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Have you ever been engaged in one of these "one-upsman" kind of conversations about art or books or music? I absolutely love how they literally devour the written word at the end. IFC's Portlandia is a spin-off of a shorts project found at THUNDERANT. Another irrevrent segment, "Dream of the 90's" is hilarious, too, in a Flight of The Conchords vein -- check it!
Nele Azevedo's Melting Men on the Concerty Hall steps at Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin:
Moonlit River, 2007 : Greg Seman
Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims from Paul Hamilton on Vimeo :
I [created this] brief demo with the Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims.
As a pianist I have collaborated with Robert since 1997 - we are long time friends/colleagues. His talent is immeasurable. In 1999 he won the Gold Medal in the American Traditions Competition, in Savannah, Georgia. He also made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2005, and returned to Carnegie Hall in 2009 as a guest of Jessye Norman, as part of her HONOR! festival. I was fortunate to play the piano for him on his second appearance, and this was my Carnegie Hall debut. We're performing together in Gibraltar this month (Dec. 20)!
His new partnership with the GGQ is nothing less than extraordinary.
Their arrangements are completely original: with Southern twang and classical
arch! Their artistry is of the highest calibre.
Caleb Vinson (Vimeo user) and I filmed this with two Canon 7D's, in Dekalb, Illinois. The audio was recorded live.
Caleb's exceptional camera moves are his trademark. I have not seen anyone use a DSLR the way he does: it proves that with practice and discipline it is possibe to achieve extremely fluid and unique moves. Well done Caleb!
We're both proud to have captured this short rehearsal with the GGQ and Robert!
Please support these exceptional musicians, you can purchase the music here:
Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims
Find out more:
The Georgia Guitar Quartet - classical guitarists and more
Robert Sims - the superb lyric baritone
The Musicsmiths - flute and guitar duo
The Odd Trio - jazz, funk, original compositions, varied freakouts
Maps and Transit - ethereal folk and electronic music
This approach shouldn't be limited to design. Sensitivity to place and culture is something that's conspicuously lacking throughout our society, from the strip mall sprawl beyond the Beltway to the one-size-fits-all standardized tests we force upon anyone and everyone. Change is incremental, and Pilloton, with her team of innovators, is assuredly a leader to watch--and hopefully emulate--in the future.1) There is no design without (critical) action.We are not a social club, nor do we host green drinks events. We do projects that exist in the real world, that have partners, impact, and results. We work as a team, rather than for individual glory.
2) We design WITH, not FOR.We work with partners, not for clients. We bring end users to the table from day one, making them fellow designers. We co-create with unexpected partners, and listen/learn first about social issues we may not fully understand.
3) We document, share, and measure.We record all work as a means to measure qualitatively and quantitatively, and ask for feedback as a means to constantly improve. Our designs are never "done." We share practices between project teams so that we never have to start from zero.
4) We start locally, and scale globally.Our projects are local responses to global problems, and are designed to serve as models for broader application. We look first to our own back yards, with the ultimate goal of scaling and improving products as systems that can work anywhere.
5) We design systems, not stuff.We create solutions and systems that are not driven by material or consumption. We "take the product out of product design" to question the traditional models, and design solutions that enable something greater than the object itself: enterprises, impact, etc.
6) We build.We get dirty. We tweak and prototype and test and bend. We know how to work in a woodshop, and how to weld, mill, and machine. We believe that knowing how things are built makes you a better designer, and that understanding the design process makes you a better builder. We make sure our ideas come to life.
The System comic from notquitewrong.com
There, property taxes are fair, rents are reasonable if you choose to play by the rules which Kenosha Kid rarely do. Instead, guitarist Dan Nettles, bassist Neal Fountain, and drummer Marlon Patton take liberties and own each theme, each variation, each breakdown because they've built it brick by brick, phrase by phrase to deliciously seamless effect.
To open, 'Fanfare' flings listeners into a gorgeous landscape with an arpeggio in the vein of Zappa's 'Adventures of Gregory Peccary' and from then on the vistas are serene and spacious. You feel you're in for something vast, something beyond definition, beyond the limitations of genre or label. The listener is fully primed to slide comfortably into a bluesy, ash-tinged groove.
The next track, 'Muddy Waters', is like a couple sitting over a plate of catfish with a bayou steam rising all around. At first, diners pick out the bones, isolating morsels to share, but soon enough their real intentions begin to pile up. The lovers glance at one another less and less and devour the flesh more and more until what's left is a heap of a memorable carcass and a slow burning, blues-induced fog around the gut and the head. It's not straight blues -- maybe Lightnin' Hopkins tripped over Duke Ellington's cane -- but it is one of the album's best examples of Kenosha Kid's refined handling of myriad influences.
'Out the Window' is an atmospheric journey over sand and space. The 'window' might be the door of a saharan Tuareg dwelling, tanned goatskins flapping in an arid but welcome breeze. Like a contented nomad, bassist Fountain pulls but not too forcefully, instead preferring to tug the ropes from the middle of the pack like a tuneful Jaco Pastorius without the fatal chip on the shoulder. There's no hurry. From Patton, a shimmering oasis of cymbals ripples on the horizon, receding ever, arriving never. The whole shifting thing swirls shadow and smoke with glinting stars above.
'Take What You Want' features the warmest of Nettles' guitar themes, with its subtle country lilt as a tambourine keeps time in an Aquarian throwback. It's all nostalgia and echo and occasional goosebumps at the memory flood, like golden light through a pinhole camera.
'Pleasure II' blends easy psychedelia over a sycopated shuffle that keeps limbs akimbo. All along Patton's drums and Fountain's bass interplay with childlike verve, and Nettles' guitar lines swoop, bend, and creep, pushing an imaginary edge.
Other tunes find guitarist Dan Nettles clawing his way up a ragged mountain range even as the scree underneath starts an undeniable avalanche. The trio tumble end over end in slow motion and somehow, out of thin air, find extemporaneous footholds. Soon it's the mountain itself that stretches under the centrifugal force with Nettles, Fountain, and Patton standing firmly at the center of an unearthly orbit. This is not easy music to make live. It's organic chemistry and the students have become the professors: swirling guitar peels, profound bass hues, with alternatingly austere yet firm beats punctuating a disitnctly cinematic set of compositions.
The multi-faceted Nettles, Fountain, and Patton. Photo ~ Nowt Records
Neal Fountain consistently offers deep, chorded bass foundations massaging the fretboard with tenderness to see what stresses sublimate into the atmosphere, that is, when he's not subtly funking things up. He and Nettles seem joined by a lobe as they share the residence of melody and craftily structured harmonies, always spontaneous yet fitting. Patton's drumming is at once immpecably tight and full of quiet personality. Cymbal flourishes, striding hi-hat and snare, and speed metal toms and bass drum combos make a sturdy framework for the others' lyrical musings.
The album's cover paints little circular windows into the heads of these innovative musicians, sonic construction workers who rely upon very few fandangled materials; except for Dan Nettles' effortlessly layered loops, the building blocks are the same that Wes Montgomery used, the same as Max Roach or Bill Frisell or Mingus. Ample stage time, too, has done Kenosha Kid and their listeners an epic service: superb communication, generosity, skill and joy blend together then emerge as the transcendental Land of Obey. Find your own path there -- they've flung the gate wide open!
photo by Samm Bennett
In case you ever doubted they would, Kenosha Kid strikes again with a blazing-hot brand to last you all the way through pigskin season and beyond! 
Listen up: you don't have to swagger into the Caledonia blind. Use your x-ray ears and get into Land of Obey before it hits the streets like a magical frog fallen from the heavens. You'd be a fool not to get a little preview, Dawg!
