Tomorrow night the Velvet Lounge offers a very special treat: Outsider folk hero Max Ochs will celebrate the release of his new album, Hooray for Another Day, which features all-new instrumental recordings and poetry from the 67-year-old Annapolis native.

Along with John Fahey and Robbie Basho, Ochs was among the East Coast Blues Mafia that ushered in the tradition of “American primitive guitar” in the ’50s and ’60s. Along with his influential recordings on “Contemporary Guitar ‘67″ — the first compilation on Fahey’s Takoma recordings — Ochs also composed a piece entitled “Imaginational Anthem,” released via the Fonotone label in 1969. The recording was unearthed by Tompkins Square label-head Josh Rosenthal, who contacted Ochs and asked him to re-record the track for a compilation honoring the American primitive guitar tradition, which would also bear the name Imaginational Anthem. Now in its third volume (the latest of which was released earlier this year, along with a box set containing all three), Imaginational Anthem offers a fascinating document of guitar music past and present, revealing the links between luminaries like Ochs, and the newer crop of pickers like Jack Rose and Cian Nugent.

I recently caught up with Ochs via phone to talk about the new record, his life in Annapolis, and his musical evolution over the years. You can read more about Ochs via the previous City Paper feature, written by Mike Keefe-Feldman in 2005, or chat with him yourself tomorrow at the Velvet Lounge. Details for the show below, Q&A after the jump.

Max Ochs
Skeleton$
Kuschty Rye Ergot
Chris Grier

Thursday, December 4th
Velvet Lounge
9:30pm
8$

What was the recording process like for your new album?

I kept going up to a studio in Baltimore, with this guy Ty Ford, he’s very good. I liked Ty because so many sound guys want you to do the vocal and the sound separately, but I had complete freedom — they’d asked me what I wanted to do next, and you know, I’d put a lot of thought into it. I worked so hard on that record, because he kept saying, do you think you could do it better, and I’d do it again, and then he’d say now listen to both and see which one you’d like. and it was very hard to concentrate on which one was better — they were just different. I listened to that tape so much that I got completely sick of it, I couldn’t stand to hear it. So after I finished recording it, it was like a year and a half before I could even stand to hear it again. So it’s just been in the last month, since Josh said it was coming out, and sent me four copies of the new record, and now I’m playing it, and — I like it. But I got so close to it, and I listened to it so repetitively, that I guess I can’t stand to hear the same thing over and over again, I get bored right away.

How long were you recording for the new record?

I’d say it was a little over a year, because I would go up there and record one or two songs, and I was working at the same time. I was working at the anti-poverty agency, Head Start — I worked with low-income people in Anne Arundel county. I was also the Executive Director of the County Conflict Resolution Center, where we trained mediators. And now I teach community college, I teach conflict resolution to mental health workers, I teach a few guitar lessons, and I do some freelance work. But I’m actually collecting social security now, and I’m no longer working full-time.

Has your music since picked up?

Yeah, it has picked up; I’ve been enjoying my music more and more and getting better and better — I’m playing better than I’ve ever played in my life. Although when I’m listening to older recordings of me, I realize that when I was younger, I played faster. I also played with finger picks, which are slippery, stainless steel, plastic and they slide over the steel strings at a very rapid pace. But somewhere along the line I lost the picks, I decided — especially after learning from Mississippi John Hurt — that it was better to play with your fingers. It’s a much more personal way of playing — it’s just my body and the guitar, without those pieces of plastic or steel getting between me and the guitar. But I lost speed — not to mention aging will also slow you down — but I lost that repetition that you get with finger picks. Once and a while I’ll stick the finger picks on just to see if I can still do it. But I don’t care about showing off now, I just care about bringing out the beauty and the feel of the music.

Well, talking about that emphasis on “feeling”: I actually put on Hooray For Another Day on a drive through the mountains last month, and it seemed cultivate an autumn-like air — everything from the tone of your guitar, to the direct references to November in your poems. Did you have Fall in mind when you were recording the album?

I can’t say that I had a particular season in mind, because if you listen to it in the winter, then you might remind you of winter. Certain ragas, you know there are morning ragas and there are evening ragas, and there are probably autumn ragas and summer ragas too. I can’t just answer yes, I had a feeling of fall, because I don’t really know.

In the poem “Muse Sick” [featured on Hooray For Another Day], you emphasize the inspirational powers of scenery and surroundings, and you paint a vivid picture of Maryland farm life in “An Apple Place in Annapolis” — how has life in Maryland influenced you creatively, and how does it work itself into your art?

Well, “An Apple Place in Annapolis” is definitely a Fall poem. As for the scenery, I just thought it was funny, because I knew this person and they kept saying, “Oh look at that sunset, look at those clouds, look at that water, look at those trees, look at those leaves.” And I started thinking, you know, they’re really getting a lot of meaning from this scenery — why is it that scenery so important to you? But it is, it is to me too. It’s definitely a big part of our life, and if you have a waterfront view, you can definitely charge more for your house. [Laughs] So yea, all that stuff is very biographical, and I did sell fresh local produce for a while. I’ve done so many things … I don’t if it’s typical or not — typical of a hippie.

“An Apple Place in Annapolis”:

Were the poems featured on Hooray For Another Day written recently? Why did you choose those four for the record?

I chose about 10, and Josh [Rosenthal] pulled out those four. I keep working on my poems over and over again. I guess now that they’re on the record, I have to leave them alone, because it’s like they’re published. I think I’ve already changed “Crows.” They just go through these incarnations, they evolve. But rather than keep on re-writing old poems, I write new stuff all the time, I’m constantly writing. I’m putting together a book now called “Caws,” because I think of my poems as like sounds — sound is very important being a musician, and sometimes I write more for the ear.

Do most of your poems involve Annapolis?

I like to bring in the place a lot; I like to bring the world into my poems. I like to have things be a story that you can hear, and understand, and be understandable. I’m trying more and more to be accessible. I think in the ’60s and ’70s, a lot of my poems got way out there, maybe like “Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind” — they got a little too obscure, and the symbolism was like personal symbolism, and you couldn’t really expect someone to understand what you’re talking about. Then again, we give people permission just to make these sounds, and call it music, and nobody has a problem with that. But when it comes to words, it’s like numbers, you know? You want to solve the problem and have it come out right, you want it to make sense … It’s like logic, you know? You want to say, “if this, then that.” So with words, you kind of have this expectation that you’re going to come out understanding something, and maybe take you from here to there in your mind. So I’ve tried to be more understandable, more accessible, honest and not just go off on some jibberish of jabberwokky … although I can do that too, just a pure ear poem that makes no sense whatever. I can get into pure sound, without caring at all about “sense,” but I like to balance it. That’s what poetry is — words trying to become music.

“In Christ There Is No East or West” was originally arranged by Fahey, and even “Imaginational Anthem” was a tribute of sorts to Fahey. Can you tell me about your relationship to Fahey?

Yeah, I knew John, and I admired him — I was a little younger than he was. When I lived on the farm in Annapolis, he would come down to our house and sit in the chair, and we would just sit on the floor and watch him, and ask him to show us how he did stuff. He had already put out Blind Joe Death, the first album. He was a haunted man. There was something — a deep sorrow that … you know, he was very friendly, and very nice — a really sweet guy. But I had a feeling that I would never know how to get really close to him. There was some kind of sadness that … and he drank a lot; the few times I was around him he was gulping down lots of bourbon, or he usually had a bottle of whiskey of some kind that he liked. And that just came with the territory, that came with John Fahey.

But I would shyly, hesitatingly come up and show him my progress on the guitar, though I was mainly adulatory, and just would tell him how much I loved “Transcendental Waterfall,” or “Some Summer Day” or just how much I loved his music and how moved I was by it. It was very, very influential on me, and I just drilled my thumb for thousands of hours so that it could be like a Fahey thumb.

“In Christ There Is No East Or West”:

Like Fahey, your music is drawn particularly from the blues, old hymns and spirituals, and even on your new album you have an interpretation of a Fahey arrangement that’s more of an African American spiritual. How did that come to get into your playing, and how has it effected your music over the years?

I’m not very good at keeping things separated into categories or genres. I like what Duke Ellington said, “If it sounds good, it is good.”

I grew up in Annapolis, and there was a lot of music coming out of the black churches which were very close to my house. One night I heard this incredible sound of singing, shouting and tambourines in the summer, I was probably 14, and I started walking to it and it was getting louder and louder and then I was standing in front of it — the Mount Moriah African Methodist Episcopal church. The music was like this magnet that drew me upstairs, so I went upstairs and there was all this really high volume gospel singing with a choir, tambourines and it was really hot — ladies had fans and were fanning themselves. I was the only white guy there, and I had the audacity to sit down in the back, thinking maybe they wouldn’t notice, and the preacher just went “It’s okay, you’re a white guy sitting back there, and it’s OK, you are welcome, this is God’s house, we love everybody,” and he basically just shouted me in, and it was beautiful. There was something so direct and honest about that music, and the feeling that everyone had — they were not ashamed to show their feelings, and not ashamed to clap, or laugh, or shout “Amen,” and I thought it was the most wonderful thing — I was completely happy to participate in it.

How have you seen Fahey’s American primitive style represented in today’s generation of acoustic guitarists like those featured on the Imaginational Anthem compilations?

Well I thought it had kind of faded away, and that I was one of the few people still around that liked it, and kept it alive. I didn’t know aboutl the Jack Roses and the other people that were still doing it. What I did was take a cue from John Fahey — he was like a bridge to these old Charlie Pattons and Mississpi John Hurts and all these people. And I thought, “I’m gonna do what John Fahey did — I’m going back to the source.” The source being all those old records. So I just immersed myself in the old tapes and ’78s, and tried to learn directly from them. Because Fahey was really an interpreter and a golden bridge to that; what he did was teach us how to hear that, how to listen to that. And from there we could step over the bridge into the very territory that he got it from and listen to it ourselves.

In your playing, you also do a lot of ragas and use different tunings. What led you to experiment with incorporating Indian classical music into your sound?

Being the son of a doctor in America, 1955 — here I am, a teenager with an allowance, I had a paper route, I could earn money to go down to the record store and buy these records. I bought Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Kahn, and just played those records over and over, I must have had about 9 or 10 Indian music LPs. I was just listened to them incessantly, along with E. Power Biggs playing organ. I was having a music orgy or something, just rolling around and wrapping myself in all this great music, loving it and letting it form my brain cells, it was going in my ears and changing the shape of my brain or something. I just loved it so much.

Touching on the access that recorded music allowed to the other genres that influenced you back in the ’50s, what do you think of the current state of digital music, and the unprecedented access that the Internet has allowed?

I think it’s wonderful, and I think it should be free. I have lots of cassettes of myself playing at a coffee house, of me playing at somebody’s house or at a gig, or at bar, or just sitting in the living room with a bunch of guys and somebody turns on the tape recorder and made a copy for me. And I have a ton of homemade music that I would love to post to a Web site and be like Radiohead, you know, what they did with their last album where they said to download and pay us whatever you think it’s worth. If you wanna take it for free, if you wanna give me a dollar, fifty cents, whatever, it’s fine. And I would really be quite content to do that.

“Cryin’ Sometime” (home recording, previously unreleased):


As far as musicians making a living off of selling a record is concerned, do you think that particular model of digital distribution is a good direction for music to be taking?

People are going to get their music one way or another — they have a hunger, an appetite for it. They’re gonna find music and there’s so much of it now. I mean, the Beatles are never gonna disappear — Beethoven, Bach, Blind Willie Johnson, John Fahey — they’re never gonna disappear, they’re here for the rest of civilization’s existence. So it’s a cumulative thing, new musicians will come up and find ways to get their stuff on iTunes that can be downloaded.

But people say, “Don’t you wanna get money for your CD’s?” Well actually, I would be happy if people were listening to my music, at least to the extent that people would invite me to come play at a concert. But even when I wasn’t playing at gigs or at venues, I was still sitting in my kitchen playing for my dog, or on my back steps — I just love to play. I’m not worried about the music industry, it will find a way, it will sort itself out. There will be ways for musicians to make money, you’ll get played for playing when you go to a gig, and the musicians will sell their records at the gigs, and maybe musicians will adopt that Radiohead mode where they put it on the internet and if people want their music, they can download it and pay what they think is fair to pay, what they think it’s worth.

But here’s the other thing: You’re talking to a non-typical musician. Most of the time when you interview a musician, they’re doing it for a living, they’ve committed themselves full-time and they’re really brave leaping into that experience where they’re going to try to see if they can make it as a musician. I never had that much faith in myself, that I could be that competitive in the market. I play just because it brings me great joy, and I’m just grateful that people like to listen. I worked in the anti-poverty agency at a steady job and when I could find the time I would practice my music and write a song, and if I was lucky, I would get a gig. That’s how I bumbled through decades, and all this that’s going on now is wonderful and interesting. It’s like now I’ve been validated to the extent that it seems people enjoy listening to me, and it’s amazing, and great, and I’m so happy that they do.

In The Lap Of The Gods is fairly interesting symphonic prog number, but still rather lightweight. Pyramania is so horrible that it hurts my brain! Skip this one unless you want to go seriously insane! Hyper-Gamma Spaces is an instrumental that could have been a theme song to some cartoon.

The last song is a symphonic ballad, decent but forgetable.

As always with the Project, this album is very well-produced and overall very well-crafted. But that is not enough to make a good album.

Only for fans and collectors this one.

by SouthSideoftheSky


PARSONS PROJECT, ALAN Music Online:
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• GEMM, Vinyl Records & CDs Rare Albums (Out of Print and Imports)
• AMAZON, find cheap, used and new stuff with the marketplace
• eBay, used or new | bid or buy now

Last summer one the band's founding members, Pamela Morgan, led the group in a 25th anniversary party at the Writer's Festival at Woody Point in Bonne Bay Newfoundland, the former Orange Lodge -- the building itself had just turned 100.

Band alumni Kelly Russell, Dave Panting, Phil Dinn, Frank Maher and George Morgan were there, and  the concert also served as a Duff tribute featuring an all star guest list including Daniel Payne, Sylvia Tyson, Ron Hynes and Ellen Power.

You can hear the music that was played that night this night, Wednesday evening, on Canada Live (8 p.m.).

Please keep reading for the rest of the day's broadcast highlights:

Radio 2 Morning (6 a.m.-10 a.m.) TBA

Tempo (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.) A "Tempo Live" with the final concert of the CBC Radio Orchestra, before taking on the new name of the National Broadcast Orchestra. Conductor Alain Trudel leads this vibrant orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Also, just after 11:00, Camille Saint-Saens' 3rd Violin Concerto, performed by Phillipe Graffin and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Radio 2 Drive (3 p.m.-6 p.m.) Drive says "Happy 60th Birthday Ozzy Osbourne!" with a double birthday shot for the man that includes The Beatles and Emm Gryner.

Tonic (6 p.m.) Tim Tam continues his week long guest hosting gig with some "mumbles, scat and nonsense lyrics," and a spotlight on American songwriter Johnny Mercer.

Canada Live (8 p.m.) [See Top Of Post] Additionally, Concert 2: Newfoundland singer songwriters Anne Devine and Craig Young, performing inside the walls of her Majesty's Penitentiary in St. John's Concert 3: Jazz pianist and composer Bill Brennan and friends.

The Signal (10 p.m.) Using everything from running water to styrofoam to recordings of brain waves, the Quebec collective Sonde (sorry, could not find a proper website, but that link will at least give you some info...) spent the late seventies and early eighties sculpting sound through installations and electroacoustic improvisation. Now, a new CD collects their material for the first time since 1978, and Laurie samples it tonight.

Nightstream (1:00 a.m./1:30 NT) Laurel MacDonald; Newton Faulkner; Mychael Danna

The holidays are soon upon us. With the economy on shaky ground and folks feeling edgy, World Music Central has worked especially hard in finding some good deals for our readers. With many retailers looking to make any kind of sale, World Music Central readers can look forward to some decent discounts this season and some deals on shipping. I have included prices on many of these items, but it’s early yet and many retailers are getting nervous. I wouldn’t be surprised to find some super-duper sales knocking down many of these prices and free shipping offers springing up all over the place.

Let’s get started with music and our contributors’ top ten picks.

Our audio equipment picks this year include:

Apple’s iPod Touch, available in the 8, 16 and 32 GB capacities priced at $219.48, $289.48 and $379.48. With hours of song, photos and video all at a finger’s touch, this iPod’s got the goods with a 3.5-inch, multi-touch display screen with a 480 x 320-pixel resolution.

The iPod Nano with a 4 GB capacity that allows you to play hours of music or up to 5 hours of television shows, movies and podcasts comes in at a nice $113.50 price tag for those on a tighter budget.

The real steal is the Apple iPod Shuffle. Priced at $47.37, this little baby’s got a 240 song capacity that just right for the price.

Zune Player’s got some delightful treats available with the $229.51 Zune 120 GB Video MP3 Player that holds up to 30,000 songs and connects to your home wireless network. Don’t forget the Zune Pass subscription service for thousands of songs and CDs. There’s also the Zune 8 GB Digital Media Player priced at $136.45 that allows for the storage of 2,000 songs, 25,000 photos or 25 hours of video.

Looking to be a little more cost conscious, there’s some equally rated items like the SanDisk Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Player with MicroSD Expansion Slot. Priced at $66.33, this MP3 player has 4 GB of memory, comes with FM tuner with recording capability and a voice recorder. There’s also the SanDisk Sansa Clip 1 GB MP3 Player  with a very reasonable price tag of $29.51. With up to 15 hours of play, a rechargeable battery, a FM tuner and USB 2.0 port to transfer files, this one more than reasonably priced. The SanDisk Sansa Clip 4 GB MP3 Player with its 4GB capacity, FM tuner, up to 15 continuous hours of MP3, WMA or Audible file play and rechargeable battery, is priced at a cool $59.99. With varying storage capacities, features and subscription deals, finding the right MP3 for the right price has become relatively easy, but checking out the consumer ratings is always suggested.

Looking for CD players? There are plenty of these out there with some nice prices as well. At $29.99 there’s theEmerson PD5098 Portable CD Player with AM/FM Radio that has a front load feature and an LCD indicator. You can step up to the Emerson PD6560BL Portable CD-RW Player with Digital Tuning AM/FM Stereo Receiver for $49.44. This CD player’s got a programmable memory system to program favorite tracks or preset radio stations and a stereo cassette recorder plus a remote.

Now if you are looking to upgrade your system, you might want to check out the JVC XL-FZ258BK 5-CD Changer. Priced at $121.20, this one has a 5-disc capacity, optical digital audio output and continuous play and smart random play.

For those of who are still mooning over the stacks of vinyls that have been relegated to the attic, why not join the many who are returning to the good old turntable. Sony has the Sony PSLX250H Turntable. You’ll be playing those 33-1/3’s and 45’s in no time. There’s also the very reasonable priced $62.88 Audio Technica AT-PL50 Belt Drive Turntable or the Audio-Technica AT-PL120 Professional Direct-Drive Turntable priced at $190.45. Or maybe you just want to go all out with the Audio Technica AT-LP2DUSP LP-to-Digital Recording System with USB. Priced at $85.04, this baby will let you create MP3, WAV, WMA files while removing the imperfections of the LP with software compatible to both Macs and PCs. This would be a great gift for the music junkie with a collection of LPs stashed in a corner.

In music software there’s the Music Ace Deluxe priced at $49.99 that has been designed by music professionals and comes with lessons in theory, rhythm, pitch, note reading and allows the user to compose and listen to his or her own music. There’s also Finale Songwriter priced at $42.99 allows the budding songwriter add chords, harmonies and drums and then save the whole thing to MP3 format. Harmonic Vision Music Ac or Music Maker 14 or the Super Duper Music Looper geared toward kids might be options for your gift list.

Now, this wouldn’t be any kind of gift guide if I didn’t include Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle With Guitar (for PC) and versions for PlayStation 2’s or Nintendo Wii’s Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Wireless Bundle. There’s also the World Tour and Rock’s the 80’s versions. If that weren’t enough Rock Band has come out with a special edition and expansion kit for you’re rock and roll pleasure.

This year I’ve chosen a number of music releases from the label Music for Little People. There’s some great music for kids by some well-known artists that will have your wee ones up and dancing about the house.

• Papa's Dream by Los Lobos and Music for Little People
• A Child's Celebration Of The World by Various Artists - Children's Music and Music for Little People
• Big Blues: Blues Music for Kids by Music for Little People
• Uni Verse of Song: Spanish by Maria Del Rey and Music for Little People
• Shakin' a Tailfeather by Taj Mahal, Music for Little People, Linda Tillery & The Cultural Heritage Choir, and Eric Bibb
• A Child's Celebration of Folk Music by Music for Little People
• Uni Verse Of Song: French
• Gift Of The Tortoise: A Musical Journey Through Southern Africa by Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Music for Little People

To make their musical experience interactive you should check out some of the following musical toy gifts:

• BeBoP Kidz Animal Bells Childs Rhythm Set
• Melissa and Doug Band in a Box
• BeBoP Kidz World Rhythm Experience
• Jumpin’ Banana Finger Beats DJ Mixer Portable Music System
• 3/4 Size Mini Acoustic with Gig Bag
• Kid Toy Animal Band Keyboard Musical Piano 30 Functions
• Fisher-Price Elmo’s Musical Peek-a-Boo Gym
• Electronic Preschool Guitar
• Childrens's Cool Music Maker Toy Keyboard
• Multicultural Rhythm Set
• Hohner Folk Guitar - 30" reshipper box

Now if you have an adult that acts like a child you might want to get the Desktop Finger Drums Kit. This tiny drum kit is just adorable for the music lover who needs a little fun at the office.

If your budget allows for some higher end items I would head over to Novica.com. They have some spectacular artwork. Musicians for Peace by artist Juan Carlos Ñañake is simply stunning. The West African Strings of Joy  by Emmanuel Tetteh Pecku is equally extraordinary. There is also the Balinese artist Nyoman Sedayatana’s wood sculpture, Saraswati, Goddess of the Arts. Browse Novica's catalog.

Novica also has some nicely priced instruments that would make lovely gifts, like the $39.95 set of 3 ceramic flutes, Ancient Animals , Song of the Andes quena flute, also for $39.95 or the $59.95 Thai wood gong, Powerful Rhythm. For a real deal there is the set of 5 ceramic Christmas Ocarinas . These Andean Christmas tree ornaments are beautifully decorated and cost a mere $29.66. There are many other instruments from artisans from all over the world and because of Novica’s association with National Geographic you know that the money is going to these wonderful instrument makers and artists. Browse Novica's catalog.

Wolfgang’s Vault has all music and concert collectibles you could possibly want. T-shirts, photographs, posters and memorabilia are just a click away. You’ll find everyone from Steve Riley to Ry Cooder to Ali Farka Toure to Baaba Maal to B.B. King. With live streaming music pulled from the Bill Graham Archives, the King Biscuit Flower Hour and Record Plant, there’s concert recordings played here that simply can’t be heard anywhere. Browse Wolfgang's Vault catalog.

Our books on music list includes:

• Traveling Spirit Masters: Moroccan Gnawa Trance and Music in the Global Marketplace by Deborah Kapchan
• Dub: Soundscapes and Shatter Songs in Jamaican Reggae by Michael Veal
• Sensational Knowledge: Embodying Culture through Japanese Dance by Tomie Hahn
• The Reggae Scrapbook by Roger Steffens and Peter Simon
• Tango Songs From the Soul of Buenos Aires and Beyond  edited by Donald Cohen
• Thousand Mile Song: Whale Music in a Sea of Sound by David Rothenberg
• This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin
• Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks
• All You Need To Know About the Music Business: 6th Edition by Donald S. Passman

For DVDs you might want to check out some of these fabulous music movies:

• Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam
• Wijdan: Mystery of Gnawa Trance Music
• Laya Project: The Movie
• Carlos Santana Plays Blues at Montreux 2004
• Ray Charles – Live at Montreux 1997 [Blu-ray] or regular DVD  Ray Charles - Live At Montreux 1997
• Eva Ayllón Live from Hollywood
• Roots Rock Reggae - Inside the Jamaican Music Scene
• Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends

Amazon.com has some great deals on magazine subscriptions, so you might want give a year’s subscription to one of these music magazines to the person who hates everything:

• Songlines (world music publication)
• Rolling Stone (U.S. edition)  or Rolling Stone - Australian Edition or Rolling Stone - German Edition
• Spin
• Vibe
• Under The Radar
• The Wire
• Relix Magazine
• Bluegrass Unlimited
• Blues Revue

As I always do in these gift guides, I’m going to suggest that you to check out the touring schedules of your local clubs, universities and arts centers for up coming concerts. A pair of concert tickets just might be the perfect gift for those special people in your lives. Giving a gift certificate for some music lessons or maybe some dance lessons also might be an affordable choice and certainly brighten up the cold days of January.

Let me also remind you about those folks who might not be on your list, but who could really use the help. Know that dusting off and donating that old clarinet or guitar in your attic would be a welcomed gift to any school music program. Also, please remember our favorite charities like VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, Freemuse.org and the Music Maker Relief Foundation. These organizations are such good causes and you are such good people, I know that you’ll try to give what you can to keep the music alive.

As always, World Music Central hopes that this guide has pointed you in the right direction for that perfect gift or reminded you to update your own wish list. We hope that you have a safe and wonderful, music-filled holiday season.

Concrete Djz are FILIP XAVI - DJ MITA - MATSURA - DJ LUKA. Ever since they came together these guys are on a mission of pushing forward the techno sound in Serbia . The DJ’s behind Concrete Djz became involved with electronic music around the year 2000. One thing led to another and in 2003, as residents of Club Akademija,the idea came to create a group now known as the Concrete Djz.

Since then they have been responsible for numerous organized parties in Serbia in the period of 2003. - 2007. In this period their sound could have been heard on events and locations like EXIT festival Serbia, Ovo je Moj Grad MTV festival Serbia, Dance Industry Studios London, The Orange Peel Wales, Nightgrooves Croatia, Proactive Montenegro, Kommunity London …

Their style is TECHNO free of boundaries yet defined ,ranging from dark beats to pounding grooves as they combine the most diverse elements of the sound into a whole with an edge on power and intelligence.

Next to performing and producing they are also successfuly running radio show Beton and Armatura Records.

2008 Will feature new appearances on Submissions and Hardsignal and debute releases for Crowbar Records,Compound and Beatboost.

01. Tony Rohr - Fem - Drumcode
02. Luka Baumann - Feast - Return Records
03. Paul Boex - Sjeknek - Return Records
04. Steve Stoll - Zero Point Crossings II - FAX +49-69/450 464
05. Charlton - Brain Frequency - Teskoba Recordings
06. Jeroen Search - First Aspect - Return Records
07. Carlos Rios - Laggspaning - Hardsignal Records
08. Concrete Djz - True Story - Crowbar Records
09. Luka Baumann - Estetika Stroja - Armatura Clandestine
10. Patrick DSP - Techno Past - Unreleased
11. Subotic - Relentless [Concrete Djz RMX] - Unreleased
12. The Divide - In Your Mind - Armatura Clandestine
13. Concrete Djz - Takeover - Mastertraxx
14. Concrete Djz - X3M - Hardsignal Records
15. Primal - Subversion - Unreleased
16. Filip Xavi - 7th Dream - Return Records
17. C.Rios & O.Kucera - Centraal Station - Contradiction
18. Glenn Wilson - Industrial Control - Unknown Forces
19. The Divide - Category 5 - Armatura Clandestine
20. Mika Droid & Lag - Drvo - Armatura Clandestine
21. Dj Ogi - Kamen - Armatura Records
22. Concrete Djz - Behind The Curtains - Unreleased
23. Grovskopa - Sex & Violins [Surgeon RMX] - Token Records
24. Too Young Too Know - Nymph - Unreleased
25. Makaton - Emergence 9 RMX - Emergence Records

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As a ('credit crunch' affected) splurge of Christmas shopping swamps people for the next three weeks, the internet will be swarmed by the end-of-year awards from MOGgers, bloggers and anyone with a brain, a computer and an opinion. With 2008 almost at an end, music fans will debate such burning questions as whether trying to polish a turd for 14 years doth make a good rock record, the possibility we'll never hear a half-decent Weezer album again - at the very least - and who the f**k could be roped in by a Led Zeppelin tour sans Bonzo and Plant (and who'd kid themselves that Kennedy could do any better).

So, without further ado, here is RobinPlaysChords' first end-of-2008 list:

BEST ALBUM

10. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie

Whilst not quite reaching the heady highs of Milk Man or Apple O, Deerhoof's ninth studio album bursts at the seams with noisy, off-kilter pop. No longer seen as out-and-out oddballs, the disonnance of The Man, The King, The Girl is now seen as an ingredient to their music, as opposed to the only audio meal offered.

9. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles

2008 is the year that Steven Ellison cemented his place as one of hip-hop's bright young things. Taking a similar audio stance to 2007's Reset EP, Los Angeles seethes with crackling beats and hardly-there ambience that sit like cocoons in your ears, which is a rather lovely feeling to have.

8. Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight

Three years after the release of the critic-dividing The Secret Migration, Mercury Rev strike gold. It swandives and soars from note to note, taking the listener to places where only Mercury Rev could go with success, and where others couldn't tread without failure. On a level with the seminal All Is Dream.

7. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Further proof that Nick and chums have been doing rather well since the depature of Blixa Bargeld. The follow-up to Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus is a voyage through a Houdini that only Cave could put into words. Warren Ellis was possibly the best addition to what is often seen as God's Own Band.

6. Moussu T & Lei Jouvents - Home Sweet Home

An album picked up in the last month off the back of the ridiculously catchy 'Labour Song' being played on Radio 3's Late Junction. A beautiful album that wears its Catalan roots on its sleeve, Home Sweet Home evokes images of a hot, dusty Marseille street, and that's possibly the perfect description for this album.

5. Onra - Chinoiseries

A French hip-hop producer goes to South Asia, buys a truckload of damaged vinyl, and then goes home to twin it with some of the best beats of the year. 'Here Come The Flutes' and 'What Up Duyet?' are prime examples of songs that display their South Asian roots, but have an international dancefloor appeal.

4. The Fun Years - Baby, It's Cold Inside

If Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas' album Songs To No One had been put in the hands of Efrim Menuck, you may be somewhere close to the sound of The Fun Years. An album of daring post-rock that only touches on the genre's templates, and instead opts to lead you into a fascinating audio collage.

4. Radiohead - In Rainbows
(Technically released in record shops on New Year's Day, thus it counts as 2008!)

With said technicality in mind, over-exposure has been unkind to some songs (especially 'Jigsaw Falling Into Place'), but when they can mix up the fuzzy guitar riffs of 'Bodysnatchers' with the heart-stoppingly beautiful 'Reckoner', who the hell would complain about that? Still a masterpiece.

2. Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

Everybody's favourite "slow-motion" rock band made a conscientious effort to have fun, and from the thumping drums and handclaps on Gobbledigook', they certainly succeeded in doing so. 'Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur' is gloriously up-tempo pop, whilst the intimacy of 'All Alright' sends shivers down your spine.

1. Goldmund - The Malady Of Elegance
(RobinPlaysChords' album of the year)

From the delicate opening track 'Image-Autumn-Womb' onwards, Keith Kenniff's  piano lines take you to places of simple, ambient beauty. Any additional timbre gently lifts the atmosphere beyond words. A perfect record for late-Autumn/mid-Winter nights - or any night, for that matter.

So Far to Fall, the B-side, isn't nearly as interesting a song, though it is somewhat better than other numbers on this album as well as most of the Lake material from Works Volume 1. The lyrics on this one are, to put it bluntly, quite terrible. About the only thing I find that saves this song is the interesting use of brass instruments in a somewhat jazzy big band feel.

Interesting songs, but still a far cry from what ELP had been. A typical ELP single from the time period only of interest to die-hard fans, collectors, and completionists. Two stars.

by progaardvark


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From Chicago’s Umbrella Music:

Wednesday, 3 December 2008
The Hideout
10:00PM | Rempis/Kessler
Dave Rempis - saxophones
Kent Kessler - bass
11:00PM | Adasiewicz/Abrams/Herndon
Jason Adasiewicz - vibes
Josh Abrams - bass
John Herndon - drums
$6 cover
PLUS | DJ Sets: Peter Margasak spins Balkanization

Thursday, 4 December 2008
Elastic
10:00PM | Tim Daisy Ensemble
Tomeka Reid - cello
Erica Dicker - violin
Jeff Kimmel - bass clarinet
Tim Daisy - marimba, percussion
11:00PM | .blink
Greg Ward - alto saxophone
Dave Miller - guitar
Jeff Greene - bass
Quin Kirchner - drums

Sunday, 7 December 2008
The Hungry Brain
10:00PM | Jackson/Stein/Labycz/Kimmel
Keefe Jackson - reeds
Jason Stein - bass clarinet
Jeff Kimmel - bass clarinet
Brian Labycz - electronics
two sets

Wednesday, 10 December 2008
The Hideout
10:00PM | Rammel/Lonberg-Holm/Mallozzi/Zerang
Hal Rammel - invented instruments
Fred Lonberg-Holm - cello
Lou Mallozzi - turntables, samples
Michael Zerang - percussion
two sets
$6 cover
PLUS | DJ Sets: Cocanig vs. Jablonski: The Classic Rock Off

Thursday, 11 December 2008
Elastic
10:00PM | Nick Mazzarella Trio
Nick Mazzarella - alto saxophone
Anton Hatwich - bass
Frank Rosaly - drums
11:00PM | Alex Wing Group
Nicole Mitchell - flutes
Keefe Jackson - reeds
Ben Boye - piano
Alex Wing - guitar, oud, moog
Junius Paul - bass
Frank Rosaly - drums

Sunday, 14 December 2008
The Hungry Brain
10:00PM | Toby Summerfield Group
Toby Summerfield - guitar
Matt Lux - guitar
Nick Broste - trombone
Jaimie Branch - trumpet
Katie Wiegman - vibes
John Herndon - drums
two sets

The Muslims were a SXSW/CMJ fav in 2008, bringing a raw brand of straight up rock to the otherwise experimental current indie scene. The Soft Pack is the band’s new name, which changed today due to rather vague circumstances. Regardless, both the original name and the sudden name change were enough to send me clicking around for some more info and some tunes.

The video for “Extinction” (a track featured on the band’s Vinyl/CD self titled 2008 release) was put together by singer Matt Lamkin and friends. “If you give me a gun/I’ll point at you” is no empty threat. The jackets for the LP were actually shot by a former NYPD officer. Like, with a gun. This reminds me of The Clash…if they got really wasted at Lou Reed’s house. And then recorded a song. Or something. It’s just a cool song. I was told I’m supposed to verbose at this age.

I’d like to welcome this to my brain for the rest of the day.