Paying Homage

Picked up this beauty because of the album cover really, as they don't come more flamenco than this one. I was of course already familiar with the great Enrique Morente (1942-2010), a singer known both for his interpretations of flamenco puro as for his wild experimentalism. Did you know the maestro from Granada once played the fusion thang with Sonic Youth? But here he digs way into the past, paying homage to Don Antonio Chacon, one of the ancient godfathers of the genre. On guitar: the always passionate Pepe Habichuela.

Enrique Morente - Era Una Madruga
Enrique Morente - No Me Habias De Conocer

Witch Flew By

"I was looking out the window and a witch flew by, whipping her broom and she said you're gonna die..." Just got the sad news that influential modern artist Mike Kelley has passed away. He was 57, and was found dead at home yesterday, an apparent suicide caused by depression. Music fans will mainly know Kelley through his artwork for Sonic Youth's fine Dirty album, but he was also a founding member of Detroit cult artpunkband Destroy All Monsters. For further reading: a full obit from the LA Times.

Destroy All Monsters - You're Gonna Die

Sonic Youth - Youth Against Fascism

Black Flag - Depression (live)

Cool Hunter

"I´m a cool hunter making you my way, like a brand name you´ll replay..." Just found out that William Gibson´s got a new novel out. Ordered it right away, as I´ve been digging his revolutionary cyberpunk stuff ever since picking up ´that big sign down the road where it all started´: Neuromancer. Wonder if Kim and Thurston have read Zero History yet...

Sonic Youth - Pattern Recognition MP3

Sonic Youth - The Sprawl MP3

Clockwork Orange Grab Bag

Greetings music lovers... With the European Championships in Switzerland and Austria getting closer and closer, football fever is slowly but surely taking over at For The Sake Of The Song HQ. We´re quite busy joining pools, debating favorite teams, rating players and ironing old team jerseys. It´s gonna be a great event whoever wins, but I for one hope the Dutch team will perform like a clockwork orange for once. But hey, Holland is in a ´group of death´ with Italy, France and Romania, so it´s going to be real tough...

While the pressure builds, let´s hear it for some cool tunes. What have we got in store for you this Grab Bag Friday night? Let´s see. There´s Bonnie Prince Billy going all exotic on us for starters. Then we´ve got a New York noise department with Sonic Youth and James White & The Blacks. We´re presenting a new trio you just have to hear from Amsterdam, Holland, and let´s not forget a thirsty Sleepy John Estes singing the blues. "If the river was whiskey..." And last but not least Robert Palmer will take care of some groovin´ blue-eyed soul. Enjoy.

Good news for all you fans of Sonic Youth and other New York noise bands out there. Together with Byron Coley, noise-connaisseur Thurston Moore has just published a book called No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980 (Abrams Books) which looks mighty interesting. Illustrated with lots of pictures and with a foreword by no wave legend Lydia Lunch, it chronicles that fruitful period when James White, Richard Hell, Glenn Branca and David Byrne were kings of the scene. Shadow Of A Doubt comes from Sonic Youth´s masterly Evol album (SST ´86).

Sonic Youth - Shadow Of A Doubt MP3

Speaking of James White, let´s get down for a bit with the master of no wave funk. Dig that honking saxophone brothers and sisters! "Once you take out all the garbage that’s in your brain, forget about your future, shatter your frame... Contort yourself!" White recorded this song in a slightly different version with his other group The Contortions, but this here is the original, done under the James White & The Blacks moniker. Find it on the excellent Rough Trade Shops - Post Punk Vol. 1 compilation (Mute ´03).

James White & The Blacks - Contort Yourself MP3

Bluestime! The great Sleepy John Estes recorded this gem way back in 1929. "Now if the river was whiskey, and I was a diving duck, I would dive to the bottom, never would come up." Cheers John. Estes came from a large family in western Tennessee and subsequently didn´t receive much schooling - he once joked that he spent 12 years in school, all in the first grade - and was a farmer first and a musician second, but his talent was nothing short of amazing. Believe me, no blues collection is complete without his I Ain´t Gonna be Worried No More 1929-1941 (Yazoo).

Sleepy John Estes - Diving Duck Blues MP3

Now this one´s way cool. The Italian collective Numero 6 just released an ep called Quando Arriva La Gente Si Sente Meglio, and you can download it here for free. But wait, the best is yet to come... I haven´t got a clue how they managed to lure the Louisville legend to their lair, but that´s really Bonnie Prince Billy singing on one of their songs, and in Italian at that. Sounds great, ragazzi. Haven´t got a clue what he´s on about, as my Italian is kinda rusty, but I think Da Piccolissimi Pezzi translates as ´the smallest slice´. I can´t imagine this song being about pizza though.

Numero 6 (feat. Bonnie Prince Billy) - Da Piccolissimi Pezzi MP3

Here´s some fresh new talent for you. Boompity (the name comes from a Kurt Vonnegut story) is a trio from Amsterdam that definitely deserves your attention. Just two guitars, a drumkit and a swampy sound that would make Tom Waits more than proud. They have just recorded a great demo and will be playing their first gigs soon. Check their website here to book them for all your birthday parties, weddings or funerals.

Boompity - Elevator Pitch MP3

Let´s call it quits for tonight with some white soul and rhythm & blues. The late Robert Palmer is well-known as a slick blue-eyed soulsinger in a sharp suit who had quite a few hits in the eighties. He wasn´t so slick when he started out though. On his debut album Sneakin´ Sally Through The Alley (Island ´74) he was lucky enough to be backed by members of two of the funkiest bands around at the time, Little Feat and the Meters. Palmer´s vocals are pretty damn sharp on Sailing Shoes (a Feat cover) and the title track (an Allan Toussaint composition) but it´s the band that really grooves here.

Robert Palmer - Sailing Shoes MP3

Robert Palmer - Sneakin´Sally Through The Alley MP3

Sonic acoustic

I have to admit I hesitated quite a while before buying Thurston Moore´s Trees Outside The Academy. I didn´t like his first solo outing Psychic Hearts (´95) much and my fave Sonic Youth albums (Evol and Daydream Nation) weren´t exactly made yesterday. But in the end, the idea of an acoustic Thurston Moore proved too interesting to give Trees Inside The Academy - released late last year on his own Ecstatic Peace! label - a miss.

And I´m glad I didn´t, as it´s fun to hear the famed noiseguitar experimentalist mellow out on acoustic guitar. Here Thurston forgets Glenn Branca or Keiji Haino for a moment and moves straight into Bert Jansch or Nick Drake territory. With help from SY drummer Steve Shelley and Samara Lubelski on violin he creates a sparse folky setting on most songs. The duet with Christina Carter (of a band called Charalambides, unknown to me) on Honest James is my current favorite, but Silver>Blue, The Shape Is In a Trance, Never Light and Fri/End are close behind.

The few songs that do try to be more experimental don´t really work: American Coffin for instance is not much more than a great songtitle, and we can do without the artwank of Free Noise Among Friends. Closer Thurston@13 is a soundscape the New Yorker recorded at his mom´s house when he was thirteen years old - funny for one listen only. But as the rest of the material is so surprisingly strong I don´t think anyone will complain. And for those of you who still crave Sonic Youth in full noise mode, I´ve added Death Valley ´69 (from Bad Moon Rising, ´85) and the amazing Expressway To Yr Skull (from Evol, ´86) for your listening pleasure too.

Thurston - Honest James MP3

Thurston - Silver>Blue MP3

Thurston - Fri/End MP3

Sonic Youth - Death Valley ´69 MP3

Sonic Youth - Expressway To Yr Skull MP3

Seven!

Just a quick post tonight as it´s my daughter´s seventh birthday tomorrow and we still have to inflate tons of balloons, get streamers and decorations up, bake the cake and finetune the party. As my daughter´s name just happens to be Joni, tonight´s theme is easy though.

Let´s start with Sonic Youth and Hey Joni, from their classic Daydream Nation (´88). Guitars all over the place. "Tune out the past and just say yes." Lee Ranaldo once remarked the song "was some wry take on Hendrix´s Hey Joe, but I was definitely listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell at the time." For some reason Neil Young never recorded Sweet Joni, an obvious tribute to fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell. He played it live only once, in Bakersfield on March 11 1973. We can only hope a decent soundboard recording of this gem will show up on his Archives Collection sometime. And speaking of Joni Mitchell, here she is herself singing Coyote (from Hejira, ´76). Competition is tough, but this one would definitely make my personal Joni Mitchell top ten.

It may be just a little far-fetched to put up a song by The Birthday Party in this context, but what the heck. Big Jesus Trashcan comes from the Junkyard album (´82), so way before Nick Cave started to sport that silly moustache. Tracy Pew´s bass is amazing. Last up is Dutch pride Bettie Serveert with the classic Kid´s Alright from their debut Palomine (´92). Because she is. Happy birthday kiddo!

Sonic Youth - Hey Joni MP3

Neil Young - Sweet Joni (live 11-3-´73 Bakersfield) MP3

Joni Mitchell - Coyote MP3

The Birthday Party - Big Jesus Trashcan MP3

Bettie Serveert - Kid´s Allright MP3

33 1/3

Now I don´t know about you, but I always like to read about my favorite albums. And that´s exactly where the 33 1/3 series comes in. A few years ago Continuum Books started to publish these small, handsome books about classic albums, and until now they´ve released the staggering amount of 55 different tomes. No mean feat. I haven´t collected all of them yet, but I guess I´ll end up buying the lot (ok, except for the Abba, Celine Dion and Guns & Roses ones). Which probably means the publisher and I have slightly different opinions on the definition of what makes a classic album, but I´ve got a hunch these titles ultimately just shift more units than Beefheart´s Trout Mask Replica or Throbbing Gristle´s 20 Funk Jazz Greats.

From the ones I´ve read, most are illuminating, in-depth studies with loads of background info that can even make you listen to a long loved album in a different way. I can particularly recommend the books on Court And Spark (Joni Mitchell), Daydream Nation (Sonic Youth), Endtroducing..... (DJ Shadow), In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (Neutral Milk Hotel), Exile On Main St. (Rolling Stones, written by Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom fame btw), Forever Changes (Love) and Double Nickels On The Dime (Minutemen). Only Sign ´O´ The Times (Prince) proved dissapointingly shallow, so avoid that one. London Calling (The Clash) and Horses (Patti Smith) are in the works, while the next installment in the series will be Mountain Goats´ mastermind John Darnielle dissecting none other than Master Of Reality by Black Sabbath.

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea MP3

Rolling Stones - Hillside Blues (Exile On Main St. outtake) MP3

DJ Shadow - What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4) MP3

Joni Mitchell - Free Man In Paris MP3

Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot MP3

Minutemen - History Lesson - Part II MP3

Love - A House Is Not A Motel MP3