May Missives

Storsveit Nix Noltes

It's time for the monthly roundup of my ramblings in print and online.

First up, hot off the press, is my writeup of OffOnOff who are playing 6 Nassau St. on Friday. I won't be able to make the gig (see the following post) but did meet drumming demon Paal Nilsson-Love in person when he and The Thing played here a couple of weeks ago. He was great to speak with, and a shining example about all that's great about the very creative forms of music going on in Norway these days. He's repped by the relatively mainstream, government supported jazz community as well as a consummate road warrior in the grande indie tradition.

In Exclaim this month, I spoke to NOMO at long last, having played their music quite frequently on the Abstract Index over the years. Leader Elliot Bergman had some post tour fatigue in his voice, methinks, but he was as perceptive and interesting as I hoped he would be.

Speaking of Afro-futurism, I also lavished praise on my favourite album of the year thus far, On Ka'a Davis' Seeds Of Djuke. I would have blogged about it when I first got it way back in January, but I knew I was going to push for feature coverage, and that's finally come to pass. This album isn't for everyone, especially those who think that funk must include the descriptor "retro" these days, but anyone who really cares about Afro-American culture - and that should be millions of people, y'know - should open their ears and try to get right with Davis' art.

On the Exclaim website, I interviewed Coat Cooke, the majordomo of Vancouver's ever-vital NOW Orchestra & its nascent record label. It felt good to bring a little piece of Vancouver's avant-garde music history to Exclaim for the first time.

Also, I spoke with Olaf Olafsson from Storsveit Nix Noltes, whose album Royal Family/Divorce is still very much rocking (Balkaning? Balking?) my world.