Best Ever Albums

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 11:49:41 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/20/2014 15:49

*Outro*

Just before I let the floor to Our Esteemed Member Jack, just a closer for the week.

*Apologies*

Due to circumstances I could not master, there was no opportunity for me to keep up with the pace & spirit that was this ULL's at the beginning of the week. I tried to keep contact, but the second half sucked, sorry.

*For whom the bell tolls*

Here's a list of a all the albums I have referred to, and what I have rated them :

Madonna, Like A Prayer, 70/100
Above the Law, Livin' Like Hustlers 85/100
Bad Brains, Rise 20/100
Curtis Mayfield, Love 100/100
ZNR; Barricade 3 90/100
Merzbow, Ecobondage 70/100
Caetano Veloso, Caetano Veloso (1969) 60/100
Migala, Restos de un incendio 70/100
Electric Wizard, Dopethrone 70/100
Thelonious Monk Quartet, Misterioso 90/100
Sleater-Kinney, Dig Me Out 90/100
Sonic Youth, Dirty 90/100
The Velvet Underground, White Light/White Heat 100/100
Vic Chesnutt, At the Cut 80/100
Fennesz, Becs at least 80/100
VCan Morrison, Tupelo Honey 85/1400
Jelly Rool Morton, random comp 70/100
Hank Mobley, Roll Call 80/100
Nits, Giant Normal Dwarf 70/100
Omega Testing, Omega Testing 70/100
Jean Grae, Jeanius 65/100
Optimo, How to Kill the DJ Part Two 40/100
Kevin Gates, The Luca Brasi Story 85/100
Chris Weeks & The Sadmachine Orchestra, Conductor 85/100
Patti Smith, Horses 100/100
Patti Smith, Dream of Life 70/100
Lazy Lester, True Blues 80/100
Mo Kolours, Mo Kolours 90/100 *best new music*
Moodymann, Moodymann 80/100
Dominique A., Vers les lueurs 85/100
Dominique A., La fossette 100/100

*Thankyous and Withoutwhoms*

Emma
Maurice
The Extraordinary '14 Recs Team: lethal, Geevy, DBZ.
The extraordinarily fine people who reacted to this ULL. I didn't think the context was fine for discussing as it was a diary, but I appreciated the input and encouragement. Cheers lethal, drako, sp4cetiger, Hayden. Love ya more, already loved ya, 'nuff said.
Javier
All the people from other sites who gave me some recs
All the fine people where I am today and whom that rescue call was totally unfair to

YOU

KNOW

WHO

YOU ARE

PEACE LOVELY BEA PEOPLE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS LOVE YA

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 02:36:41 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/19/2014 06:36

No music for the last twenty-four hours
Kids howling in the background, either that or the cartoons
Totally broke and stuck at the in-laws
Can't even post a link cause I'm on a fucking cheap tablet

Get me away from here I'm dying is what I wanted to post

Please organise rescue operation

Please

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 04:42:36 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/18/2014 08:42

Friday, April 18th

10:03

And so I've managed to get hold of a connection and a little bit of time to come back to you, my dear ULL .I did listen to some music yesterday, let me tell you about about it.

First, I listened to my mp3 player on the train, on my way down to Niort, a sleepy midwestern town that has recently turned UMP (the predominant right-wing party) after 60 years of so-called socialism. Can't say I noticed the difference, it's as sleepy as ever. Anyway.

My mp3 playlist consists of only albums from 2014, that I generally first listen to while commuting. Commuting takes me some 40 minutes, which wometimes allow me to listen to a full album, most often not so I listen to the end on the way back.

Presently, in my mp3 player, are: AGE, Micah P. Hinson & The Nothing, Asiatisch, Black Mill Tapes, Boneset, Burn Your Fire For No Witness, Drop the Vowels, Electric Balloon, Here and Nowhere Else, I Am the Last of All the Fields..., LA REH 012, Luminous, Mo Kolours, Moodymann, Piano Nights, Pre-Human Ideas, Rave Tapes, Salad Days, Sisyphus, So Much Forever, Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles, Teeth Dreams, Terrestrials, The Future's Void, Tin Wooki, and Truce plus a few leftovers from 2013.

I first listened to

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Mo Kolours by Mo Kolours

and found it excellent. There is almost a post-Blue Lines feel to this urban mix of African rhythms, post-dubsomething, with a clear Jamaican feel sometimes, and sometimes a post-Trickyite atmosphere. Very good indeed. "In Her Eyes" is one of the best songs of the current decade, up there with "Me & the Devil" by Scott-Heron and "Ancestors" by Gonjasufi, two songs that are very close to this in spirit. That's how good this LP is. Top 5 for 2014 so far, maybe higher up as the year unfolds.

Link

I then moved on to

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Moodymann by Moodymann

Beforehand, I knew only of Black Mahogani which I like very much. This is a departure from what I knew and is not as good as Black Mahogani, still, it's a very enjoyable album. First of all, it's hilarious. Lyrics considered as sleazy slogans for maximum efficiency, sometimes to an absurd level, along with beats that are nowhere near as innovative as Mo Kolours', granted, but are still solid fun.

Green Velvet feel to this one :

Link

There was no time for another listen and we alighted at the wanted destination, and in time. The in-laws collected us, and I was left alone with the Spanish brother-in-law I have. First, I ventured to ask what was the music playing in the car, thinking of your information, my dear ULL. I even was bold enough to state the music was plain awful: some sort of synth reggae sung in French, with "concerned" lyrics ("Yes I'm back, beware, life has taught me, at bottom I'm not evil" etc.) about which I simply said the poor fellow needed a lyricist. Of course, that was a cousin of the family who was singing and had burned a CD for family and friends, and I realised I'd better have shut my trap, as always.

Waiting for the wife and kid to come back from the seaside where she had gone to collect him (it's a complicated business, I give up on explaining it), I stood waiting at the in-laws listening tothe man's favourite artist it appears, an Uruguayan singer-songwriter called Jorge Drexler, who sings some sophisticated pop canciones with heartfelt lyrics my in-law said were very much appreciated in some intellectual milieux in Uruguay.

This is when things got really interesting. Not that I liked the music, mind you, it reminded me of a French singer called Julien Baer who plays this sort of bossa-influenced light-headed chanson pop with elaborate lyrics. Not my cuppa. But it initiated a discussion about how voices are differently mixed according to which language is spoken. I had noticed the voice was very forward in this Uruguayan fellow mix, and I wondered whether it was the case in all Spanish-speaking pop, as my theory about these matters was that languages that don't have any word stress (e.g. French) need to mix the voice much more forward if you want the lyrics to be clearly heard, whereas stressed languages (e.g. English and Spanish) didn't need this, as the stressed syllables would necessarily spring out anyway.

Well, he didn't agree with this, told me this was me trying to be a teacher again, etc. True enough tbh. He exemplified this with an extract from

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Vers Les Lueurs by Dominique A

, "Rendez-nous la lumière". Wrong example, said I, for here you can notice the voice is precisely forward in the mix. Whereas on another extract from the same artist, on

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

La Fossette by Dominique A

, "L'un dans l'autre",
the voice is drowned in the other instruments, and as a result, the lyrics are not clear at all because you have no stress to hang on to. btw dope album, check it out. Young Marble Giants/New Order influenced minimal synthpop, masterpiece.

Anyway, he then went on to prove his point by making me listen to a track he was working on on GarageBand, a downtempo tango affair (but not in the style of Gotan Project: much dreamier, with reverb' on the accordion, etc.), he recorded his voice saying "Maintenant" and applied various effects to it, to show me something, but at this stage I was pretty drunk and he was too, and all I could was remark that
1. He should keep the voice sample he had just recorded on his track,
2. He should change the frequency with which he repated that voice sample,
3. He should cut the synth sample at a point when just his voice and the bongos would remain, to put it back later.
He tried all this, it sounded much better, he acknowledged it, I am now credited as co-producer.

hahahahahahahahahaha c you fellas I'm starting a new career

Love

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 05:47:16 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/17/2014 09:47

Thursday, April 17th

11:30

Dear ULL, this might very well be the last entry into you I perform this week. Then again it might not, but I unexpectedly have to go away to check on my little fellow who's been staying with his Grandma by the sea, and apprently she needs us to pick him up while she does an enormous amount of housework, as the house id due for renting as of Saturday.

I'll have Internet access but down there they don't listen to music very much, if I can sneak in one or two remarks about the radio music or whatever I catch on TV I will, I promise. Plus we're taking some CDs and tonight I'll be staying with my brother-in-law, who does his own music and that could be an interesting take on electroflamenco, as he's a flamenco-singing (when he's drunk mostly) Spanish anarchist. and I'll take my mp3 player just in case, as there's one day or two I might be alone in the dark.

Anyway, I still managed to listen to one more record yesterday night, and that was

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Conductor by Chris Weeks & The Sadmachine Orchestra

about whom I know nothing, except it was hailed as one of the records of March on a French indie site I sometimes wander off in. It's a very good drone electronics, both disquieting and soothing, and whose theme is electricity. Fitting. More about it after a few more listens, know that it's very good at first listen.

Waking up today was made all the more pleasant as the first thing we put on the CD player was

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Horses by Patti Smith

out of a 5-cd boxset I purchased at the Mapplethorpe exhibition yesterday, as a gift to my fine lady, who is very much afan and we didn't have the CDs. This way she gets some music from one of her favourite artists and photogrpahs from Mapplethorpe. I'm amazed at my own cleverness. 20 euros well spent, even if yesterday's news was that we were broke again. Oh well, at least we lived the life for three days.

Anyway, dear ULL, you know this album very well already, it's the classic rockest side of NYC punk, it's marvellous, listen to it if you haven't but I know that you have.

My commadre felt she was on a roll and put

Dream Of Life by Patti Smith

on, which I had never listened to. And as the record was finishing, I thought about how fitting it was to finish my writing with this record when I had started with Madonna's '89 output, because I swear to God Patti sounds like Louise on this! Well, not on "People Have the Power" obviously, but listen to it again, close your eyes, don't look at the cover, and imagine Madonna singing this. Yes. Right. Now you've got it. Anyway, good record.

But that perfect ending was not going to happen, and before I leave, I virtually spinned

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

about which I'm not sure it'll make my 67 chart ebcause of the awesomeness of that year, still, it's a very good rawish electric blues record. Side A makes you wonder why they call him lazy, side B answers straight away with the awesome "Lonesome Highway Blues". My guess is Cymro might enjoy this.

C U later, I'll try, I promise.

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Hayden — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 14:44:50 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 04/16/2014 18:44

I'm enjoying reading these Norman 😄 Thanks. There's at least 4 albums I want to listen to from this.

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 14:42:18 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/16/2014 18:42

Wednesday, April 16th

19:52

Wow dear ULL, long time no see! Lots of listening to talk about. There's that one record I want you to know about, dear ULL, I love it but does it love me? Maybe if I write everything I'll know.

Yes, drunk again. Anyway:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Giant Normal Dwarf by The Nits

is what I listened to yesterday night while starting Country Rock by Arnaud Choutet (Le Mot et le Reste, editor). And it was avery painful moment, ULL, when I realised I didn't like it as much as I used to - nowhere nearly actually.
This record is an art-pop affair whose subtlety I still can appreciate and respect, but it has lost most of the straightforward appeal it had for me say, ten years ago. It's very inventive, very delicate and yet all this delicacy amounts to nothing when you realise in the end you didn't raise your head once from what else you were doing while listening to it. Crap. Well, I guess I still have their own Ting (1992) to fall back on, that one is awesome. I won't listen to it again, not soon anyway, for fear the same thing might happen to it that happened to GND. I WANT to love it, dear ULL.

It was time to move and the night was still young. I thought I might then retry

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Omega Testing by Omega Testing

which I had listened to once when Charlie had shared it. I hadn't come back to this since and I didn't remember it. Well, I thought it was good clean fun. After a while, as I listened to one very meta track after another, I thought I maight have the modern Fugs right there in front of me. Bits and pieces of songs and genres, sometimes built up to sound very catchy indeed, but voluntarily ruined at the last moment otherwise it wouldn't be funny. Intriguing, almost childlike, this guy now needs less amateurish sound to work on to let his very sarcastic (or is it me? always the same problem, ULL) postmodern work gain scope. Hi there, Charlie.

I wouldn't say Omega Testing is the type of record you want to play immediately again. It's food for thought for sure, and funny enough, but I wanted something else. Am I not the ficklest human being, dear ULL? huhuhuhu. Anyway. One more Ricard and I'm go.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Jeanius by Jean Grae

First listen. Loads of friends had recommended me this record, and they all felt sure I was going to love it. Well, not really actually. I mean, I surely can appreciate the fluidity of every one of these songs, and it's very well produced, but with very little diversity too. I'll relisten, but it gently started to bore me along the way. I felt I was listening to one very long song that felt too long. Something I don't get here, dear ULL? Dunno.

Today.

I woke up early because I was thrown out of bed because apparently I was snoring too much. After two warnings I got up very pissed, intending to go finish my night on the couch, when I realised it was almost 9 and I wasn't going to be able to sleep any more, I also realised my alleged snoring was actually the noise the building maid was making as she hoovered the outside corridor.

Seeking vengeance, I grabbed the first noisy thing that would come out of that "New Rips" file I have on my comp, it befell Optimo's How to Kill the DJ Part Two to carry out my vendetta. I wasn't going to be the only one to pay. We'd see.
We saw, and I paid. First, remorse made me play the record too low to harm anybody hidden behind a wall, a pillow and two Q-tips. Second, the record is bad. It's a DJ mix of the mashup type that was fashionable way back when (2004 I believe), and while it's something I can really enjoy at times, this one isn't remarkable. The beginning of this 2-discs affair is nice enough, every electronic tune flowing gently into the other, in an electroclash kind of way (some German electronics mixed with postpunk synthpop basically, there's some Depeche Mode and Soft Cell in the mix for instance). Until the mix came to Gang Of Four's "Damaged Goods", played in its entirety and followed up by The Langley School Music Project's rendition of "Good Vibrations", also played in its entirety, and then Junk Yard Band's "The Word", in its etc. All good songs for sure, but I thought, what's the point? Can I please release a DJ mix myself, just aligning random songs I like like that and leaving it for the listener to devine whatever clever greater design there is behind this accumulation? Lazy work, I say.

At this point milady was up and running and drinking all the coffee I'd brewed for myself. I made some more and lost control of both the computer and the playlist. We listened to that comp I'd offered her the day before.

It's interesting. Of course you all music lovers will probs know most of the titles on this, and the chronological arrangement ensures that the first record will contain very little besides North American tracks, the recording capacitiesbeing very rare in Africa in the 20s, or so I imagine. Still, this chrnonological arrangement helps put things into perspective, mostly when some very well-known, seldom-played tunes are put back to back. For instance, the modernity of Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley" followed by Richard Berry's "Louie Louie" struck me as one pure blissful moment when it was abruptly followed by Armstrong's version of "Mack the Knife", absolutely not my cup of reverse minstrel. Anyway, some unknown gems in there for sure too ("No Ceara não Tem Disso Não" by Luiz Gonzaga is a highlight), and some really unnerving songs too of course (whatever version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonite", even the original - dunno if it is - gets played can never please me, and this "Mbube" by a Solomon Linda is no exception). However, any collection comprising E.T. Mensah's "All for You" is an object of value and was made by a man of fine taste.

Link

11 o'clock already! Time for me to go, as I had an appointment for lunch with some of the very finest people on the face of Earth, after which Gargantuan meal (Tartare, the chef's selection of local cheeses, a fine Chinon, coffee, the bill please) we all went together walking through the Jardin des Tuileries, heading for Grand Palais where the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition was. I won't analyse in depth my feelings about this exhibition, because
1. I wouldn't what to say and I am no art critic,
2. It has very little to do with you, dear ULL, although we did get to hear Patti Smith poetize and read extracts of the Bible on a Mapplethorpe video, and there was another extremely cheesy video from 1985 that looked like an artier Robert Palmer video of women very lightly dressed on top a baroque staircase and that was the highlight.
Lots of black dicks involved, too.

One joint and one beer later with one of those finest people I told you about, time to get back home and get some rest. I put this and this is still what I'm listening to right as I write to you, dear ULL.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

The Luca Brasi Story by Kevin Gates

And I find this record remarkable. The first half of the record is simply exceptional, highlights include that "Flex"/"Neon Lights"/"Arms of a Stranger" combo, in a style that I thought was extremely cohesive in spite of the varying producers involved. This has a gritty quality that somehow ends up also feeling dreamy in a way. The second half is less strong, is the record maybe a bit too long? Anyway, this is due for repeated listening in days to come.

I'll now leave you, dear ULL, to go by some beer, and maybe later tonight or tomorrow in the morning I'll explain to you why I must leave you tomorrow, maybe to never come back. Love you. XOXO

Link

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

drakonium — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 04:08:02 GMT

Author: drakonium

Posted: 04/16/2014 08:08

Can I have your life Norman please?

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 16:02:22 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 04/15/2014 20:02

Jelly Roll talks a big game, but I find his stuff to be very hit-or-miss. His collaborations with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings were solid, though.

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 15:15:55 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/15/2014 19:15

20:33

So, I had some more album time before we went to the exhibition. This is what I listened to:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison

This might not be Astral Weeks but it's very good indeed. The country-tinged soul (or soul-tinged country) fits Van's voice remarkably. A few titles may drag on some, but the closer is superb. Anyway, very good album, in my top 5 Morrison releases.

After that, I listened to a Gene Vincent EP that somehow had ended up on my computer. This EP is called Baby Blue, is from 1958, it contains four tracks which are supposed to have been featured on a soundtrack for some movie I don't know about; the first track is a rip-off his own "Be Bop A Lula", which is a good thing and better than the other three. I think you know everything you need to know about this record.

I then moved on to a Jelly Roll Morton compilation that was also on my hard drive for some reason, maybe some sp4cetiger-type "history of music" craving I might have had back in the days? Anyway, it was there, I was here, so on we went. If I were a historian, it would be a very interesting record. I'm not, and so I got bored after a while; well, not exactly bored, but impassible. As those early jazzmen tunes are available only in compilations (unless you're much older than I am), and those compilations are generally comprehensively archival, you get more or less the full package and it's too much for me when I'm only vaguely interested in the genre. I'm not into ragtime much.

Last record I heard was Roll Call (1961) by Hank Mobley. It's a very good hard bop record indeed, but not on par with Mobley's own No Room For Squares (1963), the only other release I know by him. I don't know what it is that sort of held me back for loving this one 100%, probably the choice of tunes, that sounded somewhat ordinary compared to No Rooms... Well, maybe. It's still very good, as it was a first listen, it needs more and they will be a pleasure.

And so we went to that Great Black Music exibition I linked you to earlier in the day. An occasion to listen to music differently? Anyway, I think this belongs in this ULL.

Weeeeeeell, it's partly interesting. The exhibition does put the term "GBM" into context and explains its fabrication, and the first part of the exhibition is good. You first go through a room equipped with screens that rise from the floor. Each screen is broadcasting a short documentary about one of the "lengendary" figures of Black music. Armed with a smartaudioguide that's lent to you, you can listen to the documentaries. Those vary in interest according to your own interest/knowledge in the "legend" portrayed (Aretha, Fela, Coltrane, Miles, Ray Charles, Billie, Belafonte, etc., 20 in all I think). I found two very interesting: one about the Congolese rumba player Franco (check him out! He's awesome), and another about a Cuban singer I didn't know - and whose name I shamefully don't remember right now, it will come back, I'll tell you then. A fun start.

After that, still on the first floor, you get a series of screens on a curved wall, each telling of the history of popular music in various regions of Africa (Northern , Western, Eastern, Central, South). This was the most interesting part for me, as I'm very interested in African musics and know very little about them. There is also an interactive timeline that's pretty convincing and has some more good music to listen to - and I realized I needed to listen to Linton Kwesi Johnson's Bass Culture, as the extract from it was awesome ("Inglan Is A Bitch" it was, sorry English friends).

You then go down to three more showrooms, more screens, more documentaries, each screen documenting one genre (blues, soul, rap, jazz, reggae, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, etc.). This is when things get a bit disappointing. The documentaries are very short, and as digests go they might do their job, but frankly I didn't learn one thing from that floor, and I'm not trying to sound snobbish I swear. I'm just not the target for these very general documentaries.
More rooms allow you to play games such as dancing in front of a camera and comparing the result with what the professional dancer had showed you. Not for me.

So, in short, this is a good, fun-to-experience exhibition with loads of music to listen to, and I'd gladly take a class there - I probably will. But I wouldn't advise it to you all BEA people, as we're all music nerds on there, and don't have much to learn past the first floor.

Anyway, it was time for a glance at what the museum's shop had to offer. I discreetly bought the Frémeaux et Associés (check out that wonderful archival record company!) compilation documenting the exhibition for milady, we both pretended it was a surprise ; she discreetly bought a book about country rock for me, we both pretended it was a surprise ; we bought some cigarettes and smoked them on the way home, walking by the canal, in the cool dusky sun.

I am now going to read this book and listen to some music, and sip some white wine, and smoke some cigarettes, and just be plain happy and relaxed. See you guys, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow.

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Romanelli — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 12:08:31 GMT

Author: Romanelli

Posted: 04/15/2014 16:08

This is really great, Bates! Keep it up!

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 09:45:02 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 04/15/2014 13:45

I love this! 😄

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 05:55:53 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/15/2014 09:55

11:41

Good morning everyone!

I've been up for an hour and a half only, and this has been a grand morning already. The glory that is today includes splendid weather (a little cool maybe, but that soft wind is a delight), a slight drunken haze that never really turned into full-blown hangover (always a relief), good coffee, three or four cigarettes already, and playing the part of a plumber. I love my life.

Which is probably more that can be said for Vic Chesnutt, as

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

At The Cut by Vic Chesnutt

exemplifies. "I am a man, and I am aware of myself". A testament of a record if I ever heard one, and a beautiful one too. That raspy desperate voice is in full control, instrumentation ranges from delicate folky twangs to noisy bursts of heavy sound. Sure it doesn't make for the happiest of moments to share with an old friend like Vic, but then making jokes and laughing the day away was never an option with him - although there is a big part of wry self-deprecating irony in his work. This is a beautiful record, only slightly less so than North Star Deserter, but only just.

And now I am indulging myself to Fennesz's soon-to-be-released (april 28th I believe) new LP, Bécs. It's only a first listen, but I find it to be a slow to start affair, after which you simply drown into superb droney electronic sound from "Pallas Athene" onwards. The title track is also extraordinary. This is going to be on heavy rotation for quite some time at my place. It's already "available", don't miss it.

I probably won't be relating my further adventures in holidaymusicworld until tonight: this afternoon we're going to visit the Great Black Music exhibition at Cité de la Musique http://www.greatblackmusic.fr/ . Hopefully this will be very interesting (there was even a free concert by Femi the other day, couldn't go, was so pissed) and I'll be able to pick up a record or two, I'll keep you posted when I come back. I also need to get some more beer. We might go to the restaurant tonight.

Holidays ffs

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 20:23:39 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 04/15/2014 00:23

Norman Bates wrote:

Before our friends showed up, I played some mellow masterpiece I thought was going to set us up in the right mood before Top Chef started and while Emma was cooking that lamb roast. Thus i played this:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Misterioso by Thelonious Monk

Yes, such a masterpiece. Maybe my favorite of his. I think I'll play that now.

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 20:20:25 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/15/2014 00:20

Tuesday, April 15th, 2014

01:58

Hahahaha yes bitches I'm still here.

You thought you'd gotten rid of me, but hey! no.

Before our friends showed up, I played some mellow masterpiece I thought was going to set us up in the right mood before Top Chef started and while Emma was cooking that lamb roast. Thus i played this:

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Misterioso by Thelonious Monk

About which I wonder why it's not on any of my charts yet. Soon will be though, check it out by all means. The most striking thing about this live album is how effortless it sounds, which is no little compliment considering the quality of what's being played. Check out "Blues Five Spot" before everything if you're lazy. You're doing yourself a favour.

Then my friends arrived. We watched the show, drank some pastis, ate some apéritifs (saucisson just like I promised, plus crisps and various other treats), and after that, and after the roast lamb, and after we'd drunk two bottles of wine and three of beer, and were opening some more, I decided I should play some rock in honour of my good friend Thomas who was here and is into punk/guitary post-punk acts. But not sung by girls, I'll come back to that interesting point I teased him about. This was a reflection he made when I first played this:

Dig Me Out by Sleater Kinney

About which he said he liked it, but had a problem with girls singing rock. I didn't think much of it at the time, but then while I was playing

Dirty by Sonic Youth

I remarked that among the tracks he said he was enjoying, some were sung by Kim Gordon, to which he replied he had a problem not so much with girls singing, as with girls yelling. To which (I was drunk already) I responded by another question, i.e if he thought his preventions were driven by some sort of sexism, remarking he'd said he didn't like girls yelling in rock when so many of the records he liked had some guys yelling. The gender, rather than the yelling, seemed to be the issue, said I. I thought I'd made a fair point, but he dismissed it all with a nod, by saying something I don't remember but seemed somewhat convincing then, but isn't now (because I don't remember it, mostly).

EDIT: I remember now. he said that post-hardcore stuff was mostly treble-oriented, and that he needed a lower, more bass-oriented voice to counterpoint it, in order for him to like it. Semmed fair at the time, and silly now.

I then entered a conversation with his girlfriend who was evidently getting bored. Which I gently remarked to her, and which she politely denied. We then rambled on for like 15 mlinutes about how that musical obsession of mine had become an obsession, when she was not at all interested and Thomas, her boyfriend , was very interested in music but not as obsessed as I was. We sort of agreed it was a teenage thing that was to be settled by a professional, I answered that I'd never go see a shrink, and then I put on

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

White Light/White Heat by The Velvet Underground

at which point my friend's girlfriend started to glance nervously at her watch. So I skipped to "Sister Ray" because that's what Thomas and I wanted anyway, and good night to you all beautiful people, I'm tired and drunk.

See you in the mroning.

Peace.

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

alelsupreme — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 15:42:16 GMT

Author: alelsupreme

Posted: 04/14/2014 19:42

sp4cetiger wrote:

This is great stuff. I love how each user has their own personal spin on it.

Yeah, all the users so far have been great in their own way.

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 15:01:45 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 04/14/2014 19:01

This is great stuff. I love how each user has their own personal spin on it.

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 14:10:07 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/14/2014 18:10

19:54

Getting ready for the night, i.e. drinking beer; in this case a bottle of blonde du Vézelay, solme organic local shit from up north. Good too. The type of beer you'll find at my local executive ghetto Franprix shop, for bobos only. I am one. Cheers fellas.

Getting ready for the night also means I've got to make a little round-up on this end of day's listening, as I most probably won't be able to do it later, on account of sheer drunkennes and friends being invited over to watch Top Chef and eat some souris d'agneau - tomates à la provençale, saucisson for apéritif, with of course that nice Bardouin pastis my beloved brought me from Marseilles where she was staying for the union's national congress.

We'll prolly listen to some more music, but I won't be able to post, if however I manage to keep track of what was played I promise to tell you, dear ULL, in the morning.

After that fascinating Merzbow listen, I wanted to move on to something lighter; besides, milady was coming back home from work and she would veto anything remotely indus or harsh-noise. This is what I found:

Caetano Veloso (1969) by Caetano Veloso

I always like me some Caetano, but I never love me some. He's elegant, and so are his albums, which generally contain one or two killer/very moving tunes, but overall (apart from his debut maybe), I end up being slightly bored. Yes, he masters all sorts of different genres, from bossa to tropicalia to psych to ballad to whatev'. Yes he is charming. But in the end I always end up feeling I've listened to a brilliant guy showing off and not putting himself into it. The avant-garde closer to this one didn't do much to change that opinion, he had to close it like that. Still mostly nice for sure.

I then played:

Restos De Un Incendio by Migala

Migala is (was?) a slowcore band from Barcelona that I loved at one stage. I still like them and this is a good album. Say you mix some Tindersticks (this voice) to some Constellation sound (those guitars) and sing it sometimes in English, others in Spanish, and you get this. There's always at least one earth-shattering tune in every Migala album (here: "Cancion de Gurb"). Always a pleasure, albeit a glad-to-be-sad one, to re-listen to those old friends of mine.

Finally, I just discovered this:

Dopethrone by Electric Wizard

and this is where I must admit my opinion has no value whatsoever. I'm a total ignorant when it comes to hard rock/metal/doom/sludge/stoner/nameyoursubgenre, having only listened to the first three Black Sabbath, one Mötorhead (or is it Motörhead?), and one Metallica, plus the odd album I picked from games around this beautiful forum.

Anyway, I really liked this. Due for re-listen very shortly. What I particularly appreciated was the heviness of it, its implacable, slow sound riveting you to the ground and slowly unfolding in all its noisy majesty. The lyrics not being screamed or grawled is always a bonus for me. I'll come back to this. If I liked it when I'm not all a connoisseur or even a metal amateur, I suppose it means it's very good rather than good.

Anyway, enjoy your evening, see you later, warm kisses to all.

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 11:18:46 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/14/2014 15:18

17:07

Well my day has certainly taken a strange turn all of a sudden.

The light is dark orange/red, almost to blackness, as if the orange gleams came from far away in the same space I'm in and trying to break the darkness but renouncing. I am tied to a chair in large room in a factory. Noise of activity nearby reach my ears: somebody's working, melting steel or carrying iron in an old wagon along a rusty rail in the factory or something, or wielding. But that noise is covered by the noises myriads of roaches make in the room. They're closer to me than the workers are. And anyway I'm bound and gagged. The beasts sound like they're eating at each other or fighting for some rotten piece of edible stuff or maybe a greasy piece of cloth or something. They sound as if they were getting closer, they probably are wondering if they would not be better off having a go at that gagged creature motionless in its chair. And while I'm listening to these monsters devouring each other and covering the steelworking in process somewhere, I think about swedenman and his recent vorarephile confession. I think of swedenman disguised as a cockroach and turning his vorarephile, blood-injected black eyes at me, and opening his vorarephile, toothless mouth. I feel a sudden urge to stop THAT FUCKING RECORD.

Ladies and gentlemen I was listening to Ecobondage by Merzbow.

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 10:10:27 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/14/2014 14:10

15:50

Already! My my, time flies with you.

This is just to tell you that I've just finished a second listen of ZNR's Barricade 3 (1976), it's awesome and you should check it out.

ZNR are actually Hector Zazou and Joseph Racaille, and their first LP together is entitled Barricade 3 because it's a follow-up on two other projects they had together under the monicker Barricade, projects which never were released (although Barricade played live).

This utterly absurdous record is a masterpiece of pataphysics, post-Satie minimalism and analog synth composition. It may sound very intellectual and #abstractqualities when it's actually very playful and good fun. The titles in themselves are already a treat : "Espelisoun d'un ribambello d'evenimen espetaculous Valentin Biot", one of 4 titles written in what seems to me a mix of Catalan and Esperanto-type universal language; the second movement of "La pointe de tes seins est comme un pétale de pavot" is entitled "Mezzo, mezzo, censuré au montage" and therefore does not exist; the "Boston mexicain" (in three parts) are aptly punctuated by some awful-sounding "Caramba!" of the best effect ; "Prélude aux mémoires d'un chien" was evidently ripped-off by Sébastien Tellier later on for his minimal pop debut (when he was good); A side is actually the "Snake side" and B-side is the "Rat side"; etc.; as you can see, all in good taste.

The music is extremely varied, from typical Satie influence to chamber rock not totally remote from RIO-type bands ; avant-electronics prog very much in the manner of what was made in Germany at the time ; stupid childlike electronic lullabies ; Wyatt-influenced singing (very rare in a mostly instrumental album) ; a free saxophone pops in ; all sounds have the naive beauty of people realizing how exhilirating it is to feel that in spite of your influences you are absolutely free.

Check it out if you would like to hear something different, a bit dated for sure - post-Soft Machine dreamy pataphysics basically, very much a post-68 thing in France (the impact of Soft Machine playing a lot in France, and the consequent creation of Gong, cannot be insisted upon enough: the "Canterbury scene" reshaped the underground musical France). Beautifully strange.

Link

Re: BEA ULL #5: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 07:47:48 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 04/14/2014 11:47

As well you should cause it was pure bliss! Of course the price to pay is that I'm a little drunk. I'm OK with that price.

Anyway:

13:30

Time for a roundup of the matinee. After Madonna, I listened to...

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Rise by Bad Brains

Which is awful and typically the sort of metal I detest. Give me "Banned in D.C." back, this is terrible. RATM-type political slogans sung to totally uninspired funk-metal shit. The best track is the reggae one. Avoid BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY. Spit on the guy who'll suggest chilling out to this. Kick him in the face. Go back home, leave him to his RHCP LPs, forget you were even friends once, and move on with your life.

A drastic move was compulsory. So I put on Prisonnier de l'inutile by Gérard Manset. Manset is an old favourite but is difficult to apprehend for non-French speaking music lovers, so much relies on lyrics and how you relate to the very secret persona he's built for himself. Manset is more or less a travelling poet (with very disputable tastes for, er, 'young Asia' if you will) and has consistently kept a very low profile on the French chanson scene. He is however a very big influence on a host of contemporary French artists I like a lot, including Murat and Dominique A.
Not all his albums are excellent, as exemplified in this sometimes too long Prisonnier. Basically what it lacks is what its predecessor, the splendid Lumières, had: one or two very strong songs ("Entrez dans le rêve", "Lumières") that will shed light (pun intended, remember I'm half-drunk already) in a catchier way on the rest of the album's thematics. Still interesting of course.

I then moved on Above The Law's Livin' Like Hustlers, a first listen (and then a second). I won't elaborate a lot on this, just know that it's an excellent hip-hop record, produced by an inspired Dre, and it's very varied (ranging from post P.E. hardcore to proto-G Funk), sounds a lot like NWA, and is perfect for cooking andouillettes.

And before the Bourgogne I have ingested finishes to convince me a siesta is my next step forward in life, I am currently crying while singing along to an early version of Curtis Mayfield's "Power to the People" on Love, a 1997 comp featuring outtakes and demos. That version of "Power to the People" is one of the most beautiful things I've heard in my entire life - and we're talking 41 years and a half, people. But more about this comp later.

And don't forget, always:

Link