SOUNDTRACK: BRAXTON COOK-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #20 (May 8, 2020).
I thought I didn’t know who Braxton Cook was, but I have actually seen him as support in three different Tiny Desk Concerts: Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah in 2015, Tom Misch in 2018 and Phony Ppl in 2019.
Braxton Cook is a Juilliard-trained, genre-jumping artist whose music feels both contemporary and timeless. This time around, Cook takes the center seat, so to speak, from the comfort and safety of his sunny New Jersey home.
He plays four songs and all kinds of instruments in this concert.
Cook says he usually performs his original work with a full band, but obviously that isn’t an option in the time of social distancing. So instead, the ambidextrous talent uses loops to support his vocals, saxophone and guitar throughout the laidback set.
“Shooting Star” is set to a backing saxophone loop as Braxton plays guitar and sings. It’s a smooth jazz song and he plays a sweet solo over the end while the loops slowly fade.
For “We Major” he starts a saxophone loop, lays down some keys and then plays a sax solo over the top. It’s a pretty instrumental and the saxes intertwine nicely. I love that he manages to get the whole song to stop abruptly on time.
For his Tiny Desk (home) concert, Cook jumped around his discography, performing tracks from his 2017 album, Somewhere in Between, all the way up to his latest project, 2020’s Fire Sign.
“Never Thought” is for his wife. He’s got a looped guitar and a live guitar. He sings a smooth R&B love song and then lays down a sax solo at the end.
Closing out this cozy session, Cook dedicates the stirring “Hymn (for Trayvon Martin)” to everyone affected by the current pandemic.
I feel like I have heard “Hymn (for Trayvon Martin)” somewhere before. It’s anj instrumental in essentially two parts. It begins as a fast and pretty saxophone piece. After a bit, he stands up and begins a lengthy looping section. It’s slow and mournful and really lovely–the sax is the perfect instrument for it. melody. He loops a slow part and then plays a beautiful slow solo over the top.
[READ: May 14, 2020] Five Years #1
I loved Strangers in Paradise. I started Rachel Rising, but now realize I never finished it. I saw that Terry was creating Five Years, but I had no idea it tied in to the rest of the stories in any way. Apparently it brings all of his different stories together. So, I’m glad I discovered this just as he finished Issue 10.
I clearly need to start, if not the whole series, then at least the other two series to fill in some missing pieces, because this story went from vengeance and personal vendettas to global annihilation.
This issue opens with Katchoo, Francine and their two girls on a beach. The voice over talks about nuclear bombs including the fascinating detail that there were so many nuclear explosions in the ’50s that two new isotopes are now in the atmosphere that didn’t exist before Hiroshima. Oil paint made since the war contains these isotopes, It has become a foolproof way of testing for forgery in the art world.
That is fascinating.
Six months ago, Katchoo learned of the Phi Bomb–a hydrogen bomb built to base Phi Math (I wonder if that is explained anywhere) which causes all hydrogen to destroy itself–all hydrogen everywhere, any measurable life in the universe. This is accompanied by a gruesome dream sequence that I didn’t know Terry Moor had in him.
The Phi bomb will take five years to build and it cannot be controlled. Hence the title.
She wakes up on the couch with Francine’s mother throwing popcorn at her to wake her up.
Marie knows that Katchoo hasn’t been sleeping well, she can hear her talking in her sleep (saying “We’re all going to die”).
Katchoo thinks about this and then turns quickly–does that mean you can hear…
Marie smiles and says she can hear everything.
Katchoo says, “please don’t tell Francine or I’ll never get laid again.”
Marie: I do you a favor and somebody you’ll do me one. Quid pro quo.
Katchoo: Wait, did you just make me your bitch?
Marie: I believe the expression is pwned, dear. Pure pwnage to be exact.
As Katchoo leaves, she jokes that she’s sorry she yelled at her.
Marie: I’m sorry I called you a witch.
Katchoo: I didn’t hear you call me a witch
Marie: Good
Katchoo: Damn, walked right into that one.
Katchoo wakes up in the middle of the night (again). She’s not supposed to smoke but she sneaks one. Her kids yell at her to put it out. “I don’t want my mom hooked up to an oxygen machine at my wedding.”
Katchoo: Your wedding? You’re six.
Ashley: You have to plan these things. I’ll show you my folder.
The book cuts to a woman with sort hair. She’s at the same house as Kacthoo and family. She says she is there to protect the family and keep the kids safe. Her name is Sam, Samantha Locklear, a former marine.
As she talks a fully dressed gorilla comes splashing out of the water. This “goofball” is Mike who got her through hell in Iraq.
I don;t know where this character comes from [ah, Motor Girl, which i didn’t read), but I feel like i need a bit of backstory before I can go any further.
I’m certainly looking forward to reading what Terry has created.
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