Thanks for dropping by this, my next and newest music blog. It is really meant to complement rather than replace my somewhat neglected, but not abandoned, other blog, http://whatmusicareyoulisteningto.blogspot.com/ where, wherever possible, I talked about whatever album was blasting through my speakers at the time.
It was in the process of that musical journey, described throughout that blog, that I began to marvel at the zillions of ways in which music rediscovers and redfines itself - new things being tried in new ways, basically from the day someone, thousands upon thousands of years ago, first banged a couple of sticks together and decided it sounded good.
It's the willingness to test the boundaries, to trip over the margins of the mainstream into uncharted territory, that this blog is all about. I'm keen to talk here about the things I discover, and hear about the things you discover. It's a place to discuss ideas, to put forward whatever your latest theory or observation about music.
Of course, music can be new at any time and in a whole myriad of ways. It's not just about modern experimentalism. The music that Bach wrote in the seventeenth century, when he first showed how harmony and counterpoint work, took as many risks as when some of today's noise extremists, like Japan's Merzbow, smashed all the traditional concepts of what makes music musical.
Some of the newness sticks, and some of it is forgotten. Some of it sounds dated little more than a decade after we were all bamboozled by it, while some of it seems fated to always sound new and radical, to always inhabit music's outback.
These are the things I hope we can discuss on this blog - not just a place for me to ramble on with my own ideas, nor just for me to write about the latest oddity to fill my music collection and bewilder my neighbours and fellow train passengers. Post your own comments whenever you can - whether it's relevant to what I've posted or not - or, if you like, email me with your thoughts and I'll hopefully be able to post them for you.
I'm looking forward to your involvement!
mojo juju and the snake oil merchants..it's fucked eastern euro folk punk blues
ReplyDeleteOh yeah ... I know them well ... I actually saw them live in Melbourne a few months ago, and in fact did a review of their gig for PBS - http://www.pbsfm.org.au/Documents.asp?ID=7357&Title=Mojo+Juju+%2D+Evelyn+Hotel - Fantastic gutsy music.
ReplyDeleteSo I am here in Northern India teaching western music in a boys boarding school. Having been travelling for the past 8months, im not exactly up with the new releases and groups getting out there back home, and for that, i am grateful to Ian and anyone else who contributes to this blog. I have however stumbled accross many lesserknown 'roadsigns', or jems throughout the year.
ReplyDeleteFor those interested in the beautiful melancholy BonIver or Damien Rice 'my girlfriend dumped me and i wanna kill myself' styles, check out a smaller group called 'Marshall and the Atlas' i saw in London. I think much better than the two combined.
While finding alot of awsome music in the bars and on the streets through South America (mostly Columbia and Argentina really), it all just reignighted my love of the legendary 'Gipsy Kings' and their mental guitar epics and latin jams. If you dont have the best of, get it now.
On top of that, discovering the incredible, and very famous 'Manu Chao', who is massive in Argentina, was a blessing. Of Spanish origin, and singing in 6 different languages, this man is unreal. Be cautious as every one of his albums is different, metal, funk, jazz. but his latin stuff is the best. YOUTUBE the two tracks, 'Bienvenida A Tijuana' and the very popular 'King of the Bongo' for a feel for it.
My final say is just an an example of how powerful music can be at transcending race and religion all over the world. My boys perfomed a hindi love song called 'Mora Saiyan Mo Se Bole Na' the other day, it means something like, 'why won’t my lover talk to me?'. It is by a Pakistani band called Fuzon, and many others have covered it. There is a pretty damb shitty relationship between India and Pakistan as most know. But regardless of this, a bunch of teenage boys made the conscious decision to perform this song. No matter how much war or hate or other fucked up shit is happening in the world, and how much people think we are different from one another, Music binds us togther, it is one thing we all have in common, one thing that seems to transcend all the bullshit. Its a great song anyways, check it out if you can.
Sweet blog, will be sure to make some more, shorter, posts.
Giddyup.
Thanks heaps for that, Jimmy. Your story about the Indian kids doing the Pakistani song was just wonderful, and you're absolutely right about the power of music to transcend so many other boundaries and barriers. There have been some great stories like that over the years, and it's probably something worth talking about here on this blog a little bit more sometime soon.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Gipsy Kings, and your command to get their 'Best of', that is an utter impossibility for me. 'Best of' albums always leaving me wondering what the 'worst of' would have sounded like and, before long, I can no longer sleep at nights and start having panic attacks, so I can really only ever bring myself to buy complete original albums - and complete collections of everything, if at all possible. Which is why I still own only the front door handle of my house.
Thanks for posting Jimmy - please, please keep doing so whenever you get the chance. Looking forward to the holiday snaps upon your return!!