Doom & Gloom Dispatch #53: Further Illuminations
Katie Von Schleicher, Alice Coltrane + Santana, Head Voice, Brian Eno, Sonic Youth
Katie Von Schleicher - A Little Touch Of Schleicher in the Night
A great new one from Katie Von Schleicher, a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who is both wise and wiseass, expertly balancing playfulness with pain. Kind of like Harry Nilsson himself, I guess — the dude referenced in the album’s title, of course. A Little Touch Of Schleicher in the Night frames Katie’s vocals with fizzy/fuzzy guitars, lush strings and clever classic pop arrangements, with such ringers as Sam Evian, Gabriel Birnbaum and Nick Jost bringing their considerable talents to the table. It’s a record that feels wonderfully complex, both in its lyrics and overall approach — but it’s always approachable and warm, too.
Alice Coltrane & Santana - Previously Unissued 1974 Recordings
Further Illuminations! The Heat Warps and Mr. Completely delivered the goods last week with a sizable selection of heretofore uncirculated Alice + Carlos (and John McLaughlin) recordings. Truly great stuff — some very interesting outtakes, improvs and alternates from the Illuminations sessions and a fairly astounding live tape from 1974. Lots of celestial harp and burnt Wurlitzer, along with Santana and McLaughlin’s fusion-y flights of fancy. Let us go into the house of the Lord!!!
The details: A pair of documents has recently emerged to expand our understanding of this collaboration. The first, a 3-hour + 45-minute collection of newly discovered audio from the Illuminations sessions, including previously unknown compositions, stripped back tracking sessions, overdub reels, working tapes and a cache of alternate takes and mixes. It offers a wide-screen vision of the avenues this album could have taken: a more earth-bound collection rooted in free jazz and heavy fusion, or a pared-down, reflective journey aimed to guide listeners on an inner search. All that could have been is laid out here. The second document, equally illuminating, is a previously un-circulated soundboard recording of a March 14, 1974 concert from the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco. The tape features spare devotional sets from John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana, sets from Alice Coltrane in both solo and trio settings, as well as ensemble performances of Illuminations material and more.
Head Voice :: Ben Chasny, Donovan Quinn & James Jackson Toth
You probably know the names Ben Chasny, Donovan Quinn and James Jackson Toth. The latest venture for these brilliant underground musicians is Head Voice. This is not a new band, however. It’s an old-school zine.
“Head Voice is dedicated to the spirit of inquiry and transparency; to asking, not telling, and dispelling certain myths about the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to create art and music,” Toth writes in the inaugural issue’s introduction. “We hope that this shared knowledge provides both resources and inspiration.”
The first issue of Head Voice is jam-packed with great stuff, from Chasny’s chat with the esoteric sound artist Kristen Gallerneaux to Toth’s in-depth conversation with Matt Valentine to Quinn’s piece on artist/producer Jason Quever. Every page is guaranteed to spark your imagination, whether you’re a musician or fan (or both).
Recently, I hopped on Zoom for a roundtable ramble on Head Voice’s origins and where the publication is, er, headed, among other sundry topics.
Need a soundtrack? How about this sneak peek of Winter Band, a new trio featuring Chasny, Quinn and Ethan Miller (Comets on Fire, Howlin Rain, etc). Short, but oh-so-sweet.
A couple months back, I put together an hour-long mix of various versions of “By This River” — a song by Dieter Moebius, Brian Eno and Hans-Joachim Roedelius that first showed up on Eno’s classic Before and After Science LP. There are orchestral interpretations, solo acoustic renditions, harps, synths — there’s even a very skilled whistler floating down this “River.”
Here’s the tracklisting:
Brian Eno, “By This River” ++ Hans-Joachim Roedelius, “Skizze 4 von By This River” ++ Mari Samuelsen & Konzerthausorchester Berlin, “By This River” ++ Mary Lattimore, “By This River” ++ Sergio Sorrentino, “By This River” ++ Martin L. Gore, “By This River” ++ Elena Somaré, ” By This River” ++ Console, “By This River” ++ Bruce Brubaker, “By This River” ++ Speed The Plough, “By This River” ++ Giampaolo Capelli, “By This River” ++ Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, “By This River” ++ Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto, “By This River (Phantom)” ++ Roedelius & Jean-Benoit Dunckel, “Silencio, Pt. 7 (By This River)”
Why did I do this? I don’t know! But maybe it’s just because the song has a certain hypnotic quality that seems to stop time, that simple keyboard hook flowing over Eno’s hushed vocals. The lyrics, too — they’re not straightforward, exactly, but they communicate something that has always connected with me, now more than ever. The narrator is in some kind of purgatory, “stuck by this river.” He’s not alone, but he’s unable to really communicate meaningfully with the other people on the banks (hmm, feels familiar). It’s a vision, a dream, a longing. “My River runs to thee,” Emily Dickinson wrote. “Blue Sea – Wilt welcome me?”
Yeah, sure. Anyway, had I made this “River” mix a little bit later, I would have included the live version of “By This River” that Eno has been playing on his recent tour (!), backed by the Baltic Sea Philharmonic and some other key collaborators. Listen to a nice audience recording of it here! If you watch the video, it’s impressive that such a large group of musicians can make so little sound. An oblique strategy if ever there was one.
Sonic Youth - Double Door, Chicago, Illinois, August 5, 2006
Enter Ibold! We’re on the downward slope of the #SonicSummer mountain and in 2006, Sonic Youth drafted Pavement bassist Mark Ibold to help hold down the bottom end. He might not be the mad scientist of sound that Jim O’Rourke was ... but who doesn't love Mark Ibold?! No one, that's who.
This particular summer, Sonic Youth was on the road promoting Rather Ripped, their final album for DGC. I’m kind of convinced that Rather Ripped could have pushed SY into the mainstream — if they had released it in 1994. Chiming guitars, plenty of hooks, catchy choruses, crisp tempos, a pseudo power ballad ... it has Buzz Bin written all over it! (You remember the Buzz Bin, don’t you?)
Anyway, it’s a solid album — perhaps not as exciting as the handful of records that came before it, but pretty exciting nonetheless. Here in Chicago, playing a post-Lollapalooza gig at the Double Door, the Rather Ripped material, er, rips, whether it’s the mystical musings of "Turquoise Boy" or the sweet jangle of “Jams Run Free.” I love the extended ambient segue from the latter tune into a magisterial “Pink Steam” (though I’m not sure I love the lyrics of that one). And does Thurston forget most of the words to “Tom Violence”? Yeah, he does!
Things wrap up in fine form with two dips into the past: an appropriately ferocious “Shaking Hell” and a massive “Expressway To Yr Skull” that threatens to bring the entire venue to the ground.
Bandcamp | Merch | Concert Chronology
From the Doom & Gloom Archives
Robyn Hitchcock once said of his former band the Soft Boys: “We could … sound like the Byrds or the Beatles, or whoever it was we wanted to sound like at the time … We sort of became a very high-grade covers band, combined with this sort of psychedelic coven.” Robyn was being slightly disparaging, I think, but the Soft Boys were indeed a very great covers band. Case in point, this compilation of live recordings and rehearsals I’ve thrown together, featuring the band tearing through a wide range of tunes by the Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd and Roxy Music, among others. The whole thing kicks off with two manic renditions of Sun Records-associated songs that sound about a galaxy and a half removed from Memphis, and concludes an hour later with an (inter)stellar jam on “Astronomy Domine.” Climb aboard the Mystery Train!
Currently Reading: Harry Smith - American Magus (edited by Paola Igliori)