Some thoughts.

One of the things I had intended for this blog when I started it was to use it as a vehicle for getting some of the stuff out of my head and down as writings. I think a lot about the world and the things that happen in it. I have always had trouble expressing the things that I think about while I'm working or tramping or gardening or even listening to music. I don't have the answers for the worlds ills and I am sometimes pretty cynical about society and humanity in general and sometimes pretty angry at some of the things I hear about. Of course, like most, I have opinions and Beliefs, not always well informed and I don't intend to be completely accurate with my writings, these will just be musings based on what I believe about the world based on my own experiences, media that I have been exposed and thoughts and beliefs that I have accumulated through my existing within the society I live in. It will be good practice getting my Ideas out into the world, I have things to say and just as much right to say them as any of the hatemongers, bigots, and fanatics who abuse their freedom of speech so much. Every day we receive information, from media, news programs, papers, magazines, TV, movies, books, songs, other people we interact with, social media, emails, phone calls and more and that information can trigger all sorts of thinking and sometimes emotions that influence our everyday existence. So with all so much going on around us and assaulting us from every direction, where do I start with my thoughts. How about these ones. 

Last night I watched the movie"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" Not a bad movie, based on Mandela's autobiography, but not as powerful a document as I would have hoped for a great man. A movie like that certainly evokes plenty of emotion and thinking about the things that transpired and I could spend several days expressing all the thoughts that passed through my mind during and after the film. But the thought train I want to look at right now is what happened after Mandela became President of South Africa. In the movie, Mandela was quite uncompromising in his requirements for the Blacks in South Africa: Total abolishment of the Apartheid system, one vote for every person and no power sharing with the whites if the majority voted that way, with the Majority being overwhelmingly Black. For a liberal type like myself these conditions sounded fine, especially in light of the disgusting treatment the Blacks had been dealt for so long and indeed he got what he wanted, The presidency, the dismantling of Apartheid and universal suffrage. Great progress for South Africa and humankind in general, right? What I am thinking now though is how much better are things actually NOW in SA after more than 20 years of being Apartheid free. A quick perusal on Wikipedia reveals that of the 53 million population, 80% are black and that in 2009 the unemployment rate was nearly 24%. That is an incredible almost 13 Million people unemployed and I could quite comfortably predict that a very large majority of them are Black. The Poverty then will be pretty bad and from what I have head from various sources and again from Wikipedia, the crime rate is one of the worst in the world. So after 20 years of Black rule in South Africa, is the average Black any better off than he was before. Well they should have more freedom from political oppression(I would think) but what else? Sure there is now a much larger population of middle class Blacks but I suspect that many have come from the ones that were already educated before the dismantling of Apartheid, like Mandela himself, who was a lawyer. And apparently, there are more poor Whites now than there was before, but this is a trend all over the world. So I am wondering why is South Africa still in such a mess. I think it is good that the Black South Africans are running their own country, although if they are like most of the other Democracies of the world, the real power lies with the very rich elite. Which brings me to my simplifications of the current conditions in SA. Money. I seems to me that money and the current economic systems we work under really undermine any advancement of social gains. I suspect one of the first pressures Mandela and his government would have come under would have been to protect the wealth of the ultra rich White elite and even today SA is ranked in the top 10 countries of income inequality. Of course there are a huge number of other reasons why SA is in the state it is and it is not all bad but it just looks like another situation where humans seem almost incapable of finding solutions so that all their people can have some reasonable quality of life.

David Bowie - The Next Day.(UK 2013)

Latest CD Arrival.

Bowie is back! After about 10 years, The Thin White Duke is back with a new album and it got voted No.2 album of the year in the Uncut Magazine best of 2013 album list. It doesn't sound stylistically all that different from his last two releases back in the early 2000's, but it has maintained the quality of those two records. Like some others of his vintage, Bowie has made a late career resurgence with some strong material that sounds like just what he want's to put out and not dictated by some record company jerks trying to sell mega quantities of albums. You probably won't hear any of this on commercial radio and it isn't exactly classic rock but there is some good stuff here and I especially like the smoky sax on several tracks, especially "Dirty Boys" Overall most enjoyable and gets a rating of 4/5.

Sun Ra - A Night In East Berlin/My Brother the Wind & Sun No.9 (USA 1995)

Another quality Leo release of various recording from the Sun Ra archive, this set comprises a couple of late period live recordings of superior sound quality and  excellent playing. The music presented here is mostly somewhat more accessible than a lot of other recordings by Ra and so is recommended for the less hardcore Ra aficionado. A great release, Rating 4/5.

Texas Flashbacks Volumes 1-6 - Various Artists (USA 1960s)

A Recent Arrival.

I originally had a couple of volumes of this set on vinyl many moons ago and came across this boxset on some obscure webshop while looking for the impossible to find Rubble Collection Vol 11-20. I bought this cos I knew there were some pretty good tracks on the volumes I had. After several days on random play in itunes I have discovered a plethora of new raw 60s teenage garage beat songs and covers to keep me amused. Plenty of great guitar shredding snotty punk songs along with several top notch tracks I know from other compilations. A few duds but overall a great collection, highly recommended, Rating 4.5/5.

John Zorn - Filmworks IV - S&M + More (USA 1997)

Latest Zorn Filmworks Arrival.

This release is another compilation of various film musics from a bunch of obscure flicks that not many of us have seen. The tracks here are a lot longer that the many short music samples from most of the previous volumes. The set kicks of with a sort of late night dubby thing that cruises along quite pleasantly and is a lovely relaxing vibe, where as the second track is far more esoteric and is actually a number of smaller sound bites from the same film soundtrack all indexed as one track. As usual with Zorn there is a vast cornucopia of musical styles on offer here, making for an intriguing listen, although not all of it is riveting and some of it will work better hearing it in the context of the film it was created for. Rating 3/5.  

Luc Ferrari - Cellule (Tzadik 1998)

Some older Tzadik release. 

I picked this out of Tzadik's back catalogue while browsing the other week cos the dude has a cool name and the French put out some pretty out there music. Luc doesn't disappoint. Two extended tracks with the first one having a strong Minimalist vibe and some cool percussion before developing into even more interesting sounds.The second track is even more experimental but is also very cool and I keep thinking back to Igor Wakhevitch as a reference point.Totally non commercial and very  far away from conventional "classical" music, Luc has composed some interestingly different music that works well and keeps me interested throughout. Rating 4/5. 

Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield (USA 1969)

Off The Shelf

Been reading Neil Youngs' "Waging Heavy Peace" And got to his bit about meeting Stephen Stills in LA which lead to the formation of The Buffalo Springfield. There are three bands from the 60s (Outside of The Beatles and Zappa's Mothers of Invention) that stand out head and shoulders above all the others for me(and that is against some mighty stiff competition). Spirit is one, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and the mighty awesome Buffalo Springfield. 

This was their first of only three albums and it kicks of with their big hit, which most of us will know, the magnificent "For What It's Worth". The rest of the album is a fantastic blend of folk, country and 60s pop, it is a powerful set and just oozes self assurance and quality. This is also the album that introduced us to the mighty talent of the incomparable Neil Young, with his 5 compositions being the best ones for me. Better than the Byrds, massively influential, a classic album which I should listen to far more than I do. Rating 5/5.

John Zorn - The Hermetic Organ II - St Pauls Chapel NYC (USA 2014)

Latest John Zorn CD

Johns second Organ recital and pretty much like the last one which was something I didn't really get into all that much. This one is slightly better and a bit mellower than the first one. Perhaps better to see the event live but still, listenable and I'll rate it 2.5/5.

John Zorn - Filmworks III - 1990-1995

Another Zorn filmworks CD.

The next volume of Zorn's Filmworks releases arrived a couple of weeks back and it is another collection of over 50 tracks in just over an hour. The first 12 tracks are most important as it was the first coming together of the four musicians who went on to form Masada and it is a great bunch of nice jazz tracks. The tracks 14-25 are Zorn and Marc Ribot letting loose on some very cool music. There is some real lovely mellow laid back stuff amongst the more raucous stuff. I don't think I have heard Ribot and Zorn play together like this, just the two of them, it is very good. The rest of the collection is apparently a bunch of advertising jingles, so to speak and most  are very short and cover a vast amount of musical territory with some familiar themes which I recognise as they were developed further later on on some of the Naked City releases. Overall a most interesting release.Rating 4/5.

Sun Ra - Space Probe

The latest Sun Ra Arrival.

As I head towards owning probably the largest Ra CD collection in NZ, this latest arrival is another of those collections that shines yet another light on the musical world of Mr Ra. The 17 minute title track is a spaced out extended experiment on the new Moog as of like 1970 and is way ahead of it's time and quite an impressive collection of weird noises which are very cool on the headphones late in the evening.(don't play it to your Grandma). The rest of the set is a small ensemble recording and parts remind me of Moondog. All very good Sun Ra and the recording quality is some of the best. Rating 4.5/5.

Henry Kaiser : Requia And Other Improvisations For Guitar Solo (USA Tzadik 2013)

The latest arrival from Tzadik

An experimental improvised solo guitar album from Tzadik, this has some quite interesting and enjoyable moments and covers quite a lot of styles but also has some long and tedious plinkity plinkity bits that don't really inspire me too much, mainly being the 21 minute track 3. A mixed bag  and not the best example of this sort of thing I have heard. Rating 2.5/5.

Sun Ra - Live At The Red Garter 1970 (USA 2013)

SUN RA

This popped up on Nuvoid last week and I knew I had it on the shelf along with quite a lot of the other Transparency releases I procured last year. Nuvoid talks about the historical importance of this recording and the quality of the playing, but he is a muso himself and far more knowing about these things than me. The bugbear here is that this set was mastered from an audience recording and even after mastering for CD still sounds like a Bootleg. Which for me makes it pretty hard to get into the swing of it and makes me wonder why bother when there are so many far superior Ra recordings available, but hey, that's Sun Ra. There is some interesting stuff here amongst the murk and it would have been nice to hear it more clearly. Rating 2/5.

Sun Ra - Lanquidity (USA 1978)

SUN RA

Just arrived.

The late 70s were an interesting time for Sun Ra Fans in that he integrated a lot of the current "Black music styles" in to his recordings and so we have albums influenced by Disco and Funk and this set which leans heavily towards the Jazz/Fusion of the early 70s. This makes for one of the more accessible Ra albums and a good one for those who struggle with his more esoteric stuff. I think it is a great set and the recording quality is one of the best I have heard in the vast Ra discography. Rating 4.5/5.

Casey Hut - 6-7th February 2014

Uncle Roddus tramping diary: Tramp No. 143

Casey Hut 6-7th February 2014.

The best laid plans of Mice & Men. Thursday 6th was a public holiday, the extended forecast for the four days from Thursday to Sunday for the Canterbury High Country was for fine with light winds. I decided to take advantage, take the Friday off work and visit two huts that are on my list. I left home fairly early in anticipation of a longish day. Loaded with a four day pack, I set off from the Andrews Shelter, heading along the Andrews track to Casey hut, which was to be my lateish lunch stop before the big climb up to Ranger Biv, My first nights accommodation. By the end of the first couple of hours walking my boots were starting to give me trouble, oldish boots that had given trouble in the past but  my feet had survived several trips in them with little discomfort over the last couple of years. I had even wet them before leaving home to soften them up a little. After 3 hours I stopped just over Casey Saddle and spent about 40 minutes eating and dealing to the blisters on my feet, using up my last blister blocks and Lectoplast and starting in on the contents of my first aid kit, but  the damage had been done and even with all the padding, things got worse as I approached Casey Hut and by now I had a pretty good idea I wouldn't be too keen to carry on. I limped into Casey Hut after about 5 hours 20 minutes from my car and was so relieved to remove my boots. The pain in my big  toes, where they had been pressing into the front of my boots eased and fortunately showed no physical damage but my heels  both had large blisters. It was only about 2:30PM so I had lunch, scored a bunk in this 16 bunk hut and settled in for the duration, knowing that others would arrive in due course as this is a pretty popular hut. I wasn't at all in the best of moods knowing that my weekend wasn't going at all to plan. To make matters worse, the hut was stifling hot and due to there being only two windows with insect screens and the sandflies outside being ravenous and in plague numbers around the hut, we couldn't really open any other windows. Another 6 trampers arrived over the course of the afternoon, we chatted about the weekends plans, I mumbled about going back out and home in the morning and then I went for a short walk to the Poulter river and tried to stay a bit cooler outside, but the aforementioned sandflies were equally ravenous no matter where I went and seem to develope a very rapid immunity to the insect repellent I was using. Sleeping in the hut was particularly  difficult due to the heat and I seriously considered grabbing my bivvy bag and sleeping outside at one stage but I must have drifted off before I got motivated enough to do this. Things finally did cool down enough in the night to actually allow me to sleep under my sleeping bag instead of on it. The next morning every body slept in till about 9am. After breakfast and packing I attacked my sore feet with what I could scrounge from my first aid kit to try and pad out the sore bits for the trip out. It worked well enough and the first climb out from the hut went fairly well. I made good time in spite of the pain and stopped for lunch just past Hallelujah Flats. The feet were getting sorer as I got to the climb out of the Andrews River and I was finding that my legs were getting more fatigued because I couldn't relax with the pain of walking and the last big down hill part was a killer. I was sooooo relieved to finally arrive at the car but had to make a very quick getaway as I was swamped by more ravenous sandflies. I think I managed to get back out in somewhere between 5 and 51/2 hours. Considering it is only about 14KM from the hut to the car, My legs were quite sore the next day. A combination of the heavy pack and the strain of walking with the pain. Not one of the better tramps I have done. Below are the photos I took on the first day.

John Zorn - Filmworks II - Music For An Untitled Film by Walter Hill. (USA 1996)

And the latest Zorn Arrival.

And the first Zorn CD of the year recently arrived. One of the early filmworks and I have decided this year to see if I can obtain all of his Filmworks catalogue. This set consists of 36 relatively short soundscapes which cover quite a bit of ground as Zorn does, plenty of weirdness and interesting sounds and all quite enjoyable.Rating 3.5/5.

Sun Ra - My Brother The Wind - Volume Two (USA 1971)

The Sun Ra Discography.

So the first Sun Ra CD of the new year arrived this week as I embark of another season of growing my Ra collection. Got around 80 releases so far so I might be over half way now although there are quite a number that haven't been released on CD so I have had to download those ones. "My Brother The Wind" is a cool album title and consists of two separate recording sessions, as do many Ra Releases. The first 6 tracks on this set are from 1969 and at first you'd think you had accidentally picked up a Jimmy Smith CD. All Ra compositions but in a fairly straight up Jazz style with Ra doing the Jimmy Smith on the Organ. All very good stuff with some nice Ra touches and of course some June Tyson vocals on two tracks and some nice solos to keep it interesting. It is far less challenging listening that most Sun Ra. Track 6 gets a lot weirder and primes us up for the rest of the tracks, which were recorded in 1970 and consist of Ra getting quite experimental on his Moog. So lots of weird electronic sounds probably improvised during recording and is a part of Ra's repertoire that is difficult but rewarding and interesting. Rating 3.5/5.