I first heard the music of Gasper Nali last year while surfing YouTube for new music to listen to. I fell in love with this video immediately:
Since then, he has had the chance to make a more professional recording of this song (and more):
His instruments are made from recycled objects that he has collected. One person’s trash is another’s treasure.
If these were ever the last words I were to write I would say simply that there is so much beauty in the world, if we are only willing to look and listen for it. Don’t let the ugliness bring you down. Whatever might be said about globalism, the ability for us to connect and experience so much from around the planet is truly awe inspiring, and would not be possible if we were holed up behind our walls and fences. Let us celebrate all our fellow humans have to offer. Let us experience and learn from one another. We’ll be better for doing so.
What has inspired you this week?
This:
That’ll do it. My community was one of many that had some local elections a few weeks ago. Those tend to be low turnout elections, but often among the most important in terms of immediate impact on our quality of life. In our community, we actually had a stark contrast between a pair of candidates who wanted to move our community forward and another set of candidates who wanted to relive the Civil War. Last year, those of us who wanted to see our community move forward failed to speak up and show up. Some damage was done. This year, enough of us did speak up and show up. There is hope.
With the not-for-profit I am involved in we are facing the same thing. Do we enter the 21st century or stick with what has been done for years and years (and works very well). Older members (who really aren’t involved that much anymore) believe no change is great. Newish people (but very involved) want 21st century conveniences.
Change is hard for some. Letting go and trusting others with something you have dedicated years to can be very difficult.
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I’m inches from getting framing inspection on my remodel. Just the mechanical is left to do.
Hopefully Monday-Tuesday.
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Cool! Progress. That has to feel good.
It’s funny. 40+ years in the business, and I’m nervous! It’s always been someone else’s house, never my own.
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I’m in a different line of work, but no matter how much expertise I’ve developed, there’s just something different about working on something that is truly personal. Will keep my fingers crossed that things go the way you need them to.
Ah, what a difference time zones make. Midweek was already past in the East Coast when I posted this diary.
Friday cannot come soon enough.
One of my local radio stations has moved to an ’80’s Hits! format. Lots of schlock and terribly dated music, but I’m pleasantly surprised to be hearing this in heavy rotation again, and being reminded how exciting and fine it is:
Steve Lillywhite has his limitations as a record producer, but much of his work with U2 and others holds up superbly.
He worked on a number of albums that were very dear to me when I was younger. Ultravox’s second (and probably the closest they came to punk) album, Peter Gabriel’s third album (still a personal fave), and Siouxie and the Banshees’ first album (she and the band would have better-received albums commercially, but this one was as raw as they got) spring to mind.
Hadn’t experienced that Ultravox album. Fun!
Nor the Siouxie disc:
She scared/excited me, I recall. I sensed the cultural danger/thrill of her transgressiveness.
And these there’s this amazing, James Brown-level funk from the same era:
One of my favorite pieces of music commentary is Flea’s statement about this album, included in the liner notes for the CD reissue:
“Gang of Four is the first rock band I could truly relate to, the first to make me want to go crazy and dance and fuck and feel like I was a part of something really cool. I remember the first time I saw the Entertainment! record, listening to the razor-sharp rhythms, looking at the anti-fat white pig album cover and then busting into a fit of violent spasmodic dancing. The little Flea’s mind was blown. It completely changed the way I looked at rock music and sent me on my trip as a bass player. Unlike any contemporary rock music I had heard before it was really fucking art…like a big Man Ray photograph jumping up and down and doing the watusi or something. The electricity and inventiveness of their first few records is something any rock band should grovel to attain, and I hear their influence everywhere. It made me laugh to hear the guy from U2 talk about his musical influences being old bluesmen. I thought, ‘Hey, you dipshit, what about Andy Gill?’ I hear their influence on really great bands too, like Fugazi and Jane’s Addiction. Gill’s guitar playing on ‘Anthrax’ is a rare example of non-retro psychedelia and the groove laid down by the Burnham-Gill-Allen-King connection on ‘Not Great Men’ is the first thing i put on my turntable to show somebody what shaped the sound of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. These limeys rocked my world.”
And there’s another band I loved at the time. Not surprised that their sound would influence Flea (another bassist who is well worth many listens, whether with the Chili Peppers or as a sessions musician). “Man in Uniform” was getting some airplay when I was finishing up high school.
A wild card in Joan Armatrading’s career is the album she did with Lillywhite. Here’s my favorite weird production from that release, and the video is hella fun as well:
Here’s the full album, sequenced:
I love “At The Hop” and other productions on this record nearly as well. “The Weakness In Me” is the best pure songwriting on the album, and Lillywhite smartly tones down the production bombast and presents it plainly.
Among the best of the Beatles ripoff genre:
And oh my God, this audio/video dippiness:
This was #25 in Billboard’s Hot 100 for the year 1972, a few slots higher than the Raspberries’ single. Also on that 1972 list: “My Ding-a-Ling”, “The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.”, “Troglodyte (Cave Man)” and “Coconut”.
How Artificial Intelligence Wrote Beatles-Esque Pop Song
Fascinating.
Along with the Beatles theme, I’ve seen efforts to compile what might have been Beatles collections had they stayed together throughout the 1970s (even if only as they were in their later years – recording primarily separately but utilizing the name):
Reading the article that accompanied the video was enlightening. Looks like we are not that far away where AI can compose listenable and arguably artistically challenging pieces without human aid. Not quite there yet, but at the rate technological advances seem to be happening, we’ll be getting there sooner rather than later.
What AI won’t be able to do is present a piece of art which is attached to a person or persons and the persona(s) they attach to the art. For example, the Beatles as human beings and public figures throughout their band and solo careers informs our interpretations of their art, from eager goofballs to wisened cynics to blissed-out spiritual seekers to solo statement-makers, and on and on.
Another example off the top of my head: learning about the romantic turmoil and pressures of fame that the members of Fleetwood Mac were going through during their Rumours studio sessions gives our interpretations of the songs on that album a special charge, a charge which takes a very good song and performance like “Go Your Own Way” and turns it into one of the great singles of the rock era. You can hear the band members airing their undisguised emotional grievances and pains in the performance.
A quick shout out and thanks to those of you who have recommended and/or participated in these mid-week cafes. I cannot promise to do these every week, but when I have a spare moment I will. This month will be a trying month for my immediate and extended family, so I may be a bit more hit and miss. Will have to see how events unfold. In the meantime, take care.