April Showers Of Feature Articles

A bit late in the month to be getting to this, but I wrote three substantial features at Exclaim this month.

The first is the lead feature (prior to Dimitri Nasrallah's excellent cover story on Poirier) about soul sister supreme Sharon Jones, who looks like she's moving up to a new level in popularity with her new disc, I Learned The Hard Way.

Also, I squeezed some more juice out of my interview session with Christine Duncan to write an article which was somewhat different than my Eye Weekly profile last month.

Finally, I got the chance to interview Ethio Jazz legend Mulatu Astatke. I spoke to him on the phone, but we decided that medium wouldn't cut it, so we did an email interview instead. He's a beautiful guy...

Gil Scott-Heron Against The Elements

Two big features on newstands right now: my retrospective of Gil Scott-Heron's career, and the improvised community of The Element Choir.

In Exclaim, I jumped right in to the career of Scott-Heron, whose notable silence of the last 25 is contrasted by the first dozen years of his artistic output which produced so much material that only a few nuggets have stood out from consistent excellence. It was a treat going through all the albums and videos I could to get a much fuller picture of the man than I'd had before. Unfortunatlely, that picture isn't very pretty right now, but the new album is still vital listening, despite/because of its contrast with almost everything else he's recorded.

In Eye Weekly, I finally got a good opportunity to write about vocalist Christine Duncan. And what an opportunity: the Element Choir is 50 strong, backed by an ultra-polyphonous pipe organ. The combination will make a joyful noise in Christ Church Deer Park.

Just Putting It Out There

It's been too long since I posted links to recent works in print and on the web, much less updated my sidebar. Here's a selection:

At Exclaim, I've had the pleasure of several interesting interviews over the last couple of months. "Conversations" include Western Saraha's Group Doueh, future-bashment wizards South Rakkas Crew (which IMO is a landmark release for the GTA), and the indie-faithful Wavelength Crew.

For Eye Weekly, the last several months have contained features on Getachew Mekuria & The Ex and David Amram, as well as reviews of Viviane Houle, Hardal and Mahala Rai Banda.

On Spinner.ca I wrote about Toronto's avant-dancehall/soul stars Bonjay and Kid Koala's hard rocking The Slew.

I've been doing some writing for Musicworks, & in their current issue wrote about the New Music Marathon, which was an event at Yonge Dundas Square in 2007-8 but unfortunately cancelled last year. Their new issue will be out shortly and I look forward to seeing a couple of pieces published.

There have been quite a few interviews on the Abstract Index lately. If you haven't caught up on the archives, chats with the Wavelength Crew (unedited! unrestrained!) and soul/rock/etc. singer Saidah Baba Talibah are still available.

And now - I'm off to generate more content! Tonight, I'm pre-taping an interview with awesome guitarist Mary Halvorson to air on next week's Abstract Index.

Abstract Index Playlist - December 30/09

My favourite album of last year, and possibly my most frequently played disc, was On Ka'a Davis' "Seeds Of Djuke".

I'll point you to the interview/review I did for Exclaim back in May to run down what I enjoyed most about the album - basically, this was one of the greatest ever fulfillments of the promise of Ornette Coleman's harmolodic concept.

After compiling a million and one best of lists to close out last year, I'm pleased to discover that this album, though far out, isn't in a universe of its own. The end of the first decade of the new millenium produced a bumper crop of profoundly experimental music from Black America.

Years ago, fearless trombonist Tom Walsh told me "Hip-hop music and samplers came along and most of that music has more than one tonal area at the same time. If you analyse it, it's basically harmolodic — it's new ways of finding harmony." Some of my favourite albums from 2009 bore this out: Shafiq Husayn, Ras G, Georgia Anne Muldrow and others all went into deep space to find their funk with varying degrees of coherence. I've always loved funk that pushes and pulls at regular rhythms but I think we are at a new peak (or a serious upswing) in witnessing some tremendously creative artists from different musical backgrounds who trade in the reconfiguration of rhythm, harmony, melody and electronics.

Now I've got to get a hold of On Ka'a Davis' other disc from last year: "Djoukoujou", on John Zorn's always excellent Tzadik label.

Podcast

uheskoos - collage (wool)
kad ley wey - tato feat nahid akhtar (finders keepers)
mon du don - johnny guitar (sublime frequencies)
ha fang khang kan - teun jai boon prakasa (sublime frequencies)
jet beguine - les loups noirs de haiti (soundway)
la escoba - alfredo y su salsa montanero (soundway)
ahouli vop yelli - orchestre poly rytmo de contonou (analog africa)
pagadeja - tamale (soundway)
fancy dancer - wicked witch (em)
elsa - sonido martines feat fefe (no label)
the birds - telefon tel aviv (bpitch control)
bitrate sensors - filastine (jarring effects)
combat rhythm - two fingers (paper bag)
tarantula - zomby (hyperdub)
one - moritz von oswald trio (honest jons)
bebey - gang gang dance rmx by matt shadetek (gold dust/k7)
helicopter (radio mix) - edalam feat dj lauralee (no label)
na na not me - on ka'a davis (livewired)
you liked me five minutes ago - fire (rune gramofon)
potential things - canaille (standard form)
he looks just like her – st. dirt elementary school (barnyard)
the gaze - bell orchestre (arts & crafts)
pajdusko - storsveit nix noltes (fat cat)
can't stop now - major lazer feat. mr. vegas (downtown)
gimme gimme - bonjay (no label)
sala malpapitando - caballo & the mothafu kings (no lable)
tired of the war - vibronics & macka b (interchill)
rope on in - cornell campbell (joe gibbs/vp)
get on up - babylon system (no label)
red moon - the dynamites/king tubby (pressure sounds)
do good - delroy wilson (pressure sounds)
10 ft. ganja plant & weed - 10 ft. ganja plant (ROIR)

Midsummer A Gwaan

Batman Samini & yours truly at Afrofest, photo courtesy of Donna Gee

It's been a minute since I posted about my activities in print and in non-Abstract Index related stuff on the radio.

Eye Weekly has run a few features lately. I wrote a duo of West African articles about Femi Kuti and Oumou Sangare (absolutely killer at Afrofest). Last month I caught what might hold up as my fave show of the year: Goran Bregovic.

In Exclaim, I wrote about Major Lazer in July, and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble in June. Also in the July issue is a feature/review with MC Zulu and David Last. The interview with Zulu was one of my favourite conversations of the year, unfortunately the sound quality wasn't good enough for broadcast.

Also in Exclaim, I've become one of the Click Hear team. Every week, I post about one or more new or new-ish tracks available for free somewhere in the interweb. Some entries are fairly out of the way, some are merely crucial. It's a fun assignment.

Coming up this Saturday, tune in to CIUT to catch our broadcast of Jamaica Day, live from its new location at Downsview Park. I'll be participating in the conversation, but mostly I'm going to be scouting out all the fried dough at the vendors' booths - that's why they call summertime the "festival" season. Oy, terrible joke....

One last thing: check in to the Abstract Index radio show tomorrow for an interview with Ghanaian hiplife/"raglife" star Batman Samini at 7:30PM. He's been hanging out in Toronto since his triumphant performance at Afrofest, and has a gig coming up at the Fusion Lounge on July 25.

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.

Too Much Information

Rounding up a few weeks worth of writing...

"Do I have any idea what a kora looks like? Thing is huge!" said James Keast, Exclaim's editor in chief, upon seeing this photo of Mansa Sissoko.

The brilliant, pure sound of the kora is heard more and more frequently these days, but the instrument itself is quite imposing up close, and is best experienced in an intimate setting.

Sissoko was an engaging subject for Exclaim's "What I Play" column this month. The twist for me was conducting the interview in French, something I've done only a few times before (but it's helped land interviews with the likes of Tinariwen and Salif Keita). In a serendipitous coincidence, after pitching this idea for quite some time, the article came out two days after Sissoko and Jayme Stone won a well deserved Juno award.

Also in Exclaim this month, I have an article about the other Washington/Kenya connection - Extra Golden, whose third album is their deepest southern fried benga yet. On the Exclaim website is a transcription of an interview with legendary reggae producer Niney The Observer. Other 'Conversations' in the past couple of months have been with Luke Quaranta of Toubab Krewe, and Reid Anderson of The Bad Plus.

At Eye Weekly, I recently wrote about Iraqi-American trumpet player Amir ElSaffar (had to arrange an interview with him as he participated in a festival in Baku, Azerbaijan!). Last month, I had the pleasure of speaking with avant-klezmer pianist Marilyn Lerner, whose work I've long admired.

Finally I have a guest post at Carl Wilson's Zoilus. It's my highly subjective list of notable Canadian reggae singles. It was an interesting exercise, since I don't think that this country's best reggae music is represented on singles.

World Is Not Enough

My biggest project of the last couple of months has just been published. It's called State Of The World, and it examines what the term 'world music' and means in 2009. In short: world music not a meaningless term, it still represents a coherent way of classifying music, and the world music network of venues and people plays a significant role in articulating cultural issues within music.

I interviewed ethnomusicologist Wayne Marshall ,
Harbourfront booker Alok Sharma, Rolf Klausener of the Acorn, Alan Bishop of Sublime Frequencies, and Tinariwen's manager Andy Morgan.

As with pretty much all my writing in Exclaim, I'm writing for a Canadian audience, and wanted to focus this unwieldy topic to the readership at hand.

This article brings together a lot of ideas I've had about global sounds in the last few years. It's no rehash, but it certainly expands on some ideas from last summer's "Toronto Soul: One City Under A Groove".

One more thing - I forgot to post about my profile of pianist Marilyn Lerner in Eye Weekly last week.

Who Wants Yesterday's Papers?

I've been terribly delinquent in updating my "It Was Written" links.

It's more current now, and lists most of the features I wrote last year for Exclaim, Eye Weekly and AOL Canada,


Please go for a browse 'pon the right hand side.

I Want To Write About It, If Not Be A Part Of It

My feature articles from the last month are all about NYC.

First up, in Exclaim, is an interview/review with someone I have been very impressed with for the last three years - non-native New Yorker Andy Haas. He's one of the most accomplished improvisers I know who merges conventional musical ability with live electronics. Moreover, his explorations (and extrapolations) of folk forms from around the world give him a rich vocabulary with which to explore new ideas in saxomechanical interfaces. Did I mention he was a mainstay of Martha And The Muffins back in the day?

Also, I was surprised to see one of my pieces on the Paste magazine website. I have written for them off and on (I wish I could find my Feuermusik/Larry Wright piece somewhere...), but the magazine seems to limit its online content. Last month's compare-and-contrast piece on two NYC clubs cum labels pitted Nublu and Barbes against each other. Who won? Everybody who loves to dance.

A New Chapter Of Summertime

why I should stick to writing and DJing: the fuzzy Abyssinians at Harbourfront

July and August have remained busy for me in print. Here are some links to my work.



The Abyssinians proved they are still magnetic performers. I spoke with lead singer Bernard Collins in the week leading up to the show; he proved to be as generous and spirtual as his songs suggest. The show was fantastic. Harmonies were a little more wayward than last time, but the band had surprising energy onstage given the meditative pace of most of the songs. The band and the crowd loved it. I wasn't the only one there en famille. Also at Harbourfront last weekend was Michael Rose, who did not live up to expectations.


One of late June's highlights at Harbourfront was Seun Kuti, whose high octane Afrobeat generated pogoing in its most frenzied moments. He was a man of few words in conversation, but he has a certain something (rock and roll 'tude?) which seems to attract more attention than his half brother Femi did when he broke out nearly ten years ago.

The Bug played the Drake last month. Unfortunately I was unable to interview Kevin Martin over the phone; he was in China at the time this article was being written. However, being a former journalist, he gave great e-mail. The exchange is recounted here.

I never miss an opportunity to write about James Brown, and a crucial 3 DVD set called I Got The Feeling was released this past Tuesday. Tightly focused on Brown's music and persona in 1968, it contains a splendid documentary entitled "The Night James Brown Saved Boston" about his role he played preventing riots in Boston following the assasination of Martin Luther King.

Finally, I wrote a profile of hang-tough Quebecois jazz label Red Toucan. I didn't realize that this label had been around for 15 years. As with everyone involved with the business of avant-jazz, proprietor Michel Passaretti was self-deprecating but passionate about his work. I've been enjoying their release of the Szilard Mezei Ensemble's "Nad/Reed" these days.

Reading Rainbow

It's the end of the month - time to look back on a busy May's worth of published material.

May turned out to be soulful. The biggest word count I got all month was for a career profile of Al Green for Exclaim. I feared his story had already been told numerous times, leaving me little to work with. But the further I got into the research, I found that there were a number of well-trod stories in his career, but few overall summaries. The obvious one is contained in the liner notes to his Anthology, but that's more than ten years old and there's more to tell since then. I found fewer dull spots in his discography than I expected, which made this article a listening pleasure.

Also in Exclaim, I wrote a profile of Feuermusik. I love those guys - great musicians & great people. Of all the adjectives that could be applied to the controlled sax and bucket frenzy of their new album "No Contest", 'soulful' ranks high. I also wrote about Feuermusik for Paste Magazine a few months ago, but haven't been able to find the piece online. If anyone comes across it, please let me know....

Over at AOL Canada, my overview of the impulses shaping the soul music of Toronto was published yesterday. I didn't actually pitch this article but I'm glad it came my way. Zaki Ibrahim, LAL and Ivana Santilli happen to be releasing discs all at the same time, so there seemed to be a natural thread to this piece. I've got to confess it was pretty easy to write; it's an article that I feel personally attached to in terms of the content. When speaking with Santilli, with whom I'd gigged once or twice many years ago, it felt like old times. Her recollection of the early 90s was very much like my own experience, and, as the article shows, also very much like those of Rose Kazi and Nick Murray from LAL. I'd never talked to Ibrahim before, but she picked up on all those sentiments in describing her favourite aspects of Toronto. Needless to say, everyone's criticisms of Toronto were also pretty similiar.

Finally, because I didn't post about this weeks ago, here's a profile of modern roots star Queen Ifrica for Eye Magazine.

...one more thing that didn't make the print edition of Exclaim this month - here's an interview with Aidan Baker about the new release from polyrhythmic noise alchemists ARC.

Just A Lil' Dope

Historically accurate CIUT logo of the early 90s designed by Fiona Smyth

Although the May issue of Exclaim has run its course, I wanted to belatedly link to an item I wrote about Toronto hip hop history blog The Meaning Of Dope.

I've waxed nostalgic a few times on this blog about my experiences in Toronto's hip hop scene circa '89-'94, but now I feel like I don't have to anymore because JC and his crew have created a fantastic resource for grizzled vets like myself or wet-behind the-ears-hip-hop baybeez.

I've digitized two of my own cassettes for them so far. The first went up a few months ago - DJX on CKLN, filling in for Norman Otis Richmond's Diasporic Music. The second is hot off the digital presses: CIUT's legendary Masterplan show with its classic lineup of Jonbronski, Motion and Power recorded November 30/91. I have a lot of affection for that crew, especially John, who was a real mentor to me not only for hip hop but for the great diversity of soul-oriented sounds of the time from house to breakbeats to reggae to jazz fusion.

I don't know why I decided to record this particular show, although the cassette also has 30 excellent minutes of Reaz Baksh's Soca Zone (now Dhantal Radio), which was, to my knowledge, the first radio show in Toronto to play bhangra. I guess it was just one of those habitually boundary-breaking nights that campus radio was so famous for back then (and now?). Then again, it might have been because I'd just given John some material for a couple of IDs (or carts/cartridges as they were known back then). "Nuff drum and bass" is Jah Thomas, "Ok, Ok, let's take it from here" is a famous Lee Scratch Perry soundbite.

TMOD have the tracklist up as well.

Miles Styles

As tipped last post, I did an extensive interview with Soundway Records' Miles Cleret for Exclaim's March edition.

It was an absorbing conversation about the colossal effort involved in putting together the top shelf compilations for whcih Soundway is renowned. Topics ranged from his approach to putting together a compilation, to the content of Nigeria Special, to the very active release schedule for Soundway coming up this year.

Collected Works

The February issue of Exclaim came out today. Up front is a Point I did on Steve Reid. His newest album, still in collaboration with Kieran Hebden, is called Daxaar and it's out February 5. It's a far more linear album than his previous few releases, with an easy going, stable groove powering the tracks. It can get a little static at times, but the overall feel of the recording outshines any criticism. If you're feeling down, it'll cure what ails you. Reid was certainly a positive force over the phone and I wanted to make sure that came out in the piece.

Also, there's an interview/review of Nicole Mitchell's "Black Unstoppable". The album has been available for a couple of months but it's still finding an audience.

Listeners of the Abstract Index radio show will be able to hear both interviews:

Steve Reid: February 6, 7PM Eastern time
Nicole Mitchell: February 13, 7PM

To be podcast shortly thereafter.

I've updated my "It Was Written" index along the right side of the page. Hadn't put anything new in there since April...

Clean Up Man

One reason I've been so delinquent on the playlist blogging... OK, my current excuse for being so delinquent on playlist blogging is that I've been busy with other writing. Here's a roundup of what's been going on.

Been doing some reviews and tings for Eye Weekly. I spoke with Hamiet Bluiett a few weeks ago, and have reviewed quite a few discs over the last few weeks, too. This link should keep things fresh for the faithful AI reader (and myself if/when I lose track).

Have also been doing some work for AOL Canada. Here's a story on Tinariwen, following up on my piece in Exclaim in April. Exclaim also put them in the Top 20 Pop Rocks list for 2007 (written by Michael Barclay, who has a great interview with the band on his blog), and has a review of their live show in Toronto last month. There profile has grown Grateful Dead-style in the interim and they're trodding the boards thru North America once again like the road warriors they are.

Also on the Exclaim front, its end of year issue has been out for a few weeks. I wrote about the excellent new disc by local Afrobeat and beyond heroes Mr. Something Something. There is also a profile of one-of-a-kind classical/breakbeat/etc. musician John Kameel Farah. As editor of the Groove and Destination Out sections, I was very pleased to see the writers come up with these choices for the year in review.

One More Jam

At long last, the full transcript of my interview with King Jammy has been posted at Exclaim. Also check out an email interview done with Deadbeat for the "Dub Voyage" article.

Brotzmannia '07 Continues...

The October issue of Exclaim! is out, and my main contributions this month should be familiar to regular readers of this blog.

The first piece is an interview/review on the new album by Extra Golden, utilizing quotes from the Alex Minoff interview of a few weeks ago.

Even more exciting for me is a "Front Five" blurb on Peter Brotzmann's Machine Gun, accompanied by the complete transcript of an interview done with Herr Brotzmann himself. He was charming and affable over the phone, in contrast to his usually fiery persona on record. But his fire does not lurk far below the surface, as the interview demonstrates in a few key spots. All improvisers can learn a great deal from this record, and from Brotzmann's life experiences.

Dub Is A Many Splendoured Thing

At long last, an article that I've worked on for months - entitled Dub Voyage - is out this month in Exclaim.

The worldwide popularity of reggae's offshoots continues unabated - from roots sounds, to dancehall and in this case dub. The article identifies the key components of dub and how they've journeyed from their origins to have direct and abstract influences throughout the world of popular music. There are a world of issues to be explored, too, so I decided to focus on the paths outward while leaving out more detailed analysis of race, class and economics. Now that this article is done, I can't wait to read Michael Veal's "Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae" which devotes several hundred pages to these issues which I could only touch on in 3000 words.

Hopefully, full transcripts of the interviews with King Jammy and Deadbeat will be available at the Exclaim website soon.

Dub is truly special music - and a special process - that has been one of my guiding inspirations for 25 years of musical activity. Hope you like the article.

Grooveallegiance

It is my pleasure to announce the launch of Exclaim's Groove Radio. As editor of Exclaim's Groove reviews section, and general steward of soul, funk, reggae, dub, global grooves, soul jazz, and downtempo within the magazine, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to stop writing and let the music do the talking (sorry, no Aerosmith on this channel).


It's not like my radio show, mind you. Spontaneity doesn't enter into the equation; it's a 'focused shuffle', organized roughly by tempo. I had started importing tracks by genre, all the while realizing that 'genre' was an imperfect way to catalog most music. I then reorganized everything into tempo - that way, no matter what the genre was, if it's banging, it goes with the bangers...


The challenge has been stimulating, especially since I had no idea what it would sound like prior to the launch. Although there's more than 22 hours of music culled from the Iceberg media library, Exclaim promo, and various classics from my own collection, I'm only scratching the surface of many genres. The shuffle play aspect of the channel will make predicting what it's going to sound like next to impossible, but I think there will be a bias to roots reggae, which seemed to be disproportionately represented in the sheer number of tracks. So sue me. Most importantly, unlike most narrowcasted streaming channels, Groove is a MIX of genres and is not centered around any one type of music, geographic origin or time frame.


Now the updating begins. And Destination Out Radio is scheduled for November...