BBC - collective - Moondog Remixed # 1

reviews / member album review

content by: member

Moondog Remixed # 1
by: Spinky 01 october 04

rating:

Remixes of one of music’s eccentrics

Surely one of the strangest characters to ever record is Louis Hardin, or Moondog. Between the 40s and the 70s, he could usually be found standing on the same corner in New York, dressed as a viking, and holding a large spear. He started performing music to passers by in the late 40s, eschewing conventional instruments and studios, preferring to find or make his own instruments, and eventually record himself on the street (traffic noise can be heard on many of his early records). He became a cult figure in the beatnik scene, and was noticed by the musicians entering Carnegie hall, who asked him to sit in on their rehearsals, where he learnt orchestration, and was introduced to jazz. Moondog used these elements over the top of his minimal percussion, and where today he might have been given a number of samples to create an album, in the mid 60s Columbia records gave him an orchestra to record the seminal "Moondog" album. Moondog remains one of the forerunners of ambient music, and influenced people like Philip Glass & Steve Reich. He continued to make music like nobody else until his death in 1999.

So it's only fair that today’s electronica artists remix his old tracks, it was always going to be a challenge to fit conventional dance rhythms around music that wasn't written to any recognisable tempo (Moondog liked to use time changes, and made up his own variations on rhythm as he went along). But luckily the 3 artists here have made a fair enough stab at it...

German dance act Becker uses a "Dog Trot" sample to sound almost as if Daft Punk had incorporated a string section, in a poppy house moment, which is a good track in its own right, but not really specifically "Moondog". Mr Scruff's "Get A Move On" is included, as it is built around Moondog's most famous moment "Bird's Lament", (which is itself a tribute to Charlie Parker) Scruff doesn't do much beyond reining in the strings to a dance beat, and is probably the closest to what Moondog would sound like had he been recording today. Finally, German rapper Afrob raps over "Minisym 1", which builds up the original into a meatier beat, but I'm not sure the rapping "fits". He also sounds like he could do with a glass of water.

Anyway - while this EP might be of limited interest on it's own (especially if you already have the Mr Scruff track), anyone with any interest in Moondog’s work will enjoy it. It's going to sit alongside my "Moondog" album as a fine tribute. And anyone interested in early ambient music should already have that anyway.

On Roof Music
More information about Moondog at the excellent :
Moondog's Corner

send to a friend

conversations

Read members' comments.

If you register you can discuss this article with other users.

related info

useful links

note: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

see also

archive

more reviews by this member

browse the music back catalogue

books

books and comics archive
Author interviews and reviews from 2002 to 2008.

talk

collective is closing
Thanks to everyone who has supported the site over the years.

	BBC Homepage
front page music film art books games archive community about collective help and faq's newsletter Receive our weekly email roundups. sign up

	Contact Us Like this page? Send it to a friend!