I don’t really have anything clever or interesting to say about this song, other than this: it hits me right in the feels.
Kamasi Washington will detonate modern jazz with The Epic
Who is Kamasi Washington? He’s the guy who made all of the fantastic sax sounds that you loved on both recent (and brilliant) Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar releases. Albums You’re Dead and To Pimp A Butterfly would feel utterly lacking without Washington’s input; his freewheeling tones form the sharp jazz edge cutting through both masterpieces.
This 14 minute tune is but a small piece of the upcoming, appropriately-titled debut album The Epic – it looks to be a sprawling, three hour affair aiming to throw down the gauntlet for modern jazz. In a genre valued for innovation and stratospheric ambition, the traditional live jazz band has been laying in stasis for a couple decades now. Real innovation has come from beyond left field, from electronic artists playing with jazz forms and ideals while never really touching the live band setup. Washington could change that perception.
As Flying Lotus himself put it, “everybody is trying to do the same shit. I don’t want to hear ‘My Favorite Things’ anymore.”
As a hardcore fan of the genre myself, I couldn’t put it any more plainly. This tune, along with a new exclusive song featured on Revive (I hope to have a copy streaming here soon) have jumpstarted my hopes for a new generation of the kind of wildly psychedelic, expansive, weird jazz that sits near and dear to my heart. Fans of later John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and especially Pharoah Sanders are highly encouraged to listen right now.
One last thing: Washington has been featured on this site before, as part of the Miguel Atwood-Ferguson ensemble. The band included Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Rebekah Raff, and Chris “Daddy” Dave, some of the best jazz musicians alive today. Their live take on Drips//Take Notice is one of the greatest live jazz performances recorded in the past few decades, if that’s any indication of this man’s talent.
“I Crave Being Destroyed”
Combing my list of unfinished drafts, I sometimes unearth little gems. This one began as a nod to a certain New Orleans ambient noise band, but quickly veered into a miniature Grand Statement about what I get out of music.
This self portrait is a handy visual metaphor for the words you’re about to read.
I was discussing Belong‘s debut album, October Language. I was living in San Francisco and had picked up the album on CD at Aquarius Records. The following is what I wrote almost exactly 4 years ago. I’m sharing because it still applies to my life.
Green Velvet and Carl Craig – Unity
Detroit techno legend Carl Craig joined forces with Green Velvet to drop a surprise collection of hard-edged tech-house dance tunes last week. As a gigantic fan of Mr. Craig who’s unfamiliar with the latter, I couldn’t have been more curious.
It doesn’t attempt the timeless artistry and elegance of Craig’s best work, instead aiming for something more directly club oriented. Set your frontal lobe on autopilot and let your hair blow back? This unassuming, low-stakes set is built, as far as I’m concerned, for invigorating night drives and house parties.
“From the outer reaches of the galaxy come two captains from two worlds—worlds that hold traditions which shape the branial particles and molecules of the munchkins, who will and have come to dominate the not-so-distant future with multiple galaxies and intercosmic cosmo cities,” states a voiceover intro on the first track. I don’t know what all that galactic imagery is supposed to mean, but this out-of-nowhere collaboration is at least worth a try.
When Flight of the Conchords Met Michel Gondry
This is Carol Brown, an ode to girlfriends from the past. In typical Conchords fashion, it’s a contradictory mixture of romantic bravado, undercutting irony, and incredibly catchy melodies.
I will always hold a special place in my heart for Michel Gondry, the director of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and dozens of the best music videos of all time. His films unfold handcrafted psychedelia like no other visual artist around. From Björk’s first video onward, he cultivated a style that’s equal parts homespun charm and cosmic mind-bender.
I also possess an abiding love for the geeky, short-lived musical comedy Flight Of The Conchords. If you’re not familiar, it’s a show about a pair of broke musicians from New Zealand, proud losers jobs, relationships, and life, busting into incredibly catchy and accomplished song several times an episode. When Gondry directed an episode, pure magic happened.
That’s a building, not a bus!
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar‘s new album, To Pimp A Butterfly, is out by surprise a full week ahead of time. It’s for sale digitally and streaming in full on Spotify. Click play below. Right now.
I’m sick. I woke up today too ill to even go to work. But then this happened. I’m feeling a bit elevated right now.
I don’t have anything too meaningful to say yet. Here’s a couple comments I made with friends during my first and only listen:
- I don’t care about what anyone else has to say on the first day of an album like this, that’s going to have a lot of discussion flying around. I like to hear it “pure” as can be, I suppose. So uh, after 2 tracks I’ll just say that I’m really enjoying this, and the dark swirl of production tics is reminding me of D’Angelo’s latest (Best of 2014 album by the way), in a really positive way. Old and new sounds mixing for something vintage but not dated sounding, maybe?
- Almost at the end. Loving the thick jazz sound. Not quite jazz-hop in that Digable Planets way, it does remind me of their masterpiece Blowout Comb in a very slight way… which is a good thing since that’s a top 10 album of the 90s for me.
There’s no need for a lot of discussion the moment something as important as this hits our collective ears. Just listen and absorb it. We’ll talk later.
Edit:
Second listen observations: thinking that this evokes the warm but gritty production of D’Angelo’s Black Messiah, the sprawling, psychedelic structure of Shabazz Palaces‘ Les Majesty, and the free jazz embrace of Flying Lotus‘ You’re Dead. It’s no coincidence that all of these featured on my Best of 2014 list. I’m linking it again for emphasis – if you like this, there’s a lot of fun music streaming on that page. This album is hitting me with a deep and immediate connection.
Oneohtrix Point Never will release his Magnetic Rose score on Record Store Day
So, this is more of a news item than music that I’m sharing, but I’m too excited to keep it to myself.
Last October, Oneohtrix Point Never (aka Daniel Lopatin) recorded a brand new score for the astonishing 1995 anime film Magnetic Rose, premiering it live along with the film itself at a live event in the UK. I obviously and regrettably did not attend. However, good news is afoot!
Today Lopatin announced that he will be releasing a follow-up to last year’s Commissions I 12″ on Record Store Day, surprisingly titled Commissions II. The new release features selections of his suite inspired by the video game scores of Manabu Namiki, Bullet Hell Abstraction, on side one. The bigger news for this fan, however, is that side two includes music from his re-imagined soundtrack to Koji Morimoto’s aforementioned anime short, which was originally part of the Memories trilogy.
You might recognize Magnetic Rose as the film gracing this very blog’s headliner – that decaying future piano resides at the heart of the mind-bending film. I consider it a sort of psychedelic cousin to the original Alien.
The release is over 30 minutes long and boasts more minimalist cover art from Robert Beatty. Hopefully that blue X is another die-cut detail like part one had!
So, fellow Lopatin fans, keep an eye out on Record Store Day 2015, which hits Saturday, April 18.
Optimistic Underground 