Episode 6

Poe Blog
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

Welcome to this week's Poe Blog w/Peter Francis.

"Edgar you old Pump Handle you!"

-Peter Francis

Promethean Books presents

Episode Six of

"DIDDLING: Considered as One of the Exact Sciences"

By Edgar Allan Poe

"Again, quite a respectable diddle is this. A well-dressed individual enters a shop; makes a purchase to the value of a dollar; finds, much to his vexation, that he has left his pocket book in another coat pocket; and so says to the shop-keeper-

"My dear sir, never mind! - just oblige me, will you, by sending the bundle home? But stay! I really believe that I have nothing less than a five dollar bill, even there. However, you can send four dollars in change with the bundle, you know."

"Very good, sir," replies the shop-keeper, who entertains, at once, a lofty opinion of the high-mindedness of his customer. "I know fellows," he says to himself, "who would just have put the goods under their arm, and walked off with a promise to call and pay the dollar as they came by in the afternoon."

A boy is sent with the parcel and change. On the route, quite accidentally, he is met by the purchaser, who exclaims:

"Ah! this is my bundle, I see - I thought you had been home with it, long ago. Well, go on! My wife, Mrs. Trotter, will give you the five dollars - I left instructions with her to that effect. The change you might as well give to me - I shall want some silver for the Post Office. Very good! One, two, - is this a good quarter? - three, four - quite right! Say to Mrs. Trotter that you met me, and be sure now and do not loiter on the way."

The boy doesn't loiter at all - but he is a very long time in getting back from his errand - for no lady of the precise name of Mrs. Trotter is to be discovered. He consoles himself, however, that he has not been such a fool as to leave the goods without the money, and re-entering his shop with a self-satisfied air, feels sensibly hurt and indignant when his master asks him what has become of the change.

(To be continued...)

Shing-a-lings

Talk Amongst the Trees
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

CD Reviews by Mr. Shing-A-Ling

Eluvium- Talk Amongst The Trees (Ambient)
 
Back in the early 70's Brian Eno came up with a somewhat new music style he dubbed "ambient". The impetus behind creating this music was to give the listener something that they could put in or on the stereo that woundn't necessarily demand all of your attention but could be enjoyed as part of the environment. A kind of background music with intelligence. Eno believed that sounds he created on tape could be integrated with whatever pre-existing sonic field you happen to be in.
The structure of ambient was entirely different than the accepted melodic formula. Music styles as disparate as Punk and Classical had some kind of melodic, linear function. But with ambient, the listener could walk out of the room for 10 minutes then come back and slip right back into that realm of sound and not miss a beat. You can imagine that this kind of approach was mostly scoffed at an ignored by most at first. Perhaps in a similar way in which the general public regarded the paintings of Jackson Pollock. People say, "Its not real art" or "It takes no skill." And to the untrained eye or the unaware ear perhaps it seems very much that way. And there have been and still are a plethora of bad Pollock and Eno imitators. For those who enjoy the ambient works of Eno and Harold Budd, the musical artist Eluvium out of Portland, Oregon is something you've gotta check out. I'm super picky when it comes to ambient music and these guys made the cut big time. So-called ambient music has seen a big revitalization in the last 10 years or so with acts like Aphex Twin bringing it to the "rave/electronic"  crowd. Ambient, in the 90's" became a term that Djs and mixers used for the mellow music they played after raves or all-night ecstasy-fueled parties. People would just chill out to the tones and drones after hours of sonic assaults and mechanical beats. But most of this "ambient" in my opinion is pure crap. Its no better than easy-listening or generic space-music. It takes a certain gift to create good ambient. Perhaps in the same way it does to make minimalist art. Eluvium has this gift. All the sounds you hear on this album are organically derived. Overdriven guitars and backwards feedback beautifully mixed into long swells of atmospheric space. These songs will take you places if you let them. I had an experience driving here in Colorado out on a huge expansive plain between mountain ranges and listening to this album. Like some kind of sonic cloak, it enshrouded the entire interior of the vehicle and glided me along the alpine roadway.
I listen to a lot of music which has a lot of action going on in it which stimulates the mind, but also it can make it tired, taxed and saturated. It nice to have something like Eluvium's Talk Amongst the Trees in your collection. It lets your brain breathe a little. As I believe John Cage once said, "It's the next best thing to silence."
 

Episode 5

Poe Blog
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

Welcome to this week's Poe Blog w/Peter Francis. (A day late I'm afraid, but just as tasty)

"Here's a ballsy maneuver if I've ever seen one."

-Peter Francis

Promethean Books presents

Episode Five of

"DIDDLING:

Considered as One of the Exact Sciences"

The origin of the diddle is referrible to the infancy of the Human race. Perhaps the first diddler was Adam. At all events, we can trace the science back to a very remote period of antiquity. The moderns, however, have brought it to a perfection never dreamed of by our thick-headed progenitors. Without pausing to speak of the "old saws", therefore, I shall content myself with a compendious account of some of the more "modern instances."

A very good diddle is this. A housekeeper in want of a sofa, for instance, is seen to go in and out of several cabinet warehouses. At length she arrives at one offering an excellent variety. She is acosted, and invited to enter, by a polite and voluble individual at the door. She finds a sofa well-adapted to her views, and upon inquiring the price, is surprised and delighted to hear a sum named at least twenty per cent lower than her expectations. She hastens to make the purchase, gets a bill and receipt, leaves her address, with request that the article be sent home as speedily as possible, and retires amid a profusion of bows from the shop-keeper. The night arrives and no sofa. The next day passes and still none. A servant is sent to make inquiry about the delay. The whole transaction is denied. No sofa had been sold - no money recieved - except by the diddler who played shop-keeper for the nonce.

Our cabinet warehouses are left entirely unattended, and thus afford every facility for a trick of this kind. Visitors enter, look at furniture, and depart unheeded and unseen. Should anyone wish to purchase, or to inquire the price of an article, a bell is at hand, and this is considered amply sufficient.

(To be continued...)

Shing-a-lings

What We Must
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

CD Reviews by Mr. Shing-a-Ling

Jaga Jazzist-What We Must (forward thinking-jazz, progressive)

When did Jazz become such a dirty word? What do most young people imagine when they hear this four-letter word? I guess either they remember the hot chick that played the flute in the first row back in junior high jazz ensemble or they might think about the flacid and spiritless "jazz" music that the local "Smooth Jazz" station whips up 24-7. The word itself, like rock, can contain  a vast spectrum of styles and approaches in the CD bins at your local music store.
There was a time when Jazz was the underground. It was cutting edge american music. Artists such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman were pushing things forward with totally fresh sounds. Making it the most stimulating music around...tapping into your booty as well as your cerebral cortex. But over the years, like most good art genres, something got lost. I believe the real zietgiest for Jazz ended in the late 60's. After that, people just freaked out on the overwhelming quality of insanely good music from the 40's, 50's and 60's. It took a while for the general public to catch on to it and by the time they did, it was already done like dinner.
At some point, a few musicans decided that trying to sound just like Rollins or Coltrane was not what they wanted to do in this recently stagnating field of music. In this game there are those who will reproduce and those who will go out on a limb and try something new.
I believe that the Jaga Jazzist (an ensemble out of Norway) are one of these artists. Now, while they are not breaking any mindblowing new territory, the band is very adventurous in its explorations of jazz, rock and electronica. I have always felt that the coolest jazzlike music in the 70's and 80's and perty much still to this day came out of Europe. It seems that the creative baton was handed over to them sometime after Miles did Bitches Brew in 69.(That album itself starring a few Europeans) Jaga Jazzist is quite a large outfit enlisting something like 8 or 9 musicians. In the mix you'll hear all manor of horns, saxes, guitars,vibes, percussion and other stuff.
This is I believe the 3rd major release for them. The last album ,entitiled "The Stix" was a favorite of mine for that year. Such a nice blend of 60's jazz sensiblities and modern production with sweet treatments. Its a risky think fusing Jazz and Dance music. And its a path well-beaten. But whereas most of the artists going down this route rely more on the electronic side...just snipping and sampling bits of jazz heads and runs and then laying those down over programmed beats and what not, Jaga Jazzist are all well trained musicians with that forward-thinking edge using technology artfully to advance this aging art in a new direction. Breathing a little life into a slowly decaying medium.
This new album sees the Jazzist going down a slightly different avenue than "The Stix". That album had a very consistent tone throughout: energetic electro jazz fusion. This time they are all over the map. "For All You Happy People" slowly unravles with close recorded reeds and electric guitar creating a sort of cinematic moodscape. It reminds me of the music from another fine release, reed player, Lars Horntveth's 2003 solo release,"Pooka". Check that one out too!
And then on another track, "Hotel", the progressive rock flag comes out waving high. Spacious guitar riffs, airy synths, treated swirling wind instruments, acoustic drums, and piano all brought together with intellegent production. Keep your ears peeled on whats coming out of Oslo these days, you might become a closet nord-phile like myself.  Grade: A-

Episode 4

Poe Blog
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

Welcome to this Sunday's Poe Blog w/Peter Francis.

"..."

-Peter Francis

Promethean Books presents

Episode Four of

"DIDDLING:

Considered as One of the Exact Sciences"


(continued from 3/31/05)

Originality: - Your diddler is original - conscientiously so. His thoughts are his own. He would scorn to employ those of another. A stale trick is his aversion. He would return a purse, I am sure, upon discovering that he had obtained it by an unoriginal diddle.

Impertinence: - Your diddler is impertinent. He swaggers. He sets his arms a-kimbo. He thrusts his hands in his trowsers' pockets. He sneers in your face. He treads on your corns. He eats your dinner, he drinks your wine, he borrows your money, he pulls your nose, he kicks your poodle, and he kisses your wife.

Grin: - Your true diddlers winds up all with a grin. But this nobody sees but himself. He grins when his daily work is done- when his allotted labors are accomplished- at night in his own closet, and altogether for his own private entertainment. He goes home. He locks his door. He divests himself of his clothes. He puts out his candle. He gets into bed. He places his head upon the pillow. All this done, and your diddler grins. This is no hypothesis. It is a matter of course. I reason a priori, and a diddle would be no diddle without a grin.

(To be continued...)