Tristeza >> Another green circle

California Month, tremor #17:

Tristeza - "I Am A Cheetah"

(Tiger Style Records, 2000)

Since forming in San Diego in 1997, Tristeza has had many lineup changes, so I'm not going to get into all that.  I think I waste too much time on band bio information anyway.  But it should be mentioned that former member Jimmy LaValle went on to arguably eclipse Tristeza's popularity with his somnambulant project called The Album Leaf.  I missed Tristeza in New Orleans at the Mermaid Lounge a few times circa the late '90s to early '00s.  I went to see their late-era lineup in 2005 in Baton Rouge, mainly to see them play their aggressive new banger "Halo Heads."  (They did.)  They had a female bassist at that point, but on this album it was just a sausage fest.

The only other awesome cuts on this album are "Building Peaks" and "City Of The Future," but the disc a a whole is worth owning.  I think I got it in 2005, because I made a mix CD containing the very eerie "COTF" that summer.

I have heard some people surmise that post-rock will go down as this generation's jazz.  I don't know about that, but if so, I think "I Am A Cheetah" merits mention near the top of the pile in terms of compositional quality.  It does have a jazz-like fluidity and crispness, much like its titular feline, and the drumming is straight-up jazz style.  I bet this is the kind of music Miles Davis would've made if he had hooked up with CAN in the mid-'70s.  I like how the bassist plays one hypnotic repeating note for the last 1:45, which I once thought was a keyboard part until I listened closer.  To say they owe a huge debt to Tortoise would be an understatement, but I think they carved out their own niche pretty well.

People who have only seen the front cover might associate the album's sound with the color green.  Looking at both the front and back covers gives a very citrus-y effect:

Here is a collage I've been procrastinating on, letting it idle under a sheet of Saran wrap for several years until I decide how to glue down the parts.  I don't know how the little comic strip snuck in there, and I think the red piece is too different of a color to make it into the final product.  I have this thing for cutting out images and then flipping them over to use them in collages.  In fact, I realized ca. 2007 that I could use it as my trademark technique, since every artist needs one, and since this has apparently never been used by a well-known artist.  So I scrawled out a whole manifesto about it, such as how it incorporates chaos theory / chance, etc. etc., and signed and dated it, just in case I need it someday.  Anyway, I like how the phrase "Shrinking Generation" appeared on the backs of the dudes holding hands (cut out from an issue of Newsweek).  I cut the embossed pearly flower off of one of those condolence cards you send to a family after someone dies.

This "we believe..." thing was part of a pamphlet that my high school sent me, asking for money.  I noticed it (probably intended for the above collage) sitting on top of this M. Jordan tribute mag in my living room, and thought a photo of it was worth taking.  I'll admit that I did adjust its position slightly, though:

Planets with similar climates: Tortoise - "Glass Museum" (1995), Bark Psychosis - "Big Shot" (1993), Dif Juz - "No Motion" (198_), Simple Minds - "A Brass Band In African Chimes" (1984), Andreas Vollenweider - "Unto The Burning Circle" (1989), Macha - "Light The Chinese Flower" (1998).


Most interesting correction of the week/year: Correction, Sept. 16, 2011: This story originally misidentified the title of the Sir-Mix-a-Lot song that Sarah Palin sang along with. It is "Baby Got Back," not "I Like Big Butts."  With a correction like that, you know the article has to be good.