Lotusblog

What’s your earliest musical memory? What was the first song you remember?

This is probably impossible to answer with one specific song, but you can doubtless name several songs that go back to the murky ether of infancy. Songs that you heard as a toddler, and while they may not have meant anything then, the rhythms, melodies and beats were indelibly etched into your synapses. Songs that, perhaps, your parents and those around you at the time may have particularly enjoyed. Twenty, thirty, even fifty years later, hearing one of these songs stops you dead in your tracks. Not unlike brushing past someone in a crowded shopping centre and smelling a long forgotten perfume from a long forgotten lover.

It’s a Tuesday morning, and after getting up early, I have been working at home- which means sitting in front of my computer, listening to my cool music collection and pecking away at my keyboard. (Fifty years ago, work would have been tilling a field in the rain listening to cows, but I digress, that’s a whole ‘nuther blog post).

Anyway, so it’s a Tuesday morning and I am sitting here typing and The 5th Dimension song “Up, Up and Away” just came on and BANG! I was frozen in time. For me, this is one of those songs. “On Top of The World” by The Carpenters is another.

And there are more.

To be continued…

Every decade, society witnesses some sort of massive, unprecedented development; economic, technical, natural or even chemical, which defines the moment and forever changes the direction of social evolution.

Since this decade is really only half-finished (or half-begun) I don’t want to be premature in judging what it may be. For the 90’s though, I think you’d all agree it was the democratisation of the internet, and introduction, acceptance and use of the web and email.

For the 80’s I think it was the introduction of the Walkman. Music wants to be free. The introduction not only of the mechanical device itself, but the concept of the portability of music has had a massive effect on the way society (at least in developed countries) has developed. Not to mention the economic and cultural effects. The thing that triggered this early morning mental meandering was Cliff Richard’s “Wired for Sound” which I listened to after a particularly invigorating shower and remember fondly as a 10 year old, and for those who grew up on music videos, will certainly remember that “Wired for Sound” was the Walkman song.
But the other thing that grabbed me was the realisation that “Wired for Sound” was perhaps the first ever rap song. Three minutes of catching rhythms. A story being told. Boasting of prowess. Sure enough, Cliff Richard isn’t the sort of guy to say something as obvious or explicit as “I got a sawn-off, squeeze the trigger and bodies are hollowed out” or “My AK-47 is a tool, don’t make me act the motherfuckin’ fool” but nonetheless, there is definite macho posturing in there.

Go listen.

“Dogs die in hot cars” is not only a piece of useful advice, it’s also a band that are certain to put a smile on your face.

Read more about them here

Tsuki no wa and The Toyama  Ensemble were the two bands playing last night; and they were fantastic. Emotional, beautiful acoustic craft. I thought a lot about that comment I made about electronic music a few weeks ago. And I think that what I was trying to say was something like this: acoustic music works within pre-defined musical parameters. Electronic music is free to wander away from musical conventions and create rhythms, melodies or sounds which either don’t exist, or are impossible with extant “analogue” instruments.

So electronic music is an evolutionary engine; it’s electronic music that pushes us forward. Music produced with acoustic/analogue instruments doesn’t so much hasten us towards to the future as force us to contemplate the now.

And I think that’s a pretty important balance.

Shows such as “Migratory” (the concert last night in which the two bands above appeared) shock us with their beauty. Taking us to the darker areas of our souls where Top 40 Radio Pop (and perhaps even electronic music, too, for that matter) can never reach.

Here’s a picture:

… are a band I have been hearing a lot of lately. And they are really cool.

On Friday night I was at the Grand Cafe to see Derrick May DJ-ing and I remember thinking that only electronic music is evolving. The only really cool stuff being done in music these days is in the electronic field. Rock is still in that “bass-lead-rhythm-drums” thing which was probably pretty radical in the late ’50’s, but let’s face it, it’s fucking 2005 for goodness sake! I still listen to rock, and there are definitely some good singer/songwriters out there, but there’s an awful lot of dross too.

Hip-Hop is the only other area that comes to mind where people are being truly creative, and pushing the boundaries of not only what is musically acceptable, but also socially acceptable. And it’s only by pushing the social boundaries that we can ever culturally evolve.

But back to Lemon Jelly. You definitely need to do yourself a favour and check them out.

It’s Thursday morning.

I dream of the things I’ll do, with a subway token and a dollar tucked inside my shoe

Such wide-eyed optimism brings me close to tears. For some reason it was only today that, when listening to Glen Campbell’s tragi-western that I noticed that line. It just hit me, with a mouth full of coffee, and a heart full of ambition.

I was reduced to le néant.

What a weekend. The last 4 days were absolutely insane. At last I am thankful for this sunny Monday afternoon. I never knew Mondays could feel this good.

They feel a thousand per cent better if you listen to Jimmy Scott singing “Sycamore Trees” from the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me soundtrack. What an incredible song.

I can’t quite remember what part of the movie that song appears in, but as I tried to remember, dislocated images of David Bowie as a special agent, television static, screams, splashes of blood and a feeling of utter despair and loneliness came over me. That movie (actually, I should really be calling it a film!) was so powerful. It was one of the most chilling pieces of cinema I have ever seen.

How does David Lynch do that?

I’ve always thought of myself as more of a future person than a past person. But looking over the entries in my blog, I seem to spend an awful lot of time reminiscing about the past; especially past music and past movies. I am not entirely sure I am comfortable with this.

I was hit the other day with a particularly nasty outbreak of nostalgia when Simon, whilst (quite rightfully) gushing about his iPod Shuffle, and the joys of mobile music, mentioned the record label Creation.

Oh, Creation!

All those amazing early nineties Creation bands!
The memories!
Lost love, missed opportunities, shoe-gazing parties!

I left some albums scattered around my home town with various friends and family. The next time I am homeward bound I’ll rip ’em. I should have an iPod by then.

Swiss popsters Yello have their moments. Of course, everyone knows “Oh Yeah”, the song made (in)famous by the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.

But they offer so much more. Sure, being a product of the eighties, there’s a lot of nonsense in there too, but amongst the chaff, you’ll not only find wheat, you’ll find sparkling gemstones.

Otto di Catania is a perfectly cut example. One of the most beautiful pieces of music produced in the last 30 years.

Now, two questions:

1. What do the lyrics mean?
2. What are Yello doing now?

Ghosty’s Big Surrender is the song doing the heavy rotation rounds on iTunes at the moment. Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me if this was also one of those songs I loved in my university days and then forgot.

In completely unrelated news, I got the results of a health-check I took at the beginning of December. Basically, I am healthy and my numbers are all within the “normal” range except for one.
My cholesterol numbers were off the charts. I think the way of measuring cholesterol in Japan is a little different from the West, but nonetheless, according to the Japanese figures, the ideal range is 130ish to 220ish. I was 340.

I think I need to start getting healthy. I will do it next year. Fresh slate and all that. That’ll be my one and only new year’s resolution.