All posts by CarterHayes

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Twin Tones – Nómadas

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And that’s the way we start CH Week. My theme this week is music that formed my soundtrack to my recent trip to a conference in San Diego, which I followed with five days out in the Mojave & Sonoran deserts.

Let’s start with a sonic tribute to the drive I took up the coast from UCSD in La Jolla to Colima’s Mexican Food Oceanside. Surf rock is just what we need — we’ll pass three locations mentioned in “Surfin’ U.S.A.” — but let’s make it Latin-inflected in honor of the destination. The route runs straight along the coast, formerly the southernmost portion of Old US-101, now variously called County Route S21, N Torrey Pines Road, Camino del Mar, Highway 101, and North Coast Highway. It’s a beautiful drive — easily worth the extra 15 minutes it’ll take compared to a run up the Five.

Colima’s was the first place I think I can say I had “real” Mexican food, unless we count items made for family meals by dishwashers and prep cooks in various kitchens across the Cities. The Chicano guys in my unit preferred Colima’s to all other local options, and revisiting the hefty Baja and carnitas tacos confirmed they are every bit as delicious as they were sixteen years ago. ¡Gracias por la comida, amigos!

2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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Nate Mercereau – Start With You (Duet with the Golden Gate Bridge)

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Nate Mercereau has played sessions with Jay-Z, but I think this one-ups his list of famous collaborators.

The sounds Bay Area residents have described as nuisance noise equivalent to sonic torture are produced by the a new set of railing slats installed on the Golden Gate to retrofit it to withstand sustained winds above 70 mph. The sounds struck Mercereau differently, as Nature itself playing “the largest wind instrument in the world.” Adding an interesting natural wrinkle to a musical controversy, the Golden Gate often sounds an A440 (Hz) concert pitch.

Armed with field recorders, Mercereau & a couple friends captured the sounds from the Marin Highlands, which make up the other half of his album Duets | Golden Gate Bridge. The song performed in this video is a track from Mercereau’s other 2021 album, Sundays.

In response to complaints, the Golden Gate Bridge District is developing engineering adjustments to silence the bridge.

3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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Dhafer Youssef – Delightfully Odd

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Youssef’s grandfather was a muezzin in his native Tunisia, and that influence is a strong draw for me. For a couple of months, once upon a time, I would end my twelve hour night watches with one last Sumer, savored as the muezzin announced the adhan for Fajr about 75 meters away. Those were some of the most peaceful moments I’ve known.

Youssef’s vocals are incredible — the finesse of his phrasing, the extreme upper falsetto and how cleanly he accesses it, the warmth of his lower range.

Here he’s joined by a knockout trio of future legends — Matt Brewer on bass, Ferenc Nemeth on the kit, & Aaron Parks on the keys.

3 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)
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Chicago – Make Me Smile

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Jimi Hendrix allegedly told Chicago sax player Walter Parazaider, “Your guitar player is better than me.” In addition to being one of Jimi’s favorites, Terry Kath could sing a little bit, too. This video appears to be from the band’s performance at Tanglewood ‘70.

Kath is a figure in a bit of local lore: On 10 December 1967, Otis Redding was set to play a show in the People’s Republic, at a downtown venue called The Factory. He never made it. Out on the Far East Side, a band formerly called “The Big Thing” was booked at a nightclub. Concertgoers who had intended to see Otis & the Bar-Kays instead turned up to hear this band, which had recently renamed itself “Chicago Transit Authority.”

4 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 104 votes, average: 9.50 out of 10 (4 votes, average: 9.50 out of 10)
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Khun Narin – Chackim

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I first encountered Khun Narin in 2016, when I somehow happened upon their just-released second album. They haven’t released anything in the US market since, which is a shame. Maybe it’s because they’re a live act (both albums were recorded at outdoor performances), maybe they prefer to play for their national audience, or maybe it’s because they are pigeonholed by the music industry’s expectations & marketing.

If you haven’t dipped into Thai rock before, you’re missing out on some funky, hooky, psychedelic tunes. As with the desert blues blowing out of Northern Africa, some of today’s best rock music is made with a blend of folk traditions & instruments, sung in languages other than English, for multi-ethnic national audiences. It’d be fun to do an international rock week sometime.

2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)
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