We All Need a Map Now and Again
Axis: Sova, Monk's Casino
I’m still no back in the proper work flow yet, so another shorter edition of Nowhere Street this week.
I was never a regular reader of Pitchfork, and I was definitely among those who frequently rolled their eyes at things I read on the site over the years, but last week’s news was undeniably sad, alarming and depressing. The reduction of journalistic outlets seems to be matching the pace of climate change these days, with the decline accelerating exponentially. Of course, it’s happening all over the world and in countless “industries,” linked by a social/technological chain that’s anything but isolated. Naturally, capitalism is leading this charge, but as we rush headlong into a corner with this disturbing push toward obsolescence, I have no answers. I don’t know if it’s just that people don’t have the time, or if they’ve been numbed by the mainstream media’s race to the bottom, but someone’s got to pony-up, because this shit was never going to pay for itself, and now most seem inured to the concept of paying for something online.
In practical terms, this situation just seems to make a dysfunctional system of music distribution, publicity, and media coverage even more useless. We can remember the not so distant past when the Internet promised that the world no longer required cultural gatekeepers, and considering how terribly many of those who had the job performed, it made sense in the abstract, at least for a few seconds. People think I’m an asshole for insisting that the overwhelming majority of music being made is garbage. But at the same time there is so much worthwhile stuff being produced we’ll never come close to hearing it all. I’m sorry, but as imperfect and corrupt as most gatekeepers are, their role is necessary to wade through the morass with some sense of purpose and efficiency. First and foremost, reading remains the place where we learn. Maybe people don’t like or know how to read anymore? When I’m deep into the year-end list making bullshit I do look forward to seeing other lists to see what I may have overlooked. We’re always overlooking stuff.
I also use December to catch up on records I missed, and one of the records I checked out made an impression strong enough to make me play it several times. It didn’t end up on my somewhat arbitrary year-end list, but I’ve recently been playing it often. I feel compelled to let you know how enjoyable Blinded by Oblivion (God?) is. It’s the latest album from Axis: Sova, the long-running project of Chicagoan Brett Sova. In the past he’s made music all on his own, singing and playing guitars over primitive drum machine rhythms, and none of it moved me. But I love that the new album opens with the same drum machine, but soon Josh Johnpeter’s pounding beats kick in alongside it. The group has been transformed from a solo thing into a trio with the addition of Johnpeter and bassist Jeremy Freeze—both Columbia, Missouri outcasts; Johanpeter played in Mahjongg and Freeze in the final line-up of Chicago greats Cave. Most Axis: Sova records have been released on Ty Segall’s God? label, and his production on this record is pronounced, not only giving the music greater depth, clarity, and heft, but playing up a glammy quality that was only a latent presence in the past.
Sova’s tunes range widely in their patchwork of reference points. There’s the herky-jerk new wave of Devo, the sweet falsetto of John Lennon, a kind of stilted post-punk rhythmic rigidity, and the curdled glitter of Marc Bolan, all coming together in various admixtures. The performances are impressively taut with pummeling production, pleasantly piercing twinned unison guitars, needling vocal harmonies, and all kinds of fuzzy tones. The music is retro, but the various combinations the trio has forged feel rather sui generis, and the tunes are super catchy. Check out the hooky jackhammer energy of “Trend Sets,” below. I have no doubt there are a bunch of other records I don’t know about that would give me similar kicks—that’s just one reason why need a music press, however fucked it may be.
Monk’s Casino Still At It
Speaking of other music journalists, old Chicago cohort Bill Meyer recently wrote about a live album by Monk’s Casino, the decades-old project that combines pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach with the members of Die Enttäuschung (trumpeter Axel Dörner, bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall, bassist Jan Roder, and drummer Michael Griener). The project was in its infancy when I saw it at Jazzfest Berlin in 2002, the year John Corbett served as the event’s artistic director. Over the course of three sets the band played every known composition by Thelonious Monk. They later made an excellent 3-CD set collecting all of that work for Intakt Records. Meyer’s review of last year’s obscure Monk’s Casino Live at Au Topsi Pohl makes it seem like this recent double album—a strictly vinyl-only release from Two Nineteen Records, recorded in 2021—captured a reunion gig, but after living in Berlin since 2019 I’ve realized that the group has never really stopped playing. Music journalists sometimes get lulled into thinking that recordings are the only signs of life in the music world. In fact, the group is performing this Sunday afternoon, January 28 at Industriesalon Schöneweide. Still, such opportunities are infrequent and shouldn’t be squandered.
The show I saw decades ago and the Intakt recordings feature UliJenneßen on drums, but Griener replaced him in both units in 2017, so this recording is the first chance for the uninitiated here how he plays in the project. Over time the group has felt more and more at one with the already ubiquitous repertoire, and this performance captures the band toggling between Monk themes as easy as drawing breath, sometimes dispatching a tune with little fanfare (or solos) before springing right into another tune medley-style (or quoting some Albert Ayler in mid-stream). This recording demonstrates over and over again how fantastic the quintet is, regardless of the repertoire, but because it’s Monk we can share in the humor, risk-taking spontaneity, and on-the-fly connections the band nonchalantly makes. It’s a drag that the label won’t release the music on any format beyond the 300 copies of vinyl, but below you can check out a performance of “Bemsha Swing” from the Padova Jazz Festival from a few months later.
Recommended Concerts in Berlin This Week
January 23: Conrad Bauer (trombone), Louis Rastig (piano), & Dag Magnus Narvesen (drums), 8:30 PM, Jazz Club A-Trane, Bleibtreustraße 1, 10625 Berlin
January 25: Marlies Debacker, piano; Antti Viratranta, bass, 8:30 PM, Sowieso, Weisestraße 24, 12049 Berlin
January 26: Trouble in the East Records—Jazz & Experimental in Berlin 2024, Only With You (Korhan Erel, Eliad Wagner, synthesizers), Kathrin Pechlof, harp; Ein Gschlößl Pöschl Mit Alberto Cavenati & Vincent von Schlippenbach, 8 PM, Panda Theater, Knaackstraße 97 (i.d. Kulturbrauerei, Gebäude 8) 10435
January 26: CP Unit (Chris Pitsiokos, alto saxophone, Tizia Zimmermann, accordion, Marlies Debacker, clavinet, Antti Virtaranta, double bass, Luca Marini, drums), 8:30 PM, Sowieso, Weisestraße 24, 12049 Berlin
January 27: Michaël Attias Group (Michaël Attias, alto saxophone: Julius Gawlik, tenor saxophone; Miles Perkins, bass; Devin Gray, drums), 8:30 PM, Donau115, Donaustraße 115, 12043 Berlin
January 27: Trouble in the East Records—Jazz & Experimental in Berlin 2024, Field (Uli Kempendorff, reeds, Christopher Dell, vibraphone, Jonas Westergaard, bass, Peter Bruun, drums); Evi Filippou, vibraphone, marimba; Sagonaute (Paolo Pascalo, flute, Gabriele Cancelli, cornet, Giorgio Pacoric, piano, Žiga Ipavec, drums), 8 PM, Panda Theater, Knaackstraße 97 (i.d. Kulturbrauerei, Gebäude 8) 10435
January 28: Monk’s Casino (Alexander von Schlippenbach, piano, Axel Dörner, trumpet, Rudi Mahall, bass clarinet, Jan Roder, bass, Michael Griener, drums), 3:30 PM, Industriesalon Schöneweide, Reinbeckstraße 10, 12459 Berlin
January 29: Sparrows Ensemble (Joseph Kudirka, music boxes; Koen Nutters, bass, Germaine Sijstermans, clarinet) play Joseph Kudirka, 8 PM, Keith, Schillerpromenade 2, 12049 Berlin
January 29: Jules Reidy; One Leg One Eye, 9 PM, Radialsystem V, Holzmarktstrasse 33, 10243 Berlin