Abstract Index Live Recordings 2007-11

At long last I've compiled some live recordings from Abstract Index related performances over the past few years. It features great performances by Jesse 'Dubmatix' King, GuShee, MiMo, Odradek, Kyle Brenders/Scott Thompson/Susanna Hood, Daniel Nebiat, Alaniaris and an unreleased jam from Huelepega Sound System. 

The only way to get one is to become a member of CIUT ($25 donation) during the imminent Fall Fundrasing drive, preferably before my show on Thursday the 20th. Pledge at the CIUT website now & make sure to tell 'em The Abstract Index sent you.

Abstract Index Playlist - October 7/09

Don't believe the hype! It's actually 54'05"! Those bonus tracks, you know...

Hold on to your world music hats here, people. Collage comes correct representing Soviet SSR Estonian experimentation wherein folk forms are fused to funk, jazz and bossa nova. A medium sized choir of men and women spin circular phrases around spare musical accompaniment, often just a rhythm section and an electric guitar. What results is somewhere between Marcos Valle, Charlie Haden and Lambert Hendricks and Ross with a penchant for odd time signatures. Even with this wild mix of influences, it was released on the only record label in the country - Melodiya - thereby becoming a curious but official cultural statement.

The bassline from the track played this week sounds like it could have been on Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra record from 1969. Moreover there's another track on the record which features the band playing along to a scratchy old vinyl recording of Estonian folksong, as the LHO does with Spanish patriotic music on their disc. This album was recorded the following year, so perhaps it's not a coincidence. There's some lovely Herbie Hancock style piano on this cut as well - in fact the whole approach to fusion on this disc sounds is of a mostly acoustic, pre-In A Silent Way vintage, despite some tasty wah guitar here and there.

The disc runs out of ideas about two thirds of the way through, but since you're guaranteed to have heard nothing like this before, that won't stop me from recommending it.

Podcast

As far as statements of progressive folklore
chimera - radian (thrill jockey)
story telling - ganesh anandan/hans reichel (ambiances magnetiques)
arpeggio - tony wilson sextet (drip audio)
don't gild the lily - harris eisenstadt (clean feed)
takemorsja - collage (wool)
ti fala ou te mapali -anzala dolor vero (soundway)
manita uribe - toto la momposina (astar)
gigante - the binary cumbia orchestra (no label)
bah - scott (fluid ounce)
nou de ma gnin te fe deme - orchestre poly-rhytmo de contonou (analog africa)
nhemamusasa - tinashe chidanyika (arc)
trois - the seasons (towerblock)
a good day to play - prof fingers feat eleanor mante (5 1/4)
shackled soul - the slew (ninja tune)
cabaclo - nsista (no label)
shiverman - fat freddy's drop (no label)
babylon ambush - dubkasm (no label)
leaving dub - gregory isaacs (trojan)
dance on the corner - jah thomas (roots)
big shot rhythm - major banks (no label)

Abstract Index Playlist - March 18/09

Blowing the doors off the perception that Icelandic music is all about morose string sections, hushed vocals and the occasional blast of noise, Storsveit Nix Noites' second disc is one of the year's standouts so far.

Strictly speaking this disc has been available for a year and a half for download purposes, but Fat Cat is releasing it in physical form on April 7.

I loved Storsveit ("big band" in Icelandic) when I heard their first album a few years ago on the always cool & polyrhythmic Bubblecore label. The project is something of an all star lark from members of mum, Benni Hemm Hemm and many other bands with that sedate coutenance mentioned before. Whereas their first album featured a large group of musicians mostly holding their own with the super-tricky rhythms of the Balkans (Romania in particular), this recording, still lovably lo-fi, amps up the energy and skill level. If Beirut's Balkanisms are too melancholy for you (ahem), your jams will most certainly be kicked out by this Storsveit.

No kidding about the amps... the coda to this week's track takes a whole chapter out of the Sonic Youth playbook. But that's just the exclamation point to the band's improvement. The instrument voicings, the ensemble work and maximum rock n roll mayhem are all much more confident this time around. And of course, the rock mix (i.e. not too much bass, lots of action in the midrange) sets this apart from most Balkan beats which pump up the lower end - as with Ahilea, who immediately preceded Storsveit with his dancefloor orientation.

Could Nix Noites inspire a new generation of stage bands?

Podcast

far sight - ras moshe quartet (kmb)
misterioso - radio i ching (resonant)
dark lights - bell orchestre (arts and crafts)
mittlere composition no. II - atom tm (raster noton)
burst - tanya tagaq (jericho beach)
tolon wilikan - n'gou bagayoko (frikyiwa)
rise - claro intelecto (modern love)
mostar angels - von magnet (jarring effects)
pajdusko - storsveit nix noites (fat cat)
drip drop march - drumheller (rat drifting)
cathedral sonar - preying mantra (under see)
mulembo - hallelujah chicken run band (analog africa)
trinidad - willie bobo (honest jons)
mosaico santero - fruko y sus tesos (discos fuentes)
if you're lonely now - bobby womack (charly)
halfway up the stairs - rodriguez (light in the attic)
halfway up the stairs - delroy wilson (heartbeat)
dub special - hasan badr (wackies)
walk away from love - ken boothe (trojan)
western promise - the mohawks (vampisoul)

Interview - Lubo Alexandrov - Nov. 26

image courtesy of Lubo

It will be my great pleasure to welcome Lubo Alexandrov, Montreal's purveyor of the choicest Balkan Beats, to the Abstract Index this coming Wednesday.

Lubo's new disc, now credited to himself and band Kaba Horo, is called Contrabanda. It's one of my favourite Canadian releases this year, a clear progression from his Juno winning debut. He and the band are launching the CD at Lula Lounge the following night in what promises to be a rollicking good time of trying to make sense of those snaky rhythms.

I'll be speaking with him over the phone at 7PM on Wednesday night - he'll let us know what we're in for.

For What It's Worth - My Polaris Prize First Ballot

logo courtesy of Polaris Music Prize

I'm a Polaris Music Prize juror; unfortunately I couldn't make Monday's gala to get whipped up in the excitement. Maybe next year they won't schedule it on Rosh Hashanah.

I've had fun over the last few months participating in the process and reading other folks observations' on what conspiracies may or may not be happening among jurors. If there are conspiracies I sure wasn't a part of them. Despite the existence of a message board for jurors, there simply isn't enough communication between jurors to create a credible bloc for any given disc- unless it's all happening in some mysterious bar where 30-40 people get together to determine the fate of the Canadian music universe.

Only one of my initial five discs selected made the Long List, but that's an improvement over last year. And I'm happy enough that Caribou won - I've played his music on my radio show, so that's good enough for me.

But I'd like roll back the clock to earlier this summer when jurors were asked for their initial five picks of "highest artistic integrity, without regard to musical genre". Here are mine:

5. David Buchbinder - Odessa/Havana (Tzadik)

I gave this four stars in Eye Weekly and if I'd been able to spend more time with this disc before reviewing it, I might have given it five. It's a near-perfect synthesis of Latin and Jewish/Eastern European approaches to jazz. This disc's major acheivement is the ability to balance potentially uncomplimentary rhythms without sounding in any way restrained. You've probably heard it a lot on CBC, and for good reason. This record is truly successful world music, where two traditions are deeply expressed and expertly fused with great imagination. And it's not unfunky.

4. Maracatu Nunca Antes - The Beat Migration (No Label)

I could unspool some history and explanation of maracatu, but just link this and cut to the chase. Everyone I know who has heard this album, or more likely, seen them in the street has been converted by the massive percussion power of this group. There are always more than a dozen of them, including at least two bass drums, generating righteous rhythms that musically slay everyone in their path. And that's before the incredible presence of Aline Morales enters into the picture; suffice to say she is one one of the most compelling bandleaders of any band in Canada, she's like a beacon on stage. Since this album came out, I've socialized with some of these ladies and gentlemen, and the team spirit is remarkable. Billy Bryans started playing with them recently and he told me "it's the greatest thing I've done this year". This album, in a perfect world, would cross over to techno and hip hop audiences. This is healing music.

3. Nifty - A Sparrow! A Sparrow! (Blocks)

Matt Smith is a man of many loops, and the presence of kalimba sweetens the deal for me. Not that the doo-wop influence isn't already sweet. I once played the closing track "A Sparrow!", with its blizzards of high-frequency noise and towers of dub, and somebody called me up to say he'd damn near driven off the road. Good enough for me.

2. Sandro Perri - Tiny Mirrors (Constellation)

This is the pick that made it to the top 40. Who knows why it failed to make the short list? I have a feeling it just missed. This album gives me chills every time I listen to it. It is simply gorgeous in its songwriting and elegant instrumental performances. The voices of Sandro and Ryan Driver (participating in this year's Nuit Blanche on CIUT!) are haunting together. I was happy to see this move on because many of my favourite musicians in Toronto play on this album, such as Eric Chenaux and Nick Fraser.

1. LAL - Deportation (Public Transit)

Released only 5 days before the deadline for this year's award, I was fortunate to have a few more weeks to get into this before casting my vote. This is not an easy album to love, and maybe that's why it didn't get as much publicity as I thought it would (year-end lists anyone?). But the subject matter is difficult and unique; talking about social and environmental justice, ethnicity and class. Moreover, the beats are very downtempo and abstract, somewhat removed from the clean, sleek beats that seem to characterize popular electronic sounds these days. But this is a highly personal statement that fully succeeds as a brave artistic move and another step foward for this band.

Yep, all these picks are from Toronto. Sorry, rest of Canada. Ghislain Poirier made my second ballot.

Abstract Index Playlist - November 14/07

I've started writing reviews for Eye Weekly, and this is one of my first. David Buchbinder and company really bring this concept to life.

next one rising - david buchbinder (tzadik)
dreamers dance - nostalgia 77 (ubiquity)
tupa tupi - arthur verocai (far out)
springs - pete jolly (a & m)
88 - byproduct (mantle)
dark soul - broken (mind)
neg chante - nomadic massive (ptr)
para no vivir deseperando - mexican institute of sound (nacional)
tukki - youssou n'dour (nonesuch)
a ra - joao donato (emi)
beat the drum - masa musa (crippled dick hot wax)
200 saxophones - deep dark united (rat drifting)
excerpt from nov. 13 performance - bitchin' (no label)
mor feen - wilson/lee/bentley (drip audio)
sons of washington - dust galaxy (emerald tablet)
move on up - dynamics (groove attack)
live as one - zion train (universal egg)
come along - maytones (heartbeat)
mister brown pt. 2 - gladiators (heartbeat)

Abstract Index Playlist - Sept 19/07

The most on-point lautari band of them all, Tarf De Haidouks first recorded for the always-adventurous Crammed Discs in 1993. Their technical agility leavened with a bit of skronk, their impassioned singing and their sense of adventure has always been a hallmark. Last year's live disc The Continuing Adventures Of Taraf De Haidouks had all that and then some. I suppose somebody within or around the group asked the question "what's next?" as an artistic challenge.

Maskarada takes on the orientalization tactics of European classical composers, and "re-gypsyfies" them. It's an intriguing intellectual concept, but the execution is lacking. The band sounds oddly restrained until the inevitable "go time" as a piece climaxes. Some composers, such as Bela Bartok and Aram Khachaturian fare better due to their individual styles meshing better with the dense Taraf sound. Other tracks are unbearable, and represent the worst kind of musical in-joke. Bottom line is, they can't, or don't like, to play it 'straight' - right down to some cringe- inducing intonation.

Maskarada is mostly unsuccessful - however with a few kickass tracks. It's got to be difficult to adapt to new artistic challenges when you're a dozen or more players with distinctive instrumentation like cymbalom and accordion, but this experiment didn't really work out. Personally I think they should consider slowing down the pace and putting something out on Constellation.



Taraf De Haidouks Myspace feat. "Ostinato And Romanian Dance"

if you don't work, you can't eat - bobby byrd (king)
i'm a free man - freddie mckay (studio one)
soul of a village pt 2 - joe zawinul (atlantic)
taming the shrew - skerik's syncopated taint septet (hyena)
kidnapped - roy nathanson (aum fidelity)
ostinato and romanian dance - taraf de haidouks (crammed)
sebo psoriatic psongs - gypsy dance (independent)
celebrating new - torngat (alien 8)
ca la breaza - toni iordache (asphalt tango) check the YouTube clip!
once through - steve lantner trio (riti)
1/4 d'heure de culture metaphysique - sao paris (f communications)
flight in dub (dj cil mix) - love trio feat. u roy (nublu)
hera ma nono - extra golden (thrill jockey)
shut me mouth - ranking dread (greensleeves)
we're in this love together - dreamband feat. hermina george (independent)
dis ya a dub - bullwackies all stars (wackies)
i'm not crazy - don carlos/sinbad (greensleeves)
deception - ticklah feat. vinia mojica (easy star)
crash and dub - echo (inthachamber)

Abstract Index Playlist - May 2/07

Sorry for the absence, but I've been way too busy lately. Here are a couple of album reviews related to show content in the last couple of weeks.

The highlight of this show was somehow managing to play "Don't Touch My Sad Soul" and "Don't Chain My Soul" back to back. But my favourite track was by Fanfare Ciocarlia.

One of the best Balkan Brass bands, they have upped their profile recently by recording with A Hawk And A Hacksaw. Queens and Kings furthers their fusion while staying true to their roots, resulting in their best and slickest work to date. The production fascinating; there's a thick coating of reverb over just about everything. But somehow, the bombast works. This album endeavours to fuse two offshoots of Gypsy culture: Gitane guitars and Balkan brass. These days the Gipsy Kings are best known as a bookshelf speaker staple of bistros and cafes, but the sound is put into fresh context here. At best, as on the superb "Cuando Tu Volveras" from this show, the flamenco and brass impulses are seamless. The guitars weave an atmospheric pattern around the bubbling tubas and euphoniums, and the whole is driven by a rock solid reggaeton backbeat - this worldbeat in its best sense. On the other hand, their version of "Born To Be Wild" is worldbeat at its worst. About 2/3 of this disc is excellent stuff.

funky not stinky - organic grooves (codek)
watanzania watu wa amani - achigo band (limitless sky)
satchelaise - mice parade (fat cat)
rozadi rezadu - tcheka (times square)
one heaven - rise ashen (indie)
vodou - schneider tm (city slang)
cuando tu volveras - fanfare ciocarlia (asphalt tango)
red bula - mahala rai banda (crammed)
degmen benim gamli yasli gonlume/don't touch my sad soul - edip akbayram (shadoks)
don't chain my soul - carlton basco (perfect toy)
main road - evergreen club gamelan ensemble (artifact)
straight psyche - amon tobin (ninja tune)
slowjob - gel-sol (upstairs)
isulamea - isula (tandem)
canberra... come in - the red eyes (echo forest)
version galore - love trio & u roy (nublu)
think (about it) - the lions (ubiquity)
funky nassau - juju orchestra (agogo)
opportunity rock - big youth (shanachie)
very well (dub) - wailing souls (island)