History Can Set You Free
Transmissions Live at PRS: Matt Marble on Arthur Russell; Aftab/Iyer/Ismaily live in Tempe; JPW & Hataałii at Gold-Diggers
On the run, perpetually behind the gun. Hope you’re hanging in as best you can. What more can we do? Updates for you and yours.
Transmissions Live at Philosophical Research Society, September 30: With Matt Marble, author of Buddhist Bubblegum: Esotericism in the Creative Process of Arthur Russell
Join us for a live taping of the weekly Transmissions podcast as we dive into the holy but playful sonic worlds of Arthur Russell on Saturday, September 30th at Manly P. Hall’s Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, California. Marble joined me for a quick pre-show chat, which you can read at Aquarium Drunkard. “Essentially, [Russell] was just capturing these first thoughts, these ‘fresh’ thoughts, as isolated events that he could then kind of knit together or fuse into one another or replace one with another or combine them in different ways. And World of Echo has that beautiful plasticity creatively. That’s part of what makes it so special.” Get your tickets.
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily, “Love In Exile,” live at Tempe Center for the Arts, September 28, 2023
Though the performance was shuffled to a smaller, more intimate hall in the Tempe Center for the Arts (all to accommodate the visit of a minor political dignitary), last night’s performance by singer Arooj Aftab, pianist Vijay Iyer, and bassist Shahzad Ismaily contained untold multitudes. “Our music is for special people, people who like to wallow in their sadness,” Aftab joked between performances, which were loosely tied, or “in the spirit of,” the improvisations that comprise the trio’s Verve recording, Love in Exile, one of my favorite albums of 2023.
With Aftab’s voice fluttering and darting above them in drawn out, mournful arches, Iyer alternated between blocky chords on a grand piano and cascading arpeggios on a warm Fender Rhodes. Ismaily moved between bass and cavernous sounding synths that caused the room to vibrate menacingly. Positioned in some neutral zone between jazz, minimalism, and ambient, there was a distinct heaviness to the proceedings.
“Our music is scary too,” Aftab explained. “The world is a terrible, fucked up place.” While her point is certainly well taken, the performance offered much more than spookiness. Its expansive sonic spaces allowed room for joy, comfort, dread, and melancholy in equal measure. To conclude, Ismaily offered a hometown rap about his days at ASU, before the “lake” that glittered and shimmered behind their performance was installed, and reflected on the role the record store Stinkweeds—whose owner Kimber Lanning was in attendance, beaming with a smile—played in shaping his musical life. “History can trap you,” Ismaily said. “But it can also set you free.”
JPW & Hataałii, live at Gold-Diggers, Saturday, September 23, 2023
Though we missed Psychic Temple, who had to drop off due illness, we had a really incredible time bringing the songs of my debut record, Something Happening/Always Happening, to Los Angeles’ Gold-Diggers. We were so blessed to have Hataałii and his musical partner Jake with us on the bill, two underage singer/songwriter phenoms who had to wait outside, do their thing on-stage, and then immediately scram. Nonetheless, Hataałii has the goods—the kind of performer whose casual and easygoing charm permeates the room, making it feel that much better. Our set was fun. I was so blessed to have Rick Heins with me on pedal steel and guitar, Zachary “Dad Weed” Toporek on drums and vocals, Rob Kroehler on keys and vocals, and Andrew Bates on drums. Before the show, Becky Bartkowski and I wandered Hollywood Forever Cemetery (the absolutely perfect way to spend the first day of autumn) and walked the perimeter of the Paramount lot. What can I say? I love LA.
Current reading: Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith by John Szwed; Perchance to Dream: Selected Stories, by Charles Beaumont
’s recent missive on “Doomscrolling”Watching: Halloween III: Season of the Witch; Midnight Music Reivew in the Attic season one (on Night Flight Plus, presented by WASTOIDS); Star Trek: Enterprise season one
Listening: The recently relaunched Everything Is Stories podcast; You Must Remember This: The Lynch Family: Boxing Helena and Lost Highway; Prairiewolf’s Lagniappe Session, Vince Guaraldi Trio, S/T
Upcoming: I’m talking with Sean Howe about cannabis, the underground press, and the paranoid ‘70s October 6th at Changing Hands bookstore. Come hang!