Stuck between sleep and awake

Joni Mitchell was a musical genius.

In the way that Mozart and Beethoven were proclaimed to be brilliant, Joni Mitchell's music is innovative and compelling. The unusual melodic arrangements are surprising and twist and turn in every song.  This is not usual predictable folk progressions with comforting lyrics; she tapped into something else and I don't feel like she was fully recognized for it.  If she had been born in the time of Beethoven and had been a man; we might now be studying her music in school and analyzing the vocal melodies and various textures weaving in and out of the harmonic structure as she beautifully strums on the dulcimer: finding ways to voice chords vertically in different positions to make the texture vary and complement her vocal line.  Maybe it's just that it's really early and I'm sleepy and her music is resonating in me in a profoundly moving way.  

To those people that in the moments before the second cup of coffee are lost between sleep and awake; semiconscious.  When your eyes weighed down by left over sleep and kung-fu dreams can barely open and everything seems twice as hard to do, and all the cars are crashing and every instant is a million collisions?  I imagine Joni Mitchell was one of those people.  Maybe that's why I relate so deeply to her music when I'm in this state.  Either way, I do believe that she was truly amazing and has produce timeless music that will help people out of their dreams and into their lives for centuries to come.

In case you're wondering, this is what I'm listening to this morning.

gay cheating liars, reaction to Maynard Soloman article

In the article “Taboo and Biographical Innovation: Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert”, Maynard Solomon addresses the lack of taboo information in biographical literature. After seducing his audience through the logos of his abundant document references and the gossipy content of the information being exposed, Solomon goes on to attempt a psycho-cultural analysis of why it is that “taboo” information has generally been omitted from biographical work.


The first six pages of the article are Solomon’s attempt to prove that Leopold Mozart was a liar, Schubert was a homosexual, and that Beethoven wrote secret love letters to a married woman. By the end of the first six pages, I felt as if I were reading a nerdy gossip column; I could almost picture the author as a hunched back man searching through sepia-colored pages trying to dig up some dirt and destroy the reputation of musicians so highly respected. The beginning of the article seemed to me, mildly entertaining but mostly insignificant information written in a pretentious and condescending tone.

the joyful sounds of oppression

Ella Fitzgerald portrait by Carl Van Vechten

The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic movement that defined the character of the African American identity and its position in society. It was a revolution fueled by the intellect, which expressed the frustration as well as the hope felt by the black population during the 1920s through artistic and creative means. It was a symbol for black liberation and sophistication, a statement by black intellectuals that actual emancipation could no longer be denied. In a period of political repression, severe poverty, and apparent racism, African Americans used art as a vehicle to fight a war against the stereotypes established in white American society. Duke Ellington is seen as an emblematic figure of the Harlem Renaissance because his music beautifully encompasses the themes and sentiments prevalent in the period between WWI and the Great Depression. In the introduction of his tune, “Daybreak Express”, the listener can feel this tension and frustration felt by African Americans at the way they were being treated. The opening is abrasive with loud accentuations and increased intensity through speed and discordant harmonies. This sentiment of frustration was not overwhelmingly sad or angry; it was deeply powerful and beautifully complemented by an intense tone of joy and hope for the future. This optimism was expressed through the elements of swing and playful feel adopted by the music. His music, and the music that was produced during the Harlem Renaissance by the African American population was a cry to be recognized as rightful citizens of American society, a joyful screech demanding justice.

Over the course of history, music has been used as a means to express various sentiments and ideologies of repressed groups. This idea is beautiful. Music expresses an intangible sense of what an individual is feeling and the public is able to relate to certain types of music because the sentiment being expressed resonates somewhere within their own existence. What I also find beautiful about the Harlem Renaissance is the fact that it brought joy where there was little reason to smile or dance. Music can lift spirits and inspire joy, bring people together and provoke them to laugh. It helps us cope with big and small problems and allows us to express ourselves and the issues of our times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2p_5XoP1Fg

Mel Brown Quartet at Jimmy Mak's

   
On Wednesday, September 15th at 8 pm in downtown Portland The Mel Brown Quartet moved their audience with a variation of gritty blues, bop tunes, and ballads. The four talented musicians that make up the combo performed at Jimmy Mak’s on NW 10th – the best live jazz venue in Portland – and left their audience with a goofy smile and snapping fingers. The four individual players- Ed Bennett, Dan Balmer, Mel Brown, and Tony Pacini- each bring a different stylized voice and texture to the group; and together they create a blended sound with captivating dynamics.


After the first few tunes, it was almost as if you could feel the vibrant energy of the group locking in to each other in a perfect solipsistic balance: aware of their own playing and how it fit in with the sound of the combo as a whole. From this point until they stopped playing at around 11pm, nothing existed but the music. Tony Pacini took a solo in the song “The Things We Did Last Summer” full of animated dynamic contrast; his right hand trilling away while his left played melodies and then with a swift chord or two thrown in, his hands would switch the protagonist role and swell and roll with beautiful colored phrase. Dan Balmer’s solos were equally as breathtaking: his swung riffs flowed through his fingers and melted onto his frets with at times a beautiful simplicity and at others an awing intricacy. “Swinging at the Haven” by Ellis Marsalis, “Eluthera” by Monty Alexander, “Sushi” by Oscar Peterson, and “Shot in the Dark” were all well executed and tight. The percussive bass lines fit in with the drums and drove the rhythm of the band so perfectly that sometimes when they would trade fours or play in stop time I was shocked that they all knew where they were and when to come in: perfectly organized chaos. In lively songs like “Sushi” they were a playful kitten chasing a string; while in more somber songs like “Eluthera” they were a pensive moment on a placid lake at sunset.

Masshysteri and Zebrahead album reviews

The energetic melodies that blast through Masshysteri’s new album, are simply mind blowing. This Swedish punk band from Umea has recently released their self-titled second album, and it may just be one of the best things that has ever been produced in the history of melodic punk rock. The harmonizing vocals of Sara and Robert are the perfect balance of aggression and sincerity while the predominant choppy guitar chords and drumbeats keep the motivating energy that drives their music.

In an age where it is hard to find anything but sappy indie rock and irritating rap lyrics, this innovative band is doing something authentic in the realm of not only punk music but rock and roll in general. The ten short and catchy songs that make up this album are powerful and simple, and the start of each new track jolts the listener back into the music. While at first the inability to understand the lyrics may seem jarring to the foreign listener; after listening a few times to the entire album, I forgot they were even signing in Swedish! The surf-rocky guitars and snappy punk drumming create the energy, while the passionate tone of the harmonizing male-female vocals are at times angry, and at times melancholy; creating the perfect blend of hooks that grab you and drag you into a place created by this musical phenomenon.

the crazies

Why is it and when was it that society developed this romantic image of the insane artist?  What is romantic about being self-destructive, emotionally tormented and depressed?  When was the concept that only that kind of distortion on a life perspective can produce art endorsed?  Creating strands of sentence fragments, looking through broken pieces of glass hoping to see things differently and benefit from our own insanity in some way...?
 From Baudelaire to Robert Schumann, from Ray Charles to Bukowski.
Is the image romanticized because the true artist is insane?  is there no creative heart that is rational and bound by logic? Is the artist insane because society has painted him to be so or is the artistically inclined person innately predestined to be a little loopy?

Be Drunk

You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it--it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk. But on what?Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk. And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you:"It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish." Charles Baudelaire

it's so cool to wear a leather jacket

Alex and Adam. Autistic Youth.

This Sunday I went to a show at Dunes in NE Portland.  I went because one of my closest friends is moving to France in a few days and his band, Autistic Youth, was playing there last show for a while.  As I was nodding to the loud punk music all night I kept thinking about how different people are attracted to such different types of music and how little communities are formed based on what you listen to or play.  I don't consider myself to be very "punk" but I do appreciate and have grown to a love a lot of the elements in the music.  There is something about the energy in punk music that is hard to find anywhere else.  Although the harmonic textures and the melodies can at times be painfully simple, there is something really moving about the energy, the pace, and the emotion behind the sound.  Also, what does really means to be "punk"these days anyway?  I mean, it seems that now it is almost more based on the image of being "punk" than the ideals of the punk lifestyle that bands like The Velvet Underground and The Ramones tried to embody.  I do agree with a lot of the ideals behind this lifestyle: the DIY movement, the anti-establishment mentality, and a lot of the ideology the punk movement embraces are concepts I really identify with; but it seems that more and more this ideology is being forgotten and what becomes important is if you're wearing a cool band t-shirt and wearing enough studs in your leather jacket.  Aside from this frustration I feel at the focus on image, Portland punk bands are making some of the best music I have heard right now and it's exciting to feel that energy and watch them grow.  All the bands that played that night: The Bimarks, The Estranged, The Free Radicals, and Autistic Youth were all really fun to watch!

exit through a public venue

After watching the Banksy film Exit Through the Gift Shop, I started wondering why it is that there isn't more being done with music in the realm of public art.  Sure, there are street musicians busking in almost any town you stop but why has there not been more of an underground movement trying to experiment with different ways of exposing the general audience to music?  It seems that new composers and musicians should be pushing to get there music recognized and this, hypothetically, could be a great outlet to do so.  When you play music in a public venue it's something that people have no choice but to be exposed to.  The street musician and the cheesy pop music playing in restaurants and coffee shops are not something that you can just avoid; so why not try to exploit this "public space" to expose people to things that are worth listening to? Some cool things have been done with street art involving music, but in the sense that graffiti is an underground expression of the visually artistic community, I feel there is much more room to start experimenting with ways to expose people to the music being created by our generation through public art.

Check out this video: an example of playing with music and public art: !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw