We went to see the modernism exhibition at the Powerhouse a little while ago. Well, we actually went to have a look at The Museum, and this exhibition was on. It was, overall, dull. And not terribly well curated, I don’t think. But it had some fully sick stuffs in it. I was, of course, captured by the 20s stuff. But also by the late 19th century bits.
I have the beginnings of a full blown Thing for olden days Australiana. I like the stylised kangaroos. Flipping through a design/architecture magazine at the sports specialist a little while ago, I was struck by the set and prop design for the ill-fate Lurhman ‘Australia’. Gorgeous. There’s something about the super-kitchness of Australian animals (with their utterly bizarre physiology) done up by art deco or modernism (don’t really know the difference between the two, I’m afraid). I like the way the bizarre is made streamlined and beautiful. The way a kangaroo is styled up like a greyhound.
Category Archives: digging
mercy dee walton’s Pity And A Shame and mildred anderson’s No More In Life
Finally, my emusic month rolled over, and there was goodness to be had. Unfortunately 50 songs doesn’t go that far when you have a wish list as long as mine. At the moment that list is divided equally between spankin’ olden days jazz from the 20s and 30s and saucy hi-fi blues from the 50s and 60s. Well, actually, the list is weighted towards the olden days stuff. Because I just can’t get enough of the Chronological Classics – it’s a little bit exciting to have them available.
Mercy Dee Walton’s Pity and a Shame is making me very happy. Hi-fi 60s blues, piano + harmonica + vocals. Kind of sparse instrumentally, but with a big, fat hi-fi sound. Perfect for blues dancing. Also, fixing my need for saucy blues.
Mildred Anderson’s No More In Life
This woman has an amazing voice. I’m also enjoying the superior quality of these recordings: stereo! It’s been a long time since I bought something in stereo. It’s a bit exciting. And caught be my surprise, the first time something different came out of the second speaker. Both are from the Fantasy/Prestige label on emusic. This is some special stuff.
I’m also thinking of both these with blues dancing in mind. Not mine (as I am still MIA with fuckingshit injury), but other people’s.
You know, it’s actually a lot easier finding music for blues dancers. The time period is looser – I’m working between the 20s and the current day, though I’m heavier in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. There was just such a wealth of nice, fat blues action recorded. The swinging stuff I need for lindy hop (mostly late 20s, 30s and 40s, with some time in the 50s) is a lot harder to find, and it’s also a lot trickier to judge the quality. Quality as in recording quality, but also (and more importantly) quality for actual dancing. Perhaps my standards are just lower for blues dancing. Or perhaps Australian blues dancers just have lower expectations of their DJs. At any rate, with all this lovely blues music available (and relatively easy to find – both online and in music shops), why is it that we have to listen to bullshitty ‘blues fusion’, trance, etc at blues dances? I know other people are into it, but it just shits me. If I wanted that action, I’d go listen to some decent DJing by hardcore trance/fusion DJs who really knew their shit. And I wouldn’t be dancing the naff blues partner dancing to that shiz. No way.
… I guess I’m a little cranky about this stuff at the moment – I can’t dance to anything, so it’s horrible watching people waste their lucky dancingness on bullshit music.
Sigh.
I am cranky.
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
This is how I danced at sharon Jones and the Dap Kings last night:
…well, I would have if we weren’t mashed in like sardines. Even though I’m still injured, that’s how I would have danced. If I’d had room.
It was great. The Ray Mann 3 were pretty ordinary, but SJ&DK were freakin’ AWESOME.
CW Stoneking
CW Stoneking reminds me more of Beck (when he was doing all the ol’ timey blues stuff characterised best by his album One Foot In The Grave) than of anyone else.
Nor do I think Stoneking sounds ‘black’ – he sounds like one of those good ole boys from somewhere in the south. It’s something in his timing or his phrasing… something in the way he treats timing. I keep thinking of that line I read somewhere, that music reflects the vocal or linguistic structures of the people who create it. Singing ‘black’ is more than adding in an accent. It’s about intonation and a subtler sense of pitch – more than just going ‘up’ and the end a sentence to make something sound Australian.
Anyways, I scored both his CDs for christmas from The Squeeze and I like them both a lot.
be good tanyas
Emusic is doing more than just bringing me good jazz, blues and soul. It’s also reminding me of my passion for bluegrass and ‘American traditionals’. I bought the Be Good Tanyas’ first album when I first moved to Melbourne. I think I lasered the grooves out of it.
I’m afraid to look at Amanda‘s list. I know I’ll only add a zillion albums to my Want list.
That 250gb of birthday computer space isn’t going to last too long at this rate.
swingstyrke 7 Right On!
Danish Goodness continued. This Swingstyrke 7 album was recorded live in 2007 and it’s great. Still lots of late Basie, but some other action as well, including a version of ‘Doodlin”, a song I’m quite partial to. I’ve put this in the ‘groovy swinging lindy hop’ category in my collection, which means that it’s not for people who only like old scratchy. But if you like a little hi-fi and a little super groove, then it is for you. I like this stuff for the quality, I like the super laid-back swingingness of it, and I like it that it’s super groove, which I think of as high powered groove. It doesn’t make you sit down and listen, it makes you get up and dance. As with the other Swingstyrke 7 CD, the songs can be a bit long. This is ok when the tempos are lower, but I’ll have to watch it when I’m DJing them for dancers.
This CD is good, but the 70s band gave good moustache. European, tight-jeaned flare-legged moustache. And that’s sweet.
leo mathisen 1941-42 To Be or Not to Be
More crapped on about before, which Scotti and I have a shared love for, and which I heard a couple of different versions of over the MLX8 weekend. I love the Hamp version, but this Leo Mathisen version is pretty spankin’ good.
In fact, this whole CD is pretty awesome. He’s kind of like a Danish version of Fats Waller. Which is weird, but to which I couldn’t possibly object. I also liked the version of ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’ which was written in the 20s, but which I had assumed was a modern one. It was made super-famous by Nina Simone.
Those of us who grew up with Rage remember this clip with fondness:
(linky).
Leo Mathisen doesn’t look anything like Nina Simone, and neither of them are anthropomorphised cats. I imagine they also had quite different politics. But this Mathisen CD is a neat contrast to the Swingstyrke 7 one. It’s olden days music, it has a chunky base and rhythm, which is just right for dancing phat lindy hop, and it’s got that nicely saucy, self-reflexive humour which I adore in my jass.
swingstyrke 7 1978-82 Count’s Place
Last week I emailed the people at Little Beat Records (meaning, Peder at LBR) and bought a heap of CDs (you can see the catalogue here). Then The Squeeze paid a bunch of money into their paypal account. Then Peder sent me the CDs (6 of them). He very kindly gave me free postage (well, I did buy a bunch of CDs) and sent them without the jewel cases, which meant that the whole lot fit into one package. They arrived today. It’s been raining for ages, but they were ok (phew).
Little Beat is pretty special. They’re a small operation (as in one or two blokes) and they basically get olden days Danish music and make it sound nice. Then they put it on CDs and sell it to nerds like me.
So far I’ve listened to some Harlem Kiddies and some Swingstyrke 7. It’s all really fabulous. The quality is magical. And the musicianship is amazing.
Swingstyrke 7 really rock my boat (I’m in the mood for some of this). Crudely, I’d typify them as a 1950s Basie tribute band recording in the 1970s and 80s. So they were a small band making Basie music. And it’s freakin’ great. I will _definitely_ be playing this next time I DJ. I thought the Paul Tillotson stuff was pretty good (and they’re doing similar things with a smaller band), but these Danish guys are the fushiz.
It has that laid back, hi-fi, in-the-pocket feel of late testament Basie, but also smells like Europe. It’s a little chunkier in the rhythm section (which is nice for dancing) and makes me want to get up on my (still, stupidly sore and injured) foot and dance about like a fool. DJing it will just KILL me.
Anyways, I’m only just onto the second CD, so I’ll be a while yet. I’ll write about the Harlem Kiddies next.
Fats Waller’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find: The Middle Years, Part 2
I love Fats. It’s no secret. This love is becoming an obsession. But A Good Man Is Hard to Find: The Middle Years, Part 2 is another in an excellent series of collections from Bluebird/RCA. I’ve been happy with every Bluebird purchase I’ve made – they seem to have recorded my favourite artists and to have produced some lovely albums.
I also have ‘the Last Years’ and ‘the Middle Years part 1’. There’re three ‘Early Years’ sets in this series.
I don’t recommend them to new Fats fans – it’s pretty samey, and if you don’t like one Fats song, there’s a good chance you won’t like the others. But if you do… well. These are the best collections I’ve seen around (which are also easily accessible/purchased), the quality is pretty decent and the liner notes are interesting.
good things
Prawns, and their cheapness here.
The sunshine. All of it. One, maybe two days of rain, then it’s over and it’s back to sun. Yes.
The remnant warehouse. Oh Goddess, yes.
Rosetta Howard, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday.
The beach. Here, this town, it has the beach. It has real sand, real surf, real water. It is amazing on a clear day.
Sprouted seeds: go, seedies, go!