Brian Eno: Small Craft on a Milk Sea

Brian Eno (electronics, manipulations)
Small Craft On A Milk Sea (Warp Records)

Brian Eno, electronic music innovator and influential record producer (U2, Coldplay, Talking Heads, etc), recently resurfaced with a new album of ambient soundscapes entitled Small Craft on a Milk Sea (Warp Records), created in improvised collaboration with relative newcomers Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams.

Eno has described his latest project as a kind of imaginary soundtrack. In fact, some of the tracks date from his work on the soundtrack for Peter Jackson's movie The Lovely Bones, which mostly resorted to recycling older Eno work. Of course, film music isn't a new concept for Eno. He has contributed music for a number of typically small, independent films. Those recordings can be heard on such albums as Apollo (1983) and Music for Films (1978).

So, what can one expect from Small Craft on a Milk Sea? Like most of Eno's ambient instrumental work, it focuses not so much on melody as it does on mood. Instead of obvious "arrangements" one gets intuitive textures. Sometimes the approach is languid and dreamy, and at other times frenetic and aggressive. If it weren't for the aggro tracks (such as "2 Kinds of Anger") you'd think you were listening to outtakes from his ambient masterpiece On Land (1982), in which sounds created by instruments blend seamlessly with environmental recordings.

The general sensation on Small Craft is one of disquieting expectation. Eno has always excelled at creating these kinds of eerie soundscapes with subliminal undercurrents, and his latest offering is fully loaded with foreboding. It isn't exactly a dark album — Eno eschews such obviousness — but the persistent sense of solitude has the potential to spook. At the very least, it's an immersive listening experience.http://brian-eno.net/seven-sessions/

Included below are tracks from the album and a rather hilarious fake interview with Eno conducted by Eno in rock critic drag.

Crimson Jazz Trio

Crimson Jazz Trio (group)
King Crimson Songbook Vol. 2
Ian Wallace (drums)
Tim Landers (bass)
Jody Nardone (piano)

It came as some surprise recently when hip-hop's Kanye West sampled King Crimson's classic jazz-rock jam "21st Century Schzoid Man." It wasn't especially strange that the sound of a vocally distorted Greg Lake worked well within the context of "Power," a somewhat sinister track from Kanye's latest album, but it was unexpected that one of hip-hop's hipper-than-thou artists would even be aware of the progressive rock dinosaurs. Hip-hop and prog rock don't have much in common stylistically, and even within rock circles, Robert Fripp's cult band is considered an acquired taste — you either love Crimson or you hate them.

All of this reminded me of the Crimson Jazz Trio, a group devoted exclusively to rendering trad jazz versions of King Crimson songs. Pianist Jody Nardone, fretless bass guitarist Tim Landers and the drummer Ian Wallace (a Crimson veteran) recorded two albums before Wallace succumbed to cancer in 2007. Nardone also did some singing on CJ3's second album, The King Crimson Songbook, Vol. 2, though its fairly one note in comparison to the piano playing. In addition, Mel Collins, another Crimson vet, can be heard playing soprano and alto saxophone on the album.

CJ3 does jazz justice to Crimson of the '60s ("I Talk to the Wind"), '70s ("Starless"), '80s ("Frame by Frame") and '90s ("One Time"), bringing the melodies to life with an intimate ensemble sensibility and deeply felt improvisation. Even if you aren't a fan of the band's original recordings you're likely to respond well to CJ3.

Farewell To An Inspiration: Peter Christopherson

Throbbing Gristle
Peter Christopherson (electronics and a number of other weird things; pictured far right)
Genesis P. Orridge (voice, electronics)
Chris Carter (electronics)
Cosey Fanni Tutti (electronics, trumpet, voice)

Today as I'm sure some of you may have read, Peter Christopher, a founding member of one the most influential bands of the last 35 years, Throbbing Gristle (along with Cosey Fanni Tutti, Genesis P. Orridge and Chris Carter, passed away. The band reformed twice in the last six years; recently on short world tour last year.

Throbbing Gristle is one of my favourite bands of all time. Christopherson was also a member of two off-shoots of TG after the band's first disbandment in 1981, Coil and Psychic TV (with TG lead singer Genesis P. Orridge). You will probably be able to find a good bit of their history online today I'm sure of it. I'm actually going to keep this short because I can really find all the words.

This is definitely one of those moments where a musician's passing actually hits you hard. Especially when the group has been inside your head for a good portion of your life. I have been fortunate to have seen TG, PTV, Coil and Chris and Cosey, so I can say my life is full.

For those you who may not be familiar with Throbbing Gristle, let me say you have to be of a certain warped mind set to enjoy them. But let me also say, without them you don't get bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Front 242, Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, Test Dept. Liabach and countless others. You might also have not gotten some of the more experimental ideas that have come out of European jazz in the last decade from groups like Supersilent, Humcrush, Nils Petter Molvaer and more. So there is there is reason for both alternative and jazz fans to be saddened today.

Throbbing Gristle utilized electronics and an early 50s art form known as "cut ups" advanced by the great author William Burroughs. This method could be similar to what most kids called "mashups" but it is allot more calculated and takes some real skills, unlike "mashups". What they created was something more visceral, cerebral and spiritual than most bands could even come close to imagining.

Either way, TG represents a very important stamp on the culture of music and in my heart. This more than likely will mean the end of the band completely.I am truly devastated today.

If you've never listened to THROBBING GRISTLE before, you may end up digging them. You might want to start with the compilation Greatest Hits (Mute Records). If you have Throbbing Gristle albums in your collection, please take a spin today and remember one the musicians and bands that truly had a monumental effect on our artistic culture. I promise to do a full scale piece on TG in the coming days. For now...Farewell to our inspiration...

The Underrated: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (sax; b. 1921 - d. 1986)
The Complete Cookbook Sessions
(Originally released on Prestige, 1958; reissued in Europe on Solar Records; 2010)

Shirley Scott (organ)
Jerome Richards (flute, sax)
George Duvivier (bass)
Arthur Edgehill (drums)

Originally issued on Prestige Records as The Cookbook Sessions Vol. I-III, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis so story goes, nicknamed himself after one of his own songs (although he was also called Jaws and sometimes the Fox) is a highly underrated tenor player who recorded some smoldering sides over a ten year span between 1955 and 1965. His style was bold and blazing. Sometimes it felt like a tuba blowing through a bullhorn that's how incendiary his playing was.

Eddie Davis has a number of stellar albums which I highly recommend from the aforementioned period but The Complete Cookbook Sessions (Solar Records) is a nice place to start for the fun, infectious rhythms and superb performances.

The Complete Cookbook Sessions, are three legendary scorchers for fans of Eddie Davis and his quintet which also feature the indomitable, Shirley Scott on organ. Recorded during the summer and winter of '58 these sessions are killer and feature some corny but perfectly performed numbers such as "The Chef," "Simmerin'," "Heat N' Serve," and "The Boilers." But they also include some wonderful standards such as "But Beautiful," and "Willow Weep For Me." The secret weapon on these dates as it was for the entire tenure of this quintet is Shirley Scott. Shirley Scott ability to go from the electrifying opener on Vol.I, "Have Horn, Will Blow" to the gentle balladry tone of "Will Weep For Me" and "Body And Soul" is phenomenal.

The interplay and the effect Scott has on Davis' playing throughout this period is similar to Coltrane and Miles or Lennon and McCartney. They really brought the best out of each in studio and on stage. You can really feel the emotion in the entire band; not matter if its on in a slow romantic blues or boisterous hard bop--this group was tight and immensely entertaining.

The Complete Cookbook Sessions also includes two additional sessions (the albums Jaws and Smokin') recorded in fall between the second and third volumes of Cookbook show how the group took a stranglehold on standards such as "Pennies From Heaven," and "I Never Be The Same." Superb stuff that complements the Cookbook sessions well and is definitely appropriate to compile together.

While for jazz fans I would recommend a different Lockjaw Davis album, Trane Whistle (Prestige; 1960), I would have to say if you are looking for a truly entertaining session that captures the electricity and magnetism of Eddie 'Lockjaw" Davis, The Complete Cookbook Sessions is a great premier. A nice way to discover one of the unheralded tenor players of the late 50s and 60s. A must hear session.

This is a much later video but it does represent Eddie Davis big style nicely I thought.