On another, not Kim Carnes or Juice Newton like note, this is a pretty sweet day on e-music. The new Interpol, Thermals and Clientele disc all up for grabs.

On the other hand about 2 weeks ago I rather peremptorily purchased for a whopping $5 the new Sufjan Stevens "EP" possibly 10 minutes before it became available on e-music. I know many of you are fans but I haven't heard anyone chiming in on this one. I haven't given it enough listens to comment yet but I completely agree with this review of the closing track:

And all this before we even get to the 17-minute 'Djohariah', a tribute to Sufjan’s oddly-named sister. Hidden in its endless dirge, somewhere, is a song. But listeners must endure no less than ten minutes of truly awful 'challenging' guitar solos before they get there. That a musician capable of such artistry should submit such a risible piece of fret-wank nonsense to tape is a baffling thing indeed.

I suppose my thought process was, 'really, i'm contemplating/actually downloading a kim carnes song? how did i get to this place? what's going on in my life? what meaning does it hold?' but i like what you've laid out as well, bri.

"And she'll tease you...she'll unease you..."

OK Kylie let me make sure I've got this straight. From an existential perspective, would I download BDE if I had one d/l left? To be clear, not a rhetorical question (cause who needs those), and not a practical question (where the answer would clearly be a negatory), but an in-the-big-scheme-of things-ummmm-what-is-the-value-of-pop-music-in-life question?? (I'm thinking big here....)!!!!!!


No.


Not a bad little song though.

Riddle me this fellow metabeaters(beatians?)/emusic enthusiasts: If you only had one download remaining in your monthly allotment, would you d/l this? It's less of a practical and more of an existential question. But it's not rhetorical so pipe in.

No better example of the contrarian hipster impulse I mentioned in Wednesday's comment and link than the top 20 songs of the 90s, as chosen by PF. "'Smells Like Teen Spirit'"? Yeah, that was good and all, but it's no 'Are You that Somebody' by Aliyah or Aphex Twin's 'Windowlicker'".

Also, though we've covered this ground ad naseum, I'm always a sucker for lists like these. This being Pitchfork, there's a painful striving for uberhipness by selecting obscure tracks when a popular and far better song will more than suffice (see: superchunk and stereolab representations) but for the most part, it's just fun to see and hear some of these again.

There's a long convoluted answer to that Brian but the short answer is: I'm awesome.

Even more awesome is this handy compendium of ridiculous rap lyrics..

Kyle, that is an amazing video experience....where do you come up with this stuff?

cooler than the timed artwork that wouldn't open up for mike on his arcade fire download, is this cool video using a song from their latest disc.

Admittedly not music related but surely good news to all here.

Boys, thanks for the thoughts on Roland Kirk. For my two cents he's one of the most interesting jazz musicians in the pantheon, which doesn't necessarily make him the most appealing or the easiest listen. He was inconsistent and mercurial, and at times pushed the boundaries of what most people look for in jazz.

He's known more for his remarkable musicianship than his writing / arranging, but I believe his extraordinary playing hampered his rep as a writer. All of his great records - I would include "The Inflated Tear", "Don't Cry My Beautiful Edith", "I Talk With the Spirits", "Rip Rag and Panic", and "Left and Right" - are filled with Kirk's compositions - nothing in the way of "standards" playing here....and generally speaking, his music plays against the traditional stodginess of jazz (though not as radically as the free movement) to yield an almost uncontainable love of life, soulfulness, and blackness. To my ears he produced some of the best jazz music of the sixties. But if you're concerned that much of the sixties jazz is too cacophonic for your tastes, Kirk has tons of melody, unique and memorable compared to the free and post bop players of that decade.

I would start with The Inflated Tear - "A Handful of Fives" and the title track - and then move onto Rip Rag and Panic's "No Tonic Pres". and I Talk With the Spirits' "Serenade to a Cuckoo" (this is an all-flute record FYI) If those tracks don't do it for you, Rahsaan may not be your guy.

Incidentally Stu, Bright Moments is a great record, but very different from Kirk's sixties music. As you say, it's a seventies groove record, a real artifact from its time. Give some of those great sixties records a chance and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Mike - in terms of David Gray, I have to confess I don't know his music well, and have always avoided him just based on his reputation for blandness. Sounds like there's more to it than I had given him credit for, and I've taken a quick listen to White Ladder in the last couple of days, which has at the very least earned more listens.

So I'll throw it over to one of y'all to suggest another artist - and I would support keeping them on the (relatively) obscure side.

I'm with Stuart on David Gray. The man has no soul. Musically it's fine and he has a decent enough voice but did he check the passion at the door. I own White Ladder and it's a fairly damning indictment that he covers Soft Cell's "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" with less fervour than the original electro-pop classic. I'd put him in the same category as Damien Rice. Eminently forgettable.

As for the obscure?? Roland Kirk I have to say that as much as I want to love this guy I just haven't been able to. There are moments when his records reach the perfect blend of Ornette Coleman / Albert Ayler insanity with the best of the post-bop jazz by Dolphy, Henderson and Shorter.

The problem with Kirk is that these moments are too infrequent. There's just too much interference. It's like cruising the highways of northern ontario in the 1970s while CHUM FM spins side A of the new Flash and the Pan record and with each rise in the road you lose a little bit of the song, driving you mental. He also seems to be trying to cover too much ground, almost like the anti-Weezer, which may in theory be a good thing but can be very trying on the listener.

Some of Kirk's later stuff like "The Inflated Tear" and Stuart's previously mentioned disc, the live "Bright Moments" is especially guilty of this meandering. I'm much more enamoured of some earlier material such as 1961's "Kirk's Work" and "We Free Kings" (a jazz entry point for me), and 1965's "Rip, Rig and Panic". One thing I would never accuse him of though is being sleep-inducing.

Roland Kirk.... I have just one album which is called something like Bright Moments...its a live double album and it ias on vinyl, which means it does not get enough rotation as I cant play it at work or in the car... I bought it only 3 years ago and quite liked its crazy 70's sound which as you know, I really dig baby.... I would say if you are not into that very 70's jazz meets funk soul shit, then pass , because thats it man, groovy stuff - so to speak. I wonder if that technical treatise would be good enough for pitchfork?
David Gray: I loved white ladder and have a few others but I find it a little toooo, I donnknow, sort of not up to repeated listens, for me anyways, I cant really say its too striaght forwards because I love some roots and folk stuff like that but he leaves me a little cold somehow..perhaps its because there is not much range in the 3 albums I have listened too..

On another note, I saw a dinosaur exhibit at the ACC last night, due to ticckets that ended up in my hands unexpectedly....said exhibt-
CSN opening for Tom Petty (which is a statement about our times too)
CSN - Steven Stlls has not much if any voice left wso the harmonies are really onloy Nash and Crosby, but his guitar work id pretty great, he has been worjking that I suspect since his voice is shot..
Nash- Too damned sweet, no edge, his songs date worst of all the members and his live show doesnt help
Crosby' Biggest surprise of the night, he anchored the show, with outstanding singing still and his "Almost cut my haior was the highlight of the night by a country mile... He provided the "one song you hope to hear " that can shine a window into how a band must have sounded in their prime

Tom Petty, Remarkable great show, I guess his being ten years younger then CSN proves significant, Mike campbell and the rest of the heartbreakers in top form as they ran thru a mix of classics with a few off the new album... I still cant figure out how a bar band can keep putting out such good songs for so many decades without doing a new sound....it means he has to keep writing memorable hooks and that cant be easy....

I like the idea - our recent discussion about Arcade Fire was an example of this kind of thing. I think that picking really obscure artists won't work, though. Here's one I'm interested in - David Gray. I think he's written some very nice music with good hooks, interesting arrangements and memorable melodies. I met one of my wife's colleagues the other day who is a massive fan of his and claims that if you get past his best known songs he has a ton of really great and not all that well known music. I think she may be giving him more credit than he is due. Anybody else have any strong opinions?

Kyle, I'm impressed! You know the dude cold.

OK, perhaps he's too underground. Then again, let's wait and see what our slightly more jazzophile friends think about the choice (Stu and Derek for sure, and Adam I know you're out there). I'm not expecting too much from Mike Gaines on this one...but then, hey that's kind of the point. Some bloggers contribute and others listen in. Who knows, next time it could be some (shudder) really important hip hop artist. DJ such and such.

By Rahsaan Roland Kirk I assume you mean the multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute and many other instruments, renowned for his onstage vitality, during which virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting, and the ability to play several instruments simultaneously? I think about him all the time. Mostly when googling and then cutting and pasting from his wiki page.

I kind of like the game but you should pick someone less well known next time.

Here's a new idea for a blog post. A blogger throws out an artist (perhaps more of an underground artist, or one about whom there may not be a popular / consenus view) and the rest of us offer opinions, favourite (or least fav) musical moments, etc.

I has this thought as I was listening to an album by (potentially) one such artist late last night. And the fact that I fell asleep on the couch should not be taken as a judgement against said artist - I just do that all the time.

So I'd like to hear what everything thinks (assuming there is some familiarity) about 60's jazzman.................wait for it......

..............keep waiting.......




......................patience ...................





















Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

Whereas I read the article and just got depressed.

Very funny Kyle, my mirth equally split between the article itself and the reminder that I alone am able to access this very cool site (yay for me).

This will be funny for Brian. For the rest of us, who rely on servers based in Canada, we can't really relate.