L.A. Weekly |
2002 WAS A YEAR when music lovers did themselves an enormous
favor by simply turning off the hype — about the grim state of the music industry,
or how every young artist represented a groundbreaking new movement, or whether
or not they were worthy of assuming the mantle of Great Significance (rock or
otherwise). It was a year that saw the release of an amazing number of good
to great records in a wide variety of genres old and new, created largely by
artists who got their music heard in spite of the mainstream media's failure
to jump on their bandwagons. Here're some lists — read 'em, burn 'em.
—John Payne
JAY BABCOCK'S 2002
1. DEBUTS Devendra Banhart, the Black Keys, the Streets,
Interpol, the Polyphonic Spree.
2. COMEBACKS Solomon Burke, Wire.
3. OTHER FINE RECORDS Queens of the Stone Age, Super Furry
Animals, Brendan Benson, Deerhoof, Radar Brothers, T-Model Ford, Godspeed You
Black Emperor!, Brother JT, Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man, Jah Wobble &
Temple of Sound, Casino Versus Japan, Spoon, Fatso Jetson, Doug Martsch, Sahara
Hotnights, Jah Wobble's Solaris, Weird War, Super_Collider, We Regazzi, Tinariwen,
Beachwood Sparks.
4. AND AT THE (MORE) EXTREME END High on Fire, Non, John
Zorn, Comets on Fire, Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine, Khanate, Circle, Vajra,
SUNN 0))), Masami Akita & Russell Haswell.
5. FINE SONGS “When the Man Comes Around” by Johnny Cash;
“You Know You're Right” by Nirvana; “House of Jealous Lovers” by the Rapture;
“So Easy” and “Poor Leno” by Royksopp; “I'm Gonna Kick Your Ass” and “Black
Train” by Moistboyz; “Every Season” by Tony Allen with Damon Albarn & Ty;
“Time Changes Everything” by John Squire; Robert Plant's cover of “Morning Dew”;
the Josh Homme compositions in The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys; “Alibi”
by Elvis Costello & the Attractions.
6. REISSUES/COMPILATIONS Junior Kimbrough's You Better
Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough, James Luther Dickinson's Dixie Fried,
Tangerine Dream's Alpha Centauri, Black Sabbath double live Past Lives.
7. LIVE HIGHLIGHTS Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 30-minute show at the Palace
was a phenomenal demonstration of shamanistic she-power, a giggling feral art-grrrl
fronting the Birthday Party, singing the best Joan Jett songs Joanie never wrote.
The White Stripes' spectacular performance in their second night at El Rey;
The Who, widowed, at the Hollywood Bowl; Mercury Rev, dark-struck, at El Rey;
Acid Mothers Temple turning it up to 28 at the Derby; Tony Conrad, Big Star,
Merzbow, Califone and Stooges sets at All Tomorrow's Parties; Lift to Experience
seamlessly segueing from “Kashmir” into their own grand, desolate work at the
Silverlake Lounge; the Hives, the sharpest band alive, at the Roxy; Saccharine
Trust and Fatso Jetson going for broke at a free Sunday-afternoon gig at Liquid
Kitty; My Morning Jacket at House of Blues; The Soundtrack of Our Lives at the
Roxy, at the Point Loma Quality Inn Cactus Rose Saloon and at the Troub; Future
Pigeon, an 11-piece ensemble making live dub music so good it grants audience
members telepathic powers; Michael Gira, so very alone, at the Derby; the Datsuns,
flying the hair at Spaceland; the Kills' intense VU-country-blues battle at
the Silverlake Lounge; the Fire Show doubling themselves on each song at Spaceland;
the Greenhornes at Spaceland; Peaches & Queens double feature at the Palladium;
the secondmen at Spaceland; Paul McCartney at Staples; Andrew W.K. and his Village-People-of-Oi/Slade-Party-Rock
band; Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' searing encore of “Stagger Lee” at the
Wiltern; Arthur Lee & Love's impossibly good comeback show at Spaceland.
8. MUSIC TV Scarface's “On My Block” video; P-Funk NBA
commercials; Jay-Z, Lenny Kravitz Band and Beyoncé performing together
live on SNL; the Courtney Loveathon on MTV2 (whip-smart, flippant, foul-mouthed
and flat-out funny as she was eager to get her tits out — a peroxide Elvira
for the VH1 Classic set); Cee-Lo's whimsical “Gettin' Old” video; Hewlett-Packard
commercial featuring the Flaming Lips.
9. BUMMERS The continued escalation of concert-ticket
and CD prices; Slick Rick's imminent deportation; R.L. Burnside's retirement;
Clear Channel; constant, illegal overcrowding of Hollywood music clubs; gangsta
rap coming home to roost; and the deaths of Joe Strummer, Dudley Moore, George
Harrison, Dee Dee Ramone, earthlings? member/Rancho de La Luna operator Fred
Drake, Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay, Stereolab's Mary Hansen and Popul Vuh's Florian
Fricke.
GREG BURK'S OVER-30 TOP 10
Johnny Cash, American IV: The Man Comes Around (American).
At his absolute best, sounding like he's saying goodbye. And there are no
more where he came from.
Bob Dylan at the Wiltern, October 17. When they didn't
kill this guy along with Morrison, Hendrix and Joplin, they made a big mistake.
He's the most dangerous of all.
[
Leni Stern, Finally the Rain Has Come (LSR), and a
coupla live shows at Rocco. Her songs made more emotional connection with
me than anything else I heard all year, even Johnny Cash. All she had to do
was quaver essential thoughts about love, God and her life, and spin fine lines
on electric guitar. Really for real.
Matthew Shipp, Equilibrium (Thirsty Ear). Shipp
has brought mystery and vitality to jazz. If it weren't for artists like him,
future generations would have to learn American improvisation as a dead language.
Brad Mehldau, Largo (Warner Bros.), and at the Knitting
Factory, September 26. Ditto for this other pianist, and Largo is
evidence of either Shipp's influence or a groundswell of populist jazz that
includes modern electronics. Along with Jon Brion, Mehldau even expanded on
it live for an elegant presentation that was beyond impressive.
Kristian Hoffman, Kristian Hoffman & (Eggbert),
and live at the Derby, July 10. Thank you, Mr. Hoffman, for reminding me
what I used to like about pop music.
Westworld, Cyberdreamer (Crush). Heavy pop that
flies. It's all about a world-class singer (Tony Harnell) who happens to be
a world-class songwriter with a world-class band (Mark Reale & co.). That's
a lot, isn't it?
Ozzy Osbourne, Live at Budokan CD & DVD (Epic),
and The Osbournes (MTV). I often admire artists I don't understand.
And as long as Ozzy keeps rocking this hard and being this funny, I don't wanna
understand him. Bonus: The DVD age means I may never have to go to Ozzfest again!
Black Label Society, 1919 Eternal (Spitfire). Zakk
Wylde spent a long time in the studio crafting songs and guitar textures for
Ozzy's 2001 Down to Earth. The results were too scary for Osbourne, so
Wylde just sang on the tracks himself. Everybody wins.
Danzig, 777: I Luciferi (Spitfire). Controlled,
relentless darkness and passion. Great song after great song. Forget the muscles
and skulls, this is hard-rock music.
MEMORIES: A DECADE'S WORTH
After 10 years at the Weekly (as of March '02 and still
counting), these are among the memories that remain.
1992: Mitsuko Uchida plays Schubert's G-major Sonata.
The 80-year-old Rudolf Firkusny captivates a Hollywood Bowl audience with a
most eloquent piano recital. Death of John Cage. The Salonen era at the Philharmonic
begins with his signature tune, the Mahler Third.
1993: MOMA's Cage exhibition; the Cage tributes extend
countywide, including Long Beach Opera's Europeras. Paul Hillier's ensemble
sings Arvo Pärt at a Historic Site event. György Ligeti comes to town
and is properly honored.
1994: Simon Rattle conducts the Mahler Ninth with the
Philharmonic; Gregorian chant makes it to the charts. Handel's Xerxes
charms an L.A. Opera audience. Van Cliburn's Bowl engagement falls apart midconcert.
Alfred Brendel's eloquent Beethoven series at the Music Center doesn't.
1995: Dana Marsh leads his Paulist Choristers in a fresh,
revelatory Messiah; Gerald Levinson's Second Symphony: Has the Philharmonic
ever introduced a worse piece of “new” music? At the Opera, Peter Sellars relocates
Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande to a Malibu beach house,
but Salonen's musical leadership makes amends.
1996: Salonen and the Philharmonic conquer Paris; a cruelly
exploitative movie called Shine launches the pathetic (but mercifully
brief) career of would-be pianist David Helfgott. The L.A. Opera's Italian
Girl in Algiers is, says the Weekly, “a garish, overladen, gross
concatenation of self-indulgent biz imposed upon a sweet, mild-mannered bel
canto comedy.”
1997: Salonen's LA Variations earns (and deserves)
an ovation at the Philharmonic; so does Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses
at the L.A. Opera; so do the first discs in the Salonen/Sony Ligeti series,
which is then lopped off short of completion when the bankroller ends up in
prison. Polish minimalist Henryk Górecki conducts his Third Symphony
at USC.
1998: Salonen conducts Ligeti's Requiem, his challenging
choral masterpiece; many leave early. Willem Wijnbergen succeeds Ernest Fleischmann
as Philharmonic honcho. UCLA's Royce Hall reopens, after retrofitting, with
the Philip GlassRobert Wilson Monsters of Grace, a fiasco. So is
Tobias Picker's Fantastic Mr. Fox, a ludicrous entry in the L.A. Opera's
agenda.
1999: Santa Monicaborn David Robertson's superb
homecoming concert with IRCAM's Ensemble Intercontemporain: Where's he been
all our lives? Salonen leads a Finnish invasion at Ojai, culminating in Magnus
Lindberg's knock-'em-down Kraft. Willem Wijnbergen departs.
2000: Virtually unknown, the Italian pianist Marino Formenti
makes his local debut with a series of killer new-music programs at LACMA and
becomes an instant hero. The Brits carry off a successful series of invasions:
Simon Rattle at Ojai, Britten's Billy Budd to end Peter Hemmings' tenure
at the L.A. Opera, Britten's War Requiem at the Philharmonic, with the
phenomenal young tenor Ian Bostridge. The Long Beach Opera's Puccini-Dallapiccola
double bill is one more triumph for Michael Milenski's most enterprising of
West Coast companies.
[
2001: The Long Beach Opera's production of Thomas Adès'
Powder Her Face is yet another. The Philharmonic's Stravinsky Festival
is a marvel of broad-base planning and presentation. A splendid Lohengrin
inaugurates the Domingo era at the L.A. Opera; the season also includes Schoenberg's
Moses und Aron, with a Berlin ensemble led by Kent Nagano: Only a concert-form
presentation, but who'd have believed that this craggy masterwork would make
it to L.A. in any form?
2002: Eclectic Orange brings Osvaldo Golijov's La Pasión
Según San Marcos to a mostly cheering audience at Costa Mesa's Segerstrom
Hall. Michael Milenski resigns. Marino Formenti's stupendous piano recitals
outshine all else at Ojai. UCLA begins a rewarding series of multimedia theatrical
productions, with Heiner Goebbels' Hashirigaki (Gertrude Stein meets
the Beach Boys) and the Robert WilsonTom Waits Woyzeck so far —
and so good!
—Alan Rich
ERNEST HARDY'S LIST OF EMINEMS
Imitation of Life: One of the richest details in
Eminem's vaguely autobiographical film debut, 8 Mile, is sketched by
director Curtis Hanson as a toss-away moment. Jimmy (Eminem) comes home from
a hard day of being poor and white in Detroit to find his trailer-park mom painting
her toenails, watching an old Hollywood weepy on television. The film on the
tube is Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life, the classic melodrama about
a fair-skinned black girl who tries to pass for white in 1950s America. An essential
text for students of race and representation, Imitation is often referred
to as the story of a black girl who longs to be white. But as film historian
Donald Bogle writes in his critical overview Brown Sugar, the tale is
really about “a woman who does not want to be white so much as she wants white
opportunities.” The factory-employed Jimmy wants the ä same opportunities.
So does the Detroit-born Marshall Mathers/Eminem; that's what drives his music
and his well-documented fury. It's the point of connection between him and so
many of his fans — regardless of race or class. They just want white opportunities.
The Home and the World: Detroit is a place where
resilience and resignation walk side by side in shaping the city's vibe and
personality. It's the most American of cities, where the factory assembly line
churned out both the metaphor (the automobile) and the reality (blue-collar
jobs that offered upward mobility) of this country's most elusive product: freedom.
The riots of the late '60s left Detroit with scars that stretch for blocks on
end. The residual violence and despair still soak psyches, inflicting traumas
America pretends take place only in spots like Beirut or Afghanistan. After
the riots, white folk fled Detroit in droves and didn't look back. Eminem is
one of their own that they left behind, one whose white skin wrote a check that
couldn't be cashed.
Who Am I This Time?: Marshall Mathers performs
as Eminem performs as Slim Shady; autobiography is a blueprint covered in Wite-Out
and Magic Marker scrawlings — not even the artist can be trusted to decipher
his own shit. While homophobia and misogyny are played for laughs, the music's
a blistering soundtrack for reactionaries and bigots, even as “sophisticates”
chuckle at his (yawn) anti-P.C. bravery. Mouthpieces from right-wing
queer Andrew Sullivan to the relatively progressive Frank Rich at The New
York Times have strapped on kneepads and knelt before him. The Village
Voice recently trumpeted the headline that 8 Mile was proof that
class trumps race — a lie that Eminem himself has called out many times, readily
acknowledging that, were he black, he'd likely sell far less and definitely
have far less industry and media support.
Gold Diggers of 2002: But Em has grabbed his white
opportunities, and 8 Mile exists to guarantee them. Aside from a dizzyingly
accurate capture of Detroit as a bleak backdrop, and a few scorching freestyle
battle scenes that rank as some of this year's best film moments, the movie
is boring as fuck, a recycling of every underdog flick ever made. Hanson and
screenwriter Scott Silver refine the Eminem persona for future consumption,
and every charge detractors have leveled against him is countered point by point.
Homophobic? Have him defend a gay co-worker against a bigoted colleague. Misogynistic?
Have his onscreen girlfriends lie or cheat on him while he doesn't so much as
raise his voice, let alone his fists (at least not to them). He's the doe-eyed
big brother who cradles his little sister when violence breaks out in the home;
he's the only one who really sees the emotional pain of the dimwit in the posse.
It's all impressively thorough.
[
Things To Come: Now held firmly in the loving maw
of the machine, Eminem has arrived. Film and rock critics drool over him; disgruntled
businessmen yell “bitch” and “faggot” in unison with him while teenage boys
drench their scalps in peroxide to emulate him. Eminem is a compelling artist
not because of his art or multimedia conquests, but because no other Top 10
artist is as complicated, contradictory and foreboding a sign of the times.
—Ernest Hardy
FALLING JAMES' FAVORITE REVELATIONS OF 2002
OutKast, Big Boi & Dre Present . . . (Arista).
Big Boi, on the rueful, jubilant bounce “The Whole World”: “We in this to replenish
the musical wish list.”
The return of Love with Arthur Lee. The judicial system
coughs up a bitter-free nightingale, poignantly singing those soap-bubble-delicate
ballads. “Served my time, served it well. Made my soul a sale.”
Listing Ship, Dance Class Revolution (True Classical).
Judicious guitar splangs and tufts of clouds glowing with Heather Lockie's serene
lighthouse vocals.
Neko Case, Blacklisted (Bloodshot). The mournful
soul-tolling of “Deep Red Bells” hypnotizes, like staring at the wall until
it turns to glass from tears.
The Ramainz, Live in N.Y.C. (Sanctuary). Remains
of the Ramones. Dee Dee's last stand. Scabrously soulful. R.I.P. it up.
Punk's Not Dead Dept.: The Rezillos instigated giddy delirium
at the Garage, while the Orphans left a wake of Germs-like wreckage all over
town. The Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, the letter bands (X, GBH, TSOL), the Damned
and especially the Adolescents delivered their old tunes at the Inland Invasion
prison camp with a powerful immediacy that went beyond nostalgia. Yet the angriest
and most topical punk rock moments of the year came from Public Enemy, at House
of Blues and on the bitter anti-Bush broadsides on Revolverlution (Slam
Jamz/Koch).
More thrills: Manu Chao's live album, Radio Bemba Sound
System (Virgin). The Cynics, Living Well Is the Best Revenge (Get
Hip). Wire, Read & Burn (Pink Flag), and at El Rey. The Mission of
Burma reunion, also at El Rey. RF7, All You Can Eat, Volume II (Grand
Theft Audio). Biblical Proof of UFOs, s/t (SuperFi). Radio Vago, Black
and White Photo Enterprise (Buddyhead). The Dictators, D.F.F.D. (D.F.F.D.).
The Hangmen, We've Got Blood on the Toes of Our Boots (Acetate). Mekons,
OOOH! (Quarterstick).
JOHN PAYNE'S 100 MUSICAL BIASES 2002
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.,
In C (Squealer)
John Luther Adams, The Light That Fills the World (Cold Blue Music)
Add N to (X), Loud Like Nature (Mute)
Alizadeh/Kalhor/Shajarian, Without You (World Village/Harmonia
Mundi)
Autechre, Gantz Graf (Warp DVD/CD)
Devendra Banhart, Oh Me Oh My (Young God)
Beck, Sea Change (Geffen)
Black Sabbath, Past Lives (Sanctuary)
The Blood Group, Volunteers (Le Grand Magistery)
Pierre Boulez, Welsh National Opera, Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
(Deutsche Grammophon DVD)
Dan Ar Braz, Made in Breizh (Tinder)
Brazzaville, Rouge on Pockmarked Cheeks (South China Sea)
Brokeback, Looks at the Bird (Thrill Jockey)
Guillermo E. Brown, Soul at the Hands of the Machine (Thirsty
Ear)
Franklin Bruno, A Cat May Look at a Queen (Absolutely Kosher)
Precious Bryant, Fool Me Good (Terminus)
Linda Burman-Hall, Lou Harrison: Complete Harpsichord Works (New
Albion)
Cafe Tacuba, Vale Callampa (MCA)
Johnny Cash, The Man Comes Around (American)
The Nels Cline Singers, Instrumentals (Cryptogramophone)
Gabor Csupo, Kalmopyrin (Tone Casualties)
Chris Cutler & Thomas Dimuzio, Dust (RéR)
Daedelus, Invention (Plug Research)
Miles Davis, The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions (Sony)
DJ Food & DK, Now, Listen! (Ninja Tune)
DJ Me DJ You, Can You See the Music (Eenie Meenie)
DJ Shadow, The Private Press (MCA)
Doves, The Last Broadcast (Capitol)
Brian Ferry, Frantic (Virgin)
Simon Fisher Turner, Swift (Mute CD/DVD)
Vincent Gallo, Recordings of Music for Film (Warp)
Philip Glass, Naqoyqatsi: Life as War soundtrack (Sony)
Rosco Gordon, I'm Gonna Shake It! (Varèse Sarabande)
Gorillaz, Phase One: Celebrity Take Down (EMI CD/DVD)
Glenn Gould, A State of Wonder: The Complete Goldberg Variations 1955
& 1981 (Sony)
Neil Michael Hagerty, Plays That Good Old Rock and Roll (Drag
City)
Harmonica Frank Floyd, The Missing Link (Memphis International)
George Harrison, Brainwashed (Capitol)
Hawkwind, Space Ritual Sundown V.2 (Demi Monde)
Interstellar Chemistry, Bill Horist & K.K. Null (Beta-lactam)
Djansug Kakhidze & Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, Terteryan: Symphony
No. 3 & No. 5 (Beaux)
Edward Ka-Spel, O'er a Shalabast'r Tyde Strolt Ay (Beta-lactam)
King Tubby, The Originator (2B1)
Leo Kottke, Standing in My Shoes (Private Music)
Languis, Untied (Simballrec)
L.A. Phil's performance of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Foreign Bodies
at the Music Center
Larsen, Rever (Young God)
The Legendary Pink Dots, All the King's Horses (Soleilmoon)
Jaki Liebezeit and Burnt Friedman, Secret Rhythms (EFA)
Rob Mazurek, Silver Spines (Delmark)
Mecca Normal, The Family Swan (Kill Rock Stars)
Brad Mehldau, Largo (Warner Bros.)
Mimi & Boyd, Angular Island (Phthalo)
Sainkho Namtchylak, Stepmother City (Ponderosa)
Non, Children of the Black Sun (Mute CD/DVD)
Augustus Pablo, East of the River Nile (Shanachie)
Arvo Pärt, Orient Occident (ECM)
Sarah Peebles, Insect Groove (Cycling '74)
Phantomsmasher, Phantomsmasher (Ipecac)
Planet X, MoonBabies (InsideOutMusic/SPV)
Elvis Presley, Roots Revolution: The Louisiana Hayride Recordings
(Tomato)
Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)
Rapoon + Black Faction, New Cult of the Sun Moon (Soleilmoon)
The Residents, Demons Dance Alone (East Side Digital)
Gyan Riley, Food for the Bearded (New Albion)
Adam Rudolph & Hamid Drake, Hu Vibrational Boonghee Music 1(MetaRecords)
Ruins, Tzomborgha (Ipecac)
Ryuichi Sakamoto, Derrida (Warner Music Japan)
The Sea and Cake, One Bedroom (Thrill Jockey)
The Silverman, Requiem Settings (Soleilmoon)
Simian, We Are Your Friends (Astralwerks)
Sonic Youth, Murray Street (Geffen)
The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Behind the Music (Republic)
Steroid Maximus, Ectopia (Ipecac), and at the Knitting Factory
Sun Ra and His Arkestra, Music From Tomorrow's World (Atavistic)
Super Furry Animals, Rings Around the World (Epic)
John Surman, Jack DeJohnette, Live in Tampere and Berlin (ECM)
Sutekh, Fell (Orthlorng Musork)
Nobukazu Takemura & Katsura Moshino, Sign (Thrill Jockey CD-ROM)
Tanz! With Dave Tarras and the Musiker Brothers (Epic)
Tarwater, Dwellers on the Threshold (Mute)
Asthmus Teichens & Vidna Obmana, The Shifts Recyclings (Soleilmoon)
Richard Teitelbaum, Blends (New Albion)
Steve Tibbetts, A Man About a Dog (ECM)
Amon Tobin, Out From Out Where (Ninja Tune)
Jannick Top/Utopic Sporadic Orchestra, Nancy 75 (Utopic)
Town and Country, C'mon (Thrill Jockey)
Tristeza, Mixed Signals (Rocket Racer)
Twilight Circus Dub Sound System, Dub Plates Vol. 3 (Mrecords)
Niels Van Hoorn, Colours (Soleilmoon)
David S. Ware Quartet, Freedom Suite (Aum Fidelity)
Various Artists, La Musica Della Mafia (PIAS)
Various Artists, None but the Righteous: The Masters of Sacred Steel
(Ropeadope/Atlantic)
Various Artists, Pachuco Boogie (Arhoolie)
Various Artists, The Secret History of Rock & Roll vols. 1-4
(Bluebird)
Various Artists, Total Lee: The Songs of Lee Hazlewood (Astralwerks)
Wire, Read & Burn (Pink Flag)
Otomo Yoshihide, Merzbow, Ryoji Ikeda, others, Xenakis: Persepolis
Remixes Edition 1 (Asphodel)
Zemoe, El Gallo Bueno (Aagoo)
John Zorn, iAO (Tzadik)
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