Joel Schalit

My Dogs Like The Fall

Dolf had the best ears. Whether it was clicks and cuts, musique concrete, or the Dead C, he could always hear the continuity. And he didn’t like any of it, which Dolf always indicated by promptly walking out of the room until I changed the music. So, for the year that we took care of him,  after several missteps, I only played dubstep CDs. Whether they were the squishy, synth-heavy producers of the Dubstep Allstars series, or genre forerunners, like Rhythm and Sound, the thirteen-year-old schnauzer was always happy. This was his easy listening music. So moved was I by Dolf’s predilection towards a certain sound, I completely excised noise from my iTunes library. That Dolf was dreadfully sick made it an easy decision.

Flipping through our library last week, I decided to put on some old Fall records – the best-selling Infotainment Scam LP, and my favorite Fall song ever, Free Range. Any serious Fall fan will tell you that these are definitely not the most representative works, that it would be best to push them aside in favor of earlier material, like the brilliant Hex Induction Hour. Not for me. These recordings are both laden with personal memories attached to the time and place of their release. As inclined as I am to recount them, even more interesting is how they drove me to connect with our younger dogs.

Skipping the needle between the Joe Gibbs-Lee Perry mashup, Why Are People Grudgeful? and Mark E. Smith’s bored-sounding intonation of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” in “Free Range,” Pixel and Raster started waving their tails, excitedly barking at the speakers, as though there was something new inside them. Granted, they are younger schnauzers, certainly smaller and healthier than the late Dolf. Nonetheless, it was like somebody spiked their puppy chow with intensely good cheer, and, maybe, a double espresso or two. So surprising was their response, it was as though it changed something inside me, not just my appreciation of The Fall. I’m going to have to play the band for them again and see what happens.

Year End Top Ten: Music

2007 was an astounding year for dubstep and Indo-Arab impacted American hip-hop. Chicago’s long gone Los Crudos finally made it back into print, while baile thug funk and Tuareg guitar rock reminded worriers about the world music category that it’s not just about happy natives penning primitive campfire songs. Thumbs up to Pressure Sounds for putting out the best dub reissue of the year. As usual, Sublime Frequencies outdid everyone by coining the term ‘jihadi techno.’

In light of these observations, here’s what we played the most:

Burial, Untrue (Hyperdub)

The Revolutionaries, Drum Sound (Pressure Sounds)

Los Crudos, Discography (Lengua Armada)

Oh No, Dr No’s Oxperiment (Stones Throw)

Shackleton and Appleblim, Soundboy Punishments (Skull Disco)

Tinariwen, Aman Iman: Water is Life (World Village)

Madlib, Beat Konducta India (Stones Throw)

Omar Souleyman, Highway to Hassake (Sublime Frequencies)

Various Artists, Box of Dub Volume II (Soul Jazz)

V/A, Proibidao C.V: Forbidden Gang Funk From Rio de Janeiro (Sublime Frequencies)

Commercial Break

If you live in San Francisco, and you like smart, genre-defying music, this gig is just for you.

A brilliant pairing of two of Europe’s most creative, dub-influenced producers, this promises to be one of the best local shows of the year.

For more information and tickets, click here. 

Almost Free

Every weekend – or so we intend – Jennifer takes one day for herself. I assist by either working at cafes, seeing friends, or spending the day perusing the aisles of one of my favorite local record stores (or two). In either case, its a good weekend ritual for us. After an exhausting work week, we both need a break from our routines. Having a little personal downtime is always helpful.

Last weekend was no exception. On Sunday, a close friend who moved to Arizona several years ago was in town to see his family, who were out here visiting from New York. We met up for breakfast at the Pork Store Cafe on 16th street, and then made a beeline for Streetlight Records on 24th. Eager to take advantage of a sale, Joe indulged me while I worked the bargain bins.

I walked out with a number of gems: Nina Hagen’s Nunsexmonkrock, the new 2.13.61  CD edition of Negative Trend’s sole EP, a Homestead-era copy of Nick Cave’s Kicking Against the Pricks, The Need’s last two records (including the soundtrack for Nomy Lamm’s rock opera, The Transfused), Le Tigre’s Feminist Sweepstakes, and three other LPs, all for 16.95$

Thinking of myself as the champion discount music shopper, I said goodbye to Joe, and proceeded to walk home feeling absolutely triumphant. Delighted at the prospects of Jennifer’s reaction to the purchases (for several years, she’s expressed interest in owning nearly all of the records I’d bought), nothing prepared me for what I encountered three blocks from our house.

Standing near the corner of San Jose and 30th, a woman in her mid-thirties was hosting her own DIY music sale. In front of her stood two makeshift tables. One held gangsta and crunk CDs and DVDs, while the other sported piles of unsorted grime, electronica and indie rock discs. Tight on cash, I decided I’d still take a look to see if there were any absolute must-haves.

Low and behold, a number of records fit the bill: Lady Sovereign’s Vertically Challenged EP, DJ Clever’s Science Faction: Dubstep comp, Panjabi MC’s Beware LP, and Rammstein’s Reise Reise (featuring the hilarious ‘Amerika’) all caught my fancy. Looking over the 15 discs I ended up holding in my hands, the person selling the records sighed and said, "Take ‘em, they’re free. I’m having a hard enough time moving the hip hop as it is. Nobody likes music anymore."