VOTD 12/24/2024

 Can: Ege Bamyasi (Spoon)

Purchased used many years ago

Browsing the New York Times today, I noticed a playlist of musical artists who died in 2024. (To follow up on yesterday's posting, Herb Robertson didn't make the cut.) There are the obvious choices, such as Toby Keith and Quincy Jones. More surprising were songs by Steve Albini and James Chance. But most surprising of all was one I didn't know: a piece by Can, because Damo Suzuki had died.

I'm a little wary of Can records because I think some aren't that good, or at least especially interesting. I have a few of a later vintage than this session, and they're inconsistent. And unless I'm missing out some incredible recordings that I don't know, their best work was between 1970-73 when Damo was their vocalist. Many find their double-LP Tago Mago as the band's best record. I think that might have been true if they trimmed the length to two sides, or (the impractical) three sides. This record, which came a year later in 1972, is the best work of theirs I know. 

I've heard bit and pieces of some of the live albums recently issued. They range from 1973 (with Damo still involved) to 1977. I haven't heard the 1973 concert but I'm interested. What I heard is that the band were largely improvising, often creating grooves spontaneously. I'm sure the pieces on this album all originate from band jam sessions and rehearsals, working up material collectively. 

So what's Damo's contribution? I can only gauge based on what I hear on the album. He mumbles, moans, whispers and sings lyrics I sometimes can understand but usually can't. But I don't think the lyrics are meant to be understood logically; the voice is effectively another instrument here. "One More Night" sees Damo chanting "One more Saturday night" over a cool 7/8 groove, and they mesh together perfectly. I'm sure his words are borne from improvisations as well, assuming he's not free-styling some of it during the recording. 

Any album is of its time. Nonetheless, we can point to some and declare after the fact, "That was forward-looking" or such. There are things here, captured in 1972, that seem to precede or anticipate music since. Isn't what Damo doing here similar to the vocal improvisations of Arto Lindsey? The rhythm and sound of the words are far more important than any logical meaning. The improvised grooves, hell, I've had bands based primarily on that principle. The guitar is often distant, sustained, noisy, filling in textures, and again that is something I've heard many times since. 

Bassist Holger Czukay and keyboardist Irmin Schmidt attended Karlheinz Stockhausen's classes in years prior. While the music is obviously very different, I see some similarities or correlations: emphasis on sound and process, embracement of noise, and a general desire to be original. I read that Holger asked Karlheinz to autograph is copy of Kurzwellen  on Deustche Grammophone, telling the composer what an important record it was. Kurzwellen is surely some of the strangest and in a way obsessive music imaginable. I also read that at in its time, it was the worst selling record in the DG catalog. 

2024 has felt interminably long. We know in part why. If you're reading this and don't live in Pennsylvania or another so-called "battleground" state, be thankful to not have been confronted with political ads at every possible moment, every possible media, for 1.5 years. I was seeing lists of the worst movies of the year, noting Marvel's Madame Web. I thought, that was this year? Damn. The next four will be bumpy. It's nice to escape into the Can & Damo sound world, if briefly.