Music like Primal Scream's 'MBV Arkestra'?

November 16, 2006 5:44 PM

Is anyone making music like Primal Scream's 'MBV Arkestra'?

Yep, it's another one of those music questions, but this one's a bit more specific, and a bit harder (I think) to answer.

The Primal Scream track 'MBV Arkestra (If They Move Kill 'Em)', from their album XTRMNTR, is fantastic. (Clips here and here, though they really don't capture the tune's full insanity.) It's like nothing I've ever heard - as the name suggests, it's a weird mashup of shoegaze-heavy textures with an eclectic jazz sound. It's great. It's also very, very unique, and I'll be damned if I can find anything like it.

Can anyone recommend an artist who is doing this heavy, heavy eclectic jazz? My knowledge of eclectic jazz is all right, but nothing I've heard really captures this song's peculiar sensibilities; it's just a lot louder and more noise-filled than anything I've heard from, say, Sun Ra or Pharoah Sanders.

I've tried the usual music-suggestion places, Last.FM, Pandora, Music-Map, etc., but without any luck. The track's a fair bit different from anything else on the album, so album-based recommendations aren't really helping; it's also unique in Primal Scream's spectrum, so artist comparisons are out. And Pandora, the only place which looks at specific tracks, keeps suggesting the Human League. Riiiight.

So, hivemind, I turn to you. Heavy rock-jazz? Does it exist?

posted by ZaphodB to media & arts (9 comments total)

Maybe John Zorn’s Naked City?
posted by ijoshua at 7:09 PM on November 16, 2006

Frank Zappa’s Weasels Ripped My Flesh also has a somewhat similar sounds.
posted by ijoshua at 7:14 PM on November 16, 2006

What the excerpts made me think of was Chicago Transit Authority (the first album by the band later known as Chicago -- this one has some heavy guitar moments and a minimum of balladry) and Isaac Hayes' soundtrack for 'Shaft'. Apollo 440's album 'Getting High on Your Own Supply' has moments with the same sort of groove and intensity as the 'MBV Arkestra' clips, but without the horn.

The excerpts sound more influenced by funk than jazz. If you want the latter and don't mind straying from what you're looking for here, listen to Miles Davis's fusion albums from 'Bitches Brew' onward and follow the careers of his sidemen.

There's no shortage of jazz/rock interbreeding.
posted by ardgedee at 7:19 PM on November 16, 2006

It reminds me a little bit of some of the songs on RJD2's Since We Last Spoke.
posted by miniape at 7:32 PM on November 16, 2006

The MBV stands for "My Bloody Valentine" by the way. It might be worth checking out the works of Kevin Shields, if you haven't already done so....
posted by gergtreble at 8:49 PM on November 16, 2006

Also this page has a list of some of the other artist he has remixed.
posted by gergtreble at 8:51 PM on November 16, 2006

I had this same question when I first fell in love with the song. I can think of least a few songs that have that level of intensity but not necessarily that sound. There is a thread on ILM about the album. Largely smarmy music geek nonsense but there are at least a few good suggestions there.

"7777" by Boredoms is the closest thing I've found. And maybe some Jagz Kooner remixes.

(I'm kind of baffled by the Rjd2 suggestion, but that is a wonderful album.)
posted by TayBridge at 10:17 PM on November 16, 2006

Perhaps some more out-there Return to Forever stuff? I would suggest Weather Report, but I imagine you are already hip to them.
posted by rossination at 11:47 PM on November 16, 2006

Not sure if you've tried it already, but Pandora builds "radio stations" based on an artist you enter. It's a pretty nifty tool based on the Music Genome Project. It's worked for me in other genres quite well.
posted by skechada at 1:03 PM on November 17, 2006