Log #134 — Transcendental Music From Another Universe
Best of Easter bunny wishes to my readers this week. A week that sees a number of re-entries. I’ve come across a lot of new albums in the last 2 months and many have not had enough plays yet. So this week recent acquisitions from Harmonia, Nucleus, and Father John Misty make a welcome return.
The extended Popol Vuh drones retain a place. It’s music that bridges the gap between ambient drone music and Berlin school electronica offering nice background music but at the same time having a lot going on. A recent message I received from London sound artist Keith Berry comes to mind:
Thank you for taking the time needed that my work requires from the listener.
… meaning that this sort of music does require a bit of time and investment but is all the more rewarding as a result.
The super talented John Grant slips in too on the back of my interest in the similar Father John Misty. John Grant is an accomplished pianist and solo singer (which is how I’ve seen him in concert a couple of times) but his albums are more experimental with a band employing electronics.
Father John Misty God’s Favourite Customer
Alice Coltrane Universal Consciousness
Popol Vuh In Den Garten Pharaos
John Grant The Queen of Denmark
Nucleus Plastic Rock
Harmonia Deluxe
Most interesting entry this week is probably the Alice Coltrane. For many years dismissed by the jazz fraternity (I’ve seen her described as jazz’s very own Yoko Ono on account of her influence over the late career of her husband John Coltrane) her own unique music has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance in recent years.
Coltrane’s albums are a mixed bag, covering many different styles including avant-garde, jazz fusion, drone, spiritual, chant, ambient, electronic, devotional, cosmic and orchestral. In groups ranging from a few players to many she personally played piano, organ (in particular the Wurlitzer) and harp.
I can’t decide if this is the best or worst music I’ve ever heard!
It seems in seeking to step from her husband’s shadow following his death in 1967 she chose to push the boundaries and come up with something very new. New listeners should therefore proceed with caution. From what I’ve heard to date I can’t decide if this is the best or worst music I’ve ever heard!
Could this be another case of The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter?
Universal Consciousness from 1971 is often offered up as Alice Coltrane’s masterpiece and is probably the best place to start.
Art of the highest order, conceived by a brilliant mind, poetically presented in exquisite collaboration by divinely inspired musicians. Thom Jurek
This album showcases her electronic organ playing and (to my surprise) mirrors the sound of Terry Riley — a sound I’d previously never heard from anyone else (I was also very unclear whether I liked the Riley sound or not in a previous post but did say this was a good thing). Piano, harp and violins, very prominent on some of her albums, are less to the fore here, and there are no horns at all, but there is plenty of jazz drumming provided by Jack DeJohnette amongst others.
The opening (title) track is a force to be reckoned with. Coltrane throws everything at this. There is pulsing double bass, frenetic drumming, screeching violins, flowing harp and organ impro. It’s a brave start and the omens are ominous at this point, but in fact this turns out to be the most challenging track on the album.
Battle At Armageddon is an intriguing track with a modal organ scale that repeats and steps up in key gradually rather like Robert Fripp’s unique guitar solo in Starless. Rashied Ali (who played with John Coltrane) this time provides a great drum solo.
Oh Allah is a gentler tune with drawn out organ chords and more restrained soloing, drenched in strings, and drum flutters this time from Clifford Jarvis. It has a bit of a sudden fade out for some reason though.
Hare Krishna at 8 minutes is the longest track on the album. This is even more chilled than Oh Allah and is perhaps the most beautiful track on the album. If all Alice Coltrane music was like this you’d certainly be on to a winner.
https://open.spotify.com/track/1dQ691F7ixVFl9sTXM77XZ
Sita Ram has an Indian flavour with a tanpura drone upon which Coltrane improvises treated organ and harp flourishes. The organ solos even sound a bit like Scottish bagpipes. This track is so very Terry Riley. Spoilt a little again at the end with an all too severe fade (why did engineers do this, particularly on recordings of this vintage?).
The final track The Ankh of Amen-Ra begins (and ends) with a beautiful Coltrane harp solo with wind chime backing bookending a central section of Soft Machine like organ groove with the drums high in the mix.
I’m a little wary where to go next with Coltrane (it could be all down hill from here) but Universal Consciousness has been an exciting discovery.
Originally published at http://6albumsunday.blogspot.com.
