SATCHMO

#40 Mastodon - Leviathan

Ok before anyone starts getting too indignant over this one let me just say that I used to be a huge metal head back in the day. The reason why I got out of the genre really wasn't because it was too heavy or I was getting too old, but because the genre itself was just becoming one worn out cliche being piled on top of another. Any and all progression in the genre seemed to be aimed at becoming harder, faster, and more br00tal, while no diversity within the genre was to be had, and I was growing tired of it. Occasionally I would go back and ask some of my still die-hard metal friends if their had surfaced anything in the metal world that was perhaps cut of a different cloth, a little experimental, only to be handed this months latest Mr. Bungle impersonation or nu-metal sensation *yawn*. When I shared my vision of a metal-jazz hybrid I was always met with the same incredulous attitude of how the melding of jazz and metal is as unnatural as the reconciliation of religion and science. Not so, not so, and my proof is in this beautiful quartet from Atlanta, Georgia.

Leviathan is the first Mastodon album I ever heard, and until the recent release of Crack the Skye it has remained my favorite. I could have easily picked Crack the Skye as my entry for this band, but I felt that for propriety's sake it would be best to allow a certain obligatory grace period to elapse after its release before putting it in any "top" list.

What was immediately evident, to me, upon first listening to Mastodon is that they were the perfect example of a jazz quartet cleverly disguising itself as a metal band (something tells me I'm supposed to insert "core" somewhere, but i won't.). Simply put, beneath the distortion pedals and veneer of metal dynamics the band just ****ing swings, and swings hard! The Melodies and respective harmonic overtones are complex without being helter skelter. The absolutely balls out drumming is dynamic, loose, and precise all at the same time, and the vocals carry the timbre, aesthetic, and rhetoric of an additional melodic instrument, a key element with vocal-centric jazz.

It's not how sickly talented this band is that blows my mind, its that their music is so cohesive that without paying enormously focused attention to what the musicians are doing it simply just comes across as sounding great. There are times when the band switches up time signatures and keys, drastically, on the head of a pin, and it's done so effortlessly that it sounds like the most natural thing in the world. There are "techy" metal bands that go out of their way to put forth the impression that they're jumping all over the place to make it seem like they're "more progressive than though" while in the process exposing their inadequacies both in performance and in songwriting. Mastodon is quite the opposite. They go beyond making it look easy and make it look like there's nothing difficult going on in the first place. I haven't taken the time to highlight any specific songs on this album, mainly because, like their other albums, Leviathan is very conceptually based and should be appreciated as a whole.

Kamikazi Kat

I'm looking foward to seeing more out of this thread, its a very interesting concept and the idea of moving from your current musical tastes and expanding from there greatly applies to me. I think many different bands brought me to jazz. When I got into ska, I came to appreciate things other then the "nu-metal" stuff that I only heard on the radio. Ska showed me the beauties of horns and bass guitar. I started to listen to bands such as Led Zeppelin, which introduced me to blues and folk while still keeping a familier rock influence. Bands like Dillinger Escape Plan introduced me to jazz-influenced rhythms and time-signitures but in a hardcore format. All of these bands eventually brought me not just to jazz, but to many other musical genres as well. I didn't expand my tastes by suddenly going from listening to Green Day to Louis Armstrong. My tastes expanded over time by going to the roots of the music that I loved.

Bulldog

It is, of course, the meaning of life as well.

Top list so far. Mezzanine is a brilliant album. MMW and Mastodon are a couple I've been meaning to try out, so it's good to know which ones I should be getting first.

By the way, you skipped #40

jackhammer

If it's Jazz and Metal I hope to see some Kayo Dot in the list somewhere! Nice list so far.

__________________

SATCHMO

#39 Howlin' Wolf - The Collection (Chess Records)

If you're bored and you happen to have a cheap bottle of whiskey and a portable tape recorder try a little experiment:
Take your bottle of whiskey and unscrew the cap. Place your cassette recorder so that the microphone is aimed directly at the mouth of the bottle. Press record. Go to your garage and find a gallon of gasoline and, whichever way is most convenient, set your house on fire. Don't forget to call your neighbors and let them know that if they see smoke and flames not to be alarmed, and that you're simply having a barbeque or something. Go about your day running whatever errands that need to be done, and when you come back sift through the ashes and debris and find the tape recorder. If you're lucky and the recorder and respective audio cassette are still intact run to a friend or family member's house, preferably one that happens to have a cassette player, and listen to your tape. I'M not Sure, but something tell's me that what you'll hear will sound very much like Howlin' wolf.

Howlin' wolf was a giant of the mid-century blues world, quite literally. The man stood 6'6" weighed about 300 lbs and people who went to see his shows were reportedly torn between being captivated by the music and scared witless by his foreboding presence. His music is good for the soul not to mention the reproductive organs. His gravely gumption infused vocals scrubs away all the bullsh1t of the day that you thought was important until Mr. wolf begins unloading his problems on you.

As is the case with most blues produced before mid 20th century, compilations and greatest hits albums are about the only way to go as most early studios merely specialized in cutting 2-3 track singles and the occasional seven inch. Every song on this collection is great and a certified classic most such as Little Red Rooster, Backdoor Man, and Spoonful have been covered extensively, and I'm sure that most of you have heard one or two versions of these songs. Just to get a taste.........

crash_override

Good call on howlin' wolf. I've been getting into some of his stuff lately, it's really good. I'm suprised you picked a compilation though.

SATCHMO

Most blues music recorded prior to 1960 was done in short form - i.e. 45's, 7 inches etc. I'm assuming that most people, unless they're obsessive collectors aren't going to scour vintage music boutique's for individual original releases of an artists material when they can easily purchase or d/l a compilation of their work.
I understand the argument for say Led Zeppelin who have a substantial full-length LP discography, but early 20th century blues is a different paradigm.

crash_override

Got ya.

Schizotypic

This is going to be a fantastic thread man. I'm definitely going to keep very close track of this and most likely end-up chasing after tons of albums. =) Can't wait to see what comes next and what it all leads up to!

SATCHMO

#38 Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime

One of my goals for this thread is to be inclusive of most genres of music without going too far out of the way to associate a particular album with a jazz ideology.

I confess, for a moment I did pose the question "well, what about punk rock?", after a brief flash of doubt I immediately knew the answer was obvious.

Minutemen were an integral part of the burgeoning 80's west coast punk scene, and while the band has always been directly associated with punk music, this is really more due to their DIY philosophy and association with their Cali contemporaries than any sort of stylistic comparison that one would really have a tough time making.

Double Nickels is a double length album and definitely considered by most to be their best work. For my purposes, however, I chose it because it really showcases the trio's natural tendency toward a jazz aesthetic. The majority of the 45 tracks on this album (with Mr. Robot's Holy Orders Being the only track over 3 minutes long.) are free and loose and exhibit the upbeat feel and dynamic of post bop at its finest. Think Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers being loosely channeled through an 80's rock trio. There are huge elements of free jazz with some tracks, such as Do You Want New Wave, or Do You Want the Truth are just flat out free jazz a la Ornette Coleman with spoken word layed on top.

So much more could be said about Minutemen and this amazing album. I have really barely scratched the surface. If you have any punk rock leanings and feel any sense of obligation to get in touch with its real history get your hands on this album ASAP.