Lots of worldly, winsome, and weird music here. Note that the 27 tracks listed are in Song, Band format (because in many cases it’s hard to tell which is which).

1. In The Basement, BS2000
2. Homens, Manu Chao
3. Mulatu Astataque, Yegelle Tezeta
4. Spanish Grease, Willie Bobo
5. Dindi, Astrud Gilberto
6. Slip, Tin Hat Trio
7. African Violets, Cecil Taylor
8. Glory, Television
9. Skaing West, Sir Lord Comic And His Cowboys
10. Spoonful, Howlin’ Wolf
11. Padraic The Fiddler, John McCormack And Fritz Kreisler
12. Mamazareh, Cheb Mami
13. Lagrimas Negras, El Trio Matamoros
14. The Memphis Jug Band-Papa long blues, The Memphis Jug Band
15. Growl, Skywalker Sounds
16. Decun, Massilia sound system
17. Piano Study In Mixed Accents, Sarah Cahill
18. Shack Up, A Certain Ratio
19. “Now the same tone, but…”, Disky Communications Europe B.V.
20. Le Collège, Monty
21. Dominoes, Syd Barrett
22. Prelude #1, Andrew Lienhard
23. Tokio, Carlos Labbé
24. Forward, Aceyalone
25. Rick Rubin, Spank Rock
26. The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise, Jess Stacy
27. Hot Sand, Arkestra One

It’s true, I stuck a one minute track of my own in there (it’s over soon enough, don’t worry). You can listen to the the whole eclectic session (or one like it? hmm…) online here:

http://8tracks.com/alienintheheights/absurd-eclectica

Enjoy!

Mark Linkous (NYT Obit Photo)

I am quite bummed to hear the news that Mark Linkous, frontman for Sparklehorse, committed suicide yesterday in Knoxville.

The Sparklehorse debut “Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot” set a new standard for opiate melancholy, as did the ironically titled follow-up “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Linkous was a master at using gorgeous atmospheric textures to amplify heart-wrenching lyrics. No better example of this than the song “Eyepennies”. Probably not a big surprise to learn he was a sought-after producer too.

Read the NYT Obit for more info…

RIP

http://www.uxbooth.com/blog/essential-controls-for-web-applications/

Vinyl

Steph FOUND this album sitting next to a garbage can along with about 20 others including “Songs in the Key of Life” and Les McCann & Eddie Harris “Live at Montreux”. Someone didn’t love the vinyl. Our gain. Even crackly and old, Miles at the Blackhawk sounds amazing.

The John Hughes tribute was interesting. So weird to see the brat-pack, weary and weathered…. I once walked past Ally Sheedy in the Upper West Side. We made eye contact, she sneered back. Whatever. She made a fantastic comeback in the late 90’s indie classic “High Art”.

Act Two of the awards can be titled “The Big Wait”. Two hours of forgettable award fodder — costumes, make-up, and all that editing stuff. Yawn.

The Horror film tribute made a factual error. They claimed the last one to win an award was The Exorcist (1972), yet their montage showed Jaws (Best Picture 1975) and Silence of the Lambs (Best Picture 1991).

Dance number? Cut!

Best score for “Up”. I concur.

Bullock winning over Streep. I shake my head. Confusing. Bullock also won a Razzie for “All About Steve”. That’s a first, dual Oscar/Razzie. Would have been funnier had it been for the same film. The prestige of this award continues to degrade.

I’m pleased that “The Hurt Locker” brought it home, repeatedly. As for Avatar, any movie (3-D or otherwise) with lines like “That’s right, bitch. Run home to mama.” gets a FAIL. Even if it did invent a language for the natives. The blue natives.

Meanwhile, The Hurt Locker folks are getting sued by an Army bomb disposal expert who claims the movie was based on his career.

NOTE: This is written an octave higher than what he played for readability.

Benny Green "Cottontail"

Here’s a recording of the transcribed excerpt:

And here’s the PDF of the solo:Benny Green Solo on “Cottontail”

Enjoy

Jeff Bridges will get Best Actor.

Ms. Streep better get an Oscar this year. She could lose to Sandra Bullock? Really? She’s been nominated 12-times in a row without a win. 12-times. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12. Not since 1982! Perhaps it’s some weird Hollywood political correctness not to give her the award. “Sorry, she’s too good. It’s not fair to others. Let’s give it to some upstart instead.” Like Cher.

She should’ve won for Doubt, Out of Africa, Marvin’s Room, Silkwood and Devil Wears Prada. Granted Julie & Julia is not her greatest film, but it’s time to stop ignoring this woman.

Kathryn Bigelow for director.

Mo’Nique and Christoph Waltz will get supporting awards. I didn’t even see these movies but the buzz is so ridiculous on both of them, it’s a shoo-in.

I think I may even watch the awards this time. Curious how they’re going to find time to profile all ten best picture candidates and still pass out all that gold. Maybe no music performances this year, yes?

Benny Green "The Song Is You"

Here’s a recording of the transcribed excerpt:

And here’s the PDF of the solo:Benny Green Solo on “This Song Is You”

Note the recurring line at measures 11-12, 27-28 and 35. He plays a variation on it in measures 13-14.

The lines at measures 5 and 15 from beat 2 to the end of the measure are identical. In general, lots of repeated bebop lines. In fact, the subsequent choruses have so much of the same stuff that you can basically study this one chorus and learn volumes about Benny’s approach to uptempo playing.

Enjoy

Mulgrew Miller "If I Should Lose You"

Two choruses of a Mulgrew Miller piano solo on “If I Should Lose You”, from the album Getting To Know You.

Here’s a recording of the transcribed excerpt:

And here’s the PDF of the solo:

Mulgrew Miller Solo on “If I Should Lose You”

I’ll try to finish this solo at some point because there’s more good stuff in the choruses that follow.

Enjoy.

Josef Hofmann

Josef Hofmann’s 1907 treatise “Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered” is chock-full of useful factoids on the proper study of the pianoforte. One hundred years after its first printing, this classic book continues to garner praise, including numerous five-star ratings on Amazon; clearly it has endured the test of time.

I saw it on the shelves at a local classical music store today. Curious, I flipped open the Dover softback and landed on an innocent question about ragtime piano. Hofmann titled the query “Why Ragtime is Injurious”. Behold his stunningly racist response. And note, this book is still in print.

Q: Do you believe the playing of a modern rag-time [sic.] piece to be actually hurtful to the student?

I do, indeed, unless it is done merely as a frolic; though even such a mood might vent itself in better taste. The touch with vulgarity can never be but hurtful, whatever form vulgarity may assume — whether it be literature, a person, or a piece of music. Why share the musical food of those who are, be it by breeding or circumstance, debarred from anything better? The vulgar impulse which generated rag-time [sic.] cannot arouse a nobel impulse in response any more than ‘dime novels’ can awaken the instincts of gentlemanliness or ladyship. If we watch the street-sweeper we are liable to get dusty. But remember that the dust on the mind and soul is not so easily removed as the dust on our clothes.

So there you have it. The mentality of the elite circa 1907, one that sadly lingered well into the late 20th century. Fortunately Jazz, that once vulgar impulse in Hofmann vernacular, has finally been recognized by the same establishment who so viscously demeaned it. Today it is treated as a close equal, offered as a four-year degree at conservatories around the world including Juilliard, Eastman, Peabody, The New England Conservatory, and many others.

But still…

You may read the book for free here:

http://www.archive.org/details/pianoplayingwith00hofmuoft

Roger Ebert: "Esquire" Magazine Cover

Roger Ebert’s battle with throat cancer has been an unattended background story for many years. News that the disease cost him his jaw and the ability to speak emerged far less subtly though. This month’s Esquire magazine features an up-close photo of the famed film critic, jawless and almost unrecognizable; his face poking up from a black turtleneck. It’s shocking at the very least. But it’s consistent too. Ebert is a brave guy. We know this from his decades-long career critiquing Hollywood’s erratic output.  If a film falls short, he will explain in wonderful detail why and to what extent. Indeed, this tendency for brutal honestly only makes his enthusiastic comments seem that much more relevant. In many ways, Roger Ebert set the stage for the likes of Simon Cowell decades before American Idol turned the archetype of harsh critic into the caricature that it is today.

Beyond any measure of celebrity, Ebert has proven his mettle in a field littered with fluff. Quite simply, he is a profoundly insightful critic — critic, in the scholarly sense, not the kind slurping jumbo Cokes while teenagers warble into microphones. In a few well-written paragraphs, he can extract the essence of a film in ways most of us completely overlook. Even when you disagree with his overriding sentiment, you have to admire the dazzling word play in his arguments. And the output: week-after-week, this potent analysis of the popcorn cinema continues to flow out like so many fountain drinks. If you want a definitive Ebert gem, read his analysis of the 1997 classic “Dark City”, or better yet, watch the commentary track on the DVD. Hearing that completely transformed my perception of the Noir classic (and of him).

Ebert has a Pulitzer (1975). But he also wrote the screenplay for the scandalous cult classic “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”. This fascinating background set the stage for what followed. From his home office in Chicago, he and his early partner-in-criticism Gene Siskel, transformed the previously unremarkable field of film criticism into a metric of tremendous influence. Their popular weekly serial, Siskel & Ebert, can be regarded as early reality televsion. Here were two shlumpy newspaper men gassing their opinions to a world eager to listen, despite their endless interstitial bickering. Oh the bickering! The orientation of their thumbs suddenly became a strong predictor of a movie’s future performance — not to mention guaranteed header placement for all subsequent ad campaigns. Ebert has carried this forward to become the most feared commentator in all of Hollywood.

And so I see this image and try to square it with my memories of the same man in a younger, gruffer form. I can only think “hero”. I wish him many years of health (and volumes of volcanic critism to boot).

Angus & Julia

A few bands I discovered today while trolling 8tracks.com playlists.

Angus & Julia, details here:

“Siblings Julia and Angus Stone come from Newport, Australia. Angus and Julia’s decision to collaborate was taken at the beginning of 2006. Prior to that, both had performed as solo artists at open mic nights but utilised the other as a backing partner. Ultimately they came up with the same idea, “Why don’t we play together? It kind of made a lot of sense”. In terms of composing the material, they write on their own, then work together on structure and harmonies.”

The XX, details here:

“Formed in 2005, The xx are an alternative trio hailing from London, England, featuring the dual lead vocals of Romy Madley Croft (lead guitar) and Oliver Sim (bass guitar), and backed by Jamie Smith (beats, MPC sampler). Rounding out the group was keyboardist Baria Qureshi, who left the group because of the pressures of an intensive touring schedule.”

Julian Plenti, details here:

“Interpol’s lead singer and guitarist Paul Banks released a solo album under the name Julian Plenti, and has written and performed under the Plenti moniker for several years, according to a source close to the situation. While the album was recorded recently, some of the songs were written more than ten years ago. He’s done a lot of work with Niall Darcy, with whom there has been a long time mutual admiration.”

Beach House, details here:

“Beach House is a dream pop group which formed in 2005 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The group consists of Victoria Legrand (vocals, organ) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboards). Legrand is the niece offrench composer Michel Legrand. The group has released three albums: 2006’s “Beach House”, 2008’s “Devotion” and “Teen Dream” in early 2010.”

Tujiko Noriko, details here:

“Osaka born Tujiko Noriko (辻子紀子) is a Japanese avant-pop, experimental musician, sometimes compared to múm, or Björk. Much of her music consists of repetitive layers of samples and electronic beats and melodies being gradually added on top of each other, with her singing on top of that. The lyrics are primarily in Japanese, with the occasional song in English.”

Metric, details here:

“Formed in Toronto in 1998 but, at various times, based in Montreal, London, New York and L.A., Metric is a band that has embraced an eclectic and adventurous outlook — the group’s music encompasses elements of synth pop, new wave, dance, rock, and electronic. Metric’s fourth studio album, “Fantasies”, has been shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize.”

The Knife, details here:

“A brother and sister duo hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, the Knife takes inspiration from vintage synth pop and forward-thinking electronic music, crafting a sound that is equally unsettling, playful, and beautiful. Olof and Karin Dreijer formed the Knife in 1999 and worked on their music in their home studios, releasing their first single, Afraid of You, in 2000 and their 2001 self-titled debut album on their own Rabid Records label. In 2003, the Knife was nominated for two Grammis, one for Best Pop Group of the Year and one for Best Pop Album for their second album, Deep Cuts. However, the Dreijers boycotted the ceremony, sending two people in gorilla costumes to protest the dominance of male acts in the music industry.”

Love Gone Wrong

Here’s our annual Anti-Valentine’s Mix CD, the online version!

Otis Redding “Don’t Mess With Cupid”
The Beatles “You Can’t Do That”
Nouvelle Vague “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
Soft Cell “Tainted Love”
Black Eyed Peas “Shut Up”
Nancy Sinatra “Bang Bang”
Nina Simone “I Put A Spell On You”
Deee-Lite “Try Me On…I’m Very You”
The Bird And The Bee “You’re A Cad”
The Pretenders “Brass In Pocket”
Ohio Players “Love Rollercoaster”
Dinah Washington “Long John Blues
Luther Ingram “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right”

This mix (or one like it, hmmm…) can be heard at my 8tracks site:

http://8tracks.com/alienintheheights/love-gone-wrong

The Modern Lovers

In the spirit of remedying this deficiency, I’ve compiled a Proto Primer. Learn these bands, learn to let them fly off your lips at parties. You will soon find yourself surrounded by interesting new friends. Don’t forget to shake your head and lament so-and-so’s “last good album”. Gripes about key members who later sold out will be appreciated too.

The Modern Lovers — Velvet Underground rip-off from the early 70’s. Their eponymous first (and only) album came out long after the Boston rockers parted ways. Culled together from demos and tracks from an incomplete studio session, the album became an instant cult classic. They wrote the Repo Man signature “Pablo Picasso” (as made famous by The Circle Jerks ten years later) and even lent a tune to The Sex Pistols. Original members include the drummer from The Cars and the keyboardist for the Talking Heads. The lead-singer ended up crooning in “There’s Something About Mary”. Definitely a sell-out move.

Big Star — The best rock band you’ve never heard of. This power-pop quartet may have cursed themselves by calling their debut album “#1 Record”. It wasn’t. But hipsters from far and near never fail to drop this stellar outfit on the pile of bands deserving more stardom. Big stardom. It’s also the name of my favorite hole-in-the-wall bar in Houston (named in their honor, of course).

The Stooges – Iggy Pop’s highly-acclaimed proto-punk/grunge amalgam from the late 60’s. The Sex Pistols and Sonic Youth (and many others) covered their classic angst anthem “I Wanna be Your Dog”. Very grunge punk, goes well with cigarettes.

Television — besides having a cool name, they sounded like early Talking Heads. Thus, they are proto-head.

Nick Drake — This soulful singer-songwriter had his comeuppance in the late 90’s when everybody and their mother discovered him again. His late 60’s folksy sound was so ahead of his time that it’s difficult distinguishing Drake from his modern counterparts (Elliot Smith, et al). He (like Smith) committed suicide. Tragic.

Joy Division — proto-newwave, post-punk, certainly one of the most influential bands of the 70’s cited by everyone from U2 to LCD Soundsystem. Singer Ian Curtis killed himself right as “Love will tear us apart” started to climb the charts. The rest of the band went on to form New Order.

Can — Krautrock! A band so ahead of its time that I actually think they time-jumped into NYC @2005 to rip off some local bands doing the electro, post-80s thing. Once the acclimation was complete, they materialized back in 70’s-era planet Kraut to document their journey. It’s also curious (once again) how much this band sounds like The Talking Heads before those heads were rolling.

Donny Hathaway — Here was a singer, song-writer, and pianist of unimaginable talent who like several others on this list committed suicide — he jumped from a window at age 33. The entire generation calling itself Neo-Soul owes it all to this man. Get the live recordings on Rhino records.

Fela Kuti — No tragedies here. Just solid, very fun Afrobeat from the 70’s. I hesitate to include Kuti since he’s now the subject of a major Broadway musical. Still, it’s immensely gratifying music. Personally, Kuti was my entree into the wonderful world of West African music.

Betty Mabry (Davis)

Betty Davis — just funky: funky, funky, funky. The ex-wife of jazzer Miles Davis, Betty Mabry (a.k.a., Davis) released a series of grungy 70’s funk albums that shocked religious groups while setting the stage for the antics of Prince and others a decade later. Anyone with an album called “Nasty Gal” is worth remembering.

So, there you have it kids. Get your Proto On! For the record — snarkitudes (another new word) aside — I actually really like these bands and think you will too. I also must thank the friends who introduced these groups to me over the years (or as recently as last week). That’s what it’s all about, right?

Here’s an 8tracks.com playlist I made featuring all these groups:

http://8tracks.com/alienintheheights/the-70-s-proto-hipsters

At Issue...

It’s been a bloody thirty years’ war between The Beatles and Emperor Steve Jobs, and over something as simple as an apple.

Apple Corps was conceived by Beatles manager Brian Epstein as a way to deflect a horrific impending tax bill. A record label seemed like a fun idea to the moppy-headed ones, and so it began. But within two years, Apple Corps (whose name is a pun on apple core) had turned into an unmanaged free-for-all with employees lavishly spending every pence and pound in sight. As it neared bankruptcy a real manager was brought in. And overnight, the apple grew up.

In 1978 the corporation behind the world’s most famous rock band decided to sue a tiny computer company in California for trademark infringement. Apple Computer managed to escape with an $80,000 fine in exchange for their identity. But the settlement stipulated that the two companies were to forever stay off each other’s turf — the record label wasn’t allowed to peddle computers, and the computer outfit had to steer clear of all things music-related. Back then such demarcation seemed absolutely reasonable. Music and computers? Surely the two would never cross paths.

Apple Corps (remember, that’s the Beatles) flared up again in the mid-80’s when the company from Cupertino snuck MIDI drivers and basic music recording features into the Apple IIG. More lawsuits. And again in the early 90’s when they added chime sounds to their Macintosh computers. Jobs, et al, paid handsomely for the infraction — around $27 million. I’m sure you can see where this is headed. You have an iPod, right?

When iTunes debuted in 2003, the lawyers rallied for an explosive showdown. Many insiders feared for the future of the California-based empire. They did sign that pact back in the 70’s after all. At stake, the company itself. Would Yoko and Sir Paul McCartney seize a majority ownership of Apple Inc.? Speculation reached a fevered pitch. Then in 2006, a judge — an iPod-owning judge, no less — ruled in favor of Apple computer. The ruling concludes that iTunes is neither a music producer nor a record label; they’re a distributor and therefore do not compete directly with the Beatles record label. The final terms remain sealed, but in the tradition of all Apple secrets, it has since been leaked. In a nutshell, Apple Inc. took control of the Apple trademark in its entirety, silencing any future claims by Apple Corps. The Beatles in exchange received a $500 million pay out. From now on, Apple Inc. will license to the Brits “use” of apple imagery for its business without risk of recrimination.

With calm finally settling across the two kingdoms of Apple, a burning question remains: When will The Beatles digitally release their catalog to iTunes and others? For a band whose lifetime sales exceed one billion units, a boycott of digital formats seems outrageous. Then again, Apple Corps has quite a knack for conflict. Not surprisingly, this apparent digital stubbornness is rooted in yet another dispute, this one with British music company EMI. Unlike the recently-resolved Apple trademark issues though (which previously played a part in all this), the squabbles with EMI over royalty allocation and piracy concerns have turned truly siege-like.

EMI signed the Fab Four in 1962. Typical of most recording contracts, it gave the label ownership of the master recordings and thus all distribution rights (not to be confused with the songwriting/publishing rights, currently controlled by Sony/AVT, part of the Michael Jackson estate). After the band broke up in 1970, Apple Corps and EMI settled into a long-running legal tangle over royalties. When the last of these cases settled in 2007, press releases hit the streets harkening a digital future for the catalog. But once again it stalled. Mr. McCartney in a recent 2010 interview (“Zane Meets McCartney”) grimly responded to the question ”When are The Beatles going digital?”. While he voiced enthusiasm for iTunes itself, he referred to the conflict with EMI as the primary hold up and one that didn’t have a clear resolution in sight. EMI recently offered equally vague wording “Conversations between Apple and EMI are ongoing and we look forward to the day when we can make the music available digitally. But it’s not tomorrow.” Not helping matters, EMI faces bankruptcy. In an effort to raise cash, and one that speaks volumes about this situation, they just announced the sale of Abbey Roads Studios (which besides being the famed location of all those great Beatles albums, is also the studio that brought us Dark Side of the The Moon and countless motion picture soundtracks).

In Dec 2009, in what had to be a response to mounting criticisms, EMI and Apple Corps released a USB Green Apple flash drive stocked with the entire shebang, all 200+ tunes from the Beatles 12 studio albums in mp3 format (not AAC, the iTunes codec). This $275 peace offering also holds outtakes and an assortment of video clips. A start, but still a physical product.

Dhani Harrison, son of George, has been a vocal opponent of these digital delays saying “we’re losing money every day”. But he also argues against giving iTunes control over pricing. He (and others across the estate) have even considered an independent delivery system outside of iTunes, this provided they can reach terms with EMI.

Should this standoff end, few doubt that digitized Beatles tracks will be anything less than long-lasting top sellers with a tolerance for premium pricing. At the same time with downloads accounting for 40% of all music sales in 2009 (with iTunes as the nation’s largest music store), their catalogue risks a tremendous drop in future revenue should they continue to withhold the goods. And while it seems certain that their brand is an evergreen, that it has a long tail for money-making opportunities, they shouldn’t wait indefinitely either. People are fickle. Who’s to say how long their successes will last once the Baby Boomers fade away?

My prediction: The Beatles on iTunes by the end of the year. It’ll be the biggest Christmas seller in the store’s history.