From Electrelane to Can

My partner gave me a Zune for Christmas. I’d asked for an MP3 player because my job is really dull and this would help get me through it. I’d only wanted a 4 gigabyte device, but I ended up with 30. It took me over a week to get all my CDs loaded onto the computer and still I had over 20 gb left. So I decided to get myself a Zune pass and listen to all the music I’d always wanted to hear but couldn’t afford and wasn’t played on the radio.

So I downloaded a bunch of Lou Reed and Sigur Ros, Television and the Residents, Wire, John Cale, Alien Ant Farm (they sucked), more Brian Eno and Patti Smith’s latest. I also discovered a great band called Ladyhawk that Carrie Brownstein mentioned in Monitor Mix. It’s great having access to all this music, and as long as I pay the monthy fee, I can keep it.

I really don’t buy many CDs these days but last summer I went to my local gay-owned CD store and one of the co-owners, Curtis, mentioned the name Electrelane to me. I’d never heard of them before. But I managed to get a few downloads off the internet, enough to know I liked them, and I went back just before Christmas and bought myself their Axes CD. Perhaps it’s not one of their best, but I do love the third track. Overall, I find the album to be a bit uneven. The jazz influence is a little too strong for my taste, although I do admire the piano player.

But now that I have the Zune pass, I can go in and check out their influences. So I started listening to a bunch of Stereolab. This is band that I’d heard of, but never heard. During the 90’s I was too busy raising children and dealing with a failing marriage to pay much attention to new music. I feel lucky that I was able to find Sleater-Kinney during those days.

But further research revealed a band called Can from the late-60s and 70s. Now where did this come from? I have never heard of Can and neither has my partner. But I already love one of their earliest albums, Soundtracks. I’ve also listened to Tago Mago a few times, and the first half is great but some of the latter pieces are a bit trying. O Peking reminds of the Resident’s song about Westinghouse which really is not very pleasant to listen to. I need to listen to more of their stuff, and it is so exciting to discover this band from so long ago. How could they have been so thoroughly buried? Why are most people content to listen to pop crap? I doubt that these questions can ever be satisfactorily answered.

 

Here Comes My Top Ten

I’ve been listening to Brian Eno’s “Here Come the Warm Jets” lately on my drive to and from work. What a great album! I’m always amazed by the variety of sounds and textures in these ten songs. From the weird buzzing and wild thrumming on “The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch” to the quavering Hawaiianesqe slide guitar on “Some of Them Are Old” or the strident ‘Oh No’s in the background of “Dead Finks Don’t Talk”, it all adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

My favorite song on this CD has always been “On Some Faraway Beach”. The innocuous piano line repeats, a pure and simple melody, as the background builds, the drums becoming more intense, a crescendo of orchestral obbligatos adding depth, building toward a climax that leaves the listener feeling insignificant in a universe that is beyond human comprehension. And then finally the lyrics, which are best not examined too closely, for who among us has ever found the meaning of life in a pop song. Eno, himself, has stated that the lyrics take hardly anytime to write and that he often begins with nonsense syllables.

What makes this music so great is that it is exactly as it should be. There is nothing you could add that would make it better, nor is there anything that needs to be taken away. His later ambient work is, of course, more minimalist and good in its own way, but, while I often find myself in agreement with the philosophy that ‘less is more’, I doubt I will ever like it as much as I like this album.

Realizing for the umpteenth time how much I like this music prompted me to think about my top ten list which heretofore has never existed. Unlike the John Cusack character in the movie “High Fidelitiy”, I am not a list maker by nature nor even, if truth be told, the type to blog. But I’ve decided not to let either of these factors stand in my way.

One problem that has always prevented me from making such a list is the idea of deciding which album deserves the number one spot, so I’ve decided to rank them in chronological order rather than favorites because, after all, different moods deserve different songs. Here it is then:

1. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground (1969)

2. Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets (1973)

3. Patti Smith - Horses (1975)

4. Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express (1977)

5. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (1979)

6. Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville (1993)

7. Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)

8. Elliott Smith - XO (1998 )

9. Stephen Trask - Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

10. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (2005)

A quick glance at this list shows that the musical choices span four decades. A more detailed examination reveals a curious phenomenon: not a single work from the 1980’s has made my top ten. Why is this? you ask. In a word, Reaganomics.

I moved to New York City in 1982 and lived there for four years. In 1986 I moved to San Francisco where I remained for three years. These are inarguably two of America’s best cities. But by the end of the decade I’d had enough. I moved to Taiwan, married a local, had a kid, and really had no intention of ever returning here. An unfortunate series of events brought me back to my home town some thirteen years ago and I don’t know if I’ll ever get to leave again.

I was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer last May and, except for a little pill that I am to take daily for the next 5-10 years, I have finished treatment. Chemo and radiation have turned my mind to sludge. Maybe the fog will lift soon. Maybe the cancer won’t come back. The important thing is I finished my top ten list. I always wondered what it would like.