I got this little exercise from my friend Nick Millevoi, who lives in Philly and incidentally shreds the guitar in a couple nasty bands. The idea is to list fifteen albums in fifteen minutes you’ve heard that will always stick with you. I felt like to really do this exercise, I had to travel back to my childhood (Michael Jackson “Dangerous” was the first CD I bought), and there’s also a nice dose of Seattle bands I grew up headbanging to. I’m a little embarrassed by a couple of these, but so be it. These are the ones that jumped into my head.
1. John Coltrane – Interstellar Space
2. John Coltrane – The Olatunji Concert
3. Nirvana – Nevermind
4. The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour
5. Soundgarden – Superunknown
6. Pearl Jam – Ten
7. Old Time Relijun – Uterus and Fire
8. Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland
9. Kurt Rosenwinkle – The Next Step
10. Radiohead – Kid A
11. Maktub – Khronos
12. Evan Parker – Lines Burnt in Light
13. Bill Evans Trio – Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Anybody that’s been to my apartment in the last six months has most likely been subjected to this album. Its definitely the best album I’ve found in the last year and perhaps the favorite of my collection. Every single element on this album is insanely good: nasty flute harmonies, killer violin solos, sick acoustic guitar background lines, chugging gemelan accompaniment, and beautiful vocal crooning. When I purchased this album, I thought I was buying a record of gamelan music, but when I came home and listened to it, I was clearly mistaken. The songs sound like somehow-forgotten jazz lullabies from another planet: the lyrics croon, sung beautifully luscious; the flute and violinist frequently harmonize and take incredible little solos; the acoustic guitarist weaves insanely lyrical lines all over the songs in the background.
I just spent a little time looking for a copy of this online to stream and I didn’t have much luck. There are, however, LPs floating around on some online retailers. If I can find a streaming sample somewhere, I’ll post it.
I first heard Mountains one chilly winter night at Oberlin, sitting on the couch at 2am with my roommates, listening to albums brought back from our respective homeward vacations. I was immediately stuck by Mountains intriguingly spacial compositions, lush with both electronic and acoustic instrumentation.
Mountains is one of those now-a-days rare groups whose recordings are hard to find online via file sharing, so I was happy to discover “Etching” (Thill Jockey) at one of my local record stores, Soundfix Records, who specialize in new prints. Apparently, “Etching” was recorded at mountain-man Brendon Anderegg’s home studio in real time with no overdubs. They printed a limited number of hand-stamped LPs and sold them on their subsequent tour.
I took my first listen to the LP right after I got back from the store with one of my home-brewed espressos in hand. The album has but one song, which clocks in at about 38 minutes in total, meaning they had to split up the song on the LP. And, needless to say, it is a beautiful experience to hear in its entirety. It comes babbling in like an opening overture, and using the subtlest variations in sonic textures, it evolves into an ever blossoming field of sounds. The first thought that came into my mind was that it sounds like a Robert Fripp & Brian Eno collaboration, complete with Robert Fripp styled guitar at about 20 minutes in; or like music to a smart tech commercial or yoga studio.
You can stream “Etching” straight from Thrill Jockey’s Website HERE.
“Johnny Butler plays the alto sax. He heads up an interesting ensemble, Scurvy, which I cover in one of my other blogs (see www.gapplegate.com/musicalblog.htm). He also has developed a composition-performance style using his sax and live loops. An EP of this music has just been released, Johnny Butler Solo (no label listed). He gives a nod to Robert Fripp’s work with guitar and loops, and when you listen to the EP you can see he has taken the concept and come up with his own distinctive approach and sound.
There are four pieces on the disk, each different, each in its own way evocative, musically inspired and a pleasure to hear. He goes with the rhythmic possibilities of the loop format on one piece, the saxophone choir sound with (nice) soloing on top on another, and there are two that flesh out fully orchestral soundscape panoramas.
That all of the results develop out of Mr. Butler’s saxophone in a live setting is impressive. The results are stunning musically, which of course is what counts in the end. Johnny Butler creates music that shows a keen ear for honing in on good musical ideas and then deftly handling the loop technology to get some highly interesting sounds. Mr. Butler is a gas!”
I was very happy to come across this beautiful review of my album Solo in Downbeat’s July 2010 issue. Enjoy!
“Total Soloism”
“Solo performance is a paradox. It requires cojones, heightened self confidence and physical conditioning yet is as much about vulnerability and ritual self-sacrifice. Though a blatant form of outward artistic expression, it is peculiarly demanding of the intellect, a Cartesian musing, with the horn functioning as a brain tap.
After dabbling with resonances from John Coltrane and Miles Davis and enveloping his processed saxophone sound in cavernous reverb, Brooklyn-based Johnny Butler turns a polyphony of overdubbed horns (triggered by laptop) into Fritz Lang’s Metropolis machine on Solo (Self Release; 23:02).” -Michael Jackson
My friend Liz just alerted me to this very nice review of “Solo” in Knock from the Underground by Ross Edwards. Enjoy!
“Johnny Butler’s solo album is epically slow and intensely beautiful, the soundtrack to a science fiction film that makes the ambient, submerged mood of the music its highest priority. Performed by a lone saxophonist with a loop station, Butler stays out of the way of the sound: on “Cathedral,” lulled reverberations drift in and out of focus, while on “Katrina” Butler swoops over a bouncing, brooding, chorus.
“Cathedral”’s cleansing and distorted tones overlap like the buildup of Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians,” presenting vague melodies like the rigid spires of a cathedral disappearing and reappearing through rushing water. “Katrina” is a well-presented, concise song, with saxophone functioning as melody and rhythm section. “Glitch” is indistinguishably live and mechanical. Butler introduces melodies one by one, looping them at different lengths to twist rhythmic feels. He swells these looped interludes to include more and more notes, ranges, timbres, and a melee of stuttering saxes.
His most effective pieces are the more ambient ones on the album, as they bring to light the perfect saxophone machine-sounds in a dramatic, slow, haunting atmosphere. “Eulogy” achieves this with a landscape of delay and a feedback-hounded simple, folkloric melody. Butler sounds like he’s calling out to the dead, or like bagpipes at the procession, marching slowly through a rainy graveyard. The tone is not bleak or hopeless, only tinged with sadness and spiritual solemnity. Johnny Butler’s solo album is an interaction with himself, yet still sounds lonely. The honesty depicted through these live performances is slow, electronic, and the effect is lingering.”
I’m super excited to play some of my solo material with my extraordinarily talented colleagues Jason Nazary on drums and Aidan Carroll on bass at Puppets Jazz Bar (481 5th Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn), Tuesday, May 25th from 8:30-10pm. Its $5 to get in, which goes to the band, and $10 minimum, but you know you’d spend at least that much anyway! Good times to be had by all!
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