Dub Spencer and Trance Hill

Kim Kirkpatrick: When I first learned of Dub Spencer and Trance Hill's releases, I wanted to check them out based on their name as much as what little music information I had about them. With my love of dub, electronica, and atmospheric music, "Dub" and "Trance" in their moniker was enough for me to give them a listen. Dub Spencer and Trance Hill have released three CDs, all on the Echo Beach label: Nitro (2006), Return Of The Supercops (2007), and Riding Strange Horses (2009). All three releases are grounded on a foundation of dub, and consistently have thick, palpable atmospheres.

Dub Spencer and Trance Hill's line up on Nitro (2006) is three Swiss musicians; Adrian Pflugshaupt (electronica, keyboards, sax), Marcel Stalder (bass and ampeg), and Christian Niederer (drums). Nitro drifts along at an unusually slow pace, spacey, filled with delay effects and plate reverb. Shifting and swirling motions of electronica are also a major element on Nitro's tracks. In general this release leans towards Progressive Rock/Jazz, comparable to Bill Laswell, Nicky Skopelitis, Moerlin's Gong, and John Scofield's rock leanings. This release also has significant amounts of extended saxophone playing on the tracks, always played through various effects. Personally, I generally find saxophone in Progressive Jazz/Rock music boring if not actually annoying, perhaps this is a personal problem but I feel compelled to point it out. Though Adrian Pflugshaupt's sax playing is as heavily effect's laden as John Klemmer he plays with the intelligence and coolness of The Lounge Lizard's John Lurie. Which hopefully indicates that even if you can relate to my sax difficulties it should not deter you from checking out Nitro.

Dub Spencer and Trance Hill's second release is Return Of The Supercops (2007). The group's commitment to dub music continues to be expressed here and their affinity for the genre is evident through out. The title, Return Of The Supercops references dub master Lee "Scratch" Perry's Return Of The Super Ape(1978) release. This second recording from Dub Spencer and Trance Hill really brings to the fore front their love of the spaghetti western genre, visible in the group's cover art for this second release and in their name (check out Bud Spencer and Terence Hill).

This is an amazingly well done blend of numerous genres -- Ennio Morricone's classic soundtracks for Sergio Leone movies, dub styles from several decades, electronica, a touch of tango, jazz guitar, shredding rock guitar. I even thought I was hearing a few bars of Tom Verlaine's "Clear It Away" buried in the first track, "Dublerone". The willingness to move at a particularly slow and pleasurable pace is once again present, along with a seemingly infinite number of guitar, electronic, and studio effects (I cannot over emphasize the amount of reverb and delay on these tracks). The line up changes for this second release with only Marcel Stalder (bass, vocals, dub) carried over from the first release. He is joined by Philipp Greter (organ, keyboards, dub), Julian Dillier (drums, dub), and most notably Markus Meier (guitar, vocals, dub). Guitar is prominent on this second release and I enjoy Meier's diverse tones and playing styles. He plays percussively, with clear and precise notes, but also with feeling. During a recent listen I was struck by his consistent use of staccato rhythms, and the overall clarity and lightness of the band's playing.

Riding Strange Horses (2009) is the third release from Dub Spencer and Trance Hill, with heavily reworked, dubbed out cover versions of pop classics going back three decades. Originals by The Clash, Falco, Genesis, Deep Purple, Morricone, Metallica, Martha and The Muffins, The Ruts, Burroughs, and others are covered. Of particular interest is the rerecording of the vocals for much of the material covered on Riding Strange Horses. Martha Johnson sings on "Echo Beach", Ken Boothe on "When I Fall In Love", and Lee "Scratch" Perry on a version of "Blackboard Jungle". If you find the concept of this release interesting then I encourage you to check it out. Like the other two Dub Spencer and Trance Hill releases, this one is subtle, tasteful, intelligently created and performed. 21st century Dub/Electronica music performed by Swiss musician's released on a German label, how can you not check them out?

Happy Birthday Anthony Braxton

Bob Burnett: Composer, multi-instrumentalist and musical game-changer Anthony Braxton turned 65 this week. The event was celebrated in New York City on the stage of Le Poisson Rouge by cohorts and admirers. NPR has graciously posted a write up as well as two sets from the concert. I'm posting the set that brought together a surprise visit by Anthony Braxton with Gerry Hemingway, Mark Dresser and Marilyn Crispell. This group made up what I consider one of the most formidable quartets in contemporary music. They played/recorded extensively in the '80s and were the subject of Graham Lock's book Forces in Motion (highly recommended...I attached a link)

I was fortunate to discover Braxton in about 1978 thanks to the Arista Freedom series of releases. My enthusiasm for his work only increases and grows deeper with time. Happy listening--this is a great moment.

C60 Crew Music Mix: Indoor Swimming at the Space Station

Bob Burnett: Kim starts the summer season with a velvety mix; lots of texture, layer and float that brings to me thoughts of slow motion Good Humor trucks, the sun melting clouds, thunder storms and that oh so heavenly softness of the evening air brought to you thanks to Kim's sense of melody, pop hooks, chord progressions and admirable knowledge of all things real.

Indoor Swimming At The Space Station by C60crew on Mixcloud

Cortez In The Classroom

Kim Kirkpatrick: An afternoon conversation at home with my daughter:

7th grade daughter, "Dad you know that song you play about Cortez?"

Dad, " "Cortez The Killer", what about it?"

10th grade sister bolts from her room and says, "Cool song, Neil Young should get an award for writing so many songs that make you cry."

7th grade daughter, "My Social Studies teacher played it for the class today."

Dad, "Really, why did he do that?"

7th grade daughter, "We were studying Cortez and he played the song, gave us the lyrics, and ask us to write about it.

Dad, "Write about Cortez?"

7th grade daughter, " No, we could write about how Neil Young felt about the Aztecs or Cortez."

10th grade daughter, "Cool, he's a cool teacher I liked his class."

Dad, "Which did you pick to write about?'

7th grader, "How he felt about the Aztecs."

Dad, "Good choice."

It Might Get Loud

Bob Burnett: I finally watched the film It Might Get Loud recently via Netflix on their "watch instantly" streaming media outlet. The film was directed by Davis Guggenheim, son of the late Charles Guggenheim who was probably the closest thing I ever have had to a professional role model. You may recall that It Might Get Loud brought together three "groundbreaking" guitar players: Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame, The Edge of the brand known as U2 and Jack White, the Detroit upholsterer who re-created the spirit of Son House via The White Stripes. There are wonderful moments in the individual segments; Jimmy Page playing a 45 of Link Wray's Rumble, Jack White talking about Son House, the Detroit neighborhood he grew up in and his desire to play cheap, beat-up impedence-laden guitars. I have nothing to add about The Edge/U2 beyond he seems like a "nice guy" and all but...U2 is just another media advertising campaign telling me how white my shirts can be as far as I'm concerned.

There's musical sharing between the three guitarists--but in a set-up environment where they are brought together summit-style, put under lights, sat in chairs and expected to be brilliant. I could have done without that contrivance, but I'm sure that was the vehicle for getting the whole enterprise funded. The film is shot nicely (Director of Photography is Washington, DC's Erich Roland) and kept simple, thoughtful and easily watchable. However, a week after the viewing and the inevitable post-screen pondering, I've come to the conclusion that the model of a musician portrayed (well.....I'll give Jack White a bit of a pass here...) doesn't really connect with what I find interesting in music and musicians today. These guys come across, like it or not, as rock stars; lots of pricey gear, schedules to keep, entourages, involved recording projects, on and on.

My takeaways after watching this film made me focus more keenly on how much I like artists who keep nimble in mobile, internet-savvy worlds either self-releasing via PayPal or using the web as an informational tool self-promoting their activities, gigs, releases, work.

A few examples to make my point: Christopher Willits and Rafael Toral. Both Willits and Toral have excellent web sites where you can download music for a very reasonable price (Toral has an interesting subscription service), keep abreast of their activities, collaborations and output. This flexibility allows them to take chances, be open to the creative process and not be at the whim and fancy of record labels, huge 18-wheeler laden tours or controlled publicity machines. I see the work of Toral and Willits taking the next step in what the improvisational trio AMM did by creating their own label (Matchless) to allow themselves as much control as possible.

So, I'd say watch the film...but....go to the other web sites I highlighted and see if they offer you a more contemporary connection to music.

C60 Crew Music Mix: Weaving Resonances

Bob Burnett: Today's C60 music mix is due in part to my continued discovery of sound design artists who weave sonics and textures together to create very satisfying listening experiences for me. 12k, the very fine label of Taylor Deupree, offers up a duet project between Deupree and Savvas Ysattis. I dip into some other old stand bys: Tape, Nels Cline, Mark Dresser, Tortoise and William Basinski. A few new offerings appear too: Minoru Sato's tone study on Spekk--another very fine label I keep finding more and more adventurous and likable releases. Enjoy--and thanks for listening.

Weaving Resonances by C60crew on Mixcloud

C60 Crew Music Mix: "Days on the Mountain"

Bob Burnett: Kim has put together a nice mix that is an hour of drifting atmospheres, culture shifts, music from minimal to thick with beats and rhythm. The beauty for me in this mix is the wide-open production on many of the cuts, the spacious sound and the ability by the artists to let the grooves grow, evolve and make great use of long expanses of time. Plays well at the desk and I bet you could even get away with listening at work! I first listened to this mix while watching night fall on Shanghai from a beautiful viewpoint; a 17th floor window with a panorama of the Pudong neighborhood. Maybe that colored my point of view but I doubt it; it's working for me as I type on a rainy, gray Washington, DC day too.

Enjoy--BB

Days On The Mountain by C60crew on Mixcloud