21.8.06

Batman Ate My Sax.

What's in this list:

- Is all saxophone solo in Rock 'n Roll bad? If not, prove it. (Actually this is a multi blog conversation. Here is one. Mainly discussing 80's rock and sax.)

- I like John Zorn's Naked city (1989). I've been wanting to post his songs for a while. One of my fav album, but very harsh and I can only listen to it end to end on special occassion. Below are softer and more melodious one. The loud one rips your ear in 15 seconds.

- My little own personal take why sax solo in rock doesn't sound satisfying: I want it sounds like a mean jazz solo (preferably Ornette Colemann humping John Coltrane), complete with extra long breathing and dynamic the goes off the chart. But that sort of thing is very hard to fit in regular rock song, since the sax will completely outshine everything else. Hence why it can only go with super loud ska and John Zorn. Okay maybe Morphine is an exception. ( Name other rock band with sax that sounds good at Morphine volume level/ovrall texture. Nada... They all sound like Kenny G. )

- Other fun song in the list: The Code International and Yoko Utsumi. Overall it's a change of pace from the usual downtempo, dark and mellow texture. I'll get back to usual MdM programming soon. :D once I am in that mood again.

01. John Zorn - The James Bond Theme
02. The Code International - Yekermo Sew (Mulatu Astatque)
03. Yoko Utsumi - Neji
04. John Zorn - Batman
05. James Chance - Contort Yourself (download here)
06. Essential Logic - Aerosol Burns
07. Meatjack - Shevil
08. John Zorn - The Sicilian clan

note: too lazy to upload james chance, d/l from download.com. It won't kill ya, it's a good song. The Sicillian Clan rip is a bit imperfect. I tried every which way to fix my CD-reader to no avail. But that song is so amazing, I simply has to include it.

image credit: Andy Warhol

posted by Anonymous @ 9:25 AM  

25 Comments:

  • At 11:13 AM, August 21, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    My nominee for the non-Kenny G-rock-sax-quest:
    Saccharine Trust

    http://www.saccharinetrust.com/redeemer_kxlu.mp3

     

  • At 2:09 PM, August 21, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    very chillout list , I love it : )

    the code internacional is stylish ; )

     

  • At 2:23 PM, August 21, 2006, Blogger Moka said…

    nice! John Zorn's particular lecture of extreme metal and jazz goes well with Yoko Utsumi and code international.

    (ps: link to track 8 is wrong...)

     

  • At 2:30 PM, August 21, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Ground Zero, had some amazing nutty saxophone.

    John Olson sometimes plays saxophone with Wolf Eyes but I guess that doesn't really count...

    (my other favorite saxophone james chance song is "Sax Maniac")

     

  • At 4:43 PM, August 21, 2006, Blogger Moka said…

    ...and about a rock band that doesn't sound like kenny g when incorporating sax I'd add King Crimson with tracks like "starless" or "ladies on the road" and also the rave-up apocalypse of "1970" and the grisly funk of "fun house" by the stooges both featured some glee sax.

    Also , "J'ai Mal Aux Dents, J'ai Mal Aux Pieds Aussi" by Faust. That's all that comes to mind right now... specially the ones by King Crimson that actually seem influenced by John Zorn.

    Im also thinking of the pop group's Y album and some of the tracks on "heroes" by Bowie that had some good sax that didn't sound like kenny g.

     

  • At 4:51 PM, August 21, 2006, Blogger Unknown said…

    href="http://www.ezarchive.com/moteldemoka/AlbumSpace/7Q4DV4B383/_zid-1727265/_open-/John_Zorn-The_Sicillian_Clan.mp3

    I think google.com filter the word "sicillian"

    wtf? this is truely eff up..!!

    (link to last song people. (I cannot insert the link. google keeps filtering it out)

     

  • At 5:41 PM, August 21, 2006, Blogger Moka said…

    edited the post, link should work now i think...

     

  • At 6:07 PM, August 21, 2006, Blogger Unknown said…

    hmm, I should have done it via html edit instead of wysiwyg insert shouldn't I?

     

  • At 6:28 PM, August 21, 2006, Blogger fascistsoundwaves said…

    Supertramp?

    I certainly like them better than Kenny G.

     

  • At 7:09 PM, August 21, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Well, I was all over that discussion over at Darcy, wherein I've been mostly shilling for Steve Berlin, especially his stuff with the Plugz...I'll say that I'm not with you with Zorn...I sometimes like what his bands play sometimes, but I think he needs to keep the sax far from his mouth. You need to have a modicum of soul to pull of the kind of stuff he plays, in my opinion, and he has zilch. That said have you heard Joe Henry's Scar, with Ornette Coleman?

     

  • At 7:22 PM, August 21, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    ...regarding which, that's a pretty arbitrary link I made...the song in question is "Richard Pryor Addresses A Tearful Nation," mp3s for which are no longer available online...damn, shoulda downloaded when I had the chance.

     

  • At 8:43 PM, August 21, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    x-ray specs
    teenage jesus

     

  • At 9:38 PM, August 21, 2006, Blogger Unknown said…

    godoggo said... ...I'll say that I'm not with you with Zorn...I sometimes like what his bands play sometimes, but I think he needs to keep the sax far from his mouth. You need to have a modicum of soul to pull of the kind of stuff he plays, in my opinion, and he has zilch. "

    lol... exactly that.

    Regardless what people want it to be. Punk is rooted in poetry and re-examination of blues in rock n roll. eg. Changing the speed, loudness and balance brings out different aspect, grittiness that doesn't get exposed in earlier rock form.

    Which I think John Zorn/Naked city touches. It never tries to be elegant like duke ellington or Joe handerson.. (with soul, gracefull movement for dance floor).., or utterly modern as in Ornette colemann modulation, definitely not architectural as in thelonious monk. Zorn is neurotic. Naked Lunch is like somebody doing it while on speed. Everything is hurried just so to get rid of the elegance without becoming fast enough for a masterpice like dizzie gallispie.

    It's post punk speed metal having a cocaine party with free jazz.

    The logic of time is different, the proportion is foreign. It's like walking in different country.

    ------

    hmm. Time to think about 'elegant/soulfull' again. heh. I think I am going to post Joe Handerson..

     

  • At 9:47 PM, August 21, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    But I hear Zorn playing a lot of rhythm and blues licks, and avanty squealing like you might associate with people like the guys in the World Sax Quartette, but all of them invest these sounds with some blues feeling. On the other hand, I can appreciate somebody like the guy in Last Exit (forget his name), because his facility on the instrument is so imposing. Zorn's neither here nor there. He just sounds ugly and over-exitable and to me.

    I was heavily into punk rock when I was a teenager, but somehow with the sax I could never tolerate the kind of anti-musical stuff that seemed perfectly alright on guitar (although no-wave type noise sax doesn't bother me so much, because at least it doesn't sound like they're struggling with their instruments). Which is why I was so happy that my man Steve Berlin was around.

     

  • At 9:53 PM, August 21, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Henderson's the man. I especially like that Miles tribute "So Near, So Far." Unlike a lot of people, it seems...

     

  • At 1:27 PM, August 22, 2006, Blogger Unknown said…

    godoggo said...
    But I hear Zorn playing a lot of rhythm and blues licks, and avanty squealing like you might associate with people like the guys in the World Sax Quartette, but all of them invest these sounds with some blues feeling. On the other hand, I can appreciate somebody like the guy in Last Exit (forget his name), because his facility on the instrument is so imposing. Zorn's neither here nor there. He just sounds ugly and over-exitable and to me."


    I don't have enough reference point to make good judgement. My impression of Zorn is based on his consistency, comparing his work in general term to various punk groups, and for some reason I like his proportion when he does his loud pieces.

    Some of his slower film work composition is fairly sweet, with a touch of dorky wit in it.


    one think I can't quiet decide is how bluesy should a free jazz/avant garde piece should be. Obviously if it stays with traditional blues pattern, it'll fairly constrained. But goes to far, it'll turn into random modern classical piece.

    so don't know. I have to listen to more stuff to get better picture.

     

  • At 7:04 AM, August 23, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    bonjour!
    If you're interested in different aspects of Zorn's Oeuvre, you may visit the http://orangaural.blogspot.com/, where 6 albums (2 filmworks, 2 naked city's and 2 masada's) are posted for trial download (@192kbs).
    salut

     

  • At 6:31 PM, August 23, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    OK, I'll mention that I used to play sax back when I was physically capable of doing so, so that affects my response to him. His tone and intonation just bother me. My feeling about "soul" is that it's something that can make wrongness sound good.

    There's certainly free jazz with a "classical" feel that I like. I've lately become enamored of former Nels Cline bassist Steuart Leibig's stuff, the best of which has a definite contemporary classical sound to it (I live to turn people on to stuff I like, but don't have much success at it; perhaps I need to figure out how to do the audio blog thing).

     

  • At 9:28 PM, August 23, 2006, Blogger Unknown said…

    godoggo said... His tone and intonation just bother me. My feeling about "soul" is that it's something that can make wrongness sound good. "

    aha , ok. I often get that with pianon and strings. Since I have personal preference how it "supposes" to sound (in term of tone)

    But don't know much about sax. I can't capture the "whisper" nuance. (you know...the emotion you get by reproducing physical movement in your head? eg. aha, this guy has such and such breathing depth, this is how he moves his lips, this is how fast he can move without loosing clarity, clever solution to difficult physical pieces ...etc. I don't know that.

    But I can make disgusting comment about a person who just don't move his bow elegantly or using too much peddal on piano to cover laziness..

    ------

    " perhaps I need to figure out how to do the audio blog thing). "

    yeah you definitely have to do that. afaik. There isn't any fun "free jazz" blog to read for novice.

    I tried to look for good jazz blog that I can follow and read. So far I haven't found it either.

     

  • At 10:36 PM, August 23, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Gosh, their are so many great jazz blogs (though I've been interested in jazz from age 8, so can't relate to "novice"); Try Darcy's blogroll.

    Have you tried Destination Out? It's an fabulous new audio blog with a "free jazz" emphasis, that might be accessible to novices. Everybody seems to love it.

    I'm afraid I'm not focused enough to have a really good blog.

     

  • At 10:48 PM, August 23, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Actually, Darcy's blogroll is kind of overwhelming, on second look. Here's mine:

    Jazz/Improv Blogs That I Frequent
    Mwanji
    The Bad Plus
    Darcy
    Rifftides
    Words and Music
    Destination Out
    Bagatellen
    Token “Classical” Blog
    The Rest Is Noise

     

  • At 7:30 AM, August 24, 2006, Blogger Unknown said…

    uhh... for novice..

    - linking. Obscure technical terms or insider slang which are not very obvious to anybody but people who do it... (no link to explain that. Usually people don't even bother having a blog roll that include technical dictionary ... eg. here is where one goes to look for technical explanation)

    - New and obscure artists. no linking, no reference sound. (word description is nice, but Like the Beatles say. "talking about music is a bit like talking about sex")


    - Some blog pulse/periodicity. (eg. come visit every monday all yee novice. fun n' easy to read entry. Tuesday are for experts only, the rest of the weeks hear the blog go all over the map. This is actually very helpfull for novice like me to latch on a site.)

    - ugly. surprisingly ALL jazz blog has butt ugly design .. heh heh. (yes I know it has nothing to do with music, but little graphic touch goes a long way to help navigate difficult content)

     

  • At 1:03 PM, August 24, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Well, I think if you click on my links above, you'll find that at least some of them have attractive design (about which I personally care nought, leastwise consciously; the famous Atrios doesn't seem to have been hurt much by using a basic, generic template).

    Aside from Destination Out, the other audio blog I listed is Words and Music. Afraid there's probably nothing that fits all those criteria.

     

  • At 2:40 PM, August 24, 2006, Blogger Unknown said…

    yeah Atrios is bad influence. lol. I remember people were making fun about his antiquated blog page.

     

  • At 9:54 AM, December 16, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    It was rather interesting for me to read that post. Thanx for it. I like such themes and anything connected to this matter. I would like to read a bit more on that blog soon.
    Alex
    Cell phone blocker

     

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