The Friday Morning Listen

First posted on Mark Is Cranky:

A very confusing and draining week finally comes to an end. So much stuff goin' on that my normally cranky self is just plain befuddled.

First there's the tax situation. Me & the wife didn't get our act together early enough so we ended up sending off all of the papers to our poor tax guy just a couple of days ago. I hate this crap. Everything is great about spring (even the black flies) with the exception of taxes. Too danged complicated. Makes my head threaten to explode (and I don't even do 'em myself!)

Then there's work deadlines. Software under pressure is no fun.

Then there's the funny smell coming from underneath our back porch. The lady at the septic company insists that it's the vent stack up on the roof. So tomorrow I've gotta start a load of laundry and then go up on a ladder to check it out. I have my doubts. I think there's something funny going on with the main drain which, unfortunately, runs right under our screen porch.

Great.

So I get up this morning with a fuzzy head from too many worries and not enough sleep. Worse yet, I just can't decide what to listen to on the way in to work. Do I want something slowed-down & soothing? Or do I want a musical two-by-four right over the top of the not-functioning so well head?

The answer is: both.

There was nothing subtle about about good old Wendy O. Williams. Explosions on stage, chainsaws taken to guitars, tape over nipples. My kinda gal. Coup D'Etat provided the soundtrack for the drive in.

The Sonic Youth record came from the group's SYR label series. It's their interpretations of music from some 20th century musicians including Steve Reich, Nocolas Slonimsky, Yoko Ono and John Cage. If you've got an open mind, there's some cool stuff on this collection. Definitely not for everyone. For example, the Ono track is called "Voice Piece For Soprano". It clocks in at a full 12 seconds. Nothing but screams. The first time I listened to it I had no idea it was coming. At one o'clock in the morning in a very quite house, I just about wet myself. Then there's Steve Reich's "Pendulum Music", sounding like a duet between a refrigerator compressor gone bad and a demented penny whistle.

It all appears to be working. The fog is clearing and I'm on to the next round of software freakout before the three day weekend.

More coffee....

Article Author: Mark Saleski

Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. He has contributed to Jazz.com and also writes reviews for Blogcritics.org. He produces the weekly feature The Friday Morning Listen. …

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