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I’ll be writing about music from the context of working at Sound Fix, an independent record store in Williamsburg (Brooklyn, NY). I’m the buyer for classical, avant-garde, jazz, roots (blues/folk/country/gospel/early rock), soul (including funk and classic R&B), reggae/ska, and world music.
One of the cool things has been that the music we play is heard in both the store and the coffee shop (by day)/bar (by night) behind us, Fix Café. Well, last week I made the mistake of torturing their staff and customers for five minutes and 52 seconds with STEVE REICH’s infamous “Pendulum Music,” in which four microphones swing in arcs past amplifiers, creating a pattern of recurring feedback. Maybe I should’ve pointed out that the four musicians who set the mics swinging in the recording I was playing, found on OHM: Early Gurus of Electronic Music, are SONIC YOUTH, because this week there was a different kind of feedback after Sound Fix’s owner, James, played some more electronic music, prompting the café’s rockist manager to lay down the law to James about what the patrons don’t want to hear in there anymore. Basically, if something doesn’t have guitars or a steady beat, the manager thinks his customers shouldn’t hear it. Stick with my blog and you’ll be privy to reviews of mind-blowing avant-jazz albums you won’t hear while sipping coffee on North 11th off Bedford.
