Mick Karn in December Bass Player
425mcw...@gw.wmich.edu
Fretless Of A Different Color
by Chris Jisi
Think of fretless bass and what comes to mind: A serpentine subhook on a
pop ballad? A Pastorian prance through a rapid-fire fusion extravaganza?
Delay-doused melodies behind a sizzling sex scene on a soundtrack?
If these settings seem to suggest that contemporary fretless playing is
awash in cliches, treat your ears to Mick Karn's latest effort, Bestial Cluster.
Released on CMP earlier this year, Bestial is the long-overdue follow-up to
Karn's acclaimed experimental/instrumental soundscapes, Titles and Dreams of
Reasons Produce Monsters (both available on Blue Plate/Caroline CDs). Though
the new effort is rife with computer generated cacophony and the contributions
of such stellar sidemen as guitarist David Torn, sax giant Dave Leibman, and
pianist Joachim Kuhn, Karn's brooding bass remains the focal point. Even so,
it's never overbearing. "I dislike the concept of 'lead' bass player," Mick
explains. "I find a lot of jazz and fusion self-indulgent and boring. I think
my playing more in vocal terms--providing a key melody while leaving plenty of
space for the other instruments. I focus on getting different sounds out of the
bass, along the lines of a vocalist singing different vowels."
In addition to his "vocal" whoops, braying harmonics, and snaking
melodies--prominent on such tracks as "Back in the Beginning" and "Liver and
Lungs"--Karn spends a good deal of time laying it down. "Initially, I thought
it would be interesting to approach this project, rythmically, as a dance
record," he explains. "My intensions changed over the course of recording, but
when I write a lot of my ideas start with or come from the drums." As a result,
cuts like "Beard in the Letterbox," "Saday Maday," and the title track boast big
backbeats over which Karn slathers Middle Eastern-flavored ostinatos altered
with subtle ornamentation. "I've always liked tribal, ethnic folk music that
repeats itself to the point of becoming almost hypnotic. I try to incorporate
those sorts of repetitive phrases in my playing."
Born on the island of Cyprus and raised in London, Karn was exposed
early to everything from Greek, Arabic, and Turkish music to the sounds of
Motown. Blessed with a keen ear, he started playing bassoon in school and,
though he couldn't read music, was able to bluff his way into the elite London
Schools Symphony Orchestra. When his bassoon was stolen and not replaced, Mick
bought an electric bass from a friend. Shortly after, at 16, he joined forces
with vocalist David Sylvian, Keyboardist Richard Barbieri, and drummer Steve
Jansen to form what would become the English cult-rock band Japan. "We were
schoolmates, and we all learned to play our instruments within the same
structure of the group. Because we were writing our own material and purposely
trying NOT to sound like any other band, I made a conscious effort to take a
different approach on bass. I didn't listen to or copy anyone. If what I
played sounded remotely like something I'd heard before, I would change it."
In the mid-70's, Japan recorded two pop/punk albums, but it was their
third outing, Quiet Life [Ariola], with its thick synthesizer textures and long
improvisations showcasing Karn's Travis Bean aluminum-neck fretless, that
triggered an art-rock revolution in England. "While we were making the second
record, I took the frets out of a spare bass at home," Mick says, "and
eventually I found that it better enabled me to play the melodies I was hearing
in my head. So I made the switch to fretless." In 1982, after six albums,
Japan split up. "Success eliminated the outside pressures we'd endured for
years and caused us to turn on each other," Karn explains. (The group did
reform briefly in 1991 to record as Rain Tree Crow, leading to Barbieri and
Jansen's major roles on Bestial Cluster.) Following Japan's demise, Mick left
the music scene for a while to study painting and sculpture. "Although I had
been accepted and even lauded as a bassist, I was too young to handle the
recognition, so I backed away."
The catalyst to Karns' reemergence was guitarist David Torn, who sought
out the bassist after hearing a Japan disc. Tron invited Karn to join him on a
1987 tour with drummer Bill Bruford and trumpeter/composer Mark Isham. "At
first I was apprehensive because I'm not what's thought of as a typical
bassist," says Mick with a smile. "I can't play all the usual scales or a 12
bar blues, my technique is limited, and I'm very bad about practicing. I can
play only the way I play." But Torn and Karn bonded musically, and they
continued to work together on a string of projects, the latest being Bestial
Cluster,for which the guitarist served as co-producer and co-wrote three tracks.
"David is the most like-minded of anyone I've worked with", says Mick. "He's a
guiding light--someone I trust and can bounce ideas off."
The duo recorded Karn's Bestial bass work direct, mostly by double
tracking each part and splitting it left and right in the mix in order to get a
full, chorused sound. Karn altered his tone with a wah-wah pedal and a Peavey
Bass Fex he used for chorus, distortion, and the spectacular "submerged" sound
on "The Drowning Dream." He played only one bass, a Wal 4-string custom-built
to sound like his old Travis Bean; it has a body made of rare African tulipwood,
two humbucking pickups, and an ebony fingerboard with fret lines. Mick's
strings are DR Hi-Beams, and he uses Trace Elliot and Blockenklang
amplification.
Since joining the CMP roster, Karn has also appeared on recordings by
labelmates Lonely Universe and Andy Rinehart as well as an upcoming trio disc
with Torn and drummer Terry Bozzio. In addition, he remains a busy London
sessionman, having worked with such artists as Gary Numan, Ryuichi Sakamoto,
Kate Bush, Joan Armatrading, and numerous Japanese pop stars. "At this point,
I'd really like to perform my music live because it's the one thing I still
haven't managed to do, especially in the States," he asserts. "I realize how
very fortunate I've been in establishing a career--but I've always believed if
you keep doing what you want to do, eventually you will be successful."
In the same issue...
A CLASSIC REVISITED
DALIS CAR
The Waking Hour
[Paradox/Beggars Banquet]
If you've had a taste of the bizarre fretless lines of Mick Karn and
find yourself wanting more, give this 1984 disc a spin. It's a collaberation
by Karn, vocalist Peter Murphy (of the black-clothes band Bauhaus), and Paul
Vincent Lawford, who programmed the Linn Drum rythm patterns; Karn composed,
arranged, and performed almost all of the music on the record. Some might
consider the songs pretentious and overly brooding, but The Waking Hour is
something of an acquired tast--and it has some of the most alien yet musical
bass lines of the 80's.
The disc's first cut, "Dalis Car," is a perfect Karn appetizer. Under
Murphy's haunting and creepy vocals, the bassist plays twisted, fractured
phrases of 16-th notes, each ending with a different figure: a weirdly vibratoed
double-stop here, a legato neck-climbing flash there--a good synopsis of Karn's
style. But even after a few listenings, it's difficult to pinpoint what
contributes most to his great feel. It's even harder to figure out his
completely unorthodox note choice.
The bass line on "His Box" is a repeating two-measure figure with a
double-stop that slides up the neck in a playful, vocal manner. It's amazing
how consistent the slides are--and if you listen closely, you realize the
entire performance is double-tracked in the left and right channels, with
startling precision. The ostinato is ebullient and hypnotic at the same time
(and it's a killer lick to use when trying out a fretless).
The instrumental "Artemis" was born as a long and complicated bass line,
which Karn doubled in stereo; he then flipped the tape around so it was
backwards. (You thought his lines were strange forwards!) Mick worked up a full
arrangement for woodwinds and keyboards around the bass, resulting in a piece
that's about as harmonically "out there" as you can get. At the same time, it's
remarkably easy to listen to. It just works--period.
If "Artemis" is the disc's main course, "Moonlife" is the dessert. A
traditional arranged by Karn, "Moonlife" further reveals the many devices he has
up his sleeve. With a full complement of slides, tense staccato notes, and
double-stops--as well as a generous and thoroughly musicla use of space--the
trumpeting line swerves in and out of the vocal (and Mick's beautiful multi
tracked woodwinds). Although Karn's bass is confident and triumphant, it
enhances the vocals and other instruments rather than obscure them--an admirable
achievement in itself.
Since The Waking Hour is an import, it will probably set you back about
20 bucks. But if you like Mick Karn, consider the record a gourmet meal. And
if you're uninitiated to the tasty fretless wonder, then The Waking Hour may
make you into a died-in-the-wool Karnivore.
--Karl Coryat
Victor Eijkhout
DALIS CAR
The Waking Hour
[Paradox/Beggars Banquet]
Great record! Best proof that you can be a great bass player
while not exceeding 31 notes per minute :-) Can't wait to get
his latest.
--
Victor Eijkhout ................ `When the coughing increases, I leave out the
Department of Computer Science ...... next variation. If there is no coughing,
University of Tennessee ............... I play them in order. [...] The record
Knoxville TN 37996 .................... so far is 18 variations, in New York.'
+1 615 974 8298 .................. [Rachmaninoff on his 20 Corelli Variations]