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The Almos Funk Band – Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin. July 2004

Popularity: 1% [?]

            Anyone going to this gig, quite understandably looking to hear The Herbaliser do what they do best (i.e. the material on their albums), and who was not a die-hard hip-hop fan, would have been disappointed. So too would they be if they had read in the newspaper that same day that this show was free and that the doors would only open at 23.00. In actual fact, after a €10 admission (relatively inexpensive, though not exactly as advertised), the main act took the stage at around 22.30 to play a two hour set that jumped unpredictably through a hip-hop timeline of sorts – one which featured very few of their own tracks.             Though mixed superbly and obviously catering for a wide variety of taste, those who have a preference for certain hip-hop eras over others might have found themselves lost somewhere on the shift from the retro funk of The Jimmy Castor Bunch to the mainstream Kelis. The easy-to-please fanatics, however, were in hip-hop heaven.

Popularity: 1% [?]

             Frank Zappa and The Mother’s “Over-Nite Sensation” serves as an excellent introduction to Zappa’s vast back catalogue. In some ways, his trademark (and often over-the-top) humour and satire seems more restrained on this album than others, in favour of simply getting down to the nitty-gritty of turning out some exceptional funky-rock compositions.

             The album rumbles to a start with the exhilarating, rolling drums of Ralph Humphrey, ingrained deep all over the album, but particularly here, on the easy-going “Camarillo Brillo,” where the lead guitar skims out effortlessly after every line. Though containing plenty of humorous imagery, Zappa stays surprisingly focused to maintain the dynamic of this self-contained little ditty, ambling through nonchalantly and filling it out with an arrangement of descending horns.

             With “I’m the slime,” a crackling guitar jangle settles down for some Funkadelic-esque 70s funk (coincidentally, George Clinton has been known to cover this song live). In a pattern present throughout the album, the track is filled with riffs and computer-like tones that escalate, oscillate, and fall while being added to and fleshed out each time. Zappa’s voice (post-throat accident) lowers into a Vincent Price-like whisper while the music fades into the background as a porn-like soundtrack until it becomes whipped into shape by that infectious hook. Classic.

             The funk continues with the brilliantly snappy “Dirty Love,” complete with a fantastic solo so scratchy, it’s the equivalent of a headless chicken dancing wildly before its death. Zappa voice’s drops down a further octave or two as if to become the voice of Satan himself, barging in to the verse with: “I only got one destination, and that’s your dirty love…”

             The slightly-grating “Fifty-Fifty,” a mess of sleazy brown funk, becomes intoxicated by the screech of Ricky Lancelotti – if this one feels like too much for you, just remember that underlying even this cabaret of the burlesque outing, the musicianship on this album never lets you down, i.e. the amazing violin solo (of all things) that pops into the picture here courtesy of Jean-Luc Ponty.

             Yet again, a tumbling cacophony of sounds straightens up and falls into place with the crunching “Zombie Woof,” falling towards you with a deep voiced Zappa at the helm once more. The riffs here feel like strands from classical pieces, reflecting the composer in Zappa. On first listen, it might seem a little overwhelming, but once you know where you are in Zappa’s mad-hatter carnival, this track will learn to take you over.

             The smutty, light-hearted anecdote of “Dinah-Moe Humm,” a veritable live-action scene with characters, is sung like a farce of a musical staged in a tacky, run-down 70s motel room… by a chorus of afro-headed back-up singers… in hot pants… under a row of neon “XXX” lights – enough said. With a slower, sleeker sound that does something to foresee the likes of Money Mark years later, “Montana,” sees Zappa croon of his plans to become a tycoon by raising lonely dental floss in Montana. The ridiculous is set aside for another rip-roaring solo and a funky-as-hell bass cleft, before an artificial falsetto that spills over the song uncontrollably, and a well-executed hook sung by (an uncredited) Tina Turner and The Ikettes appearance closes out the album. By far the most accessible of the dozens of Zappa’s albums available, “Over-Nite Sensation” is rocking, funky, and fun.

Artist / Group:
Frank Zappa & The Mothers
Album:
Over-Nite Sensation
Label:
Buddah
Released:
1967

Popularity: 1% [?]

            Being a childhood favorite of mine, when I first learned that The Doors (of the 21st Century) would be playing in Dublin, my initial reaction was of really wanting to see them, but more so only because I thought that if I didn’t go, I’d only be sitting at home wondering what it would have been like. I checked out a few live samples of them and wasn’t entirely sure that it sounded that great; I thought Ian Astbury’s voice sounded extremely different, and though I understood that the point was that he was doing his own thing, it wasn’t exciting me.

             Nevertheless, having paid for my ticket four months in advance, I headed in with a mixture of a sense of obligation and curiosity. After getting involved in all sorts of head-turning conversations about life and connections beforehand in the nearest bar, I arrived at the Point just in time for ‘Ladies and gentlemen, from Los Angeles California…” And as soon as that first song started, although I was still quite some distance away from it, I was shocked — I thought it sounded amazing. My first reaction was to think: “my God, that really sounds like Jim, like…The Doors.” As it happened, it turned out to be one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen, and that really is saying something.

             From that first song (Roadhouse Blues), they played each number the way any other band would normally play their last, and thus not hesitating to play the enormous “When the Music’s Over” only one or two songs into the set. I had never seen such a good vibe in the Point before; the atmosphere was electric and it actually felt the way a good quality, intimate venue normally does, which (given what the Point usually sounds like) seemed rather surreal. Though the drummer’s kit never quite had anything close to Densmore’s trademark sound, and Manzarek perhaps getting a little too carried away at points, Robby Krieger’s guitar sounded as if it had been lifted straight from their albums.

             Even more unsettling was how much Astbury seemed like Jim Morrison, as if exactly recreating his presence from 1968. I had gone as somewhat of a skeptic, perhaps because I have been listening to them fanatically since I was eleven, but I was genuinely, and unexpectedly, blown away. Although they may have been pandering to the crowd with the old “you’ve been the best crowd so far,” there was something very believable about it as the three encores rolled on, maintaining that high. With the house lights finally coming on, and U2 coming over the p.a., the crowds were reluctantly starting to disperse when Manzarek’s voice suddenly appeared: “hey I don’t know about you, but I want another song….” And so after a veritable stampede, an impromptu mosh-pit started up to the sounds of “Soul Kitchen,” completing the night.

Popularity: 1% [?]

             Amon Tobin’s “Permutation” is an incredible fusion of jazz and natural-sounding electronica; it’s a surprisingly seemless pairing that sees the two square off in what sounds like the dark, shady alleyways of a 1950s detective story. Trench coats aside, the drums are what stand out on this album, and even though they have been expertly spliced together, they retain an organic feel and a phenomenal energy that would make even Ginger Baker’s head spin.

             Bursts of sweeping strings shimmer throughout, flowing over the up-tempo, wandering lines of a double-bass and a slithering piano as Tobin creates his own brilliant waves of percussion, typically kicking them into a frenzy of drum’n'bass rhythms before smoothing them back out to a dreamy xylophone finish. This is what jazz would sound like in the fictional underworld of William Burroughs: cut-up, altogether unreal, but simply mesmerising.

             Starting out from ‘Like Regular Chickens’ (with the appropriate sound-bite from David Lynch’s Eraserhead), by the time we’ve reached the fourth track there’s already been a foray of scintillating flows: everything from tumbling drum solos to the sinister rushes of gritty, industrial-like funk, often closed out with haunting, spacey breakdowns. Representative of the overall effect of the exhilarating bricolage of samples on this album, there’s something about ‘Sordid’ that conjures up the image of Laurence of Arabia crossing the desert on the back of a camel, as are there hints everywhere of music suitable for a scene straight from Star Wars’ Mos Eisley Cantina. From the squawking horns of Dizzie Gallespie, or sounds like that from an old Warner Bros. cartoon, a brilliant, mysterious catalogue of music is being executed to full effect in what has to be a landmark album in electronica.

Artist / Group:
Amon Tobin
Album:
Permutation
Label:
Ninja Tune
Released:
1st June 1998

Popularity: 1% [?]