Musical Ramblings

HSC09 #5: Lavach'

There comes a time in any music festival when you need a break from all the good music. Sometimes you time that break on the basis of the program, choosing to skip a particular concert, and sometimes, it just falls on you that you need the break no matter what. Unfortunately for Lavach', this break time feel for me at the beginning of their set.

I love music influences by Eastern European tradition, and so I should have been the perfect customer for Lavach's brand of Armenian Folk meets rock. The line-up was interesting, with a violin, trombone (doubling on electric guitar on some numbers), drums, harmonica and a surprising (and effective) female singer/accordion player.

So I can't quite explain why it didn't work for me. There was nothing that I found objectively wrong with Lavach's music. I felt that the first few numbers were a little lacking in energy, so used am I to listening to the dynamitic AKB, and from then on I was lost. I ended listening with a distant ear while sipping bears and chatting with various festival goers.

Still, I decided to shoot a video so that you can make your own mind:

HSC09 #4: Gutpuppet

Where is the fine line between entertainment and uncompromising artistic endeavour? This eternal question is probably here to stay, but this year the Harmonica sur Cher organisers certainly demonstrated that they would not shy away from difficult music in programming Gutpuppet. Gutpuppet is a lap steel guitar(s) and chromatic harmonica duet formed of Scot Ray on guitars and Bill Barrett on harmonica. If you read this blog regularly, you will no doubt have heard me talk about them as they are one of my favourite bands right now and one of the concerts I was most eager to attend this year.

Bill and Scot are about as unencumbered by ego as it gets, and they came up on stage very humble, even a little too quiet I felt (the language barrier when playing to a French audience can be intimidating, especially since Bill's brand of humour isn't exactly first degree...) Still, the music is what you're really here for, and Bill and Scot certainly delivered on that count.

The thing that makes Gutpuppet potentially "difficult" is that their music is built on non-western foundations to a sometimes extreme degree, especially when it comes to structure. I was talking to Scot after the gig and he told me that more or less no matter what the flavour of the music (gospel, greek, indian, american jazz, etc.), the structure was raga inspired, with a long and swirling introduction that led into the theme and then interweaving of theme references and improvisation. This makes it hard for ears and brains trained to hear the underlying structure and the melody from the first bar to connect.

And indeed, talking to the audience after the concert, Gutpuppet seemed to have evenly split the public between people who absolutely loved it and people who didn't get it at all and thought it was all "chaos", or, more bluntly, "n'importe quoi". Interestingly the people who did get it all mentioned the colour, the texture, the atmosphere of the music, and indeed I think that's where Gutpuppet really excelled: in setting up different moods. In many ways, this is ambiant music, something to be experienced, not analysed, and if you don't get hooked early on then you'll be left by the wayside.

Highlights of the evening for me were their rendition of Medio de Nada, a spanish flavoured tune, a new Gospel-y composition with Bill on Harmonetta, and both of their solo spots. Bill's was mostly (if not all) written, a complex piece full of tongue blocked diads and triads. Scot's was a dreamy slidy thing, very atmospheric.

I personally loved this concert, and was even more thrilled that my guitar beginner eight year old son also loved it despite the potentially difficult nature of the music (but I think he just experienced it without any thought for analysis, although he was looking at Scot's playing intently). This was my first opportunity to see Gutpuppet live and although I did think that Bill and Scot should have tried to connect with the audience more despite the language barrier, especially during the long intervals where Scot was retuning his 22 string indian guitar, the music was just what I'd expected and more.

We had long talks with Bill and Scot that evening after the gig and at the jam, and one thing Bill said struck me. i can't remember if he was quoting someone or not, but essentially what he said was:

"When I'm told we do musician's music, I ask if people would tell a chef that he does chef's cooking..."

On this philosophical note, you will find my (not very exciting) photos here and below is a video of Medio de Nada:

Hot albums to buy...

A short break from my Harmonica Sur Cher write-ups. Yesterday I received an email from a musically (and harmonically) inclined friend that read:

<< I'm looking for some recommendations for some hot albums to buy. It seems like an age since I bought a decent, let alone classic album.>>

Needless to say I was very flattered that he would turn to me, and my ego being what it is, I drafted a long response with numerous comments, links to videos or reviews, etc. This morning, I suddenly realised that I could share that with my readers too. If you have been reading Musical Ramblings faithfully, most of these might be familiar to you, but I think there's a certain value in it being all gathered in one place.

So here goes:

I'm gonna go on a limb here and assume that you know Son of Dave. If you don't, this should give you a good feel for it, and I recommend both 02 and 03.

I have very eclectic tastes, so I'll try to qualify the stuff that really moved me recently so that you can sense whether it fits your paradigm or not.

I've been on a Blue Note kick. I remember you mentioning that you discovered a lot of the old jazz cats when you were a young 'un, so none of this might be new to you, but the one guy who I really dig and is a recent discovery for me is Leo Parker, a baritone player who cut two records for Blue Note and then had the stupid idea to die. His album Let Me Tell You 'bout It has really been a major discovery for me (and I'm now exploring more bari players as a consequence). There's a review I wrote here. Apart from that, Blue Note must-have records for me include Lee Morgan's Sidewinder and Art Blakey's Moanin' at the very least.

Two other jazz cats of the same era (but not on Blue Note) who I really find interesting are Mingus and Kirk. For Mingus, I would absolutely and unreservedly recommend Blues & Roots. If you don't know it, go for it, you can't but love it (and there's great bari there too!) It's harder to pick a favourite for Roland Kirk, and his stuff is way weirder. This video is a good sample of what I love about him (and features great bari, again!). If I had to pick a favourite I'd say Volunteered Slavery which has some studio and some much wilder live stuff (you can see me doing the title track theme on harp here). You might however want to check out the Live in Copenhagen (aka Kirk in Copenhagen) which has a surprise appearance by none other than SBW2!

Let's keep it at that for the old jazz. As far as recent jazz go, I really like saxophonist Skerik and particularly his short lived project Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet. Check out this video for a taste. This a track from their studio album Husky which I really love. Another avant-garde-ish band I really like is jazz trio The Bad Plus. It's not for the faint of heart, but they're truly post rock. Probably the most accessible of their CDs is the latest which features a singer and is mostly covers of rock songs. This is them doing Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb for a taste of their approach. If you think it's a straight cover, you haven't listened long enough. A more "classic" cover of theirs from a previous album is Smell like Teen Spirit. Still, I'd recommend For All I Care as a good start if their weirdness doesn't put you off.

Still in the jazz realm but a lot more accessible, is Avishai Cohen. I really fell for him listening to Continuo and Gently Disturbed. This is a good sample of that era. Lyrical, blending the jazz tradition with classical and oriental influences. On Cohen's recently released Aurora, he sings and the feeling is overall less jazz and more world, but I like it a lot nonetheless.

Finally, I've been digging into the modern New Orleans crowd lately. First of all, you need to check out Stanton Moore. He's the drummer from Galactic (see below) but also has a solo career that's more in the jazz vein. I dearly love his album III (reviewed here) which has some very funky horn laden stuff and some deeper, darker trio stuff with organ and guitar, including a really heart-rending version of When the Levee Breaks. Can't find a decent video of his on Youtube, so you'll have to trust me on that (and you can check the Galactic section below for a feel of his playing).

Enough with jazz. I must confess not to be a big purchaser of blues these days, and I haven't been for a good while. About the only guy that excites me in that area is Ian Siegal, and I don't think I need to introduce you to him ;-) Straying off a little bit from pure blues though is a superb duet called the Wood Brothers which features Chris Wood (of Medeski Martin & Wood fame) on double bass and Oliver Wood on guitar and vocals. Luckiest Man is from their first album Ways not to Lose (reviewed here by yours truly). Lovin' Arms if from their second album Loaded. Both are well worth checking out. Don't get them for the harp playing though.

There's a Franco-American band that's worth checking out in the Americana realm as well. They're called Moriarty and feature great instrumentation and a female vocalist that simply has a voice to die for. Private Lily is an awesome song and incidentally, that's how they play live too (huddled around a microphone). The album is called Gee, but this is a lonesome town (here's my review of a concert) and I found it for a friend in New Zealand so you should be able to find it in Britain!

To end in the blues realm, I hesitate to recommend but will anyway an album by James Blood Ulmer called Birthright, solo on electric guitar. It sounds like John Lee Hooker on acid after taking jazz harmony lessons. This video is kind of representative although the album is a lot more disturbing than this suggests, IMO.

On to rockier shores. On the safe side, you could do worse than check out John Butler, assuming you don't know him. He's like a cross between the rocky side of Ben Harper, the groove of G Love and the laid-backness of Jack Johnson but, in my opinion, superior to all three both musically and artistically. My favourite album of his is Sunrise over Sea (see review) but the latest Grand National (reviewed here) is not half bad either. Here's Zebra from the former and Better Than from the latter.

While not exactly rock, Galactic is New Orleans funk rock and you might particularly appreciate their latest studio album From the corner to the block which has guest rappers on virtually every track. For a feef of their instrumental stuff, this is a cover of Hendrix's Manic Depression shot by yours truly earlier this year, and this is a great video of them with Boots Riley. Here is a review of their latest album.

I don't know how you stand on ethnic/world musics, so I won't go in too much depth on that, but let's just name a few names: check out Amsterdam Klezmer Band if you're into raucous jewish music. Here's Opa D to give you a feel for it. If you dig it, try to find Limonchiki, and failing that, their latest CD Zaraza.

Also check out Lhasa de Sela if you don't know her. Her album Living Road is really good and mixes her Spanish, French and English influences (she sings in all three languages). This video gives you a sense of it (the song in the first half really gives me shivers every time I hear it.) She has a new album out but I haven't heard it yet.

Also in a Spanish vein, another favourite of mine is flamenco-rock band El Bicho, particularly their album II. This is De Rodillas from that album.

I could go on, there's so much stuff I've discovered these last few years, from Camel to Bojan Z, from Tool to Pedro Kouyaté. But there's probably more than enough for now. Guess you got more out of that than you expected!!! And since I spent the last two hours doing this, I want some feedback on what you like and what you don't if you pick something up from that long list!

HSC09 #3: Marko

I've been familiar with Marko's playing for a decade, and although he kind of fell through the cracks for some years, he's been back on the scene, first playing on some tracks with French rock band Café Bertrand and more recently with his own project and album, Mille et Un Réveils. His brand of music has always been heavy rock and the new band is clearly in that vein: Deep Purple is a clear influence, as is the most famous French rock band Noir Désir.

I had never, however, seen him live, so I was quite eager to attend this set, especially since it's not the kind of music that usually gets played in Saint Aigan. In fact, the first few minutes saw about a quarter of the audience (mostly with white hair) leave. The rest, however, really enjoyed the powerful rock sound that Marko and his band (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass and drums) delivered.

I was happy with the band's sound and music overall, and Marko's role as a harp player is really an interesting one. He doesn't solo on all songs, but quite often uses the effect-laden harp as an underpinning to structure lead guitar riffs. When he does solo, it's with a fast and furious phrasing, maybe not terribly inventive but quite efficient. As a side comment, what impressed me was his cool despite repeated sound issues with his amplified harp. He ended up playing some solos in the acoustic microphone, to great effect.

I think the band could do with a little more experience on two counts though: first of all, Marko's lyrics could do with a little more cynicism. As it stands, they're a little too "cute" (to my ears) for the style of music that backs them. Another aspect which was a small dissapointment was that despite evident talent the lead guitarist had very few spots in the light. Maybe that was a conscious decision due to playing at a harmonica festival, but in any case he (and the music) would have deserved a bigger solo contribution.

Still, it was a very cool and very heavy set, of the kind that Saint Aignan had never seen until now. I'll be checking Marko's band again in Paris when the opportunity arises. Meanwhile, you will find the photos I managed to make here and below is a video of Sous L'Manteau:

HSC09 #2: Michel Herblin

After a stormy day of touristy things (if you're ever in that area, check out Chambord, it's simply stunning), I went down with the family to the concert hall in St Aignan for an evening of French harp, starting with probably the most French sounding harp player in France, Michel Herblin.

I have seen Michel three or four times live, and the first thing that really strikes you is his tone. It's not the in-your-face, deep and throaty sound that his often presented as the holy grail of tone in harmonica circles, it's a much more supple, velvety sound that sometimes makes you wonder if you're hearing a harmonica or a cello. Of course, Michel's chops are right up there too, but the combination of his lyrical playing and velvet tone are really something worth experiencing first hand.

On the flip side, Michel's bands are sometimes a little odd, with musicians of varying levels and not always the right frame of mind to address his demanding compositions. That wasn't the case on Thursday evening, although the keyboard player was a little stiff at times. But the rest of the band had just the right groove, between jazz and musette. Accordion player Christian Toucas is really amazing, and of course having French jazz luminary André Ceccarelli on drums is a guarantee of rhythmic flair.

The set was a mix of Michel's old staples (Gadget Boogie, Voice) and more recent compositions (Jacava, Eden Legrand) as well as a few numbers by band members including a wonderful composition by Christian Toucas (see the video below). It was a good balance and really highlighted Michel's romantic streak in just the right way. All in all a very enjoyable concert, probably the most satisfying I've ever seen of Michel.

You can find photos of that concert here, and below is the video of A Vida Da Minha Mae, the aformentioned Christian Toucas composition.

HSC09 #1: Kwak

I've been incommunicado since Wednesday (apart from the occasional tweet, and even that was tough given the patchy mobile coverage in St Aignan...) for a good cause: the 7th edition of the Harmonica Sur Cher festival. I took a metric ton of photos and another half ton of videos which I'll be sharing with you over the next few days.

In addition to the three days of "official" musical goodness this year, the organisers set up a concert where local rock and punk bands opened for French up-and-coming rock band Kwak. It was Kwak's specific request that the bands opening should be amateurs, which I find very cool of them.

Anyway, as soon as I "landed" in St Aignan, I dropped wife and kids at the little country house we'd rented (my wife didn't want to wear out the kids before they'd even got their bearings, so I got to go alone) and headed for the concert hall. Before Kwak's set I got to meet with all the regulars of the festival. But the highlight of the evening was Kwak.

Kwak is a pop rock band on record and a funk-punk rock band on stage. It's the second time I see them and each time I was really astounded at how different they sound live. Guillaume, the bass player, has a huge phat tone and really nails the band's sound. They now work as a quartet (Damien on vocals and harp, Julien on guitar, Guillaume on bass and Xavier on drums) and they're all the tighter for it (although some of the wistfulness contributed by the previous additional guitar player has been lost...)

The thing I love about Kwak gigs is that you don't have time to analyse what they're playing, it's so in your face. The only way to experience it is first degree, primitively. And the audience (mostly constituted of teenagers) certainly did that and more. For the first time in my life I saw a guy jumping up and down like crazy despite a leg cast and crutches!

As usual, it took me a while to find my own bearings as far as shooting photos sans flash goes. You can find the end results here. I'm pretty happy with these piccies.

I shot three videos from the crowd, here's the first. This is a song from their first album called Des Thunes.

Harmonica Delight

I'm just back from Harmonica Sur Cher 2009. What an amazing week-end. 4 days of (mostly) gorgeous weather, stunning music, friendship, quality family time, and superb food. What more can you ask for (except for it to last a little longer...) I have shot tons of videos and taken even more picture, and I will post all of that in the coming weeks.

One of the things I heard several times over the week-end which had a bittersweet effect on me was "I love your podcasts, thanks for doing them." Don't get me wrong, I love being told people love it. The bitter part of it, which was my answer to most of them was "why do you wait to meet me in the flesh to tell me?"

Lately I've grown discouraged with the podcasts, mostly because I rarely if ever get any feedback. I'm a musical proselyte, I can't help wanting to share the music I find cool, but the flip side of that affliction is that you want people to tell you what they think about said music. You might not like it, incidentally, I'm still interested in hearing why. Furthermore, as I discover music associatively, I could really do with some recommendations from you as well. It would give me immense pleasure to get comments or emails saying "Hey Ben, nice podcast, have you heard such and such, they're in the same vein as these guys..."

So please, gimme some feedback on the blog, on the podcast, ideally post comments as they may be beneficial to other readers, but even if you don't, please send an occasional email!

Derek Trucks Band - So Close, So Far Away

This is the first of four videos I did from the DTB concert at the Alhambra in Paris. The sound is very saturated, I'm afraid I was too close to the stage for my zi6 not to saturate with the bass frequencies. Derek's playing is really cool though, so I hope you can bear the non-optimal sound. This is So Close, So Far Away from Joyful Noise.

Podcast Hosting Issues

I've been screwed over by my hosting company (OVH, not to name them...) who encouraged me to change hosting plans just to slap me with excessive bandwidth charges the next day. I am very much p*ssed off about this and have decided not to play into their nasty little game if I can avoid it. Unfortunately, they have retaliated by blocking my hosting. This is why some of you have not been able to access the podcasts in recent days. I don't know how long this will take to be resolved, but at the very latest, all should go back to normal on June 1st. I apologise for the inconvenience...

Gutpuppet & Bill Barrett Tour Details

Just reposting an email that Bill Barrett just sent me. if you have the opportunity to check these guys out, you should not miss it for the world!

Hello There,

My brother Scot Ray & I (Gutpuppet) are heading out for a short tour of France & Belgium.
We're kicking it off at the most awesome Harmonica sur Cher in France. Then we head to Belgium to play three fine clubs 't Ey (Belsele), Crossroads (Antwerp) & 't Smiske (Asse/Brussels.)

If you haven't heard Scot, this is a chance to fix it. He's the master of all things slide.
He lives between the pitches in a place that even the brave blues steel player and sitarist fear to dwell. It's hair raising.

I have a couple of other concerts after that... in Belgium with the truly AMAZING Steven De Bruyn and The Netherlands with harmonica guru Ben Bouman.

If you're able to come to any of these, please come by and share a beer with us.

Gutpuppet
http://www.myspace.com/gutpuppet
Scot Ray (virtuosic soul slide)
& Bill Barrett (Harmonicas)

European Tour
-------------------------------------
Harmonica Sur Cher Festival
Friday, May 22nd, 7p
http://www.harmonicasurcher.com/
St. Aignan, France
--------------------
’t Ey
Sunday, May 24th, 4p
http://www.tey.be/
Koutermolenstraat 6B, Belsele,
Belsele, Belgium
---------------------------------
Crossroads
(with Ludo Beckers)
Thursday, May 28th, 8pm
Antwerp, Belgium
http://www.crossroadscafe.be/
---------------------------------
’t Smiske
Friday, May 29th, 8p
Asse /Brussels, Belgium
8€
www.tsmiske.be
--------------
Bill Barrett (with Ben Bouman)
---------------------------------
De Muse/ Harmonica Instituut
(with Ben Bouman)
Saturday, May 30th, 2-6p & 8pm
Kerkplein 12, MALDEN
Nymegen, Netherlands, 6581 AC
20€
Masterclass 2-6p & perfromance 8pm
www.harmonicainstituut.nl
---------------------
Steven De Bruyn & Bill Barrett
----------------------------------
Ham Sessions @ Michel Mast
Monday, June 1rst, 4p
Ghent, Belgium
http://www.decentrale.be/festival-ham-sessions-_23.aspx