The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra

Since today or tomorrow is Sun Ra's earth arrival day (his birth certificate was destroyed in a fire), I figured that there should be a post providing a synopsis of the life and times of this great man. He was born Herman Poole Blount, later changed his name to Le Sony'r Ra, and essentially redefined jazz and created his own philosophy which was equal parts afrofuturism and egyptian mythology.

Ra went to school for music education, so he could ostensibly become a band director. However, somewhere in the midst of his schooling, he had an epiphany; beings from Saturn communicated with him and told him that he would "speak and the world would listen." From then on, he devoted himself to becoming a bandleader, using his formidable skills at the piano. He began composing ragtime and swing music. He attempted to become an übermensch, not sleeping and transforming the first floor of his family home into a venerable orchestral hall.

In the 1940 and 1950ss, he began gigging around Chicago, and playing his own originals. His personal philosophies grew from his time in Chicago, encompassing various pre-biblicical literature and the occult. He founded a book club to discuss the strage ideas that interested him, and began to dress in inane ostentatious costumes - vaguely egyptian styled in order to reflect his new ethos. His entire group - the Sun Ra Arkestra - would soon wear them. He founded his own label El Saturn Records, which would go on to press a majority of Sun Ra's records (as an aside, some of the El Saturn records are made with hand painted album covers and hand labeled records; if you manage to find one of these for sale cheap, jump on it because they are very hard to come by).

In the 1960 and 1970s, Sun Ra began experimenting with free jazz (think Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Anthony Braxton, and so on) and was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace synthesizers and keyboards. Sun Ra and the Arkestra moved to Philadelphia and were well-liked by their neighbors. They toured the West Coast for the first time and two films were made about the Arkestra and philosophies of Sun Ra. One was called "Space is the Place," and was a blaxploitation film - very good, very funny; excellent soundtrack. The other, more esoteric and harder to wrap one's head around, "A Joyful Noise" was released in 1980, and was more of a dossier about Ra's ideals.

Sun Ra and his Arkestra worked relentlessly, practicing and composing daily until 1993, when Ra contracted a fatal case of pneumonia, eventually succumbing on May 30, 1993. Fortunately, though the Arkestra continues to tour with new and old musicians, so people can learn about the wonderful music of Ra even today.

Sun Ra's entire career marked an incredibly stylistic progression, from ragtime and swing to bebop to free jazz to ambient music with free improvisation. In addition, he embraced a DIY attitude before any of the punk rockers adapted it for their own devices. Ra himself booked shows, set up tours, recorded his band, made album art, and released the records. He's really just a phenomenon!

Major Works:

If you want to start listening to Sun Ra, get the album with the longest songs you can find. That, or a live recording. "Live at Montreaux" is particularly good, as is "Jazz in Silhouette," or "Space is the Place (The Soundtrack to the Film)."

If you like films, go see "Space is the Place," or "A Joyful Noise."

If you want to learn more about the impact of Sun Ra on history, check out John F. Szwed's book "Space is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra"

Travel the space ways!

The Meat Puppets are Coming?

My Goodness

Sh*t You Kids Should Check Out: Harlem

While they finally did get their Pitchfork review the other day, Harlem, and last year's "Free Drugs ;)" didn't get nearly enough attention. It's hard not to be smitten by Harlem (who are from Austin, Texas), with their sweet garagey riffs, and "cooler-than-you" attitude. Sure this is recycling; Harlem aren't doing anything new.. but they have a song called "Psychedelic Tits", and "South of France" was one of the best tracks of 2008. Harlem waste absolutely no time, and come straight at you with hooks like "I hate every book I ever read", and "I'm into sh*t that you don't even knoooooow" For a band that fits nicely into the current fuzzy scene that's starting to overtake independent music, I don't understand why people aren't pissing themselves over Harlem.

Myspace

I Really Shouldn't...But I Will.

Here is a list of songs that, for whatever reason, I probably shouldn't listen to, but do anyway. There are annoying relics of the past that have weaseled their way into my heart, a few songs that sound bad on paper but good on my stereo, and also a few quality songs that unfortunately provoke certain bothersome personal reactions.

“Toxic” by Britney Spears – Once upon a pop star: Britney’s gone through her ups and downs, and she’s never been known for virtuosic qualities as a singer. Although she proves herself a terrible stewardess in the music video (did those passengers ever get their peanuts and plastic cups of diet coke?), she nonetheless succeeds in making the perfect guilty pleasure song.

“The First Time We Fall In Love” by The Kinks – Anyone who has ever fallen love understands the devastating force of falling out of love, outlined by The Kinks as the inevitable follow-up. You’d expect such subject matter to crush you once again, but The Kinks' playfully melodramatic delivery only warms an icy heart.


“Bumble Bees” by Aqua – Danish-Norwegian and shamelessly radiating the 1990’s, Aqua made dance-pop that cemented my youth. Unwilling to completely abandon a piece of my past, I inexplicably revel in the fact that the dirtiness of lyrics like “Bumble bee, bump into me/ I am in for pollination…I’m in need for your donation” is masked by cutesy Eurodance electronic pop and entomological analogies.


“Spread” by Outkast – Outkast isn’t talking about buttering toast. Not literally, anyway. Ideas like “Don’t want to come on too strong/ But I’ll play in you all day long” could theoretically send every classy, self-respecting girl running to the nearest chastity belt outlet store, or at least provoke an ethically based scoff. Luckily, the clever cheekiness of the lyrics overshadows grody undertones. Plus, no one could blend a more effective mixture of electric organ, trumpet, and unzipping noises than Andre 3000 and the gang.

“Bad Touch” by Bloodhound Gang – Not surprisingly, another song on this list is both from my youth and blatantly sexual. “Bad Touch” doesn’t quite make the iPod cut anymore, but I still have a fondness for the four and half minutes of clever sex-related puns and metaphors.


“Eyeball Skeleton” by Eyeball Skeleton – Two little kids and their dad start a band at home, singing the material written by said children: the very idea holds the potential to release an audio plague upon the land’s innocent listeners. Unfortunately, I have been infected ever since hearing it on the radio, and I love to yell obnoxiously along with the kids and to draw my interpretation of the Eyeball Skeleton. I must admit that the cheap drum machine and the quirky little guitar riffs provide a background for yelling that’s almost as cute as the home-drawn cover art.

“Mama Look A Boo Boo” by Harry Belafonte – This song is proof that anything cushioned by a calypso beat is mercilessly pleasant. Utterly despairing lyrics like “I wonder why nobody don’t like me/ Or is it because I’m ugly?” seem almost inspirational when sung by Harry Belafonte, best known for "Jump In the Line" as featured in Beetlejuice.


“At Last” by Etta James – Etta James is a whole lotta woman, and there is nothing wrong with her earthy, sensuous performance of this classic love song. However, there is something wrong with me: after listening once, I can’t prevent myself from singing my own painful interpretation over the next few weeks every time I feel womanly.

“Tiger Phone Card” by Dengue Fever – Dengue Fever makes music that is both catchy and melodically rich, with a Cambodian twist. The only negative aspect of this song is the power it holds over me. Whenever I listen to it, I get the dangerous urge to do psychedelic dances on my bed wearing panties and a t-shirt, imagining my room with shag carpeting and paisley wallpaper.


“Funky Town” by Lipps, Inc. – OK, so this song has no musical motivation. Someone ordered a watered-down two minutes of disco, perhaps to motivate dancers to leave the club at closing time. Or the frustrating repetition of the meaningless lyrics was designed for teaching English to glamorous pet parakeets. Regardless, it still makes me dance, and it also reminds the comatose blonde in the hilarious movie Brain Candy. Someday I will make it to Funky Town, and my days will be spent in funky, funky bliss.



That's enough for this week. Enjoy, but use these songs with extreme caution.