Log #129 - Elaenia Meets A Country Gent In Rothko Chapel

Josh T Pearson The Last Of The Country Gentlemen

Larkin Poe Fall

Edgar Froese Epsilon In Malaysian Pale

Morton Feldman Rothko Chapel

Floating Points Elaenia

Tim Hecker Virgins

Morton Feldman was an American 20th Century composer famous for his very long (some lasting multiple hours) minimalist pieces. Rothko Chapel was written in 1971 for the Rothko Chapel in Houston which houses paintings by Mark Rothko. The composition is a 5 piece suite lasting a relatively modest 25 minutes in total. On this CD it is twinned with Why Patterns? which is a 29 minute single part piece composed in 1978. 

Both pieces are very quiet and very still. In fact some of the most minimal minimalist music I've ever heard. Rothko Chapel is characterised by ghostly choral singing and Why Patterns is a piece scored for flute, glockenspiel, and piano. Closest comparisons that spring to my mind are Ligeti (famous for his 2001: A Space Odyssey film soundtrack - but not the well known riff, that's Richard Strauss) and Takemitsu (although his music is much busier). The stillness separates it from the more frantic and insistent music of fellow New York composers Glass and Reich, and its underlying melodious nature from the avant-garde of Cage. As such Feldman's work is much closer to modern ambient music.

The most interesting aspect for me, composing exclusively with patterns, is that there is not one organizational procedure more advantageous than another, perhaps because no one pattern ever takes precedence over the others. The compositional concentration is solely on which pattern should be reiterated and for how long.

Feldman made an analogy with Middle Eastern rug makers who, to his eye, laid out a set of patterns to be woven concurrently, with no pattern holding precedence over another. They coexist in the final product, running their course on the rug with separate rates of recurrence. 

Like many pieces of minimalist music his compositions make use of phasing where a series of motifs are repeated slightly out of sync. coming together occasionally and particularly at the end. For such experimental and atmospheric music to work it needs the time and space to breath and fulfil. 

I really like the Floating Points album Elaenia. It's instrumental jazz tinged electronica most reminiscent of Cinematic Orchestra, Hidden Orchestra or GoGo Penguin. Believe it or not  the album also takes me back to John Martyn's most electric piano infused album Solid Air. 

Some of the tracks sound like a full on band, they are so well produced, but I understand Floating Points is the stage name of Manchester producer Sam Shepherd. Case in point is the centrepiece of the album Silhouettes which is an impressive electric piano led piece with horns, strings, chant, and deep bass - all underpinned by wonderful funky cymbal laden jazz drumming which flutters incessantly over a ticking metronome and comes to life particularly for the second half. This sounds so good (so live, real and organic) I find it hard to believe it's electronically created by one person.

It's my track of the week (and of course it's not one person!):

The 7 tracks are all different though. Ranging from the jazz fusion of the Silhouettes through ambience to pulsed electronics (Jean Michel Jarre, Luke Vibert or Tangerine Dream). There are lovely dynamics in tone, tempo and volume. Talk Talk's landmark post rock albums Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock have been cited as influences. 

Quick words on the other new (re) entries this week. I've had visitors this weekend so the slots of the magazine have been on a bit of a rotation (in particular slots 1 and 2 which take most the temporary traffic). Some albums came and went (including Rory Gallagher, Morte Macabre, KLF, Band Of Horses, and Father John Misty) but my Sunday snapshot happened upon Josh T Pearson and Larkin Poe.

The songs reach an apparent end and then he goes off on another round as if he's just thought of something else.

The Josh T Pearson album is another marmite record. On the surface you could say Pearson sings interminable introspective personal songs with a slurry spoken Southern drawl and a cheap out of tune acoustic guitar (the album is supplemented with some fiddle backing from Nick Cave collaborator in chief Warren Ellis). You could also say it sounds like he's making them up as he goes along. The sloppy guitar picking and strumming sounds random and void of rhythm. The songs reach an apparent end and then he goes off on another round as if he's just thought of something else. But on a deeper level there is definitely something more. I think it's the authenticity. The rawness and passion trumps the musical limitations. He really feels his music and makes you do too. 

Does this authenticity extend to him believing he's the Second Coming? I'm sure not but nevertheless I expect he did play on this with his image.

Sweetheart I Ain't Your Christ he sings ironically while looking just like Christ:

I ain't your Savior or your Christ
Or your goddamn sacrifice
And when I said I'd give my life
I weren't talking suicide

I saw him live once and his stage personae was also very Christ like with his long hair and beard (now all shorn incidentally), standing stationary, centre stage, in a skinny black suit, lit by a single spot light. He was charismatic and mesmerising, and as I found out at the signing afterwards a really nice bloke too. 

I think the best track on the album is Woman, When I've Raised Hell where his low voice and downward cascading guitar chords come together in a powerful and foreboding song:
 
Woman when I've raised hell, you're gonna know it

There won't be a shadow of doubt in your bright little mind

No pictures left hangin' only lonely unpainted nails

Ah honey you'll connect those dots read the writin' on the wall

In 2010 Americana country rock band Larkin Poe, formed around Atlanta sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell, released four EPs: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter:

They are beautifully packaged in cardboard digi sleeves. The music is pretty good too. It's melodic and relatively heavy with the Lovells excelling on electric and slide guitar. Each record has around half a dozen songs or more and at about 30 mins is pretty much a complete album in its own right.

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Log #75 - Pat Metheny Goes Offramp and Genesis are Reborn With Possibly Their Best Yet

This week we continue our female vocalist focus with albums by Carole King, Marianne Faithfull, Caitlin Canty and Larkin Poe. Pat Metheny swings by with his 1980s jazz fusion group and we finally complete the Genesis mark 1.5 trilogy with possibly their best album of all.

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1. Larkin Poe - Fall

2. Carole King - Tapestry

3. Marianne Faithfull - A Stranger On Earth

4. Caitlin Canty - Reckless Skyline

5. Pat Metheny Group - Offramp

6. Genesis - A Trick of The Tail

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Carole King really owes her entry this week to a BBC4 documentary on Carly Simon's No Secrets album. I haven't got No Secrets (yet) but it reminded me of Tapestry - whether that's the image, the time, the music, or the James Taylor associations I'm not sure.

Carole and Carly with some bloke

Tapestry is another album (like Rumours) I only acquired recently, and, also like Rumours, it contains many songs I was already familiar with - I Feel The Earth Move and You've Got a Friend of course.

To read about the fascinating LA Laurel Canyon music scene (and the bed hopping, most of it by Joni Mitchell) of that time I recommend Barney Hoskyn's excellent Hotel California book. Ed. Can we say that? The bit about Joni Mitchell? Yes it's ok, if we get sued for defamation then this blog is actually reaching an audience, and it's only what Barney said anyway.

Some other musician type in California around that time

I read that the Larkin Poe sisters, actually Rebecca and Megan Lovell (there was once a third, Jessica), are distant descendants of Edgar Allan Poe (an author who wrote brilliant literature with plots). I've seen Larkin Poe live a couple of times - first time was in a small pub in Lewes and they were on the country/americana side (and I came away with this mini-album, signed). The second time they were on a much larger stage at a festival and seemed much more rock but did seem to have lost a bit of soul.

Cute artwork on the 6 track mini album Fall

The Marianne Faithful is a Greatest Hits album. Her classic album as far as I know is Broken English and this selection includes only two tracks from that album. What I remember about that album is the already ravaged voice (it was only 1979) and the Ballad of Lucy Jordan with this vivid call to action:

At the age of thirty-seven she realised she'd never

ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair

... a line I remember my mother in law singing.

The Pat Metheny Group's Offramp album is very nice easy listening modern instrumental electronic guitar led latin jazz fusion. It's from the ECM stable and of it's time (1982) - very keenly produced with that synth/processed guitar as used by Al Di Meola (Log #6) but somehow keeps the right side of Kenny G type supermarket aisle fodder. Metheny's fluid jazz lines remind me of Jerry Garcia.

Pat Metheny (front dark shirt) and his group circa 1982

Metheny and Garcia: similar guitar similar hair

I've completed the Genesis Mark 1.5 three album catalogue with a purchase of Trick of the Tail. I have to say on only the first or second listening I can tell this is going to be pushing for my favourite Genesis album of all (currently The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway).  It's got it all and frankly I'm amazed to be hearing me say that after I first pondered the merits (or otherwise) of post Gabriel Genesis back in log #67. I was clearly making unfounded assumptions without researching the facts. Sorry readers.

The ATOTT cover depicting characters from the 8 songs has been voted best Genesis album cover in some forums

The mix is tremendous (I don't know if this is the result of the remaster - this is the 1994 edition) - clear, sharp and powerful. The bass is really deep, the guitar thick, and Collin's vocals are a revelation. Apparently it was his rendition of Squonk that convinced the rest of the band he could step out from behind the drum kit and into Gabriel's mighty shoes. I wonder what Gabriel must have made of this record when he first heard it. Do you think he was delighted for them, or was there a feeling of regret?

The whole concept of  The Lamb was darker, longer, and it was a real uphill battle to finish. That’s why A Trick of the Tail was easier to make. It was lighter, Phil was singing, and we had a whole new scenario with a breath of fresh air.

Tony Banks

Unlike some of the earlier albums there are no instrumental fillers where a member of this group of egos are granted a solo piece which ill fits the whole concept. For example Hackett's poor Bach imitation Horizons from Foxtrot, Ed. Can you say that a bit quieter? This is perhaps unfair on Hackett, probably the most modest member of the band. As the late joining guitarist it seems that his playing was generally so sidelined by the overwhelming keyboards of the dominant Tony Banks that he was merely and reluctantly granted the odd instrumental instead.

I was getting tired of bringing ideas into the group, which I felt they weren't going to do.

Steve Hackett

Furthermore Banks has been at pains to recall that it was himself who wrote and played the guitar introduction to Supper's Ready suggesting further that Hackett's input was not that crucial. That series of Genesis album reissue interviews on youtube is so revealing. Fans would disagree and many argue the Genesis sound suffered more after the departure of Hackett than it did even with Gabriel.

This sort of behaviour represented the worse excesses of prog rock when it became more important to demonstrate the technical skill of each musician rather than create great music itself. It's almost as if the musicians have to demonstrate that although they are playing rock and pop music they are very serious musicians and were actually originally classically trained. The trouble is the real classical musicians see (or hear) through this. Yes were also most guilty of this where many of their albums have a solo Steve Howe or Rick Wakeman piece shoehorned in amongst the prog epics. More kudos to Robert Fripp (a guitarist to whom Hackett is sometimes compared) - a classical guitarist originally who said that hearing one chord of Jimi Hendrix meant more to him than the entire classical repertoire. He also says Wimborne in Dorset is the centre of the universe.

After you, no your turn, Banks and Hackett battle it out

Anyway, pleasingly it's no such issue on A Trick of the Tail where a balance and equilibrium between the individual musicians and the overall music is achieved throughout the album.

Finally who is Caitlin Canty? No idea but she's got a nice Americana band and holds a decent tune and this record has a nice live band feel. Also described by Rolling Stone as "thoughtfully constructed alt-folk with just the right amount of twang". She's moved to Nashville. You get the picture. And here's a picture of her sitting on the stairs in her new house.

Thoughtful Caitlin Canty playing with just enough twang (James Taylor just off camera)

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