So much new music coming through to us right now. Off the back of Rollin’ With The 9s Paul Ackroyd aka Kamikaze brought a new concept to the table: The Equinox. This is Part 1 (in what will hopefully flower as another mini-series), his stunning contribution to the instant of time when the plane (extended indefinitely in all directions) of Earth’s equator passes through the center of the Sun.
Words and music from Kamikaze below. I recommend hitting play while you read and revisiting as necessary.
In the Northern Hemisphere 20th March marks the Vernal Equinox, the point in the year that the Sun appears to cross the equator from South to North, marking the end of Winter and the start of Spring. It is the zero point of the celestial coordinate right ascension, the right ascension of ascending node if you will. Can released a tune called ‘Vernal Equinox‘ on their 1975 LP Landed, which opens this mix. In 1998 Coil released an EP called Spring Equinox : Moon’s Milk Or Under An Unquiet Skull. You’ll be delighted to hear that this EP was limited to 1000 copies on “milky” white vinyl and 55 copies on “piss” yellow vinyl.
At Equinox, day and night are of equal length. Sunrise is due East and Sunset due West. The Arabic for Equinox is تساوي الليل والنهار or Tasawi Allayl Walnahar, which translates as equal day and night. Canadian noiseniks Schizophasia released a track of this name on their 2013 LP 4000.
We also refer to Vernal Equinox as The First Point of Aries, even though this point now falls within the constellation of Pisces. Earth’s precession (ie ‘wobble’) has shifted it out of Aries into Pisces over millennia, and in another 500 years or so it will have slipped into Aquarius. DeepChord released a tune on Modern Love back in 2007 called ‘The First Point Of Aries’, which is included in this mix, as well as ‘Anthroprophh’s Precession’.
The constellation of Pisces does not hold loads of interest for the amateur astronomer, but it does contain the spectacular Messier 74 galaxy, a face-on spiral with loosely wound arms. Included in this mix is a trance banger called ‘Messier 74’ from Serbian producer Zyce.
There are terms we use to describe each Full Moon of the year, passed down from the Native Americans. There is a New Moon around Equinox this year, but the next Full Moon that follows it will be the Pink Moon. Hence the inclusion of the title track from Nick Drake’s Pink Moon LP (“pink moon is on its way”).
Spring is celebrated in cultures worldwide in terms of new beginnings, rebirth, and resurrection. It is the time of sprouting, blooming, and coming out of hibernation. There are traditional spring-themed folk numbers in here from Russia, Azerbaijan, USA, and Bahamas, and a rebirth-themed tune from Madlib. There are seasonal floral inclusions from Sonzeira (plum blossom); Ian Middleton (snowdrops), and Muslimgauze (tulips).
Vivaldi probably wrote the most famous Spring-themed music, as part of ‘Four Seasons’, though personally I can no longer hear this without wanting to claw my own eyes out. My dayjob is in substance misuse and I spend a lot of time phoning up the DWP for our clients for help with benefits, and Vivaldi is what they’ve chosen as their hold music, so I’m thoroughly sick of the sound of it. Thankfully Max Richter reworked it in stunning fashion, so the first movement of that is included in here.
Stravinsky probably has the next most well-known Spring music, in the form of The Rite Of Spring – a 1913 ballet “depicting various primitive rituals celebrating the advent of spring, after which a young girl is chosen as a sacrificial victim and dances herself to death” (~wikipedia). Besides a brief movement from Part 2 of this, we also have Alice Coltrane’s spectacular cover of ‘Spring Rounds in here’, as well as John Osborne’s plunderphonic version, from his infamous Plunderphonics LP, ie the album that the Canadian Recording Industry Association ordered be destroyed, largely on account of Oswald’s neat rearrangement of Michael Jackon’s ‘Bad’.
Otherwise find great Spring-themed music from Moor Mother Godess, O$VMV$M, Children Of Alice, David Cain, Moondog, Michael Valentine West, The Mods, Ravi Shankar, and a great Sun Ra tune from 1957.
We finish up with a snippet of Willow The Wisp – a 1980s BBC television animation narrated by Kenneth Williams.
Happy Equinox!! x
Tracklist
Can – Vernal Equinox
Anthroprophh – Precession
O$VMV$M – Spring
Children Of Alice – The Harbinger Of Spring
Michael Valentine West – Springtime
DeepChord presents Echospace – First Point Of Aries
Moondog – Dragon’s Teeth : Voices Of Spring
Ravi Shankar – Kafi Holi (Spring Festival Of Colours)
The Mods – Spring Dance
David Cain – Spring
Zyce – Messier 74
Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Springtime In Chicago
Delbon Johnson – It’s Always Springtime In Nassau
Igor Stravinsky – The Rite Of Spring Pt 2, iii : Glorification Of The Chosen One
John Oswald – Spring
Alice Coltrane – Spring Rounds
Coil – Spring Equinox : Moon’s Milk Or Under An Unquiet Skull, Pt 2
Max Richter – Spring 1
Muslimgauze – The Girl That Sleeps With Persian Tulips
Moor Mother Godess – Springdance
Madlib – Rebirth Cycle (Super Soul)
Bizzy B & Equinox – Merda Style 2004
Schizophasia - تساوي الليل والنهار (Tasawi Allayl Walnahar)
Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Touva – Khoomi : To Celebrate Spring In The Steppe
Village Of Suzemka, Region Of Briansk – I Walked Across The Mountains (Spring Song)
Bob & Ron Cooper – When Spring Comes In (The Spring Glee)
Ian Middleton – Snowdrops
Sonzeira – Plum Blossom
Kenneth Williams – Willow The Wisp : The Joys Of Spring