5 Rocktober 2009

I feel I am ruining the spirit of Rocktober with all this jazz and funk and maudlin indie and techno/various forms of house.

I'm going to take Sundays off from blogging but it will not stop my quest. Yesterday I dug John Coltrane's Ascension. This is one fucking record. It sounds like doing a line of coke off a car crash victim's tits. (That may have been the worst sentence I have ever written.) Ascension is an apt name. I fucking love this dude, although it helps that he died before the fusion electro-dribble plagued and killed it all.

Then I just enjoyed le Arse blow Blackburn away and had a sugar binge that made me feel terrible. As bad as it was to buy and eat the crap in the first place was, I think having to deal with the indigestion and queasy feeling may help me think twice in the future.

Both yesterday and today it rained like a motherfucker. So no meditation by the river, and no exercise (not only because of the rain but also because my shoulder still aches.) Instead I stayed inside, looked for jobs (i'm getting closer to being productive!) and listened to stuff off the ILX polls for Jazz and Funk, as well as recommendations for the Best Remixes of the Decade. I never took stock of the names of each individual remix and I don't think I learnt anything from the hour or so I spent listening to them; all I know is I really enjoyed hearing them. I also sorted out my Podcasts on iTunes, subscribing to amongst other things, the Resident Advisor one, so maybe I can start to actively endulge in new house (or whatever it is called.)

I did listen to another two albums that are new to me. Well, that isn't strictly true on the first one. Any hip-hop fan listening to Parliament knows Mothership Connection inside out even if they don't know the band existed. Add to that a couple compilations and I was pretty much there. Listening to the original artifact was a joy and it was always going to be. I love it. I will listen to it often and explore more P-Funk as well as actual-funk, possibly live-blogged onto ILX.

The second album was also quite funky: Headhunters by Herbie Hancock. Man do I hate the electro-dribble of jazz fusion. I've been told there are records to change my disillusion - I'm told this is one of them - but I really cannot deal with all that electric piano noodle. The drummer was terrific and I enjoyed parts of it but when Herbie gets in full swing I am put off.