Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Miles Davis and Finding the Right Jazz + Sonic Youth

After days of turmoil caring for our 5-yr-old by myself, I found I was hungering for a certain musical sound. In my head, it was like Sonic Youth, but not. It was random; was it jazz? If it was jazz, what jazz? In my head the sound was chaotic, syncopated and weird. I asked a jazz friend, a bass player, “Who should I be listening to for this sound I feel?”

And while he gave me a number of suggestions, none was quite right. That made it easier to narrow down. Who was missing here?

Miles.

Of course. Miles Davis, what the fuck is wrong with me? I immediately searched in Spotify and clicked.

Ah, the relief, OH, the relief when I turned Miles on.

What is this need? And what’s the connection between Miles and Sonic Youth?

Sonic Youth is chaotic and overbearing, and completely rob the soul of all sense of self with discordant sound arrangements that travel through dimensions, and build rooms, and become enveloping, all-encompassing...disappearing.

I thought of Jean-Michel Basquiat talking about jazz in the beautiful doc, Radiant Child. I thought of his favorite type of jazz, Bebop. I went through the players...shit!
still not one that fit the bill...who hadn’t I tried?

Miles.

Chaotic, loud, absolutely sure of its place in space and time, his sound is fucking free flying sound, with the volume, and the travel in and out. It’s random, beautiful chaos. There’s so much freedom in that. It’s a language spoken so clearly, as if to say, “I am reality. I am all.”

To which I say, “I submit. I give it up. I’ll become nothing for sound.”


UPDATE: it was the grateful dead i was hearing. not miles. not sonic youth. the grateful dead were brilliant at playing noise too. known as "drums/space",  they used it as an intermission at shows because they played for three hours. played. instruments. three hours. sometimes four. the drummers would take over and the guitarists, keyboardist and bassist would take a break; then they switched.

sonic youth. miles. the grateful dead. the most beautiful noise three-way you can get. time to put on headphones, listen to this trio, and become nothing. phew.




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