I was in a foul mood at work a few weeks ago and needed to clear my head a little, so I went out to lunch. Normally, I'm not a big fan of fast food, but once every six months or so I feel the need to eat something greasy and unhealthy. Believe me, I have read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, so I know this urge is irrational, just as all smokers today know that cigarettes do in fact kill.
So I went to a nearby Burger King. Home of the Whopper. We're a nation of Whoppers.
After I ordered and got my meal, I went to find a seat. But something seemed a little odd, and it took me a little bit of time to figure it out.
The whole fast food restaurant was filled with Kandinsky prints! That's one of the artists that really stood out to me when I first visited the Museum of Modern Art in New York. I had heard the name before, having studied Russian/Soviet history a bit in school. But when I saw his works for the first time, I could see that he was a man who was onto something special, and I feel the same way about Marc Chagall.
At first I was pretty surprised, and then I found it all pretty comforting. It certainly made my day a lot more than a greasy burger and fries. Why these paintings were there and who made the decision to fill a fast food joint with early 20th Century Russian abstract masterpieces remains a mystery to me. But I'm sort of torn. My head tells me to return again soon, but my heart says, hey buddy, watch the cholesterol!
Well, July is almost over with, and what better way to end it than with a passionate, hook-filled 90's Alternative rock album. Sebastopol Road is the only album released in the States by Farnborough, England's Mega City Four, and it is a corker. Led by the late Wiz (Darren Brown) on guitar and vocals, (who died suddenly and tragically in 2006 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 44), they were a beautiful anomaly. On this album they sound musically very American Midwest to me circa 1980's with an English singer grafted on top. Which is not at all a bad thing to me because the songs are very strong, with intelligent lyrics. The music is reminiscent of groups like the Replacements and Husker Du/Sugar yet distinctively Mega.
Bosch Spice
In addition to Wiz, the band was comprised of his brother Danny on rhythm guitar and vocals, Gerry Bryant on Bass and vocals, and Chris Jones on Drums. The album was produced by Jessica Corcoran. One thing that can be overlooked by the quality of the songs and the inspired big vocal chops of Wiz is the uniformly excellent guitar work on this album. And tastefully done, not articulated in passage after passage of guitar histrionics, but in small bits that often occur so quickly that you might not even notice them. For instance in the Beatley tune Peripheral he does a little double time guitar run that brought to mind Nels Cline from Wilco.
The album begins with the epic Ticket Collector, an anthemic, thundering pop song that starts Sebastopol with a big bitter roar.
I'll give you a break I'll give you a clue I was never the one for you I waited for longer Than I can remember My ticket is well overdue.....
After that they change gears with twangy tune worthy of the 'Mats, Scared of Cats, which incidentally contains a huge Wiz guitar solo. Another huge song on the album is Clown--for all purposes an energetic rocker but then you listen closer and you find smart bitter lyrics about the difficulties of making sense of the world around you. Their song Stop is also another Husker-hued musical treat.
Before I answer I hesitate I want to say the right thing I guess it's insecurity that tricks me into deceit But maybe the biggest deception Is the trick that I play on myself
Other nice tracks here include the aforementioned Peripheral, the Mrs Robinson allegory Anne Bancroft,
and the speed pop of What's Up. This is a very strong album that ought to have garnered some attention in the US, but it was one strike and they were out, as the follow up album Magic Bullets was available only as an import. Even on Sebastopol Rd there is a lot of frustration and self-deprecation in the songs, notably the title of the closing song Wasting My Breath. Or the lyric "The price that I'm paying makes me feel worthless" from the ballad Vague.
But they put together a nice body of work in the time they were together and were one of the sharper bands of the era. And I've heard they were a fantastic live band. I don't see a lot of people disliking this album. After the band broke up in 1996, Wiz played in the bands Serpico and Ipanema, and even did a stint in Montreal's Doughboys. In memory of Wiz, a trust was founded in 2007 for the purpose of educating and assisting aspiring musicians, entitled Forward 4 Wiz. In fact Boss Tuneage records has recently released an anthology of Ipanema's music, and all proceeds are to be donated to the Forward 4 Wiz Trust. Nice.
I picked up this great album by the Master Musicians of Jajouka shortly after it was released in 1992, produced by Bill Laswell and released on the Axiom label. I had heard some positive buzz about this album, and about the interest of musicians like Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones and Ornette Coleman, and expatriate writers like William S Burroughs. So I thought it was something I wanted to hear. I was intrigued.
Today the Western Sahara is a hip place for music, with groups like Tinariwen, Group Doueh, or Amassakoul. The Festival Du Desert is held in Essakane, Mali and musicians like Robert Plant and Damon Albarn have made the pilgrimage, both to perform and also to experience the music of the local groups. No, I haven't been there, though it probably would be a great thing to do. Of course the music on Apocalypse and the Desert Blues Music are quite different. But when Apocalypse was released, there wasn't much out there for me to choose from. The Brian Jones album had been out of print for years, and Ornette Coleman's Dancing in My Head had some bits at the end where he was performing with The Master Musicians, but most of the tapes were destroyed or lost.
Original Man Cave was a cave
Honestly, I didn't know what to make of this at first. For me, the music was right off the deep end, into a whole different musical world. It seemed kind of cacophonous, at times celebratory, ritualistic with stuttery rhythms, blaring horns. And the music seems old. I wonder whether people were playing these same songs on ancient instruments two thousand years ago. And though they are professional musicians sanctioned by the Kingdom of Morocco, there is a real wildness to the music. The music is both related to Sufism and also to the God Pan. The liner notes hint at a confluence here between magic and religion. I'm not sure when psychedelia was invented, but it certainly wasn't in the 60's. Probably altering consciousness is as old a tradition as any in humankind. This music definitely does something to my head--creating a trancelike feeling of well being. And I can also see the connections to free jazz. For some reason I am reminded of Albert Ayler and marching bands. Then again, I can see how this might not be enjoyable to some people.
As I said before, I was having trouble getting this music at first, but eventually I came to appreciate it on its own terms, rather than simply comparing to my past musical experiences. And this album became pretty special to me, one that I always come back to. I love the instruments that the group uses: The lira, which is an ancient flute which sounds a lot like the Armenian Duduk. The Ghaita, which is a double reeded woodwind, which has a very unique wild sound. The Gimbri, a three-stringed lute and the Tarija and Bendir, which are drums. Percussion is a huge part of the music, and there are many drum players here, forming a continuous backdrop to the horn riffing.
It seems odd that the men are mostly featured on the Cd's liner notes, but there is women's group here also, which is mostly chanting over percussion, like on the song Alalilla (About The Night). I'm not certain how things work in Morocco, but it looks like they are not performing together with the men. This group is from the area south of the Rif Mountains in Northern Morocco and I am struck by the photo on the back of the Cd of the Master Musicians performing in the mouth of a cave. And when I hear this music I can only imagine that it is imbued in the life of the people of the area, something inseparable from life, in a way so different from the commodified commercialized lifestyle accessory that music is to the average person like me.
Credit to Bill Laswell for producing this album. I assumed that there would be more recordings after this, but there really have been few released that I know of. I definitely recommend this album highly, and I think that anyone who has a craving to hear great music from any source will really enjoy this one. Some would consider this to be exotica, but I just think the musicianship is excellent. Give the music a chance, and I think you will agree.
I'm sure you know the old adage, Brennt barn forðast eldinn. The burnt child stays away from fire.
Well, I visited Iceland and found F.I.R.E., even though I wasn't looking for it. This is a very cool 1993 compilation CD of interesting bands from the country who invented Democracy long before we could put a patent on it here in the US. It looks like the label itself is F.I.R.E, Inc. I would say the music borders on the experimental, but it definitely makes for an enjoyable listen.
4 bands---2 songs each.
Púff, curver, Kolrassa Krókríðandi, & stillupsteypa. Haven't seen much about Púff--saw a blurb that Sölvi Blöndal of Icelandic rap group Quarashi was a member of the band. Kind of noisy twisted post-punk, maybe a little like the Birthday Party or Scratch Acid. I particularly like the song Gotulif which opens the album, with the vigorously sarcastic la-la-la's. Their other tune here, bdfghkmnpst aelt of fliott is in the same vein.
Stillupsteypa are quite a wild anarchic experimental band who have been doing their thing for years. Not everyone might be into their music, but they are usually up to something interesting. Band members included
Helgi Thorsson, Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, and Heimir Bjorgulfsson. Riduveiki is an odd electronic droney experimental piece, with lots of backward loops and feedback. Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but you know, that's why there are so many varieties of tea. Songur Songl is a crazed Lord of the Flies-ish percussive rant,though in comparison to the former song, it's kind of poppy sounding. There is a compilation of their work entitled The Immediate Past is of No Interest to Us, which would be a good place to get a taste of their creativity.
The two songs by curver aka Birgir Örn Thoroddsen are pretty excellent I think. His music is electronic/industrial and I don't think the songs here take a back seat to other groups making the same sort of music. He is in the group Ghostigital with Einar of the Sugarcubes. I guess he was a teenager when he recorded these songs, which is pretty impressive. The percussion on Nottin 2. Hluti (baerinn) reminds me of Big Black a bit. Vicious, but with a good beat and I could dance to it, as they used to say on American Bandstand. His noisy and many-beats-per-minute eight minute opus The Magic Window ends F.I.R.E. on an aggressive high note. Smekkleysa records put out a curver compilation Saer 1991-1994 that you might find interesting.
I left the best for last though, Kolrassa Krókríðandi, known more familiarly under the name Bellatrix, who put out a few albums that were released in the US in the 90's. The two songs here were so impressive, that when I heard these songs I was wondered why noone was onto the talent this small island possessed. Ikarus is simply an amazing song, a dark, drony, dub infected, middle easterny violin infused tune. Simply peerless. These women were only 16 at the time of this release! Eliza M Geirsdóttir on vocals and violin, Sigrún Eiríksdóttir on guitar, Ester Bíbí Ásgeirsdóttir on bass and Birgitta Vilbersdóttir on drums. Their other song on the comp is the more traditional post punk Ljadu mer vaengi with fierce drums and plaintive vocals. Really good stuff. I can also vouch for the quality their mini-album Drapa. You can get mp3's of 3 of their pre-Bellatrix Icelandic music on Smekkleysa's website fairly cheaply. Their album Kynjasogur contains the two songs from F.I.R.E.
Overall, I think this compilation is pretty great. First and foremost the music is interesting and exciting to me, and there are qualities in this music that come directly and uniquely from living on this Scandinavian island halfway between Europe and America. It's by no means cookie cutter imitations of current musical trends going on at the time.
So many times I've been dead wrong about music. But when I spent some time in Reykjavik, I heard great artistic things going on, even beyond The Sugarcubes. Today Icelandic music is no great secret anymore, and music industry people at critics make junkets to check out the local talent. Back then, I guess the rest of the world was either too self-obsessed or stupid to recognize that great music can come from anyplace, not just England or the US.
You know what, the music of Austin Texas' Cotton Mather is still fairly new to me. I first found out about this band when I picked up John Borack's excellent Guide to Power Pop, Shake Some Action. It's a great book for fans of melodic pop, and if you don't agree with his choices at least it creates an interesting debate for music lovers. Kontiki, Cotton Mather's second full-length, was ranked 26th out of the top 200 power pop albums. (Incidentally, Adam Schmitt's extraordinary World So Bright (see my earlier post) was #9 on the list). Cotton Mather sounded like a group that I would enjoy, so I eventually picked up a copy for under $20. And I was mightily impressed with the music, amazingly recorded on 4-Track and ADAT. It's hard to believe music this full and complex could be done that way, though I guess that is what bands like The Beatles and Beach Boys had back in the early 60's. Honestly I believe that they deserve a reward for being a band that basically channels the Beatles without being the least bit imitative.
Of course the fact that these guys put together an album of this quality in a lo-fi way is remarkable, and comparisons to Guided By Voices are inevitable. The album titles are quirky in the style of Robert Goddard, and in some ways they are in the same zone as Neutral Milk Hotel, a band whose popularity has grown tremendously, and deservedly so. When I listen to Kontiki, I feel that this album is on the same level as In The Aeroplane Over The Sea , except that I expect few people know about these guys.
Well, maybe that will change soon, because, unwittingly I just found out that a project has been underway to reissue a deluxe 2-disc version of Kontiki by Robert Harrison. This project has been fan-funded, to the tune of 17,000+ dollars, exceeding the original amount originally asked for. I would say that this is a testament to the quality of this recording, and also to the loyalty and esteem that fans have for Cotton Mather. I saw a blog post that said that they were still sorting out what the tracks would be on the bonus disc. Sounds like good news to anyone who likes interesting pop music like I do.
And I wasn't kidding about what I said about the Beatles. Some of the songs here sound like Beatles songs that somebody found in a vault somewhere that have been lost since the late 60's. But not like the Rutles at all. You could probably play this for your friends and tell them that these are some old Beatles demos that were just discovered, and you could probably fool them. Songs like Spin My Wheels, or Homefront Cameo.
Cotton Mather were Robert Harrison, Guitar/Vocals, Whit Williams Guitar/Vocals, George Reiff on Bass, Dana Mizer on drums. I'm not sure what else is going down, as there seems to be a lot of keyboards and maybe sitar or mandolin on some of the songs. In addition to the pop chops and great harmonies apparent, there is fairly heavy psychedelic tinge to some of the songs like Aurora Bori Alice and Lily Dreams On.
But for those of us who admire huge hooks, you have amazing songs like the Fab Foury She's Only Cool, and the excellent My Before and After. Password is an equally amazing song, the guitar reminiscent of Big Star's September Gurls. Kontiki is a very special album of the highest quality, another album so surprisingly good that I was shocked that it could have been hidden from me for so long.
Well, maybe this band won't our little secret for much longer. Anybody with a sweet tooth for pop music, or who is one of the huge legion of Beatles acolytes is going to find a lot to enjoy here. (Or if you are a GBV fan who can't wait 2 weeks for the next Robert Pollard release). I'm not sure what the other guys in Cotton Mather are up to now, but Robert Harrison has made a number of highly regarded albums under the moniker Future Clouds and Radar. And let's hope that their other records will receive the same reissue treatment in the near future. But for now, just be happy that an expanded Kontiki will be available soon.
Not seeing Mission of Burma back in 1983 was another one of my brilliant moves.
One of my friends called in and won four free tickets to see them perform in Boston. But I was too busy with schoolwork and bowed out like an utter fool. My priorities were so skewed back then. Of course, not long after this the band called it quits due to the tinnitus problems of guitarist Roger Miller. Tinnitus is a condition that is a symptom of ear damage, in many cases from extended exposure to loud noise. It is the perception by the ear of noise in the absence of noise. Bob Mould of Husker Du also suffers from this affliction, which produces unremitting annoying tones. Makes it hard to sleep. I had assumed I would get the opportunity to see the band, but the joke was on me. At least temporarily. Fast forward to the New Millennium.
They reformed! And not in an obligatory, make-money nostalgia fest. These guys broke out of the box as big and bad as they were twenty years earlier! And they were recording new material!!! But alas, these events did not occur because a cure was found for tinnitus. Because of Miller's affliction the band (and no doubt also because of job commitments) was not going to be doing extended touring, maybe only a few weeks at a time. So I made sure I got to see these guys. They are one of the most important American bands, influential but never imitated. Popular in the Boston Area, misunderstood an even reviled in their day in other areas (read their chapter in Michael Azerrad's awesome book on Post Punk, Our Band Could Be Your Life).
I saw the band in a fairly small club in New Haven, Toad's Place. I left work on a Thursday, but traffic on I-95 was utterly horrendous. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to get there. But it was worth the drive, believe me.
They were absolutely tremendous--I was so excited to see this band after all these years, and they exceeded my already high expectations. Miller was awesome playing a million low end chords a minute on guitar while wearing those big headphones that they use on airport runways to protect his hearing. Clint Conley jumping around on stage like he had never put his bass down for a few decades, and the mighty Peter Prescott hammering the drums and shouting along to the beautiful chaos. Hearing That's When I Reach For My Revolver, Trem Two, Peking Spring, That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate, Academy Fight Song, and much more. I'm pretty sure they played Mica, which is my favorite Burma song. I even got the t-shirt.
One of the best shows I've ever seen. It makes me a little teary thinking about it. So if you get the chance, go see this band while you can. They are one of the most interesting innovative intelligent American bands out there who are an astonishingly powerful live act, the closest this country ever got to having a band like Wire. And they rock harder than most current bands who are a generation younger than them.
So when this short documentary on Mission of Burma, This is Not a Photograph came out I was all over it.
It's a nice genial documentary, not a warts and all expose. The filmmakers recount the history of the group, beginning before the band existed when Miller and Conley played in Erik Lindren's band Moving Parts. They then go through the early days of the band, their recordings on Rick Harte's Ace of Hearts label, and finally to the band's breakup. Then they move to present day, where they interview and film the days leading to the bands rebirth as a touring entity.
All the band members contributed to this documentary, and it seems like they reassembled the band with little bad blood or baggage. No one seems to be able to explain why they decided to restart the group after so many years and so little appreciation beyond the Boston area. Martin Swope, who originally did the tape loops in the group, who was a significant part of the Burma sound was not able to participate in the band reunion and Bob Weston was brought in as a replacement. In addition to the band's commentaries there are cameo spots from friends, fans, music critics and fellow musicians, including Thurston Moore, Lee Renaldo, Mike Watt, Moby, Dave Minehan of The Neighborhoods, and Hugo Burnham from Gang of Four.
One of the interesting aspects of the reunion was that Clint Conley was now an executive at a local cable news station, and that after the original demise of the band he put down his bass and never picked it up again for 20 years. He built a new career for himself and raised a family. Some people at the cable station had no idea that he was previously a local rock star. Peter Prescott was working as a buyer in a local record store. Hearing the commentary from the band is illuminating and often warm and funny. The fact that they came back to critical adulation and packed venues is like a punk rock fairytale come true. As was stated in the aforementioned Our Band Could Be Your Life, they went on tours and played before practically nobody, or they performed and people there petitioned the owner to get them off stage so they could play the jukebox.
One of the amazing things about Mission of Burma is the variety of qualities they brought to the musical table. As one fan said in the DVD, they were experimental, almost punk-progressive, but they were also a noisy abrasive hard rocking band. Finally on top of this there was a pop harmony element there also. I'm not saying that did this all at one time, but it was all definitely part of the package. You can see the tremendous enthusiasm in the faces of the people in this documentary when they talk about the band. And that's not just fans and friends either. There is a lot of concert footage intercut throughout the documentary, both from the past and from the reunion, including practice reunion shows and the big show at Irving Plaza in 2002. My only regret was that there was not a full bonus disc of just live performances by the band, instead of a few tracks appended onto the documentary.
And by seeing the live footage it is evident what a special group they were. They were questing to try different things, and they used a full musical palette to accomplish their goals. Time changes, Tempo changes, multiple chord changes, abrasiveness, aggressiveness, use of space, volume changes. The songs don't particularly sound the same. It's refreshing when you hear a band that makes uncompromising songs that don't pander to the flavor of the week or the fickle fleeting tastes of the general public. It's difficult to do and it requires a lot of bravery. And it took a long time for people to catch up to the visionary music they had made.
So let me repeat. See this band and be amazed. Check out this DVD and you'll see what I mean. They have just begun recording album number 5 so be prepared.
If you thought we had enough trouble with climate change, a pimp slapped economy, reality television softening our skulls (i.e., Kardashageddon), monkey wrench shenanigans from our "Grand Old" party politicians, unending movies about superheros.... you might ask yourself, my god, what will befall us next?? We are already praying for rain as policy, what can we pray for next??
Now its Smurfs. And I all prayers will fail us here. The Blue Plague from Belgium is anon.
It's too late for me! Save yourselves!!
It seems to happen every 20 years or so. They suddenly arrive like locusts and suddenly disappear, but for the short term apparently in America there are no natural predators to keep their populations from reaching Malthusian proportions. I think there is a basic aversion to eating blue things in the animal kingdom. Perhaps something happened to them once they arrived here. According to our resident expert on Belgium, Mr Luc Sante, author of the great quasi-autobiographical guide to Belgian culture The Factory of Facts, the Smurfs are a lot cooler and edgier across the pond then here; berets and unfiltered cigarettes probably. I guess something must have been lost in translation. Because Belgians are gigantic cartoon buffs; I went to their Cartoon Museum in Brussels and though I was ignorant of most of what was there, it was a great museum. Certainly Les Schtroumpfs at least sounds kind of dirty. But that will no doubt happen later, with adult entertainers getting blue spray tans.
If you have seen Donnie Darko, you know I am not the only who was on to their devious plot to lower the IQ's of America's children even further than it was thought possible.
Knowing America, the movie will probably be bigger than Transformers.
The secret crunchy ingredient--bones.
I recall that those Cartoons from the 80's were pretty awful, banally dumb fare for kids. (Confession: I actually have a Smurfs Christmas Cd someplace that I break out during the holidays to help ruin Christmas.)
What a horrible language. Obviously J.R.R. Tolkien wasn't the person who developed the speech. They only have about 50 words or so. Smurf is used as a noun, adverb, adjective--it's used as much as we use curses. It's actually much more entertaining to replace Smurf with a curse when you hear the little blue monsters blather on and on. I have to admit I usually root for the bad guy. And the society is so high school. There's no Smurfs named Tony, Aidan, or Hailey. Its Builder Smurf or Brainy Smurf. If there were more characters I'm sure it would be meaner, Overbite Smurf, Morbidly Obese Smurf, or even Deadbeat Dad Smurf. And of course, the fact that they all have the last name hints of inbreeding. Smurfs are basically white trash hobbits.
And we all know the terrible truth about Smurfs if we feed them after midnight or let them get wet. The utter horror.
No Blue Card
So be sure you warn your friends and loved ones before it is too late--you may just save their lives!!!!
Within the last few years I've getting into the whole Canadian Punk scene, and fortunately for all of us, Sudden Death Records has been putting out tons of archival releases of some great music of the era. Certainly if you check out the website you will find a source for all things D.O.A. as the label is run by Joe "Shithead" Keithley. (I'm serious--get your official Joe Keithley bobblehead doll, while supplies last!!)
But it is also a nice place to go for other great bands like Young Canadians, Pointed Sticks, the Vancouver Complication comp, and of course the Modernettes, who are another forgotten great band from the era. I am listening to the original Cd which was originally released by Zulu records of Vancouver. I believe the Sudden Death version has extra tracks than the 20 here.
In many ways the term "New Wave" is considered pejorative these days, merely a way for big labels to make money from the Punk scene by pasteurizing and trivializing the material into something palatable for the American public. But you know what? I kind of think these guys have at least the outward appearance of New Wave and the music is pretty pop oriented, looking to the great music of the past, while moving forward. But you know what? The music speaks for itself and they are a terrific band. When you hear this music you will wonder why you didn't hear them on the radio back in the 80's.
The Modernettes were Buck Cherry (John Armstrong) vocals, guitar, Mary Jo Kopchne bass, vocals, Randy Valentino, guitar/keyboards and on Drums, Jughead and later Ian Noble. Though basically happenstance kept them off the legendary Vancouver Complication album, they were an important part of Vancouver's Punk scene. For an informative first hand look into that scene, Armstrong's autobiographical book Guilty of Everything is a most worthy read that I highly recommend.
I Don't Want to Watch You Cry......
Still can't figure out why they called him Jughead
Every time I listen to Get It Straight, I just marvel about this band. It's just one great song after another, sometimes poignant, sometimes incisive intuitive lyrics on life, and other time just tongue in cheek sarcastic humor.
Fun music with a darker side to it. What could be better.
You have great pop tunes like Barbara, I Can Only Give You Everything, and Confidential. Mary Jo sings lead on a few of the tracks here, like their revved up cover of Femme Fatale, Static, and Surf City Strangler. You get anthemic pop like Rebel Kind and Teen City; Ten thousand Teens can't be wrong....It's about moving to Vancouver from the burbs.
Nothing to do in this fucking town Just drink and drink and then fall down the girls are ugly and it always rains Now matter what happens, the kids agree....
Soon I'm gonna be, with a million teens like me.
Hence their motto, which appeared scrawled on walls across Vancouver,
Get modern, or get fucked.
So please check this band out if you don't know about them. Definitely one of the best Canadian bands of the 80's. My Zulu Records version of this record doesn't have a bum track on it. While sometimes more music doesn't necessarily mean better, I am pretty confident in assuming that in the case of the Modernettes, more tracks on the Sudden Death version would be an improvement. I would like them to put out everything these guys ever did, including the entire Gone But Not Forgotten record plus any demos or any live tracks that could be cleaned up off of a crummy cassette. And there is probably a lot of great music from that scene from other bands that I am still ignorant of. Let's hope we see some more releases like this soon.
Such sad news about Mark Eitzel, American Music Club vocalist and America's greatest songwriter. Apparently he had a heart attack in May, but I just found out about it tonight. One of my all time favorite artists and again another of the under appreciated people I post about here. Wishing him nothing but goods things, and a rapid complete recovery.
I can't help but think about hearing him perform Patriot's Heart on a Cd that accompanied the Magazine Comes With A Smile. So amazingly devastating in person. It encapsulated perfectly the mood of the time under the rotten Bush years, and he did it in a manner sure to enrage any stuffy conservative ideologue. It's one of the great political songs of our era.
I recall standing in Pier Platter's Records in Hoboken, holding a copy of his Songs of Love Live, eyeing the price tag, and wondering whether I should spend the $20. I reluctantly coughed up the cash and was a better man for it. Just the man with an acoustic guitar, tearing himself apart. Like Kurt Cobain, the performance seems like much more personal and intense, perhaps a little too real!!! I only wish I could have got my paws on some of his limited edition discs that were produced to fund tours. I have some acoustic demos discs from Everclear and Mercury that were sold for a while, but I mean Lovers Leap USA, and Superhitsinternational.
I do think that Mark, and American Music Club will get the accolades they deserve someday and a wider audience appreciation, hopefully a lot sooner than word got out on Nick Drake. I wouldn't be surprised if someday someone put together an album of jazz interpretations of his greatest ballads. Or maybe even a Frito's commercial if it meant he got paid. His music is referred to as Sadcore sometimes, but I think the term is a bit of a slap. Like saying "C'mon Mark, sing something peppy for us!". Because, when I listen to my I-Pod on shuffle, sometimes one of his songs would come up by surprise, and I would be completely bowled over by intensity of the lyrics, the dark yet human emotions expressed. And there is a lot of depth, much wisdom to be gleaned there. Usually I would listen to the song two or three times, because often they sound different or I notice something new about them.
So this news is very sad for me and I'm surprised there wasn't more attention paid to this in the press. When I say things about music, we all understand that this is just one person's opinions being expressed, but I feel very strongly about where Mark Eitzel stands in the pantheon of contemporary songwriters. Do yourself a favor and get acquainted with his solo and band recordings. In some ways I feel as though has music has made me a better person in some intangible way.
Hang in there Mark. And thanks for all the great music.
The Birthday Party is a limited edition "unplugged" album by Jon Auer of the Posies recorded for "Cath" on June 1st, 2002, the day before my own birthday.
It's my Birthday too, almost....
The Posies, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, Seattle's Forster and MacLennan of Power Pop, are one of my favorite pop bands. The now defunct label and on-line shoppe for all things pop-worthy, Not Lame, was selling this and I managed to procure a copy of this quite excellent album. Not Lame was the label that put out a 4 disc box set of Posies rarities, live tracks, demos, etc At Least At Last. Auer and Stringfellow were also one half of Big Star 2.0. Their musical ability definitely qualified for the role. The harmonizing on their records takes a back seat to no one. Any one who has heard their versions of "Feel" or "I Am The Cosmos" knows that they can channel Big Star to such an extent that only a Ouija board could outdo them now.
June 1st, 2002--Artist's rendition (Watch those hands Glenn!)
On this night half of the dynamic duo, Jon Auer played an acoustic set for friends. The atmosphere is warm and casual, with occasional laughter. Auer mixes some of his originals with Posies classics and a variety of cover songs. Even in the middle of someone's living room, he's a real pro, making it all appear way too easy.
Definitely my kind of birthday entertainment; I've gone way past the clowns and magicians stage of life. Even bowling and miniature golf doesn't get my mojo going anymore.
He sings a few of my favorite Posies tracks in subdued fashion, like Flavor of the Month, Suddenly Mary, and I May Hate You Sometimes, all enjoyably done. Sad to Be Aware is particularly poignant. I probably have the most fun hearing the covers though. He does a magnificent rendering of Alex Chilton's ballad Thirteen three songs in, and I was very glad I picked this up. Maybe my favorite moment is his take on Elvis Costello's Beyond Belief, from E's underrated Tin Pan Alley album Imperial Bedroom. Hearing Jon work the intricate vocal cadences on this song was a real treat. An unusual but apt choice was Beautiful Stranger by Madonna, which he does a dark reworking of here. And I was quite pleased to see that he is a Grant Hart fan, of the 80's legends Husker Du. Green Eyes is a great ballad that I never tire of hearing, and Auer does not disappoint.
Overall a nice performance for some lucky friends. And luckily it was recorded for posterity.
I'm listening to a pretty nice live album from the Norwegian band Madrugada. Live from Tralfamadore is an arena rock album that is actually stitched together from various concerts in 2003 and 2005. It's mixed as though it was played one hot night, and Tralfamadore is not an obscure seaport on the northwest coast of Norway. In reality it is a planet that exists only in the inspired imagination of American author Kurt Vonnegut.
Or at least that is what the Tralfamadorians would want you to believe....
Madrugada is a band that probably most Americans don't know about, but they were pretty huge in Norway, I gather. They remind me of groups like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Catherine Wheel, Mark Lanegan and The Gun Club. Sadly, the band is no more, as guitarist Robert Burås died way too young in 2007. But Live At Tralfamadore is a nice epitaph to a very worthy European rock band.
Sivert Hoyem: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Robert S Burås: Guitar
Frode Jacobsen: Bass and Guitar
Erland Dahlen: Drums (on this album)
Simen Vangen: Drums (2003 tracks)
From the very moment I heard the ringing stinging chords opening the first song Hard to Come Back, I knew this would be good. Sivert Hoyem is an affecting vocalist with a deep rich voice, and a lot of presence. I can only imagine the confidence and ease he exhibits on the ballad Majesty. To get up and sing in front of thousands of people in an arena. It must be exhilarating and also terrifying. Reminiscent to me of Adam and Eve era Catherine Wheel. Burås was simply an excellent guitarist--when I hear him play it sounds like he made everybody else a little better. The sound quality is terrific throughout; in the quietest moments it sounds like the crowd is so rapt, that noone can make a sound.
But the greater body of the music here is in the territory of the Bad Seeds. Songs like Black Mambo and the exemplary bluesy dirge You Better Leave are testaments to this. Most of the music performed here are originals, but they do a nice cover of the Gun Club's cowpunk tune Mother of Earth with Kid Congo Powers guesting, and the old traditional standard Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.
I love the very affecting sad but sarcastic lyrics of Strange Colour Blue.
Oh everybody's sleeping now An industrial silence singing And the rain will keep hammering down from overhead Now there's a blue, blue strange colour blue Let me dream of me and you Oh how the rain keeps hammering down Pour.
If forced to choose, my favorite song would be the anthemic The Kids are On High Street--"they take your photograph, you come into existence". The hard rocking Seven Seconds is also a high energy highlight. But all and all this album is quite strong. I managed to pick up the deluxe version that had 4 extra songs on it. The version of Blood Shot Adult Commitment made the purchase worthwhile for me, and the Lift Me single included was a decent duet. I think that the song was a big hit in the Motherland, though not very typical of the band's musical output.
In addition to the studio albums, Robert Burås had a side band called My Midnight Creeps that released two albums. Sivert Hoyim has released a few solos records and in 2010 recorded a song for the Norwegian Refugee Council titled Prisoner of the Road to help raise awareness of the plight of displaced people around the world. Good man.
And the musical ability backs up the humanitarianism. So give Madrugada a listen. If you like these other guys I've compared them to, I'm sure you'll want to hear their entire output.
Who doesn't love a little Foetus? If you are or were a devotee of Nine Inch Nails, maybe you scratched a little deeper below the surface and picked up some works by JG Thirlwell, aka Foetus, who has created an impressive, ground-breaking body of electronic/industrial recordings over the last couple decades. Not for the timid; there is a real vigor and aggression to his music. And despite the hugeness of the Foetus sound, for the most part he has been a one man army, which makes these recordings even more impressive. And despite the over the top nature of a lot of the music, Thirlwell manages to incorporate cartoon, soundtrack, jazz, big band, country, blues, even lounge music.
Foetus has been a shape shifting entity over the years, because all his releases had different band names, like Scraping Foetus off the Wheel, Foetus Interruptus, etc. like a succession of dead baby jokes, gross out humor. But I guess at some point Mr Thirlwell's varied musical interests strayed so far from Foetus that he had to come up with a new branding, just like Disney came up with their Touchstone imprimatur. Of course Disney had Touchstone to put out less family friendly adult oriented fare, while Steroid Maximus is quite the opposite. This music is more instrumental, and soundtracky sounding, compared to the aggressive violent electroscreed of his main output. While not as aggressive as the Foetus work, the music is just as challenging; more subtle perhaps, but the same Thirwell aesthetic is at work. I suppose if a Foetus album came out sounding like Gondwanaland, some of his fans would be disappointed or even a little confused.
I picked up Gondwanaland just recently and finally got around to listen to it yesterday. I am very impressed.
There should be a line forming of directors wanting to use him to produce their soundtracks. After all, Danny Elfman doesn't have time to do them all! It is true that he creates the music for The Venture Brothers on the Cartoon Network, but I would have to think that his music would put a distinctive and edgy stamp on my movie if I was the director.
Some of the music is heavy and ponderous, like an old east European Communist National anthem. Other music here is right out of a James Bond movie, with 60's Peter Gunn style horns. Other bits are reminiscent of Sergio Leone, and Martin Denny. Under the Steroid Maximus moniker Thirlwell can explore a variety of genres and place his own special imprint on them. Of course, on some of the music he is basically charting out new maps of Hell, with moans, screams, explosions, broken glass, buzzing flies.
On Gondwanaland Thirlwell even does a heavy blaring take on Raymond Scott's Cartoon Opus Powerhouse; if you've ever watched classic Looney Tunes from the 40's and 50's, you have heard this one.
On this album Foetus covers a whole gamut of musical territory with consummate artistry. It's never boring, full of surprises and a lot of attention to detail. Of course, I would recommend most of his work as it is extremely challenging aggressive music. A good place to sample Foetus is the Sink anthology if you are at all interested. But I think that Steroid Maximus is music that fans of good soundtrack music would appreciate, in addition to the fans of Ministry, or Nine Inch Nails.
I was in the Tate Modern on holiday a few years ago, when I used to take vacations. I thought that the building was an absolutely fantastic vessel to house art, but maybe I missed a lot of things, hit the wrong rooms, because I saw a lot of things that I was not thrilled with. I have to believe that I was in too much of a hurry and missed some significant things there, because for the most part I prefer 20th century modern art to earlier periods. But during my visit I saw an exhibition there that truly impressed me.
I stumbled upon these modernist looking rusty blockish artworks, made of repetitive designs, perhaps somewhat reminiscent of the early twentieth century so called "primitivism" (bad term I think) or Matisse's late period construction paper work. Maybe the best comparison is to Indonesian Batik patterns. But it drew my attention immediately. It took me a while to focus my eyes; then I was able to discern what this was. Apparently, the artist, Willie Cole, originally from Newark, USA, took steam irons and burned the impression into patterns on cloth. And that simply bowled me over, because beyond simply making a beautiful artwork, there is some transcendent thinking involved here, a certain kind of genius at work. That is a stark contrast to one artwork I saw there; a snow shovel stuck in a pile of sand? I just don't get that on any level and it made me feel like I was being Punked (like the Ashton Kutcher show, not in the good Ramones way).
It's always enjoyable for me when I find something that I wasn't expecting to see. Sometimes it can be difficult when you go to a big museum like The Metropolitan Museum of Art, because there is so much there that I get visually overloaded. If I notice something interesting, odds are it will be in the first 90 minutes, otherwise I get burnt out. And I was very pleased to see something this interesting. But I guess some people will find this uncompelling, and find more enjoyment in a bowl of fruit, or maybe the aforementioned snow shovel in a sand dune. But that's why having choices is always a good thing. My hope is that by shining attention on worthy things in this blog that maybe somebody will find out about something they never knew about before.
