The Other Guys of NYC Noise Rock---Live Skull--Cloud One

You know what? You've probably heard a similar argument to the one I'm about to make. It's the QWERTY argument. I learned from reading an essay by Stephen Jay Gould about the evolution of the typing keyboard. Essentially, he gives a basic lesson through demonstration how evolution sometimes work. He throws a cold bucket on the notion that evolution is a progressive process, that life forms are always improving toward better design forms. Well, in a social context, there were other versions of the typewriter keyboard layout, and many of them were more sensible than QWERTY, but that keyboard became the standard setup for keyboards. Just like Windows being the chief operating system of computers, despite other companies putting out better products and failing.

In the context of music, the argument has been made that U2 had many competitors, who were their equal or better. Ultimately, they became at least for a time the biggest band on earth, going toe to toe with the Rolling Stones, Springsteens, Elton Johns, and McCartneys, the rock giants. For many, the bands that were their at least critical rivals, such as Teardrop Explodes, Echo and The Bunnymen, The Sound, and others certainly had some amount of success, but they never became megastars like Bono and friends. A lot of arguments can be made as to business acumen vs art, but maybe at least some of it had to do with dumb luck.

In the US in the early 80's there was a noise band movement that evolved out of Glenn Branca's guitar experiments and the No Wave movement which included bands like DNA, Mars, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, and The Contortions. That was one of the many scenes of the day, where a variety of musical genres bled and mingled with each other in a variety of new and interesting forms. Critic Robert Christgau had a pejorative term for the music in the early , which in retrospect did noone any good, and made him appear to be a bit cranky for somebody I consider to be a very open-minded musical polyglot. C'mon, these days we all can agree that menacing dissonant loud music is a good thing. Ultimately he gained an appreciation for the movement, as did the general public, as the estranged noisemeisters Sonic Youth cast indelible stamp on modern music, both as popularizers and innovators. Additionally their music was hugely influential to other groups, and their legacy continues today.

But what about the others guys? There were a number of bands doing similar work to these groups who are probably invisible these days to most musical fans. Bands like Unsane, UT, Rat at Rat R. The Swans are probably a lot better known because they have continued to release material, recently putting out a new record. And of course the mighty Live Skull. I really loved these guys, and I started listening to them early, buying their first ep from Midnight Records on 23rd st. I never saw them live though, unfortunately. I thought that they were just as good as SY, and I find it baffling that their early stuff has never been reissued other than the fact that their is a lot of great music on the Homestead label that is still in mothballs. I also find it strange that the music that they made prior to Thalia Zadek joining the band seems to be disparaged a bit in some circles. Because I think that they had a great sound before and the Zadek fronted version of Live Skull was also great!

I couple years ago there was some stirrings at Acute records about Live Skull reissues, but to date, no dice. They put out a nice Ike Yard Cd at some point. It's possible the recession had a hand in things not happening, but I don't really know. They are a band that definitely deserves more love than they have gotten. I'm talking about Bringing Home the Bait, Cloud One, Snuffer, and the live album Don't Get Any on You. Essential listening for noise fans. Hopefully something will be done about it someday, but until then, here's a couple of tracks that illustrate perfectly how monstrously great these guys were, even before Ms. Zedek (who incidentally has a new one out herself, entitled Via).
Listen to some of this and I think you will agree that they were one of the great innovative American bands of this era.

From Bringing Home the Bait!





Cloud One:






Cloud One again:




From the 1st ep:



05/22/2013: Update----Live Skull reissues are coming!!! Already available in Mp3 format!!!

I just found out that Desire Records is reissuing the eponymous first ep in expanded form, and Bringing Home the Bait.

Very good news for noise fans. The label is accepting pre-orders and according to their site, they should start shipping product sometime in June.


New Update: Live Skull reissues will be released on September 17. Desire Records also plans on releasing the entire Live Skull catalog... so give them some support, please...

Light the Darkness, Light the Night...and Sing! Shane Howard--Clan

I've known about Shane Howard for a little while, thanks to a great Blog called That Striped Sunlight Sound, a website dedicated to Australian music. Always enlightening, well worth visiting! He's quite famous in Australia, but not so much here in America, unfortunately.

He was originally a member of Goanna, the first pop group to deal with the issue of Aboriginal rights in Australia. Their song Solid Rock is one of the great Australian protest songs, and was a huge hit at the time. The song was the first time a commercial group used the didgeridu on a song. As a solo artist Shane has recorded a number of albums, some of which are available through his own webstore. It has been 30 years since this landmark album was released, and he has just completed an Australian tour in celebration of this event.



But I want to speak a little bit about Clan, Shane's wonderful but long out print album released in 1996. I was fortunate enough to snag a copy on eBay. It's a special album, seemingly a bit of a concept album, beautifully executed, powerfully thematic, incredibly heartfelt and personal.

I wanted to say something about Clan about the time of Saint Patricks, to illustrate another aspect of the Irish diaspora than the Ellis Island experience. And here we are in mid-April. I recall reading about the history of Australia for the first time from Robert Hughes' book The Fatal Shore. But what really spun my head around was when I read True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey, which impressed on me mightily the treatment of the Irish in the early years of white settlement of Australia. Both books are highly recommended reading in my estimation. Carey's book is some of the finest literature, and was the winner of the Booker Man Prize, his second.

So when I saw great praise for Clan on Striped Sunlight Sound, I kept an eye peeled for a copy.
When I finally acquired the disc from halfway around the world, I was completely delighted.

Part of the album is about his heritage as the descendant of Irish immigrants who arrived in this new land (to them) in the wake of the Irish Famine of the mid-1800's.

As he states eloquently in the album liner notes,

"This is the story of my people, my ancestral clans. The story of dispossession of land by an overwhelming force; the story of famine, resistance and uprisings, of exile and survival-the struggle of the oppressed; the burning desire not for revenge but for equity and justice."

Telling this story involved the history of Ireland, the immigrant experience of the Irish people in Australia, and the state of Ireland today.

What makes this recording an album for the ages is the connection he makes with the Aboriginal experience in the wake of contact with Europe. He was struck by the continuities between the two sagas. In some ways a case of history repeating itself.  As he states,

"Here we are, as Australians, descended of migrants of many cultures, now living on Aboriginal country under a British colonial political system. How do any of us non-aboriginal people make sense of ourselves and who we are and what we are doing here?

So Clan is the story of two Clans, and how their stories intertwine in Australia.

This is heavy stuff. As Americans, you can't help but think of our unfortunate legacies here. These are things that are not easily or perhaps even possibly resolvable. Growing up, Howard lived near Aboriginal settlements, but did not really know much about the people. Ultimately, he learned a new narrative about Australia, not just about oppression, but also about people who have a history stretching well beyond our own meager one. Whenever I see exhibitions of Aboriginal art I find myself deeply moved. I don't pretend to have any expertise or understanding, but they reach at some level that I intrinsically know but can't explain. I even bought an artwork a few years ago from a dealer in New York. It was money that should have gone toward a new car, but I can be impulsive once in a blue moon. I am very glad I did it, in retrospect.

So Clan, begins after an introductory No Man's Land, has Silvermines, a fantastic historic tale about a young woman leaving her homeland for an unknown place, told in the first person, about lives turned upside-down, but the ancestral bonds remain.

Set upon the open seas to the corners of the world
Lambs to the slaughter into this hell we've hurled
My only dream was to survive I was just a girl
Hide your face and hide your fear in these dark and tangled curls.

Tarerer follows, a song about the Tarerer Gundidj Clan of the Dhauwurd Wurrong nation, a people Howard grew up nearby.

Rounded up like cattle
Herded unto mission land
Defending your own country
From this cruel and greedy hand...

Howard was inspired by his visit to Belfast in 1993 to write the plaintive ballad Free as Stone. As he states in the preface to the song, he walked through the city on a cold Sunday morning and "the city was absolutely deserted, except for armoured parol cars and footsoldiers in battle fatigues."

Rebel Song is about uprising in the gold fields of Ballarat in the 1850's. Howard's great-grandfather was arrested there in 1854, so the story is a personal one. The songs on the album are basically folk songs with a Celtic touch to them, with fiddle, mandolin, whistles and bodhran. Melding all these themes together in an album does not strike me as an easy task, but I really think he pulled it off.

Often sad, there is a also a lot of themes of empowerment on Clan. One of my favorite songs is Give A Little, a song that makes you want to keep going, even in the face of impossible odds. Don't Say Okay is another inspirational number, with great imagery, reminiscent of one of Alejandro Escovedo's ballads.

The ghosts are back again at the window
They're back again tonight
Looking in on us so we have to get it right....

Clan is a beautiful album, a work that Shane Howard should be extremely proud of. An album definitely in need of a reissue. For me this is an album that practically popped out of nowhere, so I knew at some point I would need to try to spread the word in my own small way. Sorry the videos are not that representative of the record.

Visqueen Celebrates America's Favorite Game!

As a New Yorker, I am not pleased with the way the Yankees are playing right now, but Opening Day of Baseball is the real first day of Spring for most Americans.

So to help celebrate, here's Rachel Flotard and Co., i.e. Visqueen, doing what they did so much better than most groups. The Seattle Mariners should feel lucky.



Though Visqueen is no more, hopefully we will be hearing more from the talented Ms. Flotard soon!

PUNK ROCK Easter Egg Hunt!!! McRackins Rule, Ok?

What more appropriate way to celebrate this Easter than with the McRackins!!

I'll give you all a little hint....
There are Eggs hidden in the following videos---see if you can find them!!!



Ramones with a breakfast fetish I guess. Lipitor is their Kryptonite....




You have to admire their perseverance! They've been doing this for years & I hope they never change, even when they reach the point where they start doing duet albums in their senior years. I pray they never have a "McRackins Uncracked" album. When Kiss unmasked thousands of people died of shock. I just realized then that maybe Rock and Roll was never really real, unlike Professional Wrestling. Though frankly, with a dog playing drums, you'd think they would have more hits on YouTube...Anyway I love this Vancouver band and I hope you do too!!

Nothing But Destruction in the Air---Greenland Whalefishers

As we approach St Pat's day, I feel obligated to mention a great CeltPunk band I've been listening to a lot the past 2 weeks.

Greenland Whalefishers--Songs from the Bunker. Awesome record by a bunch of Norwegians from Bergen. There's a lot to like here, trust me. They are like a heavier rougher Pogues, and Arvid the vocalist sounds like a cross between Joe Strummer and Popeye. They sing with guts and passion. It's difficult to believe that these guys are not from the old sod!





One of things that I especially like about these guys is that they chart their own territory. While the album works in the same tradition that the Pogues do, they do not pay a lot of obeisance to the past. When you hear the subject matter, it is clearly set in the present day, and not in Galway or Dublin or Boston, but in their hometown. And as an added bonus the songs have that dark Scandinavian sensibility present in the old Sagas and carried forward to the 21st Century.







But Songs from the Bunker never fails to deliver, and despite the heavy lyrics, the album is a lot of rich, thrashy fun. After hearing this album, its clear they are a group that would be fantastic live.
I don't really have that much more to say about these guys, except that they make a perfect soundtrack for St Patty's Day shenanigans. Songs From the Bunker is the only disc I have by these guys and I recommend it wholeheartedly. It also seems to be the most easy to obtain, though a lot of their music can be readily downloaded. Trust me, if you like Celtic music like DropKick Murphys, The Tossers, and of course, The Pogues, this will not disappoint.

Slainte!

St Patrick's Day Eve--The Frank & Walter's--Still Saving the World a Song at a Time!

Though Cinco De Mayo is making serious inroads, I still believe St Pat's is America's #1 drunken holiday. Like we need excuses. Of course we could always start a new Scandinavian holiday like Bjorn Kristian Ulvaeus day--no doubt consumer survey polls would probably come out positive. But I digress as usual. This weekend is about Ireland. Beer, not Cerveza or Aquavit.

So with that in mind I was going to do a short silly post, but I decided to give a fine band more credit and make this post slightly longer...

Frank and Walters---a terrific Irish Band from Cork!!! They've been around for more than 20 years but are still making great music. Here's a great tune from the early days. Indian Ocean.....






Here's something from their most recent album from 2012--Greenwich Mean Time....Trust in the Future.









And here is something a little silly that I mentioned earlier...





Very very good band. Slainte!!

Will America Survive Seacrestation? A Fearful Nation Wonders



 

 

 

 

I guess I was unaware of how bad the political stalemate between Democrats and Republicans in Congress had gotten. No one could have anticipated this. If they had only had a crystal ball, some compromise would have been found. But this....this...this... the horror.......the mere word gives me chills.

Seacrestation

Maybe I'm just bitter because I've been using the phrase Seacrest out!, years before he stole it from me. Perhaps I've always harbored a secret desire to be Dick Clark's "mini-me". Though it does seem to be an awfully silly government policy.

Throughout this current recession we've survived numerous self-created, self-destructive crises, but when we cross this brink we just may not be able to recover. This time reality television has just gotten too real for comfort...