Four things #2
Four things to take with you..
First of all many thanks for all the constructive comments on my first "Four Things". And also welcome to all new subscribers, my readership has now doubled, and I am feeling that pressure!!
It has been a very interesting week here in/near Washington DC, and although my Sterling hood is not exactly brimming with frantically scrambling Washington Post reporters, it's hard to get away from the impeachment drama even if you would want to. I'm not exactly giddy with excitement thinking that this will signal the downfall of The Orange One, but I'm also not cynically dismissing the entire attempt as yet another Democratic failure. 'Nuance may be a nuisance' but absolutely necessary in this case. Speed is of vital importance; it's a fairly simple case that should be brought to a vote quickly. This way the Dems will look like they have done what was necessary but not look like eternal obstructionists in the eyes of voters for 2020. Impeachment has never led to actually getting rid of a President, but when reasonably successful (in House and/or Senate) it will tarnish the Administration and its support from the GOP. That's already a win in my eyes. Thirdly, you have to impeach, it's the Constitutional duty of Congress to do so; if they don't, then this system of government is irreparably broken. OK this was Martyn for MSNBC, Let's go to PlantWave! :)
Martyn,
Sept 27, 2019
READ/LISTEN: PlantWave
Artists Joe Pattitucci and Alex Tyson developed a mini synth that translates the electric conductivity of plants into sound, the PlantWave. Now, if I'm totally honest, the fact that we have yet ANOTHER "cool little mini synth" that we can make random bleeps and bloops with is not what interests me at all about the PlantWave, I also wouldn't seriously consider buying it or using it in my own music. However, one thing that struck me was something experimental musician Jon Shapiro said about it, namely what's "really interesting to think about is that plant matter is the most light-sensitive substance on the planet, because that's how plants eat. They are finely attuned to frequencies of light that we can't see, because the visible light spectrum is so small compared with the entire spectrum of light [..] We encourage people to think about what frequencies of light we are, as humans, emitting that a plant could pick up on that we may not be able to perceive directly." Almost like a light-frequency antenna for our wellbeing. Read here: https://www.wired.com/story/plantwave-music/
LISTEN: The Trap Set w/ Ray Barbee
Don't know if podcasts are your thing, some people end every friendly encounter they have with a quick exchange of podcast titles worth checking out (ie. me), while others hate them with a passion. The LA-based drummer and score composer Joe Wong hosts a really great weekly podcast called The Trap Set, where he interviews musicians (a lot of rock/indie people) about the intersections of music, career, mental health, upbringing, life and death. Wong usually skips past the musical achievements bit quickly and abstracts universal themes and how they relate to the interviewee, which is what makes these interviews so valuable and interesting even if you don't know the artist. One of my favs is an older interview with skater, musician and photographer Ray Barbee. Barbee was one of my favorite skaters when he came onto the pro scene at the tail end of the 1980s in Powell-Peralta's Public Domain video, with his innovative, super fluid, almost nonchalant looking style of street skating. Also, he was one of the first black pros as far as I know. Anyway check out this really great interview with this true renaissance man : http://www.thetrapset.net/215-ray-barbee/
WATCH: Driving with John Coltrane
I came across a short recording of a 1966 interview by Frank Kofsky of Sacramento radio station KPFK with the legend that is John Coltrane, and I realized that I had watched and listened to numerous interviews with Miles Davis, but had never actually heard John Coltrane's voice! He was of course more reclusive than the flashy one-line-wonder that was Miles, and Coltrane also passed away much earlier, in 1967 before perhaps a lot of (white) media outlets started covering jazz superstars more frequently. What surprised me was how ordinary he sounded, perhaps as a contrast to how virtuosic his playing was. But then all the way at the end of the chat, just for a moment, his incredible depth of understanding of the self and his music shines through beautifully, when he says: "I know that there are forces out here that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good."
https://youtu.be/ZF0EvYd_Bgw
LISTEN: Fatigado - Sanzala (Golden Mist Records)
One of my favorite things to do as a DJ is play music out of its original context. Play drum 'n bass in a house club, play South-African Gqom in a techno set, bit of Alla Rakha in an ambient session, anything to open up the sonic spectrum and have people move to music they've not moved to before. You would think percussive music is easy to slot in anywhere but styles like Portuguese Kuduro are, however exciting to listen to, quite hard to play out of context. There is a lot going on rhythmically and the music is super syncopated. Fatigado's 2017 album Sanzala however hits the absolute sweet spot for me, what a record! Reminiscent of that lo-fi cassette tape punk sound that made Ron Morelli's L.I.E.S, and artists like Anthony Naples and Hank Jackson so exciting almost a decade ago, Fatigado's beats are more techno than most actual techno is if you ask me. Especially when he brings some rough basslines ("Sempre a Subir") or off-key melodies ("Cotas do Semba") into the fold. Must-Listen, and support this man on Bandcamp if you can!