riffs, Iommi-esque solos and dynamic songwriting," their bio tells us, as the band continue "to carve their own unique niche within the genre, drawing on influences that include black metal and '70s psychedelia. 'Iter,' taken from the latin meaning "The Journey," considers the passage into and out of existence and tells of interactions between gods and mortals during this time. The album delivers five songs heavily traditional doom led with wider influences, including psychedelic and black metal."

These tracks are all breaking the ten-minute mark, a length which can sometimes get boring if the songs aren't crafted properly. For me, the time flew by so quickly that I was bummed when the song ended. This is especially true of "The Great Heathen Army," which we'll be discussing shortly.

A beautiful arpeggiated guitar section opens up the album, accompanied by a subtle, yet very effective bassline. The song is called "Dawntreader" and is one of my favorite songs on Iter. When the vocals of Adam Pirmohamed begin, the song takes on a haunting vibe, yet retains the beauty of the instrumentation perfectly.

When the guitars become distorted the track takes on a dirge-like quality. This section brings to mind Candlemass and is a great dynamic shift, before settling back into that first part once again. At about the eight-and-a-half minute mark, the energy picks up and the vocals get a little heavier. I think this was a fantastic way to end the track, and it left me wanting more.

My personal favorite is song number three, "The Great Heathen Army." As a follower of the Norse mythology, this one caught my attention before even hearing it. Lyrically, it tells the tale of how the sons of Ragnar sought vengeance against Kings Ælla and Ecgberht -- both for their hands in Ragnar's death in a pit of snakes.

Musically, this is heavy, slow, and just plain excellent. Included within are the traditional doom stylings this band is known for, some psychedelic influences, and some fantastic guitar riffs. Even if the lyrics weren't about something I have a lot of interest in, this would still be my favorite due to its musical approach.

Iter by Gévaudan

In between the two songs we've already discussed is one called "Maelstrom," and it's another killer track. One of the things I love about this track, and the genre itself, is the slower tempos matched with thunderous drumming. Riffs come in and stay before changing over, and the tempo really gives you the opportunity to truly feel the power of the riff and appreciate its intricacies.

The bass intro with the psychedelic feel is very cool and it returns at the end of the song. The psychedlia is subtle, but there just enough to be noticed. The bulk of this one is based off some heavier guitar parts, and the vocals are performed extremely well, too. I really love how that intro comes back around so smoothly at the end. It's a fantastic transition out of that heavier section that precedes it.

Iter is bad-ass album full of catchy melodies, heavy riff crafting, and one of the best drum sounds you'll hear, which isn't normally something I pick up on. It's definitely worth a pre-order before the fall release date. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did!

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[empireaust]

Easy Rider: The Empire Review

By Ian Nathan

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Plot: Two counter-culture bikers set off from Los Angeles to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, meeting a cross-section of American characters en route.

Justly celebrated as the film that truly channelled that whole countercultural thing along the downward slope of the sixties, Dennis Hopper’s experimental mishmash of a road movie is flawed by its own concept. It was such a product of its time it feels vacuous and aloof, its so-called greatness exaggerated all out of proportion. So, in approaching the bumpy adventures across the heart of America, or at least its leathery Southern belt, of Captain America (the heroic looking Peter Fonda) and Wolfman (Dennis Hopper looking like he would dance with any devil given the chance) context is everything. This was 1969, the year of Woodstock, the Vietnam War, and the growing discontent in American youth.

What is most apparent is its flagrant deconstruction of what was considered popular cinema. The film is shapeless, a picaresque squall of bizarre encounters between the chopper riding heroes of freedom as they bounce between communes of ‘shroomed hippies, suspicious yokels, to the famous fireside encounter with a booze-riddled lawyer played by Jack Nicholson. To be fair, the film isn’t a dope session, for each woozy slab of drop-out bliss the film counters with a growing sense of dysfunction. These easy riders are looking for an answer that can’t ever be located. They harken to the call of doom.

The open depiction of drugs and drug culture drenched the film in controversy, but what irritates is not the moral dimension more than using such an alternative lifestyle as an excuse to labour the intelligent design with wafty, pointless psychedlia. The New Orleans section, where they are tripping on LSD and hook up with Toni Basil and Karen Black, is a near unwatchable wobble through the filmmakers’ genuine whacked-out adventures shot a year prior to the rest of the film. Hopper probably felt it was outrageously daring, but it drives a huge spoke into the film’s spinning wheels. Thus, while you cannot dismiss its place in history, its power is in what it represented rather than what it did.

The Verdict: This is a glorious widescreen vision of a hot and bothered America, at once beautiful and lost. Yes, it has dated, but its pessimistic last gasp ("We blew it...") still carries a prescient sting.

[electrocunttherapy-blog]

Oddience - Smile (by weoddience)

this video is kind of lame but the song is beautiful