The Nels Cline Singers - April 27, 2007

[photopicker]

Nels is one of my favorite guitarists period. Live he is pure Mojo and such a profound experimenter of guitar based soundscapes. A complete treat anytime.

[jonsilence]

Nels is the ANTI guitar hero: anti-shred, anti-virtuoso. He CAN shred, but when he does, its not like anything or anyone else. Probably one of the few true avant garde guitarists out there; I suppose if you are looking for some kind of label maybe you might say 'Fripp with balls on acid ', although this still falls far short.

[energ8t]

Nels is a portal to unhindered creativity. When you watch/listen to him you feel as if you're experiencing a song as it's being written right at that moment. Pure flow.

[NESavoth415]

If we ever come in contact with aliens, Nels Cline should be our translator

[jeffreypillowTV]

Seeing The Nels Cline Singers at The Paramount Theater in Charlottesville is still one of the most awe inspiring performances I have ever attended . . . even had the chance to meet Nels and the band at soundcheck before the show. Great group of guys and musicians. And Devon Hoff is sick on bass. Sick!

[brannon67]

Where is this Nels Cline is the devil shit coming from?

[acrazyspiritual]

mind blasting!!!

[dayuhanspace]

i think its a toy micrphone hes using

[timjmoran]

ANYbody have ANY idea what kind of a gizmo he is using on the guitar at the beginning of this pc.? Sounds like he is singing or vocalizing into something that is being amplified by the guitar.s Pick-ups..but beyond that...I have no idea..

[russumm1]

I find most of these comments about Nels Cline unnecessary. Nels is a very accomplished guitarist. His mastery of technique and harmony is unparalleled.

I produced a recording with Nels in 1989, just as he was transitioning into his current style. From what I recall, he was tired of people trying to compare or contrast him with Ralph Towner, John Abercrombie, and so on and focus on finding his own true voice no longer tied to virtuosity in the "accepted" sense. I'd say he reached his goal...

[capmkrob]

Why does everybody feel the need to debate, argue, insult and attack other poeple they've never even met over video comments?? It's so hilarious to me. Who CARES what other people think!? Do you dig Nels? Great! Don't like Nels? Great! Just get on with your life! Haha...whatever...

[manus211]

@capmkrob This should be required reading before anyone is allowed to create a Youtube account. It should be required curriculum from 1st grade on!

[fuzzstrat]

Likewise, who are we to classify what is music at all? Music is art and art will always defy description. We try to classify, organize and rationalize types of art and the period from whence they came, but it's ultimately fruitless. I would expect the same diatribe from you regarding players such as Derek Bailey. It's sad that one would resort to arguing over the validity of using a tool with an electric guitar instead of simply enjoying the piece.

[fuzzstrat]

Jitpring, your likely internet-fed philosophical ramblings are amusing at best. Cline has stated that he uses these tools and toys to create something suitably different from what you'd hear from the 'average' free jazz player. There's a certain amount of artistry involved in improvisation and especially so when using objects not intended for such use. Nels is certainly a showman -- no use arguing that point. Simply put, he is a genius in terms of composition and mastery of the guitar.

[ADURG1]

really really good. this guy is a hero of mine. naysayers: you don't like the noise? go elsewhere. noise is part of the language of music to a lot of us...has been for decades...centuries, perhaps...and beyond.

[OvermanVideo]

Right on adurg. Perhaps some is easier on the ears, but it's all to be appreciated for what it is. Nels obviously has a tight grasp of that concept.

[yalnikim]

Jesus! David Lynch's brother?????

[jezuz12345]

he looks like Tim Robbins on this video LOL

[sprucebuddhas]

and yes, nels cline is indeed the devil.

[Vader12Tater12]

I think he sold his soul to the devil... the devil wouldn´t be so under rated.

[JoeMarvelly]

does anyone know what that device he was using with his mouth at the beginning is called? Sounded amazing

[MonsterCaptain]

ebow

[JoeMarvelly]

ah thankyou, makes sense now! I should have realised, but still, it must be a special type of ebow as I've never seen one where you use your mouth, the ones I've seen have all been used by hand. Thanks again

[sprucebuddhas]

I don't know what that is, but I'm pretty sure that it is not an E-bow. I've been using one since the late 80's, never seen one that looked like that. I think it's some sort of cheap toy voice microphone that interacts with the microphonics of the Jazzmaster single coil pick-up.

[lexo30]

I'm pretty sure it's not an E-Bow either, because a.) it doesn't look anything like an E-Bow, and b.) that's not how you use an E-Bow.

[AwesomeTurner]

its called a  "Mega Mouth", it is indeed a toy.

idk who makes it or if they even still do.

[checkyourdroors]

he is the devil!

[1989bhh]

It's true that he's making a lot of what seems to be only noise in this video, but to actually see him live from beginning to end is a trip. This is only a segment of his show, and this is not at all all he does. The Nels Cline Singers are vastly talented.

[TimX416]

What now? How about playing the guitar and stop communicating with Outer Space? I thought some of RadioHead's stuff was shit...Nels is my new hero on guitar - when he plays it.....I can't stop watching his Sky Blue Sky solo's ... don't care what song, any one of them puts me in awe...

[DJPsionix]

Woooooooooooooooooooow.....

MORE NOISE

[duskclan]

nels is my cousin what now

[the27s]

Wow, Nels never ceases to amaze. What a fucking brilliant musician.

[warpar]

Nels = God.

Cannot wait to see this band in June.

[bigtophalloween]

I just gotta say this. When people started calling Eric Clapton God, he fell from grace. I understand your intent, but dont' JINX it, son! God, no. God isn't even God. Genius? More than humanity could comprehend with our collective minds....

[mick8535]

This stuff is the future of jazz (at least in my world it is! ) YEE HAW!

[threeby8887]

Thank goodness for Cryptogramophone!

[Shrubbs]

Draw Breath is a GREAT album, check out "The Angel of Angels" its like the soundtrack to my life - a beautiful acoustic track

[BongoBoy03]

Awesome band.

[HighSchoolReality]

God, I love this so much.

His extended techniques are so incredible.

[panzerkampfwagen111]

thats so cool!

[Soul74]

To Jitpring: You're kind of a douche.

[Jitpring]

A douche? Fine. It doesn't change the fact that this is rank circus gimmickry. Cline knows this, of course.

[fuzzstrat]

Nah, it's just a tool for improv. The fact is, Cline can play guitar remarkably well -- with and without gimmicks. Stuff like this makes it more fun. :)

[Jitpring]

fuzzstrat, yes, I've heard Cline play live. He can indeed play wonderfully. This makes it doubly painful to see him resort to the kind of cheap gimmickry we see here.

[lexo30]

By "rank gimmickry" do you mean that you object to the fact that he's using effects, or do you not think that this is music? Do you think that those of us who enjoy it are somehow lying to ourselves, or being fooled? And if so, do you think that that says something about Nels Cline, or something about you?

I'm serious. Not trying to get at you, just want to start a debate.

[Jitpring]

(Part 1) lexo30, by "rank gimmickry" I mean that this is an exercise in appealing to the debased tastes of today's mob. To the extent that it's music at all (highly debatable), the music here is secondary to this troglodytic exercise. Nels knows his audience, and part of this is a knowledge (most likely only intuitive) of its debased conceptions of quality and genius. He also knows that today's obedient subjects of the dictatorship of relativism, having abandoned truth and standards,  above

[Jitpring]

(Part 2) all else demand novelty. The consumerist slogan is their mantra: all things must be "New & Improved!!!" This accords with the mob's mindless belief in the myth of progress and its concomitant chronological snobbery.

Our tastes say much about us. Why is the fly repulsive? Largely because of its tastes: feces, vomit, and rotting corpses. A taste for cacophony like this says much. It indicates a fatal decay of soul. Flat souls are now everywhere.

[Jitpring]

(Part 3) The mob here - today's herd of "individuals" - will slam me for all this, of course. This mob, having been conned into embracing today's cheapened conceptions of genius, knows nothing of genuine genius. Thus we see the likes of this nonsense called works of genius. We even see Cline called "God." Completely absurd. All of this is related to the vacuum created by the dictatorship of relativism. The sense of the transcendent having been cut off, the mob can grasp only at straws.

[Jitpring]

This mob has therefore abandoned itself to the Dionysian in all its forms, here sonically. Which reminds me:

"The Dionysian has definitively triumphed over the Apollonian. No grace, no reticence, no measure, no dignity, no secrecy, no depth, no limitation of desire is accepted. Happiness and the good life are conceived as prolonged sensual ecstasy and nothing more."

-Theodore Dalrymple, "All Sex, All the Time"

Google for that essay.

[Jitpring]

We also see that, in spite of its professed love of tolerance and nonjudgment, this mob is brutally intolerant and judgmental. Yet the "individuals" in this mob have been trained to extol these things above all else, so they must give them lip service at least. I'm reminded of more from Dalrymple:

"Egalitarians usually have a very strong sense of hierarchy."

-Theodore Dalrymple, "Exposing Shallowness"

[Jitpring]

(Part 6) and this:

"When young people want to praise themselves, they describe themselves as 'nonjudgmental.' For them, the highest form of morality is amorality."

-Theodore Dalrymple, "The Frivolity of Evil"

What's the easiest way to spot these "individuals" I speak of? Consistent with their embrace of all things bovine, they often brand themselves with tattoos.

[Jitpring]

(Part 7) This ridiculous herd tattoo phenomenon - like the ridiculous embrace of the gimmickry in this video and all such con artistry - again reminds me of today's greatest essayist, Dalrymple:

One cannot but feel sorrow for people who think that by permanently disfiguring themselves they are somehow declaring their independence or expressing their individuality. The tattoo has a profound meaning: the superficiality of modern mans existence.

-TD, "Exposing Shallowness"

[Jitpring]

(Part 8) In short, the nonsense we hear here is art only in one sense: it's con-artistry. This guy - like Picasso, Pollock, Bukowski, Kerouac and other such con-men - is well aware (most likely only intuitively) of today's low tastes, and he panders accordingly. He knows that this mob, entirely composed of relativists, has no criterion by which to distinguish high art from low trash.

Enjoy!

[lexo30]

jitpring, I had never previously heard of "Thedorore Dalrymple", but on the strength of the bits you've quoted he seems to be a warmed-up and watered-down scion of the Spengler/Weininger life-is-in-decline school. Having read the real thing, don't think I'll bother with the pale imitation, thanks.

[lexo30]

jitpring, one last comment: compare the sale of Mozart CDs with the sale of Nels Cline CDs, and then come back and try and tell us that Nels Cline is pandering to the masses.

You are entitled to think that you actually like music, but if you can't see why I can enjoy the "Requiem" and the "Well-Tempered Clavier" and also this, then I can only assume that you don't really like music at all. You like the prestige of being a classical music fan, which is something else entirely. Enjoy.

[Jitpring]

You make the vulgar mistake of equating the pleasurable with the good. Refuse to do so in the future.

[lexo30]

Spoken like a true Roman Catholic. I think I'll show the Christian forbearance that you so conspicuously lack. Have a good night!

[lexo30]

Jitpring - can't resist one last comment, because you amuse me so much. You are aware that your language - "vulgar", "mob", "low trash", "high art" - is that of a snob, not of someone who has paid attention to the way our lord (or at any rate, your lord) consorted with tax collectors and harlots? Are you a snob or a Christian? You do know that you can't be both, right?

[Jitpring]

I understand that the militant mediocrity of today's tyrannical egalitarianism requires you to say this, but no matter. I bid you adieu.

[lexo30]

What a sad life you lead, jitpring - all that music out there that you're not allowed to enjoy.  But as you say, no matter. Hope the whole god thing works out for you.

[Jitpring]

Friend, it's this kind of "music" that's rooted in despair. My development of taste leads not to sadness, but to great joy. But of course it'd be futile to try any longer to convince your ilk of this, and so I bid you adieu.

"When with much entreaty we cannot persuade him to attend, it remains for us to be silent. For if we are still to go on, his carelessness is aggravated. But him that is striving to learn, we lead on, and pour in much."

-St. John Chrysostom

[lexo30]

"My development of taste leads not to sadness, but to great joy."

That's the trouble, friend: you feel the need to have taste. Taste has nothing to do with music. The sooner you learn that, the sooner you will learn that music is far higher and far greater than mere taste.

[Jitpring]

Ah yes, as a committed Brave New Worlder and obedient subject of its dictatorship of relativism, you embrace its obligatory taste for no taste. The truth is that genuine openness requires discrimination: One must constantly be filtering out dross in order to preserve one's vision of truth. This is entirely foreign to you, of course, but no matter. I speak to others. Adieu.

[lexo30]

jitpring, I had put it to you that your claim that Nels Cline's music panders to the "mob" is absurd when you consider that free jazz is exponentially less commercially successful than the classical music you claim is not "in accord with the zeitgeist". You are nothing but a snob with a tin ear. Sorry to get personal but you did it first, and I can draw no other conclusion. Bye!

[audioepik14]

man....why is anyone arguing with jitpring. he just sounds like a total fucking weirdo. in fact i'm glad he doesn't like wilco, because I wouldn't want to fall into any similar categories with him.

[Jitpring]

"why is anyone arguing with jitpring. he just sounds like a total fucking weirdo."

Explain.

[absentOhobo]

Jitpring, you ring true on many things... but i don't think you give enough credit (or maybe the wrong credit) to the attendees who go see people such as nels cline play. you yourself have said you've seen him play live... why did you go? i personally didn't go to watch him mess around with gadgetry, nor do i exult him for doing so. but that's a part of his presentation. my guess is people go for a very pragmatic reason: to experience a performance. was it a good performance? i thought so.

[Jitpring]

I was at the LACMA gallery and his band happened to be playing there. This was around 1998.

Even though I didn't mean to see him, I do otherwise often go out of my way to observe today's artifacts of breakdown. For example, I'll occasionally watch that disaster known as television simply to get a better handle on today's pathology.

[absentOhobo]

Ha, I do agree that TV is essentially immoral. But yet, we still find time to watch. There's a great essay by the late David Foster Wallace on this phenomenon, our desire to participate in what Emerson called "the gaze of millions."

But come on though, "artifacts of breakdown"? Really? Things aren't entirely this dire. I see saving graces everyday.

With respect to Cline, his newest record is mostly solo acoustic and quite beautifully rendered, from the heart. There is hope!

[lexo30]

jitpring, I found your reply somewhat baffling. You appear to think that Nels Cline's music appeals to a very large number of people, whereas the reverse is true - he is very much a minority taste. Checking your channel, I noticed that you appear to like classical music of a generally religious tendency. I like that stuff too. I think you will find that very many more people like church music than like Nels Cline. So what's with all this stuff about the "mob"?

[Jitpring]

Cline and other such nonsense is fully in accord with the zeitgeist. Palestrina is decidedly not.

[lexo30]

You think? How come Palestrina shifts more units?

[bigtophalloween]

I don't know the backstory between you and Jitpring, but let me just suggest that an asshat is just an asshat. Let him fill his preordained role while the rest of us revel in Mr. Cline's brilliant disregard for the staus quo. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot convince a Jitpring that his opinion is both base and uninformed. Let him drown in his quasi-intellectual hell with his preconcieved notions and disdain for genius and talent.

[Soul74]

Its rare to read something that well written on YouTube.

[bigtophalloween]

What can I say? I was inspired. And drunk. It worked for Bukowski, right?

[lexo30]

I don't think it worked for Bukowski, but that's because I thought that what you said was better written.

[3shiftgtr]

Does anyone know what that thing is he's using to "talk" in to the pickups?

[JoeRoszko]

I think it's a Mid-fi Electronics Kazoo Synth, but I could be wrong.

[JoeRoszko]

Actually, now I think it may be something called a "megamouth". It's mentioned briefly in the Tech Talk section of Nels' website.

[zephyr849]

Next time you play guitar put your tv remote next to the pickups while you use it, you get some cool effects

[keyehaw]

Especially if it's a non-potted-pickup Fender Jaguar. Remember the beginning of Nirvana's "Territorial Pissings" where Novoselic quotes the Rascal's "Come Together"? He's shouting into the pickups of Cobain's Jaguar.

[funkyfoolfromVanNuys]

yep yep, use a delay or reverb... gets crazy, i run it through a loop station a couple of times, then a MuRF and a Low Pass Filter, with heavy reverb, it can get spooky. lol. fun as hell though.

[fuzzstrat]

I used to have one of those when I was a kid...long before I started playing guitar. Should've kept it around!

[3shiftgtr]

Yes! Got tipped to Nels from a SWR Amps compilation disc. "Bath" was the tune, and I've been hooked ever since. Go Nels and the Singers. Btw, thanks for the post, but you cut it just when it was getting good!

[tylerojai]

Nels is a sonic genius. Great video, Cryptogramophone! Looking forward to the new album.