Beefheart-ismo

 "Wild Life" is the hardest Trout Mask Replica song I've attempted yet, which means it's the new "hardest thing I've ever played." No other TMR song I've learned up till now (and I still have half a dozen to go) has more epitomized the conventional wisdom about the album. With its jarring polytonality and contrasting time signatures, it's the closest I've come to throwing up my hands and declaring "It's total chaos!" since I started this project. Listening to the record, it's impossible to hear 70% of what's going on here. The parts (particularly Zoot Horn Rollo's) are so dense -- consisting of multiple repeating figures, but lots of 'em -- and the guitars are overshadowed in the mix by Don Van Vliet's voice and saxophone.

 Luckily for me, however, the guitars are hard panned left and right (although one of my reference recordings -- made using crappy phone video -- was missing the first couple of seconds, as a considerate chap on YouTube kindly informed me, after syncing the videos I made of the individual parts together). Also luckily for me, there's a nine-bar-and-two-beat rest in Jeff Cotton's part, which gave me the touch points I needed (the rest comes when Harkleroad's in F# and Cotton's in Dm). After playing the Cotton part over the looped Harkleroad part all day, I finally got a take that came close (the "live" guitar is a little behind nearing the end, but by listening and hesitating, I'm able to get them to match up at the end). It ain't immaculate, but at least you can hear the formerly-inaudible parts and get the general rhythmic contour of the piece. I could have messed with it more today, but I needed to clean the house, get in a run, and make dinner. Another time, perhaps.

Speaking of YouTube, I was inspahrd today to see this slammin' hardcore performance of a Beefheart tune, played by three musos who were in the last touring lineup of the Magic Band. Android Trio is Eric Klerks (bass, guitar), whose side project La Sirene was mentioned in a recent post; Max Kutner (guitar), whom I saw putting a unique spin on the Zappa canon with the Grandmothers of Invention at the Kessler a few years back; and Andy Niven (drums), whose ears are big enough to accommodate sounds from jazz to Zappa to metal. (Presumably Peter Niven, who vocalizes on the track, is a relative.) Looking forward to hearing lots more from these guys. And I shared their vid with some local hardcore guys in the hopes of interesting them in playing Beefheart music. Got to work the room.