Full Circle

Computer World..2 - Kraftwerk - 1981
Fresh - Daft Punk - 1997

My father first introduced me to electronic music in 1992 in the form of Kraftwerk's 90s remix album, The Mix. There was plenty of good music in 1992, but at the age of 10 my musical repetoire could hardly be described as eclectic or diverse. I did know that none of my friends at the time would possibly agree with me that the music was worth listening to, but I also knew that the music was pertinent in that Kraftwerk's celebratory (some might say naive) fantasies of a world (and its various components*) run by machines and computers had indeed become a reality. (Keep in mind that this was not an entirely foregone conclusion in the late 70s and early 80s.) Years later, no longer believing myself on the fringes of socially acceptable adolescence, Daft Punk's debut album Homework changed electronic music from something I listened to secretly on headphones on airplanes to something I enjoyed with hundreds of other like-minded people publicly. (An experience I hope to replicate soon if I can find a ticket for Daft Punk this weekend.)

*(e.g. Transportation, Commerce, Communication, Biology, Industry, Culture, History, Sex, Lo ve, etc.)

For all the Republicans in the audience

Senhor F - Os Mutantes - 1968
Cocksuckers' Ball - Frank Zappa - 1984

We've been waiting for Os Mutantes to come back to San Francisco since last year's frenzied sold-out show at the Fillmore. This Sunday the Brazilian Tropicalia trio is back in the Bay Area for a free concert at Stern Grove, and you better believe we're gonna to be there!

Beck once said that there was a time where he only listened to Mutantes records (remember "Mutations"?). Kurt Cobain was an advocate of getting the group back together for a reunion in '93 (They only recently started playing again after a 30-year hiatus). I also hear that Kevin Barnes, the frontman from of Montreal, is a hardcore Mutantes disciple, which would explain this earnest (but totally lame) cover of "Bat Macumba."

In the case of Zappa, who's sometimes compared to Mutantes, it'd be hard to say who influenced whom, or if influence ever came into play. Clearly, Zappa/Mutantes had a similar approach to how they performed, and a knack for producing songs that were, at once, goofy and avant-garde. I think today's post is a good example of what I'm talking about.

"Cocksucker's Ball" may just be an interlude from one of Frank Zappa's live shows, but I love everything about it--the throwaway, vaguely New Orelans piano chords, the carnival-like up-and-down of the bass, the nonsense singing, Zappa's fluid rhythm and sense of phrasing...For me it's up there with the best of the late '60s Mutantes jams (see: "Não Vá Se Perder Por Aí," "Dois Mil E Um" and of course "Senhor F").