The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
{the b-side} Thursday, January r11 2007 - 5B
CARGO
From page 1B
doing a similar thing, much more
trustworthy because of a more
singular/policed voice, will emerge
and be the bible." Who knows
when that will happen, or from
where that voice will come, but my
guess is it won't come print-media
or music critics per se. Rather,
the staggering possibilities of the
music genome project and Pandora.
com will allow consumers to be
recommended music finely tailored
to their unique taste, effectively
cutting out all the crap we don't
want to hear. Music criticism will
never die; it'll just become less rel-
evant to the casual music fan.
All of this may sound glum, but
really the music industry is going
through a fascinating transitional
era that, in the end, will most
likely benefit music. Lefsetz may
only be stating the obvious, but
it's something that those stubborn
music executives seem to have lost
sight of "Give people something
that touches their souls for a fair
price and they'll give you ALL their
money. Rip them off with shit and
they'll tell everybody they know
and decimate your enterprise."
- Cargo needs more constructive
dialogue in his life. E-mail him
at lhcargo@umich.edu.
REISSUES
From page 1B
able as he switches effortless between
oud and electric guitar. At the time of the
recording, Bull had just released his third
album, a hazy masterpiece titled E Pluribus
Unum, and its two pulsating guitar compo-
sitions stand as true highlights of the Valen-
tine's Day show. This is the first release of
any Sandy Bull live material and the Water
records label graciously packaged it with
an additional set of songs from an April 5th
show of the same year. Hopefully this will
get the ball rolling for the future reissue of
his seminal Vanguard records of the '60s.
Though folk received an impressive array
of reissues in 2006, it was post-punk that
may have been the most richly rediscov-
ered genre. There was the long-overdue
re-mastering of Wire's first three albums
- whose scope and influence are pervasive
in nearly all aspects of modern indie rock -,
the rediscovery of Josef K with Entimology
and a box-set of the full Talking Heads cata-
logue. The Fall got their sinister debut Live
at the Witch Trials re-released with a full
bonus album of Peel Sessions, capturing the
band in its embryonic first stage. The gui-
tars and drums are played with primitive
passion as riffs build endlessly under Mark
E. Smith's nihilistic wail. Finally, those in
the know celebrated the treatment lavished
upon the less heralded, but equally essential
Comsat Angels by UK label Renascent.
2006 was also agreatyear forthosewith a
taste for obscure foreign music. Jean Claude
Vannier's soundtrack, L'Enfant Des Assasins
Des Mouches got it's first domestic release
and fans of Serge Gainsbourg's classic His-
toire De Melody Nelson got a great glimpse at
where the arranger of some of Gainsbourg's
best work did on his own time. Another
soundtrack, Vampyros Lesbos sounds gar-
nered considerable attention and praise for
sounding exactly like you'd expect '70s Ital-
ian vampire lesbian porn music to sound.
Brazilian music, specifically from the late
'60s, was given a boost by Soul Jazz's excel-
lent compilation, Tropicalia: A Brazilian
Revolution in Sound. That reissue, as well
as Os Mutantes's reunion appearances in
the US, seemed to set off a'revived interest
in Caetano Veloso, Tim Maia and Gilberto
Gil, but the wave also exposed great bands
on the fringe of that movement. Som Imagi-
nario were the backing band of Milton Nas-
cimento, but their self-titled LP is just now
beginning to get its due, thanks to a Rev-Ola
reissue. Labels can't describe the sound but
imagine bossa nova meets British psych far
out enough to attract praise from then-cut-
ting-edge Herbie Hancock.
As if world music wasn't enough, 2006
was blessed with a man that must have come
from another planet. "I'm the church and
I've come /To claim you with my iron drum"
proclaimed John Cale in his definitive pop
statement, 1973's Paris 1919. With carefully
constructed story-songs ' and whimsical
orchestration, Cale turned another corner
in his eclectic career, proving to be a master
pop auteur capable of melodic work every bit
as inventive as his legendary noise experi-
ments with The Velvet Underground. The
music accurately depicts the dichotomous
nature of its performer, with Cale playing
John Cale: more like New York City 2007 than Paris 1919.
both the indoctrinating clergyman -- sitting
high on a pulpit of bombastic horns and gui-
tar - or the humble priest - quietly intro-
spective and wisely prophetic. 2006 saw
Rhino reissue the classic album with a set of
previously unreleased bonus tracks for the
first time.
There's more too, plenty of jazz, blues,
soul, hip-hop - more than enough for this
newspaper to handle. We're just thankful
for the opportunity to hear the music most
of us missed the first time around.
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