...we could traverse time? Go
back to, say, 1976-’77 or so, and
find a symbolic crossfade point?
One between the timeless spirit
of such Soul music landmarks as
“Songs In The Key Of Life”,
or “All-N-All”, and the
beginning strains of where R&B
would eventually end up in the
80’s.
What if we could go back there
to one such precise point? Not
for the sake of mimicry. Not to
re-hash the era, nor to futilely try
to re-create (or fool ourselves into
thinking we're re-creating) the
amazing ground many of those
artists carved out for themselves.
Not for the gimmicky purpose of
being “retro” anything, and
certainly not to STAY there, but
instead, to use it as an emphatic
point of departure. A place from
which to begin a re-write to the
script of American Soul music’s
recent past, predominantly
disengaged present, and once
again ambitious future? In fact,
to create a “Parallel Universe”.
A world that feels and sounds
like a totally new one, but is still
based upon the same timeless
roots we have recently let the
overwhelming majority of our
music and art become
disconnected from. A world
which shares the same
kaleidoscopically creative past,
and is blessed to be exposed to
the influence of all the same
glorious communicators,
innovators and pioneers.
(…From Negro spirituals, to
Ragtime and Dixieland, to the
Blues, to Swing, to Gospel, to
Rock and Roll, to Bebop, to
Motown and Funk …) A world
fed by, and sharing the spirit of
Soul’s greats. And yet, one that
from that radicle (as in the
“root” of something) point
onwards, heads left wherever
this one went right; One that
embraces the angular and
dissonant at the precise moments
when this one clung to the
smooth and consonant (and vice
versa).
My goal is simply to do my small
part to make sure this Parallel
Universe of Soul Music exists.
To help make sure it somehow
evolves as surely as each day
passes.
Now of course, I know this
theory/approach is not one that
can be absolute. I don't really
desire to live in a vacuum totally
devoid of the musical present.
(After all, I cannot imagine what
music would sound like without
Prince’s work, for instance,
being exactly what it has been.)
But this is where my head is
(musically) right now, and
where it was for most of the
recording of my upcoming full-
length: "A Songwriter's Guide
To Gravitational Collapse".
- d.a.r.
back to, say, 1976-’77 or so, and
find a symbolic crossfade point?
One between the timeless spirit
of such Soul music landmarks as
“Songs In The Key Of Life”,
or “All-N-All”, and the
beginning strains of where R&B
would eventually end up in the
80’s.
What if we could go back there
to one such precise point? Not
for the sake of mimicry. Not to
re-hash the era, nor to futilely try
to re-create (or fool ourselves into
thinking we're re-creating) the
amazing ground many of those
artists carved out for themselves.
Not for the gimmicky purpose of
being “retro” anything, and
certainly not to STAY there, but
instead, to use it as an emphatic
point of departure. A place from
which to begin a re-write to the
script of American Soul music’s
recent past, predominantly
disengaged present, and once
again ambitious future? In fact,
to create a “Parallel Universe”.
A world that feels and sounds
like a totally new one, but is still
based upon the same timeless
roots we have recently let the
overwhelming majority of our
music and art become
disconnected from. A world
which shares the same
kaleidoscopically creative past,
and is blessed to be exposed to
the influence of all the same
glorious communicators,
innovators and pioneers.
(…From Negro spirituals, to
Ragtime and Dixieland, to the
Blues, to Swing, to Gospel, to
Rock and Roll, to Bebop, to
Motown and Funk …) A world
fed by, and sharing the spirit of
Soul’s greats. And yet, one that
from that radicle (as in the
“root” of something) point
onwards, heads left wherever
this one went right; One that
embraces the angular and
dissonant at the precise moments
when this one clung to the
smooth and consonant (and vice
versa).
My goal is simply to do my small
part to make sure this Parallel
Universe of Soul Music exists.
To help make sure it somehow
evolves as surely as each day
passes.
Now of course, I know this
theory/approach is not one that
can be absolute. I don't really
desire to live in a vacuum totally
devoid of the musical present.
(After all, I cannot imagine what
music would sound like without
Prince’s work, for instance,
being exactly what it has been.)
But this is where my head is
(musically) right now, and
where it was for most of the
recording of my upcoming full-
length: "A Songwriter's Guide
To Gravitational Collapse".
- d.a.r.
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