Roach clip

Libra - Max Roach - 1968

"Libra" is an excellent track from Max Roach's 1968 modal jazz album, "Members, Don't Git Weary." I could easily listen to the first 30 seconds on repeat, if only for the part where the horns enter for the first time. Other things to listen for: Jymie Merritt's bass lines, the swing in Roach's ride cymbal, or the brief pause following Roach's drum solo at 4:17, right before they launch into the final chorus. This is great hard-hitting stuff.

Also featured are Stanley Cowell on piano, Gary Bartz on alto sax, and Charles Tolliver on trumpet.

Super Villainous

Onyx - Space Art - 1976
Never Win - Fischerspooner - 2005

Space Art's Onyx could have been the soundtrack to a galactic Phantom of the Opera; the story of a tormented, brooding and vengeful super villain with a flair for the dramatic. With slow, pseudo-psychedelic drums reminiscent of Pink Floyd, it is the rock opera that (thankfully?) never was. Only French experimentalists with some serious Jean Michel Jarre cred could have come up with this.

Speaking of Pink Floyd, there's something about Fischerspooner's "Never Win" that really reminds me of Pink Floyd's The Wall. Why is it that contemporary and primarily instrumental electronic bands feel the need to add indie rock vocals as their careers, discographies, and wallets extend? Let me devise my own story, dammit, brooding super villains and all.

Dairy Dose

Mad As Hell - Kerrier District & Black Mustang - 2007
Konkorde Lafayette - Padded Cell - 2007

I picked up Milky Disco on a whim. I spotted it and the title and cover art appealed to me. This is how I used to find music when I was 11. Needless to say, this approach usually results in disaster as my admittedly bizarre expectations are cruelly and completely denied. Yet strangely enough, Milky Disco sounds just like I hoped it would: Slow, unashamed, danceable disco dripping with dub and brimming with 8-bit adventurism. It doesn't hurt that one of my favorite tracks, supplied by Kerrier District (Wow, a Luke Vibert alias I haven't heard before!) and Black Mustang (?), draws from one of the most underappreciated and pertinent films of our time.