Discaholic interview Lasse Marhaug feb 2013

 

 

– Do you consider yourself as an official discaholic?

Yes I do. I’m a helplessly addicted record collector. I love records and listen to them every day.

 

 

 

– How did your discaholism got started? When? With what ?

 

Quite early age. Probably when I bought my first KISS records when I was seven. Since then I’ve always collected records. This is going to sound weird, but as a teenager I actually did not start drinking alcohol because I wanted to spend all my money on records. And it stuck. I never started to drink. I’m a teetotaler because of my obsession with records and music. People look at my collection and ask how could I afford it – they know I never had a well-paying job – and I tell them every record equals two beers on a night out.

 

 

 

Do you collect other stuff?

 

I collect movies, books, and tea. By nature I’m curious and excited by new things, so I’m always getting new stuff. But I’m also a neatness freak, so I keep getting rid of things; selling or giving away to friends. It’s a twin-obsession that I’ve somehow managed to balance.

 

 

 

-What was the first vinyl you bought for your own money?

KISS “Alive 2”

 

-What was the first vinyl you bought only because of the cover?

KISS “Alive 2” also. I loved the picture of Gene Simmons with blood smeared on his face and the gatefold with the explosives. I knew it was perfect for me.

 

– the first noise vinyl?

Weird, but I honestly don’t remember. Might have been a Throbbing Gristle album. I got a lot of noise tapes before noise records. Noise is still a cassette thing for me.

-the first metal vinyl?

Well, I consider KISS to be hard rock, so the first metal was probably an Iron Maiden album. I’m guessing “Powerslave” or “Piece of Mind.” Again the cover art deeply impressed me. Growing up in rural northern Norway I had a huge appetite for monsters, demons, zombies and anything extreme that could break the boredom of my safe surroundings.

 

-the first free jazz lp/ ep ?

Ornette Coleman/Pat Metheny “Song X”.

 

-the latest one on vinyl?

On my last day in Tokyo I scored an almost mint copy of Roland Kayn’s “Elektroakustische Projekte.” His music is incredible. Not enough people know about it.

 

 

Do you collect all formats?

Yes – CD, tapes, 12”, 10”, 7”, flexi-discs – I think all formats have a specific quality that makes it appealing.

Favorite format?

7” singles. Like my friend John Wiese says; ”because when you play them, they last so short there’s nothing to do but listen.”

Favorite rpm?

I swing both ways.

 

Any 78´s in yr collection?

No.

 

 

Protecting sleeves?

For the 7″ singles, but not for the LPs. I’ve been saying I’m going to get PVC-sleeves for my LPs the next time I move house, but the truth is that I’m careful with my records, so once they come into my possession they don’t really take much wear.

 

I’m actually appalled when I see people treating good records carelessly. They think because they own then they can do as they like, but my view is that my records will outlive me, so they’re only in my possession temporarily. They’re cultural artifacts, and it’s our duty to pass them on to the next generation in the best possible condition. Like mother earth.

 

 

 

Alphabetical or Genre?

Genre, of course. I’m strongly against the alphabetical system. It does not work. For example: you’re discussing krautrock with a friend, and you want to browse for some related records, but if you have your records in alphabetical order you can’t do that. I have my German stuff together, so I can easily go through it and find obscure records I’d otherwise forget.

 

Could you consider another method in categorizing your beasts?

Actually right now I have too many records lined up on the floor. No more room in my shelves. They’re lined up pretty neat, but it’s a sign that I should find a new place to live.

 

 

-What do you hit first when entering a new record shop, that you haven’t visited before?

Avant garde / noise.

 

– 2ndly?

Metal.

 

– Thirdly?

Classic rock, free/jazz, soul and soundtracks.

 

– Last / Never?

Reggae and techno/dance music. Never ever.

 

Why?

I don’t smoke dope and I don’t dance.

 

 

 

 

– What is the most important factor of a vinyl release?

 

Music?

Rarity?

Obscurity?

Smell?

Cover/ Graphic art work?

Message?

Liner notes?

Overall feel?

 

I collect to listen. I don’t need rare first pressings. I want the best possible quality, both for the cover and the vinyl. Since I’m a visually oriented person (I guess most graphic designers are?) how the cover looks is an important factor. I’m a sucker for sturdy 1970s pressings with tip-on gatefolds. All records tell a story, and I’m attracted to that aspect.

 

 

 

Other aspects?

 

I like record shopping with friends. To make it a social thing. For me it’s good go with people who are more manic and obsessive than me. It makes me feel more normal when my buddy’s stack at the counter is twice my size. But it’s usually the other way around.

 

 

 

What is the biggest score you never made?

I remember a guy in the late 1990s was going to sell a vinyl collection of noise, contemporary and avant garde. He emailed me and I put in an offer. My offer was a bit low, and I didn’t follow up on it, and then he sold the collection to someone else, for a price I could have easily matched. I realized I should have made a bigger first offer and followed up on it. I still regret that.

 

What is the biggest score you actually made?

That’s actually not a record, but a cassette. I got a copy of the Masonna “Passion of Rubbers” cassette. That release is rare in itself, and I had been looking for it for a long time, but then I scored a copy of the special artist edition of 14 copies in a store in Osaka. I’m still smiling.

 

 

 

How is the vibe when you, for instance, are buying records with another fellow discaholic in a shop, like Paal Nilssen-Love? Are you generous or do you shamelessly go for what you need and don’t care about his/ her needs?

I’m more the generous type. If I’m shopping with someone, and I find a record I know my friend wants more than me, I will let him have it.

 

 

How many records did you buy on your latest trip to Japan ?

I usually say I need to get between 100-150 records every time I go there. I save up for it. This time it was probably a little less, but I scored good.

 

 

What is your take on limited editions and such?

I have a fairly relaxed relationship to that. If a record is limited and I don’t get it, then it’s not the end of the world. I’m not a completist. I collect to listen, not to have everything. I’ve long since realized I can’t have everything. The pleasure is in the hunt, and whatever I bring back I’ll enjoy.

 

 

What existing record shop in the world is your favorite one? Why?

 

I can’t decide. There are so many I love. They’re like old friends; it’s good to see them all from time to time.

 

What record shop is the best in the history? The ultimate? Why?

 

Not sure. If I had a time machine I’d first go back and kill Hitler, then I’d go record shopping in the 60s and 70s.

 

 

 

 

How is it possible to find time for record producing, book publishing, concert producing, fanzine making AND making noise… are your day 28 hours , compared to others, the usual 24?

 

The truth is I often feel slow and behind on things. I guess this self-torture is why I get so much done. I’m a morning person. I like getting up early and just starting right to work right away. Inspiration is never an issue.

 

 

What record is closest to sex?

Whitehouse ”Total Sex”, obviously.

 

What record is no sex at all?

 

I find those mp3-download cards unsexy. I don’t think I ever used one to download anything. “Thank you for buying our vinyl LP. Oh, and here’s a shitty sounding crap mp3-file in case you like that better!” A bonus-CD or hi-res download I can see the point of, but mp3?! Fuck that shit.

 

 

 

 

What splatter film has the best soundtrack?

 

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It’s a totally avant-garde, abstract and weird soundtrack. It could easily have been the work of any post-industrial/noise artists of the early 80s. In fact I believe much of the Wolf Eyes/American Tapes-era noise scene is trying to emulate the gritty feel and sound of that film. That’s the core of their sound.

 

 

What artists makes you wanna have their whole discography, to become a completist of someone’s output on vinyl and related formats?

 

Merzbow, Ennio Morricone, and Sun Ra! Haha, not really. I’m not a completist so it’s not an issue.

 

 

 

Can diskaholism be cured?

Probably not. I’m a record collector for life. I don’t spend more than I can afford, so it’s at level that’s manageable.

 

The best smelling records ?

 

I love that smell of 30-40 year old records. It’s just gets my juices going. While I’m glad there’s a lot of classic stuff that’s being reissued these days, the reissues doesn’t have the same smell as the old records. And just like sex smell factors in more strongly than we perhaps realize.

 

 

 

The most wicked labels?

 

Stomach Ache is my favorite label of all time. Half made-up fake bootleg releases, sloppy noise, weird music and only 7” singles. I love that Karl Marx musical 7″ they did.

 

Your fav Merzbow releases?

“Noisembryo” and “Artificial Invagination”. Those are Masami Akita at the very top of his game. Both of these are CD-only, and in desperate need of vinyl reissues.

 

 

Your fav 70’s rock albums?

 

This week it’s Fleetwood Mac “Then Play On”, Mike McGear “McGear” and Paul McCartney “Ram”. You’d be surprised how much classic rock I’m into.

 

Is this interview too long?

If you’ve read my fanzine, you know I like long interviews.

 

 

 

What vinyl releases can we expect on Pica in the future?

Working on a triple LP box-set of sessions me and Paal did in Japan two years ago. There’s also a Tongues of Mount Meru 3CD/LP box on its way. And I’m planning on doing limited vinyl editions of previous CD-only albums of the last 15 years. It’s work I’m proud of and I want them to be exist on vinyl as well. Even if it’s just for my own shelf.

 

How many records (vinyls that is!) do you put out in a year?

It varies from year to year. The last few years I haven’t done so much of my own music. After the Jazkamer 2010 series I figured I’d give people a break for a bit. This year it seems to be picking up again.

 

Have you ever competed with someone about the amount of released records per year?

Yes, early in 2007 me and Paal Nilssen-Love realized that we both had an extraordinary amount of records in the pipeline, so we decided to make it a competition. I won. Paal owes me a foot massage.

 

 

What is the biggest thrill with making your own printed fanzine?

I love the whole process of putting it together. From approaching the artists, conducting and editing the interviews, doing the design – it’s a creative process I find as much pleasure in as making music. I guess doing this website gives you the same sensation.

 

Any plans of adding a flexi to the fanzine…???

Not a bad idea actually! I might just do that.

 

 

The best city for vinyl hunting?

Tokyo. No doubt about it. And this is largely thanks to the Disk Union chain. Great selection of records in good condition, and at low prices.

 

How do you find your records primarily? Internet, shops, friends, enemies, lists or do you have other sources?

Both the internet and shops. I go largely on recommendations. When a friend say I should get something I trust them. I rely on expertise. I have people make lists for me. Every time I see Oren Ambarchi I end up with a long list of things to get, and I buy them without question.

 

What is your fav machine? The jukebox, the vinyl cleaner or the vinyl cutting machine?

The only one of those three I own is the vinyl cleaner, which I love. It was Kjetil Brandsdal who convinced me to get one, and he was right.

 

Who would you like to see getting interviewed in the discaholic interview series?

Robert Crumb. He’s my hero. He has fully embraced his obsessions and by that become one of the greatest artists of our time.

 

What records do you wanna steal from the discaholic corners archive?

I’m a good boy and don’t steal, but that Rune Lindblad 7” you scored recently I probably would sacrifice our friendship for. I figure you’d do the same to me.

 

What records do I wanna steal from your collection?

For money value you should get some of the early Norwegian black metal demo tapes. I probably wouldn’t miss it much, since I don’t listen to them anymore. For listening pleasure you should steal all the Harry Pussy and Gerogerigegege stuff.

 

 

How many records per day keeps the doctor away?

 

One! I’ve calculated on average I obtain some 300 to 400 new records every year, which is about a new one every day.

 

What vinyl record will solve ALL problems?

 

The next one.

 

http://marhaugforlag.no/

Discaholic Corner Interview  —- Henry Rollins, jan 2013

 

 

Are you an official discaholic?

– I have always had a hard time dealing with people. I don’t hate them but feel uncomfortable around them. I prefer them on records. Music keeps me company, actual humans don’t all that much. So, music has a large place in my life. I like all the different pressings and labels, it’s all very interesting to me. About as happy as I get is when I am listening to music

 

Are there any secret S.O.A test pressings / acetates, laying around… that we haven’t seen yet?

– There were some test pressings. I am not certain of the actual number. Perhaps ten or so. Past that, I think there were three pressings of the single, two for sure.

 

Was this your debut in vinyl ? the No Policy ep? Or are there any earlier results on vinyl? Why green vinyl on the 1^st issue of No Policy?

– That was my first time being on a record. I thought green vinyl would look cool. That’s the only thought I had about it.

 

 

Are there any secret Black Flag test pressings / acetates, laying around… that we haven’t seen yet?

– There are test pressings for sure. Jealous Again, Six Pack, Damaged of two different masterings. Those are the ones I am aware of. There might be some for Everything Went Black but I am not sure. As far as I know, there were no acetates. We could not have afforded them. There are perhaps more test pressings. Honestly, it’s not a discography that interests me all that much. I don’t have all the records I am on,

 

Are there any secret Rollins Band test pressings / acetates, laying around… that we haven’t seen yet?

– Test pressings for Life Time, Hard Volume, Do It for sure. There is a Hard Volume Australian test pressing that a guy showed me but I don’t have one. As far as  I know, those are the only ones. No acetates to my knowledge. Again, no money or need really.

 

Fav format in general?

– I would rather listen to a record or other analog source over digital.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is it really… in between the grooves?

– I don’t know.

 

 

 

How come you got into Free Jazz?

– It seemed as punk rock or more punk rock than punk rock, which very often played it safe. Free Jazz doesn’t seem to care about getting paid, it sounds like truth.

 

Normally we deal and talk exclusively about vinyls on this site… but occasionally we have some rare cassettes and related that we think is worth spreading some lights on.

There is one AMAZING cassette with the music of Norman Howard that came into DC´s archive 20 years ago…. Were you at all involved in that release? There was some rumors about it at the time….

–       I bought the masters of that album from a Scottish guy who somehow got them. I told the asshole at ESP. He asked for them and offered 1000 dollars, which was less than I paid but I said ok because I figured he could put it out and life would be grand. So, I gave him the tape and he never paid me. I would take one of his ears in lieu of payment because that is the kind of sociopath fuck I am but I don’t want to do the time. He should put it out.

 

Have you produced any other free jazz / improvised music on vinyl or cassette? Any plans for the future?

– I mixed some sessions for Charles Gayle and others. No plans to do more.

Are producing / releasing vinyls a useful tool to fight the stupidity back?

– I think music is a good thing to keep humans on their best behavior.

 

 

Do you believe in programmatic music to spread/ deliver a certain message? Or do u prefer to think about art and music as a way to open the doors up…. To make the people start thinking on their own and figuring out the shit themselves? Or do we need to be really clear about stuff in a more outspoken way? Has these things changed over the years ? Is it different now compared to the years of S.O.A and Black Flag?

– I think music is a great way to open up the mind and to bring people together. I like music festivals. I like seeing all those people together to dig some music and meet each other and prevent the next stupid war. I think music, like education, is the way out of a lot of the ills of the world.

 

 

Are Lists a good or bad thing? DC is not sure… and we are very ambivalent… but… meanwhile…we will continue publish them…

– I can’t do the list thing any more. My favorite record changes all the time.

 

 

 

 

Do you sort your private collection alphabetical or by genre?

– Genre / Alphabetical for the most part, mostly for efficiency. I do also keep some records by label, like American Tapes.

 

 

Which one is no sex at all?

– Please. Some of your friends might be on it.

 

What records do I wanna steal from your collection? More then the “Completion” test press?

– I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what I think is interesting holds any interest at all to anyone else. I have shown some of the rarest things I have to a few people and they only say something nice because they are being polite. Perhaps some of the test pressings or acetates would be of interest.

 

 

Is looking for vinyls with fellow discaholics the most fun you can do with your clothes on? Is trading records the ultimate intimacy?

– I don’t really hang out with many people. When I visit Ian MacKaye in DC, we will go into a record store. I don’t really trade records. I buy them and give them away. I sold some many years ago when I was poor but I would never do that now. I would give you one though.

 

What is the first section you hit, while arriving to a vinyl shop, where you have never been before? Secondly? Thirdly? The section where you would never look in?

– I always head for the Noise/Avant/Weird type of bin first. Past that, I go to the alternative then the metal, world and jazz sections. I never look in the country western or rap bins.

 

What is your favorite record shop in the world? In the past? In the present? Why?

– I don’t have one.  I do think some of the last great ones left are in Scandinavia and Germany. They are stores that don’t put their stuff online, so you stand the chance of actually finding something interesting.

 

How do you find your records? Shops, internet, friends, enemies?

– Everything from curiosity to suggestions to hearing something on the radio or a venue or record store I am in. I don’t think one should have only a certain way of getting to music. Most of the records, bands and labels I really enjoy were suggested to me.

 

 

What record has it all? Great music, great cover, great feel, great rarity?

– I don’t know about all four quality but there are some records that year after year, still have the same effect on me. Stooges, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Ruts, Damned, bands like that.

 

Are u a completist of any artist, label or group?

– Yes. I collect a lot of labels in their entirety. There a few bands that I have or seek to have all the pressings, test pressings, acetates, artwork, etc. That kind of thing sends you on a lot of hunts and forces you to deal with some people who are perhaps a bit less than on the level.

 

 

any plan for future 7, 10 or 12” vinyl releases on your own?

– No. I am not interested in making music. Perhaps re-issuing old stuff.

 

 

What “impossible” record are you still looking for?

– I appreciate the question but will decline to answer as I would rather not have to disclose what I lack. I will say that most of those records would fall in the punk rock genre.

 

 

Henry Rollins, january 2013 januari 17

 

 

 

 

 

Read the Henry Rollins blog in LA Weekly! Terrific on all levels!!!!

 

http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/henry-rollins/

 

 

 

 

 

And finally some vinyl related quotes from Mr Rollins found in the LA Weekly blog:

 

 

 

 

“As an LP spins, your needle goes on the musical journey with you, traveling great distances as it deftly picks up the analog information and delivers the sonic message to you in real time. Vinyl is the people, a CD is the man.”

“Yes, yes, y’all, it’s not hipster, elitist hype — vinyl sounds better. Much better. There is actual music in those grooves. Technically speaking, there is no music whatsoever on a CD. Lots of information but no music. “

“Sitting in a room, alone, listening to a CD is to be lonely. Sitting in a room alone with an LP crackling away, or sitting next to the turntable listening to a song at a time via 7-inch single is enjoying the sublime state of solitude.”

Thomas Millroth Discaholic interview nov 2012

 

 

 

 

Are you an official discaholic?

Do you need help with your sickness? Or are you happy as is?

 

– Oh no, officially I am totally normal, but what is being normal? We men do hardly ever ask for help, this is maybe what you need help for? Happy or not, a matter of words? I think I am very happy. But when feeling happy I think you really need help!

 

 

 

I know that you also have in your house an amazing book and art collection.

Does collecting vinyl differs anything from collecting art and books?

 

– This is really a problem, books do not tolerate records and vice versa. My ideal would be being a wealthy heir of a billionair. Which I am not. Alas, I´d say. Of course I consider myself being worthy of being an heir like this, considering all those id—ts who are heirs but do not share my interests. So how can they motivate being heirs?? I consider this an important social problem!

 

 

 

 

How do you collect?

 

– Collecting is knowing and finding. Has nothing to do with money. It is totally a mental occupation.

 

 

Methodical ? Or by chance/ inspiration ?

Are you a completist for any artist or labels? And why so?

 

– Chance is also a method. I am a completist of a. Amiga Records b. Sven-Åke Johansson and c. Mats Gustafsson. Why? Maybe room? Maybe quality? Ok, I´d love to be a completist of everything, but what would then remain when you have succeeded? Completist of everything = being god??

 

 

Do people need to collect? Can collecting  be seen as a way of therapy?  Or what is it really about?

 

– People need to not to collect, of course.

And.

Oh no, I´d never tell anyone about my private behaviours. ONly once in a while when I have found something very private and very special. Collecting is not therapy, quite the opposite. What is it really about – an artistic project going on an and on. A way of creating an archive which is original, personal and important, that you are all the time willing to give up. Collecting has something to do with your mind.

 

 

 

Why are there no female vinyl collectors?

– Yes, this is a reason to throw all your vinyls away. And a reason to question this interest, because if you are a part of a colletors´ hierarchy you are also a part of a male problem. Mind you! But – there are and have been a lot of important women collectors – like Gertrude Stein… Read her and consider the question..

 

 

 

When did you start collecting?

 

– When I was 12 years old and started going to Rönnell´s Antiquarian Booksshop and when I  bought my
first Armstrong record in Rikards Skivbar, Vällingby.

 

 

 

Was vinyl the first thing you collected?

– No, books!

 

 

 

What was the first vinyl you bought for your own money?

– Louis Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven, Parlophone.

 

 

Did you ever play music yourself, or have you always been a listener?

How did listening to creative music, such as Jazz began? What kicked you in the start ?

 

–       My gift to humanity was stopping playing the violin. Starting with Little Richard the step into jazz and other black music was not that big. Armstrong and even more Joe Oliver showed me a place to be. A place of my own. It went very well together with my other idol Bela Bartok – King Oliver´s Creole Jazz Band and Jelly Roll Morton was only the other face of the string quartets of Bartok. Thus my interest in avantgarde and experimental music was there from the start.

 

 

 

 

What is the biggest and most joyful experience you had listening to a vinyl?

Do you prefer to listen to vinyl on your own , or in company of other people?

 

1. Peter Brötzmann, Machine Gun throwing you into the wall.
2. Sven-Åke Johansson, Schlingerland, showing you not being thrown into the wall but showing music as a matter of intelligence, wit and creaivity outside well known boundaries.
3. Then it went on… but a forerunner was really Bengt Ernryd, Musik – creative free jazz in an unfree world of music and culture. Or for that matter the string quartets of Bela Bartok by I think The Budapest Quartet.

Free music and jazz and other creative matters are all for me a very personal thing and I prefer it on my own. Like when I was a small boy and closed the door behind me to be able to enter all my fantasies and games.

If I listen to my vinyls together with people there are but few people with whom I´d share it. Mats Gustafsson would be one, my wife another one, and maybe a few others…

 

 

How do you find your records? Shops ? Internet ? Friends ?

 

– I pray. I hope, I read.

 

Is trading records the most fun you can have with your clothes on?

Is trading records the ultimate intimacy?

 

–       Trading records means nothing, even without my clothes on.

 

 

 

 

What is your favorite format?

– Music and art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alphabetical or by Genre?

 

– The alphabet is older and thus as a conservative radical I prefer that.

 

 

Rank the following discaholic parameters: smell, feel , music, liner notes, cover art, design, sound, rarity, obscurity, thickness of vinyl:

1. Music

2. Cover Art

3. Cover Art

4. Cover Art

5. Obscurity

6. Rarity

7. Design

8. Sound

9. Cover Art

 

 

What record has it all? Great music, great cover, great feel, great rarity?

 

– Sven-Åke Johansson, Schlingerland, SAJ

 

 

How much do you listen to music (on vinyl…) per day ?

 

– All the time. Even without the record player running the music runs in my head.

 

 

 

What records do I wanna steal from your collection?

What records do you wanna steal from the DC archives ?

 

– Maja Ratkje/Monica Bonvicini – glass + record= great danger. I hope you´d want to steal anything dangerous….

I hope you want to steal this record!

 

I am a romantic soul so I´d like to steal any Buddy Bolden record… there are none? Ok, then I´d like to steal all the records with the Czech trumpet genius Dunca Broz from the late 40´s! And of course all early tapes and records by Vlasta Pruchova.

 

 

Is listening blindfolded to music  a useful technique for learning new things and developing yourself as a listener and human being?

 

– No I hate that. This just develops the worst side of me. Listening is peace and not competition. Being right or wrong?? Shit!!

 

 

 

 

Is making lists of fav vinyls a useful hobby?

 

– No, I loathe lists just as much as I love them, thus you have to fight this destructive lust in you, there are other lusts that are of greater importance. (Like poetry, what did you think??)

 

 

Limited or unlimited?

Colored or black?

 

– Give no damn. The design and artistic form and genious is more important than if a vinyl is coloured, blank or black.

 

What record is closest to sex?

What record is no sex at all?

 

– Silence.

 

Sex has nothing to do with records.

Bad sex = music that is no mind but all muscles

 

Lester Young from the 40´s and early 50´s – if this is not sexy you have never had sex.

 

 

 

What is the first section you hit, while arriving to a vinyl shop, where you have never been before?

 

–       Free form

 

Secondly?

 

–       Free form

 

Thirdly?

 

–      Czech jazz

 

 

The section where you would never look in?

 

–       Pop

 

 

 

 

 

Are you familiar with the expression ”Hit the Wall” , from a discaholics perspective?

– ?? I do not like hits.

 

 

 

What is your current favorite record shop in the world?

 

– Metamkine

http://www.metamkine.com/

 

What is the best historical record shop ever ?

 

– Andra Böcker och Skivor, Stockholm!

Old Jazz Shop, Gröndal.

 

What is your dream release on vinyl on your Olof Bright label? If you could wish freely, what 5 existing musical meetings/ events would you like to  see on vinyl?

What 5 non- existing musical meetings/ events would you like to see on vinyl?

 

– Dunca Broz and the Rhythm Groups in Prague, Late 40´s.

 

– The Clarinet of Patti Smith.

 

– The trumpet of Peter Brötzmann.

 

– Is there anything more but this??

 

– Mats Gustafsson – Patti Smith.

 

– Hermann Keller – Mats Gustafsson.

 

– Miles Davis – Jimmie Hendrix

 

– Elisabet Hermodsson – Kurt Lindgren

– Feminist Improvising Group

 

– Manfred Schulze – everything

 

– More?? Is this not really IT!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Give us a list of your 5 favorite:

 

Amiga vinyls?

 

Berliner Improvisations Quartett, 1979

Manfred Ludwig Sextett, 1964

Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky/ Conrad Bauer/ Ulrich Gumpert / Günter Sommer, Synpsis, 1974

Rolf Kühn Quintet, Solarius, 1965

Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky, 1978

 

 

Best designed record covers?

 

Han Bennink, ICP

Peter Brötzmann, FMP

Sven-Åke Johansson, SÅJ

 

 

Best logo?

 

Amiga

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite jazz writers / critics ?

 

Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka)

Ingemar Glanzelius

Ulf Linde

John Corbett

Olle Helander

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is this interview too long?

 

– Life is too short.

 

 

Can a dog have an affection for vinyl?

 

– Not for the plastic but for sound and music. Why would Peter Brötzmann have greeted my dog Asta with Hallo Rat Dog – if this was not the case?!

 

 

 

Can you recognize a fellow discaholic in an ordinary group of people? Are there any specifics that give the discaholic away?

 

– No, it is the same as with a member of the patafysic collegue. You cannot really reveal a person of a secret association, the mere ordinary touch tells you there is something – or nothing.

 

 

What film  captures the best,  the ”essence of jazz” ?

What book captures the best, the ”essence of jazz” ?

What piece of Art captures the best, the ”essence of jazz” ?

 

– Film Round Midnight with Dexter Gordon

 

– Book Skvorecky, The Saxophone (Saxofonen)

 

– Art Anything by Lage Lindell

Is there an essence of ”jazz”?

– The word ”maybe but not really”. Or just the phrase ”how are you?”

 

 

When will we see the release of the complete solo sax recordings of Bengt ” Frippe” Nordström on Olof Bright  Editions?

 

– As soon as we get the money!!

 

Who would you like to see get interviewed in this discaholic interview series?

 

– Patti Smith

– Pj Harvey

– Christine Abdelnour

– Andra Neumann

 

 

 

Which record can save the world?

– The record with the greatest secret you can imagine. But alas, records are not universal.

 

 

Which record will not save the world?

 

– This is not the task of records.

Not saving the world would be the lack of all music on records in favour of downloading music.

 

But there will always be music.

 

 

 

 

Thomas Millroth, Malmö , nov 2012

 

http://olofbright.com/nybutik/

 

 

discaholic interview series Brian Morton – nov 2012

 

 

 

 

 

Do you consider yourself a discaholic?

– Hi, I’m Brian, and I’m a discaholic. (Hi, Brian!) It has been a week or so since I actually bought any vinyl. (Appreciative applause.) I’m also a pedant, so I find a redundancy like ’binge drinking’ quite annoying – the two words mean exactly the same – but I guess I’m guilty of what you might call binge buying, decent periods of sobriety followed by episodes where I’d sell my organs, those that still work, for a Harold McNair LP.

When did you first realised that you were bitten by the vinyl bug?

 

– I’d grown up with my father’s 78 collection, which were like heavy black dinner plates in grubby brown-paper sleeves. The first time I saw a modern LPs was on American movies. They seemed to be part of those rooms. Also I saw copies of Playboy – I grew up among Americans in Scotland and their dads took Hefner’s mag the way my father took the Radio Times and Gardener’s Weekly – and these girls all seemed to be flipping discs. I had a peek ahead and I know there’s a question coming about music and sex. There’s the start of it!

 

Do you get ”help” from other discaholics?

– No, not really. It’s always been a rather solitary vice for me. I’ve been to record fairs, but I don’t quite speak the lingo and there’s just too much stuff there. I either get a buying attack and find myself taking on things I don’t really want, or I blow a fuse and slink away with nothing. When Richard Cook was alive, I used to find odd things for him and he used to find odd things for me. So despite saying it’s a solitary avocation, I liked that comradely side to it as well..

 

Black or colored vinyl?

– There is no such thing as black, just as white light is a whole spectrum, and just as the darkest African skin is closer to blue. There’s nothing more beautiful than looking down onto clean, freshly incised vinyl, especially somehow if there is a tiny planetary wobble. In 1981 I made a short film called ESP 1002 (if you know what this number is, you’re possibly a discaholic, too) – it may still be lying in the Audio-Visual Centre at the University of East Anglia – which was a continuous vertical shot of an LP side playing; no music audible and no effects except the change in light coming through the window on a stormy day. I thought it was incredibly beautiful. Its only audience thought it was incredibly dull, but they weren’t discaholics.

 

Glossy or matt?

– Both, I guess. I’ve no preference I’d die in a ditch for.

 

Stereo or mono?

– Same with this, but I do think an occasional exposure to mono is good for the listening soul. My ears were trained monophonically and in surround at the same time. I’ve always been interested in natural sound (birds, water) as well as music, and I quite like the artificiality and tight focus of a mono recording coming out of a tiny speaker on an old Dansette. I remember the first time I read a line of poetry (I forget if it comes from the Chinese or Japanese, but Archibald MacLeish refers to it in Poetry and Experience) which refers to ’a torrent from the inch-space of the heart’. The first time I heard ’Bailero’ by Canteloube coming out of my father’s little machine, it sounded exactly like that.

 

Favorite vinyl format?

– I don’t really have a favourite, but I do have a special affection for 10” discs. I sometimes wish that format had won the day.

 

Why do you collect?

 

– This is a hard one, not because it’s complex, but because I don’t really think of myself as a collector. It has a faintly pathological connotation for me, like the John Fowles novel about the creepy guy who ’collects’ young women. I deny any urge towards completism, and yet I do get the sweats when I see any gap in a run and I would exchange my grandmother for certain sought-after items. But I swear that the urge is to hear the music, or at least give myself the illusion of possessing that music, rather than completing a ’collection’. It’s certainly not a passive archive, but something I dip into constantly. If it were otherwise, I guess some of them might be in better condition? A few show signs of too much, rather than too little love.

 

When did it start?

– It started in quite a random way in the small town where I grew up. It’s about thirty miles from the city (Glasgow) but separated by a stretch of water and in effect an island. The American navy (and Polaris missiles) were based there for 30 years, so there were lots of Americans around when I was growing up. I learned to play saxophone and to understand jazz in the (quite inappropriate) company of sailors, though I have to say they were a very strait-laced and conservative bunch of men, who were happy to teach me jazz but horrified by any suggestion I might drink coffee, let alone beer. We found ourselves united and divided by common language and culture.

The town had one small electric shop, a strange Aladdin’s cave of wires, plugs, bulbs, the machines of the time. He had, almost as an afterthought, a small rack of LPs. These were obviously either ordered at random or else they were sent as ’bin ends’ because the music was wildly eclectic. Avant-garde composition (Stockhausen! Vinko Globokar! Mauricio Kagel!) sat alongside bagpipe music and albums of country dance themes. The very first vinyl record I bought was Tony Oxley’s The Baptised Traveller. I sometimes wonder if Stevie Gibson, who ran the shop, thought it was ’traveller’ music, as in gypsy or tinker music. The title appealed to me in a literary way. I remember being delightedly baffled by the music, and I remember my father putting his head round the door, saying nothing, but asking ’What the . . . ?’ with his eyes.

Will it ever stop?

– Just as I can’t (quite) imagine my own death, I can’t quite imagine ever stopping, or losing an interest in new or rare music. But I sense that it’s fading to a degree, not because my energy and appetite is fading but because the internet has taken a lot of the thrill out of searching. This maybe applies more to rare books than to records, but it does sort of kill the element of pursuit and chase that you can now put a title into a search engine and find out in 1.34 seconds that there are actually 11 copies available at prices ranging from $23 to €220. I sort of regret that. It’s a bit like watching wildlife on television, rather than in the field. So maybe, yes, it might stop. I have pretty much stopped buying antiques (the longer I talk about these things, the more ’collections’ I’m forced to admit to) because nowadays you don’t ever find a rare tool or bit of obscure rural craft lying in the bottom of a box and buy it with spare change. Everyone knows the value of everything, or as Oscar Wilde might say, the price of everything, and that diminishes the passion a bit.

 

Is it possible to find vinyls as well in remote places like Tromsö and Kintyre? Do vinyls ever float up in those surroundings?

– Having found Tony Oxley in Cowal when I was a teenager, I look forward to turning up a rarity in a charity shop here in Kintyre, but it hasn’t happened so far. I did find some good things when I was teaching in Tromsø years ago, but that was mostly site-specific stuff, obscure Scandinavian electronic music, Sami joiks (this before Garbarek made them popular) and some wonderful spoken word stuff. I do obsessively collect spoken word.

Years ago, when I met the artists Gilbert and George, they showed me a cabinet full of amazing gay porn that they had bought for a song from an old farmer in the West Country of England. This man, who had lived an outwardly respectable life, had spent years collecting all this weird underground stuff. George does a wonderful impression of the moment when they opened the cabinet to see what was there. I think they bought the cabinet as well. G&G are a good example of passionate, loving collectors. They have some wonderful Christopher Dresser stuff, beautifully laid out in that dark, East End house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you collect other things as well?

– I’d be buying Christopher Dresser, too, if I could afford it!  I used to buy a lot of ’antiques’ or what are disgustingly now called ’collectables’, mostly quite obscure things. I love wood, or ’treen’ as it’s sometimes called in the trade, and have a lot of old tools and wooden items, boxes with no obvious function, snuff horns, toddy ladels and lifters, quite a bit of glass, though none of it desperately rare. I have a bit of blue-john, a kind of feldspar from Derbyshire, mined and cut by French Napoleonic prisoners. But again, you don’t pick up these things for buttons any more. Everyone knows what they’re ’worth’. Pictures were my downfall, but just as wood is not of much interest to burglars, so woodcuts and drawings (the REAL test of artistic skill) aren’t as likely to be taken off your walls as oils or watercolours.

I prefer to think that what I collect is experience and sensation. I’ve had a memory palace for thirty years, modelled on the building where I sat my exams at the University of Edinburgh. Everything is filed away in there. It’s not something I admit to in public and it has a certain slightly dubious reputation (more Hannibal Lecter and Stephen King than Matteo Ricci and  ) but it’s an intriguing mental discipline and it really does work. My only other ’kink’ is an ability to do without sleep, but no sooner do you say that than someone says ’Ah, just like Margaret Thatcher’. Which is VERY double-edged, given that she’s bonkers now.

 

Would you trade a rare vinyl for a rare poetry book or a rare bottle of single malt?

Or is it only vinyl for vinyl?

– I already owe Mr Gustafsson a bottle of fine malt for a fine spoken word LP. I live a few miles from one of the biggest whisky producing centres in Scotland, a small town that is a complete ’region’ in itself. My firewood is old whisky barrel staves (the most fragrant fuel known to man) which have done their time holding bourbon or madeira, then Springbank malt, then after two refills a genteel retirement. I use half-barrels for growing vegatables and fruit. The busted staves go up the chimney.

My ancestral Ireland is just over the water. St Columba made the journey and helped establish a nation. I have never properly explored Irish whiskey, but did once swap an LP (I genuinely forget what it was) for a bottle of Irish. I found it curiously light and hypersubtle, and it sat awkwardly with the big island malts and Campbeltowns, like a virgin at a barn dance.

We live a ’barter’ lifestyle. I produce food and exchange it for what I can’t grow. Guys locally will do jobs for a bag of potatoes. So trading – and non-cash trading – has a certain cultural value round here that it doesn’t have in other places. At our old house I asked one tradesman what he’d take for a small job. ’Cash’ was the tight-lipped reply. It isn’t like that here.

So yes, I’d swap apples for oranges, or poetry for vinyl, and vice versa.

 

Sidetrack:

a/ When did  you get interested in poetry and literature ? or were u born with the interest?

b/ when did you get interested in single malts and related liquids? Or were u born with the interest?

– My father was interested in poetry and fiction. He wrote some published stories in the 50s, which started me off on that, though mercifully my fiction was published under a pseudonym. It isn’t very hard to work out, but no one ever has. I always wrote, as soon as I was able to, and I published my first short story when I was 16, in an Irish newspaper, and got £3 18/- for it. I also saw a woman apparently reading it on a Dublin bus. Her expression never changed.

I’m probably most comfortable writing. It’s the most absorbing thing I do, but I don’t fetishize it. I regard it as a job, but I am equally happy working with my hands. I enjoyed teaching and broadcasting, but I sense my forte probably lies with solitary and family things. I’m not a natural performer and obsessive reading is the mark of the loner.

I’ve tried plenty of other stuff, sometimes to my detriment, but booze is definitely my ’proper poison’. Advocaat to Zoca.     to Zinfandel. If it has a specific gravity, I’ll take it. I greatly admirer abstainers, whether they started out like that (Han Bennink) or ended up like that (Peter Brötzmann) and I’ve sworn off the sauce for relatively long periods. But something is missing. I need a drink. Dutch courage. Warmth. An expanded sense of self. Whatever.

I can tell you exactly when I fell in love with whisky. My mother and father were at a concert at the Edinburgh Festival, 1960. I was staying at my grandfather’s big old house in Glasgow. I was feeling sick, or pretending to, because I didn’t like being alone in the dark. I went down and he gave me a HUGE spoonful of whisky to ’settle’ my stomach. I went to bed and fell asleep and dreamed the most intense dream of my life, of being in an orchard with fruit dropping off the trees around me, and these huge soft wasps brushing my face. It was very gentle but very intense. I used to think if I could just get the dosage right I’d have that dream again. I keep trying.

 

Perhaps this is the perfect balance, when it comes to collecting something that can develop you and also your surroundings? The things that can give you new perspectives and open new doors? Music, poetry and fine alcohol?

I would add Art to those four elements. What about you?

– Definitely. It all adds up. No one likes to be subdivided or pigeonholed. I hated academic life because I was immediately niched. ’Morton’s our American literature man’, ’You really stop around 1947, don’t you?’  I’ve always been quite obsessive about having at least one other job apart from the official one. Sometimes it was playing, sometimes it was working nights in a hospital, mostly it was growing stuff. Nothing like leaving a seminar on Robert Penn Warren and the Southern Agrarians and coming home to dig potatoes in the rain. The problem with most of the people who wrote about the Agrarians was they didn’t even know potatoes grew under the ground!

I regard food as culture and as a great gift. I don’t regard books and music as entertainment but as sustenance. Booze is the plasma that holds it all together, I guess.

Art definitely. I admire those people – and they range from Brotz to Siggi Loch – who make art an integral part of the listening experience. I don’t do anything much else when listening to music, but I do stare at pictures. I’ve had to sell some of the better stuff, just to keep going, but we’ve a few things left, and my wife’s photographs keep me going . . .

 

 

 

What is collecting for you?

Can you see it as a form of therapy for yourself? Or does it feed other needs and deeds?

– It has the same relationship to mere possession and accumulation as travel does to tourism. I LOVE the things I collect. I buy them because I love them. I have very poor sense of cash value, but I have a good ’eye’ for interesting things and almost always manage to turn up something in an antique store, often to find that it costs more than my house. I used to worry that collecting was a kind of self-defence. In my very early teens I knew a boy – I guess you would say now that he was autistic – who surrounded himself with ’stuff’, layers of clothes, wires, lengths of paper, odd little ’dens’ in his room, anything that attached him to but also separated him from a world he found dangerous. I used to read to him and found that he didn’t seem to identify the voice he was hearing as coming from me at all. This hardly answers your question, but I think it’s connected. And I think collecting is also a kind of pledge. These are all the things that I would do if there were time to do them. It’s vicarious, but shouldn’t be condemned for that. If I had another life, I’d love to give a shot to dance or pottery or orchids or glassblowing. But since I don’t and won’t, I collect. So the collections are either experience and sensation of the promise of them, symbols and receptacles.

Did I say this already? It bears repeating, if not. I think there’s an illusion associated with collecting, buying books, whatever, and that is the tendency to confuse ownership with possession of the contents. I bought books obsessively when I was younger, and when time was tight I’d just clutch them, as if mere proximity was enough to get the content into my bloodstream. It’s the same with an instrument. Just owning it doesn’t make you a player. You have to work. Or vitamins. No point buying them and keeping them in the jar.

 

How do you sort your vinyl collection, alphabetical or by genre?

Any plans to change that order?

 

– Um. Some parts are artist led, everything irrespective of label. Some are labels. Some are generic, but that one always breaks down on me, so I resist it. At one time, the vinyl was precisely in the order I acquired it. If you have an eidetic memory, or what some people mistakenly call a photographic memory, you can always find anything. I change it all the time, certainly every time I have call to clear the room or get through it to somewhere else. There’s no ideal arrangement, no card index, no particular sense . . .

 

 

 

How do you rank the following, by importance?

Smell, feel, visual, music, rarity, obscurity, weight, text/ liner notes, weirdness, ideological / political idea/content ?

– I sometimes feel faintly disappointed when something I believe was rare and obscure turns out to be quite well known, but I guess everyone has a measure of that snobbery and elitism. I had a friend at university who used to ’discover’ something every week: Herman Melville, Charlie Parker, Stravinsky, Mark Rothko – and she always spoke of it as if no one else had ever heard of these guys. Some of our friends mocked her naivety. I thought it was delightful. How great to come across John Coltrane and believe for a moment that no one else had ever really got this guy before. And how generous to want to share that feeling with someone else.

I think the music has to come first. The whole physical presentation of the album is important, though. I’ve things that still carry a whiff of places I’ve been, and the stuff from Tromsø has a marine oiliness inside the sleeve that I associate with the town in 1979: seal oil? something like that. Liner notes have become an issue lately. I never used to write any and always ducked out of requests to do so as inimical to my ’role’ as a reviewer/critic. But attitudes change and I now think a great deal about what liner notes are for, what makes an ideal one, how little or how much you say about the music. And I’m going back and reading liner notes on records I’ve had for years and treasured for years, but I’ve never read the notes till now!

 

 

What is your take on programmatic music? Is it ok to deliver a message of political or/ and ideological content straight up ( no ice…)  – or do you prefer people to find out about ”contents” by themself?

– Call a piece ’Opus #2’ and you might get one set of reactions. Call it ’Canadian Sunset’ and you’ll get others. Call it ’Free the Guantanamo Prisoners’ and you get still more, pro and anti. What you do definitely get with the third, and to some degree with the second, is some nudge from the musician as to what this music is ’about’ and what the composer/performer wants you to feel and think. But these things never work in a literal way, or shouldn’t, and while I have an absolute conviction that music ’means’ something, and sometimes quite specific things, it’s harder to say what that meaning consists of. Not its content, but, if you don’t mind me citing a once-influential book, the ’meaning of meaning’?

 

Is it possible to fight the stupidity back with the help of vinyl releases ?

– I take a pretty existential, but also almost quantitative view of good and evil, stupidity and intelligence. If as my old friend Norman Mailer professed to believe, God and the Devil are at war for the universe, then every act of brave, good, creative thinking contributes to the side of intelligence and every sloppy, cynical performance increases the Devil’s forces. I believe this in a fairly literal way, but I think I put the emphasis less on ’goodness’ versus ’badness’ and more on intelligence versus stupidity. So, yes, great music pushes back the salients of dumbed-up, fucked-over non-thought that assail us every day. And there is something about the duration above all about vinyl. It’s long enough to be substantial. It’s short enough to be bracing and energising. I more often want to get up and do something worthwhile when I’ve been listening to LPs than when I’ve slumped comatose through 79.50 of somebody’s padded-out ramblings on a CD.

 

What record is closest to sex?

– The one that’s on at the time? The literalist answer would be The Necks doing ’Sex’. The current ’improv is sexy’ debate in The Wire doesn’t quite pull me in, partly because it has always seemed to me a non-problem. I find a lot of jazz and improv very visceral and earthy and lot of ’raunchy’ pop very antiseptic. Same way as I like to think I detect beauty and veins of passion in relatively quiet and serious women. It doesn’t always need Zeppelin breasts and mile-long legs, though I wouldn’t want to go on record as objecting to either. I think there is a lot to be said for Eliot’s point about the dissociation of sensibility. The old Elizabethans, he thought, experienced a thought as a sensation, and thought very hard about what sensation was. The split between sex and mind hasn’t done us any favours.

But I haven’t really answered the question. Some things by Marion Brown (strangely, perhaps) but nothing at all by Stan Getz. Much by Marilyn Crispell, who has done more than anyone, I think, to restore the piano as an essentially female instrument, though not in a Jane Austenish way. (Marilyn may not thank me for this.) Miles Davis in certain modes: ’It Never Entered My Mind’, maybe. Tony Williams’ drumming.

I still haven’t come out with an actual record, except the Miles . . .

 

Which one is no sex at all?

– I’m tempted to say: anything with Brahms on it. I think the symphonies could have solved the over-population problem,or the question of contraception for the Catholic Church, a century ago. Anything by Stan Getz. Great player, but there’s something gratingly narcissistic, too, isn’t there?

How do you find your records?

– Chance and an inbuilt truffle hound. I used to think I could walk by shops and tell if there was anything interesting inside. In the sense of anything interesting to me. I sort of feel when there’s something out there and I’ll keep hunting till I find it. Doesn’t have any connection to how much money I have in my pocket.

Are you as active hunting for vinyls today as 30 years ago?

– In all honesty, no. I don’t have so much money in my pocket, for a start. I’ve also found a lot of the things I wanted and I’m maybe losing a bit of my appetite for more. But as I say, it’s a binge thing. A month from now, I may hear a singer or trumpeter for the first time – it still happens, even with old music – and I’ll go out loaded for bear.

 

 

There are quite a few records that still only exists on vinyl in the jazzidiom, that was never re released on CD, unknown  forgotten or misinterpretated.

Would the world be a better place to live,  if someone published the ”Discaholics guide to Jazz”?

– If that’s a commission, I’d happily take it on. I once said to Ricard C (and this again anticipates your next question) that it was easy to think that everything, absolutely everything we’d valued on vinyl would eventuall sneak out in CD form. But the CD era hasn’t really been long enough to do that. Our sense of elapsed musical history is always faulty. There are always cracks and interstices. The logic of the Penguin Guide was that it covered all that was at least notionally available. In a strange way, it would have been more interesting to cover what wasn’t . . .

 

In ”The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings”, you worked closely  to Richard Cook (1957 – 2007). Did you always agree on the quality and importance of the music? Or how did you work on this excellent door opener?

 

– I’ve always said that we neither agreed nor disagreed, nor agreed to disagree. We were very different guys, from very different backgrounds, but we did have certain experiences in common. A parent’s record collection, then a grounding in classic jazz on record at the same time as we began to dabble in live British ’experimental’ music, fusion, improv, etc, then a sense of filling in the ground in between. I’m always startled how long it took me to get to, say, Ben Webster. I knew more about Frankie Trumbauer and Evan Parker. There was a tacit understanding with Richard that if one of us admired an artist and the other was sceptical/hostile, we gave it to the enthusiast. Not a universal rule, but mostly so. I found some of his enthusiasms baffling, he found some of mine extraordinary. We sometimes didn’t agree on which records by a particular artist were recommendable. We did often, though, have moments of absolutely shared and common enthusiasm (or disgust) and those became benchmarks. It was inevitably difficult after Richard died (apart from the emotional fallout) to try to maintain his voice in the book, but I did try to review certain people from his perspective and I think in some cases the mere act of doing that, rather artificially, made me rethink. I can’t give a single obvious example . . .

 

 

 

What records do I wanna steal from your collection?

– You’ll have to get past me first.

 

What records do you wanna steal from the Discaholic corners´s archive?

– I’m trying to work out ways of picking your locks.

 

What rare Scottish jazz vinyl dont we know about ?

 

– I don’t know. I guess ’rare’ sometimes just means ’something I don’t (yet) have’. I cherish LPs by the group Head, one called Red Dwarf which came out of music done for the BBC, I think, and one called Blackpool Cool. The group won the Dunkerque Jazz Festival competition around 1970/1971 and they were probably the most interesting band around at the time, except in those days ’around’ meant having to go to London to find work. The group’s saxophonist Gordon Cruickshank is no longer with us, sadly, but drummer Bill Kyle does a huge amount for jazz in Scotland. There’s some early Sandy Brown and Al Fairweather stuff, in a more traditional vein.

 

What is the most spectacular vinyl find you have ever done?

– I was looking through boxes of LPs in a second-hand shop in Cumbernauld (and if you aren’t Scottish, you can’t understand the shudder that comes with that name) and there were two older guys – hard eyes, razor scars, L O V E  and H A T E on their knuckles – going through the box next to me, and I was kind of watching both sides. My heart nearly stopped when one of them pulled out a record and then a second. I was transfixed by the name on the cover. They seemed pleased. I felt flattened. Then one of them said ’Naw, this isnae Charlie McNair. It’s some other c***’ and put the records back. I swapped places with them, counted to ten and then eased out two rare records by Harold McNair, which I got for £1 each! Richard Cook (who had to have Cumbernauld explained to him, too) was incensed. He told me what they went for at record fairs.

The weird thing was that there was nothing else, nada, zip, in those boxes that anyone would have bought for any other purpose than place mats at a chimpanzees’ dinner party. It was all Scottish traditional stuff. So in that respect it was very like Stevie Gibson’s shop in Dunoon, mostly crap, but with random gems. I guess that’s how diamonds are found. I did also get a mint and sealed copy of the Deutsche Grammophon Free Jazz box for pennies at a jumble sale, and a copy of Mauricio Kagel’s Exotica for less than a quid. Bengt Frippe Nordstrom? Maybe not all that rare, but I’d never heard of him when I bought that.

I also got a batch of American poets reading on white label LPs, some of which had lost even the white labels. I had to do some work to find out who the poet was. I think these were probably made by some university (I was teaching for a time at UEA in Norwich, doing American literature and I know they didn’t come from there) which then either chucked them out or had them digitised.

I do also have some Charlie McNair, some early skiffle things on the Beltona label. ’Hiawatha Rag’ springs to mind. Someone told me it’s on You Tube now. I’ve had a certain passion – again, an enthusiasm shared with R D Cook – for obscure female singers and beat groups of the 60s and remember being quite excited to find a Candy Sparling single in virgin condition. There is a joke somewhere in there about Candy Sparling and virgin condition, but I can’t be bothered . . .

 

What is the least spectacular vinyl find you have ever done?

– I did once buy a very early FMP (I honestly forget which one) and bought it without checking the condition, something I’m guilty of doing because I know I’ll either be put right off or agonise about the tiniest blip or tick on the surface. When I got it home, I found there was a pop record by Mud inside. Either this was an honest mistake or else an elaborate joke. I wasn’t amused.

 

What records are you still looking for? Do you have a ”wantlist”, or is everything in your head and heart?

– The honest answer is that I’m now only really looking for records I haven’t heard about yet. I think most of the things I ever really wanted I’ve now found or else have consigned to some mythical realm where they both do and don’t exist.

 

Is looking for vinyls with fellow discaholics the most fun you can do with your clothes on?

– Absolutely not. I prefer to go vinyl-hunting nude and alone. This is risky in Scotland. One doesn’t have the ’Scandinavian defence’ of pretending you’ve just stepped out of a sauna, or that you’re a card-carrying naturist. Scotland is currently in a lather about a nude hitch-hiker, who patrols quiet roads in the Highlands, frightening Japanese tourists and parties of schoolgirls. We’re not a race that ’does’ nakedness with any confidence. I quite like the camaraderie of record fairs and conventions, but I can’t say I feel part of it. Possibly if I got dressed next time  . . .

 

What is the first section you hit, while arriving to a vinyl shop, where you have never been before?

Secondly?

Thirdly?

The section where you would never look in?

 

– I’m enough of an omnivore and certainly enough of a disorganised psychopath not to discriminate. I am intrigued, though, by how some guys arrange their stuff. There is a shop in Glasgow that goes to extraordinary lengths to subdivide genres in both LP and CD. I think he spends his days like a medieval scholastic reassessing obscure music and moving it from one place in the empyrean to another. He does, however, have one bin marked ’Wire music’, by which he means the magazine, rather than the band. I originally thought this must be music featured in The Wire, but it turns out simply to be music he can’t describe in any other way. Spoken word stuff probably gets my attention first, but that can be disappointing. When you’ve found one John Cooper Clarke record, you’ve found every John Cooper Clarke record. As the medieval scholastics used to say.

 

 

Are you aware of the expression “Hit the Wall”?  From a discaholic´s perspective…

– No, but that Mud LP masquerading as an FMP classic? That hit the fucking wall.

 

 

What is your favorite record shop in the world?
Why?

– It’s gone. It was about two hundred yards down Lauriston Place in Edinburgh from the Royal Infirmary and directly opposite a nurses’ home. Tiny, cramped, smelt of sweat, patchouli, the fried food the guy always seemed to be eating, cigarette smoke, occasional whiff of dope. I guess the nurses weren’t allowed to smoke in their place, so they came over the road. Nurses, LPs, smoke. What more could you want. He had good ears, the guy who ran it, and a line into someone who was getting review copies, lots of early white label things and run-off obscurities. The only obstacle was the usual hippy one – I should have guessed that a real ’head’ wouldn’t eat smoked sausage and chips with brown sauce on top (it’s vinegar in Glasgow, brown sauce in Edinburgh – remember that, and you’re never completely lost in the universe, even if struck blind) – of money. He wanted a lot of it, and it took time to get him to understand the principle of negotiation. I bet those guys in Cumbernauld could have got some discount of him. I won my spurs when I started reviewing music for the papers and got a head start on review copies.

 

Give us a list of your 5 favorite:

 

 

– Poetry & Jazz records

– Not poetry and jazz, but documents of readings/interview by William Carlos Williams, George Oppen, Hugh MacDiarmid, Cecil Collins (painting and speaking, with music – me! – in the background), Kenneth Patchen, Derek Bailey did a couple of interesting things with poets as well.

 

– Improvised music records

Ric Colbeck (with Mike Osborne, J-F Jenny-Clark, Selwyn Lissack)  – Sun Is Coming Up

Peter Kowald Quintet – same (FMP)

Rudiger Carl – King Alcohol (FMP)

Ray Russell – June 11 1971: Live at the ICA (RCA)

Schlippenbach Trio – Pakistani Pomade (FMP)

(that’s today – it’ll be a different five tomorrow . . .)

 

 

– Best listening while drinking an Islay single malt?

Talisker – Dreaming of Glenisla – wrong island, but definitely the right vibe

– Best listening while drinking old Rhum?

 

Definitely Harold McNair

 

Best listening while eating Haggis?

Definitely Charlie McNair

 

– Best designed jazz vinyl records

 

– It’s a pretty mainstream choice. I loved Impulse! Sleeves but I tended to like very minimal, no picture covers with strong, functional typeface and minimal detail.  I still have one record – trumpet, bass, drums, odd other sounds – from about 1975 (which is when I bought it, so it can’t be more recent) that has nothing whatever on the cover or the label. It’s just a greyish sleeve and 1 and 2 on the inside – no titles. It’s nice to play it now and again, with no knowledge of who it is. I’m guessing Polish or Czech, for musical reasons rather than because of where I found it, which was in Giessen, but it could be German guys.

 

– Jazz writers on record sleeves i.e. liner notes

 

– This is a glass house and I shouldn’t throw stones. I sometimes think liner notes are a waste of space, but I’m also committed to the notion that they’re also part of some improvisatory, rather than explicatory, process. As with ’programme’ music, it matters somewhat what label you put on things and what you say on the sleeve. To say it doesn’t change the music, only the way someone listens to it is, I think, missing the point by some distance. I remember reading Ralph J Gleason’s weird notes for Miles – ’Mahls . . . MILES!!!!! . . .  My-uhls’ or whatever it was – and thinking ’what the fuck?’ but then I detest the kind of liner note that says ’listen to the way the bass comes back in at 3:18 on track 4’. I do like the kind of note you get with CIMP stuff that talks about the way the guys gathered, what they ate, how the bridge of the bass broke, how there was an argument about when to proceed. I think that kind of thing does sometimes illuminate. If nothing else, it gives a sense of real people, alive and at work doing something they love . . .

 

Can discaholism be cured?

– My name is Brian and I’m a discaholic. (Hi, Brian!) Yeah, possibly. Not sure what the twelve steps ought to be. Maybe:

1. 1. Admit you are powerless over vinyl. That it’s all become unmanageable.
2. 2. Come to believe that a superior power – CD or downloads – could restore you to sanity.
3. 3. Turn yourself over to the Recording Angel, who’ll help put your records in sensible order and nice neat boxes.
4. 4. Make a searching and fearless inventory.
5. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the that you actually bought a Mud LP by ‘mistake’.
6. 6. Ask God to forgive you.
7. 7. Humbly asked Him to raise your credit limit.
8. 8. Return all the vinyls we’ve ‘borrowed’ and forgotten to give back.
9. 9. Buy the injured owner some decent whisky by way of apology.

10. Keep sorting those fucking records. You’ll find the perfect system one day.

11. Honi soit qui mal y pense.

12. The nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat.

13. Eh?

How many hours per day do you spend listening to music?

– Varies. I almost never do anything else while I’m listening to music. The only exception to that is cooking in the evening, when I spin whatever takes my fancy. But I’m either listening or I’m doing something else. Been like that since I was a student. I used to be amazed to see friends writing an essay with their heads in amongst the speakers, ’listening’ to Tubular Bells or Dark Side of the Moon. To be honest, I was just as astonished to find that they’d actually gone out and bought those records. I once walked round a student residence one evening and out of every second or third room you’d hear one of those things. Couldn’t decide if this was the ’Zeitgeist’ or a sign that youth was being led by the nose. My neighbour, a splendid man called Gerry Toshney, used to play Glenn Miller and went out in the evening to do proper dancing with a proper girl in proper 1940s clothes and make-up. I played Derek Bailey through the wall. We were a bit . . . different.

 

How many hours do you spend now per day sorting/ categorizing your records?

Now?

20 years ago?

– I just moved house, having vowed I never would again, but our idiot landlord lost his last £12 million quid (which he could more usefully have spent on vinyl rather than yachts and divorces) and had to sell the land we were living on. (Note to non-Scots: this actually happens, even now. As John McLean said 7% of the population still own 84% of the wealth, and the proportion is probably even more out of whack when it comes to land.) So I’ve spent the last year sorting more than usual, and trying to work out how this house, which seemed plenty big enough when we bought it, now looks really cramped.

 

 

Where is your preferred listening experience, at home, in the car, at a live concert, in the bathroom?

– Definitely at home or in a club. I’m a bit bored with music in strange places: pumping stations, mortuaries, water tanks. I quite like a chair, red and white tablecloth and a drink, or a decent seat that tilts back a bit for listening to classical stuff.

 

 

Is this interview too long?

– That’s like saying ’Is Live In Seattle too long? Of course it is! But we wouldn’t have it any other way. And I think it’s me that’s making it too long.

 

Will we ever find out who the trumpet player is  with Lester Young on that recording I sent you  ? What is your best guess ? we have a fellow discaholic in Stockholm, Harald Hult, that is going crazy about this…

– I seem to remember the quiddity is ’Jesse Drakes or Fats Navarro?’  I’d have said I’d recognise Fats from a couple of measures, but I’m not sure about this one. It’s definitely not the same guy as the rest of the session. My honest preference is that it’s some local kid who got up that night and put down his thing and was pretty much forgotten about except by the people who loved him. Which is ok. I quite like the possibility of anonymity, as should be obvious by now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did Ken Burns capture the history of jazz well, in his serie? Or should he have focused  more on making films about boxers, such as that excellent Jack Johnson film? Or Architects, like Frank Lloyd Wright?

– I’ve argued the toss about this one over the years. I don’t belong to the ’Lynch Ken Burns’ gang at all. He gave jazz a prominence it doesn’t often get in the mainstream media and if it was the wrong prominence, that’s a pity. My instinct is that he isn’t really a jazz guy at bottom, that it comes to him through other cultural filters. There’s a lot wrong with that series, but there are some things that are right about it, and I think his heart was in the right place.

 

What Film  has best captured the essence, the soul of jazz?

– I have a lasting affection for Sven Klangs Kvintett and I love the way Cassavetes’ movies used jazz as a reflection of their own improvisatory structure. I’ve never seen a completely satisfactory biopic of a jazz musician. The old Hollywood swing ones were always too sanitised to be really useful. I never got on with Tavernier’s Round Midnight, even though Dexter was magnificent in his slow-lidded way. There are some great docs out there, of course, and I have high hopes for a new one by Antoine Prun on British improv, which I think is due in the new year.

 

 

 

 

What Book has best captured the essence, the soul of jazz?

 

– It’s a very unlikely choice, but I loved J. P. Smith’s Body and Soul. He handed me a copy at a gig in London. It was either Cecil Taylor or Alice Coltrane with Ravi and Omar (or was that the same night?) and I never got a chance to thank him properly. I like Leopold Tyrmand’s novel as well, though it isn’t strictly ’about’ jazz. It does catch something of the spirit of the music at a specific time. And Michael Ondaatje’s Coming Through Slaughter has a blower’s instincts running through it.

 

Why is the vinyl, as phenomena, returning now? What is it in vinyl pleasure that attracts people so much?

– It’s beautiful, where CD is merely functional. The sound has a demonstrable depth and warmth. I obsess about duration and LP durations represent a ’natural’ attention span. I know music nowadays is supposed to be interrogatory, immersive, transgressive, counter-chronological, and assaultive, but there is something about the 17 to 25 minute span that just feels right. I know the advantages of having whole symphonies on a single disc or Ascension without a split in the middle, but those of us who grew up with it sort of need that break. Also, I think there was an art to programming an LP. It isn’t just an accumulation of tracks. The balance of material over two sides was critical and part of the aesthetics lost when labels started to add bonuses and ’alts’, or doubled up discs on one CD. And the covers are cherishable. And the LP is a perfect size to carry and announce your allegiances.

 

What unreleased session of music ( known or unknown) would you most of all like to see released on vinyl?

– I’ve a couple of things of my own. Twenty minutes with Mal Waldron. And some surviving tapes of The Golden Horde (the mysterious European improvisers – Colin Smith, Yolanda Pasquale, Clyde Kazebee, Jose Llorens, BM- not the American garage band), a tape of Gentle Fire at an Edinburgh University recital room in (?) 1973. Selfishly, it would have to be The Golden Horde Live in Berlin 1973: heavy vinyl, limited edition, grainy b&w shot on the cover.

 

Which record can save the world?

Which record will not save the world?

– Ascension in both cases. Machine Gun in both cases.

 

 

How many vinyls per day keeps the doctor away?

– My doctor talks to me a lot about my ’intake’, and the number of ’units’ I can safely have per day. I’m told the current recommendation in Scotland is that we should all have one or two ’vinyl-free’ days per week. What?

 

 

 

 

Discaholic Corner Interview series  —- Rune Kristoffersen

 

Are you an official discaholic?

–       Depends on your definition, but probably, yes. Discaholic light, maybe…

 

How did you start collecting, which one was your first record, bought with your own money?

–       Jimi Hendrix – The Cry Of Love. Still have it and still a favourite.

Heard that one and Led Zeppelin III in music class at school at the golden age of thirtheen and bought it without even owning a record player, had to borrow from my grandmother, ha ha…

After that I bought everything with his name on it before moving on to other artists.

 

When did you first realize that you have the discaholic disease?

–       Only in later years.

 

Do you try to treat it?

–       Eh, no, should I?

 

Can it be treated?

–       Wouldn´t think so, not if you´re really bitten.

 

 

Are there any secret Fra Lippo Lippi test pressings / acetates… that we haven’t seen yet?

–      Not really, we never finished stuff unless we were pretty shure it would be released.

No outtakes, alternative mixes, no unrelased gems, etc.

 

 

Which FLL vinyl is the rarest, hard to get, these days?

–       The rarest is probably the 7” single “Now And Forever” with a wrong label logo on the label. Everything else with both label and sleeve is correct. I believe there´s only 10 or maybe 20 existing. And I have a couple….

One hard to get item, at least complete and in mint condition, is a split 7” with Italian band Minox on the Firenze based art label Industrie Discograpiche Lacerba. It came with three cards and an art magazine packaged in a numbered cardboard envelope.

 

 

Does format matters?

–       All vinyl formats have their own charm, but I never liked picture disks.

 

In what way is vinyl more fun to:

 

Produce? – The sleeve

Listen to? – The sound and the whole experience of active, dedicated listening

Look at? – The total visual package

Hold? – Just the total feeling that somebody took great care in producing this art

Smell? – A typically “old” smell can be intriguing…

 

 

 

 

 

Can u list your favorite record in the following genres?

 

Free jazz? – Spontaneous Music Ensemble – Karyobin

Indie? – Joy Division – Closer

Punk? – Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks

Noise? – Jazzkammer – Timex

Electronica? – Black Dog – Bytes

 

 

Are Lists a good or bad thing? DC is not sure… and we are very ambivalent… but… meanwhile…we will continue publish them…

–  I´m not sure either, have never really bothered with lists, which is strange really.

But have a feeling I might at some point.

 

 

How do you sort your collection? Alphabetical or by genre?

Any thoughts about re arranging?

 

– Alphabetical, but also a couple of sections by label.

Considering a few more by label.

 

What record is closest to sex?

Which one is no sex at all

 

– I suppose there´s an unhealthy overweight of unsexy records in my collection, haha.

A number of Hendrix tracks would probably be the closest I can think of…  Kate Bush                                                 “The Sensual World” is pretty hot in its own way come to think of it.

 

 

 

How do you find your records? Or do the vinyls finds you?

–       The usual: record fairs, internet, shops. These days I generally have most fun at fairs, although prices can be somewhat off-putting.

 

Describe a perfect shopping/hunting day!

–       That would be at the London Olympia November fair, finding a number of records from your wantlist in great condition and reasonable price. My needs are simple…

 

 

 

What records do I wanna steal from your collection?

–       Maybe excellent first pressings of Nick Drake´s “Five Leaves Left”, Spontaneous Music Ensemble´s “Karyobin”, Amm´s “Ammmusic”, Jimi Hendrix “Electric Ladyland”, Van Morrison´s “Astral Weeks” Pharaoh Sanders “First”, Sun Ra´s “My Brother The Wind” and various early Mothers on Verve.

 

 

 

 

What record do you wanna steal from the Discaholic Corner website?

 

– Springboard (love the sleeve!!)

– PJ Harvey – Dry

 

Is “Tap dance for scientists” ever gonna come out on 7“ again?

–       Strongly doubt it!

 

Is “Now and Forever” a good title for an album?

–       Most certainly

 

Is looking for vinyls with fellow discaholics the most fun you can do with your clothes on?

–       Without doubt, that and football (live and on TV)

 

Is trading records the ultimate intimacy?

–       I haven´t been much of a trader I´m afraid. I guess I don´t have much I want to dispose of. And if it´s that poor, I can´t imagine anyone wanting it…

 

What is the first section you hit, while arriving to a vinyl shop, where you have never been before? – Rare and/or collectibles

Secondly? – Progrock

Thirdly? – Krautrock, jazz

The section where you would never look in? – Unsorted bargain bins

 

 

What is your favorite record shop in the world?

–       Don´t get to travel much these days so hard to say, but London and Stockholm are generally good hunting grounds for me, especially Stockholm is great nowadays with Andra Jazz, Nostalgipalatset and Record Mania.

Why?

–       Good selections of shops and I generally like both cities.

 

Glossy or matt?

–       Matt in most cases, or even better: inside out. Or textured in some way or another.

 

How many gram is ideal for a 12”?

–       Not a big issue for me, I feel that 180g is slightly overrated.

 

What record has it all? Great music, great cover, great feel, great rarity?

–For me, I´m afraid the greatest records doesn´t have the really great rarity bit.

But where everything else is just right on the money I could name Captain Beefheart     “Trout Mask Replica”, Joy Division “Unknown Pleasures” and “Closer”, Genesis “Foxtrot”,    Ornette Coleman “Free Jazz”, Wire “154”, Magazine “Secondhand Daylight” before I realize this list could easily go on for a bit…

 

 

Are u a completist of any artist, label or group?

 

–       Not when it comes to artists, but there are certain where I´m looking to have UK first pressings of all their albums, or at least from their “prime” periods; Jimi Hendrix, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa / Mothers, Van Der Graaf, King Crimson, Genesis, Black Sabbath, Gentle Giant, Neil Young, Magazine, PIL, etc, etc… I have complete sets of Caroline, Obscure, Compendium (Norwegian) and always               looking for early Virgin, Charisma, Island, Vertigo, Harvest, Silence, Rough Trade, Factory, United Artists, Ohr…

 

What record label has been most influential/ inspirational for Rune Grammofon, when it comes to music and design? In the past and in the present?

–       4AD, Factory, Impulse, Blue Note are some. Nowadays I like Häpna, Sofa, Hubro, Mego, Tzadik, although a couple of them have probably been inspired by Rune Grammofon.

 

Will the flexi return?

–       Doubt it

Will there be any Rune Grammofon flexis?

–       Can´t imagine, but never say never.

 

 

What is yr favorite vinyl box ever released?

–       Here I´ll limit myself to my own collection and say Keith Jarrett´s “Sun Bear Concerts” on ECM which is a classic, beautifully designed and executed 10LP box set. Recently I like Grateful Dead´s “The Warner Bros. Studio Albums” on Rhino. And the Neu box.

 

Is this interview too long?

–       Possibly, yes…

 

 

Is Derek Bailey right ? — “music is like living, but better“?

–     I can go for that.

Is Evan Parker right? — “my roots are in my record player?

–       Ditto, why not?

 

Rank the following discaholic parameters: smell, feel, music, liner notes, cover art, design, sound, rarity, obscurity, thickness of vinyl:

 

1. Music

2. Cover art

3. Rarity

4. Obscurity

5. Feel

6.

7.

8.

9.

 

 

 

Any other parameters of importance?

–       I´m sure there is but can´t think of any just now.

 

 

 

What “impossible” record are you still looking for? Which one is nr 1 on your wantlist?

–       Don´t have any impossibles on my want list, and no specific nr 1 anymore, they´re all obtainable if you have the money. But here are some very possible, all UK first pressings of course:

Captain Beefheart – Strictly Personal

Tim Buckley – Starsailor

Cressida – s/t

Bill Fay – Time Of The Last Persecution

Shelagh McDonald – Album

Van Morrison – Moondance

And some early Ohr and ESP stuff

 

 

Which record can save the world?

 

–       Quite a few have at least changed, and quite possibly saved, my world, I think I´ll keep it at that…

 

Which record will not save the world?

–       Far too many.

 

 

How many vinyls per day keeps the doctor away?

–       On average, one will do nicely.

 

 

 

 

Rune Kristoffersen, October 2012.

http://www.runegrammofon.com/

 

 

DISCAHOLIC INTERVIEW SERIES Björn Thorstensson, may 2012

 

 

 

 

 

Are you an official discaholic? Is there such a thing?

Do you need help with it? Or are you happy as is?

 

-The first time ever that I heard the word discaholic was when Discaholics Anonymous first recording was released.  I suppose the term discaholic is quite appropriate, official or unofficial,  and I have no wish to be cured. I enjoy every aspect of my listening, record collecting and discographical activities all the time.

 

You worked as a dentist before, do you see a connection with your interest in grooves and teeth? Does the drilling machine  has a secret connection to the way that a vinyl pick up works?

Have you ever tried to fix someones teeth with vinyl? Would that work?

 

– I would say that  parts of some electronic music may resemble the sound of the high speed drill. Otherwise I honestly see no resemblance. I am quite certain that the vinyl grooves are much more enjoyable than the grooves I once created!

Vinyl would not work very well as a restorative material. Instead I have used quite a lot of acrylic and composite material through the years.  After retiring I am strictly pro vinyl.

 

 

When did you start collecting?

Was vinyl the first thing you collected?

– I suppose I could say that my active collecting started by the end of the sixties. I had bought records occasionally before that but I got seriously hooked when the Stax and Atco soul music began to be heard. That was absolutely mind blowing for me. I still have my Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and Sam & Dave LP´s and it now looks as if my son is interested to take care of these. Feels good!

Yes, vinyl was all there was in those days long before the CD appeared.

 

 

Did you ever play music yourself, or have you always been a listener?

 

– I took trumpet lessons for a short period when I was about 15 years old. For some reason the teacher decided to move far away after a few months. I don´t know if that was because of my lack of progress but that was anyway the end of my musical career. After that I have been a full time listener.

 

 

What record was the first one you bought for your own money?

The latest?

 

– I believe that must have been some EP by Ray Charles or Sam Cooke in the early sixties. What I very clearly remember, though, is the first LP I bought in the mid sixties. That was Highway 61 revisited by Bob Dylan. I still have it and I still love Desolation Row.

The latest one is Svein Finnerud Trio on  Norsk Jazzforum. That is an absolutely outstanding record.

 

 

 

How did you got interested in Free Jazz and Improvised music?

Was the first experince a live performance or on record?

– My first experience was from a series of radio programs in the early seventies. I have a very distinct memory of hearing two LP´s  that were played then. One was I sing the body electric by Weather Report and the other was Mountain in the clouds by Miroslav Vitous. They both knocked me out. By that time I had subscribed to Rolling Stone magazine and they had an impressive coverage of the modern jazz scene in those days. There were reviews of Ornette Coleman, Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Shepp, Ayler, Pharoah Sanders, Miles etc. Reviews were written in a way that I just had to look for this new music. I had never heard about these musicians before and most of these records were very hard to find in Sweden. There were ads from various record dealers in the magazines and that way you could find records by all these artists at very reasonable prices. There were dealers selling ESP records for $1. Those were the days!

 

 

 

What live concert has been the most amazing you have ever heard / seen?

 

– I have been to very few live concerts through the years but the one that ranks very high is the solo performance by Anthony Braxton in Västerås some years ago. It was stunning. By the way, wasn´t that planned to be released?

I must also mention my first live concert back in the seventies. Pharoah Sanders at Club ArtDur (nowadays Club Nefertiti) in Gothenburg.  Will never forget that.

 

 

 

Is Bird Notes possible to get a complete collection of? Are you close?

 

– I suppose it might be possible but I really don´t know. I have many of the Bengt Nordstrom records but I still miss some. I also miss Albert Ayler volume 2. Then there are the Miles and Parker 7¨ records that I don´t have and certainly never will have. I strongly hope that the plans for a Frippe box + discography will be carried through as soon as possible.

 

 

 

Who has been the main inspiration musically ?

What artists  do you wanna have a complete collection of, no matter what ?

 

– There are a few Gods for me. I would say that Derek Bailey, Albert Ayler and Steve Lacy and later also Peter Brötzmann are the main ones but there certainly are several more. I just have to mention also Han Bennink and Joe McPhee.

When it comes to complete collections I have an extensive want list. I have succeeded quite well so far on the following: Sun Ra, Peter Brötzmann, Derek Bailey, Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Joe McPhee, Steve Lacy, Cecil Taylor. Then there is also Mats Gustafsson. Mustn´t forget him!!

 

 

 

Is the nr 3 Incus Taps existing or not?

 

– This is a tricky one. After checking with several different sources I have come to the conclusion, correct or not, that Taps 3 was never released. I have an empty box for this tape but it seems the plans stopped there. I don´t know where the music in the Organ of Corti issue came from but most certainly it did not come from an existing reel-to-reel tape.

 

 

How many different looking versions are there  of Albert Ayler´s ”Bells” on ESP?

 

– That is another tricky one. There are at least 8 different silk-screened vinyls + a number of non silk-screened ones. Then there are at least 6 differently colored covers + a very special silk-screened cover + another special cover that I believe was sold in Castelli´s auctions some years ago. To summarize, I would say that there are at least 12 different vinyls and at least 8 different covers. I have 7 of the silk-screened vinyls.

 

 

Do you have those pre releases of Sprititual Unity and Ornette Coleman at Town Hall on ESP? Those are really rare as hens teeth….

 

– I have the Ornette Coleman  but not the Ayler one. That is one of the holy grails I am still looking for. Then there is an unreleased  BLP 4210* Ornette Coleman at the Town Hall, Vol. 1. I believe test pressings of this exist. Do you have it?

 

 

 

What records are you looking for at the moment? Perhaps our readers might be able to help… there are many discaholics out there…. And trades can be arranged….

 

– Here we go.  There are more on my want list but the following have top priority.

Albert Ayler                                            Spiritual Unity (pre release 200 copies)                ESP1002

Karl Berger                                            Jazz da Camera                      Da Camera 7001

Roy Brooks                                            Ethnic expressions                      Im Hotep 030

Byard Lancaster                      New horizons                      Dogtown FW 9683

M. Mengelberg/H. Bennink   Coincidents                        ICP  018 (cassette)

William Parker                      Painter´s Autumn                      Centering CS1002(cassette)

Pat Patrick                                            Sound advise                      Saturn 770

Prince Lasha                      It is revealed                      Zounds 71863

Sun Ra                                            Song of the stargazers                      Saturn 487

Sun Ra                                            Outer spaceways inc.                      Saturn 143000 A/B

Sun Ra                                            Other thoughts                      ZUW Disc 0001

Sun Ra                                             Transition outtakes acetate Fassett Recording Co., Boston MA

Sun Ra                                            Live                                            Jan Vander Kochenbroesel cassette

Sun Ra                                            Pleiades                                            Artist issued cassette

Sun Ra                                              The Blue Set/Big City Blues                      Saturn SA-1001

Sun Ra                                            The Bridge/Rocket#9                                            Saturn 3066

Sun Ra                                             Love In Outer Space/Mayan Temple                      Saturn 256

Franco Tonani                      Night in Fonorama                                            Juke Box 330018

World´s Experience Orchestra The beginning of a new birth                      World Productions Rec.

J-World-BSE-1

Various                                            Tokyo Meeting 1984                                            Dessert T9A 1094

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where do you find your records? Shops ? Internet ? Friends ?

 

– Mainly on the internet but also by trading with you and other collectors. I used to have more international contacts before from Poland and Italy and several other countries but it seems that there are fewer maniacs around these days. Of course I try shops as soon as there is a chance but living out in the woods far from any big city limits these occasions. My son lives in Stockholm so ANDRA is always on the list when I go there. That shop is unbeatable.

 

 

 

 

How many meters of vinyl do you have in your collection?

How many meters would you like to have?

 

– There are about 15 meters of tightly packed LP´s. Then there is about half a meter of 7¨records. The space I have available is very effectively filled so there is no room for any extensive additions. If there was more space I could easily fill some more meters. Thinking like this is quite crazy. I have reached the age where I ought to start selling instead of buying. It´s just still such a pleasure and so thrilling to continue that I am not yet ready to quit.

 

 

 

 

 

Is trading records the most fun you can have with your clothes on?

Is trading records the ultimate intimacy?

 

– One part of trading records has to do with finding rare items for someone else. For me that is just as thrilling and rewarding as finding something for myself. Isn´t that the meaning of life? To give someone else pleasure and create joy for others as well as for yourself? What could be better? I can´t think of anything more rewarding than that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is your favorite format?

 

– From the start there was the 12¨ format almost exclusively but gradually I have grown more and more fond of the 7¨ format. If the music is interesting the format is secondary for me nowadays.

 

 

 

 

Is the availability on internet a good thing? Or is there a problem built in? With all the easy access to information and musics…

At DC we think that it is quite fun to really hunt and look for an object over a long time.. to wait and long for it… that all good and creative things are created during a long period of time…. But maybe that is old fashioned thinking? We happen to know that your son is involved in the developments of eBooks and related and we thought it might be interesting to hear your views and opinions about this.

 

– There is definitely a problem with the unlimited access to information over the internet.  You had to work much harder before to gain information on various matters. The satisfaction then was greater when you finally succeeded. Therefore I agree 100% with you about the joy and excitement of a slow process. Perhaps that is old fashioned but I believe I have some right to be old fashioned by now. Imagine finding a rare recording that you have been looking for for 10 years. That has happened to me now and then and the pleasure when you succeed is just mind blowing. On the other hand some of these rarities finally were found by help of the internet. So, I would not want to be without the internet access. It was more thrilling and satisfactory before, however, when it was possible to find treasures at reasonable prices in many second hand stores.

The vast market on the internet has rocketed the prices of rare items to insane levels sometimes. So, as always there are pros and cons.

The eBook is still a very young phenomenon and I see a bright future for it.  It will take time to be established but I am convinced that we will see a very positive development during coming years. New media always take time to be established.

 

 

 

 

What was the first vinyl you gave to your children ?

 

– I am not sure but I believe it was an LP with songs by the Swedish author Lennart Hellsing. He is a word magician and has published an enormous amount of fantastic children´s songs.

 

 

 

Do you store your collection Alphabetical or by Genre?

 

– Strictly alphabetical.

 

 

How much do you listen to music (on vinyl…) per day ?

– That varies a lot from day to day. I try my best to squeeze in as much as possible.

 

 

 

 

Describe a perfect shopping/ hunting day!

– You know where I live and my access toshopping is very much limited. A perfect shopping/hunting day for me is an imaginary one and I would be in NYC. I would have checked all the places worth visiting and then I would do my best to fill my bag and empty my credit card. Chicago wouldn´t be bad either.

 

 

 

 

 

What records do I wanna steal from your collection?

 

– That is an easy one! I list only 3 but I suspect you would grab some more.

Steve Lacy Solo at Space Who

Archie Shepp demo acetate

Joe Maneri Byzantine Jazz

 

Are you still looking for an Italian tail?

 

– No, I have it! I have had it for many years and got it from an Italian contact for a very reasonable amount.

 

 

Limited or unlimited?

Colored or black?

33 1 /3 or 45 ?

– Well, music comes first but then the limited issues always tickle my collector genes a bit extra because they will probably be out of stock in due time and then turn up as expensive auction items.

Colored or black does not matter to me.

As I mentioned before my interest in 45 rpm records have increased by and by but I can´t say that I have a definite favorite. Again music comes first.

 

 

 

 

 

Protecting plastic covers or not?

– I would prefer to have every record protected by fresh clean plastic covers but I have never had the patience to take care of that. There is a mixture of covers and non-covers in my collection. I have seen my son´s collection which is very well taken care of and I wish I had the same level of ambition.

 

 

 

 

What is the first section you hit, while arriving to a vinyl shop, where you have never been before?

– Free/avant garde Jazz

Secondly?

– Rarities

Thirdly?

– Newly added

The section where you would never look in?

– Swedish dance bands.

 

 

 

What is your favorite record shop in the world?

– No doubt that is ANDRA Jazz in Stockholm. I really have very little experience from places internationally but it would be most unlikely that I would ever find a shop that beats ANDRA.
Why?

First of all the totally unbelievable selection of records. Then I have some very personal affection for ANDRA. This is very important for me but I will try to make it short. Back in 1988 I had seen an ad in the Swedish magazine OJ (Orkester-Journalen) from the shop Blå Tornet (Blue Tower), the predecessor to ANDRA, at Drottninggatan in Stockholm. I went there and met Harald for the first time. I had my 1 year old son in a cart. I asked Harald if he had any of the Albert Ayler Debut records for sale. No, he said but if you wait a while there is a guy coming here who is interested in the same music as you. Then he said he had to go out for a while ¨but you can stay here¨. Harald went out and locked the door. My son was asleep and I did not mind being locked in among all the records for a while and Harald did return after some time. Then the other guy also came in and his name was Mats Gustafsson. I don´t think you remember this but that was how I met you. You handed me a thin magazine and there was a short notice about a jazz group called AALY Trio. I am very glad that we have kept contact since then. I haven´t been to Stockholm too often through the years but at every visit I have spent some time at ANDRA. From now on I will be there more often as my son is now living in Stockholm.

 

 

Favorite city for vinyl hunting?

– Referring to my comments above I must say Stockholm. I would love to check out Tokyo and Chicago too but I have never been there. There is a chance that I will hit Chicago next year.

 

 

 

 

 

Give us a list of your 5 favorite:

 

Steve Lacy records?

Solo at Space Who                          Space Who 52/100

Solo at Mandara                              ALM AL-5

Disposability                                     VIK KVLP-200

Torments                                            Morgue 01

Crops                                                   Quark 9998

I could just as likely have chosen 5 others. That´s how great his music is!!!

 

 

Most surprising listening experiences?

– This question makes me remember a few listening experiences from way back when, some of them long  before I had even heard of improvised music or free jazz. There were some occasions when my musical world turned much or less upside down and those experiences meant a lot for my future activities. The following shook me completely when I first heard them:

Little Richard                      Good Golly Miss Molly

Bob Dylan                                            Subterranean homesick blues

Jimi Hendrix                                            Hey Joe

Wilson Pickett                      The midnight hour

Kjell Höglund                      Slutstrid

 

 

 

Record labels?

Incus, FMP, ICP, ESP, NoBusiness Records.

 

Free jazz records?

Don Pullen/Milford Graves  at Yale University                      PG 286

Derek Bailey New sights, Old sounds                      Morgue 03/04

Peter Brötzmann Machine Gun                      BRÖ 2

Instant Composers Pool                                            ICP 007/008

Albert Ayler Spiritual Unity                      ESP 1002

 

 

Sun Ra records?

The Magic City

Atlantis

Outer Spaceways Incorporated

Stars that shine darkly

Bad and beautiful

 

 

 

 

Is this interview too long?

– No way! I have enjoyed every minute of it.

 

 

 

Can you recognize a fellow discaholic in an ordinary group of people? Are there any specifics that give the discaholic away?

– No way! I have been very pleasantly and unextectedly surprised sometimes getting in contact with people I did not expect sharing my obsession. I must admit, however, that I know very , very few discaholics.

 

 

 

What jacket surface makes your breathing more irregular?

Matt? Glossy? Laminated? Plain? Silk screened?

– That depends on the whole impression. The original glossy fold-out Impulse LP covers are fabulous. So are the silk screened ESP´s. There are some recent issues on the new Japanese Kaitai label that are very nice. The matted cover matches very well the excellent music inside. Overall I would say that matted and silk-screened and of course hand made covers are my favorites.

 

 

 

 

Which record can save the world?

– I wish I could name one but… Perhaps this one will give some comfort for the future:

Joe McPhee                      Everything happens for a reason  Roaratorio roar 09

 

 

Which record will not save the world?

– I would say a compilation from Eurovision Song Contest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISCAHOLIC INTERVIEW SERIES, APRIL 2012

 

HARALD HULT

How did you start collecting vinyls? Is there an inherent conflict in both collecting and selling?
– I defend myself against the word “collect” all  together. Collecting for me is an unhealthy activity. Or at least something to be questioned.
If you care about the music… it’s natural to want to have it in physical form – to own it. If you then can afford to have the original, first pressing, on vinyl, it sounds better, looks better, smells better!
Although I make money from collectors, I get bothered by those who care more about the object than the music.

 

What where your driving force in the beginning?
– When I discovered jazz in my teens, which for me was primarily traditional jazz (Bunk Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory and others), it was a powerful feeling of healthy power, freedom and life!
Another better world. Now that I have adopted bebop, free jazz and free improvised music,  I’m wondering what is common  and true for the different styles, what is to be accommodated within the jazz concept.

 

 

What drives you now?

–  TACET

How do you look upon yourself? Peddler? Enthusiast? Collector? Preacher / Prophet? Informer ? Fan?

– YES!

Is it still a thrill, after all these years, when someone comes in with a vinyl title that you have never seen before and that you want very much to buy?

– YES!

Can  collecting records have a therapeutic effect, or is it mostly a disease?

– It doesn´t hurt anyone else than yourself.

 

 

painting by Edward Jarvis, used by permission.

 

 

 

What defines a great jazz album?
– You know it when you hear it, see it.

 

 

Is the graphical / visual context of any importance? Smell? Feel? Album Text? Rarity? Or would you say that it’s just about the music?
– I surrender when facing a beautiful cover, but the music is always first!

 

 

What is Jazz? (Hard not to ask such a stupid question, but we are endlessly curious about the “correct” answer …)
– Jazz for me is a picture/ mirror of the ideal conversation, the ideal society. You listen to each other, you can make your voice heard and  someone cares. You are offering something, something in common that brings joy and consolation. The individual  and the collective are in perfect balance (at its best).
The question is not only stupid, it’s hard too … and a bit uninteresting.
All definitions you come across have weaknesses, or gaps.

 

 

 

What is not Jazz?
– See above.

Who swings the hardest, who´s got the softest touch?
– I am a strong opponent to all questions that involve ranking! I like to point out a favorite musician to a customer who comes to my store, whom I communicate with.
I think lists are excluding –  strictly elitist thinking…
The important thing is the individual listening.
To feel and think for yourself.

 

What was your first album bought with your own money?
– Can not remember … possibly a 78 with Bunk Johnson? or Kid Ory. Can´t fuckin remember

 

Are  jazz musicians  buying many records or is it mostly listeners and fans that buys?
– Jazz musicians are often “bad” customers, perhaps they get too many records from their colleagues? They might be too busy trying to defend their style, their voice, and they dont want to be disturbed? They who have the urge to listen, who are curious, they are the ones I believe in! They get better.

 

Are music journalists buying records at all, or are they just sitting at home waiting for today’s pile of records or new soundfiles to download?
– Ask them!

 

What do you prefer? Långfil (northern swedish sour milk, Ed´s note) or mp3 file?
– I have to answer långfil, then.

 

How do you sort your own collection? Alphabetically or by genre?
– Yes, both.

 

 

Can you put together some lists for us to contemplate, reflect and get inspiration from … can you list your top 5:

Best jazz albums, subjectively?
– TACET

Best jazz albums, objectively?
– TACET

Best jazz trumpeters?
– TACET

Best-looking record company logo?
– TACET

Most  sensual album covers?
– TACET

Most beautiful tenor sax tone
– TACET

Record companies that consistently provide or have provided, great jazz-related music?

– TACET

 

Is it important to absorbe  the entire jazz tradition in your way of  listening, from Bunk Johnson’s whistling of Boddy Bolden´s  way of phrasing, to the wheezing sounds of Axel Dörner? Or is it okay to focus on only British so called “insect improv” from 1973, or the Swedish west coast jazz from 1958?
–  I think you get more out of the music,  if you’ve heard (“understood”) various genres and styles, such as classical music, contemporary music, newly composed, folk and pop of course.
The question is whether you can understand (for real), without knowing and understanding the tradition, the developments. I doubt it.

 

 

Are you trying to educate your clients? Are upbringing and educating included in your business idea?
– Yes, but more like propaganda than a business idea.

 

Can you give examples of reprogrammed individuals who come to your shop and asked for, in your opinion, watered-down music, and then left the shop some time later as awakened, open people craving for creative music and new ideas?
– It may have happened. But the curious, the open, have the more to choose from – it is much more fun to help them.

 

 

When you enter a vinyl shop, where are you looking for the goodies and rarities?
– The wall.

 

And then where do you look?
– In the shelf near the counter or ask for the free jazz vinyls.

 

 

Which section do you never look in?
– Pop.

 

Where do you keep your hottest items in your own store? Openly or secretly far away from Tom, Dick and Harry?
– Most of it is accessible to all, even the most expensive objects stored in my kitchen.
(But a few are at an undisclosed location…)

 

How do you get the new rare gems, the goodies? Are you a mountain or a prophet?
– I do not advertise aggressively, but I like to buy (and pays well …)

 

How do your ideal customer look like? Give us as much details as possible referring to the visual features, character traits, selection of music, general appearance and other details…
– Curious, versatile, communicative – then age, gender and appearance does not mean that much.

 

 

Are there any female collectors at all?
– Yes, but few.

 

 

Who was / is your most unexpected customer?
– I expect the unexpected.

 

 

What did Joakim Thåström not buy from you?
– Can´t  remember … (the two stuffed ravens guarding the shop, ed’s note)

 

What did actually Thurston Moore buy?
– A lot.

 

What was Murakami looking for in the shop?
– Swedish jazz.

 

Can you give us a play list for a typical day of musical upbringing and dedicated listening at your business Andra Jazz?
– Fortunately, there is no typical day, that´s why I love my job

 

 

Can you give examples of any artist/ group in a different genre of music that swings just like a mean jazz ditto?
– Hoquetus music from Central Africa, for example, swings the same way.
(Central Africa, Ocora Records……. , Ed’s note)

 

Are there any specific records that you privately are looking for?

– I’m not looking for records, I buy everything that is good.

 

What is the relationship between badminton and jazz?
– Soft, hard and rhythmically. Smart and relaxed.

 

Between  table tennis and Han Bennink?
– Fast reflexes.

 

Between you and Misha Mengelberg?
– We play both piano and chess ( I won the last game). But he is the better  piano player.

 

Why is it a good practice to listen blindly, blindfolded to music? What’s the point?
– It is the ONLY good method. If you want to make a fair, unprejudiced assessment, or have an uncolored / uneffected experience.

 

How many records per day keeps the doctor away?
– It may be enough with one, for the psyche. The body however needs badminton and a good gene pool.

 

Can diskaholism be cured?
– If you become seriously ill in another way, maybe you do not care so much about that rare EP…

 

What type of vinyl smells the best?
– Thick.

 

 

Can we look forward to some new releases on the Blue Tower Records label, your own record label?
– Doubtfully, but…

 

You play the piano with skills …. Do you listen in a special way when you hear a pianists play?
– No.

What pianists are really freakin great and amazing acccording to your opinion?
– Art Tatum technically, Bud Powell I just love. Cecil Taylor, Yosuke Yamashita…

 

Who has the most killin touch in his/ her right hand?
– Bud Powell.

 

In the his/ her left  hand?
– Monk?

Is this interview too long?
– Yes.

 

Which record has surprised you the most after the first listening?
– TACET

Which record has surprised you the most after numerous listenings?
– TACET

Which album have you listened to the most ? Why?

– Something with George Lewis (the clarinetist)
He had such a big heart … but died of a weak.

 

Was Ken Burns television series on jazz well done, from a historical point of view? Why?
– I don´t  remember… don´t think I was so fond of it.

 

Who should make the ultimate story on the essence of jazz? As a Film? In Text?
– Let  many voices be heard. But so far, the film Sven Klangs Kvintett is the best.

 

What is the most authentic jazz book/ jazz narrative so far written?
– I rather listen than read about jazz, but the book on George Lewis by Ann Fairbairn (pseudonym for Dorothy Tait, Ed´s note) touched me. It’s about Lewis, a touching portrait of a truly fine human being.
The book also gives us an idea of ??what it was like to be black and poor in New Orleans.

 

How do you clean your records? Do you have any technical advice to give our readers?
– Water for marmalade, pure alcohol for grease.

 

Is vinyl crackling delicious?
– No, but with a mono needle the sound could be improved if you have a crackling mono record.

 

 

How important is the quality of sound when you listen?
– It is wonderful to hear records from, for instance,  the Contemporary label, but a bootleg with Charlie Parker (can be the worst sound ever) still beats the most.

 

Are the audio geeks worse than the record nerds?
– TACET

Mono or stereo?
– Yes.

 

 

 

Is it annoying or upsetting with collectors who do not listen … who just want to have and have and have … Or is it OK to just collect the items?
– Not ok, not to listen.

 

So finally, in your opinion:

What is the best jazz genre / period?
– TACET

What is the best jazz album ever recorded?
– TACET

Which one is the best jazz composition?
– TACET

What is the best recording of an  individual solo in jazz history?
– TACET

What is the single best phrasing ever?
– TACET

What single note on a jazz recording in  the whole jazz history is the best?
– TACET

Is one tone enough???
– Not really… it requires a context.

 

Can pigs scream??? ( a local term of definition at Andra Jazz for tenor sax players with a severe Brötzmann/ Frank Wright complex, Ed´s note)
– Yes, unfortunately. We do not want them to suffer, right?

 

 

http://www.andrajazz.com/

Discaholic Corner interview series , april 2012

Byron Coley

 

 

 

 

 

Are you an official discaholic? Is there such a thing?

 

There certainly is such a thing. And I admit to being one, although I have been in remission for the past several years, due to financial contraints. My days of perusing rare record lists has been put on hold while I am paying for my kids’ education. Now my daughter has only four years of university left, so I can see “the light at the end of the tunnel,” as it were.

 

What else would you call yourself?

Well, at one point Thurston started introducing me as an “archivist” and I thought that had a nice professional ring to it. Consequently I have been using that term to describe myself when such things are called for. But, truly, discaholic is a lot closer to the fact.

 

Does format matters?

 

Sure. It is very difficult for me to form any sort of emotional attachment to a CD. Unless the packaging is spectacular I keep thinking I should just send any CDs I actually want to hear regularly to someone who cuts lathes, so that they can be filed properly and exist in a format that makes fucking sense.

 

Glossy or matt?

 

Well, I ususually prefer the feel of a matte jacket, but if I’m buying a used record there are times where it’s all but impossible to remove the price sticker (especially an older one) without fucking up the cover. This is a real dilemma. You need to use just the right amount of lighter fluid to massage the damn thing off without staining the area underneath. There are certainly a lot of great looking glossy covers, but I usually associate such things with dogshit labels like CTI, where the glossy visuals could almost trick you into trying to listen to one of their crappy Grover Washington albums. What I reall prefer is the old semi-glass finish on ‘60s LPs. Although UK ‘60s pressings are glossy as fuck. Hmmm…I guess can’t really go one way or the other on this one.

 

Stereo or mono?

 

Depends when its from, but I usually prefer the power of a mono mix. Even on a record like “Axis Bold As Love” where the panning plays an important role in the stereo sound, the mono mix (which I think was German only) is still a beautiful thing to hear. On lush psych material, however, the stereo is better. I only have one functional ear left, but even I can appreciate such things.

 

Limited or unlimited?

 

Unlimited is an illusion. What you generally want is a first pressing of anything, and that is always a limited proposition.

photo: thurston…. monica l….byron

 

When did you start collecting?

 

I started when I bought my first LP, “Hey Little Cobra and Other Hot Rod Hits” by the Rip Chords In April, 1964. I never looked back from that moment on. And whilst I have sold my entire collection more than once, I’ve always held on to that LP. Which I paid an extra buck to get in stereo, as the pricing scheme in those days demanded. The mono sounds good too.

 

Was vinyl the first thing you collected?

 

Hard to remember exactly. But I have the feeling some of my other manias developed at the same time. My passions as a lad ran to Playboy magazines (along with any items related to them) and slot cars.

 

Can discaholism be cured ?

 

It would crazy to even try.

 

What was the first record you gave to your kids?

I started off both my kids with Michael Hurley’s “Hi Fi Snock Uptown.” It seemed like a very lazy way to get them interested in simple, easily understandable tunes. But I let them both go whichever way they wanted after that, and have supplied them with ample selections of records in whatever genre they express an interest in. It is my contention that almost every genre has its highpoints. 95% (or more) is shit, but the good stuff is good. If you help your kids to understand what is good, it will save them a lot of heartbreak and purchases that are soon consigned to the dustbin of history.

 

 

By genre, which record is the best hidden secret/ forgotten masterpiece in:

 

Jazz?

LEONARD LONERGAN / HANNIBAL PETERSON “The Universe Is Not For Sale”

Smackdab Records SD1001 (1981)

 

Free jazz?

(there are so many, but here’s the last one I played)

Pygmy Unit “Signals from Earth” no label LPS-3460 (1974)

 

Indie?

Motor Boys Motor s/t UK Albion ALB-111 (1982)

 

Punk?

Soggy s/t FR Memoire/Neuve MN-002 (2008)

 

Noise?

The Decayes “Ich Bin Ein Spiegelei” Imgrat 2400-001 (1978)

 

 

Do you look differently at collecting records today, when you have a shop/ label?

 

I’ve been working in record shops off and on since 1969, and releasing records since 1984, so I do feel a little jaded sometimes. But it’s always exciting to open a new box of shit from a distributor, or to have someone bring in a used record I’ve never seen before. Even if it’s somewhat dull looking, I just have to hear at least a bit of it. Obviously some things are hard to get worked up about, but it’s always cool to hear new stuff.

 

How do the ultimate customer in your shop look like? How does he/ she …acts… dress… talk… walk…smell???????

 

The best customers are discaholic women. I mean, I enjoy shooting the shit with any customers who actually know a lot about records and are interested in things they don’t know about yet. But there’s something about a woman who comes in, picks out a big stack of vinyl to take to the listening station, then comes up with a few great things t buy. I never really knew any such gals when I was younger. About as close as I can recall was when my highschool girlfriend, Sharon, read a review of the Prestige two-fer for King Pleasure in Creem, and said, “this sounds like something you’d like.” Even in the pre-cassette days I would make mix tapes for girls I liked, of course they’d have to come over to hear them on my Uher. And I’d take dates to concerts, but there were really no women who were into the stuff the same way I was. My wife and I have been together for 32 years now, and I’m sure some of that stems from the fact she had Fugs records in her collection when we first met. Ha. As to scent,  I haven’t actually sniffed any of these customers, but most of ‘em look like tough chicks, so they probaby smell like musk. And there aren’t many of them, but they are always a pleasure to behold. Alternately, I like guys who bought a lot of records off me over the years who then decide to sell them for whatever reason. A guy came in a few weeks back with a huge pile of Majora, Siltbreeze, Shock and that kind of stuff, all of which he’d bought from Forced Exposure mailorder. It’s always great to look through those kinds of things.

 

Why would you give a discount ever?

 

I give discounts on used records to any regular who doesn’t have a crappy attitude and actually buys a good batch of stuff. I like to encourage such people, and the mark-up on used stuff gives me plenty of leeway.

 

Who would you throw out of your shop immediately?

 

I don’t really throw anybody out. I should sometimes, but unless somebody’s stealing stuff, I try to refrain. The worst customers are guys who come in with their girlfriends and try to impress them by loudly talking incorrectly about various things. Some guys just confuse me. We have a lot of good shit on our store. Thurston and I both dump our weeds there, and I have many old customers from previous stores who do the same. I price the shit reasonably, and yet there is a whole group of mooks who come in, look at literally every record and never buy a thing. I understand there are no steals there –- I mean, I know what ‘most every fucking record is (at least conceptually) and what it’s worth, so there are no super bargains. But I feel like –- shit, man, what the fuck are yo looking for? There is so much great music you’re flipping right past, and I know you don’t have all of it. What the fuck are you after?

 

Can customers be taught?

 

Sure. In store play is good. And there are guys who come and quiz me about stuff. What’s a good Mingus record to start with? I really like Can, but I hate Amon Duul. What of this Krautrock would I like? I like Cromagnon, is there any other psych like that? I’m always happy to point in what I think is the right direction, and generally I’ll tell them if the record doesn’t measure up the way I said they can bring it back for full credit. Thankfully, most people who bother going to record stores have a pretty active interest in music, or so it seems.

At home: alphabetical or by genre?

 

Strictly alpha.

 

What record is closest to sex?

Birthday Party’s “Release the Bats” 45 or the Pop Group’s “She Is Beyond Good & Evil” 12” version

 

Which one is no sex at all?

 

Mauricio Kagel’s “Acustica” (DGG) or William Burroughs’ “Call Me Burroughs” (original French edition from the English Bookstore)

 

What vinyl gems are you still looking for?

 

Oh my god…so many. I recently got the record I’d had on my want list the longest, the German press of “Witchi Tai To” single by Topo D Bil. I’d love to get some of Kevin Ayers’ BBC transcription discs. I also need the Dragon Brothers LP on ESP-West and the test press of the Jacques Coursil ESP album. First press of Fahey’s first LP. Residents’ “Third Reich & Roll” box. Bird Notes LPs. The list in endless.

 

 

What record are you definately NOT looking for?

Rick Derringer’s “All American Boy.” Thurston must have dumped 7 different pressings of that at the store. I’m sick of seeing it.

 

Are you at all looking for any Swedish vinyls? Finnish vinyls?

God who isn’t? Any Silence, Caprice, Gump, etc, I don’t have. Lotsa early MNW. I think there’s a Vesala I still need. I had a fairly complete Swedish punk collection at one point, but I broke it up in the ‘90s. I think I still have some Finnish stuff – Lama, Widows, Terveet Kadet, and so on. A really great one is that first KTMK record.

 

How do you find your records? Or do the vinyls finds you?

 

As noted before, I mostly just see what comes through the store. Although folks do still call me to buy collections, so I see those too. When I buy large piles of stuff, I usually put a few things aside for further perusal. Should be getting Jack Rose’s collection next week. Probably some interesting stuff in that. But  know a lot of musicians and they all know I’ll pay them as much as I can for stuff, so I do get to go through some extraordinary material. Most folks only get rid of this stuff when they have to, so I try to give them a real price for the shit no matter how much there is. I’m actually happy when someone brings in stuff with a price sticker still on it, and the shit is solid enough that I can actually pay them more than they paid for them. You need to reward good taste.

 

 

photo: byron and thurston

 

 

Describe a perfect shopping/ hunting day!

Well, all my friends keep telling me about Japan, but I haven’t been there since the ‘70s. Probably my best overall day happened in ’89. My wife and I went down to Australia and New Zealand for 3 months, right before our son was born. Before leaving I had asked my friend, Bruce Milne, who ran the Au Go Go store/label in Melbourne what records he wanted. I sent a couple of boxes of singles down to him, and when we arrived he handed me about 5 grand. Bruce had just bought another record store and he took me in one night and said, “take anything you want.” The place had a lot of Euro improv stuff, mostly second tier, but interesting titles on Ring, Ego, Mood, Calig and the like. Anyway, a few weeks later we went to Sydney and stayed with a guy named Simon Longeran who edited a fanzine, B-Side, I wrote for. He pointed me to some stores downtown and there was one place where I spent two full days. In ’89 people hadn’t really started collecting prog or folk or free jazz, and this place had full bins, plus two rows of understock that weren’t in the bins. Because of the VAT in Australia, I could get the records shipped out of country for the same price as if I bought them there, so I pulled out about 300 LPs from the place in two days. The guy gave me an insane discount and I ended up with all kinds of crazy shit – Rainbow Generator, Fringe Benefit LPs, C.O.B. LPs, just fucking insane. My wife just left me there and went around to bookstores. It was pretty fine. Craziest thing was when we were in New Zealand we went down to the bottom of the South Island, and there was a bookstore that had the two volumes of the “Chess Genesis Box”  didn’t have. How the fuck they ended up there I’ll never know. But that was choice. Also picked up a signed copy of Wyndham Lewis’ “Apes of God” there. Good times! Ha.

 

Who is Father Yod?

Tom Baker. Health food nut and cult leader from L.A. The guy died in a hang-gliding accident! Amazing. Sky Saxon was one of his followers, and after that Capt Trip box set came out, I heard Sky had some of the singles that came with it. I got his email and wrote him, not remembering that in those days my email read “Father Yod.” He freaked out. Thankfully, I was able to placate him and still got a bunch o the singles. But I’d started using the name when I put out the Spaceman 3’s “Taking Music to Take Drugs” LP. It had originally been planned for Forced Exosure (FE 9), but they signed with an American label and rather than have to hassle that out. I decided to do it as a boot. On Father Yod. Around that same time I was doing a radio show at Harvard and MIT called ‘Father Yod Presents Mystic Eyes’. Our theme song was Stackwaddy’s version of “Mystic Eyes’”and “Father Yod” was my engineer, aka Conrad Capistran (later of Sunburned and Sound of Pot).

 

Who is Arthur?

 

Arthur was an L.A.-based free tabloid that Thurston & I did the “Bull Tongue” column for, I believe the name was taken from a 1960’s female haircut.

 

What records do I wanna steal from your collection?

 

I dunno. You got the silkscreened cover test press of Ornette’s ESP LP? You were at the Yod space that time and didn’t steal anything as I recall. There’re some good recs there, but probably nothing you don’t have. Weirdly, Pinotti has been bugging me about my copy of Elysian Fields, which I don’t even like. What else? Soundtrack to Robert Downey’s “Pound” is a good one. You could tease O’Rourke with that. I used to have a pretty complete set of US, AUS, & Swedish punk singles. And yeah, I mean complete-as-known-at-that-time. But I had to dump them in the early ‘90s when my wife was out of work for a year. Pre-Ebay. Bummer. Still, probably my craziest records are obscuro punk things. My free jazz stuff is extensive, but not that insane. I have the same Ra wants as everybody – Celebrations for Dial Tunes, a clean Antique Blacks, some singles. But you’ve seen it all at this point, sir. Might be some ‘60s stuff, although I also did a huge weed of that stuff when money was required. That, however, is one of the great things about records. I mean, you need 50 thousand bucks to get by for a year, you can pull a couple of boxes of records and make it happen. They are just the greatest!

 

What is the most spectacular vinyl find you have ever done?

Weird one, but I started working for Rhino Records in Westwood (L.A.) in 1981. I had been going there as a customer since moving to L.A. that year. Nels Cline was the indie buyer and at that time I was getting a promo copy of every record that Rough Trade distributed in the US. The sister of my an old girlfriend had opened Rough Trade in SF, and I would help them out with promo shit in L.A., so I got a huge box of crap (or two) every week. The fact that I was bringing in as-yet-unreleased import stuff every week made an impression on Nels and Steve Wynn, who also worked there. We became friendly, and when Steve was leaving to do the Dream Syndicate, I was hired to take his place. I’d never been to the bathroom there, but the first time I went in the whole room was covered with Father Yod and Ya Ho Wha LP covers. I’d been buying these in the ‘70s when I lived in SF, but there were a bunch I’d never seen. I went up to the front and asked my work partner that night, the pianist Richard Grossman, what the story was. He said, “Well, we  just like to have crazy LP sleeves up. But those ones are getting kinda old.” He told me if I could replace them with other nutty ones, I could have whatever was there for 50 cents apiece. In a week I had the whole bathroom redecorated. When I moved back to Boston in ’84, I ended up trading the LPs for a Volvo station wagon with the dealer, Chuck Warner.

 

 

 

What is the least spectacular vinyl find you have ever done?

 

At the first FMU record fair I found a copy of the second Harry Bertoia record for $80 about three  months before Ron Lessard scored those many boxes of ‘em from his widow.

 

Or, upgrading a copy of Robbie Basho’s Wyndham Hill LP.

 

 

Is looking for vinyls with fellow discaholics the most fun you can do with your clothes on?

 

As long as the competition isn’t too hot. I seem to recall that when Thurston found his copy of the Black Unity Trio LP you were not too happy!

 

Is trading records the ultimate intimacy?

 

Trading records naked with a woman is best.

 

 

What is the first section you hit, while arriving to a vinyl shop, where you have never been before?

Folk. This is still an area that yields surprising finds. Like Loren Mazzacane’s early solo LPs.

 

Secondly?

 

Rock. There are still “rock” records that have escaped notice. It’s as though if they’re not on popsike they don’t exist. But they do.

 

Thirdly?

New Age (for krautrock) or Jazz (although since the ‘90s started you really have to be lucky. I remember in the ‘80s, at Stereo Jack’s in Cambridge, where I had an open account thanks to Chuck Warner, who had taken those Yod LPs, they would laugh when I came in and say – “Oh, we have some ones YOU’D like.” All their free jazz was priced at $4 or less. They were a jazz-centric store, but that stuff was beneath their contempt. Even though the owner had seen Ayler play. ‘The one free player I could really admire.’ I am sad those days are gone.) Now, it seems as though most genres have been mined.

 

 

The section where you would never look in?

 

Polka. What good could come of it?

 

 

What is your favorite record shop in the world?

Rhino was a great store, but I would have to say in general that the Bay Area in the late ‘70s was just an amazing place to buy vinyl. I supported myself by buying jazz at indie stores, punk at soul stores, folk at rock stores, and whatnot, trading them to other stores for credit. I spent two years doing that. Selling psych records to Greg Shaw for his mailorder, doing Goldmine, and just hanging out at great stores like Rather Ripped and Aquarius, where the people knew so goddamn much about what they were selling (Bruce Ackley from ROVA was the jazz guy at Aquarius) that you couldn’t help but learn.
Why?

 

Almost everything I know about records I learned at record stores. When I was a kid I just loved those know-it-all motherfuckers. And when I started working at them myself, I loved passing it along. REAL record stores, where the guys/gals know what they have and why they have it, are just so cool. I’ve spent my time also working in chain stores in malls or wheverer, just punching time and setting ‘em up. Those places were always bogue. Not real record stores. A real one is a hang-out, a place where you go to hear new sounds. To talk about music with somebody who gives a shit. It’s kind of a clubhouse. And nerdy in the way that suggests, but man, let’s face it. we’re nerds of a sort. Dionysian as fuck, perhaps, but nerds nonetheless.

Give us a list of your 5 favorite:

 

“I can´t even hold this idea, it’s too slippery” –  7”´s:

 

unsettled society “diomand studded cadillacs”

solger “raping dead nuns”

fuckin’ flyin a-heads “swiss cheese back”

churchmice ‘college psychology on love”

mc5 “looking at you”

 

vinyl colors-

what is this a misfits collector quiz!

 

Record label logos –

Caroline UK (1500 series)

ESP (that weird collage one for the Parker & Powell LPs)

Patrick Sky’s “Songs That Made America Famous” (Adelphi) first press only

Neon

Schneeball

 

Chuck Norris films –

 

Since I wrote the book on Chuck, choosing faves would be like choosing a favorite organ. Who could do it?

ALL OF THEM!!!!!

 

Is this interview too long?

 

nope

 

 

Is “A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die” the best rock album all time?

Yeah, I think so. I love the way chris phrases his lyrics (Meltzer called it “Blabbermouth Lockjaw of the Soul” along with Darby from the Germs. And he was right) and that band was just amazing. John Doe on bass. DJ Bonebrake on marimbas. Dave Alvin on guitar and Bill Bateman on drums. Steve Berlin on sax. Damn. The album is fucking unbeatable. I moved out to L.A. right when it came out, and became the band’s tour manager. That next line-up was great, too, but the one on this LP (they only played two shows as I recall, the second of which was the first show I saw in L.A. – with Blurt and the Fall – at Myron’s Ballroom, where my wife and I would see Sun Ra the next night)

 

Is “Fun House” the best free jazz record all time?

 

Well, I will never give that crown to anything other than “spiritual untiy” or “unit structures”. My friend, those spots are not movable

 

Is the The Stooges “fun house” box set and the beach boys “Smile” box set – a sick or genius idea of a release?

 

I bought 10 copies of the funhouse box when it was announced, because that is the record whose creation most mystifies me. I love that record so much and still have no real clear idea how it happened

 

 

 

Is a jukebox the ultimate machine?

 

If not it’s certainly close.

 

 

What is your favorite jukebox model?

 

One we could afford

 

 

What is your ultimate machine?

 

Pinball.

 

 

What is your favorite rpm?

 

33 I love the long play

 

 

Is Jack White pushing it with 3 rpm?

 

Jack White fucked the label that really gave him his start, so I can’t really bother myself with his hijinx.

 

 

How does your mix tape of today looks like? What is currently spinning on your turntable?

 

Have not cut a mix tape in a while, due to time contraints and the fact that I don’t really have many records at the house anymore. Lately, have been listening to tapes of Mars at Irving Plaza and Jack Ruby stuff – insane no wave this & that

 

 

Do the world need a complete rare-free-jazz-on-vinyl-guide? Or can we do without?

 

Would be useful to have, although it would really destroy the mystery once and for all, wouldn’t it? Be better to have something that would start a lot of arguments. Thurston & I have been talking about doing one like that. ha.

 

 

Which record can save the world?

 

Sixth Groundhogs album, of course.

 

 

Which record will not save the world?

 

Any organ jazz.

 

 

 

How many vinyls per day keeps the doctor away?

 

As many as you can swallow.

mmmmm…..

 

http://ecstaticyod.com/

 

http://www.ecstaticpeace.com/

 

http://www.arthurmag.com/arthur-has-departed/

 

DISCAHOLIC CORNER INTERVIEW SERIES

NB. additional info 2019 :  check the new book out by Corbett:

https://www.johncorbett.info/

a HILARIOUS study of the 70s!!!!

 

 

 

JOHN CORBETT, writer, critic, art gallerist and musician

http://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/

 

Discaholic Corner Interview  —- John Corbett , march 2012.

-Vinyl freak or discaholic?

Technically, I’m a freak.  Which means my love is uncontrollable.  But I’m a music freak, most of all, and I’ll take it as I can get it.  I love my iPod and my CDs, too.  I’m an equal opportunity obsessive.

-Black or colored vinyl?

Generally, like my decaf, I take my vinyl black.

 

-7” or 12”?

I swing both ways.

 

-Glossy or matt?

Matte is often my preferred surface, like a hand-silkscreened ESP Ayler, though the sheen of an Impulse original can get my heart racing.

 

-Stereo or mono?

I’ve never cared.  Give me the music.

 

-Why do you collect?

It’s how I’m wired.  I buy one thing and immediately start looking for companions, for connections, for more.

 

-When did it start?

I was 11 years old.  Before that, in reverse order, it was baseball cards, stamps, butterflies, frogs.  Never coins, I don’t care about coins.  But records stuck.  Now I collect art.

 

-Will it ever stop?

I don’t buy vinyl actively anymore.  I have enough in my collection to constantly surprise myself.  I do love to browse, however.  And I love to buy for other people.

-How do you sort your collection, alphabetical or by genre?

Alphabetical, by genre, but a few labels (FMP, Hat Hut, Bead) all by themselves, and a few specialties segregated, like Swedish and Japanese jazz.

 

-Will you ever change that order?

Not likely.

-What is your favorite vinyl format?

I like all of them, including 78-rpm.  I have loads of singles, though, and find them always fascinating.

 

-Is the smell of the vinyl important to you?

Sure, I like the whole package, including the odor.  Unless they’re moldy.  I’m allergic.

-Is the visual aspect important to you?

Supremely.

 

 

-How do you rank the following, by importance?

Smell, feel, visual, music, rarity, obscurity, weight, text/ liner notes, weirdness?

Music

Visual

Weirdness

Feel

Rarity

Text/liner notes

Obscurity

Weight

Smell

 

 

-What record is closest to sex?

Art Ensemble of Chicago, Theme De Yoyo.

 

-Which one is no sex at all?

Anything by Men Without Hats.

 

-What vinyl was the first one you bought for your own cash?

Elton John, Greatest Hits.

-Which one is the latest vinyl you bought for your own cash?

The Louvin Brothers, Satan Is Real.  It was a gift for Jim Dempsey, a real country gentleman.

 

-How do you find your records?

In stores or other people’s collections.

 

-Are you as active hunting for vinyls today as 20 years ago?

No.

-What records do I wanna steal from your collection?

Some delicious Italian jazz LPs (Schiano’s If Not Ecstatic We Refund), some El Saturn originals, a Milford Graves/Don Pullen duo with handmade cover, my unique 78-rpm acetates of the George Davis bands from the 1950s, my hand colored original of the Sonic Youth “Kill Your Idols” 7-inch, with B-side “I Killed Christgau With My Big Fucking Dick,” the two first 7-inches by the Ex, my original Black Art LP of Lee Perry’s Double-7, Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey’s debut LP on Decca, my original Mbiri copy of Julius Hemphill’s Dogon A.D., and a ton of blank-label reggae singles from the ‘70s.

 

 

-Have you ever been carrying boxes of Saturn records in just pyjamas?

You know me well…

 

-What is so appealing with Sun Ra and Saturn records?

The fact that they made their own, they were real DIY before those letters were ever put together.  And the music is so killer.  And the vinyl is so incredibly rare, in many cases.  There is still much to discover, things on El Saturn that nobody’s seen.  I found a copy of the first Saturn single, “Saturn,” on eBay, but I missed buying it.  I think that might have been the only copy in existence.  I love the way the early Saturns are connected to the ethos of Chicago in the ‘50s and early ‘60s.

 

-Do you have a complete Saturn collection? Including poetry books and 7”´s?

No, but it’s pretty hard to have all the Saturns.  I’m not sure anyone even really knows what that would mean.  But I’ve got a lot of them, probably, including dupes, about 150 or so.

 

-You were donating a huge Saturn collection, with written material, film footage and music recently to the University of Chicago, how come?

Because we were just stewards for the material, it needed to be in an institution, for safety, for accessibility.  And for us it was a burden, even though we loved it.  I still have a few keepsakes from it, just discovered a Sun Ra drawing that I didn’t know I had, one that the library had missed!  The original cover design for Other Planes of There.  I’m happy to have it.

 

-Is that archive material accessible to the public? Can interested people make their own research in that collection?

Yes, it’s absolutely open to the public.  And there are many scholars who have already spent time in it, using it for their research.  Which is especially nice, because Saturn was alternately known as Saturn Research.  Ra and his manager Alton Abraham were very interested in research – they had a study group called Thmei Research, too.

 

-What is your fav Saturn record?

It changes from month to month.  But I dearly love Bad and Beautiful.

 

-Which one is the rarest, most uncommon Saturn record you have?

I have a test copy of one of the early singles, which is crazy.  And I would say that When Angels Speak of Love is perhaps the most rare of the regular issues that I have.  I only know a few folks who have copies of it.  Do you?

 

-What is the most spectacular vinyl find you have ever done?

A single by the Portuguese group the Korean Black Eyes, covering Sly & the Family Stone’s “Higher.”  Found it in the basement of a going-out-of-business store in Lisbon.  Also, finding a copy of the Ping single with Von Freeman and the Andrew Hill Group, which I gave to you!

 

-What is the least spectacular vinyl find you have ever done?

Men Without Hats, Folk of the ‘80s.

-What records are you still looking for?

Ones I don’t really know about, mostly.  And a very few European improvised music records.  I’d go out of my way for a copy of Derek Bailey’s Taps, but that’s tape, not vinyl.  Also want the ultra-rare Japanese solo Bailey that you’ve got (one I will somehow steal from you, someday!).  Still trying to find a copy of the Brötzmann FMP box that includes a poster with a Paik fragment.  One came up on eBay recently, but went for obscene money.  I could imagine trying to collect all the variants of Ayler’s Spiritual Unity – blue-on-red, orange, screenprinted, offset, black and white, booklet, no booklet, etc. – but I’ve never tried.  Lucky Thompson on ABC-Paramount.  Any of Harry Partch’s Gate 5 originals.  Mainly, I’m looking for things that surprise me.

 

 

-Is looking for vinyl with fellow discaholics the most fun you can do with your clothes on?

I’ve never been record shopping in the nude, so it’s hard to compare.  But I would say that listening to records with my fellow discaholics is a rare treat, maybe more fun than hunting.  I’m getting old.  And I’ve paid my dues in record stores.  Now I prefer a living room to pounding the racks.

 

 

-What is the first section you hit, while arriving to a vinyl shop, where you have never been before?

First rule:  Hit the wall.  Always look at what’s hanging behind the desk.  I used to shop at Wax Trax in Chicago in the late 1970s, and it was amazing what was strung up around the room on the walls.  There were always goodies that you couldn’t find in the bins.

-Secondly?

In the glass display case, below the cash register.

-Thirdly?

Jazz section, because you can usually tell how the store is organized by looking at how they display their jazz records.  And it will tell you whether there’s going to be anything good anywhere else.

-The section where you would never look in?

I’ve found great shit in the most unexpected places.  Children’s records, I would rarely look there, but you never know…

 

 

-Are you aware of the expression “Hit the Wall”?  From a discaholic´s perspective…

I just used it.  It’s a mantra.

-What is your favorite record shop in the world?

These days I love to shop at Dusty Groove America.

-Why?
Two reasons: it’s a killer record store with great vinyl and an enticing selection of new and old CDs, and it’s right downstairs from my place of employment, so I can visit anytime, day or night.

 

-Give us a list of your 5 favorite:

Here are some lists, subject to change (at any time)

 

– Rock records

Fleetwood Mac, Rumours

The Fall, Dragnet

The Flying Burrito Brothers, Burrito Deluxe

Michael Hurley, Hi-Fi Snock Uptown

Funkadelic, Cosmic Slop

– Improvised music records

Peter Brötzmann Octet, Machine Gun

Bailey/Parker/Bennink, Topography of the Lungs

Altena/Christmann/Lovens, Weavers

Thelonious Monk, Monk’s Music

Albert Ayler, Spiritual Unity

 

– Best flexi disc releases

The ICP multiple flexi release, which is all five of the best!

 

 

– Best listening while cookin

Gene Ammons, Preachin’

Paul Gonsalves, Cookin’

Sam Phillips, The Fan Dance

Gillian Welch, Time (The Revelator)

Gal Costa, India

– Favorite songs ALL time!

No way, too many possibilities!

 

– Record labels

Saturn

Po Torch

FMP

ICP

Cramps

 

– Record label logos

The homemade inner labels for Brötzmann’s BRO releases of For Adolphe Sax and Machine Gun

FMP, circa 1970s

Hat Hut, circa 1979

Black Ark

Aristocrat 78-rpm inner labels

 

– Record layout artists/ visual artist working with design of vinyl records

Blue Note (classic era covers)

FMP (Brötzmann’s covers as well as the original King Alcohol)

Argo (especially Leroy Winbush)

Whoever designed the American Music 10-inches from the 1950s (probably Bill Russell)

Klaus Baumbärtner

 

 

– Jazz writers / critics

Kevin Whitehead

Gary Giddins

Francis Davis

Art Lange

Peter Margasak

 

 

-Can discaholism be cured?

Only like a salami.

 

 

-How many hours per day do you spend listening to music?

4 or 5.

 

-How many hours do you spend now per day sorting/ categorizing your records?

Hardly any, maybe 1 hour per week.

 

-20 years ago?

At least one hour per day.

 

 

-Where is your preferred listening experience, at home, in the car, at a live concert, in the bathroom?

Live concert, at home, at a friend’s house, the car, at work, walking with the iPod, in that order.

 

-Is this interview too long?

Just getting started!

 

-Which one, according to you, was the very first jazz record?

They say it was Original Dixieland Jazzband, but I wonder if there weren’t some very jazz-like 78s before that…

 

-Which one, according to you, is the very best jazz record?

Depends on what kind of jazz, but I prefer Albert Ayler’s Spiritual Unity.

-Is jazz dead (which is reported in the media from time to time)?

No.

 

-Is there a final document of recorded jazz? Many people is referring to “Ballads” by Derek Bailey to be the final document of jazz…

That’s silly.  There are great jazz records being made right now.

 

-What is jazz?

I’m not getting too deeply into this here, but it’s a magic potion.  Seriously, there is no simple litmus test for jazz.  It is music made in a particular milieu.  I like the notion that there’s a list of possible, but not absolutely necessary, component parts – swing rhythm, improvisation, blues-oriented melodic language, interplay of solo and ensemble – that might be present in jazz.  But there is also jazz that includes very little of these technical elements, and we know it’s jazz because of the context in which it was made.

 

-Did Ken Burns capture the history of jazz well, in his series?

Parts of it, yes, but in a very skewed and distorted way, especially the most recent 40 years of the continuing history.

 

-What book has captured the essence, the soul of jazz, the best?

I don’t believe jazz has an essence, I think it is an organic, flexible, expansive notion.  But I love Kevin Whitehead’s New Dutch Swing because I think it gives such a detailed and nuanced account of a particular jazz scene.  I wish there were more books like that.

 

-What is your favorite rpm?

I guess I prefer 33 1/3, for convenience’s sake.

 

-Why is the vinyl, as phenomena, returning now? What is it in vinyl pleasure that attracts people so much?

Because it associates music, an ephemeral thing, with a physical, material object.  And no matter how digital things become, we still love objects…

-Which record can save the world?

I’m afraid the world will not be saved, in the long run.  But Joe McPhee’s Tenor will help slow down its demise.

 

-Which record will not save the world?

Most of the recent jazz CDs I review.

 

 

-How many vinyls per day keeps the doctor away?

Seriously, I believe that listening to records has improved my health, kept me focused and calm, increased my libido, toned my upper body strength, and helped me avoid needing eyeglasses.  Sun Ra told me that I could tell friends from enemies by putting on his music in the background; if a person came in the room and the music got quieter, he said, beware of that person, but if the music got louder, that was a true friend.  Whenever you get in the car, I’ve noticed that the music gets much, much louder!

-Can we stop now? I need to go hunting!

Let’s hit the wall!

 

DISCAHOLIC CORNER INTERVIEW SERIES

Jim O`Rourke interview nov , 2010

 

 

 

And…

How are you?

 

very very tired

 

You are how?

 

tired very very

 

How you are?

 

very tired very

 

Are you how?

 

very tired very

 

 

 

-The above is a qoute from a Sten Hansson piece ” How are you”. An eminent text-and sound piece from the 60´s. Are you interested in those forms of expressions?

 

i most definitely was interested in that generation of sound poets, when i started studying japanese my whole life became sound poetry, hahahaha.

 

-What forms of expression interest you the most at the moment?

 

being fluent.

 

-Why?

 

because your brain goes nuts not beable to express what is going on inside there, when you know you could just switch languages and speak perfectly, but then no one will understand you.

 

-How?

 

study

 

-When ?

 

jesus, who knows, probably never.

 

 

 

-Why on earth did u stop collecting vinyl records? Does that mean that you are cured from your diskaholism? Or is there still a chance that you will join the club again? This is of high importance for our readers to find out…

 

well, mostly because i moved and then didnt have a stereo for three years. i finally got my stereo back together, only to find out tokyo works on 50hz base instead of 60hz base, so the tubes in my amp flicker slowly like they are possesed and the system blanks out after a few minutes. but, seriously, how can you keep buying records, hahaha

 

 

 

-We have been eating and drinkin together (and making some noises in between) some years now, after that first meeting we had at Derek Bailey´s Company Week in London in 1990. What is your absolute favourite food and drink in: Europe?

 

probably pumpkin ravioli in italy, jesus, that’s good.

 

-Japan? Why so?

 

green pepper kushiage at akiyoshi. that stuff is like going to heaven. but you have to wait 3 minutes before you eat it. my favorite crossbreed food here is mochi pizza. if done right, it’s amazing.

 

-Do you have any new funny stories to tell? Sweden needs to be amused  now, since the last election went really bad and people are pretty depressed now, with fascists in the goverment… and the Norwegians are still better then us  in cross country skiing. We need to hear something that cheers us up a bit these days.

 

i thought you wrote cross dressing skiing. are the danish best at that?

 

 

-At EXACTLY what point did you get into creative and improvised musics?

 

when i borrowed derek and dave hollands duo record from my local library. because it was on ecm, they had it, even though it was yet the big label it is now. this would be around 1980 or so. man, i had NO idea what that was, but i loved it.. i just cross-referenced from there…

 

 

-At EXACTLY what point did you get into creative films and related?

 

same time, esp because film books usually have more far out directors than music books do. also i was going to my local cinema almost everyday, i lived a block from it, and they kind of just let me in after a while, i was the little kid from down the lane, hahaha

 

-At EXACTLY what point did this interview bored you to pieces?

 

when i finished it, lost it, and now, am doing it all over again.

 

 

-What does A- ha and Rolling Stones have in common?

 

they are both bands i turned down producing. the a-ha one was honestly a schedule conflict. a lot of my friends are upset i didnt do that one.

 

-What does Hawaian shirts and guitar playing have in common?

 

henry kaiser, who i am actually listening to right now. his new boogie record with tyetuzi akiyama.

 

-What is your favourite Sparks record?

 

propaganda!

 

-Roy Harper record?

 

hor’s doeuvres and the b side of lifemask.

 

-John Abercrombie record?

 

Gateway 1

 

-When did u play your best guitar solo?

 

on the first edith frost record

 

-And when did u play your worst?

 

on the first edith frost record

 

-Is there a difference in working with Jeff Tweedy and Werner Herzog?

like night and day, and that’s not meant in a bad way. they have completely different energy levels, and paces to getting things done. funny because mr. herzog says he would always trade everything in to be able to play an instrument, (please don’t!!!) and i feel the same way the other way around, hahaa.

 

 

 

-Is there a difference in playing the accordeon and EMS synthi?

 

an accordian is heavier! and for some reason very expensive in japan.

 

 

 

 

-When will there be a new film by you to watch?

you know, i’m not sure, but i’m going to be directing a video next month, my first that will use mosaics, but unfortunately not a porn film.

 

-What is appealing to you about making films?

 

well, it’s not the making them that is appealing, i just prefer it as an “art form”, if you must use a word. when i have made films, its not that i set out to make a film, just that the idea i wanted to do fit with film more than music. i havent made one in years, but that may change.

 

-What in the process of making  films is kickin yr butt?

 

it’s all in the editing, hahaa. not really, but i do get a kick out of the possibilities of editing in film.

 

-The readers of this page is crazy about lists of all kinds (actully they are not… I have been asking them for over a year now to send in their fav lists and nothing fuckin happpens)… so I thought I should ask you to make some lists, top 5,  of your favourite:

 

 

– Horror films

 

seance on a wet afternoon

exorcist 3

the shout

little murders

sorcerer

 

 

 

 

 

– Songs

thunderclap newman-something in the air

judee sill-the kiss

peter ivers-even stephen foster

roy harper-lifemask

claudio rocchi-volo magico

 

 

– Sports

 

none at all

 

– Words

 

mahoubin

hodokoshimasu

danchounoomoidede

kyousaika

kyakuyoseipanda

 

 

-Can u tell us about the new pop project of yours, I know that u already made a first concert in Japan? Your own songs?  Have u recorded the project already?

 

i did one show with my new band in kyoto, but we only did one new song. it’s still going to take a long time to finish this record, which ironically i wrote ten years ago. we’ll see. it’s going to cost a fortune to make, but, i will persevere, maybe.

 

 

-What records is there to be added to your collection?

 

derek bailey on nondo. dear readers, help me out.

 

-What instruments is there to be added to your collection? You played like 200 different instruments on your last solo project…is there any instrument left to explore? Is there an instrument that you really wished that you were able to control and play?

 

i really really really wish i was good at pedal steel. in terms of traditional instruments, it’s my favorite. other than that i like using my serge.

 

-Can British musicians improvise?

 

oh man, what are you trying to do to me?

 

 

 

-Is this interview way to long already?

 

months, hahaha

 

 

first published in Nya Upplagan  in Swedish, 2011