Leslie (icehouse@redshift.com)
Thu, 20 Jan 2000 17:59:12 -0800
This is a subject that interests me, especially after the comments that have
appeared on these pages with regard to House not House. Quite frankly, I
read whatever I can lay my hands on but the best leads, tips, ideas and just
right-on good information comes mainly from my musical friends, all of you
at AJ, Dirk Kahl of Radio Disturbance, DJ Morpheus, Tonebone in Amsterdam
and some good friends at a few progressive record stores. I have not found
that many books that are on the cutting edge in terms of what is happening,
they focus more on what happened in the past. Beside Straight No Chaser, I
have read Muzik, Mixmag, Q, Jockey Sluts, Downbeat, you name the periodical
and I have probably perused it's pages at one time or another. Many of these
mags tend to lose their focus on the music and in the case of rags like
Mixmag and Muzik, seem more interested on the gratuitous sex, the
over-the-top drug abuse and the beautiful but scantily-clad "folks" at the
big commercial clubs in the UK. Downbeat has been consistent over the years
but it does'nt seem to be very favourably disposed to AcidJazz.
Because I have a deep interest in "world" music, whatever that happens to
mean these days, I also read magazines that cover those areas as well.
Usually I look at the playlists that some of you publish on these pages and
they have been, outside of my personal friends, the best sources of "new"
and just-released music for me. Sometimes this list does go off on tangents
that have nothing to do with the heart of the matter, which is, to me at
least, Acid Jazz. Lady Kier and artists of that ilk may have some value as
musicians and artists but they do not come close to what is AJ to me. As a
radio DJ for the last 19 years and a live DJ for a good number of those, I
am always searching for the good stuff and for information and insights on
the artists and creators. Thank you and big shouts to all of you like Mark
Turner who share their playlists and insights regularly, I for one read and
absorb this stuff even when I am silent on the issues surging across the AJ
wires.
To me, because a piece of music adds one cymbal splash every 16 bars and
four drum beats every 32 does'nt make it worthy of a seperate description. I
can dig house and deep house, D'nB, trip hop, hip hop and a few others but
there are just far too many brackets to make them all even mildly
interesting. Truthfully speaking, it just has to be how much the music moves
me, physically and emotionally, not what category it fits into that is the
ultimate qualifier.
Leslie/The Power of Sound
----- Original Message -----
From: Brock @ Motormouthmedia <bmotor@pacbell.net>
To: Kurt Iveson <kiveson@coombs.anu.edu.au>
Cc: acid jazz <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2000 12:49 AM
Subject: Re: music writing...
> > So this got me thinking .... what do people on this list read about
music?
> > Not just magazines, but what books, which writers? I know that lots of
us
> > have found Straight No Chaser invaluable (and for me, that's despite the
> > fact that it always arrives in Canberra about three months after it's
been
> > published!) ... but what else?
>
> David Toop is one I'd recommend, "Ocean of Sound" is incredibly dense,
> name-dropping galore, and traces the connections between a lot of
> experimental and electronic music. Completely academic but an interesting
> read. Aside from that, he also wrote "Rap Attack" (Vol. One and Two)
that's
> one of the most accessible and easy to read books on the history of
hip-hop
> I've ever seen. Dope photos as well. Vol. 3 is s'posed to come out,
> eventually. Blows my mind that he can write on both levels like that,
> usually people are way on the arcane Wire journalism tip or totally
> down-to-earth...Brock
>
>
> ______________
> Brock Phillips
> Motormouthmedia
> 2525 Hyperion Ave.
> Suite One
> Los Angeles, CA 90027
>
> fon 323.662.3865
> fax 323.662.3844
>
>
>
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