Here I’m essentially going to write little takes on records/artists that matter to me and why. I feel like I’ve gone through a kind of strange progression as a musician. Maybe all musicians have but I’ve been told, and sometimes I really think, that the genres which are all equally important to me are not genres considered to go well together or even kind of associated with one another. Taste is obviously bound to change over time but sometimes I look at where I started compared to where I am and it’s like “seriously”. How did I connect the dots to get from there to here. So this section will be to look at different records that I have found undeniably influential in my life whether I still listen to them or not. Then I hope to maybe be able to figure out how I can listen both to Converge and Duke Ellington in the same day with the same love. So yeah here are some of my “reflections” ha.
CHARLIE PARKER OMNIBOOK
In all honesty my love for the omni book tunes started as a sight reading project. I wanted to practice sight reading on harder tunes and saw Donna lee in a real book. I looked at it and was like that looks hard I guess I’ll try it. At first I remember thinking “seriously this is a head not a solo”. Then probably two weeks later when I could actually consistently play through the whole thing I remember being stoked I could get through yet still being a bit like “is this seriously a head?”. Then a week later I could really hear it and I found a video of Joe Pass and NHOP playing it and yeah it’s awesome. From then on I started seeking out more Parker tunes which led me to the omni book and the recordings it was based off of. I”m still working through the tunes and applying the lines to improvisation but more importantly I just love the tunes. Bebop is sick and this is some of bebop at it’s best.
FUGAZI IN ON THE KILL TAKER
Fugazi was and is the most important band to me in so many ways. Probably 14 or 15 years old, when I first heard them, while riding in the back of my brothers jeep on the way to a skatepark. They where the first band that, for lack of a better word, “challenged” me. Most music is really simply put “weak”. Most the stuff on the radio, to me at least, is for the most part “weak”. The Bands that are winning Grammys for the most part…. kinda “weak”. The rockstars who’s names we all know…maybe I’m a snob for saying it but again to me “weak”. It’s interesting but true that the most successful musicians I know are either mediocre musicians who know how to get weak songs produced and sold or amazing musicians who will openly admit that what they are writing/making money off of is really just weak tunes that gives them means to work on what they prefer. I’m not really trying to say that mainstream music and it’s listeners are bad. I’m just saying that in my humble opinion that the best and most artistically relevant bands/musicians in the world will not be heard on the radio. Fugazi is a prime example of this.
Fugazi was the band that really pulled me into the “underground” sound. I was into ska and some punk stuff up till then but nothing with quite the artisitic integrity and intelligence of this band. Lyrically Fugazi is smart, antagonistic, inspiring, depressing, maybe sometimes a bit vague but to me genius. I remember tryin to memorize their lyrics away from the songs cause they’re amazing, worth knowing, and can stand alone as poetry. Then musically it’s the same deal. They weave perfectly aggressive guitar parts and groovy bass lines that never cease to surprise you. A lot of music you know where it’s going to but not these guys. They always manage to surprise me whether with dynamics or intelligent chord movements. Also, this is the first band I heard work dissonance as though it was just a beautiful normal sound as perfect as traditional harmony.
In on the kill taker I find as my fave because of the dynamics of the whole record. It takes you through so many different feels. From chill to intellectual to pissed to strangely romantic. I love it cause you’ll be in the record at a point where it’s quietly winding down and your heads kind of wondering about and on the edge of giving up on even paying attention to the song when suddenly WHAM the volume picks up and you’re in this fantastic full volume distorted mess of a punk song. I remember on a family vacation I had to stop listening to this record cause my sister in law was getting mad that she couldn’t fall asleep. A tune would start winding down letting her zone into sleep then it’d pick up full force waking her up time and again driving her nuts (sorry).
Fugazi not only influenced me to start thinking out of the box musically but to live life out of the box. They inspired me to think harder for myself and to question what I was told as well as to express that which I needed to express with no remorse. Fugazi influenced me to not only be an artist but to be a well rounded original artist and human being unafraid of pushing the envelope or stepping out of the norm. I don’t know that I would’ve kept pursuing music without the influence of this band. They’re completely responsible for making me interested in more underground “strange” unheard of music. They opened to me the reality that real truths must be seeked out and that we really do need to check all our basic assumptions in life. Things in this world are not always what the nightly news says nor is it necessarily what our parents/pastors/teachers said. Truths must be found for ourselves and it will be a hard journey to find them. They’re what put in me the ability to be open to anything new no matter how frightening or weird or uncomfortable or different things might be. Still to this day I’ll quote lyrics from their song Promises to keep myself motivated and trusting in my decisions. Props to Fugazi.
The cure consistently has gone back and forth between dark artsy records and more popish/not necessarily happy but definitely brighter records. This is one album that just nails both those sounds point on. You have the bright almost cheesy but still kinda dark weird all around awesome songs like love cats and hot hot hot. Then you got the just over the top artsy weird awesome tune 1000 cockatoos. It’s all genius and obvious to have branched from the same creative force yet still finding these songs on the same record!!… It’s mind boggling. This record is an example of perfect out of the box genius song writing. It’s a record with songs that can hold up on mainstream radio as well as in the underground scene. It’s such a rare thing. The album is fun strange artsy dark bright creepy goofy all rolled up in one. It’s the first record I would consistently go out of my way to hear and for that I owe so much thanks to my brothers. While most kids my age first cd was new kids on the block mine was the cure kiss me kiss me kiss me (well that and rapping rabbit but whatever).
The cure is probably the most important initial influence for me musically. My brothers loved the group and I wanted to be cool like them so I went the extra mile to know all the cure songs as well as the smiths and morrisey. This got me genuinely interested in legitimately good music at a very young age. I feel it is what gave me the ultimate advantage when I started playing guitar and trying to write as a teenager. Having really good creative influences like this allowed me to write tunes more mature then my age allowing me to play with older musicians and ultimately feeding the idea that hey I’m talented and should just play music all the time.
I love every cure album up through bloodflowers. After bloodflowers it just hasn’t been working for me which is a huge letdown. They picked up a new producer for the last few albums and I think he ruined them.
REFUSED SHAPE OF PUNK TO COME
This to me is the all time quintessential hardcore record. If you consider the years it and the record before it was released you will realize this band had a sound way ahead of its time and it was a fantastic sound. To me the truest form of punk/hardcore music is an aggressive sound and political/philosophical idea put together in the most creative/artistic way possible. It’s about pushing musical boundaries and out of the box ideas. Refused is that combination pulled off perfectly. I can’t say I necessarily agree with their political ideas but I am more then happy to listen to them cause the musical package they wrapped their ideas up in is perfect. Throughout the record they throw bits of jazz, electronica, classical, and even spoken word in. Most the time when a band tries to throw random bits like that it’s kind of an ear candy thing which doesn’t make much sense whether it’s cool or not but on this record it somehow fits so perfect and does make sense. A great example is The Deadly Rythm starting off with the old jazz recording. The beat is perfectly absorbed into and almost translated as a new take on the old jazz standard. Then Tannhäuser/Derivé starting off with beautiful violins and cello again to be transformed into this punchy electric guitar anthem and mission statement for the band. It’s simply perfect.
The records title states “the shape of punk to come”. The amazing thing is that the record not only lives up to the title but raises the bar forever as to what is hardcore.
At like 20, 21, I started finding an interest in jazz. I had been through a couple jazz classes and was blown away by the theory of it and blown away by the musicianship which was involved in it. I kept bumming jazz records from my roomate and would listen but was struggling in really falling in love with the stuff. It was weird cause I would listen to it and want to understand and be blown away by the tunes and musicians. I wanted to be in their heads and able to play the tunes but I would keep losing interest in records before they finished and it would drive me crazy. I wanted that same excitement that punk records would give me but was really just not yet capable to understand the statements yet. The weird thing is I knew that excitement was in there. I’d get tastes of it every now and then but couldn’t consistently hear it. Jazz is overwhelming. In one jazz song you get the equivalent, if not more then, a whole pop album. It takes work to grasp it all. It is here though. Four and more is the first record where I really started to hear and understand all the statements. I started hearing the changes, the reharmomizations, the lines and phrases. Most importantly I started hearing the individual artists and their approaches. I started feeling that adrenaline in each song and really understanding why these people are special and why this music is beyond special. Jazz is simply one of the most important art forms in the world. That statement may sound like an opinion but I really do think every music listener should take that statement to heart as a fact. This record was the start of me understanding this.
RUSSIAN CIRCLES
Russian circles is a band that I often find myself really jealous of. If I could just pull a freaky Friday experience and wake up as mike Sullivan one day I would stoked to live out my days taking over that roll writing and touring with this band. When I first heard enter I heard the songs that at that time I was trying to write it was inspiring, amazing, awesome, and a bit infuriating. I had been doing an instrumental thing in LA that was kind of based around the same idea. Taking textures of rock,metal,and indie rock and creating something unique, aggressive,and beautiful. They did it so well. It was amazing. Watching these guys live is one of my favorite shows. I’ll usually get right there by the guitarist so I can watch what he does with his pedals. It’s like watching an artist do a sketch in the moment. You watch him click each effect in one by one then tweak his pedals to the perfect point for the desired dynamic effect. I love bands like this. They’re people that truly deserve the title artist. They create truly original things. Amazing group to always keep an eye out for. All their records are great. Geneva I’m not over the top in love with like the first 2 but it’s great and I’m stoked to see what they follow it up with.
LETTUCE LIVE IN TOKYO
Heres another record that changed the game for me. I can’t remember where we were going but I first heard this record driving somewhere around L.A. with my buddy and phenomenal guitarist Semmi Moulay. We where headed east on I-10 with almost 2 hours to kill (man I can remember all that but can’t remember where exactly we were going to…hmmm) and Semmi popped in this record. At that time I was all about rock stuff. Underground punk and hardcore is what I lived for and Steve Vai tunes where what I was studying/listening to for better chops and technique. I just remember sitting in that car not saying a word and just being blown away. Semmi, up to that point, had been tossing different funky jazz influenced records my way and I knew there was something there that I wanted to be interested in but hearing this record that night is when I really started seeking out and needing more of the jazz funk/fusion sound.
So the album is just nasty funky. All the songs have very hip heads that will stick in your head for years to come and then when they go into solos all the artists shine and prove that they are the real deal. It’s all in the pocket/ hip lines that make you want to go get the James brown discography on vinyl and lock yourself in a room with a record player and disco ball. Being completely necessary and expected in this genre. The rhythm section is HOT! Adam Deitch on drums and Eric Coomes on bass come together and put you in a rhythmic bliss almost exclusive to this record and band. You will bob your head and beat your foot on the floor period. If you don’t know much about groove and rhythm then this record will teach you. This is funky. Hear it.
Their other two records are solid as well. Outta Here is basically this record except the studio version. It’s still worth checking out because it definitely has it’s own unique flavor with different solos and some different takes of the tunes. Plus John Scofield is on it doing some really cool stuff as well. Their newest release RAGE I highly recommend too. It’s a more mature record. Still very tight and great heads. Actually probably a tighter record as far as the bands pocket goes. Still, live in Tokyo comes out as my fave for them. I think it’s more aggressive. I tend to prefer live stuff too. It’s all great though. You need to check out this band out.
GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR
This group in my opinion is a band everyone should try to experience. Get one of there records (vinyl preferred ha….but seriously vinyl for these guys that darker/more rounded analog sound adds so much) and spin it when you’re in that kinda tired but to awake to sleep state of being. Maybe drink some coffee to make sure you won’t fall asleep and just lay there and listen. It’s like the ultimate musical texture experience. I often find myself stoked over groups with great dynamics and this is another band which I would consider prime example. You’ll go from a whisper to a full volume thing with cellos and violins screaming along with distorted guitars. It really is an experience listening to this band.
As a musician the group was very helpful in helping me find peace and interest with through composition. One song will be 15 20, sometimes 30 or more, minutes and rarely repeat itself. It’ll just take an idea, build on it, then find a new idea. The tunes are very much in a state of constant change. Here I also started finding an appreciation and love for found sound. The effect of throwing in random recorded clips from random places is used here to create a darker, creepy, big, inspiring sound.
All their records are just amazing to me. The word epic comes to mind when i think of them. That’s really the effect they have. Listen to them while driving and suddenly you’ll feel like you’re driving to some very important event where important decisions must be made. Listen to them while walking city streets and you’ll fell like you’re a ghost floating through the streets realizing the beauty of the most simple and basic things. Every song of theirs manages to put me into a state of reflection. It’s perfection. It’s music that can really get into your head and inspire feelings and thoughts and ideas. True art.
There really is not a specific album of theirs that I’m talking about here. They’re all phenomenal. It is definitely a more dark toned music. I hate to say that they’re depressing because the music really doesn’t have to be depressing. That said though I’ve shown it to people and heard them say it sounds depressing. So yeah, maybe first impression will portray that. They definitely play dark gloomy sounds and if you’re more of a pop feel good music person this band will intimidate you a bit at first. Still though you should listen these guys. They are underground legends for a reason. With time I’ve found this band to be inspiring and, again that word, epic. These tunes may start off gloomy and dark but all the songs go through dynamic explosions which are nothing short of inspiring and awesome. If I was ever to put a soundtrack to an experience of resurrection this band would surely be where the tunes came from.
WAYNE KRANTZ GREENWICH MEAN
> Krantzs’ album Greenwich mean I really do hold responsible for putting jazz in my head. It was a combination of this record and the band lettuce, but here I’m talking about Krantz. This album is sick. There’s no getting around it. The textures happening in this record are unreal. The record in true Krantz and jazz fashion is mostly improvisation. Listening to this album was where I first genuinely found that incredible realization, amazement and ultimately fear that people can come together with nothing more than a short head (melody) and some changes (chords) and create on the spot some of the most in pocket, intricate, and really just rad music. There is so much stuff happening in each tune that it’s impossible to ever get bored with it. Not only musically but dynamically any time you think you got the band figured out they either throw you into some funky groove with pocket most can only dream of or some floating moogerfooger textured ambience that simply takes you to a better place.
> It’s not right to talk about krantz without mentioning his rhythm section. They’re so tight. Keith Carlock on drums. Tim Lefebvre on bass. This trio comes together and creates something genuinely original. This is a modal, textural, funky to the bones, ambient, tasty sound that I’ve never heard or seen anyone else do better. It’s jazz/fusion yet not. It’s experimental rock/funk yet not. It’s a genius rhythm section working with a genius writer/improviser. It’s Wayne Krantz.
His 2 earlier records don’t get me completely stoked. They’re records I should spend more time with before saying too much about though. I just haven’t really listened to them hard. After first listenings I just never went back to them. His newest record unfortunately I wasn’t to happy with either. But everything else? Phenomenal. Long to be loose, Basic live, basic live 06. It’s all so good. Greenwich mean was the first Krantz record I ever heard and as such has to be the one highlighted in the review. Everyone should check it out. Just play it in your car a couple weeks. Even if at first you’re not into it keep listening. It should get you stoked for music. It’s the sound that took my hand, walked me into the world of jazz, and completely overwhelmed me with the realization of what legit musicians can and will do. Crazy.
CONVERGE NO HEROES
Converge is a band that’s been in my listening rotation since my latter teen years. I’ve always found them interesting because they are so raw, brutal, and really just straight up nasty yet somehow they still come across as genuine art. I find their sound unique and interesting even now after years of studying music and having my ear opened to more intricate genres.
Alot of the punk, hardcore, and metal stuff I listened to as a kid hasn’t held up over the years for me. It used to be that hard screaming sound was unsettling yet familiar and as such I found an interest to understand the emotion it came from. It was new and cool then, but now after maturing in that sound and being exposed to other genres/sounds alot of those old heavy band tunes feel like ego boost/ un-thought out anger. Not that it’s not good just that it’s not interesting to me anymore. I find myself viewing a lot of it as play it loud, upset for the pointless sake of upsetting, shock-rock entertainment. Which again definitely has its place and I loved that stuff awhile back but it just doesn’t catch my ear as often anymore.
Converge though they always catch my ear and probably always will. They somehow pull off that raw, unsettling, angry sound/feeling and scape it out in an undeniably artistic way. They paint a picture of pain, strength, prevalence, sorrow, hate, confusion, and frustration. They do all of this so raw and messy that no one will notice it unless they really pay attention. That is the biggest beauty of converge. They’re like one of those old 3D images that at first look like an odd static mess but then as you look at it suddenly the Mona Lisa pops out. It’s true. Even I’m guilty of it. The first time I heard this band I just heard the rough static vocals, the messy guitar tones and the busy drumming and it was beyond me. After a few more listens though the genius of Kurt Ballou pops out as does the drummers abilities. Those two guys alone create rhythms and phrases that are truly original to the scene and make a sound that could inspire someone to stand up and run across the world for musics sake (whatever that means). Then you throw in the scratchy vocals on top. It’s the perfect addition. They paint a rugged landscape of trying times and yet the constant hope and strength to stand tall and fight despite it. Bannons lyrics are nothing to amazingly fascinating or original and yet they don’t have to be his delivery alone makes more of a statement then any poetry ever could. The vocals scratch through the rythm section like beat poetry. It’s awesome. It’s awful. It’s perfect. The sound paints emotions and pictures that few other genres could probably really pull off. They prove to me that hardcore, metal, whatever you may want to call heavier music is important. I picked the record No Heroes simply cause this is the record that made them an official top group for me. Jane Doe is amazing. You fail me is amazing. The records before that are pretty close to amazing but this is the record where it was like yep these guys are special to me.
SMASHING PUMPKINS MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS
Tonight tonight was the first radio single that caught my ear and led me to buy an album with my own money. I loved that song. I still love that song. It’s too good. It and the kinda weird yet super cool music video MTV played over and over again. Yep, it was awesome and I had to have it. At that time making money wasn’t the easiest thing considering I was like 12. I decided I wanted to buy the cd but since it was a double cd it was like $25. Brutal. That was just too much so I kept trying to talk myself into just letting it go. Until I heard zero and bullet with butterfly wings. I painted the garage and mowed like 10 yards. That was he first cd I bought and probably the best $25 I ever spent. I wore that record out and became a “pumpkin head”. Within a few months I had all their records knew all the words. I had their ep box set and was even able to draw their sweet heart/sp logo.
So yeah the records pretty good. To me it’s really everything great about 90s music. It has that garage rock sound the angry rock metal sound and even the quiet artsy indie rock sound all in one record. It really does sum up everything great about 90s alternative/rock music. It’s great.
I love all the records before it as well. Especially Siamese dreams. The albums after mellon collie I was never blown away by. Ava adore had some good singles. The ep box set before Ava adore is really solid. I’m not sure what happened but somehow they’re songwriting just kinda dropped in quality after they hit big. I guess that happens often though unfortunatly. I still keep an open ear for Billy Corgan though. It’s another band that had a huge hand in my “musical development”.
ENABLERS END NOTE
I love this album. When I first found it I was so stoked I kept walking around my apartment with joy. Probably a year before I had this cool idea of doing like an Indie rock sound with spoken word on top of it. It seemed like a potentially “coolest idea ever”. Being in school and such I never managed time to realize the idea (excuses excuses) but hearing this made me wish so much that I had.
It’s all so perfect on this album. Every song has a story or point which is lyrically and musically laid out perfect. Each song just feels important and so serious. An enabler is described as a spirit or idea which whispers into your mind inspirations for good or bad. This band perfectly fits the name it decided for itself. Enablers end note is a record everyone should check out. Their other two records are solid but still can’t touch end note. End note is special.
NORMA JEAN BLESS THE MARTYR AND KISS THE CHILD
Nasty nasty nasty brutal. That’s what was running through my head the first time I heard this record. I literally laughed from awe when I heard the first track. Listening to the singer yell “roses roses” again and again over the punch in the face guitars and drums just pounding with no apologies whatsoever. It was a new level of heavy and it was done so well. The whole record continues on this path again and again hitting you with breakdowns that really bring the idea of breakdown to a whole new level. Although now this type of sound is overdone over and over again in the new so called “hardcore” scene it is never done as tastefully and effectively as done by this record. This is another record that pushed my musical taste and at first gave me that uncomfortable feeling of “do I really like this?…is there something there?..” that genre pushing music often does. This cd is very responsible for keeping me in shape too. I’ve probably ran a couple 100 miles with these tunes pounding in my ears, keeping my feet moving underneath me on jogs. I say they simply to demonstrate the kind of adrenaline in this album. The songs are pure energy. Although, in the middle of the record there is one song that tries to be a bit more slow and artsy. I was never a big fan of it but other then that the record is oh so solid.
Another record I like from these guys is oh god the aftermath. It portrays a different band and direction of music in my opinion. Before recording it they had picked up some new members after old members left to start the chariot. Everything after that second album though I do not like at all. Sorry Norma Jean but you guys fail me after that second release. They started picking up more of that mainstream hardcore sound. I just never found anything in that sound which I liked.
Anyways though, this record is amazing. It definitely requires a certain acquired taste for brutal heavy sounds. It’s rad though.
hearing wayne krantz at that little dive in brooklyn might very well have changed my life
This collection is just rad. The descriptions…rad. Not that I’m even familiar with all of these recordings (but some)I’m glad I took the time to read it all. It’s interesting to see what’s happening in others sometimes. I agree with so much that you’ve said here.