{"id":1853,"date":"2020-06-11T01:22:53","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T08:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853"},"modified":"2020-06-11T01:22:53","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T08:22:53","slug":"dispatches-for-luna-max-08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853","title":{"rendered":"Dispatches for Luna &#038; Max (#08)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hpXGIPv29QE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p1\">An editor of a magazine I used to write for posted this song to Facebook or Twitter seven or eight years ago. I am pretty confident I\u2019ve played it at least monthly ever since.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">The song is something of a personal lodestone, pulling together three different musical threads I\u2019ve come to better understand in the almost-decade since hearing the song.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Simply put, other than hearing their names, I didn\u2019t know the music of Neneh Cherry or of Suicide and this track was the entry point into two discographies that continue to be rewarding for me. The Thing was entirely new to me and they have kept the skronky free jazz flame burning.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">There was a quarter or two when I was an undergrad at UCLA that were largely soundtracked by the two newish Radiohead albums, <em>Kid A <\/em>and<em> Amnesiac,<\/em> as well as Albert Ayler\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k20MICBv-fFvRycTgtF9pe8obTAxQubtk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Love Cry<\/i><\/a>. I\u2019d play that album on repeat (and almost always on headphones). It opened me up. The Thing get close but there\u2019s always a back-of-the-head itch to just put <em>Love Cry<\/em>, or <em>Spiritual Unity<\/em>, or <em>Bells<\/em> on instead. Or even just briefly revisit Ayler\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wO9UCV5APPA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cleansing eulogy<\/a> at Coltrane\u2019s funeral.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">That is to say, I can\u2019t do much else when I\u2019m listening to Ayler. The music\u2019s too everything everywhere. In contrast, The Thing, older classics from Sun Ra, Sanders, Coleman &#8211; I find those <i>really<\/i> good for writing. My prose gets to drift on that cacophony.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">And a word about Suicide. Like with free jazz, <em>reams<\/em> have been written while afloat the sheer, terrifying racket of the first two Suicide records.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">And another word about Suicide. It was inevitable that \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=38AU71BdP8A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dream Baby Dream<\/a>\u201d became the closest thing to a hit for the duo and the thing most people will know them for. It&#8217;s a shame considering what else is there. But the song is too goddamn catchy, in its original form, for folks not to consistently cover or evoke. I remember being aghast that Springsteen was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=06fCMfcMnqk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">covering<\/a> the song\u2026 and then appreciating that it becomes the Springsteen-iest song in his hands. I remember the band Priests vamping on the track during an opening set at Red Rocks shortly after Alan Vega\u2019s death. And I guess the cover\/homage\/<i>thing<\/i> that is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5gIhrPGyu6U\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this<\/a> LCD Soundsystem song works nearly entirely because it\u2019s Suicide living in the circuits of that track\u2019s wiring.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Back to Cherry and The Thing: At about 4:40 when the song just \u2026 goes. It feels like Neneh Cherry relinquishes control or\u2014perhaps\u2014gives permission to The Thing\u2019s saxophonist,\u00a0Mats Gustafsson, to blast off before she re-reigns the galloping mass a minute or so later.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">The final seconds of plodding, plucked bass. The band has moved elsewhere as the bassist says <i>adieu<\/i>.<\/li>\n<li>The album this song comes from is a pretty beautiful product to think about as a whole: Cherry&#8217;s first in more than a decade and a half, jamming and setting versions of other people&#8217;s songs free alongside The Thing.\n<ul>\n<li>And the moment of obvious serendipity: Cherry, the stepdaughter of free jazz pioneer Don Cherry, playing alongside The Thing, a band named after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OpK8Y9zDYAo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the third track<\/a> on Don Cherry&#8217;s 1966 album\u00a0<em>Where is Brooklyn?\u00a0<\/em>A merging of lineage, homage, and spirit. Dreams being dreamt out loud.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853&amp;share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email this to a friend\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1853\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1853\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853&amp;share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span>Print<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-1853\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853&amp;share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\"><span>Pinterest<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-tumblr\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-tumblr sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853&amp;share=tumblr\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Tumblr\"><span>Tumblr<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-reddit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-reddit sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853&amp;share=reddit\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Reddit\"><span>Reddit<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1853\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853&amp;share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pocket\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-pocket sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853&amp;share=pocket\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pocket\"><span>Pocket<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An editor of a magazine I used to write for posted this song to Facebook or Twitter seven or eight years ago. I am pretty confident I\u2019ve played it at least monthly ever since. The song is something of a personal lodestone, pulling together three different musical threads I\u2019ve come to better understand in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853&amp;share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email this to a friend\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1853\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1853&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a 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