Short stuff…

I’m very pleased to have wrapped up the Squarepuser / Artist of the Week project.  It was great to go through all of that stuff, especially the ’97 show from Shinjuku Liquid Lounge.  I’ve never seen that one posted, except for the torrent i got a year or two ago.  The torrent is long gone (off the Dime tracker, anyway) and I’ve never seen the show posted elsewhere.  The best part is that it came with no track listing.  That forced me to listen to these jams over and over again to get the song titles right.  Hopefully this whole exercise will tide me over until August.

The Fretbuzz.net project is coming along nicely.  FBDN himself has proven a capable and attentive webmaster and the resource is really stimulating our collective creative juices.  The best part is that the sight is active, even if not terribly well visited.  We’re not exactly counting hits, but a quick google search this morning revealed that if you just put in the ‘fretbuzz’ we come up tenth – first page, baby!  That’s pretty strong, considering the (most likely) scanty readership.  This means that our updating (sometimes a few times per day!) is paying off.

I recently found an Aimee Mann bootleg from the Bachelor No. 2 / Magnolia era.  It’s a superb recording and there is a sense of commitment and passion in her performance.  So, that will get posted this week, along with my comments on this troubling artist.

The work week ended with an aggrieved father who attempted to strangle his daughters killer during sentencing.  I was waiting for me cases to be called when, on this other case, the Judge consented to hearing from the victim’s family prior to sentencing.  Big mistake.  Now, that’s what I call Courtroom Drama.  Everything was put under control quickly by the highly skilled (and much appreciated) Camden Sheriffs.  Nice work, people.

The next work week begins with the deposition of an officer that killed a 15-year-old boy who allegedly threatened him with a clothes iron.  Cop shot that boy dead.  I’ve go the kid’s mom as a client in a wrongful death / Civil Rights / Excessive Force (yuh think?) case.  So, I’ve got a lot of work to do today to get ready for this clown.  He’ll be well prepared.

Sci-Fi stuff of note includes Ronald D. Moore’s Virtuality which was on Friday night.  I haven’t checked it out yet, but maybe tonight if the work goes well.  I’m excited about sci-fi that is strongly connected to this world and this planet.  It’s a nice break from faraway planets and alien races.  Another project that appears to work along similar lines is Moon, which is getting a UK release next month.  I’m not sure if we’ll be getting this one in the U.S.

And, speaking of movies, we went with my mom to see The Proposal yesterday afternoon.  Betty White was HUGE!

Squarepusher – Artist Of The Week

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Here’s a Squarepusher Top Ten from Hipsterwave.  I’m not sure what the website is all about, but the article/top ten is a good read.

Not to be outdone, I’ve posted Squarepusher’s 2004 performance from BBC radio’s The Breezblock over at Blogerantz – that’s a heavy listen.

And here is all one minutes and twenty-nine seconds of 09 Unreleased from ‘Burning’n Tree’:

[audio:http://mpomy.com/Music/unreleased.mp3]

I’m declaring Squarepusher the ‘Artist of the Week’

Let's fucking 'av it!!

Let's fucking 'av it!!

Which is a problem, because it’s Thursday.  So I’m taking a loose approach to the term ‘week’.  I’ll be focusing some entries here and at Blogerantz on Squarepusher.  I just recently unearthed an old bootleg of his, and I’ll work my up to making that available.  Then I hear that a new record is coming out later this summer.  I’ve obviously got no choice; it must be Squarepusher week.

So, without further delay, this is Planet Gear from last year’s ‘Just a Souvenir’.  Notice the newly discovered punk feel:

[audio:http://mpomy.com/Music/planetgear.mp3]

And from the classic, early era this is Journey to Rheedam (7AM mix) – the drums are being performed live on the synth bass! – it’s triggering the drum sounds.  Insane:

[audio:http://mpomy.com/Music/journey.mp3]

The Whole Freakin’ Story

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The latest Wayne Shorter installment is up over at Blogerantz.  This Artist-of-the-Week stuff is exhausting and it’s taking time away from other writing.  So it will be limited to special occasions when the spirit moves me.

But to properly document my little rants, a certain amount of research is necessary.  Relax, I’m still mostly talking out my ass.  Unlike this guy, who wrote an entire masters thesis on Wayne Shorter – Soundtrack For The Imagination – The Career And Compositions Of Wayne Shorter.  Judson Cole Ritchie, you are a badass, whoever you are! I’m looking forward to pawing my way through all 131 pages!

Wayne’s World

As part of my ongoing celebration of Wayne Shorter’s music this week, here is New York Times review of his 75 birthdy concert at Carnegie Hall.  He was joined by a classical wind section, but reviewer Ben Ratlif gives you a feel for what the extraordinary quartet has done during this amazing 8-year run.

They don’t stop between songs, they keep melodies obscured through harmony that’s constantly flowing, and they allow breathing room for everyone, almost rendering obsolete the old notions of jazz architecture — solos, backgrounds, vamps, bridges and so on. Why would you want anything to get in the way of that?

Read the whole article here.

Wayne Shorter – Atlantis (1985)

The first outrageously long Wayne Shorter mediation is posted over at Blogerantz.  It occurs to me that one week is not nearly enough time to say everything I want to about this guy, but here’s a start.

I think I’m just going to focus on that troubling, yet fascinating, period of solo albums from the end of Weather Report (mid-80’s), leading up to the re-emergence of Wayne as an acoustic jazz icon (c. 2002).  The post is about all kinds of Wayne-related shit, but the album that gets the rumination started is 1985’s Atlantis.

Mpomy/Blogerantz Artist Of The Week – Wayne Shorter

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It’s a little hard to understand the gravity of this man’s achievment.  He is, without a doubt, one of the most outstanding American composers ever.  He’s up there with Zappa.  He’s that big, but simply doesn’t get the credit, most likely because he has always taken things, especially with his solo albums, in his own direction.  But, besides being singularly unique and enormously influential, he has also managed to create the most delicate, complex and achingly beautiful music I have ever heard.

I am going to try and start something new with Wayne – an ‘artist of the week’ feature.  So I’ll try to share some of my general thoughts and observations on this sight and I’ll post some music over at Blogerantz, and, hopefully, there will be conceptual continuity and rejoicing.

More to come…