Mesmerization Eclipse Extension

2 Live Stereolab Shows

2008-08-27T23:11:00.004-04:00

2 FANTASTIC STEREOLAB SHOWS.
Both from ATL - first one was them at the tabernacle with Sonic Youth (i know a lot of people on this list were there). Second one was at the Variety. BOTH have Mary on it and the second show was from her last tour. Hearing those harmonies again is fucking haunting. Anyways - i thought i'd post these because i just got their new record and they are playing here next month. I uploaded both so they are safe to dl. ENJOY!

Stereolab
Atlanta 6.23.2000
Tabernacle (opening for Sonic Youth)

ZIP: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z9KGR7C3

1. Escape Pod
2. Infinity Girl
3. Percolator
4. Barock-Plastik
5. People Do It All The Time
6. Metronomic Underground
7. Household Names
8. John Cage Bubblegum
9. Blue Milk
10. French Disko
11. Outer Bongolia

Stereolab
Atlanta 11.15.01
Variety Playhouse

ZIP: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EQPUGLKM

1. Miss Modular
2. Captain Easychord
3. Infinity Girl
4. Baby Lulu
5. Escape Pod
6. Naught More Terrific Than Man
7. Cybele's Reverie
8. Our Trinitone Blast
9. Parsec
10. Double Rocker/
11. Wilgin Worms
12. Ping Pong
13. Les Bons Bons Des Raisons
14. Tuning / Crowd
15. The Incredible He Woman
16. French Disko

MEZM 2

2008-08-15T10:36:00.011-04:00

Been neglecting this thing like a donut son who doesnt like America's freedom fries. So we're back with a sesh sure to set your summer back on course (after you ate that donut). This shit is good, mega good, so listen to it, and dont die.

MEZM 2 ZIP FILE HERE!

1. Sic Alps - Massive Space
Dark: Shit's always threatening to fall apart. One reason Sic Alps are so awesome. In that way it's like Chilton's late '70's stuff, or Skip Spence's LP, or any number of records by the chemically unbalanced that always teeter on the edge of collapse. It's definitely more intentional with these dudes, but that doesn't make it sound any less thrilling. Wicked live show, too, for two dudes.
OJ: disheveled ripper. Whats awesome about bands like this is they can record on a 4 track in their practice space and make it sound shitty and viable. I know Neil Hagerty likes them, so thats enough in my book.

2. Fleet Foxes - Mykonos
OJ: This is a jam off their ep that landed before the full length and was the first glimpse to me of what they could achieve. I love the mood this sets.
DARK: I thought I was listening to "New Slang" at first. Later on it sounds like Fleetwood Mac. It has a pleanst air. I like it. It doesn't make me think of the Aegean, though; not enough lyre.

3. XYX - Microvibraciones
DARK: Mez dudes talk about the mind a lot, but we can't help it; we are, after all, America's preeminent professional neurologists. "Microvibraciones" doesn't quite hit the brain-disrupting frequency until a few minutes in, but when it does, with the delay on pretty much everything, we (the listeners) find ourselves with one hell of a mind-zapped mind. So yeah, XYX is some crazed Mexican dance-punk, which, like Doritos, is a normally kind of a bad idea made righteous by the Mexicans. Their flavors are special. Anyway, it's maybe like Gang Gang Dance, but more visceral, less arty, and more open to bartering.
OJ: intense mexicans. i read an article recently about all the bad ass music that exists in Mexico - mainly because they dont get a lot of outside influence so they just fucking wail on what's true to them. that definitely is the case with XYX. What makes this song so fucking scary is the madness and those fucking buzzsaw effects at the end. Out of sight. This shit makes me somewhat ok with Mexico's eventual overthrow of the US.

4. Love Is All - Wishing Well
DARK: Yup, the "Tally Ho" riff, staking their claim on a band whose orbit of influence is reaching another perigee. But it ain't just a Clean rip, it's a little stylistic nod in the midst of an unmistakable Love Is All jam. They're utter fucking professionals at making people feel awesome.
OJ: UNREAL FUCKING JAM. This was that song Dark must have been talking about which is the stand out from their last live show. Unreleased i think. Fucking amazing band and this song is all the proof you need. The Tally Ho riff works so well weather they meant it or not (they did). Hearing this makes me think they are unstoppable.

5. The Who - Sister Disco
OJ: Maybe one of the Who's worst songs, but fuck is it a guilty pleasure for me. Amazing synth work by pete, truly wild. I think it was meant to be a bash on Disco, but it comes off as a weird song that kind of goes nowhere - much like the rest of that record which was shitty and at the end of their glory years. But shit its fun to listen to one of the greatest rock bands ever jam a jam about disco shits. One of the last songs Moon played on, which is kind of sad.
DARK: Dude, this is awesome. I love when the Who sounds like musical theater, and love 'em even more when they sound like the ILLIAC IV having a seizure. Either I've chilled out or seen the light, 'cuz I'm starting to think there's actually no bad Who. Whereas a younger me thought pretty much everything after a certain point was worthless. Anyway, love the initial bombast, the constantly shifting tone, pretty much everything about this'un.

6. Vivian Girls - Damaged
DARK: Yeah, what I and everyone's been saying, they's indie-pop and garage-punk and a bit of shoegazery roar and vocal melodies that are both pretty and oddly creepy and then beneath it all some genuinly catchy pop songs, thus guaranteeing that everybody will like them at some point in time, before being consumed by the fastest flashing backlash since Lance Armstrong.
OJ: These are like the grown up sisters of XYX. Great vocals and washed out guitars make this band in all its ragged glory. Simple songs wrapped in this awesome overblown beauty.

7. Carbon Whales (bob pollard) - Work Into Me
OJ: Best song off the "secret Robert Pollard" ep. Bob kind of channels Mark E Smith in a way on this ep and you can kind of hear it here. Fuckin music slays too.
DARK: Pollard working a crack-of-the-'90's 120 Minutes vibe. The weird synth-sounding bass, random horns, MES-style vocals, all of it sounds like some third-rate British band Dave Kendall would push for a few weeks before forgetting about 'em and/or burning through the payola checks. Kinda oddball, but still catchy, and better than much of what Bob's dished out of late.

8. Ex-Cocaine - Heavy Mt
DARK: Super laid-back lo-fi folk drone, or something. Yeah, it's slow and goes on for eight minutes, but has never felt that long to me. One of my perennial top tracks of the last few years, and something I've played way too much on WZBC.
OJ: these dudes are awesome as shit. its like homemade mellow grunge. Being from the northwest they probably would have gotten signed to Sub Pop if this came out like 19 years ago. I get the feeling these are two dudes who just like to get drunk and depressed and jam.

9. Peacocks Guitar Band - Eddie Quansa
OJ: Off one of the new Nigeria 70s comps. Amazing afro beat/high life music which I cant get enough of. The lightest song of the bunch off this comp. This jam makes me think im drank sippin on some beach, somewhere.
DARK: Yes, these Nigeria comps are unrelentingly awesome. Collect 'em all! This number totally sells the atmosphere all non-dude-specific beer ads should shoot for.

10. Howlin Rain - Calling Lightning Pt 2
OJ: Creedence on acid. This record and this song will end up in my top 3 of the year i bet. Dude from Comets On Fire's (real) other band. Comets is on major haitus and this is probably one of the reasons, Howlin Rain is fuckin writing some of the best music around and kinda makes the Comets seem like a waste of time (that sounds harsh - i love the comets to no end)? But yeah, its good.
DARK: I dunno, gotta call it for Comets over this stuff. I feel like Howlin Rain's aiming for the Allmans, but maybe hits closer to the Spin Doctors. That's harsh; this song is pretty good, but I don't know if they're close enough to the level of their influences to be worth my time.

11. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
DARK: Yeah, I like the focus, the paucity of notes, the directitude in the pursuance of hammerin'. Reminds me of a less blitzin' version of the Flaming Lips' "When Yer Twenty-Two". I actually have a hard time justifying this pick, I feel like I like it more than I should / it deserves, but shit when I listen to it I tend to listen to it over and over until it's been an hour and I totally believe that we really will never really die.
OJ: All i hear is My Bloody Valentine but shit its great. Driving straight into your brain, pounding, blasting.

12. Ryan Adams - Magnolia Mountain (Live)
OJ: I didnt get into Ryan Adams until this year. Always thought he was a supreme douche and didnt want to give him the time of day. I was wrong, at least about his music. He can craft a song i tell you. When he plays live all the songs sound like the Dead are jamming them. this is a perfect example. Listen to the crawl out of bed beginning and the noodle fest solo battle at the end. He "deadified" one of his best songs and turned it into a 10 minute ripper.
DARK: Allyn used to be a big fan, but lost interest somewhere along the way; all I've ever really listened to is that embarrasing but intermittently fun record where he tries to sound like every hip rock band of the last 40 years. Well, I did hear a lot of Gold through my lady, and it bored the shit out of me. Anyway! "Magnolia Mountain" is super-Deady. I'm not especially big on this guitar tone, it makes noodly bits sound even more noodly, but the actual music to this one is pretty damn good. It's like a Band song with a Dead jam in the middle. Good stuff.

ps - WE GOT THE OLYMPICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh man, remember this thing?

2008-08-04T12:13:00.002-04:00

I don't

Folk Spirit (If Not Form)

2006-09-21T20:52:00.000-04:00

Charalambides - "Pas El Agoa"

Charalambides co-founder Tom Carter works hard and rants intriguingly. And when he picks up his guitar, he usually tears the world a new organ of admittance. He is the final point of intersection between Fahey and Hendrix, a conjourer of bristling American ghosts.

Here's a cut from Charlambides' micro-legendary debut Our Bed Is Green, well worth purchasing.

Pixilated Hippy Bits

2006-08-25T13:34:00.000-04:00

Dark and I decided to throw together a late summer mix for our MASSIVE readership. All 3 of you. Old stuff, new stuff, long songs, short songs, pop songs, face melters, and even a few of our '80s fantasy jams. Hopefully everyone will go into this with an open mind and add some mindbenders to your ipod playlists. The person's name who is highlighted is the dude who brought the jam forth. Click the picture to the left to print out the artwork. Click the nipple to unlock your mind!

Also, you can download each individual track on its own, or click here to download the ZIP file of all 16. [COMING SOON - HAVING TROUBLE WITH WINZIP - WILL POST THIS AS SOON AS I FIX IT]

1. Captain Beyond - "Sufficiently Breathless"
DJ: This song makes me wish I was shootin' the hooch with some friends and a cooler of beer. Perfect summer breeze.
Dark: Makes me feel as happy and care-free as "What A Fool Believes". A total breezy, summer afternoon, daintily sipping Beast tall-boys by the pool type of jam.

2. Oakley Hall - "Volume Rambler"
Dark: Gypsum Strings is the better of their two 2006 albums, but this song, from Second Guessing, is perhaps the best on either of them. It's an excellent introduction to the band's droning, psychedelic country-rock.
DJ: Psychedelic country is probably one of my top genre's of music. Stuff like Flying Burrito Brothers and New Riders... are great but this brings an element of rocking

3. The Velvet Underground - "She's My Best Friend"
DJ: For some dumb ass reason it took me a long time to come around on the VU. This shiny number is from an album that was recorded in the late 60's but their label balked on and never released. Sounds like the Dead, kinda.
Dark: SOMEBODY JUST GOT MARRIED. Fine late-period catchy folk song from the MOST IMPORTANTEST BAND OF ANY TIME EVER.

4. Circle - "Connection"
Dark: Circle left the forest to make an ep that's equal parts metal and kraut-rock. "Connection" provokes the same uncontrollable spastic physical reaction as Oneida.
DJ: Can + Dungen = pogostick acid trip. Not typical for em, but very powerful and driving.

5. Oneida - "The Adversary"
DJ: This song is visual O for me. I can picture a pretty amazing video for this song with dinosaurs playing the instruments and this bad ass Triceratops playing bass. This was my ANTHEM of the summer. Jam this one LOUD brahs, pump your fist with one hand and crush a brew with the other.
Dark: Okay, Thank Your Parents is a damn fine album. Still, there are really only two absolutely essential songs on it, and this is one of them. I think I've written about this elsewhere around here, but this song pretty much dominated my mind for a straight week or so earlier this summer. Like in all great Oneida songs, they push your mind to the breaking point, and just when you don't think you can take it anymore that one-note guitar solo comes slicing through and alleviates much of the pressure. Once I actually got dizzy on a train platform at that point.

6. Asia - "Heat Of The Moment"
Dark: I've covered this elsewhere. I pretty much had a breakdown while listening to this song a few months ago. I was positively crushed by the nostalgia and wistfulness. I haven't even had any ambitions since I was a teenager. Shit.
DJ: One of the best lyrics from the 80's: "And now you find yourself in '82" Dont know why but that lyric always got me. Love this song, and I agree with dark about the nostalgia - it brings back memories of me jammin' Kasey Kasem on my jam box Saturday afternoons.

7. Love Is All - "Felt Tip Hip Kids"
Dark: This was my introduction to Love Is All. Their album is my favorite of the year. This isn't even on it. Those keyboard washes (or whatever) are beautiful, even (daresay) hauntingly so. After drifting for a few blissful moments they reel you in with that bassline at the end. Just an amazing song.
DJ: This is one of those bands that I am amazed I know (kinda) - because they are really fucking good. Josephine the singer reminds me a lot of LIFE WITHOUT BUILDINGS as Dark mentioned, but another standout female voice.

8. Comets On Fire - "Lucifer's Memory"
DJ: Their new record is out of this fucking earf. Still rocks your teeth loose but a lot of it is much more mellow. Channeling the Dead, Seeger, and The Allman's. When the chorus hits in this song, all is right in my life.
Dark: These men have mellowed out. Allmaned out. I dig it. This one's a little long, though, a little too wayward. I like other songs off of the new album more. Although by the last minute or so it starts to feel suitably epic.

9. Madness - "It Must Be Love"
DJ: Madness was always one of those bands that I wanted to buy records by but never did. Heard this song recently on the radio and it made me realize I had missed out. An amazing song, truly. Essential late summer haze.
Dark: So I most definitely love myself some Madness. They had songs I enjoy more, but "It Must Be Love" is surely their finest slice of pop song-craft. And again, did I mention that I know a dude who just got married?

10. Warmer Milks - "Rwanda"
Dark: A pleasant little idyll. Atmosphere trumps lyrics, melody, whatever else. It's like you're hanging out in both a quiet bower and a misty moor at the exact same time. Then all of a sudden you're on a boat.
DJ: This song takes me to that place. Not Arkansas. Pretty.

11. Wilco - "What's The World Got In Store"
DJ: Deep cut jamboree by these dudes. Always loved this song and thought it never really got picked up by the band live or anything. A harken back to Jeff Tweedy's early on days.
Dark: Few things bug me more than idiot writers who continue to call Wilco "country-rock". And although "Americana" might fit, sonically, it remains a really moronic term for a musical genre. Still, they's definitely believe in TRADITION, and on this one they totally trad it all the way the fuck up to like Jayhawks territory, or something.

12. Thirteenth Floor Elevators - "May The Circle Remain Unbroken"
Dark: A ghost transmission from the nether-world. I love songs that sound like they're about to fall apart. I don't even know if this one gets collected enough to be able to fall apart.
DJ: I think these guys are under appreciated. Grandfathers of psychedelia. This song is a haunting glimpse at their ability. I veel on the edge of something listening to it.

13. Stiff Little Fingers - "Alternative Ulster"
DJ: Jam this one at full blast and see if you don't get chill bumps. I'd follow these dudes to overthrow a government, all the while drinking beer - of course. I think I first heard this while Dark was djing at WUOG. Great song.
Dark: Blank Generation classic. Haven't heard it in a while. Always makes me think of Leon Uris's book Trinity. I used to want to be Irish, and then I saw Braveheart.

14. The Fixx - "Stand Or Fall"
DJ: 80's Fluff. From the dudes who brought you "One Thing Leads To Another", "Saved By Zero", and "Red Skies At Night" - this is one of their lesser known hits but its a fucking gem. This is the curve ball of the bunch.
Dark: A little dull, but still way better than Interpol.

15. Les Rallizes Denudes - "Enter The Mirror"
Dark: Proof that "noise" can be beautiful. This is like the Jesus and Mary Chain with everything exaggerated and/or amplified a thousand-fold.
DJ: Japan never knew what hit it. I love the building power in this song and the waves of feedback that shouldnt scare people off, it should invite them in.

16. Eric Bachmann - "Lonesome Warrior"
Dark: He sounds like the indie-rock Dan Fogelberg on his new album. This song's a definite stand-out, though. It's just a nice, lovely little song with only marginally embarrassing lyrics.
DJ: Beautiful closer. Minimalist in a way, at least for him. Definitely will be the only Saddle Creek record in my collection.

Deep Down Inside, He Was Hurt

2006-07-21T14:15:00.000-04:00

Clarence Carter - "Patches"

Sometimes, life is barely worth living. But we must go on living it as long and as well as we can. If we fail to do so, we risk pissing off our dead relatives.

summer of death through misadventure

2006-05-26T11:03:00.000-04:00

Sonic Youth: "Jams Run Free"

It’s almost summer, and it surprisingly actually kinda feels like it in Boston today. No doubt you’re already thinking about what your summer jam will be. I’ve never really understood why people want, nay, demand a song to define their summer for them. Perhaps I’m ignorant, but that doesn’t seem to happen with any of the other seasons. But, shit, I do it too, or at least allow it to be done to me, so who the hell am I to disagree. My early odds-on favorite for the summer of ’06 (the summer of death through misadventure) is ”Jams Run Free”, by acclaimed recording artists Sonic Youth. It’s their catchiest song since I was in high school, at least, and that little three-note guitar line they play throughout is beautifully simple and insistent. It likes to hang out in my head. And the lady’s voice doesn’t sound like my grandfather gargling this time, and even the noisy bits near the end are like 73% sunshine and cotton candy, at least when compared to something like EVOL (which is still, you know, completely awesome, and better than this record, but whatever). But mostly it’s the lyrics that’ll keep this blasting all summer, or at least that one amazing lyric, “we love the jams / and jams run free”. ‘Cuz the summer’s all about the jams and freedom and love and running, and when August is winding down, and the memories of scholastic resumption kick in instinctually and ineffectually, this song will still be there to warm the unknowable nether regions deep within us all. And then it’ll be 20 degrees and snowy for six months and I’ll want to destroy New England.

delayed

2006-05-16T11:29:00.000-04:00

(I wrote this two weeks ago; been busy, folks)

Picchio Dal Pozzo: "Merta"

Sorry for the lack of updates; the sickness had me last week. My health has returned to me now, though, and that brings us to Picchio Dal Pozzo's "Merta". I basically spent last week floating around in a daze, at least from Wednesday morning through Saturday night, or so. I've no idea if the disorientation was due to not eating for three days or because of some form of head ailment. Either way I was one confused fellow. During the nicer moments it felt sort of how "Merta" sounds, a nice gentle drifting that goes well with bedrest. Mostly it wasn't so pleasant, though.

"Merta" is the first track on the excellent Prog Is Not a Four Letter Word comp on Delay 68, as compiled by Andy Votel. You should definitely seek this out.

Love Goes On, Part II

2006-05-08T16:24:00.000-04:00

The Go-Betweens: "Quiet Heart"
The Go-Betweens: "Streets of Your Town"
The Go-Betweens: "That Way"
The Go-Betweens: "Rock and Roll Friend" (live)

SA posted this at Mesmerization Eclipse:

As many of you know, my favorite band ever is the Go-Betweens. I was completely shocked and sick to my stomach to read that co-founder Grant McLennan died in his sleep on May 6th, my birthday. Judging by how I'm feeling right now, it's actually a good thing that I read this devastating news on my birthday, amidst distraction. I'm also thankful that my band was able to play one of his songs that night during our set, with no practice, and play it reasonably well.

To die at 48 with no known health problems is a hard thing to swallow. He was a brilliant songwriter and lyricist and a left a great big, warm, witty, shimmering, pristine mark on the lives of myself and countless other fans. There are so many songs of his that I will love for rest of my life.

The one positive thing that my thoughts keep gravitating towards is how glad I am for their show last summer. At the time I knew it was one of the best shows of my life, and now it's firmly entrenched in the number one spot. I can see David Byrne again. I can see Bruce Springsteen.

I'll never see Grant again.

Opening And Closing Its Gigantic Doors

2006-04-17T18:25:00.000-04:00

Blacklight Braille - "The Moon To Poolesville"

Here's one you might not read about in Arthur. Even in this boom time for unapologetic aural weirdness, this amorphous Cincinnati "fringe rock" band doesn't get much notice - a Google search pulls up a threadbare Allmusic listing, a shite "Wicca folk" page with a bunch of dead links, a few WFMU playlists and not a whole lot else. If anyone knows anything about this band that cannot be thus divined, please bend my ear. It would make me very happy.

I copped Blacklight Braille's Seachange CD in 1995. My erstwhile employer was gutting its music library, and the arcane track titles, long playing times and Corwood-level graphics caught my interest. Later, I wrote the band's mysterious Vetco label a longhand note, and received a Corwood-level gift of plastic and vinyl in return.

No arching description quite serves; if it's possible to chart the shifts in Blacklight Braille's lineup or the chronology of its vast catalogue, none has yet taken a swing. To paraphrase one of the few articles I could find, the "Fringe Rock" descriptor means it ain't quite rock, but it's definitely not anything else. If anything has kept the Braille from breaking into underground rock word-of-mouth, I'm guessing it's the consistently sleek production, which fosters a creepiness not of the sort that VU-weaned distortion-heads like.

This one, from the Carmarthen LP, spotlights the recitation of one Owen Knight, a then 60-something poet who taps into a different sort of Arthurian tradition. Years ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with Knight over the phone. I wonder if he's even still alive now.

Dipping a toe in

2006-04-16T15:58:00.000-04:00

Bill Fay "Some Good Advice"

I'm rusty but here goes anyway.

Do you have those certain artists, bands, or even genres that you know are great but you feel like you’ll get around to them when you can? Like, I know I’m gonna get some dub LPs any day now, but today is not that day. For a long time, Bob Dylan was one of those. The record that finally did it in for me was Blood on the Tracks. There was a day two summers ago, when someone was rocking it on the store stereo & it all just came together for me. Ever since then I’ve been on board.

I don’t know why I needed to preface this entry with all that but here’s the slim connection: Sometime last fall I dug up the reissues of Bill Fay's two records & liked them pretty immediately. His sound falls somewhere among the 70s albums of Dylan, Leonard Cohen & Scott Walker (maybe you stop reading here), sometimes all in the same song (even a little Ivor Cutler thrown in on one track, I don’t know why). Like no one said ‘no’ to anything he wanted: string & wind sections, sax solos, those medieval sounding keyboards (I’m blanking on the name). Allmusic calls it ‘over-serious, labored folk/pop/rock.' I had the s/t album on repeat for all of November & December.

a not-so-special way of drinking

2006-04-13T14:10:00.000-04:00

Mythos: "Encyclopedia Terra Part 2"

"Mythos challenges you to a special way of thinking that makes life more attractive and interesting. By drinking 'Mythos', we invite you to consider what it is to be 'Legendary' today; to dream, to travel, and to create your very own 'Legend'."

Whenever I eat at Steve's Greek I drink a bottle of Mythos. Not 'cuz it's good, but because it's probably the best-named beer this side of Meisterbrau. When I was nine I had a self-made superhero costume that consisted of my orange crossing-guard sash, a pair of racquetball goggles, and my furry brown Meisterbrau viking helmet. That hat barely beats out tickets to the seventh game of the '92 NLCS as the best freebie my dad ever got during his 30 years in the beer industry. I doubt Mythos the beer makes anything that could match that excellent promo, unless they're cranking out bad-ass lyres with their label on 'em, or the lightning-bolts of Zeus, or something. Mythos the band, a peer of better-known Kraut-rockers like Ash Ra Temple and Can, made music comparable to that hat; both are as awesome as they are ridiculous, and both help transport me into a mystical fantasy land where the rules and mores of the everyday world have been obscured by the darkened shadows of my own febrile mind.

Your Mother Was A Mother

2006-04-11T17:19:00.000-04:00

Sassy Bears - "Motherchild"
Two Commandos - "Piece Of The Pie"
The Vogue Togue - "Snaga Blues"

From the last.fm wiki:

"The Sassy Bears included Joe Metcalf, Don Jones, Yellow Bear and Blue Bear, who played often comical songs on homemade guitars, a snorkel, carpet and other unusual instruments. They existed briefly during the early '90s, and are best remembered for the song 'Motherchild.'"

This comes from a huge box of tapes I recently committed to my hard drive. Whenever I played it on WUOG, people would call me and ask where to buy it. Now, thanks to the info revolution, you're ordained to spread the Sassy Bears gospel.

LATE-BREAKER: Because the people wanted it, I've patched in another couple of jams from the same collection.

past flames

2006-04-07T10:15:00.000-04:00

Young People: "The Clock"

I was a big fan of Young People's first album, which came out in 2002. For a few weeks I was pretty obsessed with their music, this ghostly, shambling, country-esque folk-rock that sounded improvised and always on the verge of falling completely apart. It was beautiful and fragile, often clattery and disjointed (in the very best of ways), and one of my favorite albums of that year. For whatever reason, though, I didn't make much of an attempt to listen to subsequent releases. Until last week, that is, when I noticed eMusic was offering their brand-new album All At Once. If you've ever used eMusic, you probably know how it is; halfway through your monthly limit you're already struggling for stuff to grab, and thus wind up downloading stuff based on the merest whim or recommendation. Thus was the case with me and this new Young People record.

I knew that guitarist Jeff Rosenburg (formerly Pink - or was it Brown?) had left Young People, and thus I was prepared for something different. Plus you'd sort of expect the band to have to change noticeably if they were to continue past an album or two, as their sound, though awesome, was fairly limited and thus could leave them prone to repetition. And sure enough, All At Once doesn't sound too much like that first record. Pianos and bass guitars now make apperances, while the guitar is sparser and more erratic than before. There's no mistaking this gal's voice, though, and the general atmosphere remains fairly similar, so it ain't entirely a jarring and/or discontinuous experience, or anything. "The Clock", with its paucity of guitar and percussion, and that swingin', Dresdon Dolls-soundin' chorus, represents well how the band has digressed from their initial sound. It's also a nice piece of work in and of its own pretty little self.

Scrub Brush For The Synapses

2006-04-04T14:00:00.000-04:00

Alan Licht: "The Old Victrola"

Alan Licht is an experimental composer, documented devotee of Steve Reich and Martha Quinn, and all-around good name to drop if you're looking to get intimate with someone who actually listens to Slitbreeze records. This is one of two longform indulgences on Plays Well, available from Crank Automotive outta Arington, VA. The other, "Remington Khan," is meditative guitar atmosphere in the well-trod Fahey tradition, but "The Old Victrola" is something else. Recorded in 1995 at Chicago's Lounge Ax and then recorded some more at the 2000 Transmissions Festival, it loops the hook from Donna Summer's "Dim All The Lights" until it cleanses the nervous system of all musical memories and preferences. Then it slams into a Buddhistic wall-o'-noise. I'd wager the clapping comes from the 2000 performance, by which time underground rock buffs were more prepared to enjoy this sort of exercise. Like any good getaway, it's long as a motherfucker and it changes you.

For those of you playing at home, the missus scored this disc at a second-hand store for $1. For MezEclExt readers who don't deal in American scratch, that's approx one (1) RCH in excess of "free." And you get to sample it on the house, 'cause we dig ya like that.

analogue fright

2006-04-04T11:40:00.000-04:00

Parts & Labor: "A Pleasant Stay"
Parts & Labor: "Parts and Labor"

"A Pleasant Stay" comes from Parts & Labor's brand new record, Stay Afraid, which'll be released a week from today, on Tuesday, April 11th, 2006. This is like their third, or second-and-a-half, album, and it's reliably awesome. I wrote this about it a couple weeks ago:

"Musically, I gotta strongly recommend the new album from Parts and Labor, entitled Stay Afraid. It comes out on Brah/Jagjaguwar sometime in the next coupla weeks. These dudes have been thrilling me constantly for a couple years now, and with Stay Afraid said thrills might just be fuckin' lethal. If you think Trans Am would be better served by rockin' out full-force 100% of the time, you might dig Parts and Labor. The kid at the station what reviewed the album compared 'em to Husker Du, which really ain't right at all, exceptin' the similarity in energy levels and general rambunctiousness. I don't get any pissed feeilng from P&L, though, whereas that was like 90% of the Husker Doeuvre."

Now, that kid's Husker Du ref isn't entirely out of line, but that would never be the first comparison to jut outta my noggin. P&L've got that combo of pop hooks and post-hardcore rhythms that defined Husker's mid-period stuff, but then they've also got all this crazy awesome keyboard noise that oversaturates pretty much the whole record. Perhaps their keyboard sound is that instrument's equivalent to Mould's rip-roarin' guitar, but still, there's a gaping sonic chasm 'twixt the two outfits. Basically the Parts & Labor "sound" is a more immediately and consistently catchy strain of the sort of purposefully bewildering keyboard-driven rock propagated by folks like Need New Body, Trans Am, and Oneida. Yes, P&L are usually very catchy and melodic and relatively straight-forwardly poppy, making 'em less noise-rock and more just plain old noisy rock, which is perhaps potentially a better way to exist anyhow.

The song "Parts and Labor" is the group's theme and anthem, and one of the most purely enjoyable pieces of music I've heard in years. It's from the group's first full-length Groundswell, which is completely worthy of buying, as is their split with Tyondai Braxton.

life is an infinite highway

2006-03-30T09:56:00.000-05:00

Endless Boogie: "Outside Of My Mind"

Those two Endless Boogie records that came out last year were basically impossible to find. Thanks though to computers, the internet, and the profligacy of myself and musically like-minded others, I was able to track down the music contained therein, and thus my workplace has been far more bearable of late. If you want to hear some shit that swallows time up whole, and deposits you swiftly and unconsciously at the opposite end of the hour, then Endless Boogie is worth hunting down. And although the band's music really isn't that much more than Stoogish tunes at three to ten times the length, that description holds far more possibilities than may first be apparent. Yeah, they find a killer riff and hold it for like forever, working up a heavy blues jams, hot-doggin' on a flip-flop for twelve to thirty minutes at a time. You could call it a morass, and I don't think anybody involved would be offended in the least. Fundamentally it's another minimalist take on classic rock (intrinsically some of the most maximalist stuff out there), with full indebtedness to some kraut-rock. It kinda often sounds like the earliest Can, but without Mooney's crazy, elliptical vocals. Thus it's basically all shades of awesome, and fully deserving of your respect and appreciation.

A Bunch Of Blubber

2006-03-27T17:36:00.000-05:00

Milton Carter Band: "Music Lover"

Some towns are like high school. Or prison. While you're stationed there, it's your world. The day you leave, it all happened a lifetime ago, to someone else.

Between 1995 and 1998, while I called it home, Asheville, NC (known primarily, if at all, as a rapidly gentrifying hippie haven) nourished a lively DIY scene. Bands such as Luvsix, the Merle, TimInAction and 7 Foot Spleen played in basements and at the since-defunct bar Vincent's Ear. Sometimes they appeared on Free Radio Asheville, a short-lived pirate station. Most of this stuff fell between punk and no wave, but anyone could ante up. Asheville's a great city, but it was never a big one.

As a member of the Rich & Famous and the Mathmatics (he was drunk when he made the fliers) and editor/publisher of gANK Magazine (the city's only serious music zine, heavily inspired by early Vice, distinguished as one of the first organs to publish your reporter), my friend Milton Carter was the most prominent spokesman for the seedier side of Asheville music. He sat at the center of the Decline World Media empire, which, before disappearing suddenly and completely, threw some great Sunday afternoon barbecues and put out three CD compilations documenting Asheville's raucous late-'90s shenanigans.

My feeble memory has the summer of 1998 dog-eared as a collection of personal highlights: Heroic alcohol intake, sloppy makeout sessions, glorious humiliation. The Decline Of Western North Carolina Volume Three sat proudly in my car's CD player through much of that halcyon interval. This track, from the one-shot Milton Carter Band, was always my favorite thing on it.

I haven't left metro Chicago in almost two years, and I hardly ever communicate with any erstwhile Ashevillians. (Thanks, Kate/Wyette, Charity, Isaac and Ian, for staying true, despite my long lapses in correspondence.) In 1999, I saw Milton working the door at the New York Knitting Factory. He let me into a sold-out Rachel's show. Thanks, pal.

Milton apparently lives in Brooklyn now, and has a lot of cool, arty projects on the burner. Here's his website. I'm sure all the Decline of WNC discs are beyond out-of-print, but if you ask him about it, tell him who sent ya.

there rose a lady with the blackest wings

2006-02-01T16:00:00.000-05:00

Witch

"Black Saint"

So Witch is the fabled "stoner-rock" combo featuring J. Mascis and some dudes from the Banhart-connected Feathers group, the very same Feathers what opened for Dinosaur at Avalon in Boston back in July or whenever, and who at said show played a solid if slightly somnolent psych-folk set that ended in one fully satisfying and appropriately apocalyptic mind-zap of a slow-burn. When word of Witch started spreading back however long ago, this fool's natural anticipation dissipated slightly upon learning of the Feathers connection, and the fact that J would be playing drums and not guitar. Not that I dislike Feathers, really, but other than that final song in July nothing about them seemed remotely capable of crafting truly underworld-class (and Lethe-thick) classic metal / hard rock / what-have-you. And no doubt J's an amazing drummer, but anybody playing guitar in a group with Mascis in which he does not play guitar is only inviting infinite unfortunate (and unfair) comparisons. So you had involvement from folks I didn't necessarily trust, and one dude I do trust almost implicitly playing slightly out of position. Doubts duly raised.

They've got a record coming out in a month or so. I've listened to it once now, and I don't quite know what to think yet. Much of it is awesome, yes sir, but I'm not quite as blown away as I had hoped. It's definitely more impressive than your average stoner-rock foray, and the guitarists acquit themselves well, but it still remains slightly anonymous-sounding. The best bands of this ilk (Dead Meadow, Om, High on Fire) are possessed of singular identities that transcend the decades of tradition and imitation that have kept the genre locked in the early '70's. Witch, despite its above-average song-writing and musicianship, doesn't mark out enough distinctive territory on its debut. I'm being a bit hasty, of course, so maybe my impression will evolve with further listenings.

Anyway, from the self-titled debut, out March 7th on Tee Pee Records, here's Witch's "Black Saint". It's a highlight, for sure. The second half is pretty damn blazing. Good work, fellow Americans. You can buy a copy through the label when the time comes, I'd imagine.

Fuck You, Pen Scrawler

2006-01-23T22:16:00.000-05:00

Sun City Girls: "Liberties"

Hey there. I'm Emerson Dameron. I know some of these cats from college. Thanks to Ryan's magnanimity, I'll be through every so often to lay a little garbage on you. I'll start with a sentimental fave from last year.

2005 was a hectic year for Arizona's Sun City Girls. They put out a holy host of globetrotting mix tapes on their Sublime Frequencies label. Spokesman Alan Bishop curated a Morricone collection for Ipecac. And Uncle Jim, a dada-drunk contrarian and visionary wiseass who appears sproadically through SCG's massive, scattered catalog, finally got his full-length due. For my money, Uncle Jim's Superstars Of Greenwich Meantime (on the KY label Black Velvet Fuckere) is the least hinged stand-up record on the racks. Here's track one, side one. It's ripped from vinyl, so you'll have to sit still for about eight seconds of silence. Still a fuckin' bargain.

Month Of Bob

2006-01-10T13:54:00.000-05:00

Bob Pollard
"Dancing Girls And Dancing Men"
"Wrinkled Ghost (Demo)"

This is going to be a good year for Bobby. I can feel it. Above are a few songs to get your head right about this statement. The first song is one of the top jams off his new album From A Compound Eye out on January 24th. The second is an old demo I found on his site for one of my favorite songs on one of his earlier Matador solo records.

See your drunk ass at the 40 Watt on Thursday the 26th. Fuck yeah Wurster is on drums!

Black Taj

2005-12-08T15:47:00.000-05:00

Not who you think, but close.

Black Taj - "Woke Up Tired"

Go here and read about this bad ass shit that is rooted in Polvo (also download a different song there). Crog said they blew his fuckin' back out when he saw them in NC recently. Think more Bonham than Ravi.

infinite days of christmas

2005-12-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

Joseph Spence: "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town"

We here at Mesmerization Eclipse love Christmas, or, as we call it in Boston, the Non-Denominational Winter Holiday Season. Even more than Christmas, we love Christmas music. Starting today, and running up until the end of time, this here webpage is now dedicated solely to music in exaltation of that glorious and wondrous day.

Our first song: Joseph Spence's "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town". This song is so beautiful, you just know that somewhere some angels are crying.

Goosebumps in the shower, like seriously

2005-11-26T09:37:00.000-05:00

I've been gone from this for a really, really long time & I apologize. I would like to blame grad school and, of course, Boston. Without having checked through the archives to see if you've already covered it I'd like to present to you Gentlemen & Ladies track 7 from the most recent Deerhoof album, The Runners Four. The guitar solo at 2:09 is my most favorite thing in music right now & gives me the same feeling the bass rumble from a Bad Brains song that I'm embarrassed that I can neither locate or remember.

Deerhoof - ~~Wrong Time Capsule~~

Oh, wait I remember. For a second during She's Calling You from I Against I, when HR says "...vibrating cosmic waves...".

Bad Brains - ~~She's Calling You~~

number four.

2005-11-23T16:03:00.000-05:00

Archers of Loaf: "Jive Kata"

Shortly before they broke up, the Archers of Loaf released a fanclub-only seven-inch featuring this song, "Jive Kata", and a live recording of "Slow Worm". That live track was recorded at the Middle East in Cambridge, which is where I saw Crooked Fingers play an amazing show back in March. That show was partially amazing because Matt Gentling, the Archers' bassist, had joined Crooked Fingers, and for about twenty minutes I was able to eavesdrop on a conversation he was having with some dude sitting next to me. Gentling's an earthy sort, apparently.

But so, "Jive Kata". It's not the best Archers song, but it's an interesting rarity, and a good precursor of their final album, which was released a few months later. Like White Trash Heroes, "Jive Kata" is darker and less immediately rocking than their earlier material. Between the keyboard and the high-pitched vocals, it's an unusual song for the band. Not a highlight, it remains a worthy curiosity. I'm throwing this up here primarily because Coke Bref requested it months and months ago. Enjoy, friend.

You can't buy this anywhere, as far as I know. Try Ebay, I guess.

number three.

2005-11-23T15:53:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth Daily: "Shake It Up"

Elizabeth Daily is a true titan. Best known for her riveting potrayal of Dotty in Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Elizabeth "E.G." Daily later charmed the hearts and minds of a generation of stupid-ass kids as a voice actor on various shitty basic cable cartoons. As truly awesome as that may be, I shall always love her primarily for her amazing singing career. The excellent theme song to the even more excellent film Better Off Dead is easily the brightest spot on her resume, but she has excelled on other work, as well. Before Better Off Dead she sang on a couple of Moroder-produced tracks from some movie or the other, maybe Scarface, or Space Camp, or something. Something awesome, though, obviously. That's apparently where "Shake It Up" comes from, and thank God I was fortunate enough to stumble upon this on the internet the other week. Born when I was, I grew up believing all music was supposed to sound like this. I think we'd be living in a far better world if it did.

You can buy the official motion picture soundtrack to Slapshot here.

number two.

2005-11-23T13:49:00.000-05:00

Espers: "Flaming Telepaths"

Emerson tipped us off in the Flagpole back a month or so. WZBC added the album to their playlist during an installment of our show four weeks ago. Through the illegal magic of the infernal internet we have made this song ours forever. Espers' cover of the Blue Oyster Cult's "Flaming Telepaths" is a true work of beauty, as thorough and successful a reworking of a great song as one could ever hope to find. Espers' version is exactly as excellent and ridiculous as the original, as enchanting and sprawling as that one is compact and overpowering. More BOC songs could stand to be reenergized through a similar process of early-'70's Anglification. The gauntless has been passed down; "freak-folk" bands of the galaxy, feel free to heed this call.

You can buy The Weed Tree here.

a few morsels before the feast: number one.

2005-11-23T13:38:00.000-05:00

Neil Diamond: "Hell Yeah"

The Statue of Liberty's 100th birthday celebration was the greatest television show of all time. It was better than The Pitts. It was better than a billion Olympics. It was even better than that BBC news thing where Mark E. Smith makes that hilarious face. The best thing about it was Neil Diamond's stirring performance of his seminal classic "America". Neil Diamond's "America" makes every other song about America irrelevent. In my opinion we're a one-song country, and that song is "America".

12 Songs is Diamond's first posthumous record. Rick Rubin helped produce it, and finished it up after Neil's untimely passing. People think it's some sort of renaissance, but to me it just sounds like warmed-over Crooked Fingers. I like Crooked Fingers a lot, and if I wanted to listen to Crooked Fingers, I would listen to Crooked Fingers, not some washed-up old lounge singer. Washed-up old dead lounge singer. 12 Songs is for old ladies and little girls and dudes who don't have the stones to handle the monomythlogical rock of Crooked Fingers. Crooked Fingers is the purest and darkest of metals, reforged in unassuming singer-songwriter guise, and sailed forth to bring true poetry and beauty to the miserable, undeserving masses. On 12 Songs Neil Diamond is a mere shadow of that might, a lecherous boil upon the colossal bulk of Crooked Fingers' righteousness. There is no "America" here, no transcendent glory, no exalted symbology and patriotic anthropomorphism, just an old, dead man drooling haplessly into his morning laxative.

The only song worth hearing here is "Hell Yeah". It makes me want to hoist high my tankard of ale and drink deep from its bewitching bounty. For these four minutes, Mr. Diamond, you are momentarily spared my eternal enmity.

You can buy 12 Songs here, but beware the evils of rootkit.

Tell Me 'Bout the Color of Your Soul

2005-11-22T16:37:00.000-05:00

Gary Puckett and the Union Gap: "Woman, Woman"

ScatMan John: "ScatMan's World"

I'm a coward. I cut and run from P2P networks about five days after I first ventured in. I had time enough to grab a few gigs worth of songs, though, and "Woman, Woman" just happened to be one of them. That was back in September, or so, and it wasn't until last week that I got around to queuing up this particular mp3. Upon doing so, I had to pause, and ask myself, "okay, what the hell is this?"

I love this song. Normally. I at least love the version that used to get played on Fox 97 all the time. This is definitely not that version. It says Gary Puckett on the tag, but it most certainly does not sound like the Gary Puckett who so easily tickles my cerebellum on the original. It may well be him, and this just a more recent recording of the all-time classic, and I imagine that to be the case. Still, Gary's complicity aside, this is a shameful bastardization of Mr. Puckett's masterpiece.

"ScatMan's World", on the other hand, is a startling improvement upon ScatMan John's similar, and more familiar, hit. It's quite possibly the happiest song I've ever word, and pretty much all I've been able to listen to for a month now. I would give anything, absolutely anything, to glimpse ScatMan's world, even if for just a moment.

a momentary respite from the Pollard-lust

2005-11-04T09:20:00.000-05:00

Giorgio Moroder: "The Chase"

We briefly lost our heads on Ebay, ringing up all sorts of purchases we truly did not need. One thing I do not at all regret buying, though, is the dvd collection of the first ten installment of the NWA's Clash of Champions. These were pay-per-view quality cards that aired four times a year on TBS, and pretty much nothing was more exciting to the middle-school Darkness. But I've already written about this, here and here, and so I'll let that be. Today I'm here to talk about one of the two or three greatest tag teams of all time, the second formation of Jim Cornette's Midnight Express, featuring Beautiful Bobby Eaton and Sweet Stan Lane. Not only did they have the most innovative and high-impact double-team maneuvers around, not only were they represented by the best manager of the time, they also possessed what is indisputably, hands-down, the greatest ring entrance music of all time. Moroder's "The Chase", from the score to the film Midnight Express, sounds awesome in any situation, but especially when blasting out of the Omni's PA while 15,000 wrestling fans go apeshit wanting to kill Cornette. Greater even than Also Spracht Zarathustra, Randy Savage's Pomp and Circumstance, or anything from New Japan, All Japan, or NOAH, this is the greatest theme entrance of all time. Now, I never quite understood why they named themselves after a movie where prison rape is a recurring thematic element, but hell, it lead to them using this amazing music, so I full-heartedly endorse whatever thought process was involved.

Guided by Voices Suitcase 2 Disc Two

2005-11-03T10:53:00.000-05:00

Guided by Voices: "I Am Decided"
Guided by Voices: "Mannequin's Complaint"

Second day, second disc. Now in iPod-friendly .MP3 format. Our reviews can be found here.

GBV - SUITCASE 2 - DISC 1

2005-11-02T11:59:00.000-05:00

GUIDED BY VOICES - "Stingy Queens"

GUIDED BY VOICES - "Something For Susan In The Shadows"

See Mez Eclipse for the review of this disc.

you ain't even white, god-daaaamn

2005-10-26T15:47:00.000-04:00

Eugene McDaniels: "Headless Heroes"

Eugene McDaniels: "Supermarket Blues"

Four or five years ago I read about Eugene McDaniels' Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse in an issue of Mojo. In typical fashion, the writer went on about how this politically radical album was a crystalline distallation of the yawning chaos and anger of the racially-segregated American ghetto, or some such nonsense like that. Though overblown and pretentious, the paragraph or three piqued my interest, and so I set out on a half-hearted search for this long out-of-print record. It was a futile quest, until I got a high-speed internet thingamajig just a few weeks ago. Now I've acquired the record (through entirely legal means, of course), and the long-forgotten words of a Mojo hack have finally given way to genuine auditory experience.

Geez, is this record sort of a let-down, or what? I dig it, to a degree, but if you ignore the words, this is one of the whitest sounding funk/soul albums ever. Check the words, and you'll see Eugene's verifiably pissed, but instead of putting any of that anger into his voice, he sings it like Rev. Gregory from Amen. I didn't expect to hear Clifton Davis singing about the exploitation of both the brown and red man, or the racial and class prejudice that's an inherent and necessary part of war-mongering. I could see him singing about God, or cartoon mice, or that irascible Rolly, but not something called "Freedom Death Dance". The music's similarly a lot more subdued than I figured, and the lyrics, while certainly well-meaning, are frequently embarrassing. "The Parasite", in its blatant condescension toward the "simple-minded" Indians, should offend and/or amuse just about anybody who pays attention to lyrics. And "Susan Jane" is some awful hippie precursor to Train's miserable "Meet Virginia".

And yet, well, as I said, I still dig it. It makes a mockery of my expectations, but it's still oddly powerful, if not as viscerally as the pompous Mojo twit led me to believe. The lyrics are splenetic as fuck, even if Eugene's voice doesn't reflect it. The conspiratorial title track, in which, regardless of political belief or skincolor, the mass of humanity is merely "cannon fodder" for the rich and connected who actually run the world, could not only be relevant today, but also remains a pretty damn good song. It could be a theme for however many anti-war or anti-government groups these days. Listening to songs like "Headless Heroes", "Jagger the Dagger", and the gently rolling music to "The Parasite", I can sort of see what that British guy was trying to say. Sometimes, Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse actually is really good. And then, sometimes, like on "Supermarket Blues", it's just fuckin' ridiculous.

all my money and all my drugs

2005-10-17T17:20:00.000-04:00

Blood on the Wall: "Dead Edge of Town"

Blood on the Wall: "Gone"

I've already written a little bit about the new Blood on the Wall record here. Awesomer isn't extraordinary, or anything, but it is one of the better straight-up rock albums I've heard this year. As I mentioned at the main site, they sound strongly like something you'd hear on a good college radio station back in the late '80's or early '90's, echoing any number of classic indie-rock bands, but without sounding too much like any specific influence. They're a throw-back that still sounds fresh. Yes sir. "Dead Edge of Town" is a bubblegum approximation of Live Skull/Kim Gordon no-wavish rock, whereas "Gone" recasts "Paranoid" as Homesteadian jangle-punk. Practically every other song on Awesomer resembles one of these two, which is not in any way a bad thing. I stand by the three Earl Anthony review.

no, but I do want to know what the fuck you're wearing

2005-10-14T15:25:00.000-04:00

The Move: "Do Ya"

Okay, between the ads for The 40 Year Old Virgin and whatever website that is, ELO's version of this song has been pretty much omnipresent on tv the last few months. I think I still prefer that one, but this earlier take, by Jeff Lynne's previous band the Move, stands up well on its own. Stripped of all that ELO technicolor biz, its vibrancy replaced with power-pop crunch, this somewhat ramshackle production is a more straight-forward rocker, with some definite early '70's glam tendencies. It's unusual to hear Lynne's voice on something that hasn't been tweaked and produced to within an inch of its life. It almost sounds like an ELO demo. Anyway, "Do Ya" was apparently the b-side to the Move's last single, and I believe their biggest US hit. ELO remade it a few years later, and Madison Avenue rediscovered it after burning out on "Mr. Blue Sky".

I Wanna Bust That Body! UH!

2005-09-27T18:55:00.000-04:00

PRINCE - "BATDANCE!"

Ever hear an old song you used to love and look back and think..."Man.......I really used to listen to that shit...woah....WHAT AN AWESOME JAM!". Shit, that happened to me today. Just cruisin in my coupe and one of my old school jams came on the station and it took me through this warp zone - had me playin cards in a new demensia with Hall and Oates as cartoons!

PRINCE BATDANCE! The summer of '89 - I was 11, and people - this was my fuckin' jam all summer. The movie came out in early summer like June, and if I remember correctly the soundtrack dropped, a month early - easy. I clearly remember struttin down my street on the way to a pool jam with my sharp ghettoblaster pumpin the BATMAN SOUNDTRACK! We would put that shit on down at the pool and let it roll all day! BATDANCE was easily ahead of its time - prince probably invented sampling on this track. 6 minutes and 13 seconds of sheer MADNESS! Taking it back to my room for a chill, playin' SKATE OR DIE rollin' deep with some funky synths! Feel the beat yall & "DONT STOP DAN-CING!"

live-emailing the new strokes song

2005-09-21T14:45:00.000-04:00

the Strokes : "Juicebox"

Hillary send me the new Strokes song around 10:30 this morning. I noticed it twelve minutes ago, or so. I sent her my thoughts as I was listening to the song for the first time. Here they are.

Mez Ecl to Hillary 2:35 pm (7 minutes ago)

hmm...

ten seconds in and it sucks.

I like them, though, so hopefully the next three minutes will improve.

seriously, this sounds like Hash Pipe, or something like that.

is this for real? or a bad joke?

now it's the Vines...

urgh.

Mez Ecl to Hillary 2:36 pm (6 minutes ago)

okay - I dig the chorus. the first forty or so seconds are too "rough". in their case, too butch. they're awful when they try to act tough.

Mez Ecl to Hillary 2:37 pm (5 minutes ago)

hmm...

is that "waiting for some action", or "waiting for some actress"?

is Julian dissing his homeboy Fab?

Mez Ecl to Hillary 2:43 pm (1 minute ago)

sorry to flood your inbox...

overall I think I maybe like it. the chorus and bridge are both good. it's at least half a good song.

I didn't like Reptilia much, for similar reasons. They're best when they're poppy, not angry.

so has the whole album leaked?

when a love song has gone wrong, where does a sad girl go?

2005-09-21T11:01:00.000-04:00

St John Green : "7th Generation Mutation"

St John Green : "One Room Cemetary"

St John Green only put out one record, and that's a shame, because the supreme hippie nonsense of that single album reveals a band with an unimaginable potential for the sublimely ridiculous. I guess there's no telling how much of the awesomeness is due to the band, or the drugs, or the work of their producer, all-time freak Kim Fowley. Wherever the inspiration came from, it was a powerfully idiotic source, and led to the creation of one of the finest mind-zapping lp's around. I've got no idea how sincere they were about this, or if the whole thing is a big larf on the hippie stereotype that, when the record was made in '67 or '68, was already calcified by overzealous media scrutiny. But no matter the intent, the damn thing is amazingly laughable, and laughably amazing, and also a good fair chunk of some dark, ominous, psychedelic bullshit. I whole-heartedly endorse it. These two songs are probably the most extraordinary on here, as the "mystic sage at a grim carnival" schtick basically trump any and all notions of producing pop music. Full of cosmic-slash-existential dread, a fundamental disgust with humanity, and devils and Venutians and shit, these two songs sound sorta like White Noise. Maybe that's what this is, the California equivalent to those more rational / less emotional Brits. Anyway, there are some more traditional sounding late '60's psych-pop stuff on here, but nothing touches these two exercises in in(s)anity.

yes there are twelve

2005-09-19T13:47:00.000-04:00

Ginger Baker's Airforce: "Twelve Gates of the City"

It took a quarter of a decade for me to set my Clapton animus aside long enough to realize that Cream had some exhiliratingly bitchin' jams. Of course Clapton's the weakest link there, but between Bruce and Baker I can't really pick a favorite. At least I couldn't, until I heard Ginger Baker's Airforce. A ten-piece jazz-rock-r'n'b-prog-fusion-African pile-up, Airforce put out two records in the one year they were together, one live and the other recorded in an honest-to-gosh studio. Featuring other notable dudes like Steve Winwood and Denny Laine, Airforce was the third so-called supergroup in a row for Baker, and easily the least successful. And that's a shame, really, 'cuz their crazy hodge-podge of rhythmic junk is almost oppressive in its awesome ridiculousness. If you're into overwhelming post-'60's super-muso bombast, with dubious cultural appropriation and a hearty wank factor that would approach the pretentious if it weren't just completely excellent, then, uh, Airforce is for you, especially the live debut. These guys are maybe the definitive hamm-jammers. The second, studio album is more restrained, slightly more straight-forward, and thus significantly less interesting, but still pretty damn good. I don't have any mp3s from the first one handy, so please make do with "Twelve Gates of the City", the final song from the second record. I think you'll agree that the lyrics and, especially, the back-up singers, really help this song succeed.

you wonder why your life sucks

2005-09-07T16:34:00.000-04:00

Anti: "It's the Drugs"
Anti: "Fill Me Up Put Me Down"

I know next to nothing about Anti. I'd never even heard of him until the last half hour. According to this post at ILM, he's a reclusive headbanger from Martha's Vineyard who's been making cd-rs for a few years now, using nothing but a bass and his voice. I think a lot of folks would be quick to call this outsider music (a term I generally dislike), but I'd have to disagree. I guess there's some Jandek in the presentation, and the vocals remind me slightly of Steve Gigante from the excellent Dark Inside the Sun, but I wouldn't call either of them outsiders, either. Both are idiosyncratic, sure, but neither of them possess the disability of a Wesley Willis or the incompetence of the Shaggs, and I don't think the person behind Anti does, either. Again, I've got no idea who that person could be, but this article seems to indicate that, as of June 2004, he was a high school student. Of course, there could be two Anti's from Martha's Vineyard, with ties to Aboveground Records, but I sort of doubt it. And Anti's rage is pretty teenagerly, for sure. Anyway, all I've got to say about "It's the Drugs" is that it's one of the best songs I've heard all year. It's heart's in the right place, you know? And "Fill Me Up Put Me Down" is pure misunderstood teen bile. I can't tell how much of this is serious, how much of it is some sort of deconstruction of heavy metal motifs, or what, but for the most part Anti seems pretty excellent. Scott Seward, the ILM'er referenced above, has put an entire album by Anti up at this here website. I recommend it, for sure.

Do you guys like the Clientele?

2005-09-02T13:04:00.000-04:00

They're one of those weird bands that seem to tread the line between completely obscure/somewhat popular and loved/annoyed by. So what's the deal? I assume most of you have probably at least heard the name.

They are a creeper band. The first time you hear them you think in blog language "meh" or "whatevs". Then you have a choice- check out something else, or see what the "meh" develops into. If you pick option number two, you'll start thinking in blog language "I *heart* Clientele", but that's too 2003, so it'll probably be more like "do I love the Clientele? Obs!" Or if you're a blogperson and you're age 20 or younger (or you're my brother) you think "CLIENTELE RULZ FLFORLA! AHALKJKS :') ROFL BRAVERY SUXXX." Or something like that. I don't know that language too well.

So if you listen to this, I recommend jamming it at least two or three times if you can "meh" it. They are a real slow-burn.

Since K Got Over Me
My Own Face Inside the Trees

These are two from their forthcoming album. The first is the jammmmmm. (obs)

I thought they were saying "hold me, Lee Majors"

2005-09-02T10:36:00.000-04:00

That's the main reason I'm posting this song.

It's also pretty good, too, I guess.

I'm pretty sure every single one of us already owns this, but whatever.

Kanye West (feat. Nas and Really Doe): "We Major"

"I got the inna-net goin' nutz"

2005-09-01T16:16:00.000-04:00

PAUL WALL - "They Dont Know"

This dude fuckin' rules. Im just about as excited for this record as I was for Kanye, if not more.

The People's Champ. Period Ass Period.
Get used to this name. This guy is fuckin awesome and is probably about to overtake Mike Jones (WHO?!) as the best out of Swisha House when his album drops on September 13th. Thanks to Elliott for this MP3 of what we think is the first song off this new record. You heard it here first. Chuck the duce and fuckin' let those titties bounce to this.

let me butt in on the newness here...

2005-09-01T10:26:00.000-04:00

Sigur Ros: "Hoppipolla"

The first time I ever met Jimmy Hughes was at CMJ in New York back in 2000. That night I commandeered his bed after getting totally shit-faced at a Go-Betweens concert. I was completely, irrevocably drunk, as I was every night that week, and told Jimmy that, even though I'd be sleeping in his bed, there'd still be room for him, if he liked. Before falling asleep I somehow had the presence of mind to throw Agaetis Byrjun, which I had bought earlier that day, on the stereo. I was asleep about three minutes later. No spooning occurred that night, unfortunately.

But so, it wasn't Agaetis Byrjun that put me to sleep, because that record's really amazing. It was the drink, pure and simple, although perhaps the drugs Jimmy had put in my drink had something to do with it, too. For a few months that year, Sigur Ros was one of my favorite bands. It kind of passed quickly, though; I never really got into their earlier records, or that () thing. I haven't exactly been lookin forward to their new one, Takk, and in fact I didn't even know they had a new one coming out. A few weeks ago, though, I came across this song somewhere on-line, and it reminded me why I used to like these guys. "Hoppipolla" outsweeps Spiritualized, while also eschewing that dude's ridiculous junk fetishism. It's aching, but offers consolation, and is really just a beautiful song, if a little overwrought. Overwrought works with this kind of stuff, though, so that's actually a mark in "Hoppipolla"'s favor.

Continuation of new jams

2005-08-31T13:51:00.000-04:00

More jams? Yes. I have them.

Today I present Deerhoof. Admittedly, I was late to the game with these clowns. I'd heard of them for years upon years and never got around to a test jam. Shit, admittedly, it was years before I even developed suspicions inside of my mind of them being good. To take it a step further, maybe they weren't even good until the last few years. They have a shitload of albums, but I'm only familiar with the last four. And heck, they put 'em out fast too.

Can they jam? Fuck yeah. I think they're one of the best live bands around and the records don't really do them justice, but in the vast majority of time when you are not finding yourself watching them in concert, the recordings will have to get you by.

Running Thoughts
Scream Team

These two are off their forthcoming album The Runners Four. Twenty songs is hard for me to handle, especially at work where I'm only at the computer intermittently and can only jam a tune or two at a time. So, here's two that are good, but almost every song on here is as good as these two in my opinion.

Not Freebird

2005-08-30T13:41:00.000-04:00

I read a quote somewhere by some dude in My Morning Jacket saying the new album sounds different from their previous output. Really? How many bands actually say, "Yeah, the new album's pretty the same old shit... no change."?????????

This time the dude's not lying. Just listen to the first cut off of their new album. Keyboard atmospherics in a My Morning Jacket song? Electronic percussion? Falsetto histrionics? Wordless Chorus? Obviously.

Wordless Chorus

The next song sounds, according the Ice, like the Replacements (and I agree). You've never heard the dude sing like this. The ultimate fist pumping, throwing the dog off the boat, taking a dump on the hood of your worst enemy's car type of jam.

Anytime

Wait Two Minutes-----

2005-08-29T15:25:00.000-04:00

FOR THE CHORD CHANGE!!!!!!! Then you are on the journey to the ultimate zone.

The new Animal Collective record is easily the most anticipated record for me this year. Am I disappointed? No. "Feels" is, not surprisingly, nothing like "Sung Tongs". I don't think there's an acoustic guitar anywhere near this shit. Electric guitars, electronics, drums, piano, noises, and some crazy-ass singing is what makes "Feels." While it doesn't reach the highs of "Sung Tongs", I think it's more consistent. The songs are more complete and thought out. Out of nine total jams, only two could be considered drones.

Banshee Beat
Did You See The Words

The first tune posted is "Banshee Beat", the stand out from when I saw them almost a year ago. It is long and worth the time. The other tune, "Did You See the Words", is the best album opener I've heard in a long time.

I appreciate comfortable and/or affable mediocrity above all else

2005-08-24T17:11:00.000-04:00

Love Child:"Sofa"
Love Child:"Start to Smile"
Love Child:"Willpower"
Love Child:"Know Its Alright"

I'm not dumb enough to say that I learned more of value at WUOG than at the library, but what I picked up in the vinyl and cd vaults have stayed with me more than anything from Lexis-Nexis or a microfiche. For example, Love Child. The first time I remember hearing about them was when Badaboom Gramophone ran a Trouser Press update near the end of the century. The writer fellow went on about Love Child like they were the most unfairly neglected band ever, as if every '90's indie-rock band of note was stealing what was rightfully Love Child's. I was familiar with Alan Licht and Rebecca Odes, but didn't know anything about their first band (or third songwriter Will Baum, for that matter), and decided to track something down, based on this ridiculously positive review. WUOG had their first album, Okay?, on vinyl, and although it's nothing Earth shattering, it's always struck me as a very likable little record. It's basically a bunch of sloppy, rudimentary pop songs, with a somewhat restrained Licht occasionally splattering guitar nonsense all over the place, sort of like Ira Kaplan. I used to play this all the time on WUOG, both on Blank Generation and on my rotation shift. I could never find a copy of my own, though. A few months ago, I was able to rip mp3s from a friend's vinyl copy, and so now here are some songs from Okay?. Again, nothing fantastic, but I find this all very charming in that "hey, we're in college, let's start a rock band, and be kind of arty, but not really try to cover up our inherent dorkiness, or anything" kind of way. Sort of like the France, maybe.

we still exist

2005-08-22T11:23:00.000-04:00

Circle: "Lokki"

Sorry.

Although I liked the comic books, and Kirby’s Asgard is still an amazing sight, I’ve never liked the way Marvel designed their Norse gods. The blonde, beardless Thor is bland, some anonymous Harlequin romance cover model. His hair should be the color of fire and blood, with a big burly beard obscuring half his face. Loki should look like some ancient Viking hipster, not some gold and green fashion-plate. And those long, slender horns are way too effete. Listen to Circle’s “Lokki”, from their awesome 2002 live album, Raunio. Does this sound like a dude who’d have girly little handle-bars sticking two feet out of his head?

Now, “Lokki” is one right-on depiction. At first it’s only kind of tricky, slightly confounding and dizzying with that kraut-rock groove. Gradually it grows more and more sinister, until its true evil is revealed. And then it gets tied to a rock with the entrails of its son. But the song is one amazing jam, bridging the miniscule gap between early Hawkwind and kraut-rock, dropping some excellent sustained guitar wizardry on top of a patented Can beat. I can’t recommend Raunio highly enough. Circle’s playing at the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta on September 10, with Providence’s Urdog opening.

Club Soda unbridled

2005-08-09T23:00:00.000-04:00

~~Silver Jews - Tennessee~~

I'm not the hugest fan of the Silver Jews but maybe that's because I really haven't given them (him) the chance. David Berman is a wizard with the words & though I'm mostly a music first, lyrics second kind of gentleman, sometimes I do pay attention. One of my favorite little bits of this song is the one that goes "punk rock died when the first kid said/punk's not dead".

He's got a new record coming out soon & there's a somewhat candid interview (drugs/depression/rehab/fanboys) at ye olde Pitchfork. Pretty decent beard too.

Do not touch mic, be careful

2005-08-02T23:40:00.000-04:00

~~MED - Whut U In It~~
~~Madvillain - Money Folder (Four Tet Remix)~~

I wish I had the server space/bandwidth to blather on about Madlib. He's one of those musicmakers that's just shitting out great beats & records & side-projects & guest spots every darn day. The MED album is nearly all Madlib production except for one Just Blaze track that sticks out but not like a sore thumb, more like a more radio-friendly but still amazing head-nod thumb. The Madlib beats hooked me, induced multiple listens even though I'm not that interested in MED's rhymes. He kind of reminds me of Diverse but with less interesting things to say.

The Madvillain track is kind of a fake-out because your regular Madlib beats have been replaced with Four Tet's take on the keyboard & horns loop. Drum breakdowns replaced with freejass-out. The marriage of vocal & instrumental isn't as nice as it could be but I still love it to death. I wonder if anyone will want to listen to to the skronktronica record I'm going to make that only samples Ayler's ESP output & Filipino gamelan records. Probably not.

the best of the black/white bands

2005-07-25T10:51:00.000-04:00

Black Dice: "Snarly Yow"

I’m not sure about the percussion. The last two Black Dice albums have been fairly amazing in part because of their general lack of traditional rhythm. There’s not much of anything resembling a drum sound on either of those records, but discernable rhythms nonetheless emerge from the ever-shifting textures and waves of noise and sound. "Snarly Yow", the first song from their upcoming album Broken Ear Record, begins with some untraditional rhythm, but it sounds too electronic, almost like some bad late '80's European techno. I half expect some guy to start talk-singing in heavily processed German. So initially I'm turned off. As it progresses, though, and the background sounds eventually engulf the rhythm, "Snarly Yow" starts to reel me in. But then it shifts into some pretty mundane tribal drum-circle stuff, sort of like Sunburned Hand of the Man, and although it's completely fine and enjoyable, it's slightly disappointing, coming from these guys. If Black Dice is going to start sounding like one of their peers, however inadvertently, I could think of many groups more appropriate than the hit-or-miss Sunburned Hand. Thankfully this part gets washed away by some white noise after a couple minutes, replaced by steady delay glitches and intermittent bursts of static. This last half of "Snarly Yow" harkens back to Creature Comforts, their last album, and ends the song on a relative high. From the few songs I've heard from Broken Ear Record, I'm doubtful it'll be able to hold its own against Comforts and the amazing Beaches and Canyons. I've heard slightly less than half, though, so perhaps the rest of the record will be amazingly awesome. Let's hope so. I think it comes out in September, so we've got some time to wait.

Will Oldham = Antiques Roadshow

2005-07-22T12:14:00.000-04:00

Another brief entry sans mp3. Related to the short discussion of ________ is the punk rock _________, Stereogum has a (a band) = (tv show) thread up that is amusing.

UPDATE: Here's "Various Times", by The Fall.

and now, more hits from the ninth grade

2005-07-20T16:18:00.000-04:00

Ride: "Decay"
Ride: "Polar Bear"
Ride: "Vapour Trail"
Ride: "Twisterella"

Elizabeth Carrington used Ride's song "Decay" as the soundtrack to the first project we had to make in video productions our freshman year of high school. The song feels pretty goofball fourteen years later, but back then I thought it sounded amazing, like the world was about to end, but with some melody. Shortly thereafter I picked up their album Nowhere, and learned it had a few songs that were dramatically better than "Decay". "Polar Bear" made me feel like I was slowly drifting into a yawning chasm of pleasant distortion and indifferent harmonization. Along with "Blue Jay Way", "Heroin", and two or three minutes of a Spacemen 3 song I heard after accidentally tuning in to WRAS when I was twelve, "Polar Bear" was one of the first songs to make me think that maybe listening to or making music while on drugs could potentially be a good idea. As much as I dig "Polar Bear", though, "Vapour Trail" has always been Nowhere's undisputed highlight. It's a gorgeous song, with the string section nicely complementing Ride's reliably awkward singing and slightly psychedelic guitar sound. It's ridiculous that one of the primary song-writers from this band has to resort to playing third fiddle in Oasis.

Nowhere was the only Ride album I ever owned. I loved "Twisterella" when it came out, but never had a copy of it until college, when I taped it off of Crog or Sean. It's more straight-forward guitar pop than anything off Nowhere, sort of like Grand Prix-era Teenage Fanclub, but it's still a fantastic tune, that sounds as good in a Gap today as it did on 120 Minutes back in '92.

No Comprendo

2005-07-19T16:11:00.000-04:00

Franco Battiato: "Meccanica"

Pugh Rogefeldt: "Har Kommer Natten"

A fella named the Amazing Jaxon put together a mix cd of "non-anglo psych, prog, folk, funk", and posted it up over at ILM. It's a fine compilation, and an act of remarkable kindness to share it with anybody who cares. Some of the songs are by people I've long wanted to hear (Igor Wakhevitch, Tom Ze, Nino Ferrer), but most of these folks are brand new to me. A ton of records have just been added to the bottom of my "to buy" list, dammit.

For those too lazy to click through, here are a couple of my personal faves from Jaxon's comp. Like much of Faust's work, the first few minutes of Franco Battiato's "Meccanica" are an almost unsettling cross between the playful and the ominous. Later on, when the synth bass note, acoustic guitar, repetitive solo, and creepy choral business are in full force, "Meccanica" could be a fragment from some '70's horror film score. The drawn out, mellow ending might be kind of a let-down, but it could also justify interpreting the song as a musical expression of a lunar voyage, if you wanted to take the time to think of some sort of overarching theme for a review. Meanwhile, "Har Kommer Natten", by the Swede Pugh Rogefeldt, is a fuzzy, stumbling little burst of acid-folk that sounds not unlike Dungen.

I wanna be free to know the things I do are right

2005-07-17T22:34:00.000-04:00

~~Faith No More - Easy Like Sunday Morning~~

Several days after the fact now, I can't remember if it's the Lionel Richie original or this cover that I heard in a jeans commercial on the tv. I guess it doesn't matter too much. I think this was the bonus track on some FNM import single that my friend Carlos had circa 1996 (and prob. still has).

Chugga chugga, rap part, breakdown/mosh, repeat

2005-07-12T22:37:00.000-04:00

~~The Damned - New Rose~~
~~My Chemical Romance - Helena~~

I saw most of the new Don Letts (B.A.D.) documentary ”Punk: Attitude” on IFC the other night (I missed the Rollins intro I think). It does a good job up to 1981, for both sides of the Atlantic, but gets a little fuzzy past that. Once they get to the mid-80s & beyond, they’re moving too quickly to really talk about anything too substantially besides Nirvana, the Year That Punk Broke & blah blah blah about the current state of “Punk”. One quote that stuck with me (I can’t remember who, Glenn Branca maybe? Thurston Moore?) was something to the effect of the OG punk being “rock inspired punk” & the new jack pop-punk being “punk inspired rock”. I’m stretching for these ends of the spectrum but I forgot that I ~~like~~ love the first Damned LP & like so many other got-dang MTV superhits, the video for My Chemical Romance’s Helena has worked its popgothpunk magic on me, maybe. I prob. like it for same reason I had/have a weakness for the Alkaline Trio.

Oh, I also like the part where Rollins breaks down the Limp Bizkit formula & says they'd be his fave band too, if he was 12.

We're All Cooking the Same Goose

2005-07-12T13:33:00.000-04:00

Magazine: "I Love You You Big Dummy"
The Embarrassment: "Sexy Singer Girl"

A year or two after forming the Buzzcocks alongside Pete Shelley, Howard DeVoto decamped and created the less overtly pop-minded Magazine. One of the first bands to play punk-influenced music that broke from that scene's close-minded doctrine, Magazine helped necessitate the critic's creation of that semantically nebulous piece of jargon, "post-punk". They started up in '77, released their first single, "Shot by Both Sides", early in 1978, and quickly established themselves as a fairly complex and adventurous band operating on the periphery of the punk-rock demimonde. Their best work compares favorably to Wire's Chairs Missing and early Public Image Limited. I'm just starting to get into them, honestly, and have yet to hear much of their catalogue. One of the songs that impressed me most immediately, though, is their cover of Captain Beefheart's "I Love You You Big Dummy". Released as the b-side to "Give Me Everything" in 1978, "Dummy" is more straight-forward than most of Magazine's stuff, the synth hiccups and horn bleats notwithstanding. Still, though, it's an anthemic stomper of a song, with that open-E bass riffing that I love so. In fact, that open-E bass note sounds remarkably like another obscure old chestnut that I've long loved, "Sexy Singer Girl", by the Embarrassment. I believe I've talked about the Embos before, but to refresh, they were an antic punk/new-wave quartet from Kansas in the late '70's / early '80's. Like DeVoto, Embarrassment guitarist Bill Goffrier also moved on to a notable second act, fronting '80's indie stalwarts Big Dipper (who can be heard here covering DeVoto's former partner, courtesy of Mystical Beast). Anyway, "Sexy Singer Girl" is a simple little song, but remains supremely satsifying, in no small part thanks to the afore-mentioned bass-line. To anybody who saw the France try to play this at the Ultramod back in the spring of 2001, I sincerely apologize.

maybe maybe maybe, ah, no

2005-07-12T09:44:00.000-04:00

Yes, this is "completely idiotic and ridiculous and also awesome", but maybe a little too calculated? As in, yeah, it's kind of retarded, but I can't fully appreciate it, because I know the band is smart enough to realize how ridiculous it is. They're trying hard to make staggeringly stupid pop music, but the seams are far too visible for me to completely dig it. And yes, luggage is the appropriate comparison.

I Jammed Econo

2005-07-12T09:25:00.000-04:00

It's prob. against mp3 weblog rules to post something w/o a song but I've got no access to the one I want now & I need to get this out of my head. After Dark & I got shut out of the 9:45 viewing of the Minutemen movie on Friday I was totally bummed. We were on the ZBC list & got the boot because it was sold out. So I went yesterday, all by my lonesome & it was great, I got goosebumps.

But I have this one, irresponsible question:

Are the Minutemen the punk-rock Rush? And I do not mean this musically. I mean in terms of the audience. Outside of a couple of girls that I know & evidenced the selection of talking heads in the movie (besides the guy from Saccharine Trust & Kira), is it just white dudes who like them? Or is it just the selection of people that the filmmaker came up with?

Ponder, discuss.

There's a Rainbow in My Heart for You

2005-07-11T15:22:00.000-04:00

As good as the a-side of I Believe in Atlanta is, the flip just may astound you. The first song, indeed, is probably the best of the lot. “We Got It Good” is a champion. The first side might be totally white-bread, but with “We Got It Good” the producers acknowledge Atlanta’s pivotal role in the R’n’B / urban music world. This song’s smooth, up-tempo funk will obliterate you with its irrepressible good cheer. When that peerless scat begins a minute and a half in, all shit shall surely be lost. This truly encapsulates the spirit of Atlanta in song-form, and I can’t believe we didn’t crank this long and loud at our wedding last year.

On the penultimate "We're Ready To Fly", the album fully reveals its intricately woven tapestry of musical themes and narrative motifs. Yes, Atlanta is absurdly awesome, and the deft, unassuming fashion in which this fine album reminds us of this fact is a truly remarkable feat of intellectual engineering. If I ever did stop believing in Atlanta, this record would act as a defibrillator to my faith.

Seriously, how incredible is this record, and, by extension, Atlanta? Listen closely to "A Place In My Heart". Forty-two seconds in, you can hear the MSN lady saying goodbye. This song was recorded in 1986, a good eight years before the World Wide Web and widespread home internet access. The wizards who made I Believe in Atlanta possessed that technology before it even existed. That is how amazing Atlanta is, and why we should all bow down before her. Atlanta is indomitable, and will one day own all of us.

"We Got It Good"
"We Belong Together"
"We're Ready To Fly"
"A Place In My Heart"

The Spirit of the Phoenix is Growing Strong

2005-07-08T13:29:00.000-04:00

I was born in Atlanta. I spent a few years in the wilderness of Sarasota, Florida, but for the most part I was raised around Atlanta. I haven’t lived there in a couple years now, and although Boston’s pretty great, I miss the old gal pretty regularly. Despite its many flaws, I truly do believe that Atlanta is one of the finest cities in the world. The city’s amazing, unrelenting arrogance is one of the many reasons I love Atlanta. In 1986, to honor its first 150 years of awesomeness, the city commissioned a tribute album to itself, and called it I Believe in Atlanta. It is, quite simply, the greatest album of all time. I bought this for a buck at a thrift store in Kennesaw in 1996. God truly gave me a high-five that day. From the amazing peach-colored gatefold sleeve (slightly reminiscent of the Allmans’ Eat a Peach), to the photograph of a handsome, hopeful Andrew Young within (placed alongside brief but eloquent liner notes from the very man himself), I Believe in Atlanta is a testament to the unparalleled excellence and unbridled ego of the City Too Busy to Care. Overwrought television theme music, charmingly naïve local musical theater, and the sort of songs you’d hear in Andy Sidaris films all come to mind when listening to this unheralded treasure. Today I offer to you the first side, featuring “Look at Atlanta”, which might be familiar to old Head to Head listeners.

"Look at Atlanta"
"The Town That We Call Home"
"On Our Way"
"Such a Lovely Lady"
"Doin' the Town (Up Right)"

make him cry like a woman

2005-07-06T14:53:00.000-04:00

Sorry, major post-holiday laziness plus a recent uptick in work has prevented me from producing content for this wonderful site of ours. This might tide you over until I can get my shit together again. Thanks for understanding.

Glove & Joy

2005-07-01T20:44:00.001-04:00

~~Bart Simpson & Michael Jackson - Lisa, It's Your Birthday~~

This would have made a whole lot more sense a couple of weeks ago but Jeebus works in mysterious ways. Find yourself some Simpsons songs to download at simpsoncrazy.com.

my favorite record of 2005, thus far

2005-07-01T14:44:00.000-04:00

Gang Gang Dance: "Glory In Itself / Egyptian"

Gang Gang Dance’s kaleidoscopic sound experiments hardly follow pop convention, but labeling them a noise band would be remarkably reductive and wrong-headed. As their second album, God’s Money, proves, Gang Gang Dance are considerably more ambitious than your average knob-twiddler or haphazard neo-tribalist collective. There’s not much sonic similarity between God’s Money and Sung Tongs, but as with that record Gang Gang Dance has produced an album that could conceivably appeal to a more pop-centric audience, without alienating their fan-base or shunting aside previous aesthetic ideals. The twitchy drones on God’s Money are usually semi-recognizable as songs, as with the surprisingly funky “Glory In Itself / Egyptian”. If you listen hard enough, it’s possible to make out the lyrics to this one. Halfway through it turns into what almost sounds like a rap song, with a repetitive synth melody and bass-line that could have come from an early Neptunes work. Lizzi Bougatsos, artsy singin’ chick of Scarnsworth’s dreams, obscures her words with delay and various effects, but they remain more discernable than on prior efforts. Like the album as a whole, you might have to put a modicum of work into understanding it, but once you do so some pure and refined enjoyment is your reward.

You can order a copy of God's Money here.

serious posting resumes this afternoon

2005-07-01T11:07:00.000-04:00

Until then, happy summertime.

No love to be found...

2005-06-27T12:39:00.000-04:00

~~Baby Huey - Hard Times~~
~~Ghostface Killah - Buck 50~~

The story as I heard it for the first time a few years back is that Baby Huey, a very large individual, was some sort of soul guitar prodigy who ate himself to death, distraught over the death of his hero, Jimi Hendrix. Not quite nearly the truth but maybe close. According to the All Music Guide he had some sort of glandular problem that had him hovering in the 3-400 lbs. range & he died of a drug-related heart attack in a hotel room before his debut The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend was released on Curtom. The song seems somehow heavier given the weight of the possibly apocryphal backstory. One of a handful of soul songs that make me sad & want to dance at the same time (provided it's played near the end of the night, when it's obvious I’ll be spending the night alone).

The Ghostface track does just loop sped-up, extended bits of the song but it’s the 4 beats of trill-y flutes that really seal it for me. I finally caught onto Supreme Clientele 3 years after it came out, just as I was rethinking my ignorance of all Wu Tang-related albums besides the first. The rest of the album is great & my favorite of the solo Wu records, although the instrumentals + dialogue version of RZA’s Ghost Dog soundtrack (out of print Japanese import, damn it!) is pretty fantastic too.

And in related news, there’s a RZA interview w/Terry Gross on the Fresh Air site that's worth a listen here.

this is destined to be a pretty lop-sided feud

2005-06-27T09:37:00.000-04:00

Trey Songz: "Opening the Closet"

from All Hip-Hop:

TREY SONGZ VS R.KELLY

I’ve been avoiding this rumor, but there is R&B BEEF on the grill. So, this new dude Trey Songz and R.Kelly are going head to head like a pair of battering rams. This whole thing started out as one of Kelly’s songs for his new CD, “The Closet.” This is another steamy, overly hot song about cheating. In the song, Kelly can’t leave the house of another woman, because her hubby is in the house… So, Kelly apparently left the ending open and there are four other parts to the saga. Along comes new jack Trey Songz and his song called “Opening The Closet!” From what I understand, his song is from the perspective of the man that’s about to open the closet on the cheater. Problem is Trey Songz’s song is getting quite a bit of play and its casting a shadow on Kelly’s original. Atlantic, Songz’s label, didn’t release it, but he is signed to the label. To complicate matters, I heard that Kelz is trying to work out a label deal with Warner Music/ Atlantic and lil’ ole’ Trey Songz is jamming up the process. We’ll see what’s what with this one.

Hillary sent "Opening the Closet" to me last week, but I didn't put it up right away because I had no idea what the hell it was. Who is Trey Songz, anyway? It's pretty obviously not a parody, or at least not a successful one, as proven by the fact that it's not nearly as funny as the original. I thought perhaps it was supposed to be the song retold from the cuckold's POV, but since he woke up with a chick at the beginning I figured that couldn't be it, either. Apparently it is supposed to be, though, and unfortunately for poor Mr. Songz the narrative thread of Kells' original epic renders this response immediately irrelevent. Other than the Febreeze ref, there's basically no compelling reason to listen to this thing.

when idea outstrips execution

2005-06-24T15:56:00.000-04:00

Genghis Tron: "Laser Bitch"

Genghis Tron is some absolutely ridiculous band from Poughkeepsie that merges the currently very in vogue new wave stylization with some thrashin’ scream-ass grind-metal nonsense. It’s a wondrous concoction that’s at once awesome and hideously awful. Their ep Cloak of Love is quite beloved with the younger staffers at WZBC. I give them points for the concept, but get bored quickly when listening to the disc, as every song sounds practically the same. It can be interesting in isolated doses, though.

I've Been Lovin' Every Night

2005-06-23T10:10:00.000-04:00

Huey Lewis and the News: "Heart and Soul"

I used to have a theory about how anything that was good when you were six is truly good, and will remain good forever. It doesn’t pan out in many aspects, but it works with music, for the most part. Not that Mickey’s Splashdance is any great piece of art, or anything, but it’s still fun to listen to. Back in ’83 an older brother got big into Huey Lewis and the News, and so by extension Sports became my first favorite non-Disney record. I’d borrow his cassette and rock out in the living room to “I Want a New Drug” and “The Heart of Rock and Roll”. Like Jerkwater, I’d be riffin’ on the air-sax, blowing my mind out like an imaginary Johnny Colla, fantasizing about being on stage in front of the Statue of Liberty, or down at Robards Arena. To my six-year-old brain, Sports was the greatest rock and roll record ever, primarily because it was the first one I’d ever listened to.

Twenty-one years later (and one week ago) I bought an old vinyl copy of Sports for a dollar. I hadn’t listened to this thing since I was in elementary school, but I still remembered every single song, even if the names weren’t familiar. Some of it is cringe-worthy, but nothing can diminish the excellence of “Heart and Soul”. Its combination of white-guy pseudo-disco-funk, cheery ‘80’s synths, and hard-rocking pop-metal crunch is sublime. It wasn’t my favorite as a kid, but in the sober light of adulthood it’s probably the best song on the record.

Please forgive the bad rip; I sorta fucked up, and forgot to cut out the ending to “The Heart of Rock and Roll” at the start.

I've drunk from small brown bottles since I was so long

2005-06-22T13:07:00.000-04:00

The Fall: "Hip Priest"

Dana over at Mystical Beast was kind enough to repost the Dustdevils’ cover of “Hip Priest”, per my request. It starts off slowly, but once it really kicks in it almost reaches the heights of the original. If you want to compare the two, you can download the Fall’s original here. The Fall is my favorite band, and even though this is a pretty iconic song for Mark E. Smith, it’s not nearly their best tune. I’d have a hard time saying what is, but there’s at least a dozen or so I prefer over “Hip Priest”. Anyhow, the Dustdevils version is the best Fall cover I’ve ever heard, and thanks again to Dana for putting it back up.

Make-a one man weep, make another man sing

2005-06-17T16:18:00.000-04:00

fukkin' rawk

Huey Lewis and the News: "The Power of Love"

I moved to San Francisco for two reasons- my suspicion that Huey Lewis and the News are/were from here, and the burritos. The first tape I ever remember owning was the Back to the Future soundtrack. My dad went on TDY (don't know what that stands for, but it's the equivalent of a business trip in the military), and inexplicably gave it to me as a gift upon his return. It was the tradition to receive something interesting from the far off realms. It's how I found out about nutella, years upon years before it was sold in the US. See, this process made a lot more sense when he went to Turkey or something like that, but this time he gave me a cassette tape. It is precisely at this moment that I'm thinking maybe we went TDY to the Bay Area and the souvenir was the Huey Lewis-centric soundtrack.

Sure enough, I was soon air-shredding both the guitar AND the sax to the Huey Lewis jams on the soundtrack, and Huey Lewis quickly became my favorite band, to be usurped by GNR a few years later.

Come Here, Come Hither: this Go-Betweens shit is Through

2005-06-16T10:06:00.000-04:00

The Go-Betweens: "Hammer the Hammer"
The Go-Betweens: "Rock and Roll Friend

Okay, it’s been more than a week, but this giant Go-Betweens rigamorole is finally ended here, once and for goodness’s sake. This was supposed to go up yesterday, but work and laziness intervened in equal measure. But this wondrous Thursday is as exceedingly fine a day as any for our final thoughts on the Go-Betweens, so let’s shove off into our murky estuary of overblown rhetoric and addle-brained faux-insight.

I only own four cds by this band, and two of them are “greatest hits”-ish compilations. I dig them, but clearly am not a superfan like our friend SA. Some of my favorite songs by them aren’t from any of their albums, though. I don’t know if they were released as singles, or b-sides, or what, but there are a few songs from some early ‘90’s compilation that don’t appear on any of the albums or Bellavista Terrace, the best-of released in ’99. “Hammer the Hammer” is one of these songs. I do believe it was a single, actually, and, from the sound of it, obviously one from the early ‘80’s. I suppose I could do some research, but I’d rather make use of assumptions and conjecture than actual facts or knowledge. Either way, “Hammer the Hammer” is a good one, having a bit more of a late ‘70’s, early ‘80’s post-punk feel than your typical Go-Betweens jaunt. It’s simpler and more direct than most of their albums, catchy enough to be a single, but almost lightweight enough to be a tossed-off b-side. The lyrics don’t have any special appeal for me, really, but I do think the vocals are some of the finest in the band’s oeuvre. Sort of like “People Say”, this one bears a resemblance to their antipodean contemporaries from the Flying Nun label, more so than the vast majority of their recordings. It’s just a nice pop song, you know?

Okay, yeah, “Rock and Roll Friend” is fruity. It’s also beautiful, though, in a slightly more professional Sarah Records kind of way. Again, it’s very straight-forward and simple melodically, and lyrically no bearer of amazing insight or emotion. But those shimmering chords, that earnest guitar figure, the utterly basic yet agreeable bassline, and that winsome guitar solo at the end (an obvious precursor to the sterling outro to Imbruglia’s ”Torn”) are all, for me, undeniable. This sounds like Echo and the Bunnymen’s more glorious moments, but without all the melodrama and bookish brooding. This comes from the same early ‘90’s compilation, called something plain like The Go-Betweens ’78-‘90, which is a much better introduction to the band than Bellavista Terrace.

And alright, that’s it. No more Go-Betweens, ever. We’ve killed them dead. Join us next week as we start our tribute to Huey Lewis. But not the News. The News can go fuck themselves, for all we care. Except for that slick cat who’s always smoking, though, he’s pretty cool.

It Gave Me Something Small That I Could Feel... : Go-Betweens Part Five

2005-06-13T16:58:00.000-04:00

Final update from SA:

The Go-Betweens: "Caroline and I"

The reunion kept on keeping on and the 2nd mk II album, Bright Yellow Bright Orange, hit the fan in 2003. The opening track, "Caroline and I", sounds mundane as the opening chords strike, but what saves it is the lyrical content. About being born the same year as the princess of Monaco, the song has a unique feel to it. I don't know how Forster comes up with the subjects he sings about, but the great thing about him is he pulls them off. I can't imagine being in my mid-forties and writing a song about growing up during the same timeframe as an obscure(?) royal woman who I don't know. I'll admit that lyrics usually aren't all that important to me, but McLennan and Forster are both skilled in the art of the lyric, and Forster in particular can be downright fascinating at times.

The Go-Betweens: "Born to a Family"

Crews had the good fortune to see this played live last night, as they are currently on tour in support of their newest album Oceans Apart. I am no fool for loving this band so much, or at least the music critics don't think I'm a fool, as Oceans Apart is currently ranked #5 on the year at Metacritic. For this one, they called upon the 16 Lovers Lane producer and pulled out all the stops. It appears they have hit it big in... Germany!? Yes, it is true. Good for them. "Born to a Family" is a peppy little jaunt again about looking back and again doing it in Forster's own style. It reminds me musically of Springsteen's "Working on the Highway", and that's a good thing.

He'll save every one of us

2005-06-12T23:07:00.000-04:00

~~Common - The Corner (feat. the Last Poets & Kanye West)~~
~~Public Enemy - Terminator X to the Edge of Panic~~

The keyboard in the opening bars of Common’s mostly Kanye West-produced new album Be sounds like a Casio version of the “Happy Birthday Lisa” song that Bart & ~~fake~~ Michael write in that one episode. I kind of thought I'd accidentally downloaded the ringtone. Then the drums come in & it makes more sense. I’m still working my way through the rest of the record as I type this but the first single “The Corner” has made me pay way more attention to Common than I have in some years. In all honesty it may have even been the video (directed by Kanye!?!), which begins with giant titles ala the opening credits of Panic Room superimposed over the Chicago lakefront (oh, home...(for those of you haven’t seen it, I’m looking at you Darkness, think the cover of that Lambchop record “Nixon”)). Then Common rapping in the front seat of a car driving the streets on a bitter looking winter day. The song itself begins with a sub-stutter of kick drum that immediately makes me think of “Terminator X to the Edge of Panic” until West’s trademark sped up soul sample drops instead of the JBs siren sound. You’d think he’d be tired of that trick by now but he’s not. And maybe even more surprising is that he somehow makes it work here, still. The drums lope along, doing their business, the Last Poets deliver their guest bit as the wise men on milk crates dispensing nuggets of info and Kanye’s little chorus couplets don’t overtake the song like he might if someone other than Common was behind the wheel. My current favorite part of the song is his ‘uh-uh, uh-uh-uh’ that follows the drums. Oh, and Common’s verses are pretty great, too.

Coming next: things you might love to hate - Joan of Arc vs. Scott Walker. Rejoice!!!

They once chopped my heart the way you chop a tree: Go-Betweens part 4

2005-06-10T15:55:00.000-04:00

and yet more from SA/Jerkwater:

The Go-Betweens: "Clouds"

Capitol records signed the Go-Betweens for their sixth album, 16 Lovers Lane. Now they were poised, more than ever, to hit the big time. While a lot of money went into recording the album (produced by famous producer Mark Wallis), the songs were still not compromised in any way. Some may be turned off by the extreme sheen on this record, but it's a good album through and through. This one was the most difficult to pick a song out of, as I could have easily picked 6 out of the 10 tunes to be my favorite one. With that in mind, I don't think it's necessary for me to dissect the song featured.

Of course, they didn't hit the big time with 16 Lover's Lane, although it did produce their biggest radio hit, ”Streets of Your Town”. Fed up, convinced by themselves and critics and a fervent cult following that they should be huge, they called it quits shortly afterwards. It also didn't help that the two couples in the band (Forster and drummer Lindy Morrison; McLennan and multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown) broke up. This album's been referred to as the "indie Rumours".

The Go-Betweens: "Going Blind" (M4A File)

12 years go by. Forster and McLennan turn out some solo records to mixed reviews. In the late '90's they tour as a duo in support of the release of Bellavista Terrace: the Best of the Go-Betweens. They have so much fun, they decide to make another go at it as the Go-B's. Sleater Kinney, ultimate fans, are at a show where they announce their plans to reform. They offer their services as the backing band. A new day is born.........

How many bands break up for twelve years, reform, and don't sound washed up? The Go-Betweens may be the only one. Especially with having listened to some of their solo records, it's completely amazing how vital and... unwashed up they sound on 2000's The Friends of Rachel Worth. Once again, the sound is totally different from any other album, yet it still sounds like the album after Sixteen Lover's Lane. ”Going Blind” is the single, and one of the catchiest songs McLennan's ever written.

Whatever I Have is Yours, and It's...

2005-06-09T08:43:00.000-04:00

More thoughts from Jerkwater, aka SA:

The Go-Betweens: "To Reach Me"

So now we stray from the Go-b's "classics," so to speak. I could've picked one of the two obvious choices from '86's Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express, "Spring Rain" or "Head Full of Steam", but this is my favorite song on this album. What is the point of Go-Between's week anyway? Purely for the satisfaction of one Dark Ness and Ess Ey. We just got our first comment today, from the ever-reliable Hillary. This song marks the first example of what would become the definitive Go-B's guitar sound. The guitar lead is a two-note chord melody, most notable at the very end of the song. Most comparisons from newer bands to the Go-Betweens are usually referenced through this guitar style.

This pick was also inspired by it's surprising inclusion on the set lists of their most recent tour. If you like this, you'll have to go visit Crews in Chapel Hill to see them.

The Go-Betweens: "Right Here"

Their fifth album Tallullah brought them their first, very minor, radio hit... "Right Here". If you don't like this, I can understand, because it does sort of sound like something you'd here in the dentist's office (if you dislike "Cattle & Cane", however, then we have a fundamental difference in musical tastes and I will not take any recommendations from you again). Were they trying to 'go for it'? The simple answer is "absolutely not", although it is speculated that the first single off this record, "Cut It Out", was McLennon's attempt at a radio smash, and the song totally sucks. But classics like "Right Here" and "Bye Bye Pride" were just the next step in their evolution. These guys were getting older, more mature, and their music reflected that. Another reason for this more adult sound is the addition of McLennen's girlfriend Amanda Brown, who brought a smorgasborg of instruments into the fold, most notably singing, violin, and oboe.

I shoplifted a cd entitled "Indie Rock", although it was the german words for "indie rock", which I don't know anymore. I know it was called that because I remember wondering what indie rock meant back then at the tender age of 14. Soul Asylum, Sugar, Dinosaur Jr, Ministry, you name it. All the big alternative bands were on it, and now that I know how the music industry works I don't understand how they could license all that music. It was a double disc, 40 song behemoth of a comp, and I loved this song called "Right Here" by a band I'd never heard of called the Go-Betweens. I had designs to even check out some of their albums. However, about six months later I moved back to America and the movers stole almost all of my cd's. I love the "Indie Rock" compilation and my piece of shit memory forgot all about the Go-Betweens. About six years later the Go-Betweens released a 'best of' cd. The band name had been in my subconscious mind since the "INDIE STEIN" days (I just now remembered the word for "rock"), and I was compelled to buy it for reasons I then did not understand. They purposefully left "Right Here" off of the set, who knows why, but the bonus live cd revealed my past to me. When they broke into "Right Here" I shocked myself by immediately singing along to every word.... what a revelation! Within a year I had all of their albums.

Party, down at the Boys Ranch

2005-06-08T17:45:00.000-04:00

TURBONEGRO - "All My Friends Are Dead"

This is the only mp3 off the new album that I could find.
Drops in the US next month.

Turbonegro was hands down the best opening band that I have ever witnessed. Griggs, Elliott and I saw them open for the Queens back in '03 and they fucking blew us out of the water. These guys are up there as far as funniest bands on the face of the earth. I hate to say it but they might even bury Ween. The thing is they are a lot smarter than most critics give them credit for. On the exterior they seem like a bunch of fags who can play guitar and make up some jokes, which shit they are - but shit Turbonegro are lightyears ahead of 100% of what is on all radio right now.

This song is average - but the european reviews I have read so far have not listed this song as one of the best on the album. However, it was the only one I could find. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND BUY A TURBONEGRO RECORD RIGHT NOW!

Still though, I GOT ERECTION!!!

From the first letter I got to this her Bill of Rights: The Go-Betweens Part Two

2005-06-08T10:54:00.000-04:00

The Go-Betweens: "Cattle and Cane"

By their second album, the Go-Betweens had found their way. On 1983's Before Hollywood they shed the roughness of their earlier work, becoming polished and assured. Listen to ”Cattle and Cane”, maybe their greatest work; their evocation of youth, unsentimentally nostalgic, is beautiful in its understatement. I yearn at the drop of a hat, and while “Cattle and Cane” triggers that, it also makes me feel sort of guilty for always dwelling on the past. Memory wastes, not just by fading away, but by wasting one’s time and potential. Get too wrapped up in memory, and you won’t be making any new ones worth remembering. My mind gets locked on the past a couple dozen times a day, frequently bringing on the expected feelings of hopelessness and regret. Compare it to ”Summer of ‘69”, another fantastic song; Bryan Adams desperately wants to return to his youth, declaring that everything since has basically sucked. That’s a more natural, but far less healthy, way of looking at the past than what we hear in “Cattle and Cane”. The Go-Betweens glance backwards but continue moving, further, longer, and higher, whereas Adams wishes he’d always be back in ’69. So there’s a wisdom and a maturity to “Cattle and Cane” that you rarely find in songs about lost youth. Between that and the stealthily infectious music, “Cattle and Cane” is one of the finest pop songs I’ve ever encountered.

The Go-Betweens: "Part Company"

Jerkwater Johnson says:

Hot off the success of Before Hollywood, the Go-b's added a bass player so McLennen could jam his nifty guitar parts live. One of the things that I like the most about this, my declared 'favorite' band, is the progression from album to album. Each is distinct from one another, and you can tell which one came before it and which came after it. To compare the the first 80's album to the last 80's album... they're completely and totally different, yet it's easily identifiable as coming from the same people. They are still, to this day, evolving their sound. No re-treads. 'Part Company' comes from their third album, 1984's Spring Hill Fair. It's got the melodic, softly angular, post-punk/indie pop sheen from its predecessor, but the songs begin to take on a more conventional structure. 'Cattle and Cane' doesn't even have a chorus; it just kind of chugs along, albeit awesomely (I would have written gorgeously or beautifully, but it seemed against the mez ecl standards). 'Part Company' is standard guitar hook/verse/chorus/repeat. And what a guitar hook. It's so simple, but it really makes the tune... and when coupled with the lyrics the song elevates into classic territory for me. But what the heck is that keyboardy thing in the background? It has been known to make people think their car is broken.

I'm Gonna Take You 'Til the Kingdom Comes : The Go-Betweens, Part One

2005-06-06T17:04:00.000-04:00

Okay, we’re finally going to do our week of updates about the Go-Betweens. Australian-bred but London-based, the Go-Betweens song-writing team of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan was responsible for some of the best unpopular pop hits of the 1980's. Too refined for both the mainstream and the underground, they were respected by critics, but mostly ignored by the public. They maintained a tenuous grasp upon a major label contract throughout the decade, before breaking up for ten years or so at the end of the '80's. They never broke through to commercial radio, but never came close to being as widely beloved as such '80's college-radio staples as REM, Sonic Youth, or the Replacements. Perhaps they would have found some degree of success in those amazingly alternative '90's, but they were long-gone by then.

It feels odd to be starting this off, since Sean is a much bigger fan of the band than I am. I like them a great deal, don’t get me wrong, but I’m fairly certain that they’re Sean’s favorite band, and, as such, he should introduce them, in a perfect world. I own their first album, though, and Sean doesn’t, so I drew the assignment out of necessity, and shall get down to it now after wasting everybody’s time for the last two paragraphs.

Go-Betweens: "People Say"

It’s easy to see why the Go-Betweens have never been very popular. Their literate pop-music, while catchy, was never as overtly melodic as, say, the Magnetic Fields, or as wistful or mawkish as Belle and Sebastian. This is especially true of their early work, which is what we’ll be discussing today. "People Say" was the a-side of their second single, recorded in 1979, and included on the 1999 cd 78 'til 79 The Lost Album. The Lost Album is just that, a previously unreleased collection of random two-track recordings from the late '70's, sandwiched between the band's first two singles. It is not in any way a remarkable collection, despite the pleasantness of the two singles, but it is a good snapshot of a young band that has yet to find its way. "People Say" is a terrific little tune, clearly in the thrall of the Clean, with a nice keyboard line bouncing about a catchy, almost Velvets-y pop song. The musical sophistication which later became their calling card is not much in evidence, however. It's very much the sound of a band still tentatively exploring their possibilities, groping towards an approximation of pop songcraft, and, with "People Say", finally coming up with something truly worthwhile. Most of The Lost Album vacillates between the charmingly ham-fisted and the marginally interesting; "People Say" is obviously the highlight. It may sound like a group of inexperienced college kids, but that's basically what the Go-Betweens were at this point.

Go-Betweens: "One Thing Can Hold Us"

If The Lost Album is the result of a young band who has yet to discover their own path, then Send Me a Lullaby is that same band hopelessly lost in the woods. The Go-Betweens did progress between 1979 and 1982, but it can be hard to tell. 1982's Lullaby, their first full-length album, is quite fairly regarded as the least of their records. Maybe their songwriting skills didn't yet match up to their ambitions, or perhaps they were ashamed of or uncomfortable with said goals; either way, Lullaby is a frequently awkward and unwieldy album. Between indifferent instrumentation, lackluster lyrics, and downright ugly melodies, Lullaby sounds like the product of a thoroughly confused band. This is not to say it's bad, though, or unworthy of attention. The band's future greatness can occasionally be glimpsed, and some of the slightly more experimental aspects are surprisingly rewarding. At the same time, though, "One Thing Can Hold Us" is probably more recognizable as a Go-Betweens song than anything they had yet to record. It remains a little rougher around the edges than future recordings, but in its tasteful catchiness, and moderately mature, sedate accoutrements, the future of Forster/McLennan is apparent. This is the Go-Betweens sound, not fully fleshed out, but entirely evident, and quite enjoyable. "One Thing Can Hold Us" is the launching pad for greatness.

Tomorrow: um, that greatness I just spoke of.

the conclusion

2005-06-06T09:10:00.000-04:00

R. Kelly: "Trapped in the Closet V"

Wow, what a completely random and disappointing "surprise" ending. I was hoping Kelly would become the Rod Serling of the hip-hop generation, but no dice. I'd say that R. is definitely no M. Night in the wily trickster category, but that dude pretty much sucks, too.

Who knows, maybe the videos will reignite the passion.

My Red Hot Car

2005-06-05T21:50:00.000-04:00

~~Mos Def - Ms. Fat Booty~~
~~Q-Tip - Vivrant Thing~~

I don't know. Maybe it's the few minutes of MTV I watched at dinner time or something about the first couple of semi-hottt days in Boston or something I can't even put my finger on. I don't know. I was feeling a little late 90s, summer hip-hop nostalgia today. The first song is a single from Mos Def's solo record that landed after his excellent debut as part of Black Star with Talib Qweli. It's not my favorite song on the record (which is pretty great all the way through) but it does what it needs to do & it turns the typical "booty song" on its head (sort of). He tells the story of a girl that he admired from afar, dated, fell in love with & when he asked for exclusivity, she drops him. The Q-Tip track is pretty much a booty song. There isn't much to it but what there is hooked me right away. The whole productions is pretty much 6 or 8 bars looped but it's undeniable. If I had an abstract car I'd definitely, er, bump these in my system.

Men (and women) at Work

2005-06-03T15:26:00.000-04:00

Architecture in Helsinki: "The Cemetary"

Architecture in Helsinki: "It's 5!"

My reggae outfit just got back from a short tour opening up the new 'hot' band. Their songs are lodged so far into my brain that I feel moved to post them up on the old internet mp3 blog. Hillary, Zig, Rob, Crox, Ice, and especially Crews-- I can't see why you guys wouldn't like them. Dark already likes them. They don't have any blazing guitar solos, so I'm not sure if OJ'll like em (did you actually like the masters?).

In their consistently great reviews, they garner plenty of comparisons to the Fiery Furnaces. The similarity I can see is that I'd catagorize both as indie pop/prog, but other than that I don't see it. AIH works with a much broader palette, and on their new album they try just about everything, as heard on 'Cemetary', the live favorite. They've got eight band members who switch it up like nothing the world has ever seen. On 'Cemetary', the main drummer goes and grabs the main singer's guitar. A guy who primarily play trombone and percussion goes behind the drum kit and turns out to be a better drummer than the regular drummer. The singer goes and plays one of the two keyboards. And then there's another keyboard player, a bass player, a guitar player, a trombone player, and a trumpet player. Other instruments played live are the bongos (sometimes by me when I was too drunk to stay off stage), melodica, clarinet, tuba, glockenspiel, recorder, saxophone and acoustic guitar.

What I think of more than Fiery Furnaces is Smile. If you don't know Smile that well, just think 'Good Vibrations'. Similar to that song, these are cut up into tons of totally different parts using completly different sets of instruments and then seemlessly woven together. 'It'5!' starts off with a vocal a cappella. Then after a few seconds it breaks into the verse, then another type of verse thing, then the chorus, then a bridge, then another bridge. then a stop. then another verse, alternate verse, a different version of the chorus which is drawn out into a horn part into half the second bridge and it's over. Two minutes and 7 seconds.

Finally, a tour story as recounted in an e-mail:

One night the guy that played before us played a cover of 'fly like an eagle', so i was drunkenly inspired to try out a completely random coverand solicited the crowd for requests. someone shouted 'under pressure' so we were going to do it but fucking drew couldn't figure out the two-note bassline and we had to abort the mission. i apologized for our lack of ability to jam. then when architecture played, they looked at me and said "this one's for sean" and played a perfect cover of 'ice ice baby'. they knew all the words and everything. they made us look like dogshit, man. so then we kept talking about a duel between 'big bird' and 'big lord' (the singer of aih and gabe, respectively) on stage. big lord wasn't into it because he thought they'd figure out a way to sabotage us.

we had been having them come on stage with all their trombones and trumpets and shit and play along to 'coupla smokees' to end the set every night. so the last night in seattle i called them up on stage to play it, and they're all standing there with us, ready to jam, and i say into the microphone "the duel ends now" and we break into 'land down under' by men at work. fucking obliterated them. we learned it in the van while they were soundchecking that day.

roughly translates to "tanned diamond"

2005-06-03T12:25:00.000-04:00

Avarus: "Taivaalla Tapahtuu"
Avarus: "Yo Tuli Ja Beduini"

tUMULt, the weird metal / heavy noise label from California, and the party at least partly responsible for Harvey Milk’s renaissance, has compiled all the out-of-print releases from Avarus here on a double-disc monster called Ruskeatimantti. Jan Anderzen, founding member of both Avarus and Kemialliset Ystavat, is probably the linchpin of the cresting Finnish “free-folk” biz, and is thusly responsible for some of the best mind-zapping rock of the last few years. If you dig on extraterrestrial forest jams and/or Asgard rock (which, I’m assuming, all our readers must do), then Avarus is worth exploring. That moment forty seconds or so into “Taivalla Tapahtuu”, when the stark stringed-thing plucks give way to a lo-fi rock drone, fairly encapsulates the musical range of this hippified noise cabal. The twirling, childlike lilt of “Yo Tuli Ja Beduini”, with its haphazard whistles, strings, and drums, sounds almost naïve enough to be some sort of outsider Kraut-rock. These two pieces are indicative of the two-disc set as a whole, yet neither one can provide an accurate glimpse into the beauty of the twenty-minute piece called “AVP”. It’s a little too long to fit on this site, but for anybody who likes these two examples I heartily recommend hunting down Ruskeatimantti in order to hear “AVP”.

Part Four

2005-06-01T10:28:00.000-04:00

R. Kelly: "Trapped in the Closet Chapter 4"

ce n'est pas un gilet

2005-05-31T22:40:00.000-04:00

~~Can - I Want More~~

Maybe it's best to start a little slow. I'm nervous, a little bit like when I had my first turn at the record store way back in the 1990s. I think I played something off of the Tortoise Remixes album. My friend Karen suggested I play Can because all record store clerks like Can. It turned out she was mostly right, at least in my neck of the woods (Chicago). I suggested this track "I Want More" to the Darkness (I call him by his given name mostly but I'll bow to convention) when I was at WZBC a week or two ago. Their vinyl stacks are surprisingly solid considering the stories I've heard of student djs skimming all the good stuff out of LP libraries across the country. I don't have a copy of Can's Flow Motion nor can I say that I have I listened to it all the way through, ever, but I like this song a lot. I only discovered it while watching the Can DVD set that came out a year or two back. At the time I didn't care too much for the live footage/documentary film thing at the beginning but the other live performances knocked me out. Towards the end (of the DVD & their career as a band) there's footage of the band playing on the Old Grey Whistle Stop (or something) circa 1972. "I Want More" has charted in England, their first "hit". It's vaguely disco, deceptively simple in the way some of the best Can often is. I can't explain its appeal to me. When I hear it, all I can picture is Irmin Schmidt in what looks like a vest made of pull-tabs, bobbing his head, raising his left hand to the crowd in between keyboard stabs. Amazing.

(And please don't make me for a pretentious Francophone. I used the interdarpawebnet to translate that phrase above. Hooray 21st Century!)

a new guy

2005-05-31T08:51:00.000-04:00

Hey. I've been monstrously slack with posting the last couple of months. To help make up for that, we've added a new guy to help out a bit. Rob, aka the fieldrecordist, might be throwing some stuff up on here occasionally. I think he has something coming later today, or tomorrow, or sometime soon. But he's one of the good ones, and we should all treat him with kindness and respect.

re: In Praise of the Ornately Sissified

2005-05-27T16:04:00.000-04:00

Belle and Sebastian : "You Made Me Forget My Dreams" (live in Utrecht 03/31/2004)

Belle and Sebastian : "Slow Graffiti" (live in Utrecht 03/31/2004)

As a sidebar to this post from the home base, here are live versions of a couple of songs from Belle & Sebastian's Push Barman to Open Old Wounds. The quality on this is almost flawless. I grabbed these from You Ain't No Picasso.

you have some eyes on you

2005-05-27T11:13:00.000-04:00

Bullette: "Your Eyes Have It"
Bullette: "I Can't Tell You Why I'm Smiling"
Bullette: "Night Starts Over"

I got an email the other day, sent to my semi-pro “rock-crit” address, from Monika Bullette. I get stuff like this all the time, and rarely ever follow up on them. That would have been the case here if Mystical Beast hadn’t done a post about Bullette. That got me intrigued, and so I voyaged to Bullette’s site to listen to her album, Secrets. And yes, it is great, some very charming indie singer-songwriter type stuff, sort of in the vein of Daniel Johnston, but more collected. Here are a couple songs, and I strongly recommend hitting her site for the rest of the album. Also read what Dana at the Beast has to say about it; I’m far too busy/lazy to write up something on my own right now, unfortunately.

He says "yes", I says "no", he says "yes", I says "no", he says "it's the truth"

2005-05-24T12:40:00.000-04:00

Hillary's done come through with Part 3. It's kind of a let-down, actually.

sorry about Collective Soul, America

2005-05-20T14:05:00.000-04:00

Deer Hunter: "Tech School"

Atlanta’s got a bad rep, rock-wise, and it might be completely deserved. Over the years its had a few good bands, but for the most part Atlanta’s rock lineage is populated with acts of unspeakable horror. Its rap is world-class, of course, but in every other way Atlanta’s been shown-up, musically, by such smaller towns as Macon, Athens, and even Augusta (hell, one man alone makes Augusta’s musical mark indelible, and superior to Atlanta's). Seriously, it’s one damn sad joke.

A week or so ago, I found a few mp3’s on-line by Deer Hunter, a contemporary rock band from that fair city of my birth. I wasn’t expecting much. What I heard was pretty good, though, and the more I listened the more I liked it. Apparently they’re connected in some way to the Black Lips, the last ATL rock band that didn’t let me down. Whereas the Lips are more straight-up garage punk idiocy, Deer Hunter seems to have a more vested interest in making unusual and potentially alienating sounds. They play at the dance-punk thing a bit, but they bury it under enough layers of grime, hiss, and random formless noise to avoid that fad’s more dogmatic precepts. It becomes undeniable that the band’s working with the right ideas when the song briefly turns into a crazed blur at the 1:54 mark. Deer Hunter puts up a fine Fall / early Pavement approximation, something every city could use, and hopefully next time I return home I can catch a show somewhere.

Oh yeah, the band informed me that this particular mp3, procured from their label’s website, was ripped from a vinyl copy of their album, and using a shitty turntable. I think it sounds pretty awesome as is, and hopefully the original isn’t missing too much of this file’s righteous mire.

everything I've written about Bloc Party applies equally to Cowboy Troy

2005-05-17T13:08:00.000-04:00

Bloc Party: "So Here We Are"
Bloc Party: "Blue Light"
Bloc Party: "This Modern Love"

Okay, so yes, they’ve been absolutely hyped to death, especially by the music-blogs. That should make all of us with good sense leery. And we don’t like crowding other folks’ bandwagons around here, but sometimes, as with the Futureheads, it becomes unavoidable. This is one of those situations. Bloc Party was omnipresent for a few weeks last winter, so I’m sure all of you have heard something by them. Knowing the way our three readers think, I imagine you all pretty much disliked them for various reasons. And that’s okay, I completely understand that. I wanted to hate the hell out of them, myself, and the first few songs I heard did nothing to change my mind. But now I am ready to defend them. Now I openly declare myself a Bloc Party fan. I’ve downloaded over half the record through various sites, and although a couple songs do nothing for me, at least five of them are, at the minimum, really great. A couple might be the best non-Clarkson songs I’ve heard this year. There are still five songs I haven’t heard off the album yet, but if they are anywhere near as good as “Blue Light”, or “This Modern Love”, or “So Here We Are”, then I could see Silent Alarm easily being one of my two or three favorite albums of the year. In a more perfect country these three songs would be required listening for every artsy, sensitive teenager today, a modern-day complement to the steady diet of Ian Curtis, Morrissey, and Robert Smith that eternally populates the playlists of teenaged punk romantics. More than anybody else in recent memory Bloc Party nails that sense of hopeful yearning felt by alienated but not angry suburban teens, and all those who believe they could be doing much more and much better than they currently are. That essence is best captured in “So Here We Are”, and the almost unnaturally beautiful wordless vocals that appear two and a half minutes in. Bloc Party could very well be the new U2, and despite my initial resistance I’ve been completely suckered in.

I'm-a shoot you both if you don't say what's on your mind

2005-05-16T10:50:00.000-04:00

Oneida: "The Eiger"
Oneida: "High Life"
R. Kelly: "Trapped in the Closet (2 of 5)"

UPDATE: Okay, no Go-Betweens today. I left the damn disc at home. We might postpone the whole thing for another week or two. We'll keep you posted.

Later today we start our Go-Betweens week. Before we get into that, though, I’d like to make up for last week’s lack of posts by offering up this quick update. I'm sure both of you are pissed at our profligacy.

Oneida’s new album The Wedding came out a couple of weeks ago, and it might be their most consistently excellent piece of work. The big news is the frequent usage of a string section, but instead of getting all vainglorious in a foolhardy pursuit of musical growth, the band continues to refine and explore the two or three things they do well. The orchestration on here sounds like Oneida playing different instruments, and not at all reminiscent of your typical unnecessary schmaltzification process. These aren’t Spector’s strings on “Let It Be”, or that weepy, overly earnest horseshit heard on later Sebadoh records. This is the same Oneida, with a slightly new palette.

And secondly, via Hillary, once again, comes the second installment of R. Kelly’s epic song-cycle “Trapped In the Closet”. If you missed part one, here it is. This one’s ending is pretty predictable, but even though it’s not nearly as effective of a cliffhanger as the first part’s conclusion, I remain desperately anxious to hear the next part.

half-assery

2005-05-13T13:47:00.000-04:00

Friends,

I might have time for a true update later this afternoon. For now, though, you can tide yourselves over by visiting Nokahoma Records' brand new mp3 directory. Right now there are eight files up, and hopefully by the end of day Monday there'll be a track or two from every Nokahoma release.

I'm pretty sure no American male between the ages of 14 and 21 would ever listen to this shit.

2005-05-11T10:43:00.000-04:00

Akon: "Don't Let Up"

Here’s another submission from Hillary, this time Akon’s "Don’t Let Up". So is this guy the Des’Ree of rap, or something? From the two songs I’ve heard, he’s definitely parent-friendly and age-appropriate for eleven-year-olds, which are not at all bad things. I’ve always been pretty down on rap, largely because it’s so unrelentingly disgusting most of the time. On these two songs, at least, Akon eschews the rough-neck idiocy of most popular rap, so good for him. And even though he’s probably just this decade’s Skee-Lo, Akon’s done a good job with this and "Mr. Lonely". I’m sure he’s too unbearably cute for most true rap fans, or even for most people who aren’t either in middle school or the parent of somebody who is, but, being the massive puss that I am, I’m pleased by both of the Akon songs I’ve heard, and would be interested in hearing some more.

From a Voice Plantation #2

2005-05-06T10:17:00.000-04:00

Arcesia: "Desiree"
Arcesia: "White Panther"
Arcesia: "Leaf"

Johnny Arcessi was a minor league big-band crooner who left Providence for California in the late ‘60’s. Instead of some flashy car or comely dame, the fruits of his mid-life crisis were drugs and rock’n’roll, false promises of reclaimed youth, all. He hooked up with some rocker types some three decades his junior, called the band Arcesia, and made one utterly fantastic, almost legendary album, Reachin’. Old Johnny, you see, didn’t really have much talent, in the traditional sense. What he did have is an absolutely unforgettable voice, a quavering, tuneless croon that slightly resembles Gary Puckett after some severe frontal lobe damage. Throw in some of the most amazingly convoluted and torturous hippie lyrics imaginable and you’ve got yourself an undeniable classic of almost incomprehensible proportions. The band’s mellow psych-rock is mostly competent, and at times quite nice; what makes this record the milestone that it is, though, is Arcessi’s incomparable voice and words.

Irwin Chusid mentions Arcesia in his Songs in the Key of Z, writing a small paragraph or two instead of the full entry that this amazing album deserves. Unlike much of the music discussed in that book, Arcesia isn’t simply bad, or awkward; this sound is utterly unique, and operates on a multitude of levels. Yes, it’s conventionally “bad”, but the same can be said of many notable singers who aren’t saddled with the outsider tag. In Arcessi’s voice you can hear a man who’s utterly confused, who has lost all connection to the reality that surrounded him, and who has found himself in a bewildering environment that he could never possibly truly inhabit. I wouldn’t necessarily call him a musical outsider, but he was certainly an outsider of the scene he was trying to crack. In his voice you can hear desperation, sadness, confusion, and maybe a bit of hope, and underneath it all the unwelcome realization that he is a man thoroughly out of place, and at least temporarily out of his normal mind. If David Brent were a mid-20th-century American, he would have made Reachin’.

Lord of the Final Leopard

2005-05-06T08:01:00.000-04:00

Caribou - "Yeti"

Caribou - "A Final Warning"

Caribou - "Lord Leopard"

In my eyes Caribou (formely Manitoba) is a perfect mix of the Olivia Tremor Control and Hood. Thats about all I want to describe them as and see if you all agree. I saw them as Manitoba open for someone (shit, Hood maybe) and the three members could achieve a sound that a 10 person band couldnt, and two of these guys were playing drums! Dan Snaith is the head guy and pretty much runs the show and does all the writing, which baffels me due to the complexity of the songs.

These three songs are pretty indicitive of the album. The drum fill when the drums finally come in during "YETI" blow my mind every time and could vie for the best drum fill ever! Somehow these guys have captured the sound of the Beatles early drums, really tight sounding - wet warm and huge at the same time. OTC could do that too. The second song could fit on a NEU! outtake record. The third sounds like something Fairmount Fair would write. So go figure. These guys are fucking great and their album is worth buying without a doubt.

You can purchase their album through Leaf Records - here.

Rabid Foxes vs. Hawks

2005-05-04T22:09:00.000-04:00

Howling Hex - "Now, We're Gonna Sing"
Howling Hex - "Activity Risks"

Now this is a good definition of jamming.
Ok I really dont know how many folks will like this, but I think its pretty much genius. Neil Michael Hagerty has proven himself oodles of times before, now it just seems like he is rewarding those who are interested enough to still be around. I love artists who give the real fans of their music reason to keep loving him. NMH released 3 12"s through Drag City's webpage recently that all sold out within a week of their release. Obviously his fans are still around and he is still rocking our asses. With this record I think NMH is trying to focus on the basis of jamming. How do jam? How do you continue jamming? Do you jam on? Yes to all of these.

If you dont like it, I want to hear why. If you do, that is fucking awesome.

You can buy the Howling Hex cd at Drag City.

I lost my mind at the Hawkwind show

2005-05-03T13:43:00.000-04:00

Monoshock: "Striking a Match in the Year 4007"

Monoshock: "Hawkwind Show"

Monoshock: "Mexican Dentistry"

Monoshock could’ve benefited from some good, old-fashioned temporal displacement. If they were blasting out this crud today they could very easily be getting some of the underground attention that’s been bestowed upon Comets on Fire and other, more outright noise bands. Had they come about ten years earlier they could have saddled up alongside folks like Chrome, Crime, and Swell Maps, and left a nice little footnote for those who dig intelligent space-raunch and cosmic punk jams. And if the sixties were their day, they’d be up there with the Godz and White Light / White Heat as prime foundational elements. But that fourth dimension is also a fuckin’ river, and part of our plight is to make do with where we’re plopped. ’89 to ’95 wasn’t the best time for this stuff, as bad “alternative” and occasionally good, but generally pansified and/or eggheaded, indie-rock were sucking up all the CMJ positions and Cute Band Alerts. Why would Album 88 touch this shit when they could just spin Velocity Girl’s latest another couple dozen times, instead?

I doubt Monoshock holds any grudges, though. Dudes who’d make music like this probably aren’t the sort of people who care about any of that stuff. From Oakland by way of Santa Cruz, Monoshock delved deep into the sort of heavy psychedelic noise rock that would later be touched on by folks like Comets, Acid Mothers Temple, and Subarachnoid Space. Their one album, 1995’s two-lp Walk to the Fire, is apparently some sort of lost modern classic, but I have yet to hear any of it. I did pick up a copy of the compilation Runnin’ Apelike from the Backwards Superman: 1989-1995 in San Francisco last week, and I will thoroughly vouch for its sporadic excellence. Comprised of three singles, two compilation tracks, a couple songs from their 1989 demo tape, and five previously unreleased tunes, Runnin’ Apelike is a solid entrant into the mind-zap canon, and here are a few songs for your edification. “Striking a Match in the Year 4007” is a warped vortex of idiotic rock squall, operating on about seven quarters of an ass and who knows how many disparate chemicals. The relatively straight-forward “Hawkwind Show” proves that the band could write a pretty good pop song if they wanted to, while also paying tribute to an obvious inspiration. Finally, the instrumental “Mexican Dentistry” is a whole bunch of random shit splattering all over the place, and barely held together by the gravity of one simple dumbass riff. Goodness!

From a Voice Plantation #1

2005-05-02T11:18:00.000-04:00

Over the last few decades a number of music writers and researchers have excavated the life and times of Emmett Miller, a long-forgotten blackface singer from Macon, Georgia. Wizened old rock critic Nick Tosches is chief among them. His 2001 book, Where Dead Voices Gather, utilizes his quest for Miller’s biographical data as the framework for an examination of minstrelsy and how thoroughly it permeated and influenced popular culture in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Tosches takes many tangents, as is usual for him, but never fails to return to Miller and his trick voice every so often, effectively asserting that Miller was both a product of his culture and yet an unusually unique performer.

The late twenties were the end-times for blackface minstrelsy, and Miller consummately embodied this dying and disreputable tradition. At the same time, though, he transcended it with his desperate, disarming yelp of a voice. “Anytime”, his signature song, begins with that crazed yodel that left such an indelible impression upon Tosches. The subsequent fake Negro patter and bad Amos and Andy routine are typical blackface hallmarks, their ridiculous racial notions more baffling than offensive. But when Miller begins singing again, and his voice hits those unexpected high notes that often spiral into a yodel, he sticks out from other recorded blackface singers, both his contemporaries and predecessors.

Tosches points to Miller as a perfect example of the cross-pollination between country, blues, and jazz in their early recorded stages. Miller, a real Southerner, sang, as a fake Negro, tunes written by New York songwriters, and played by a backing band that featured not-yet-legendary jazzmen like Gene Krupa and the Dorsey Brothers. Minstrel lyrics were often lifted from folk-blues songs, which, in turn, often appropriated words written by professional Tin Pan Alley songwriters. Tosches likens these relationships to the ourobouros (an allusion that I believe is used at least once in every Tosches book I’ve read), the snake eating its own tail. As he puts forth in his earlier work Country, our musical history consists primarily of words and music of unknowable origin passing from memory to folk tradition, then on to blues, country, and jazz, and then back again. When recording was new, before culture became national and streamlined, genres were indistinct and permeable, and would be combined, often unwittingly, in fashions far more seamless than anything Cowboy Troy could ever hope to manage. The boundaries between blues and country, jazz and folk had not yet firmed, and thus a singer like Emmett Miller could straddle and influence a multitude of styles.

Miller’s most obvious influence was upon country music. Yodeling was a part of country almost from when that term started to be used. Jimmie Rodgers became the first country superstar based on his amazing “Blue Yodel”, which shares some lyrics with southern blues songs encountered by folklorists. Tosches determines that it’s impossible to tell whether Miller influenced Rodgers, but Miller was yodeling before Rodgers put anything on tape. Subsequent country yodeler Bob Wills acknowledged Miller’s influence, and Hank Williams’ hit recording of “Lovesick Blues” owes much to Miller’s version from the twenties, in both arrangement and vocal performance. Many years later, Merle Haggard did a whole album of Miller songs. In influencing Williams, probably the most important and influential country singer, Miller played a notable role in the development of country music.

But the primary point of interest with Emmett Miller, the reason his memory has been rescued from oblivion, is that startling and amazing voice. Miller sounds quite sincerely insane much of the time, and almost inhuman elsewhere. His voice was an incredible instrument for bizarre and unsettling noise, and one of the most distinctive sounds I’ve ever encountered.

Emmett Miller: "Anytime"
Emmett Miller: "Lovesick Blues"

Bonus:
Jimmie Rodgers: "Blue Yodel"