As only an occasional listener but regular subscriber to science podcasts, I was flicking through a quite extensive backlog looking for something to occupy my time whilst I cooked dinner. It was taking a while - probably taking longer to find something than it would've to have just completed the task in hand. But I'd started and that meant I had to finish. Frustrated at the lackbof progress in both the culinary and audio department I saw a Radiolab podcast title that caught my eye, 'Dawn of Midi'.
"Perfect!" I thought. Not only did it sound interesting, as I'd always wondered just how the digital music interface language had been created, but it was short. At a little over ten minutes I'd be able to complete the task of listening to a podcast AND prepare a delicious and nutritious meal. A win-win situation. But maybe I was setting the bar too high? Maybe.
So it was a bit of a surprise to learn that the podcast wasn't about the development of the musical instrument digital interface but instead covered the new album by a little known New York jazz trio. Whilst it was a bit of a departure by the Radiolab writers it was even more of a departure for me. I can't stand modern jazz.
But it was too late - I was locked in. My hands were dirty from chopping veg and I had little time to mess around finding something else to listen to. I just had to get through it, grin and bear it with the knowledge that I could cleanse my audio palet with some hard rock once I'd completed my preparations.
But 'Dysnomia' is no ordinary modern jazz album. Oh no. Its strangely rhythmic patterns started to grab me. Could it be that an album without lyrics or melody was quite so .... well listenable? The trick was the layers. Depending upon what part if the music you listened to resulted in a different beat. A pattern. Skim the surface and you heard one pulse, listen in a little closer and an entirely different rhythm emerged. Maybe that is the point of modern jazz? Or maybe this was something new. Either way it was a happy accident.
'Dysnomia' is definitely not a party album - there are no hit singles here and it's single track structure is likely to make any guests think you'd finally flipped. Nor is it something that you can just pop on in the background - its beat is too detailed to support half-hearted auditioning. Nope it demands your full attention. Give it that and get lost in the fabric of one of the most original pieces of music you'll ever hear. Just make sure you have some rock on hand have when you come out of the other side!
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