Happy Daddy
04-05-2012, 09:41
It's difficult to know what to write in this instance,suggestions are that I should declare what my tastes in music are but that is not easy as I have broad yet eclectic tastes and it would be far easier to say what I didn't like. Don't worry I'm not going to do that as it would just be a litany of negatives. Perhaps the best way to introduce myself would be to talk about how I came to have a love for such a broad range of music.
I grew up in the heyday of Punk & as a teenager was at first quite blinkered & conservative in my considerations. Then I discovered John Peel and my ears were opened & my previous attitudes challenged. I discovered Kraut Rock in the likes of Can, psychedelia in the form of Gong & proto-punk in the form of the MC5. I still loved Patti Smith but discovered Folk, blues and world music. My father was a lover of classical and country & western, I couldn't stand much C&W but developed a love for Bluegrass (RIP Earl Scruggs) & Cajun. I was a late comer to jazz and loved early ragtime of Bessie Smith or the Bebop of Charly 'Bird' Parker and the wonderful strains of Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. I then went on to discover the early crossover between Hardcore & jungle and subsequently early drum & bass which has become a passion of mine although I found it readily became far too formulaic and lost that imaginative exploration and experimentation that I loved when it became more focused on exploiting a particular bass filter rather than rhythms, rhythms as melody and a wide variety of sourced sampling with innovative usage. I discovered triphop in the form of Massive Attack & Tricky, breakbeat in the likes of Lamb, Portishead & Everything But the Girl. I simultaneously discovered the joys of reggae from original early Ska through to Roots in the likes of The Gladiators, Free Africa or The Mighty Diamonds through to Dub of Augustus Pablo. This was perhaps originally informed by reggae covers by punk bands like the Clash and the Ruts but also from the early work of Linton Kwesi Johnson's output including his days in Poet & The Roots. I have developed a deep love for Gil Scott Heron, especially his work with Brian jackson, GSH a flawed man with such poignant poetical lyrics that had the ability to sound so smooth and gentle in their delivery but to also bite at the same time to the heart of many social injustices.A man whose last album still managed to stifle many critical of his life of drugs and prison. In all that time(40yrs or more) still one of my favorite LPs of all time has to be the eponymous album by The Pentangle. It still thrills me with its crossover of Folk, Jazz and Rock. The tight arrangements, the jazzy rhythm section with the double bass of Danny Thompson and the dueling guitars of Bert Jansch & John Renbourn are all electrifying for me. I went to visit friends in Italy 7 or 8 years ago and went to a music festival in Rome. A broken beat artists by the name of Profuse73 was playing in an ex-Vatican building in the cloister. There was a sack of PA in each corner of the cloister and a couple of tables of samplers, computers and turntables and assorted gadgetry. When he started to play, sampling and manipulating sounds while simultaneously djing my ears suddeny picked up when I heard The Pentangle being skillfully woven into the rich tapestry of beats and breaks he was creating before an appreciative audience who howled with delight. I had left that very album on my lefthand turntable at home having just played it before I left for the airport. I guess I should stop waxing on and conclude that I have in excess of 3,000 LPs, a beatiful long suffering wife and a delightful 7 month old son to whom I hope to be able to impart my passion for music. Kind regards, Jeremy
I grew up in the heyday of Punk & as a teenager was at first quite blinkered & conservative in my considerations. Then I discovered John Peel and my ears were opened & my previous attitudes challenged. I discovered Kraut Rock in the likes of Can, psychedelia in the form of Gong & proto-punk in the form of the MC5. I still loved Patti Smith but discovered Folk, blues and world music. My father was a lover of classical and country & western, I couldn't stand much C&W but developed a love for Bluegrass (RIP Earl Scruggs) & Cajun. I was a late comer to jazz and loved early ragtime of Bessie Smith or the Bebop of Charly 'Bird' Parker and the wonderful strains of Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. I then went on to discover the early crossover between Hardcore & jungle and subsequently early drum & bass which has become a passion of mine although I found it readily became far too formulaic and lost that imaginative exploration and experimentation that I loved when it became more focused on exploiting a particular bass filter rather than rhythms, rhythms as melody and a wide variety of sourced sampling with innovative usage. I discovered triphop in the form of Massive Attack & Tricky, breakbeat in the likes of Lamb, Portishead & Everything But the Girl. I simultaneously discovered the joys of reggae from original early Ska through to Roots in the likes of The Gladiators, Free Africa or The Mighty Diamonds through to Dub of Augustus Pablo. This was perhaps originally informed by reggae covers by punk bands like the Clash and the Ruts but also from the early work of Linton Kwesi Johnson's output including his days in Poet & The Roots. I have developed a deep love for Gil Scott Heron, especially his work with Brian jackson, GSH a flawed man with such poignant poetical lyrics that had the ability to sound so smooth and gentle in their delivery but to also bite at the same time to the heart of many social injustices.A man whose last album still managed to stifle many critical of his life of drugs and prison. In all that time(40yrs or more) still one of my favorite LPs of all time has to be the eponymous album by The Pentangle. It still thrills me with its crossover of Folk, Jazz and Rock. The tight arrangements, the jazzy rhythm section with the double bass of Danny Thompson and the dueling guitars of Bert Jansch & John Renbourn are all electrifying for me. I went to visit friends in Italy 7 or 8 years ago and went to a music festival in Rome. A broken beat artists by the name of Profuse73 was playing in an ex-Vatican building in the cloister. There was a sack of PA in each corner of the cloister and a couple of tables of samplers, computers and turntables and assorted gadgetry. When he started to play, sampling and manipulating sounds while simultaneously djing my ears suddeny picked up when I heard The Pentangle being skillfully woven into the rich tapestry of beats and breaks he was creating before an appreciative audience who howled with delight. I had left that very album on my lefthand turntable at home having just played it before I left for the airport. I guess I should stop waxing on and conclude that I have in excess of 3,000 LPs, a beatiful long suffering wife and a delightful 7 month old son to whom I hope to be able to impart my passion for music. Kind regards, Jeremy