Sun Ra, Explained

I've tried to explain Birmingham, Alabama-born Sun Ra before, most notably here, and his music still crops up in my listening, such as this example, but who better to discuss and describe his legacy than members of the Arkestra itself? Boys and girls, here's an instructive and educational video film on Space and the Music of the Omniverse.  

Points On A Space Age is a 2009 documentary by Ephrahaim Asili. It's a 60-minute doc along the lines of the talking-head-intercut-with-performance-clips style. It works because of the interesting and passionate nature of the images of the band as well as of the audio, as the band attempts to articulate what Ra meant to them, and why they are keeping the flame alive. 

Bassoonist/multireedist James Jacson had studied Zen Buddhism before joining Sun Ra and identified strong similarities between Zen teachings and practices (particularly Zen koans) and Ra's use of non sequiturs and seemingly absurd replies to questions.  Drummer Art Jenkins admitted that Sun Ra's "nonsense" sometimes troubled his thoughts for days until inspiring a sort of paradigm shift, or profound change in outlook. Drummer Andrew Cyrille said Sun Ra's comments were "very interesting stuff … whether you believed it or not. And a lot of times it was humorous, and a lot of times it was ridiculous, and a lot of times it was right on the money."  

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is the son of Sun Ra baritone saxophonist Pat Patrick.

Sun Ra left the earth for his next mission in 1993. The remnants of the band include Marshall Allen, Ra’s greatest disciple and current bandleader and keeper of the flame. Now 86, Allen also serves as recruiter for new members, and potential converts of Sun Ra’s philosophy, once based on space travel and music as a tool for evolution into a new consciousness and tuning into holy vibrations.

All music, without exception, is a direct expression of the buddha dharma.

Young Magic, Purity Ring at Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, January 17, 2013

In case you were one of the few people not there, there was a wonderful show last evening at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse, featuring the bands Young Magic and Purity Ring.

Opener Young Magic is an artsy collective based in Brooklyn, although its members hail from Australia and Indonesia.  Melati Melay sings and plays electric guitar, while Isaac Emmanuel and drummer Michael Italia provide pounding, tribal backbeats, along with many electronic flourishes.

While they performed, a video projector cast intriguing images against a screen in front of Italia's station.  Although they were hard to see from my vantage point, the images included whirling Dervishes, pages from the Koran, and mesmerizing scenes from the band's videos, such as this one for Drawing Down The Moon, which looks like what might happen if Peter Greenaway were chosen to direct a Ron Fricke movie.

Frankly, their combination of dream pop, trip-hop, electro, and tribal influences came as quite a pleasant surprise to me, and I look forward to hearing more from them in the future.

The headliners were Montreal's Purity Ring.  We last saw Purity Ring performing a daytime show in Portland's Doug Fir Lounge during MFNW, and fortunately their show last night was just as memorable as that performance.

Purity Ring were named Pitchfork’s Best New Band of 2011 and the Best New Band at CMJ 2011 before even releasing their first album, last year's Shrines.  The duo of Megan James and Corin Roddick play homemade instruments and reportedly even makes their own clothing to wear during their shows.

The duo is in the avant garde of hip-hop's invigorating advance into pop music.  According to Portland's Willamette Weekly, "You have heard the purple-drunk, stumbling beats of chopped-and-screwed hip-hop. You have heard the catchy hooks and pristine vocals of electro-pop. You have not, however, heard the two together—until you've heard Purity Ring."  They really don't sound like anyone else, and I couldn't imagine a band like this existing before about, say, 2008.

But what really stands out at a Purity Ring show is their stage.  Playing beneath suspended lanterns (I counted 19) that look at various times like Chinese lamps, ant eggs, Tic Tacs, or some sort of pupae, their set also includes a bass drum that lights up when struck, and several smaller lamps around Roddick's keyboards that also light and emit tones when struck.  It's easily the most beautiful stage on any body touring today, and almost becomes a third performer in the band.

Due in large part to the striking visual element of their show, the band has been extensively covered by music blogs and last night's show was sold out.  The young crowd enthusiastically reacted to the band's every move, with several young men at the front of the stage continually reaching out to the band for who knows what.

In addition to playing the songs from Shrines, Purity Ring covered Soulja Boy's Grammy.  They also brought out Young Magic's Isaac Emmanuel to sing his part on their song Grandloves.

Here's the video for their song Lofticries (the first song of theirs that I heard, and still a favorite):

The set ended somewhat abruptly when Megan James announced that their next song will be the last, as that's all they have.  No chance for an encore, no chance to show our love, and as soon as the last song ended, the house lights came on and the crowd wandered out into a cold North Georgia night.

Local Natives

And here's Local Natives in a special January 11, 2013, KCRW concert at Apogee's Berkeley Street Studio in Santa Monica (with a long Jason Bentley interview after the song Colombia for some reason).

0:00   You and I

4:30   Breakers

8:39   Ceilings

11:32 Colombia

  (interview)

28:50 Black Spot
33:35 Heavy Feet
37:45 Three Months

42:25 Bowery
47:15 Wide Eyes
51:50 Who Knows Who Cares
55:55 Sun Hands 

Dude, I Was There! (Quiet Hounds)

Here's an IndieATL video directed by Matt Rowles of Quiet Hounds' performance at The Goat Farm before a crowd of about 800.  Quiet Hounds constructed the staging, lights, sound and artwork for this event in honor of the soldiers who died at Andersonville prison in 1864.

Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside

In the two years since we saw Ms. Ford and company play Pioneer Courthouse Square during MFNW, the brassy, bluesy quartet put out a great debut album, played Letterman, and blew up in France, and—if the barroom-brawlin’ promo video for its second effort is any indication—got even tougher in the process.

Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside will be playing Smith's Olde Bar in Atlanta, Georgia on Monday, March 18 with Thao & The Get Down Stay Down 

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's Common Cause

Oh, look. We The Common [For Valerie Bolden], a single from the new Thao & The Get Down Stay Down album We The Common, has been released, following the prior preview of the song Holy Roller.  The album comes out February 5, and pre-orders via The Ribbon Mart will receive a bonus limited edition 7" titled We The Covers featuring Thao & The Get Down Stay Down covering Melanie's Brand New Key and The Troggs' With a Girl Like You.

This The Making Of. . .  video is one of the funniest things I've seen, and beats about any episode of Portlandia at whatever it is that Portlandia's doing.

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down will perform on March 18 at Atlanta's Smith's Olde Bar, with Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside opening.  A must-see show.

Pillowfight

Emily Wells at 529, October 17, 2012

Oh, look.  Our multi-instrumentalist girlfriend Emily Wells has formed a new band called Pillowfight with hip-hop producer Dan the Automator, and has released a single Used To Think. Another track, Get Your Shit Together, is streaming at their Soundcloud site.

We last saw Emily Wells opening for Dark Dark Dark (featuring Walt McClements) at 529 back during Rocktober.