Set and Forget 001
We're going to do something new here.
I regularly get inquiries about what I'm listening to, what I'm reading, and what's on my mind. The goal with this series is to highlight the cream and share it publicly as a monthly digest where anyone can observe what I’m up to or use it to spark some inspiration.
This will encapsulate music (of course), reading material, perhaps some film, events, and observations about new and old art.
Is this a blog? No, but perhaps someday.
I'll be creating a new entry each month and updating incrementally. So check back often and see what’s up.
TLDR;
Music:
S!RENE - Yelema Rhythm
Meridian Brothers - Mi Latinoamérica Sufre
Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan - La Bikina
Swamp Dogg - Answer Me, My Love
Kamasi Washington - Get Lit
Reading:
You Don't Know How Bad Most Things Are, Nor Precisely How They're Bad
Talks:
An Informance with John Zorn, 2007
Bryan Cantrill - Fork Yeah! The Rise and Development of Illumos
Music
S!RENE - Yelema Rhythm
I’ve been turned onto amapiano for the last few weeks. It’s spacious, groovy, understated, deep, and expansive. Really fun stuff and I can’t wait to give it a try.
My barber is always bumping this stuff when I visit, which makes tough to sit still when it’s playing. Frankly, it’s a liability cutting hair and playing this stuff at the same time.
Meridian Brothers - Mi Latinoamérica Sufre
This album’s been on repeat since I discovered it last month. There's something wonderful and wonky about this band.
I immediately get the sense that this record sounds just as strange to native listeners as it does to foreign ones. They really seem to have their own singular musical language going on here, and it's delightful.
Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan - La Bikina
I'm such a sucker for mariachi. The rhythms are lively, the arrangements are lush, and there's always a great song at the core of it all. I love the way Mexican song can balance melancholy with an exuberance that defies you not to be uplifted. Mexico's composers don't get enough credit in my circles and we're suffering from their absence.
I'm sure everyone and their mothers back in Mexico knows this song, but it finally landed for me and I've been making up for lost time. I must’ve listened to 20 different recordings of this song (call that a vertical tasting) and each one was a pleasure to discover. Which just goes to show: When you’ve got a great song, you can twist it every which way and it’ll still be a great song.
Swamp Dogg - Answer Me, My Love
I've been listening to this record since it was released, but it's come back into my life recently and I've got to share it.
Let's start by acknowledging the beautiful original from Nat King Cole, Rauch, and Winkler at the center of this record. Meanwhile this new version by Swamp Dogg is something else entirely.
Not since Charles Ives and Scott Walker have I heard an arrangement that's so split-brained. It really feels like the tender version of this song is under threat of being invaded by it's stormier counterpart at any moment. You can't miss it. The conflict is up-front and delights me to no end. I'm here for this.
Also, where in Hell did this album come from? Swamp Dogg released this in 2018 at the age of 76. That's one hell of a move. If that doesn't give us all hope for some late-in-life creative renaissance then I don't know what would. I love to see it.
Kamasi Washington - Get Lit
I’m not always into Kamasi, but when he’s good… damn he’s good. I had to post the video for this one because it’s too gorgeous to go unmentioned.
The amount of swagger on display here is undeniable. What a lineup.
Reading
You Don't Know How Bad Most Things Are, Nor Precisely How They're Bad
Ostensibly this essay is about how we all lack fine discernment about most things outside of our own narrow specialties. It's also a nice peek into the art of piano tuning *and* - ultimately - a reminder that this high level of discernment is at risk of dying out if we don't take steps to actively preserve and pass it on.
For me it’s a reminder about just how capable some people are at perceiving highly refined nuance and detail (like hearing deeply into records, evaluating people's needs, or pinpointing issues). I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing some extremely talented people up close. People with a level of discernment that’s hard to grasp.
All in all it's compact, insightful, and clearly written.
Talks
An Informance with John Zorn (2007)
If you haven’t already been introduced to John Zorn, the man is a volcano of musical creativity. He’s immensely prolific, with a work ethic and level of output that rivals Prince. But unlike His Royal Badness, John operates in a dozen different musical modes: free improvisation, klezmer, interpreting the catalog of film composers, jazz, hardcore, classical, vocal music, collage, and his game pieces. I could continue.
His ongoing Masada series alone consists of two 300+ song songbooks written in Zorn’s style of new Jewish music. It was enough material for him to commission two dozen bands to each record full albums of his material and still not repeat any songs.
He has so much music that last year the Big Ears Festival in Tennessee dedicated an entire stage at the festival to bands performing his catalog for four days straight.
He’s been single-handedly breathing life into the New York avant-garde music scene for the last fifty years at a breathtaking clip.
He is a leader, a community builder, and a bonafide musical genius. His Tzadik label is a force for good in the scene. He’s published an ongoing series of 10+ books giving fringe musicians the space to share their unique practices in depth.
He is a breed of wild composer who simply does not exist elsewhere in our day and age. He is singular.
So, why this talk?
Firstly, it’s a portrait of a well-integrated person. Someone whose purpose, talents, and passions are in perfect alignment with one another. He’s been on a course of self-realization for decades now and that’s a beautiful thing to witness.
Second, his insights and approach are really something else. Given the length of time that he’s been composing and cultivating a roster of collaborators, there are some real gems that are practical for any working artist. Simply put, it’s inspiring.
The highlight for me, is at 57:45 when he begins to describe exploring music that is not strictly limited to sound. To him the music is in the arrangement and manipulation of any medium: be it film, images, or his Theater of Musical Optics; a series of private performances in which he arranges and rearranges a table full of small objects. Music can be derived from anything that is imbued with intent and attention.
It’s him articulating something that I’ve felt faintly for a long time. That music isn’t about the medium so much as it is the arrangement and the patterns.
It’s a radical viewpoint and not something that I suspect is relatable to many people, but it’s the conclusion of someone who’s been so far on the edge of what’s possible and for so long that he’s come back with some insights for us to chew on.
So can music exist without sound? As Zorn jokes, it’s all very Jewish. All questions and no answers. But it’s something that I’ll be digesting for a long time.
Bryan Cantrill - Fork Yeah! The Rise and Development of Illumos
Shoutout to Shane Baker for reminding me of this talk the other night.
I’m posting this talk strictly for Bryan Cantrill’s hilarious run of commentary from 33:35 - 39:50 in which he tells the story of being acquired by Oracle in 2009 and his realization that Larry Ellison and co are strictly money making automatons, which leads to the now famous line “Don’t anthropomorphize the lawnmower.”
