The Moog Cookbook >> A simple prop to occupy my time

California Month continued, tremor #40:

The Moog Cookbook - "The One I Love"

(1996, Restless Records)

The Moog Cookbook was two guys with way too many vintage synths.  They put out two albums of cheesy synth covers of well-known songs, including this R.E.M. chestnut.  Thank god they (R.E.M., that is) finally broke the hell up this month after being the paradigm of all "bands that should've broken up 20 years ago" jokes.

I didn't realize TMC were from California until just this month.  I downloaded this album, their self-titled debut, a few years back.  The word Moog is pronounced "Moag," as most people hopefully know.  My other two favorite songs on this album are "Evenflow" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit."  Of course, Sara DeBell's brilliant Grunge Lite album beat The Moog Cookbook to the punchline by several years, though TMC's versions are more fleshed-out and party-worthy.  See you later in an elevator, R.E.M., and thanks for all those... er... those 5 or 6 great songs you gave us over those three decades...  This one was definitely your best.

Back cover of their self-titled album

On some Japanese magazine, 1998

1997 press photo

After the Saints' stunning beatdown at the hands of the winless Rams, I went to Voodoo Fest yesterday in hopes of catching some Odd Future, but we got there too late.  (I read that they got into some onstage spats with cameramen, and Chris from the Mushroom told me that they were pretty disorganized / unprofessional / mediocre overall.  Read this.)  Saw most of TV On The Radio, who did "Will Do," "Staring At The Sun," and "Wolf Like Me," among others.  They closed their set with a cover of Fugazi's classic "Waiting Room."  Then saw almost all of The Meters' set, which was the main reason I went; this was one of only a handful of times since the '70s that all four members have played together, so it was a pretty huge deal.  It was kind of funny seeing those old dudes playing circles around their disciples TVOTR.  It was annoying that Cheap Trick were playing at the same time, at much louder volume, on the adjacent stage.  I wanted to strangle them.  The Meters did an epic ten or so minute version of their classic "Fire On The Bayou", which most non-New Orleanians know as the theme song to the HBO show Treme.  They also did "Hey Pocky A-Way," which is the unofficial theme song of Mardi Gras, and "It Ain't No Use" and a few others.  My hour of watching them went by too quickly.  Then it was the Raconteurs closing things out on the main stage (don't you need a hit single to do that?) in a Led Zep-y way, as though the '80s, '90s, and '00s never happened.  I finally met my sister & Vanessa's friend Cecile, who has her own business designing neckties.  Then we saw this techno duo(?) called Soul Clap at a little side stage before the plug was pulled at 9:00.
Then we got some food at Lucy's Retired Surfer Cafe, and Vanessa explained the X-rated meaning of the slang term "Superman that ho," as used in a certain Soulja Boy hit song.  Haha.  She was really on, and the Red Bull surely didn't hurt.  I realized that I might have obtained the explanation for the term "decorate the spine" in that Knapsack song I posted two days ago...  I drove Damion's friend Wessel back to the apartment while this Moog Cookbook song played in my car, so he must've thought I was on crack or that I had the strangest music taste ever.  I swung by the Mushroom right before they closed at midnight and picked up this Joy Division poster (Closer album cover) that I'd seen a few weeks earlier, for my sister.  And got a jazz LP for a buck just because it has Terence Blanchard on it.
This morning I called in a Halloween-themed request of Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" to WTUL, and the DJ girl played it only a few minutes later, which impressed me.

I got an amazing boombox necklace and gold "$" ring today at a Halloween store.  They had at least four different Lady Gaga outfits, and a Mike "The Situation" one.  Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty" played over the P.A. system, and a lifesize Freddy Kreuger statue next to the cash registers periodically spat out lines such as "How's this for a wet dream?"  (Yes, there were plenty of kids in the store.)  I felt ashamed to be an American.

Planets with similar climates: Ween - "Now I'm Freaking Out" (1994), Komputer - "Looking Down On London" (1997), Sukia - "Vaseline & Sand" (1996), Add N To (X) - "Plug Me In" (2000), Moonshake - "Exotic Siren Song" - (1996).

Knapsack >> We're not who we might prefer

California Month continued, tremor #39:

Knapsack - "Decorate The Spine"

(Alias Records, 1996)

I almost went to a Knapsack / Trunk Federation gig in early '97, right around the time I heard Knapsack's excellent "Courage Was Confused" on a Magnet magazine sampler CD.  (See the post on Starflyer 59's "The Boulevard" a few weeks ago for a pic of this CD.)  I bought this actual Knapsack CD, Day Three Of My New Life, sometime in the '00s.  For all these years I thought the singer was defiantly asking "Who makes the rules?  Who makes the rules?"  But I just found out the other day that it's "I begged to reverse the roles, reverse the roles."  Man.  I still have no idea what the term "decorate the spine" means, though it's very reminiscent of Archers Of Loaf's indie anthem "Web In Front", which has a cryptic "All I ever wanted was to be your spine" chorus.  And don't forget Ween's touching ballad "Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)".  On the topic of spines, I fractured my 5th lumbar vertebra (a.k.a. the L5) while playing football in 7th grade.  I had to wear this fucking corset thing 24/7 for over a year, and the doctor told me not to play football again.  But I was able to go on and play four more years of football (and five more years of basketball) after that, so what do doctors know anyway?  "God knows I'm not sure," as Knapsack would say.  Haha, that was great.

Buckley & Molly in Metairie Cemetery on Sept. 8th, about an hour before the Saints-Packers game which kicked off the NFL season.

Planets with similar climates: Foo Fighters - "Best Of You" (2005), Unwound - "You Bite My Tongue" (1992), The Sound - "Fire" (1981), Sunny Day Real Estate - "Seven" (1993).

Best article title found this week: Violent Birther Gun Nut Also Massive Fan of Tranny Porn, Dildos
Runner-up: Morgue turns away cupcakes from Lohan

Suburban Lawns >> Our data was merged and love was born

California Month continued, tremor #38:

Suburban Lawns - "Computer Date"

(Suburban Industrial Records / I.R.S. Records, 1981)

Suburban Lawns didn't release very much music, but they are apparently a cult favorite to this day.  I don't know much about them, and don't have much desire to learn more about them, but I have determined that the band members were actually not nerdy, at least based on this "interview" clip:

Compare them to the legit dweebs who make up nerd-pop bands like Devo, 2 Live Jews, or They Might Be Giants...  I think I got this song on eMusic in 2003, but I'm not sure.

LP back cover

From marriedtothesea.com

I skipped a St. Vincent concert the other day, but watched it stream for free at the Tipitina's website.  She/they covered one of my favorite songs ever, "She Is Beyond Good And Evil" by The Pop Group, and this has apparently been done at every show on this tour.  She/they also recently did a decent cover of "Kerosene" by Big Black, another of my favorite songs ever.  I'm not a fan of covers, but you have to give SV props for those two.

The new episodes of Beavis & Butt-head that debuted last night were painfully unfunny, which was kind of like a dagger to the heart of someone like myself who can recite almost every line from the original series.  So I spent most of my time watching that Rangers-Cardinals game, which is already being called arguably the greatest World Series game ever.  I'm pulling for the Rangers, because they've never won a title, and their skipper Ron Washington is from NOLA & is one of the nicest guys in sports, and I like the whole Josh Hamilton redemption story.  But mainly because Tony La Russa and Albert Pujols are creepy, charisma-free robots who probably moonlight in seal clubbing or illegal arms laundering when they're not busy scowling and complaining in the dugout.

Planets with similar climates: Devo - "Girl U Want" (1980), Hybrid Kids - "D'Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (1980), XTC - "Pulsing Pulsing" (1979).


Speaking of creepy people, check out this amazing article: Is Aleister Crowley the father of Barbara Bush?  After reading it and comparing the photos of the two of them, one's only answer is an obvious "Yes."

Cerulean >> You'll never get this close

California Month continued, tremor #37:

Cerulean - "Here Is Hoping"

(Spinwheel Records, 2004 or '05)

Cerulean were or are a shoegaze / post-punk type band from Los Angeles, which puts them in the same raft with a few hundred other L.A. bands, most of which sucked.  This song does not suck.  It's from their 2005 album No Sense In Waiting, and may be a re-recorded version of the one on their 2004 EP Fractions.  I have both versions, and they seem nearly identical, but this one is louder and punchier, with more savage drumming.

It's quite similar in terms of guitar and tempo to U2's spiky classic "I Will Follow", while packing enough merits of its own to not be considered a mere xerox.  I first obtained this song in 2005, I think, and then four or five years later I was pleasantly stunned to find out that they had made a music video for it:

I think the 2003 copyright at the beginning is a typo.  With a slightly less-cryptic chorus ("And did you ever understand that all you ever did was bait us in waiting?"), this song could've been a huge hit.  I guess that lyric is a reference to the album title?  Fittingly, the next song after this one on my iTunes in "In Shreds" by The Chameleons, one of Cerulean's biggest influences...

The band's bio on CDBaby.com says "The Los Angeles trio weaves layers of dreamy, swirling riffs that seem to transcend the Earth, propelled into the heavens with relentless energy and a wallop of radiant pop hooks. Featuring vocalist/guitarist/bassist Rick Bolander, guitarist Noel Kelly, and drummer Dave Cerwonka, Cerulean picks up where British rock groups such as Catherine Wheel and Ride left off, utilizing walls of guitars that sparkle while they storm through a psychedelic haze. Bolander's voice recalls the melancholic, romantic crooning of English college bands from the late '80s and early '90s although the group is not fixated on nostalgia. Produced by David Newton, the former guitarist of alternative-rock pioneers the Mighty Lemon Drops, No Sense In Waiting showcases Cerulean's dazzling intensity and otherworldly chime."

Undated pic from their MySpace page, by Tania Nyberg

My page-a-day calendar features this nice 1898 painting by Homer Winslow called Palm Tree, Nassau:

I'm not a fan of his stuff, but this is just beautifully done, and gets my competitive juices going.  This page has a composite image which shows the progression of his paintings over the years.

Planets with similar climatees: U2 - "I Will Follow" (1980), The Joy Circuit - "The New Sunrise" (2004), The Chameleons - "In Shreds" (1981), Swervedriver - "Son Of Mustang Ford" (1990), Sonic Youth - "Hey Joni" (1988), Catherine Wheel - "Texture" (1992), A Place To Bury Strangers - "I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart" (~2005), Failure - "Undone" (1993).


Update one day later: I listened to this song in my car for the first time ever, after only listening it to it on my computer for all these years, and mother of all that is infinite, it fucking slays even more than I had already known it to slay.  It just leaps out of the speakers.  The drumming is even more savagely perfect than I had thought, and I almost accidentally punched through my windshield while furiously air drumming at 70 MPH.  This was immediately after playing basketball for 3 1/2 hours straight, and I got a huge infusion o' energy.  I think it might be the best pure rock song of the decade, and it reminds me of why I scour the earth for this kind of music.  My only problem is with the video, because when I listen to this song, images of car crashes, supernovas, tidal waves other dangerous things hurtle through my head, and the video doesn't parlay any of this at all.

Lucid Nation >> What would you do if you won?

California Month continued, tremor #36:

Lucid Nation - "Fun"

(self-released, 1999 / Brain Floss Records, 2010)

I assume Lucid Nation's name is a pun on the word hallucination, but the music I've heard by them is not all that psychedelic.  LN formed in 1994 and opened for lots of cool bands in the L.A. area in their heyday.  I forgot when and where I got this CD, titled DNA (cleverly taken from the center three letter's of the band's name), but it was almost surely in the clearance bin at The Mushroom in the mid '00s.  They cover Sonic Youth's awesome "Pacific Coast Highway" on this album.  Their singer was usually Tamra Spivey, but guitarist Ronnie Pontiac sings lead on this song, with Spivey providing some hazy backing vocals in the final two minutes.  I actually used to think it was Spivey singing lead vocals in a husky twang.  According to their website, "Tamra was Art Editor for the late and lamented but celebrated journal of progressive politics Newtopia magazine, where Lucid Nation guitarist Ronnie Pontiac was Poet in Residence."

After I asked them to post "Fun" on YouTube a year or two ago, they fulfilled my wish with this mesmerizing botanical montage swiped from some BBC programme:

They also say this song was used in a scene in the aptly-titled Sasha Grey porno flick Naked And Famou$, which is described as "an acid trip melting pot of raw sex and depraved psychodrama."   I would say this is definitely an atypical song for Lucid Nation, but it made it onto their 2-disc best-of compilation called Public Domain:

Speaking of plants, I took my dad to Crosby Arboretum in Picayune, MS today, which has one of the best collections of trees in the whole Southeast.  I asked if they had some obscure tree for sale, and one of the guys who works there ushered us back to their private greenhouse / propagation area and gave me a bunch of cool little trees & plants, including one I'd been seeking for a while, Ilex glabra (Inkberry holly).  I ate several species of blueberry right off the bush, and we got some Marco's Pizza in Slidell on the way back.  The Saints just beat the Colts 62-7 in the newly-christened Mercedes-Benz Superdome.  62 ties for the most points in one game in the history of the league since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, and 55 ties for the greatest victory margin ever.  (We could have easily eclipsed both of those had we not pulled Drew Brees in the 3rd quarter after he had passed for a mere 5 touchdowns.)  I still think the Packers will repeat as champions, though.  The most amazing thing that I learned during this game was that Purdue QBs have passed for more yardage in the NFL than those from any other college, with Brees obviously being the most famous one ever.

Planets with similar climates: Flipper - "Shed No Tears" (1981), Soundgarden - "Limo Wreck" (1993), Smashing Orange - "Flower Kisses" (1991), Helmet - "Sinatra" (1990), Starflyer 59 - "The Dungeon" (1993).

Pocahaunted >> Dub trouble

California Month continued, tremor #35:

Pochaunted - "Ashes Is White"

(Arbor Records / Not Not Fun Records, 2008)

Pocahaunted were initially a dubby, droney, two-gal duo.  Yes, Bethany Cosentino was still in the band when they released this album, Island Diamonds, though she soon left to form Best Coast (a pun on "Beth Cose").  Despite the band's jokey name, and their slogan "the Olsen twins of blissed-out drone," this album is seriously dark, paranoid, and disorienting.  This song's music video ups the ante even further:

The repetition may get to some people, but at least listen to it once all the way through, with your mind.  I was actually going to post "Ghetto Ballet," but changed my mind for some reason which escapes me now, but probably because the singing is really annoying on it.  This album came out on limited colored vinyl in early 2008, then on CD with different cover art & two bonus tracks (the crushingly-heavy "Iron Shirt" and the atmospheric "Time Fist") later that year.

Singer Amanda Brown found herself ambushed on Penn & Teller's TV show Bullshit!:

After Beth Coast left and started dating that idiot from Wavves, Pocahaunted got a totally new lineup, with Brown as the only original member, and adopted a more funky, compact, party-oriented sound; this guy named Sun Araw is one of the new members.  I saw this lineup in 2010, but I couldn't help but wish I had seen the original duo lineup, which never played in my state, at least as far as I know.  They didn't play a single song from Island Diamonds.  New bassist Diva Dompé (daughter of Bauhaus' drummer) is one of the most attractive people I have seen, and likes to wear feathers and face paint onstage.  She now has some solo songs out under the name Diva.

Just watched the movie The Saint, which was not at all how I thought it'd be for all these years.  Pretty disappointing.  Yesterday in Lockport I bought four persimmons for a dollar from some people who had a huge persimmon tree in their yard and a sign advertising its wares.  Speaking of the Olsen twins, I recently found out they have a sister named Elizabeth, whom I have decided will be a big star.

CNN.com's top 10 topics for today, always a handy way to gauge what the world is talking about:

Planets with similar climates: Slowdive - "Moussaka Chaos" (1993), Medusa Cyclone - "Blind Witch" (1998), Lush - "Undertow" (1993), Morphine - "Down Love's Tributaries" (1993).

Love Spirals Downward >> This changes everything

California Month continued, tremor #34:

Love Spirals Downwards - "Sideways Forest"

(Projekt Records, 1996)

My introduction to Love Spirals Downwards was on a sampler CD from Alternative Press magazine called Indie Gestion 12, right after I'd started subscribing to it in 1996.  The song was this one.  The lyrics are here.  This band's music was done by a guy named Ryan Lum, while the vocals and lyrics were done by his then-sweetiepie, Suzanne Perry.

I gradually acquired LSD's first three albums in the '00s, mainly in the cheapo used CD racks at The Mushroom.  "Sideways Forest" was released as the band's only single, so it's probably their best-known song overall.

CD single cover

1996 promo poster

CMJ said "Ever is an achingly beautiful, enchanting maelstrom of emotion that fuses honey-dripped vocals, delicate guitars and electronic backdrops of sedate, swirling synthesizers, effectively capturing what Halstead and Goswell missed in their transition.  Slow, somber, and beautiful beyond reason, this LSD just might be the burgeoning leader of another full-on ethereal rock revival."  I think all that hyperbole does the band a disservice.  They were a band with a few good songs per album, not some revolutionary force of nature (maelstrom) that could redefine music.  I would have preferred at least a little bit of aggression or atonality from them, to show that they have a pulse and were not just content to rehash the 4AD catalog.  (The band Velour 100 in fact did this on their stunning debut LP.)  But for what they did, they were one of the best, though it's really hard for me to sit through more than one or two of their songs in a row, due to how sugary and melodramatic they are.  One other thing that ticks me off about this band is the "s" at the end of its name.  Maybe it's grammatically correct that way, but I always thought of it as "Downward," so I've had to unlearn it.  I still think it'd look much better that way.  For a band that's so focused on little details, I think they missed the boat on that.

Some other good LSD songs to check out are "Subsequently," "Promises," "Madras," "Depression Glass," "El Pedregal," and "Tear Love From My Mind."  Lum later recruited a different waif on vocals and renamed the project Lovespirals, but I've never heard anything by that lineup.  I guess when he exchanges her at the goth store at the mall for another singer, he can rename the band Spiraldown, and then Love Downwards, and so forth.  Hopefully he won't pick out a Taylor Momsen from the used rack based on her appearance alone.  Plus, you have to check to make sure she's gotten all her shots.

Planets with similar climates: Film School - "Sick Of The Shame" (2005), Velour 100 - "Stare Into Light" (1996), Slowdive - "Spanish Air" (1991), Cocteau Twins - "Road, River And Rail" (1990), Low - "I Remember" (7" version w/ Mimi on vox) (1998), Hugo Largo - "Never Mind" (1989).

The Joy Circuit >> Fatal nights inside our fences

California Month continued, tremor #33:

The Joy Circuit - "Run In Circles" (demo)

(self-released, 2004)

Another explosive song from TJC's incredible, genre-redefining demo EP.  I hope I got the lyric "Fatal nights inside our fences" correct, but even if I didn't, it's still a pretty awesome phrase.  Garbs seems to be singing this phrase differently the second time around, at the 2:56 mark.

Nicholas Cage won some sort of lifetime achievement award on the Scream Awards on VH1 tonight.  I had never heard of these awards before.  I have never seen the movie Face/Off.

Out of all the montages of Cage's "best" work, this one has to be the most touching, and it was made by someone from Louisiana:

After looking it up just now, I was not surprised to find out that Nicholas Cage is from California.
Speaking of faces, last night I realized I was wearing a collared shirt for the first time in about a month, so I decided to snap a photo in my bathroom, in memoriam of MySpace.  It was 9PM and I'd just woken up from a nap.

Today I shot hoops in Lutcher at around noon, brought birthday gifts to my sister in NOLA, bought a blue Phillies t-shirt, and shot hoops in Ama in the evening during a massive cold front with what seemed like 50 MPH wind gusts.  That doesn't sound very interesting, but my point is that the heat index was about 90º when I was in Lutcher, and it was about 50º just a few hours later in Ama.

Planets with similar climates: Venus Beads - "Cold Inferno" (1990), The Church - "Reptile" (1987), Unwound - "What Was Wound" (1993), DInosaur Jr - "Raisans" (1987).


Currently eating or drinking: Sam Adams Blackberry Witbier; Winn-Dixie sourdough bread

Above The Law >> Please don't misdefine it

California Month continued, tremor #32:

Above The Law - "Freedom Of Speech"

(Ruthless Records / Epic Records, 1989)

The reason why I'm offering this major-label-affiliated song is that I recently learned how to post a song without making it downloadable.  So you can only stream this one.  (Normally when you click "share" on the player module, it gives you an option to download the song, but I've turned that off for this one.  I guess I should go do this for that Catherine Wheel song too.)  This was a huge discovery, because it means I don't have to stick to indie songs any more.  But I will anyway, at least 98% of the time, because I wanna stick to this site's original mission.  I just had to post this song because I can't think of California music without thinking of it.  Its poppiness makes it atypical of ATL's overall sound, though it is actually quite comparable to their single "Untouchable."  Overall, this is one of the few non-annoying songs about censorship that I've ever heard.

Most of the music in this song is by James Brown, a famous song he wrote for Vicki Anderson called "Message From The Soul Sisters".  (The Geto Boys also built their 1990 song "City Under Seige" on that song.)  Hey, if you're gonna steal something, steal something good.  Cold 187um's vocal delivery is one of the best I've ever heard in the rap game, though he modeled himself blatantly on KRS-One.  I love the line "Those that want to sell out, need to get the fuck out the business," because your mind expects him to rhyme the word "sell" with "hell."  The sprightly ska-esque beat is something that's almost unheard-of in rap music.  I bought this album, Livin' Like Hustlers, on cassette in June or July 1991 at a mall in or near Hilton Head, South Carolina, because I had seen the video for the gangsta rap classic "Murder Rap" many times.  And when you're the age that I was (13 or 14), it's pretty much the coolest thing ever, with squelchy synth notes imitating a police siren:

I also got a pack or two of Yo! MTV Raps trading cards that week, and had the Flavor Flav one taped to my wall for over a decade after that.

I also went to UNC basketball camp that summer for a week or two, and was constantly lifting weights and running, in preparation for my first season of high school football.  I was able to dunk a volleyball by that fall, thanks in part to using Strength Shoes; I was only about 5'11" or 6' at the time.  I almost went as Flav for Halloween that fall, but I couldn't find a big clock to wear.  So it was a pretty hectic year, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  "Murder Rap," whose title of course has two meanings (it's about being falsely accused of murder), was pretty much a sister song to Public Enemy's "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos," with a lot also borrowed from N.W.A's "Straight Outta Compton."  Livin' Like Hustlers has gone on to be rightfully considered one of the best rap albums ever, blending charismatic gangsta stylings with jazz instrumentation and interesting samples.  I was later surprised to find this song on the mostly college rock-based Pump Up The Volume soundtrack, which I bought in '96 just for its Sonic Youth song (the amazing "Titanium Exposé").

Overall, I'm glad I copped this album on that day in South Carolina rather than the one I had originally set out to buy on that day: Kool Moe Dee's new one... Ha.

Cool life-sized statue next to some Giant Crinums, at New Orleans Botanical Garden yesterday

Planets with similar climates: Gil Scott-Heron - "Free Will" (1972), Paris - "Escape From Babylon" (1990), N.W.A - "Express Yourself" (1987), A Tribe Called Quest - "Check The Rhime" (1991).

Michael Andrews w/ Miranda July >> It's life and it's happening

California Month continued, tremor #31:

Michael Andrews w/ Miranda July - "When I Call A Name"

(Everloving Records, 2005)

This is from the soundtrack to the movie Me And You And Everyone We Know, which Miranda July wrote, directed, and co-starred in.  The movie and its soundtrack have both already become cult classics, and Roger Ebert cited the film as the 5th best of the decade, and there's even a band named after it.  Michael Andrews is apparently from San Diego and is now in L.A., so this song made the cut for California Month, even though Miranda, a Portlander, steals the show in the song's first half.

I started hearing about Miranda in the indie music mags in '97-98, when she put out two baffling, Laurie Anderson-esque solo albums on Kill Rock Stars.  She did the voices of all the characters in her strange song pastiches.  So I was not surprised to hear her doing both the female and the male voice in "When I Call A Name," but it still cracks me up.  I also have her book of peculiarly observant short stories called No One Belongs Here More Than You.  (Yes, she likes wordy, sarcastically-motivational titles.)  Basically, she's the shit.  I know hardly anything about Michael Andrews, other than he was in a band called The Origin and now makes these lite synth-porno soundtracks.

Miranda July performing her one-person play The Swan Tool in 2001; photo by Harrell Fletcher.

I went to the Fall Garden Show at City Park yesterday and got a dwarf blueberry bush (Vaccinium darrowii), another New Zealand Tea Tree (Leptospermum scoparium), and three little cacti.  One plant that I almost got had probably the coolest name ever: Rattlesnake Master.  Then I went and shot some hoops at SUNO on the newly-redone courts.  Then I went over to McKeown's Books And Difficult Music for a very weird duo concert by an Austrian guy named Simon Berz (of the band ige*timer) and local drummer Simon Lott.  They were joined by a sound manipulator guy from Holland named Toktek in the last piece.   I brought over some beers to donate to the ice chest, since I had guzzled some free ones at previous shows here.  I also picked up a few books, of course.  Afterwards, a guy came up to me and asked if he could take a picture of my t-shirt.  "You've heard of Poem Rocket?," I asked him.  "Yeah, my old band's first-ever show was opening for them in Ohio."  I was amazed.  He took the pic and said the show was during a blizzard and not a single person came, but they played anyway.  His name is Steve, but I forgot his band's name.  Found a cool little coin medallion on the ground with a ship design on one side, while walking back to my car; may wear it as a necklace.  Saw a weird argument happening outside of Tipitina's which included a guy hurling a motorcycle helmet diagonally across the intersection while yelling at a woman in one of two cars that had apparently had a fender bender.  Just another Saturday night in New Orleans...

This was uploaded by a member of Das Racist, believe it or not:

Planets with similar climates: Laurie Anderson w/ Peter Gabriel - "Excellent Birds" (1984), Xiu Xiu - "Clowne Towne" (2003).

Savage Republic >> I'm painting burning buildings

California Month continued, tremor #30:

Savage Republic - "Next To Nothing"

(Independent Project Records, 1982 / reissued by 4 different labels)

Well, by now you can see that California Month owes a lot to Independent Project Records, which has a bland name but put out some of the most challenging and texturally-interesting music of the early '80s to mid '90s, generally with an edgy tribal feel.

IPR pretty much only released stuff by California and Arizona bands, though I'm sure there were some exceptions in there.  Similarly, Dischord only releases stuff by Washington, D.C.-area bands and I think Red Eye only did Aussie bands.  This song has a nice combination of post-punk, krautrock, and industrial elements, held together by a poppy melody (a rarity for S.R.) and sick drumbeat.  It's from their debut album, Tragic Figures.  The stuttery drum break right in the middle of the song is very cool, reminiscent of a chugging train.  The lyrics are existential without being comical or depressing, and are delivered in sort of a disembodied, robotic way.  This album has been put out with something like six different cover designs over the years, so it can get pretty confusing.  This is apparently the cover of the original numbered-edition LP:

I don't know what that text means in Arabic (or Farsi?).  Like many such self-styled guerilla bands, S.R.'s sloganeering was not very subtle; for example, this album has a song called "Kill The Fascists!"  Fascists worldwide report that they were quaking in their boots on the day this album dropped, but I think they were just being sarcastic.

I had originally intended to post the pummeling "So It Is Written," which I first heard in '05 on a great Atavistic DVD called Twelve O'Clock High:

A guy on that YouTube page said "I directed this video on $50 budget in half a day! Shot on super8 film at show near L.A. Originally comissioned for a USA network show on NightFlight..."
So anyway, I plinked around YouTube and tried to find a different S.R. song, found "Next To Nothing," enjoyed it, and decided to post it, since it has better crossover appeal than "SIIW."


Played a few hours of basketball at Lutcher Playground today, got in two separate arguments with two different dudes calling me "Larry Bird" during two different games.  (Almost started a fight there exactly two weeks ago with yet another dude over this exact same slander.)  Ugh.  I never even admired Larry that much.  My favorites of the last 25 years would have to be Penny Hardaway (have three jerseys), Reggie Lewis, Charles Barkley, Dwayne Wade, Larry Johnson (have two jerseys), Joe Dumars, Akeem Olajuwon, Latrell Sprewell (have a jersey), Randy Livingston (went 90 miles to see him win the high school state championship with Newman when I was 14), Chris Jackson (Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf), Steve Nash, Sam Cassell, Chris Paul (have two jerseys), Jason Williams, Kevin Garnett (have two Timberwolves jerseys), Grant Hill, and Hank Gathers; and in the group category, Run TMC.

On the topic of burning buildings, things that are savage, and California, I vividly remember an incident one day ca. '84 or '85 when we were living in the Presidio.  My family had gone on some sort of a road trip, and my dad got me a Swiss Army knife, which is sort of a mind-blowing gadget if you're a boy.  I thought it was the coolest thing and swore to not cut myself on it.  Back home that night, a house in the neighborhood caught on fire and I climbed up a chain-link fence to get a better view, but slipped and got my left palm gouged pretty badly.  I made sure to explain to my dad that no, I hadn't cut myself on the knife.  I still have the sweet scar.

The always-hilarious Wonkette did an apparently dead-serious article claiming that Herman Cain got his much-discussed "9-9-9" tax plan from the video game SimCity 4.  Someone with the Wonkette username fartknocker made this great comment: "Rick Perry's plan is called '10-10-10.' It works out like this: Everybody but Rick and Anita shall follow the 10 Commandments; $0.10 of very tax dollar goes into the Rick Perry Special Enterprise Fund for his pet projects; and, Rick will execute 10 prisoners every month he's President"

Planets with similar climates: Sonic Youth - "I Don't Want To Push It" (1982), The Sound - "Fatal Flaw" (1981), Joy Division - "Wilderness" (1979), Simple Minds - "Sons And Fascination" (1981).


R.I.P. Thurston and Kim's marriage, the glue that held the indie world together all these years.

Primitive Painters >> Here I am, back from the world you have never known

California Month continued, tremor #29:

Primitive Painters - "Like You"

(G.T.'s Records, 1991)

Primitive Painters were a four-piece from Garden Grove, CA, and this album was recorded in Torrance, CA.  I bought this CD, Dirtclods, at a pawn shoppe two years ago because the band named itself after a jangly song by Felt (w/ Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser on backing vocals) that was a college rock hit in the '80s.  The CD booklet ends with the possibly-sarcastic directive "Put on your game face and go for it."

Most of the album is pretty jangly and California-ish in an unremarkable way, aside from some impressive guitar artistry on "Something Snaps" and "Take," which both channel '84-85 era U2.  But this song, the last one on the album, sounds like it has a different mastering job and was probably recorded separately from the rest of the disc.  It's also much more intense and post-punk-y.  The singer, Dennis Crupi, does some weird guttural vocalizing at the end of the song, which is a bit irritating, but it is what it is.  The band's Facebook page says "Upon signing with English independent GT's Records in 1992, Primitive Painters stormed the scene with its full-length debut Dirtclods.  Based in Garden Grove, Calif., the band amassed a respectable college following and stacks of favorable press.  Between extensive U.S. tours and support slots for international acts – including The Wonder Stuff, Dramarama, Jonathan Richman, Sublime, The Soup Dragons, Hoodoo Gurus and Modern English – the Painters recorded several post-Dirtclods demos on prospective labels' tabs. But the right offer never came, and, in 1997, the band called it a day."  It goes on to say "In June 2003, the OC Weekly included Primitive Painters in its "129 Greatest OC Bands Ever!" article (June 20-27, 2003) and announced the band had reformed."  (They also played live with The Black Watch in the early '90s.)

Three years ago, the inaugural Prospect art festival descended upon New Orleans, technically known as Prospect.1, with the expectation that there would be another one every two years.  Due to financial problems, it was scrapped last fall, but it is coming back this fall.  Here are some photos I took at an impressive group exhibit at the old U.S. Mint building at the edge of the French Quarter on Jan. 13, 2009.  This room featured a big pile of fake money, with a surveillance camera mounted on the ceiling.  As viewers walked up to it, they could see themselves being recorded on one of the monitor screens, another of which was trained on the pile itself.  I guess it was a comment on the police state / surveillance state that most people grudgingly accept "is coming," but has actually been here for many years.

The cash money

The camera; money pile visible on a monitor at far left

Me photographing myself being surveilled

Planets with similar climates: The Sound - "Whirlpool" (1984), U2 - "Indian Summer Sky" (1984), Cactus World News - "Worlds Apart" (1985), The Prime Movers - "Hear The Call" (1984), Film School - "Dear Me" (2007).

American Music Club >> Now I wake up and I don't have any gravity

California Month continued, tremor #28:

American Music Club - "Sick Of Food"

(Alias Records, 1991)

Well, this is probably the most intense n' passionate vocal performance ever laid to tape.  You can keep your Cookie Monster death metal growlers and skinny-jean-clad screamo bleaters.  This song is closely related to another one from the same album, "Rise".

In summer of '05 I bought AMC's sprawling '93 opus Mercury on cassette at some thrift store and was floored by it, so I quickly set about buying lots more of their stuff.  I bought this CD, Everclear, on eBay that fall for a few bucks.  American Music Club are from San Francisco.  In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine named Mark Eitzel its Songwriter Of The Year, and it also put Everclear in its top 5 albums of the year.  I think it's an uneven album with a few great songs.

Before going out to the concert last night, I watched the second half of the movie Apocalypto with my sister.  Then we watched the beginning of Mysterious Skin, since she has had a crush on Joseph Gordon-Levitt since seeing seeing him in a restaurant.  Yikes.  It was so disturbing that we couldn't even keep watching it.  I told Emily it reminded me a bit of Gummo, which she hasn't seen, so I showed her some weird Gummo clips on YouTube.  (Spaghetti in bathtub scene; chair wrestling scene; tapdance scene; swimming pool scene.)   Das Racist were pretty dope, though they unfortunately didn't do "Hahahaha jk."  The film clips they played were very surreal and generally hilarious.  Danny Brown was emulating Andre 3000 pretty blatantly, but with lots of explicit lyrics that grew a bit tiresome.  Despot is a short white dude.  I wore my NBA TV t-shirt.  Here's a pic I took which miraculously squeezes in all seven of the dudes doing a collabo at the very end:

L-R: Dapwell (Das Racist), Heems (Das Racist), Despot, Kool A.D. (Das Racist), Danny Brown, DJ dude, Danny's hype man texting

We stayed out till about 3:30 AM, stopping at the Saint and then at the Balcony Bar.  A punk dude was karaoke-ing NSync's "Bye Bye Bye" at the former establishment.  We played some Faith No More, Interpol, Das Racist, Kreayshawn, Verve and Pixies on the "internet jukebox" at the latter, and I got a huge chicken calzone and a Guinness Draught.  Someone at the bar was loudly talking about how 15 of her friends were currently pregnant, down from a recent high of 22.
I made a mental note to get up at 8, so I woke up at 7:59 without an alarm clock.  (I'm really good at that.)  I lent a Rahsaan Roland Kirk CD to Bruce, the security guy at my sister's apartment, and he said we should play hoops soon.  I cruised by Harold's nursery (plant store), then went to Chalmette.  Later bought a mint copy of Miles Davis' Get Up With It on double LP at The Mushroom, mainly for its mind-blowing first track, "He Loved Him Madly."  I asked Chris at The Mushroom why he wasn't at the D.R. show, and he said he was, so we talked about it.  I noticed Justin Warfield's first album in the $3 used CD rack and recommended it to him.  Ate some food and fed my lizard.  Bought two artsy foreign DVDs at a pawn shoppe.
At 4PM I had a very strange and unnerving incident on the Luling bridge, wherein I was tailgated aggressively by a big silver Ford pickup with a totally black-tinted windshield, which had sped up onto my tail going way over the speed limit.  Rather than accelerate, I maintained my speed and flicked him off.  He tailgated me down the lengthy cloverleaf off-ramp, then he finally flashed red and blue lights and pulled me over.  It turns out it was two narcotics officers in an unmarked vehicle.  I know this because they were wearing shirts that said "NARCOTICS" in big yellow letters.  The driver, a Jersey Shore-esque would-be bodybuilder, bellows at me and asked me if I knew who I was messing with.  I asked him "Why are you flexing your arms?," which didn't go over too well with him.  After I laid out my case that he was drastically speeding in a construction zone that probably had cameras, I watched him go back to his truck and converse with his buddy in my rearview.  I think they realized I'd beat them in court, and any video footage of what they did might cause them to get in trouble.  So Jersey dude gives me a ticket for Careless Operation, which is pretty much the mildest offense there is.  "I could've given you 5 different citations, but I'm just giving you one."  So I can't complain too much.  To make a long story short, I was the only person driving the speed limit over that bridge, with everyone else going at least 10 MPH too fast, yet I was the only one who got a ticket.  Amazingly, Das Racist had a running joke about "narcs" at the show last night, in which they claimed they could sense that some people in the crowd were narcs.  (Presumably a joke about the paranoia of potheads?)  So of course I deal with narcs for the first time in my life about half a day later.  Weird.
Anyway, the moral is that I now know how quickly and easily one can be intimidated into signing a document that one knows is unfair.  I used to scoff when I would hear about prisoners who signed confessions after, say, 10 hours of nonstop questioning, but I won't do that anymore.

This morning I snapped pics at my sister's apartment of two paintings I've given to her:

The first one is about 2x2.5', depicts coconut palms (Cocos nucifera), and is the first palm painting I ever did, in Sept. '09.  I think it has the best fronds I've ever done, and it sucks that I'll never be able to top those.  The second one is big, like 2'x3', depicts date palms (Phoenix dactylifera), and I think I did it last year.  That one is, aesthetically, my favorite painting I've ever done.  I don't paint from photos, I just freehand from my head based on my growing, studying, pruning and photographing of various palms over the years.  I have a strict rule about never painting green fronds, and hopefully The Man won't ever coerce me into breaking it.

Planets with similar climates: The Sheila Divine - "Back To The Cradle" (2002), Hüsker Dü - "59 Times The Pain" (1984), Idaho - "You Are There" (1993).

Starflyer 59 >> Time's all you need

California Month continued, tremor #27:

Starflyer 59 - "The Boulevard"

(Tooth & Nail Records, 1996)

I mentioned in an earlier SF59 post that this breathtaking little song was my introduction to Starflyer 59, on a Magnet magazine sampler CD in early '97, brilliantly titled Indie Music Sampler Vol. 1.  The only other excellent songs on it were Plexi's "Dimension" and Knapsack's "Courage Was Confused", which went on to become a cult emo-punk favorite.  Camber's "Hollowed-Out" is a blatant imitation of Sunny Day Real Estate, but quite good.  This was the first installment of their new monthly sampler CD series, which went on for at least 9 years.  (Vol. 2 contained Chug's "Water Torture".)  Anyway, this song floored me, and I immediately put it onto a mix tape I was making for Marguerite Holmes.

"The Boulevard" is the main highlight of their third album, Americana, but since it's taken off of this sampler CD, it might be mastered slightly differently than the album version; I've never owned Americana on CD, just on cassette.  For all these years, I had thought the opening line was "Time's all we need, 'til it starts to flee," but I recently found out it's "Time's all you need, when you stop to think."  Jason Martin's sleepy vocals will do that to you.  I've mentioned my love of slow, "stalker-ish" songs before, especially ones with female vocals, and Martin's vox are pretty darned girly on this song, in true Kevin Shields fashion.  They're actually double-tracked, with a higher-pitched vocal take mixed more quietly than the regular one, giving the impression of a guy and a girl harmonizing.

I'm going to see Das Racist tonight, despite two rather annoying opening acts, Danny Brown and Despot.  I don't feel that great, since I ate some Pumpkin Delights, which only list "spices" in the ingredients, but I can almost guarantee you they contain cinnamon, which I have a food sensitivity to.  It seems they should be legally required to list every single ingredient.  As with every October, I'm having trouble finding non-candy treats to give out for Halloween.

An interesting article I found today: New proof that comets watered the earth

In Amber Rose news, the current issue of Urban Ink has her on the cover and a nice centerfold of her.  I think her 15 minutes are almost up, but it's been fun...

The guitar in "The Boulevard" sort of reminds me of Stevie Ray Vaughan, which gives me an excuse to finally post this:

From lamebook.com, of course... As if you needed any more reasons not to join Facebook

Planets with similar climates: Lid - "Up" (1992), Acetone - "Sundown" (1993), Chug - "Water Torture" (1996), American Music Club - "Challenger" (1992), Moonshake - "Spaceship Earth" (1992).

The Aqua Velvets >> Amber waves of sand

California Month continued, tremor #26:

The Aqua Velvets - "Nomad"

(Milan Records, 1996 / Riptide Records, 2006)

Not much to say here... Just a dope, chilled-out surf instrumental.  This kind of thing is actually quite hard to make, since most surf shredders play way too many notes and hence fail to nail that blissful, electrolyte-depleted sundown feeling that you have after a good day at the beach.

I don't really know anything about this band and haven't made any effort to fix that.  I bought this CD in summer of '09 at a Baton Rouge thrift store on a whim for one or two bucks; the main coup of that day was buying Suzanne Vega's fantastic self-titled debut CD for about five bucks.  This Aqua Velvets CD, Nomad, came out in 1996 on Milan Records and was reissued ten years later on Riptide Records, which is the band's own label.  (Riptide released their debut album in '92.)  The mp3 I'm giving is from the original '96 CD; I'm not sure if the '06 version was remastered or not.

Their next album is pretty good and has one of the best covers ever:

Today this Spanish bullfighter got gored in the head and had one side of his face ripped apart from the inside.  I watched a clip of it in slow motion and felt quite nauseous afterwards.  Of course I'm happy whenever a bull gores a matador, but this took it to another level, so I'm not going to link to it.  Other stuff I did today: Listened to some Toro Y Moi on iTunes to decide if I want to see them on Monday or not.  The answer is probably "or not," despite the greatness of their song "Still Sound."  Watched #1 LSU crush Florida.  Watched this movie Catfish, which turned out to be a documentary, not a psychological thriller / mockumentary as I had anticipated.  Ate a banana.  Checked on Kreayshawn's tumblr, a guilty pleasure for the last month or two.  Listened to some of Insides' album Euphoria in the car.  Played basketball for two hours at my favorite court, the one at Lutcher Playground.  I was the only non-black person there out of about 100 people, as it was some sort of family reunion / block party, with a DJ playing smooth jams under the pavillion.  (I think he was just playing a mix CD and announcing each song in between over a PA system, but I didn't mind because the music was good.)  Most of the basketball players were teenagers, and none were in my league skill-wise, so it got a little tedious, especially since some of them would randomly start texting or walk away to get barbecue or whatever.  Probably 15 different guys cycled in and out of the game overall.  A cop car pulled up and told them to turn the music down at one point, which was not surprising, since the police station is about 50 feet away.  When the sun set, I decided I was too sweaty and tired to stop at Winn-Dixie to get groceries.  Listened to some of Savage Republic's self-titled CD in the car on the way back.  Did laundry.  Wrote this.  Still in shock over the Phillies being shut out last night at home in an elimination game.  Ryan Howard injuring his ankle on the game's final play was fitting, but I still wore my Howard jersey today.  He batted about .100 in the series.

Today I also skimmed through the "Index of First Lines" appendix at the back of The Contemporary American Poets: American Poetry Since 1940.  (Signet Classics edition, 2000.)  Tell me you don't want to read every one of these after reading their first line:

One that is not shown in the pic since it's at the bottom of the left page is "I walk the purple carpet into your eye."  This is from Diane Wakoski's Inside Out.  Fun Fact: The line "inside the blood factory" was used as the title of a 1968 compendium of her poetry, well, actually closer to prose, that I bought last year.

Notice in the following list that I'm not just throwing out tracks by well-known '60s surf bands, e.g. Ventures, Shadows, etc., like most people would do.  So it's a good example of how I like to dig a little deeper into the soul / essence of a song when finding its kindred spirits, and that usually means going outside of its accepted genre.  None of them are surf bands, and none are even from the West Coast, but the tracks all have haunting, bluesy guitar melodies that have been stuck in my head for many years.
I think my favorite "similar planet" recommendation so far has been Concrete Blonde's "Dance Along The Edge" in the post about The Sound's "Burning Part Of Me."

Planets with similar climates: Yo La Tengo - "Return To Hot Chicken" (1997), Eric Clapton - "New Recruit" (1992), Polvo - "Snake Fist Fighter" (1990), Scenic - "Ionia" (1996), Tortoise - "I Set My Face To The Hillside" (1997), Felt - "Fortune" (1984).