10 Seconds: Charles Kieny
1. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Technopolis (0'18" - 0'28")
From Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor (1979)
"Because sometimes life requires you to wax your hair, put on your best red suit and polished shoes, listen to Japanese synthpop disco and just be swell."
2. Gojira - Remembrance (3'22" - 3'32")
From Gojira - The Link (2003)
"I literally grew up listening to this band, to me they will always remain one of the heaviest bands that ever existed. I’m in love the dry and harsh sound of this record, and the fact that they use unusual instruments like mouth harp, in contrast with saturated guitars and crushing drums. I think it really influenced me to find a way to integrate my instrument (accordion) in a metal context.
At that point in the song they land on a mean half-time groove that they keep until the end of the track, fading out and adding textural elements for one of the most epic metal outro I’ve ever listened to."
3. Machine Head - Imperium (0'00" - 0'10")
From Machine Head - Through the Ashes of Empires (2003)
"Since we talked about an outro, let’s talk about an intro! This record was released the same year as the previous one from Gojira, and this is the very first track of the album. It’s been years but it still can’t help cranking up the volume to its maximum whenever I hear these two guitar glissandi!"
4. Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band - Return of the Prodigal Son (0'50" - 1'00")
From Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band - Season of Changes (2008)
“Whenever I feel a bit down, I listen to this entire record, it’s soothing like a medicine for the soul.
At 00:50 is the beginning of Kurt Rosenwinkel’s first solo on the album, I discovered him through this record and he instantly became one of my Jazz heroes!"
5. Kurt Rosenwinkel - Mr Hope (0'28" - 0'38")
From Kurt Rosenwinkel - Star of Jupiter (2012)
"This is where the B section comes in, after repeating twice the A.
I just love how Kurt Rosenwinkel uses a classic traditional 32 bars AABA form to develop his dreamy melodic vocabulary. Aaron Park’s solo later in the track is also on of my favourite recorded jazz moments of the past decade! Even if I play accordion, not guitar, Kurt Rosenwinkel has been a main influence in the way I tackle and listen to Jazz improvising, and this double album has always been on the top of the pile."
6. Venetian Snares - Unborn Baby (0'45" - 0'55")
From Venetian Snares - Making Orange Things (2001)
"Another of my go-to records, this one is to release anger! Works every time.
This extract ends on a slowed down sample of Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’, I love how the material is used to bring a sudden contrast and evolve into something else. I also recommend the next track on the album, it’s called ‘Meta Abuse’ and contains a sample from Bon Jovi's ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’. The way these samples emerge in the middle of Venetian Snares’ inferno of noise and glitches always gets me, especially given that I generally I listen to the whole album at a high volume, these passages become sort of life-saving throughout this hardcore listening experience."
7. Charles Dutoit and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra - Honegger Symphony No. 2 in D Major: I. molto Moderato - Allegro / (2'33" - 2'43")
"This is my favourite interpretation of Honegger’s symphonies, the D Major ‘For Strings’ tells a story that deeply resonates with me: when this theme is exposed for the first time on the strings’ low register it’s always the moment that makes it impossible for me to quit the listening, whatever I’m doing, I just have to finish listening to the whole symphony."
8. Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven - Potato Head Blues (2'01" - 2'11")
From Louis Armstrong - Potato Head Blues 78rpm (1951)
"We arrive right into Armstrong’s stop chorus here, and his tone and phrasing are so incredibly full and generous, when I heard this music for the first time during my formative years, it made me understand how lucky we are to have access to these recordings: if we care to really listen, they teach our ears a great deal, if not everything, about the original intention, the drive force, behind the creation, history and development of Jazz music."
9. Art Blakey - Lester Left Town (0'28" - 0'38")
From Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - The Big Beat (1960)
"Talking of driving force, Art Blakey is one as well. His drumming makes me feel like once he started playing, it’s literally impossible for the music to stop. It’s an engine that would never stop. It’s as close humanity ever got to perpetual motion. The tune was written by Wayne Shorter as a tribute to Lester Young."
10. John Coltrane - Moment's Notice (0'57" - 1'07")
From John Coltrane - Blue Train (1958)
"Working on this tune, and transcribing Coltrane’s solo, gave me so much motivation to study Jazz harder and harder!"
11. Mr Bungle - Desert Search for Techno Allah (2'32" - 2'42")
From Mr Bungle - Disco Volante (1995)
"I picked a track from the album “Disco Volante” (1995) because I just couldn’t pick one from “California” (1999), the latter must be the one record that I listened to the most throughout my whole life. I’m musically influenced by this whole sphere around Mr Bungle / Faith No More / Secret Chiefs 3 more than anything else."
12. Faith No More - Land of Sunshine (0'04" - 0'14")
From Faith No More - Angel Dust (1992)
"This opening groove with the bass at the foreground and the Mellotron-like synth pads always gets me, and prepares well for the nonsensical lyrics that are (apparently) taken from fortune cookie sayings, combined with references taking the piss at cults like Scientology and their ways to recruit people."
13. Secret Chiefs 3 & Ishraqiyun - Base Phive Futur Cossacks (1'51" - 2'01")
From Secret Chiefs 3 and Ishraqiyun - Perichoresis (2014)
"I love how they create a new context for Mediterranean melodies, and how they use them as a developing musical material into those weird tracks. There’s so much culture in Secret Chiefs 3, and so much love for the material. If you have time to listen to this entire album, you’re in for a trip (and a treat of course)"
14. Dub Trio - Not Alone (1'02" - 1'12")
From Dub Trio - New Heavy (2006)
"A last extract featuring Mike Patton, to introduce you to one of my favourite bands with ‘Dub Trio’. The albums they released in the 00s are the soundtrack of my teenage years and heavily influenced me to always be in a hunt of artists that blend styles, break boundaries and have their own strong sound identity."
15. Opeth - The Moor (2'31" - 2'41")
From Opeth - Still Life (1999)
"This is one of the album’s opening riffs. When I discovered it as a teen I had just started playing drums and I had no idea that “progressive metal” even existed. It really expanded my mind on how drums can be tackled in such a context, as well as the combination of acoustic and amplified sounds which is one of Opeth’s signature, and the fact that the tracks last an average of 9 minutes, which I had never heard before, until I discovered MAGMA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ZRzDrFbmo)"
Honorable mentions....
"I’m finding it difficult to stop! I have just been writing freely for one hour now but each artist brings another one, as diverse as Magma, Slipknot, Black Sabbath, Fishbone, Eddie Veder, Fat Freddie’s Drop, Ghost, Wynton Kelly, Cannonball Adderley, Orchestre National de Jazz, Théo Ceccaldi & Freaks, Nobukazu Takemura, Steve Lehman, clipping. , Tigran Hamasyan, Michael Lee Firkins, Tatsuya Yoshida, Imperial Triumphant, Ambrose Akinmusire, Mark Guiliana 'Beat Music’, Aaron Parks, Cartel Carnage, Jerseyband…"
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