Zarko

House Of The Rising Sun – Idris Muhammad (1976)


GENRES – Jazz, RnB, Funk

House of the Rising Sun - 4:42
Bahia (Boogie Bump) - 4:38
Hard to Face the Music- 4:48
Theme for New York City (Based on Chopin's Prelude in E Minor, Op. 28) - 3:25
Sudan - 10:52
Hey Pocky A-Way - 6:07

I’ve never been huge on the jazz funk side of things… I am hardly a purist though, so I will give anything a chance. I guess all it took was the right album. House Of The Rising Sun was widely canned by jazz purists for adopting a mainstream sound and style around their beloved jazz. House Of The Rising Sun hasn’t really made me change my mind on the ideas put forth. It’s a solid album though with plenty of highlights, but there is just something that rubs me the wrong way about certain songs. Sometimes it goes overly funky, and sometimes it maintains its ‘cool’.

The title track certainly opens up with quality, ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ being one of the standouts of the album. It carries a down tempo groove that is my sort of funk, and I also particularly like the vocals. They aren’t anything standout alone, but they don’t dominate the other facets of the music too much, as a lot of jazz-funk usually entails. Muhammad’s drumming and general leading of the band in this song, and the album in general is great; with the guitar lines follow its suit, as well as the generally light brass section. It is a good head-bopper song, without sacrificing the other elements.

‘Bahia’ is a reverse in regards to the sort of funk and soul that I enjoy. Not only am I not a fan of female vocalists in the genre (Not being sexist, just honest), but the backing band is still quite nice. It has a strong Brazilian vibe to it, the pacing and general sounds, which could easily be transferred to Brazilian instrumentation (Note, I just found out that it was written originally by a Brazilian jazz duo, so there you go). I just dislike the overall funk-pop jingle, which is the problem with the genre as a whole I feel. The genre is much better when it goes down a more shadowed and dark road.

‘Hard To Face The Music’ is another top track from the album. It rescinds the overly upbeat tone for a more sullen and shadowy one. It may seem odd, because it is still upbeat compared to a lot of genres, but I am talking about the album within itself. There are no vocals, just the constant groovy-ness, with a few sax solo’s here and there. It probably has the most pronounced saxophone work of any song yet. The bridge is also pretty solid without changing too much as a whole.

‘Theme For New York City’ is apparently based on Chopin's Prelude in E Minor, Op. 28, though I would be the last person who could identify it (Chopin’s music has never done much for me). It isn’t a bad piece, it just isn’t particularly memorable. Perhaps it would be more interesting if I could tie it directly to Chopin’s work. ‘Sudan’ is by far the longest track on the album, nearly doubling that of any other track. It is chock-a-block full of funky jazz solos, from Idris himself, the saxophonists, as well as having its own Eastern tinge. The drumming here is absolutely phenomenal, and the overall construct almost makes me wish I could appreciate other parts of the album more. Although the piece is ‘middle of the pack’ in regards to my favourite songs to my least favourites, it has its golden moments. Although at times it can feel a little tedious at 11 minutes, Idris pulls it back together just as you felt like skipping the rest to keep you along for the ride. The sax work is also great at times, so don’t forget about it .

The final track, ‘Hey Pocky A-Way’ is the final track (Though there is a special edition with two more tracks) that is quite the interesting one… It has a downtrodden driving bass line, and the overriding guitar licks are bluesier than anything else. The vocals are okay as it reaches a funkier level, though entirely nothing special in my opinion. Better songs elsewhere on the album.

I don’t know what I was expecting with this album… I had read so many great things about being a high end funk jazz album that I was expecting something better I guess. Like I said, there are some great sections, but overall it just has too much of the funk that I am not a terrible fan of.

TOTAL SCORE

6.0/10

Three stars out of five sounds so much better

– House Of The Rising Sun
– Hard To Face The Music

Bulldog

This album sounds amazing; another great review. I just love it when reggae artists spread their wings a little and incorporate other sounds, so this seems like just my sort of thing.

Can't remember if I've said this before, but this is one of the best threads going on MB, and one I should probably catch up with again. Keep up the good work

Zarko

Thanks for the kind words mate. Trying to spread some love for some lesser known musicians (at least around MB), hopefully I can keep on pulling out the occasional gem for someone else.

Will see if I can squeeze one in tomorrow before the weekend hits.

Zarko

Blackfilm – Blackfilm (2008)


GENRES – Ambient, Electronic, Cinematic

Come & See - 7:04
Interference - 7:13
Untitled - 2:17
Stalingrad - 10:11
Sonar - 5:58
Five Years - 4:16
Eastern - 2:35
Midnight To 4AM - 4:35
Mahabharata - 5:35
Atlantikend - 8:02

In regards to music, the thing I hate most about myself is that I can find an absolute gem, and then totally forget about it. I mean sometimes you get caught up trying to listen to the other dozen generic sounds you downloaded at the same time, and it goes to the way-side but generally, you will remember about it when it deserves another spin. That wasn’t the case for this self titled debut from Blackfilm. It wallowed away in the depths of my collection til I was recently burning a DVD of random tunes for a mate, and it triumphantly re-emerged from the ashes. It’s not an album I love for pure originality or anything like that, but purely due to its cinematic qualities. The idea gets tossed around a lot, but this could really be used as the soundtrack for some obscure movie, and it would most likely be the best part of that movie. I mean, even the cover of the album is absolutely cinematic in nature. It’s not the most enthralling, nor is it terribly original all the time, but I sure loved listening to it.

‘Come & See’ offers up dark ambience on a platter. The piece commences with an assortment of sounds and samples, and the overall effect is of someone staring into the fog and knowing something dark and mysterious is waiting for them in there. It carries this effect for a short while, sending the occasional chill down your spine, before some intense drumming enters the scene. It almost becomes a down tempo drum and bass piece (Massive oxymoron) but it still utilises a lot of sounds and mixing to maintain that dark and grave mood. At over seven minutes it’s a very long piece, but it maintains a lot of interest throughout.

‘Interference’ starts out sounding like it’ll be some dark dance song with a fairly fast beat added, before it fades out, and some distorted speaking is introduced. The heart of the piece is this unclear and muffled piano performance. It is only a simple piece but the mixing and overlaid sounds make it a treat at times when the drumming doesn’t take over too much. There is a hint of a string ensemble here and there, but the crux and best part of the song revolve around this simple piano performance. Nothing is too confronting, but it suggests a whole lot of imagery without words, which I think is an amazing ability with music, before it entirely fades out with misshapen beats and foreign chanting.

‘Untitled’ is only a short piece, again based around the piano, but the keys and tones are elongated and mixed. Various aspects of the track are glitched out, and it makes for a nice change length wise to the tracks surrounding it. ‘Stalingrad’ carries the sombre tone expected from its name, and at over 10 minutes it is a confronting beast. Intertwined are some really great beats and mixes and string samples, as the song attempts to encompass hopelessness, fear, melancholy and abhorrence. The sampling near the end of an old song is particularly scary, it’s ever haunting loneliness present as the female vocalist calls out, but is muffled at the same time.

‘Sonar’ picks up the pace a bit from the get go, with a few sonar sounds sampled and used to make the heart of the song. It is a return to a more DnB sound used in conjunction with the piano, with an exceptional drumming performance. ‘Five Years’ is another personal favourite, with some heavily warped beats used in a combination with some violins. The way in which the two are tangled, along with this every present glitch and ‘white noise’ sound is awesome. It never remains the same as itself, always trying to offer changes, before it cuts out, and all that is left are some light background tones and the sound of a heart beating. It wasn’t prominent before the break, but afterwards, this heart sound envelops everything around it. It doesn’t struggle to reach any predefined level; it simply is what it is.

‘Eastern’ is another short track, but it is still absolute quality. At the start is some sampling of someone talking, before it reaches a cracking vinyl sound. It may seem odd but in me it creates a sad and fearful suspense, almost encouraging hopelessness. ‘Midnight To 4AM’ captures the ‘unknown’ essence that we can often feel when we are somewhere alone at night in the darkness. Despite how familiar we may be with the place during the day, the night time gives it a whole new persona that much be cracked to fully understand your surroundings.

‘Mahabharata’ carries with it a sense of foreignness with an ethereal vocal performance, and an assortment of eastern sounding instrumentation. I love the vocals for the short time they’re on, reminding me very much so of some of Lisa Gerrard’s vocals. It carries itself in a dignified manner but is still foreign enough to feel apprehensive of. Eventually some harsher beats become involved, which change up the song enough for it not to feel too similar to itself. It is another top track, probably helped by the fact I love Dead Can Dance.

‘Atlantikend’ is the final track on the album and it borrows a little bit from every other track. It has the sonar sounds from ‘Sonar’ it has the watery doom sound from ‘Come & See’ as well as other factors. The sound of the boat creaking and general flowing/watery nature is a reference to Atlanta from what I can tell. It also covers a wide range of emotion presented in the album, the most prevalent being hopeless grief and fear. It builds up to an almost post rock sound at time, and it presents a nice concept of layering. It is a quality way to end the album, almost suggesting there is a major twist in the story being told.

It’s great until you realise you have been listening to a de-jazzified/down tempo Amon Tobin sound for the last hour… This isn’t a bad thing perse, because I love Amon Tobin, and he is one of my favourite artists of all time. But after you draw that correlation some things just sound overly similar, and it is a bit of a turn off. Of course, the album is still chock-a-block full of good and great tracks, and as I said earlier, the cinematic quality to the album just makes me love it to bits, even the subtle suggestion of some major twist at the end of the ‘movie’. Blackfilm is a good album that any Tobin fans should check out, as well as those looking for a more dark/mellow chill album. Everything feels a bit too bloody long though, with the average length of song nearing 6 minutes.

TOTAL SCORE

8.5/10

– Come & See
- Sonar
- Atlantikend

Obombration

hello

Blackfilm is cool.I think it's a debut as well.Pretty polished for a debut.

__________________
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true.

Adonai

Wow, cool reviews there

__________________

Zarko

Yeah it's a debut... Over time they should develop their own personal 'style' a little more strongly rather than borrow from a whole bunch of different artists, so I am hopeful for their future at the moment.

Zarko

MiniMax

The 5th Adelaide Festival of Unpopular Music
Monday, 20 April 2009



Well as the name may suggest, for the last week (12th of April til the 23rd) there has been a ‘mini’ festival of sorts for experimental and underground musicians and groups of Adelaide. I had a quiet chuckle at the use of the word ‘unpopular’ but I give kudos for being blatantly honest. Anyway, throughout the two weeks there has been an array of electronic/jazz/contemporary classical artists that have performed for the festival.

The site of this festival is the ‘De La Catessen’, a tiny little live gig spot off a dinky little side street. The area was a 6 metre by 16 metre room, with 8 fold up chairs lining the walls on either side (4 rows of 4 all up), with a few metres down one end devoted to the band. All up there were around 14 people there, not including the 3 artists.

Anyway, the actual band is a small local free jazz-electronic group known as MiniMax. The main bloke on the computer, Luke Harrald, is actually a uni lecturer to one of my close friends, doing a degree in some form of sound technician. Derek Pascoe was on sax and Chris Martin was on piano/keyboard.

The three set up down one end, of course, we didn’t actually face them. The opposite wall was covered in a white sheet, and I was quite pleasantly surprised to find out it would be an ‘audio visual experience’, with the two working in conjunction. I also discovered that their surrounding theme was technology in modern day society, which I thought would be fairly interesting. As most people understand its difficult describing these sort of gigs, but if I was to compare their style to any, it would be a more jazzified version of Bohren & Der Club Of Gore or a darker electronic version of The Necks.

The piece was a single 50 minute long extravaganza that was really divided into a clearly different 4 sections. The first 15 minutes were a ‘pace setter’, with a deep melancholic feeling to it, with a heavy emphasis on the electronics and a down tempo keyboard performance. All along Pascoe was making an odd ‘ta-ta-ta-ta-ta’ noise using his saxophone. No clear notes were produced, and I really had no idea how he was doing it and deduced that he was using some odd breathing patterns and mouth movements. It was quite surreal to be facing a wall of moving, heavily distorted and pixelated images on the wall and to have that ‘ta-ta-ta-ta-ta’ noise approach from behind you. The electronics weren’t heavy, and the images weren’t anything too concise. Random indiscernible words would float in from all directions, against a backdrop of pixelated images that had flashes of deep and dark colours popping up at random times in square form. At times it would almost look like a puzzle, as the musicians attempt to sort out the assortment of pieces into one.

I would occasionally turn my head towards the trio, and at one point I saw Pascoe stand up and face the corner with his sax in hand. I was worried at what was happening (Don’t want an instrument failing on you at a time like this), but low and behold, he starting ripping out some free jazz lines playing directly into the corner. The overall tempo of the piece changed, from a deep and dark gloomy feeling to some harsher and more violent times. For the next 10-15 minutes, Pascoe would play directly into the corner, creating an almost haunting echo to the sax notes rather than a direct and high pitched blast. The electronics became glitchier, as well as some faint sampled voices, saying random things about technology today. The pictures become quicker moving and more hostile, as ‘waterfalls’ of pixelated writing came screaming down the wall, before it turned to what looked like an old school three-quarter view videogame, but was much harder to discern, and most of the detail was taken away, with only the key items of interested being left on screen. The shapes were made out of red lines against a black backdrop, as something struggled in the middle of the screen, being attacked by random rays of light. Pascoe had quite an interesting style, quite proficient, but he offered some raw intensity, as if the sax was groaning at times, and towards the end of his highlights he made it sound as if it was ‘running out of air’.

As the sax struggled to release its power with less and less air, Martin on piano became more and more prominent, and the picture gradually changed from the harsh red on black images to what almost looked like a sky filmed over time and fast forwarded. At this time, Harrald started sampling a string ensemble, which along with the fine piano work and calmed down saxophone, produced a 10 minute section of serene bliss. It all gathered up so well, that when live and with the images, it was almost the most perfect moments I have ever experienced at a gig.

As the piece went on for its last ten minutes, the electronics were gradually phased out, and more technological images began to appear. The piano/sax duo was solid, each doing their own thing but making it part of something larger. It wasn’t quite as dark as the initial part of the piece was, but it still carried a melancholic feel, as if this technology can never be defeated, but an uneasy peace can be obtained. The ‘piece de resistance’ was the book ending of the piece, as Pascoe began the ‘ta-ta-ta-ta-ta’ once again, until it all eventually faded to nothing, the last sounds heard ‘ta-ta-ta-ta-ta’.

I was surprised at its conclusion to find that 50 minutes had passed, it all felt so fluent and explored many ideas to their maximum. It was a well spent 8 dollars all up (3 on the pamphlet, 5 on the gig itself) and although it might not be much, I think we all must make an effort to support local underground acts such as these types of festivals. More often than not they support my tastes, so I may as well do the same. Although I can’t make it to the 21st or 22nd (One being a post rock group known as the ‘Bitches of Zeus’ and the other being a solo performer, Adam Page, who I have seen more than enough times with his insanity), the final show I might get to is ‘Hidden Village’, consisting of Sebastian and Lauren Tomczak, who are quite well known around the world in the chiptune community (Utilising the sounds of retro game consoles to build up their performance). I don’t know if I will write a review, but by all accounts they are quite the interesting duo. A great wonder of mine is a creation of Sebastian, who made some contraption that consisted of lasers (hooked up to some form of synth I suppose) pointing into a basin of water. The way in which the water was acting would change the tonal output of the synths, and he made a performance out of dropping random things into the basin and experimenting with the resulting sounds.

In conclusion, top gig, and I was surprised such a thing still exists in little old Adelaide. The actual music was nothing ground breaking, but it was still great to experience it live.

Thanks to the trio, as well as Luke Altmann for hosting the AFUM, and we can only hope that he continues to do so in the future.

Zarko

Interview with Harrald

I just quite liked the Q and A here, particularly interesting for me at least.

The entire interview is at De La Catessen, as well as interviews and ideas presented about the other live acts.

Just CTRL+F 'MiniMax' and the interview should be shortly thereafter.

I don't know how long it will be up for, but enjoy nonetheless.

Zarko

Two Way Mirror – Sand Snowman (2009)


GENRES – Folk, Rock, Ambient

The Butcher's Hook - 5:49
I Spy - 3:45
Faded Flowers - 5:21
A Vision On The Green - 2:43
Matryoshka, Muse Of Misrule - 1:51
Mirrors - 8:23
Riverrun - 2:48
Neurotic Zoo - 3:27
Kites - 4:48

Sand Snowman is an alias of the artist Sand, and Two Way Mirror would have to be my favourite release of his. With guest vocals by Steven Wilson, Jason Ninnis and Moonswift, there is quite a bit of variety to it, with instruments and style variety galore. At times if is full on folk, at other times its ‘minimalist rock’ while at others it is some odd mixture of folk, neoclassical and ambient music.

‘The Butcher’s Hook’ starts with some haunting acoustic picking, sometimes sounding as if the notes were playing in reverse. Slowly, more and more elements are added, including some animalistic ‘ohh hah’ vocal work as the tone is set perfectly to match the title of the opening track, until the ethereal and dangerous vocals of Moonswift enter the fray. They aren’t the type to pierce the soul but is rather the type that I would envision a hostile supernatural being possessed. The lines ‘Sliced, and diced and cut’ which lead into a sounds I can’t identify (for an acoustic instrument) is just chilling, before the piece becomes a bit more ‘hearty’ with bass coming into action, as well as some light organ work and children’s voices. The song just captures a particularly chilling mood that offers a great experience. The last minute is purely guitar and mandolin work, which carries the temper throughout, and the experimental nature of the sounds in these last few minutes are a treat, and on the whole make this an awesome opening track.

‘I Spy’ is s similarly structured piece, with a slow guitar riff driving the piece before Moonswift and Jason Ninnis add their vocals to the piece. It is all fairly calm before the singers take off at the line, ‘Devil at the back door’. It still doesn’t become terribly loud, but more vocally structured to what mainstream music listeners expectations are. It’s only a short piece, but it is still fairly good, and only adds to the disposition with an overall chanting/summoning sentiment. ‘Faded Flowers’ is a faster paced, more ‘traditional’ folk sound with some fairly simple guitar strumming and layering with Wilson’s inherently British voice, but it doesn’t carry the same temperament, which is a shame because I was quite enjoying it. The mood has changed from dangerous to nonchalant, but it does have some good electronic backing, which is a nice deviation from the purely acoustic sound. I have no idea how this bloke makes some of these noises, but on every listen you find something new that intrigues you, which I love in music.

‘A Vision On The Green’ sounds like it could go either way at the very beginning. The quiet guitar work is initially surrounded by a groaning sound, only to be replaced gradually with bird chirps and eventually some woodwind instruments. It still exactly the most upbeat or positive sound possible with this combination of instruments, but it isn’t quite as dark as the initial two tracks. The violin is also a treat, with an almost squiggling repetitive nature to it. At the end of the song it becomes more aggressive, with louder and faster guitar picking and that same haunting groan surrounding the piece again. This sort of leads into the next track, ‘Matryoshka, Muse Of Misrule’ which continues the faster paced picking, but in the end I can’t really articulate the way I feel about the track. It just seems disjointed, as if it’s a bit lost in itself. At less than 2 minutes in length, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing to have a little bit of ‘calmed chaos’ but I can’t quite say if I like the track or not.

‘Mirrors’ is by far the longest track on the album, which is to its detriment at times. The track opens with some foreboding signs as we travel into a dark underworld, curious but not quite knowing what the results of our trip will be. The faint violin streams in an out, never sounding like it is played to perfection, having an incessant squeak to it. The piece picks up with the introduction to some heavy electric organ and electric guitar playing, but it still isn’t at the forefront of the track, reverberating from the depths before it all quietens. The remaining instrument is a solemn and simple piano performance. The haunting backing floats in and out, same with the electronic guitar work. Nothing attacks you until the key strikes at the piano become more prominent, and even when you think an eruption of noise is going to happen, it all composes itself once again. There are noises introduced at random intervals which are a pleasure to try and grab out and identify. It finally changes tone when a deep bass line becomes out-standing as well as some light drumming. It’s almost as if you stepped from the depths of hell into a seedy little side bar, and everything remains unknown and foreign to the listener, as you can never have your back to anyone for too long for fear of your own safety. As quickly as we stepped into this world, we step out again and some quaint choir work enters the background with the piano work once again. I love the grinding sounds in the background (Just wanted to point that out ) as we exit the world, not knowing if we are better for the experience or not.

‘Riverrun’ is a needed change from the darkness into another mysterious world that isn’t quite as ominous as the last. Wilson is present once again which waft around the instrumentation in a casual manner. It isn’t quite as nice as other tracks, but it is a break that was required. ‘Neurotic Zoo’ carries on the basic guitar riff whilst adding some rock-ish structure with a deep driving bass line and some basic drumming. I think it’s safe to say I really dislike this track in the whole scheme of things.

The album ends on a high note with ‘Kites’, as a serenity returns to the album. It envelops the dark atmosphere from the beginning the album, and although at times it is a bit similar to Mirrors, it is nonetheless a beautiful track.

To be honest, I disliked a lot of the album when I first chucked it on. It seemed clunky, I didn’t like the vocals and I wasn’t huge on the overt similarities between songs. However, when review time rolled around, I found myself loving most of the tracks as they went on. They were nothing outstanding or pioneering but they maintained a great atmosphere in different ways than I normally experience. I even had to go through it again to see if I actually did like it that much. I don’t want to be overly generous knowing my opinion on it changed so drastically so quickly, but you can’t replace simply enjoying an album with technical prowess. There is a bonus CD out there as well in some versions if interested.

TOTAL SCORE

7.8/10

– The Butcher’s Hook
- Mirrors