GIG REVIEW - Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting paradiso U.F.O - Corsica Studios, 22/10/12

AMT from left: Tsuyama Atsushi, Tabata Mitsuru, Higashi Hiroshi, Shimura Koji & (not pictured) Kawabata makoto

Round the back end of Elephant And Castle in London is this lovely little place, Corsica Studios, having seen AMT play there last year, I knew it would be a good show again. So I was excited, happiness increased when another person in the queue told me that she had seen them a few nights before hand and still had ear troubles. The sign of a good heavy gig!
It's worth saying at this point that Acid Mothers Temple are a very... VERY loud band. It's not just loud like a metal band, but in that it really works for the music and the audio cacophony creates such amazing sensations.

 

Hey Colossus! the support act. Very heavy.

The support band was Hey Colossus! a really heavy rock band, combining elements of grunge and thrash with a Hawkwind style chugging of repetitive riffage pounding into this psychedelic experience. The shouted vocals were pretty difficult to hear over the amped guitars but was audible enough to add extra texture. Also nice use of a tape machine to get this background droning going throughout the tracks. Apparently the Spice girls used to do something similar with Posh Spice. Anyways they were a cool introduction and you could tell that there was definately energy and passion in their playing. Good band.

The Groovemaster Generals, Acid Mothers Temple!

Of course, Acid mothers Temple & The Melting Paradiso U.F.O came on and the crowd blew up electric. Quiet glissando drones, spacey synths, latino cool, comedy lyrics, heavy riffage, peace glasses, burning guitars, it's all there. Shimura Koji kept a perfectly steady beat throughout, definately one of the hardest working drummers around. They played an impressive set including my two favourite psyche tracks and ATM live stalwarts, Pink lady Lemonade and the Om Riff(a cover of Gong's epic Master Builder). It was like heaven, the constant beat, the sheer energy, the ultimate speed guitar. Pink Lady Lemonade really set into groove with the repeating melody, lifting you up into the stars ready for blastoff, and then when Kawabata Makoto  hit the first note of the solo, it was like orgasmic joy as he charted us off through the galaxies, leading into the meditative force of the Om Riff, using Daevid Allen's Iao Chant to help secure the powerful force within the track before letting off into an impressive display of awareness of the cosmic sounds. Tracks included a bizarre doo-wop inspired jam, and a lovely call and response section between Kawabata and Tsuyama Atsushi, showing a band having fun at what they do. You could feel the whole world shake from the volume, and being about 2 metres away from the amps, I got it full blast to the point where it actually started to physically hurt towards the end of the gig. It was fantastic.

Of course, the show ended with them upping the tempo and the volume even more, and Kawabata Makoto setting fire to his guitars whilst playing them, smashing them and chucking into the crowd.
But of course, one can't neglect Higashi Hiroshi's mastery of the synth, creating a constant feeling of otherworldlyness throughout their set, and Tabata Mitsuro's charisma and ability to play a damn fine tune (and awesome glasses!)

As you'd expect me to say, seeing as they are one of my favourite bands, whenever you can, go see Acid Mothers Temple!

Apologies for current slow updates

hey there people!
I've been working a lot, and working on my music a lot lately, so I've not been having too much time to do any reviews or random rants about Jazz. So if you're wondering why it's going to be slow, this is why. Though sometime this week there may be a gig review, as Acid Mothers Temple are playing in London tonight and so naturally, I will be there. Also the inevitable deafness that such a gig will induce will result in reviews becoming hard!
So yeah, that's something to look forward to.

Peace and love!

Eddy Grant - I Don't Wanna Dance

Eddy Grant is one of them living music legends. A Reggae superstar, fine fine songwriter, producer, owner of his own label and political activist, the man's like a beast. Grant was the frontman for early Reggae/pop group The Equals in the sixties, and despite a solo career throughout the seventies, it wouldn't be until 1982, where he would get his big smash hit, I Don't Wanna Dance.

It opens up with the chorus over a really chilled and sweet reggae beat embeleshed by some eighties synthy. It follows this standard rhythm throughout, keeping it subtle and not building up for the chorus, letting you just stay with the groove. There's a pretty cool short fuzz guitar solo, reminding me of those in Kevin Ayers' albums. The track trails off with a repeating of the song's title. All in all, it's a short sweet song over a nice chill beat.

For the B side, we get an accapella rendition of I Don't Wanna Dance, which is a bit misleading, as it includes percussion, echoed production. It's more kinda like a dub-lite version to be honest, and it still stands strong as a good track, aided by the shortness of the song, it does work.

Basically, I love Reggae, and I love Eddy Grant, so I also love this. Even if I didn't, I'd still like this, it's just one of those songs that you can't fault. Simplistic yet utterly enjoyable.

Toyah - Thunder In The Mountains

Associated with punk, I never really gave Toyah a chance, even when I heard that she was married to Robert Fripp (one of my guitar idols), but it turns out, she's more like a died-hair loud Kate Bush sort. Good songs, bright hair, and quite an allright voice.

Thunder In The Mountains kicks right off with a groove, and faux-gothic chancing. Toyah's singing kicks right in for the verse, which then builds up to the chorus which is pretty epic rock, over a nice groove. It's very eighties, in style, production, sound and structure, but works well, a solid song. The little faux-gothic flourishes add character onto what could be just a usual Blondie-like pop-punk production. Punk's own Kate Bush.

The second side is Street Addict, and as usual for songs of a similar title, I get the feeling that Toyah is singing about this romanticised view of the underworld. We get a bass line bringing us in, keeping the track minimal and with a haunting sound. Toyah sings over the top, in a reverbed effect, again there's this goth-rock sound, mixed in with a punk and pop sound. The chorus is denser but still keeps it pretty minimal. It's an allright song, just a bit dull compared to the A side.

Well, it's a neat little single for you to pick up and enjoy. It changed my opinion on her, and who knows, it may change yours too!

Frank Zappa - Broadway The Hard Way

I was unsure about whether I'd write a Zappa review on this blog, because the love and respect I have for the man and his musical vision is so pronounced that it can be hard, ney, impossible, to remove any bias. Oh well...

Picture the scene, it's the late eighties, Frank has assembeled a fresh band of virtuoso musicians and is touring once again, aided by a Synclavier synthesiser (a proper one, not one of those Casio keyboards). The political scene in the US has shifted heavily towards a theocracy, and with more corruption appearing in the news every day, Frank tours, with new material and old, always keeping an ear towards the news, always changing the music to reflect the reality of the time. This is Frank Zappa's farewell tour, this is one of three albums taken from his '88 tour. This is Broadway The hard Way!

Side 1 opens with Elvis Has Left the building, a mock religious theme with a soft-rock rhythm. reflecting southern state country rock. The trck features random and humerous sound effects emphasising it's inherent stupidity. As you can guess, this track is about Elvis residing up there in heaven, and features such a deliberately cheesy melody while lyrically tearing down the cult of Elvis and also absurd religious views. Next, Frank takes us to the Planet Of The Baritone Women, a satirical look at the powersuit wearing women of eighties pop music. This track reflects the unusual Broadway influence which encroached on Zappa's music during his Thing Fish project. Bobby Martin treats us to some fantastic vocal technique in true musical style. It can be seen as an anti-feminist track, but that is to ignore the contrived nature of that pop scene. This idea is followed through with Any Kind Of Pain, which features on the manufactured, powdered, puffed up glamour star, the young blonde who is there to look pretty and do nothing else. Again there is a distinct musical feel to this track, it is painfully eighties, yet Ike Willis' singing really carries it with a sense of soul. It features several Zappa music tropes such as short sections of staccato arps, a totally slick liquid guitar solo, and a band comfortable enough to play around. Frank often said that he thought this was the best, most capable band he'd toured with (despite an ongoing conflict between several members, which forced him to abandon the tour) and the tightness of the playing here really shows why. They are totally at ease, which allows Frank to play an amazing solo, totally at ease. Confinement Loaf, Stupidity, Sex, Drugs, all the Zappa lyrical motiffs make an appearance here, all we're missing out on is poodles!

Side 1 ends with Jesus Thinks your A Jerk, which is Zappa at his most playful, yet also most serious. A child-like southern psuedo-religious rock sound starts the track, describing the sauded activities of those at the top of the Republican party, the corruption and religious extremism which has made the party a very dangerous bunch, which has extra relevance now, with Mitt Romney's rather... discriminatory outlook to middle eastern politics. The playful tune of this track doesn't belittle the subjects covered, infact it helps emphasise the absurdity of the religious right, and the rather simplistic mentality that they possess. The track makes it's first shift, towards kinda lounge jazz whilst talking about guns and the NRA, and the hipocrasy it involves, before returning to the bouncing rhythm and some of the more disturbing lyrics Zappa has sung, the muisc merges into a 'Twilight Zone' section, whilst we're treated to a nice mini-lecture about Pat Robbertson's rather evil nature (I dislike the words good and evil, but really... the guy is fucking hideous!). and we get this lounge-jazz Twilight Zone style thing which reminds me of the music from The Starlight Zone from the first Sonic The Hedgehog game.  The track gets rather eighties and uses the 'aspiration pop' cliches whilst talking about how bad it would be if Pat Robbertson got into power. We get this melody to end with, featuring Old Rugged Cross and the old Zappa stalwart, Louie Louie, before the Broadway style ending before the intermission (or changing of sides...). This track is Frank at his most preachey, however he is a beast and hits the nail on the head with every point mentioned. While musically, it lacks the complex hooks of other tracks, it maintains a great sound throughout and manages to tackle a disturbing subject matter with his usual lack of subtlety yet holds on throughout.

Zappa was well known for being at the cutting edge of current affairs, and able to always bring it into his music, though for some reason, Side 2 is the first appearance of a longstanding track, Dikie's Such An Asshole(sincerely Dick, we mean it), a live favourite since the early seventies! Not that it's a bad track by any means. We get some talking to start it off, and an explination of confinement loaf. Dickie's such an Asshole is not a bad song by any means, and features some of the complex runs and musical motiffs found in Zappa's earlier work, but adapted to suit the newer (much larger) band. Anyways it's about Richard Nixon (Tricky Dicky) and his rather controversial use of the FBI and related organisations. Just y'know, it's kinda at odds with the other material since it is not that contemporary(despite the appearance of confinement loaf), and so feels more dated. The guitar solo however is as razor sharp as usual, Zappa showing how to really let loose without being a technical virtuoso. The next track is When The Lie's So Big, another preachy track, yet one that I think really works despite being utterly eighties. Willis' soulful again really plays to the epic grand scope of the song/subject. Critiquing the Republican's and in particular, Pat Robertson, using the impressive brass section to really punctuate the points. This track covers America's transformation into a theocracy and the lies targeted towards the population. It also covers a few different musical ideas using them effectively as the lyrics dictate. Good track.

The preaching continues with Rhymin' Man, using an ol' southern musical twang to describe the Republicans, and the lies and scheming of the conservatives. Total conspiracy fun, whilst ending every point with different musical licks and ideas, allowing the fun of the music to come to the fore, and again show the absurdity of the situation. A nice quotation of The Knack's My Sharona helps keep a sense of rhythm and beat to propel the track towards the conclusion. The next track, Promiscuous describes the Republican's rather unintelligent view of sexuality and STI's such as AIDs, however it's done rather embarassly in this really naff rapping, which clearly lacks the energy of the masters such as NWA and Public Enemy. The idea of a CIA created illness to cull the African population however is thouroughly terrifying and would sound absurd if not backed up by official documents. The album ends with a cover of The Untouchables theme, with added lyrics about, you guessed it, Republicans. In particular their corruption and strange ways of doing things. Again it's one of the weaker tracks on the album but ends it with a listing of the exceptional band members.

It's a good album, about half the length of the CD release (which is a whole different beast and a dense package of so many musical ideas). Many people dislike Frank's late eighties work, but I think it works so well as a resurgence of his political venom which helped make him such a historic figure during the sixties. It's not a MUST HAVE, and by no means his best work, but difinately it's good and solid and has an actual purpose/meaning. A document of it's time for sure.

Twisted Sister - I Am(I'm Me)

Twisted Sister... well known for prettymuch being the extreme arse-end of eighties heavy metal, with drag makeup so thick that even KISS would think twice. It was a deliberate image, to seperate themselves from the prettyboy feel of Motley Crue and Poison, though musically they remain forever locked in the halls of eighties genericness. Though I Wanna Rock, is actually alright.

The A Side, I Am Me(I'm Me) opens up with typical power chord and throbbing rhythm, getting more heavier at the chorus, but it's ultimately weak and un-threatening. Like an old style Andrew WK but without his ironic party themes. there's something soft and Brian Adams-y about the music on this. The solo continues with a very out of tune play on the melody but doesn't help the track at all, Twisted Sister are terrible. When you make Slade seem as threatening of Judas Priest, you know you've messed up.

Talking about the Priest, this single's B-Side, Sin After Sin, takes it's title from their third album (and easily one of the best metal albums ever released), Sin After Sin. Just here we lack the class of Let Us Pray or the sheer anger of Dissident Aggression, it's a live heavy track, and yeah it is heavier than the A Side, but is still ultimately cheesy as camembert. Faux-thrash metal mixed in with eighties arena rock to produce just a very VERY FUCKING ANNOYING track, like, imagine The Damned trying to play Led Zepplin. It's that bad.

Ultimately, Twisted Sister are best forgotten, a guff of anal vapour on the stairway of musical history. It's not a good single, not by a long shot.

Michael Jackson - Black or White

The crowned prince of pop, Michael Jackson has had... let's just say... a little bit of a successful pop career. He's become one of the most famous figures in the world, and his face is perhaps the most easily unidentifiable (for many obvious reasons). Tracks such as Billie Jean, Beat It, Thriller... the list is endless even when we don't include his hits in the fantastic Jackson 5!) In the years before his death, Jackson was plagued with allegations that he was a card carrying member of the Gary Glitter fan club, but this blog is not here to discuss somebody's perverse sex life, it's here to talk about the hypocrisy of releasing a song stating 'It Doesnt' matter if you're black or white' whilst selecting your own skin colour from a Dulux paint chart.
Ok, ok, It's not! I'll just talk about the song. Happy now? Got it.

Side A is Black Or White, starting with some sound effects before locking into the Prince-like groove, a funky beat and Michael comes in singing. It repeats itself, like, it's quite a boring song to be honest. The groove is not enough to carry itself over constant repetitions like a P-Funk groove. We get a bit of a harder electric section and rap by Bill Bottrell, but it's all superficial, and just feels like jumping on the trend. This really is a sign of the times, where jacko had become a parody of himself, and this song really doesn't hold well when compared to tracks like Beat It or Thriller.

Side B is an instrumental version, and to be honest, it just really emphasises how musically boring this track is, and without a proper solid groove, it's even hard to dance to. Nothing more to say really.

This is Michael Jackson trying to take Prince on, but without the intelligence or carisma of the man's music. It comes out as shallow, superficial and just extremely boring. Jacko had achieved such great heights in the eighties, but after you reach the mountain's peak, the only way is down, and Jacko seemed to have banged on a couple of rocks on his way down(musically speaking... though it would explain away his need for surgery!) I would say it's one of Michael's worst songs... but then I remember The Earth Song, and (shudder) Scream, and I think again.

That's Jazz!

Miles Davis, one of the biggest inspirations in my life!

So, yesterday, I was browsing through the music stand at my local Tuesday market, I had already picked up four LPs and just as I was about to pay, I noticed one more box to flick through. The owner (who looked like a combination of Seasick Steve and Worzel Gummage) of the stand said to me in an almost dismissive tone 'That's Jazz!', as if a mid-twenty-something guy wouldn't know what Jazz is. The way he said it was like, it's a forbidden secret, something alchemical, and supernatural. Something you have to know about to like...

Which is pretty absurd, I got into Jazz without knowing anything about it. I didn't know who the stars are, I couldn't tell (or even know of) the difference between Bebop and Cool. Obviously though, as time went on, and my interest in Jazz grew, I've become reasonably knowledgeable about it. I can't list exactly who played in Charlie Parker's band in 1945 for sure, but that isn't that relevant to enjoying the music.

However, what is true is that there is a sense of alchemy to Jazz, in how it draws such base elements together, and creates gold from air. Jazz is dangerous, especially as it became more about personal interpretation, experience and improvisation, 'the moment', it became a right dark world. By the fifties, drugs and Prostitutes were used as payment more than cash, many legends had already set their life on a final crash course, and many would die young. However from this darkness comes the ultimate expression, the way out, the now institutionalised view of the Jazz performer, being at one on the stage, the music is the escape and the raison d'être. Billy Holiday dealt with much trouble in her life, yet propelled the art of singing into such alien territory, the voice as sheer emotion. Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Chet Baker and so many more were either briefly or long-lasting drug addicts, yet took music beyond what could be expected. Miles Davis himself was a one-man revolution!

Sun Ra took Jazz to the reaches of space,
and he never came back down.

While Jazz did become infiltrated by the commercial sector, and even men like Miles Davis would produce sub-par albums for the cash (these would flitter around during the fifties, but by the sixties and seventies, he was the living embodiment of artistic integrity), many leading figures would still create such earth-shattering works of spirituality. Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz was a quest for a new music, looking back into the history of 'black music' whilst surging forwards with such energy that those who didn't follow through were often left drifting in the cold dark space of irrelevance. Through it, he managed to perfectly secure the sound of the times, the anarchy and chaos of America's racial situation, and the search for a new 'Black Identity'. John Coltrane took his art to further heights, the saxophone becoming almost a direct connection to the spiritual world, the world of pure feeling and emotion, free of earthly baggage. An idea which was surpassed only by Sun Ra, the all loving angel from the planet Saturn, one of the original Moog players, and a conduit to true cosmic energy. His band, the 'Arkestra' were themselves used as a great big instrument by Sun Ra, whose out of this world Jazz would eventually influence the emergence of psychedelic rock.

There is a wide dismissal of Jazz particularly amongst the white middle class (who may perhaps have a Wynton Marsalis or Kenny G CD because it makes them feel oh so cultured because they like 'jazz' with a lowercase j), many comedians will make jokes about Jazz and it's experimental nature, as if it's an embarassing footnote in the history of music. Ultimately though, this comes from the reactionary attitudes of the white elite during the height of the American civil rights movement. The more violent and oppressive the elite got, the more expressive and experimental Jazz got, the darker, edgier and  painful the situation, the harsher, more aggresive, experimental Jazz got, to express these feelings. Unfortunately, the cultural baggage was put down and has stayed there. You just know that whenever somebody uses the phrase 'experimental jazz', they haven't listened to any of it.

Billie Holiday, singing with a voice
straight from the heart

Ultimately, my love of Jazz is prettymuch infinite, and I feel like it's one of the 21st century's greatest mistakes that Jazz is being left as this mouldy old music from the past, to be viewed like Bach and Vivaldi. Jazz is true music from the soul, it's influence is around everywhere, and it's feelings of individuality and expression are far more relevent now in our world of corporate and commercial mundanity. In a world where people think that tweeting about their breakfast is the height of individual expression, we need Jazz more than ever. It's powerful stuff, it's beautiful and ugly, dangerous yet loving, free yet oppressive, personal yet impossibly cosmic. Young people should not be discouraged from listening to Jazz, it should be encouraged, and hopefully it can earn it's place as the most pure form of expression around.