I’ve been having a good time lately making non-categorical, autobiographical playlists. I often come across songs that are featured in movies or mentioned in books that intrigue me. In an attempt to challenge my often fleeting attention, I decided to add these tracks immediately to a playlist. I wouldn’t say the concept provides a pleasurable listening experience in terms of seamlessness. More akin to a poorly made quilt in that respect. But I enjoy thinking back to when I first heard a particular song. It reinforces the importance of personal connection to music. I can still remember the sensation of driving my first car with the windows down listening to the Arcade Fire’s Funeral. Spirit while engaging with art is essential. For many years I functioned as an analyst or at worst a grumpy critic. I watched simplistic joy disappear from my listening experience.
I had the radio on one night a few months back. I was tuned in to a great jazz station, WRTI, in Philadelphia where I spent some time as an intern. I turned on the radio just as The Cannonball Adderley Quintet were launching into a live rendition of Walk Tall. For the next two and a half minutes I was transported. I started a playlist that evening. For over a month I added to it as I came across random mentions. It ended with 80’s synth supergroup Visage’s Fade to Grey following an interview I heard with Ultravox’s Midge Ureidge Ure. On revisiting the playlist, I didn’t love every song, but in relating the songs to events in my life I found more enjoyment in listening to music than I have in a long time. If you are feeling uninspired by music, I would recommend giving this idea a try. Here is a link to my playlist. And, because a few of these tracks have become favorites, I’d like to highlight a few of them here:
Optimum Chant- B.E.F. - This was a group founded by former members of Human League. This song in particular holds something special. It has an oddness, while remaining entirely accessible. Kind of like Throbbing Gristle, if Throbbing Gristle was a red Velvet cake.
The Tuning Meditation- Pauline Oliveros - A guided vocal exercise by the experimental, electronic music pioneer. The audience members sing a tone and then on the second tone they tune to someone else in the room. The results are unique to every “choir.” Calming in a truly unsettling way - a difficult emotion to invoke.
Television’s Over - The Adverts - A perfect punk song, flange and phase effects adding a dash of psychedelia. The distortion of the guitars is unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Just dirty as fuck. It sounds almost impossible. The singing stylizations remind me of the late, great Jay Reatard. I would not be surprised to find out this group was a major influence on his sound.
I Pity Inanimate Objects- Godley and Creme- I just discovered that this duo consists of two former members of 10cc, which makes a lot of sense. The playfulness and experimentation is here. The voices jump around through endless speed/pitch fluctuations, never once sounding like cheese. A simple acoustic guitar loop hides in the background while a Adrien Belew type “solo” takes center stage between vocal hysteria. This is what I wish all Residents albums sounded like.
Hammond Song- The Roches - Speaking of guitar innovators, Robert Fripp produced this record by these three folky sisters with unconventional harmonizations. There is something very innocent and sincere about their words and singing style. It reminded me in its minimal production interference and sincerity to The Langley School Project. And yes, there is an incredible Frippertronics moment.
Heaps of Sheep - Robert Wyatt - When I discovered that this was recorded in 1997 I was blown away. Wyatt was a founding member of Soft Machine and Matching Mole decades before this recording. I think you’d be hard pressed to find an artist from the 60’s/70’s that continued to stay true to their inner child and not incorporate their bitterness.
Chains of Death - Paul Chain Violet Theatre- I really like low production metal. It is hard to find sometimes outside the classical Black Metal albums. I just think it sounds better without the slick production. It brings out its true nature. This song fits the bill. I was initially intrigued by the fact that this is all sung in a made up phonetic language that sometimes resembles English and often does not. It does something strange to your mind as it struggles to find familiar language in the gibberish.
Something is Technically Wrong- June Chikuma - This track places me somewhere comfortably unfamiliar. When the voices enter the picture after a minute or so of floating I have left the building. Put this on my deathbed playlist.
Follow Me - Amanda Lear - As far as dance music goes, my go to for years was Robyn. When the Philadelphia Phillies entered the World Series last year, they attached their franchise to the Calum Scott cover of Dancing On My Own. I am all for an openly gay singer being embraced by the historically homophobic Sports world (sure there is the ubiquitous “We Will Rock You,” but find a sports fan of that era that was comfortable talking about homosexuality. Good Luck.) I grew tired of his version and I have yet to recover. This is my new dance anthem. Her voice in the opening minutes reminds me in a strange way of Psychic TV era Genesis P-Orridge. By the way, that is Lear on the cover of Roxy Music’s For Your Pleasure.
I was thinking it would be a fun idea to do a post in the style of this playlist. Random aural ideas that I’ve come across during a week. Less Pressure to draw a satisfying conclusion.
Here is one
I’ve developed a habit of listening to Desert Oracle Radio on my early morning bike rides to work. The latest Episode (#185) is titled Who by Fire, Who by War. The title comes from a mention of Leonard Cohen’s trip to Israel during the Yom Kippur war in which he played concerts for Israeli soldiers. What really intrigued me about the broadcast was host Ken Layne’s mention of Acoustical Shadows. The term is fairly simplistic, but its ramifications can be substantial. Essentially, it just means that sound fails to propagate in a certain area due to an obstruction, geological structure, or meteorological reason.. This can cause something analogous to a mirage. Reality becomes skewed. Sound is perceived as existing in a location where it should not or perhaps even more strangely the absence of sound where it should be. There were reports by Civil War soldiers of seeing cannon fire, but not hearing it. Somehow that adds a layer of horror to war, a place where additional terror is unwelcome. One of the more famous instances comes from the second day of The Battle of Gettysburg. Historian Charles Ross has posited that Union General George Meade was able to hold off Confederate forces due to this acoustical phenomena. Confederate General Richard Ewell was supposed to begin his assault on Meade’s position once he heard General Longstreet’s men engaging in battle. Ewell never heard the artillery assault and failed to act according to plans. Two geographical locations, Culp Hill and Cemetery Ridge both served as sound isolation. This combined with hot weather conditions likely caused the sound to refract upwards where it was dispersed outward when it possibly hit a warm layer. Residents of nearby Taneytown heard nothing that day while residents of Pittsburgh, some 150 miles away, reported hearing the battle.
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