Toronto Juju
As per the previous post, I’m in love with this Danielson song, “Did I Step on Your Trumpet?” But also right now I am deeply in love with this new album from Toronto’s Glissandro 70, a self-titled debut. It’s a collection of five guitar symphonies of varying length, and the sounds & dynamics thereon alternately oscillate, fluctuate, chime, ring, buzz, & more, threatening to exhaust my available verbs. But anyway, this excellent article in the current eye tells you much more than I could about the Glissandro 70 project.
As the piece indicates, the record encourages some spot-the-influence play, with Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, old Arthur Russell singles, and more straightup techno all looming large. (At one point G70 borrow some words from Juan Atkins’ “No UFOs.”) But what I hear in there more than anything else is King Sunny Ade’s Juju Music: the same guitar tones, the same reflective but insistent vibe. And that’s not a bad thing at all.
My favourite song on the record is “Portugal Rua Rua,”a scalp-stirring mix of the sounds described above, some observational poetry, what sounds like Portuguese spoken-word but who knows, and the aforementioned Atkins quote. And it’s astonishing how much anchoring force a simple little thing like a regular triple drumbeat can provide.
However, the record just came out and all (I missed their launch party show the other night, alas), so I’ll refrain from posting “Portugal Rua Rua.” Instead, here’s a piece called “Somethings” (an excerpt from which does appear on the G70 album). You can find this – well, right here, for now, but it seems that you can permanently find it on the Muted Tones site, where it originally appeared.
And here are some related things, too, from one of King Sunny Ade’s own glorious guitar symphonies to “No UFOs” to one of Arthur Russell’s signature tracks, a smooth, 13-minute disco workout. (Buy some Arthur Russell here, some Juan Atkins here, Juju Music here, and, surprisingly, Glissandro 70 here.)
As the piece indicates, the record encourages some spot-the-influence play, with Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, old Arthur Russell singles, and more straightup techno all looming large. (At one point G70 borrow some words from Juan Atkins’ “No UFOs.”) But what I hear in there more than anything else is King Sunny Ade’s Juju Music: the same guitar tones, the same reflective but insistent vibe. And that’s not a bad thing at all.
My favourite song on the record is “Portugal Rua Rua,”a scalp-stirring mix of the sounds described above, some observational poetry, what sounds like Portuguese spoken-word but who knows, and the aforementioned Atkins quote. And it’s astonishing how much anchoring force a simple little thing like a regular triple drumbeat can provide.
However, the record just came out and all (I missed their launch party show the other night, alas), so I’ll refrain from posting “Portugal Rua Rua.” Instead, here’s a piece called “Somethings” (an excerpt from which does appear on the G70 album). You can find this – well, right here, for now, but it seems that you can permanently find it on the Muted Tones site, where it originally appeared.
And here are some related things, too, from one of King Sunny Ade’s own glorious guitar symphonies to “No UFOs” to one of Arthur Russell’s signature tracks, a smooth, 13-minute disco workout. (Buy some Arthur Russell here, some Juan Atkins here, Juju Music here, and, surprisingly, Glissandro 70 here.)
- Glissandro 70, “Somethings”
- King Sunny Ade, “Eje Nlo Gba Ara Mi”
- Model 500 (Juan Atkins), “No UFOs” (remix)
- Dinosaur L (Arthur Russell), “Kiss Me Again”
posted by DW | 2.4.06
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