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One idea I've had for my next blog project is something along the lines of Records We Forgot We Had or Dusting Off Platters or In My Stacks. I am 51 years old. I make records, I wrangle band prak, I make art, I have a job I enjoy, and am married. I don't sit around listening to records like I used to. But I buy records like I used to (and listen to them more on a Spotify playlist I make).
New music is in fact too easy these days. When I was fourteen I used to ride the bus home and think about what cassette I wanted to listen to first. Ghost In The Machine or Aladdin Sane? Or that dubbed cassette copy of Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables?
Buying a new record meant I might go to Steve or Mark or Rick's house before I went home, so we could give it a spin.
Yesterday I pulled out Sun Ra's Angels and Demons At Play, and I'm on about my 10th listen (3 of those on vinyl, some in the car, some while getting my 13K steps in. Like a good punk rock album, it is only 24 minutes long and delivers the goods fast). I did the above graphic while listening at the dining room table.
The reissue I have has more of a 70's funky illustration on it--I like the original two-color ghost graphic much better. This album is from 1965 and has some innovative electric piano sounds on it that anticipate the 70's. But it is also bluesy, with Ethiopian scale sounds, and some short, fully arranged big band horn parts.
At the same time, it has some hyperactive fast bluegrass and punk energy in places, and is never fastidious. It is kind of low-fi, has overlapping runs that aren't cleaned up, and a certain kind of pounding energy that I associate with the Troggs or Black Flag--beyond the bounds of good taste for the sake of impact and immediacy. An almost annoying disruptive edge that is basically super f*cking cool. This isn't concert jazz or even club jazz, more like basement jazz.
