With a brief look at some notables along the road, Chang Terhune’s Music Mondays aims to shed light on both new and old(er) music over a wide spectrum of sound (and vision). This week: Walter Wanderley, Overmono, Laid Back, and King Crimson.
Autumnal Provinces
My grandfather was a phenomenal piano player. I didn’t inherit his talent (perhaps if I’d practiced more?) but I love to hear him play. He made money in college by playing for silent films and touring musicians (he often played for the crooner Rudy Vallee). After he retired from education he had a band that played all over the state of Maine. He was of a certain time and played all those old standards. I have tapes of him playing which haven’t been transcribed yet (lucky you!) but luckily I found something close.
Walter Wanderley was a Brazilian composer whose Summer Samba is on daily rotation in my home. I’ve always been a big fan of exotica and the early stereophonic records of the 50s & 60s. The sound alone conjures up images of hot women, cool men and sexy parties in exotic locations. It was an era first enhanced by the transcendent music of the turbulent times which then killed the genre. This whole album is smooth and gorgeous, like a Vicodin smoothie at sunset.
When the world went into lockdown in early 2020 I was working from home. I was excited because: a) work from home, and b) I could listen to music all the time except for when I was on the phone with clients. Soon I’d heard most of my library twice. So I took the opportunity to get into new music. Most of this was done by soliciting suggestions from friends or using various streaming platforms (I wish I could remember how I found certain bands or songs but the algorithm doesn’t tell its secrets). I did my best to be objective and found a ton of amazing new music and new sounds in a variety of genres.
Upon hearing Overmono I was hooked and have been ever since. These two Welsh brothers—Tom and Ed Russell—had each risen to their own notoriety in the UK’s underground club scene. They formed Overmono after riding back from a gig together late one night. What I love about Overmono is they’re clearly making dance club oriented music. Yet they infuse in their tracks an experimental almost cerebral sensibility for melding tracks that make you move but also listen again and again.
“Blow Out” is their most recent single and it absolutely slaps. Fast tempo, sampled vocals warped and twisted while everything barrels along at high speed toward an elegiac conclusion. A lot of their songs do this and Overmono does this very well. If you like this track I strongly suggest checking out their last album Good Lies (XL) which expands on this theme and more.
LAID BACK — Long ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth (around 1984) a pair of musicians in Denmark were in a studio recording their single. They needed something for the B-side and as often happens in cases like this the B-side is remember better than both the A-side and the band that recorded it. The band was Laid Back. That song was “White Horse.”
When I first heard it I was both terrified and entranced. It sounded like nothing else I’d heard before yet I knew it had something to do with rap (which I’d been listening to for a few years by then), something to do with the machines my heroes Depeche Mode, Cabaret Voltaire, Ultravbox, and Fad Gadget were using. But who were these strange people talking about a horse and being rich and more? We know now they’re Tim Stahl and John Guldberg, a pair of bold Danish brothers (I’m part Danish so I ‘gotta represent) who suddenly found themselves in possession of an unexpected hit.
What’s amazing about this is how many people heard it, said “Wow! This is amazing! I want to make music like this!” then did just that. Its influence can be found in everything from hip-hop to early Detroit techno to rave culture and dance music.
Here’s the official video which is honestly hilarious. Not just because the edit of the song is audibly terrible but because it’s so wonderfully Scandinavian:
If you want an uncut version to listen to here’s another video of the brilliant “White Horse.”
KING CRIMSON :: THE SHELTERING SKY — Sometimes when I’m feeling down I’ll go out for a walk and my mood improves. Most of the time however I prefer to lean in and embrace it. Perhaps it’s because I’m of Scandinavian descent (see above) or come from a long line of part-time brooders. In those time when I prefer to lean in I’ll put on a track that is inescapably sad to me, slap on some headphones or turn the volume way up and listen. With or without tears.
One such song is “The Sheltering Sky” from King Crimson’s Discipline (EG Records). Ever since I hear it at age 14 it’s become a track which can easily reduce me to a deep, introspective mood. I’m a big fan of 1980s King Crimson, a distinction that must be made now that the band has been around in one form or another for almost 50 years. This combo—Tony levin on Chapman Stick (a 16 string instrument which is bass/guitar/weird device all in one), Bill Bruford on drums, Adrian Belew on guitar and of course the legendary Robert Fripp on guitar as well—were incredible at synthesizing both the emerging technology of the time with their skills and growing awareness of new music streaming in from all corners of the world.
The track is hauntingly beautiful to my ears every time I hear it. Please enjoy:
