Yesterday, I read a fascinating article published in 2003 in "Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales", a review founded by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. The article is available for free and in full here, however it has not been translated into English (to the best of my knowledge). I feel that it deserves a translation and perhaps even an addendum as it is of public interest, considering how relevant it still is 13 years later. Sébastien Guex, the author of this article, is a left-wing activist and history professor the at the university of Lausanne in Switzerland (p.s. now retired) and spent his entire career studying public finances, monetary policies, and bank secrecy from a sociological perspective. As I read the article, the big picture came into focus; the link I had been missing for so long owing to my fairly limited study of economics as a science: austerity is a meticulously crafted tool intended to permanently redirect the flow of capital away from workers, small business owners, farmers, artisans, creators, and public institutions by depriving the state of its logical sources of revenue and by blocking its ability to pay off its debt. The reason why I digress is because, as the world goes to shit, I'm putting the pieces together and figuring out the reasons behind many a regular and honest person's suffering. This album is the soundtrack to our common decyphering of the obtuse mechanisms of our oppression. I urge anyone who reads this review to drop what they're doing, put this record on and start researching the history of financial policies through the lense of anti-capitalism.
We will never be free
From the grip of your body
And we take what we want
Never know what we’re hiding
We’re clasping and praying
and waiting to go
All we build
Overthrown
We can’t feel
What we hold
All we steal
For our own
What we need
We can’t know
With that being said, I can focus on the music. So I discovered Insect Ark a couple of years ago through their current record label Debemur Mortii (French spearheads of all things avantgarde metal, cocorico!) with their instrumental album "The Vanishing". It came as a total surprised when I heard Dana Schechter's voice on the second track of their latest album. Her voice has this commanding tone that freezes you to your very core. Luckily for us, she uses this power to keep us enthralled in their music and not some nefarious policing technique. And as we are on the subject of the police, I invite you to check out the excellent animated series Cyber City OEDO 808, which aired back in 1990-91 — vibes are a bit different but the themes feel rather connected, at least for me. Enough digressions; the eight tracks on this record flow together brilliantly, weaving a doom-laden tapestry of resistance and dread. "Youth Body Swayed"
✸
Great for: Expunging existential doubt Not so great for: The after-party
Jérémie Ternoy hails from the constellation of experimental musicians based in Lille, France. Joining him in this trio are Charles Duytschaever on drums and Nicolas Mahieux on bass. The three musicians have been working in cahoots for the better part of 25 year and "Survol à basse altitude" is just their latest release. I have not, as of yet, listened to their discogaphy, but if their past albums are anywhere as good as this most recent one, no doubt I'll be coming back for more. Before getting into the actual review, I feel that I must briefly go over Jérémie Ternoy's expansive body of work:
He has been a key part of many projects with Circum-Disc label founder and prolific drummer Peter Orins. These projects are definitely worth looking into if you have a taste for free jazz and experimental music more generally. The Ternoy/Cruz/Orins trio (and its amped-up incarnation TOC) is one such musical endeavour and you can check it out here.
He spent five years playing with the mythical and positively psyschedelic band Magma (on piano and Fender Rhodes). Yes, THAT Magma! To showcase his talent (and to share my love of prog rock), I thought it might be cool to share the album he recorded with them. "Slag Tanz" is a continuation of the Zeuhl style but an outlier when it comes to the frequent use of French across the 8 movements. Quite a jazzy and groovy mini album, fans of jazz-rock will no doubt enjoy. Leaving the rock elements behind, Ternoy also played alongside French jazz celebrities Henri Texier and Gérard Marais as part of a quartet with Christophe Marguet.
Now then, after hopefully having shed some light on this consequential body of work, let's get on with it.
On the threshold
It starts all at once: The bass babbles, putts, and slides playfully as the piano sets the stage by introducing the theme. The delicate repetitive brushing on the snare drum grows progressively into a ruckus of cymbals and toms while Charles Duytschaever keeps playing the triplet rhythm on the hi hats at breakneck pace. Nicolas Mahieux turns his playfulness into astute complexity, playing against the piano line in a wicked solo before joining in again. This first track is like an avalanche crashing down a mountain. Calm never really returns as the theme is now haunted by eerie syncopated high notes on the piano. There's this feeling of being on the cusp, just about to turn a corner, that permeates the song, but we never quite turn that corner and we're left in a state of anticipation. The same cannot be said about the second track "Rotation" which, as its name suggests, takes us full circle. Definitely the most memorable track on the record for two reason: the first is the fascinating use of percussions throughout and the second is the charming ritornellos in ternary rhythm (6/8 time signature) that either alternate piano and bass, or has them all playing in unison. The eponymous track starts off as a tranquil glide across the countryside. It's no great migration despite its almost 8½ minutes playtime. Its more of a leasurely trip from one valley to the next. However, the wood pigeon whose wings we're on begins to get flustered mid-flight, perhaps a sparrowhawk looms overhead. The terrifying sight sends us plummetting through the branches, desperately searching for safety, while still on our now seemingly endless trip. So much for our leasurely glide. "Périleux" highly contrasts with the chaotic nature of the latter, as it has a clear song structure. An energetic bass line that gets my head bopping every time drives the song. This fourth track also has some of the coolest piano flourishes which remind me a bit of Michel Petrucciani's. Simply titled "Chanson", this fifth track is perhaps the most inquisitive one, giving a lot of place for the drums to be as expressive and cymbal-heavy as Duytshaever wants. The bass acts like a backbone while aslo complementing the piano phrases. "Voile" the final track is the darkest but also unfurls like a bright white sail. It's a quiet one, leaving plenty of silence for moments of contemplation, and ends abruptly, signalling the band's departure.
This album is by far his most approachable work but also some of his best in my opinion (this holds true for the other three he's recorded with his trio over the years). There's a fragile equilibrium that is struck between exploration and tradition, symptomatic of free spirits, that brings me great joy, and I hope it will do the same for you.
✸
Great for: Rainy evenings with some hot tea Not so great for: A sweaty workout
It's 1976, a spectacular year for music: Stevie Wonder graces us with Songs in the Key of Life, Lou Reed releases Coney Island Baby, Steely Dan unleashes The Royal Scam, Roy Ayers drops Everybody Loves the Sunshine, George Benson's Breezin' enraptures the hearts of people everywhere, Jaco Pastorius' eponymous debut album releases, one of the best guitar solos of all time (i.e. Hotel California) by the Eagles rocks the world... Meanwhile, at Thunder Sound recording studio in Toronto, German-born vibraphone and piano player/teacher Karl Berger and double bass legend Dave Holland are cooking.
The Record
The duo had already played together thrice (once in 1970 on Berger's debut album, again in 1971 on "Where Fortune Smiles" as part of a five-piece with John McLaughlin, and once more in 1975 at his studio and study center in Woodstock, NY) and were fated to play again in the future. On this adventurous diptych, the two musicians showcase their mastery of tempo manipulation. I say diptych because the two sides each have their specificities, but the record, as a whole, remains coherent. "All kinds of time," an expression made clear by the lightning-fast tempo changes on the piano: the velocity and simultaneous control of Berger's playing catches you off-guard from the first 2 minutes of "Simplicity," which just has to be tongue-in-cheek because the track is anything BUT simple. "Simplicity" oscillates between reinterpretations of the main theme and feverish call & response. The theme has a very Gershwin quality to it which makes it instantly memorable and you could easily imagine it as a piece of musical theater. The ambiance feels nonetheless intimate, like looking out at the vastness of the sea from the safety of a home, there's this private concert quality to the recording that's really cozy. Holland's bowing on the outro of this opening track segues nicely into "Perfect Love." It's becoming increasingly clear that side 1 is very much Berger's side, I mean, all compositions on the record are credited to him, but the keys are more forward on this side. The vibraphone jumps in at the end of the piece, leaving me with a beautiful sense of completion. Track three, "Fragments," takes a decidedly more experimental turn, weaving a patchwork of sometimes motley snippets, beginning with a balafon solo. I'm lucky to hear the balafon being played quite regularly in the metro around Montparnasse station, in a traditional West African style. But here, Berger plays it with a chromatic approach, creating a rhythmically complex but not impossible to follow intro. Dave Holland's walking bass is the ideal fit for the meandering vibraphone phrases in the second part of the piece. In the final part of what feels like a tight relay race, Berger brings it all home with some straight blues bars.
Side 2 features two tracks: "The Begining," an aptly titled overture to the cryptic "Now Is, D'Accord, All Kinds Of Time, We Are". "The Begining" starts off with a low, warm kind of tension, growing organically with a resoant layering of piano, vibes, bass bowing, and plucking. The superimposition of the different instruments has a magnifying effect, acting like bubbles in the mystery soup the two are brewing. Rad shit. One the eponymous-ish fifth track, the game is to figure out where one part ends an the next one begins. "Now Is", or at least the track I delineated in my brain, is cruising and deserves to be covered by a full four-piece (bring in the guitar riffs and drum shuffles). Berger and Holland certainly are "D'accord" on the second movement. This is also clearly a little more of Dave's side. The theme of the overture returns, but this time, they take it in a new direction before heading into another balafon solo (décidément!). On what I assume is the next movement, "All Kinds Of Time," it's clear that Berger takes inspiration from his contemporaries, as he plays the vibes like Keith Jarrett plays the piano. "We Are," the closing movement, phases out gently. I pick up the sleeve, and I can't believe 15 minutes went by. The magic is absolutely working on me.
✸
Great for: A chill afternoon where you are primed for a deep dive into improvised jazz music. Not so great for: Doing chores, since a surface-level listening might give you the impression that the music is pretentious avant-garde noodling.
The band Crasher is, in many ways, a mutation of frontman and singer Airick Asher Woodhead's Doldrums project. Therefore, it makes sense that both the music and the singing reflect his style. However, Crasher isn't just a continuation of Woodhead's previous project, but the trio's effort to burst in with new ideas and weird elegance (more on that later). Before tackling this record, and to better appreciate it, I thought it necessary to present some of Woodhead's older material:
Doldrums is an electronic music project by Montréal-based artist Airick Asher Woodhead which began in 2013. With that out of the way, we can focus on the music itself. Across three full-lengths and two EPs, the Doldrums' sound never congealed, but the janky oscillation between synthpop and experimental electronics certainly was a recurring theme. There is a sense of fragility in the overall composition, by that I mean that not all songs are quite as memorable as "Runnerup" or "Funeral for Lightning". That being said, Woodhead's wobbling contralto voice and fun, sometimes romantic, songwriting carries the music into absolutely mystical territory. In his most recent full-length, Esc (2017), the seeds of a punk blossom were already present in songs like "SWIM", "The Stitched Together Man" and "Against the Glass". What wasn't there was the post-punk and new wave feel that permeates the Crasher release, perhaps the fruit of collective songwriting. Anyway, I encourage you to listen to some, if not all, of Doldrums' music to enhance your listening experience of "Odditi Populaire". As I was writing this intro, I was tempted to add a dagger (†) before "Doldrums" since it seemed as though Woodhead had retired the project and certain sources were relaying this info (don't believe the hype...), but after noticing he was playing a show in Camden later this month, I decided against it. I'm glad he's still playing his solo material.
Odditi Populaire
Mysteriously starting this first full-length with a short track that veils the intensity of the next 27 minutes, the band already throws us off in terms of what we can expect. The bass line on "Silent Star (No One's War)" really drives the song and provides a solid anchoring for the drums and synths. A huge wave of nostalgia crashed over me when listening to "Dead System Man" which brought back the feeling of listenning to Daft Punk's Random Access Memories for the first time, particularly "Instant Crush". Beyond just eliciting memories, the song really creates a tiny dreamscape that hides a warning about trusting the droogs of a dying system. "Stories" is probably the most mosh-able tune on the record ; it triggers an irresistible need to dance around and fist pump or grab on to something and thrash about. Slash Need's delivery of her verse is absolutely hypnotic and such a high point on the record, crystallizing the post-punk aesthetic perfectly.
I'm tired of all the reruns I'm seeing Even in my dreams, they're selling me stories
Where "Staring Into The Static I Saw The Shape Of You" feels like a Doldrums song, the other tracks showcase the trio at work creating their unique style. There is an outlier in the mix and that's "Yeah I've Been Walking Around with This All My Life": the smooth bass, the jazzy chords, the sweeping pads, and the whispered words make for a beautiful closing track. Odditi Populaire is, frankly, a no-skip record teeming with trippy beats. Go now! Listen to the whole thing and give them your money!
✸
Great for: Late night excursions in the cold and/or dancing in the dark Not so great for: Scrolling mindlessly (also, don't do that, period)
I discovered Chimes of Bayonets purely by chance: digging through the 7" punk bin at Crocodisc (a record store in Paris' Latin Quarter). Crammed between the DIY covers printed on flimsy paper and the plastic sleeves, confronting the passing of time, three singles stood out. The first was a split from 1988 between two French bands: Les Chiens Vivants and Manchacou. The stronger of the two tracks, "Tu te décomposes" or "You are decomposing" for the non-French speakers out there, brings some garage rock seemingly recorded in a cavern somewhere, featuring the banjo in a doomy waltz that measures our transitory existence to the vast universe of dreams. The lead singer and banjo player has a YouTube channel where he has uploaded most of his music => Jean-Marie Pons. Second 7" was "More or Less" by the emo/punk/hardcore band Sleeper (now Serpico). Great energy from these New Yorkers who were active from 1991 to 1996 (circa I guess). Go listen to the Serpico album "feel bad rainbow" absolutely fantastic headbanging treat. Alright, so third 7" was "Archiver" by Chimes of Bayonets, another band out of New York. The record has an actual cardboard sleeve, complete with a fun little bike wheel design on the label area and cheeky comments etched in the dead wax. The noisiest and most dissonant of the three, it's also the most diverse, forward-thinking and brainy of the lot I picked out. That being said, it's probably due to the fact it was recorded in 2019... The band is very much active and after finding their bandcamp page and going through their discography, I was absolutely smitten with their debut LP "Replicator".
Replicator
I went back the following week to Crocodisc and chatted with one of the guys behind the desk who shared his flashback about when one of the band members from Chimes of Bayonets came through Paris and sold him the 7" and the 12" which have now come into my possession. We chuckled and I headed home. Enough about the backstory! "Replicator" is just Chimes of Bayonets doing their unique blend of saxophone and chorus-rich post-punk. The production is a lot less noisy and crusty on this record, the songwriting feels very focused, and the chemistry is clearly there. The bass is such a highlight of this record; shapeshifting from a fucking brick wall to some slithering entity to a groovy accompagnement. Super heavy riffing on "Human Mascot". The sense of urgency is real, and the drums are on point. The guitar and saxophone coalesce seamlessly, and halfway through the song the three take an interesting turn into shoegazing territory before heading into the more brutal finale. The songs flow nicely from one to the next, and I can easily go through the whole thing twice without it ever getting tedious. I'll leave y'all with the refrain from The Fall of Grammer [probably an intentional misspelling].
Work out the math how does this track ? Pulling the shades back reveals a fatal crack
✸
Great for: Chopping veggies, other manual activities Not so great for: Relaxing in the tub
Destiny Bond, a hardcore band out of Denver, caught my attention on a recent crawl through Bandcamp. I’ve been getting back into punk recently and as I was perusing through Convulse Records’ releases, I zeroed in on the flair of a cartoony tattoo of a cover.
I gave the record a listen, then a couple more over the week, and now I find myself coming back to it regularly. Its solid songwriting, sarcastic bite and production quality really makes it one of my favorite Monday morning jams to mouth as I air drum on my way to work.
Oh you’ve got another opinion The perfect one size fits all
Without you how would the problems get solved?
The shakers, tambourines, and the bright guitar tones contrast well with the nasty, chunky bass, adding a little 60’s charm to the beat. Speaking of the beat, caffeinated isn’t quite enough, d-beat infused cold brew sounds about right.
There’s something so tragic about Chloe’s performance on “Mosaic” and “Head Spin”. Wails of a determined Sisyphus coping with the pointlessness of existence blasts out of her lungs, but the lyrics assert the opposite: wise and reflective affirmations on the present self as worthy in its own right.
✸
Great for: The commute to work when you need a little wave of positivity to surf on Not so great for: Thanksgiving dinner with a TERF
