Naked City - John Zorn
I have spent the better part of this week being tugged in two directions.
First, there's been mountains of psychic inertia created by this god-awful Java code I've been forced to attempt to bring to life. It's textbook my-first-Java software ickyness. Second, as the week goes on I'm gettin' more excited by the prospect of the Superbowl.
So, what to listen to that brings this all together? Naked City is the record. Something that combines elements of sonic ugliness as well as true beauty. Zorn's jump-cut brew of blues, funk, straight jazz, industrial, metal and jazz freakout is the musical Swiss Army knife. The blood-letting scream vocals of Yamatsuka Eye perfectly describe both my headstate during that nasty code spelunking and, hopefully, the confusion that will reign in Jake Delhomme's head this Sunday as the Patriots defense moves in.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
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Article comments
1 - JR
So is that picture of a real dead guy or was it staged? 'Cause it's pretty disturbing. It seems like Zorn gets his cover art from the coroner's office.
2 - Mark Saleski
i think it's real. read about it somewhere once..
and it's definitely disturbing.
3 - Dwaine AKA Scooter AKA D.J.
FUCK THE SUPERBOWL!!! THE EAGLES AREN'T IN IT!!!!
4 - The Dude
I heard Naked City in a coffeeshop in Berkeley. I immediately ran to a music store and bought a copy, didn't even finished my coffee. The music is that strong!
5 - Mark Saleski
...it is full of flavor.
6 - Tom Johnson
The photo is real. It was taken by Weegee, a crime-scene photographer who became a legend for his gory, sensationalistic subject matter. I seem to recall having seen a movie about the guy in the 90s sometime, but I completely forget what it was called.
Anyone ever seen the original artwork for NC's Leng T'che? THAT is some seriously disturbing imagery. The photo on the cover is of a ceremony in Japan where someone is hacked to pieces - alive - while tanked up on drugs so the willing victim doesn't feel a thing. The expression on the guy's face has haunted me ever since I first saw it. AllMusic's review mentions the cover: "Leng Tch'e, translated as 'thousand pieces,' is a ritual torture (involving administration of large doses of opium to a victim during the course of slow dismemberment) practiced in Japan until the early 20th century." I eventually had to get rid of that disc - the image bothered me that much (and of course I later found out I had the Japanese pressing, as the US release was banned, and has only been available as part of the Black Box since - but I assume the artwork is inside that, too. Can't handle it, just too disturbing.)
7 - Tom Johnson
By the way, the Mike Patton's Fantomas seems to be following in Naked City's footsteps. The newest album Delirium Cordia is one long piece, as Leng T'Che is, and has extremely graphic imagery. Look for a review this weekend - intense, scary stuff, but really fascinating at the same time.
8 - Eric Olsen
You feel deeply Tom, I admire that about you. I am fairly easily disturbed by such things as well.
Do i remember Joe Pecci playing Weegee? I remember being stuck at a library for hours as a kid and finding a book of Weegee photos and being fascinated and very disturbed by them at the same time. Very lurid.
9 - Tom Johnson
That's the one, Eric. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the movie, but IMDB reveals all: The Public Eye. I don't know how accurate it was, as they didn't use his name, but I know that much of it was based on his exploits.
I don't mind the surgery pictures in the new Fantomas booklet, yes they're gross, but what disturbs me so much about Leng T'che is that the victim is alive and so very aware of what's happening to him, and it's obvious from the dulled expression on his face. And I'm really disturbed seeing things like that where I know that what we're witnessing is one of the last moments of that person's life. Like when I see footage of the Challenger or Columbia disasters - I know that in that fireball it's highly possible, based on what NASA has said about the tragedies, they're still alive, even for just a brief moment or two longer. That's the stuff that gets lodged in my head and never leaves . . .
10 - Dwaine AKA Scooter AKA D.J.
I once saw something EXTREMELY disturbing. My friends and I were once in a library, when one of my friends pulled out a medical dictionary with pictures. Now these books show the most horrible, disturbing pictures of the worst things you can think of; horrible pictures of human disfigurements, pictures of the bubonic plague, women birthing, women's bloody birthing, and that's just the first few pages. There had to have been over a thousand pages of that STUFF. Jesus.
11 - Mark Saleski
i was on a cd shopping trip once at newbury comics and was browsing through a bunch of books. i picked up a book on piercing and scarification, the first part of the book was about tattoos and stuff.
i really wasn't paying too much attention to the book and was in fact looking at the other titles on the shelves as i thumbed through it...i looked back down and the book had opened to a bunch of photos of the "prince albert" piercing.
ouch. i mean, i had heard of those things but the photos...yow