Category: Unburied Treasures

I’ve struggled to start this post because I felt the urge to somehow start the conversation by getting into the definition of jazz. There’s the general agreement that jazz is characterized by swing rhythms, blues chords, syncopation, and improvisation. And of course, like with any rule, there are debates about the definitions and exceptions so it all quickly gets into an area where my knowledge is much more “arm chair” quality than real expert.

An interesting trend for me though, is that while I’ve been a lover of traditional jazz since my high school band-nerd days, in the last couple decades I’ve been drawn to sounds that blur the boundaries of jazz or mix it’s elements outside the lines. This can be treacherous territory as I feel most things labeled “jazz fusion” trigger a fight or flight response. However, when done with craft and taste (Is this a characteristic of good art? Combining components into something that balances on the knife edge of emotional resonance when it could have instead easily slipped into overwrought, trite, or vapid?) I find the result is music with subdued but powerful energy.

This leads me to The Necks. A trio from Australia that were unknown to me until I stumbled onto their 2023 release while combing Bandcamp last year. I’ve read descriptions of their music that reference ambient, jazz, rock, or even contemporary classical – but usually followed by some version of unclassifiable. Their music is not structured around regular “songs” – instead they perform pieces that are typically 20 – 60 min in length. There’s definitely syncopation, and sometimes dashes of swing, chord complexity, but it’s the improvisation that is central to this music. It seems that each piece starts with a foundation of repeated structure, laid down by one of the three musicians, and from there they organically build a unique collaboration as we listen. Each each piece has a constant threw line that we can hold on to for grounding while the rest of the music pulses out, crashes about, ebbs and flows in unpredictable ways. From this masterful partnership, they generate an energy (like great jazz) that I find mesmerizing.

I don’t listen to much “pop” music these days. You could say I haven’t listened to much pop music since I was thirteen. But that again, that can get a bit debatable because just like any genre, the boundaries get blurry real quick. In our struggle to put understandable descriptions on an ever changing spectrum of blended music, we end up using various hyphenated forms of “pop” to label all kinds of sub-genres as well, some of which I do frequent in. Where’s the line between pure “pop” and indie-pop, or pop-punk, or electro-pop, or dance-pop?

That all said, I wasn’t thinking about genre labels when I walked into Polaris Hall and heard this unfamiliar opening act from LA called Night Talks. Instead, I was just instantly hooked on the infectious melodies and the blazing charisma of lead singer, Soraya Sebghati. Part of it may be the 80’s influence hitting my nostalgia triggers, but it’s still incredibly catchy song writing. I’ll call it indie-pop, you can call it whatever you like, but either way it’s just fun music I don’t want to put away.

While I was an avid consumer of indie-rock and post-punk/hardcore throughout the ’90’s, somehow I never stumbled upon Karate. Maybe because they were a Boston area band and I was more aware of the West Coast and D.C. area scenes. Whatever the case, thanks to a Bandcamp article highlighting the reissue of their 2000 album, I found a new corner of the DIY indie-rock scene full of strange alchemy.

The term “jazz fusion” is one that generally makes me cringe. But I do actually love music that bridges jazz structures into other genres (hip-hop and electronica in particular) or takes jazz influences and applies them in unexpected places – unfortunately, it is a tricky chemistry and difficult to pull off well. [Side Note: my friend Jeremy recently introduced me to Laufey which led to a very long discussion about what is jazz and highlighted the particular finicky ups and down of doing jazz influenced music.]

What Karate were bold/crazy/intelligent/ignorant enough to do was take the intricate rhythms, shifting time structures, and cerebral lyrics common in the DIY post-hardcore scene of the ’90’s and apply a very thick dose of jazz creating a very singular sound. In hindsight, some of this seems natural, like it should have been an obvious step (for example, the fingerprints of Fugazi are certainly there) but where they took their music was not obvious and remains a unique sound even to this day.

In Karate’s initial albums the jazz tones were not as “up-front” or pervasive, with the sound shifting through influences and stylings as if they were trying on different outfits to see what they liked best. But with 1998’s The Bed Is In the Ocean, they began to hit their stride and then in 2000 they released Unsolved, pushing the jazz leaning far enough that the swinging guitar play and Geoff Farina’s vocal style generated what could almost be described as lunge-punk – two words I would never have thought I’d put together without it being a joke. But this album is not a joke.

While poking around the crevasses, corners and edges of the “Second Wave of New Wave” I found the music of The Reds, Pinks & Purples, one of many projects for San Fransisco musician Glenn Donaldson.

The prolific Donaldson performs and collaborates in a range of different bands. The Reds, Pinks & Purples is a solo project that sounds as if he’s taken snippets from his personal journal (during a generally sad and depressing period) and built them into condensed pop songs using a specific pallet of jangly New Wave layers and Shoegaze drone. While these songs don’t stray very far in their arrangements, tempo, or tone – such that it could be hard to argue with a criticism of sounding all a bit samey – I find it a wonderful pairing for that bittersweet vibe.

Building from (or stealing) a concept from the guys at Sound Opinions, this is the first installment in a (maybe recurring) new part of my end-of-year review where I touch on an album or two I missed before. These are albums I didn’t discover (or give sufficient time to) until after I’d posted my previous year end lists but I’ve since fallen in love with. Rather than retroactively updating my old “Top 10” lists (cause where would that end?) I thought I’d take a minute to unbury some of these treasures and give them their due.

There are some great new bands surfacing all the time and I can’t help but try and spread the word.  Here are a couple examples:

Felice Brothers:  My first thought when I heard a couple of songs from Felice Brothers – an Americana roots influenced band formed by a couple of Tom Waits’ nephews.  I’m not exactly sure why I heard a Tom Waits influence or if anyone else would hear it but I knew I liked this band right away.  Take a listen to “Frankie’s Gun” and I dare you not to stomp your feet, but I think this video of “Her Eyes Dart Round” captures a wonderful impromptu live performance.

Bon Iver:  The first time I listened to Bon Iver, I wasn’t terribly impressed.  It was a recording of a live concert and I was listening to it while I worked.  At the end of the recording, I rated it 3 stars – good but not great.  (Yes, I’m one of those lame music geeks who actually goes through his iTunes library rating his music.)  A few weeks later I heard another live recording (this time from SXSW) and took the time to listen more closely.  I got hooked.  I’ve had this kind of initial experience with other music that has then, with more listening time, gone on to become some of my favorite stuff.  We’ll have to wait and see if Bon Iver makes that same progression, but right now they’re growing on me fast.  If you haven’t heard them before, I’d recommend starting with “Skinny Love.”

The Dodos:  They got a lot of press during the SXSW madness, but from what I’ve heard so far they deserve it.  There’s a touch of Andrew Bird, a touch of Modest Mouse, wrapped together with some nice harmonies.  Although you can’t see anything in this video, check out “Fools” to get a taste of their sound.