Monday Michiru Corner

[JSngry]

Yeah, Sipiagin definitely seems like an arranger to be reckoned with. I'd love to hear him do some more arrangements for some other projects, maybe even other singers. But I don't know of too many singers who could hang with his charts. He makes some significant contributions to Routes as well, as both player and arranger.

He and Monday make a helluva team. Between her songs (never mind the production & arrangements, they're great songs, period) and his arrangements (never missed when they're not there, but when they are, they stand out immediately, in the best way), this is a team that is making some significant music.

But ultimately, it's Monday's show. The woman has skills, if you know what I mean, and she's got a spirit. She's indeed "reminiscent" of a lot ot things, but I really dig how she ultimately adds her own twists and upgrades and ends up sounding not at all "retro". Whatever she starts with, she ends up turning it into her own.

Case in point - 1994's Maiden Japan, from her club/acid-jazz/whateveryou callit days.

Probably more electronic/techno/etc than most here would feel comfortable with, but it's still an incredibly musical album. This ain't no "diva" being propped up by artifice and cast as a idealized "object", this is a woman with something serious to say saying it in her own way and on her own terms. Ain't no bullshit going on here.

America, wake the hell up!

Edited April 19, 2006 by JSngry

[Soul Stream]

I haven't heard the record, or even heard of it until now. That said, I often wonder how much of the female singer's looks play into how well a male enjoys the music. Many times after a gushing musical review on this site of a woman's music, the dude reviewing it often ends with the tag..."Oh yeah, and she's SUPER hot!" No offense Jim, just curious.

[clifford_thornton]

I was gonna say...

(not that I'm not guilty as well, mind you)

Zana is out of control, however. When's she getting a record deal?

[JSngry]

Well, yeah, she's beautiful. Very beautiful in fact.

But her music is great, period. She could look like Sophie Tucker and I'd still be gushing about it.

Look - I've been around, personally and professionally, more than a few beautiful female musicians. Some had skills and looks, and some just had looks. but none of them have had the skills that Monday Michiru has. The closet would be Pat Peterson, who never really decided to go where she could have gone if she had really wanted to go there). If all That Monday Michiru had was good looks and "decent" skills, I'd be saying, "hey, this is some really cool pop music" and let it go at that.

But it's more than that. There's some songwriting skills here that are pretty damn deep. And some producition skills to go with it. Teena Marie kinda comes to mind, but Monday's a helluva lot more developed (musically & spiritually) than Teena Marie ever was. Teena Marie never got past the "super hip white funk chick" thing. Monday's into the fuckin' world, man, and she's not afraid of music - any kind of music.

Yeah, she's a stunningly beautiful woman. But she's also a stunningly beautiful artist. I'm old enough to know the difference.

[Soul Stream]

I'll have to check this out...for SURE. Thanks Jim.

[Soul Stream]

I just got the free download off her site. Can't say I dug what I heard from that cut. Sounded like a lesser version of Maria Muldau to my ear, and a little pitchy in places. Not that that bothers me, but I'm not sure the hippy-time lyrics and "morning-sunrise-come-soccer mom" scat were killing me either. I don't know... not my thing.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, she's a stunningly beautiful woman. But she's also a stunningly beautiful artist. I'm old enough to know the difference.

This sorta sounds like something Dusty would carry. I may have to check it out; the Celestrial Communications Orchestra doesn't seem to be getting me too far with the ladies around here.

Still, in their day, Becky Friend and Zusaan Fasteau were pretty smokin,' in both the musical and extra-musical categories... so I hear what yer sayin', sort of!

[JSngry]

I just got the free download off her site. Can't say I dug what I heard from that cut. Sounded like a lesser version of Maria Muldau to my ear, and a little pitchy in places. Not that that bothers me, but I'm not sure the hippy-time lyrics and "morning-sunrise-come-soccer mom" scat were killing me either. I don't know... not my thing.

Yeah, that download doesn't do too much for me either. Why that's the one being offered, I don't know.

But there's a lot more to what she does than that one song...

[clifford_thornton]

"That One Song" is always the conversational kiss-of-death. Better to investigate further, or not at all!

[JSngry]

If all That Monday Michiru had was good looks and "decent" skills, I'd be saying, "hey, this is some really cool pop music" and let it go at that.

I finally found a Monday Michiru album about which I can say that - Delicious Poison. It's a really, really good album of "retro" 70's-style funk a la Rufus, but for me it lacks that magic that the other Michiru sides I've heard have. A few songs hit the zone, and make no mistake it's very good, but on the whole, this album is "pleasant" rather than magic.

And magic those other albums do indeed have. I've particularly been obsessing over a cut on Optimista called "Oasis" that's just freakin' nuts. It's sorta like what Zawinul & Shorter might've come up with in WR's prime if they had been 20 years younger (but with the same skills) and had been interested in creating pop music (I can hear the snickering from Whiethall already ). The chords are ultra hip, with some totally out-of-left field shifts in key centers; the melody's irresistible, totally "pop", which means that it sticks in your mind and tickles it relentlessly, yet it is a melody, emminently singable/hummable; the arrangement is fully sophiticated, with horn parts that only somebody with a jazzmind would think to create on a pop song; and the groove is strong - it doesn't beat you into submission, it seduces you by bypassing any and all "centers of resistance" and going straight to your nerve centers. It's a truly giddy experience, this song is, a source of one of the more undefinable musical pleasure I've had in quite a while.

So yeah, Monday Michiru ain't flawless, nor am I so blinded by her beauty that I can't tell the merely pleasant from the truly great. But lordylordylordy, when she's great, she's damn great.

[Bright Moments]

so i picked up this one:

short but good. surprised nobody mentioned it yet.

so am i in the club?

[JSngry]

so i picked up this one:

short but good. surprised nobody mentioned it yet.

so am i in the club?

Haven't heard that one. What's the story on it? Did you find it online or local? It looks like it'd be sorta acid/techno/whatever, which, based on the little of that aspect of her I've heard, she does really well.

Yeah - if you hear her as anything other than a scatting soccer mom, I'd say you're in the club.

[Bright Moments]

its 6 songs actually. a little less than 30 minutes. all quite enjoyable.

picked it up from amazon.com used

[jazzbo]

Having my first listens to "Routes" and "4 Seasons."

I can begin to see why Jim has become a bit. . .obsessed!

[jazzbo]

Well, I've been enjoying "4 Seasons."

I like how she's not afraid to be positive and pretty in her music and lyrics. And I love the way she has put together a host of elements and yet the results aren't collages and pastiches but a real organic growing together of things, things mingling and becoming one as they grow towards that sunny light from the dirt.

This is a really really fine release. I hear bits of Stevie Wonder, even bits of Pharoah Sanders. And lots of Monday.

Thanks be to Jim for pointing the way.

[HolyStitt]

Does anyone ave any suggestions for where I can find "4 Seasons?"

[jazzbo]

Does anyone ave any suggestions for where I can find "4 Seasons?"

Well, dustygroove may have it again at an almost reasonable price. . . .

I haven't found her stuff to be cheap anywhere!

[jlhoots]

Does anyone ave any suggestions for where I can find "4 Seasons?"

Dusty Groove does not have it.

I bought mine from an Amazon "vendor" for $33 + shipping.

The "cheapest" one there now is $50.

I wonder if Hiroshi could get it for you.

[HolyStitt]

Does anyone ave any suggestions for where I can find "4 Seasons?"

Dusty Groove does not have it.

I bought mine from an Amazon "vendor" for $33 + shipping.

The "cheapest" one there now is $50.

I wonder if Hiroshi could get it for you.

I wouldn't mind paying the $50, but the seller is Caiman, who I have had bad luck with. I have sent them money, at least three times now, and been told weeks later that the item I ordered was out of print.

How would I contact this seller named Hiroshi about the CD?

Maybe, what I should ask is what would be the best CD to start with...

[JSngry]

Depends on what your preferences are. If you want to get your first hit from something with an overt jazz flavor, by all means start with 4 Seasons. If you want something with a poppy yet kinda wacked-out Brazillian/Salsa flavor, go with Optimista.

And if you want something that's got all that plus some techno-dance touches, by all means get Routes, which is available in a Japanese version (usually in stock at Dusty Groove or one of the sites you can link to through this board) that has a bonus cut, or domestically through her website (she's part of the same ArtistShare program as Maria Scnieder & Jim Hall). The domestic version lacks the bonus cut but comes with a lot of other downloadable "extras".

And don't let the "techno" thing scare you off. Monday's really impressing me with the way that she's using drum programs for rhythms in much the same way that Zawinul used synths for tonal colors. Her programming doesn't sound at all "mechanical" or otherwise oppressive. this stuff is at once rhymically complex in its layerings and irresistable in its propulsiveness. No small feat that, and coupled with her consummate musicality and arranging/production skills, I'd be tempted to say that she's on the forefront of creating a a new form of contemporary dance music that's as much focused on musicality as it is groove, but I don't know wnough about what's happening in contemporary dance music to make that kind of claim with any real confidence.

Two things I do know, though, is pop production/arranging skills and songwriting craft. And on these counts, she's about as dazzling a talent as any I've heard, ever. Lon's comparison to "golden age" Stevie Wonder is not at all incorrect afaic, but Monday ups the ante by leaving room for extended jazz solos in a lot of her tunes. And she uses "real" jazz players like Conrad herwig, Dave Kikowski, her husband Alex Siapigin, Bryan Lynch, Dave Valentin (whose talents far exceed his limpy GRP efforts of yore), and Donnie McCaslin, whose playing elsewhere has me intrigued.

McCaslin, in fact, has a long solo on the most techno/dance piece on Routes, "The Right time". What impresses me about him is that almost any other tenor player called to solo on this kind of piece would either do a total outjob deconstruction thing or else do a Breckerish hooty-tooty gland-stimulation. Both of these types approaches are tired cliches that were never much fun to begin with, especially the latter. But McCaslin PLAYS, develops ideas and motifs, playing some subtle harmonic games along the way while never losing his feel for the underlying groove.

Maybe there's lots of cats who could play like this on a dance cut, but how many producers would allow it? And that's one of teh many things that I really dig about Monday - as her own producer, she not only allows this kind of shit, she obviously encourages it. It's obviously what she wants on her records - playing, real playing, real music, no "role playing". "The Right Time" is nearly 10 minutes long, but it's arranged in such a way that it doesn't plod on with the Fascistic Beat Beating of so many dance cuts. It's sectionalized (seamlessly), and there's an attention to pacing, dynamics, and texture that makes it very clear that although this is dance music, and that there's technology at play (GASP!), that this is first and foremost music, not "product" for the clubs. It's tempting to say that not since the Swing Era has social functionality and "art" been so organically blended, but that might be hyperbole. But then again, it might not be. Time will tell, but the evidence is available now for your consideration. I can definitely say, though, that it's not the type of thing that you ever encounter on a regular basis.

"The Right Time" is the most overtly "club" cut on Routes, but it's not the only one that seamlessly melds "machines" (really, though, at this point in the game it's time we start thinking of them as instruments and start blaming the players, not the machines, for the far-too-often unhuman results that come from their usage) and "real time" playing. There's 2-3 cuts on the album taht fall flat for me, but the rest is as daring and satisfying a "pop' album (and this might well be a case of something being too good to be thought of as "pop", although as with the machines, I say it's time to start blaming the practitioners rather than the idiom for the rampant failures therein) as you're going to hear. The songs are bold and meaty, the arrangements oft-times startling (Siapagin's work adds a distinctly,as FFA noted, Woody Shaw-ish element to the proceedings when it appears, and again - if this is a "producer's music", then Monday's "allowance" of this type thing is her choice alone, and how many pop producers encourage the inclusion of Woody shaw type horn lines on their records?), and the production is more often than not downright bold. Routes is probably too "contemporary" for many here, but if you're not one of them, I'd suggest checking it out ASAP.

Remember, her mom & father(s) are all serious jazz musicians, so she grew up surrounded by/immersed in non-idiotic music. And she herself was raised/trained as a classical flautist (in line for a scholarship at Oberlin, I believe, until a jaw injury sidetracked her focus for several years, but that's another story...). so this ain't no DIY geek with ideas but no chops to execute them in anything more than a manner that suggests what they really want to hear. This woman's got bold ideas and the skills to pull them off exactly as she hears them.

Monday Michiru is the real deal.

Edited April 24, 2006 by JSngry

[jlhoots]

Does anyone ave any suggestions for where I can find "4 Seasons?"

Dusty Groove does not have it.

I bought mine from an Amazon "vendor" for $33 + shipping.

The "cheapest" one there now is $50.

I wonder if Hiroshi could get it for you.

I wouldn't mind paying the $50, but the seller is Caiman, who I have had bad luck with. I have sent them money, at least three times now, and been told weeks later that the item I ordered was out of print.

How would I contact this seller named Hiroshi about the CD?

Maybe, what I should ask is what would be the best CD to start with...

Hiroshi@earlymusic.com

As many will attest, he has been a great source for jazz CDs from Japan.

I would think he'd be able to get this too. No idea what the price would be.

[John L]

OK, I'm intrigued. I am going to have to check out Ms. Monday.

If I understand the essence of Jim's last post, it is "when you're in love, she can do no wrong, even with pop drum machine programs."

[HolyStitt]

jlhoots and JSngry, thank you for the help.

I can deal with the techno influences. When I worked at the store, I mainly worked shifts with a coworker that only played electronic/techno music during his turn on the stereo. Heck, he even performed his own music, which was made on a gameboy.

I will order a couple of CDs by her.

[HolyStitt]

[JSngry]

If I understand the essence of Jim's last post, it is "when you're in love, she can do no wrong, even with pop drum machine programs."

Would that it were that simple...

A more accurate reading would be "when you come across great pop music that's got all the elements of past glories mixed in with strong "global" rhythmic concepts, a really hip sense of harmony, total control of (and over) today's technology, and a husband who writes arrangements like nobody's ever written for a pop singer, how can you not be in love?"

And btw - she don't sing no sex songs (her version of "The Island" is incredibly sexual, but it's still a LOVE song, dig?). That's her problem right there. All truth and beauty and love ("hippy-ish at times, but I can live with that), and no songs about how hot her pussy is and how she's ready for us to riderideride dat azzzz. THAT would no doubt get her an American distribution deal, like, yesterday. THAT there's a market for.

The "pop drum machine programs" are anything but that, trust me. Again, think of how Zawinul "humanized" the sound of synthesizers (not a universally held sentiment, to be sure, but I can't do anything abou that). That's what Monday Michiru has done for drum programs. Not just in the complexity of the grooves, but in the feel of them. She can (and does) mix real percussion in with her programs, and damned if you can tell what's waht after awhile. And damned if it matters. She's a chick who's equally grounded (and experienced, and skilled) in accoustic music and hip-hop technology. For her, it's all pretty much the same, just tools to make her music with. For that, and her courage to go on ahead and full-out do it like that, she has my unending admiration. Damn straight she does!

Don't check her out if the possibilities of pop music (and therefore popular culture in general) being able to successfully accomodate forward musical thinking (and the celebration of gratification beyond the instant) is of no concern and/or interest to you. Otherwise, dig in.

Edited April 24, 2006 by JSngry