Bare Minimum >> I can't tell if I own this or if it owns me

Bare Minimum - "Swim In Anxious Moment"

(Rx Remedy Records, 1997)

I had to dish out another Bare Minimum song to show their more atmospheric, shoegazey side.  This song title perfectly sums up the band's aesthetic.  There are no lyrics printed in the booklet, but I think I can make a few with confidence.  The lyric "Corkscrew you... I'm a shaky sugar" always gets a few laughs at cocktail parties, and the line "Yourself in season" (as in: hunting season) is a bit unnerving.
Fun Fact: This song was simply titled "Anxious Moment" on the promo CD.

As with most B-Min songs, there is not a reliable verse-chorus-verse structure, so the listener has to don the ol' thinking hat.  But it never gets tedious or feels like the band is being pretentious, since there are always plenty of visceral pleasures to be unearthed as the song unfolds.  This song goes through enough twists, turns and tempo changes to last most lesser bands a lifetime, and there are some baffling handclaps in the middle.  Joe Plummer's drumming is spectacularly understated and jazzy. The guitar tone starting at the 4:30 mark is about as good as it gets, creamy (as guitar tone freaks would say) and lullaby-esque, yet menacing and disembodied in that way that Sonic Youth perfected circa Bad Moon Rising & EVOL before they (S.Y.) became a "rock" band.  As I mentioned in the last post, Brian Speckman loved to sing about eyes, and this song was no exception.  He also used a very Southern-sounding drawl in this song, which sounds quite unique compared to your standard flock of male indie rock singers.  For such a creative band, this album's cover art really sucked, especially compared to their self-titled debut (which had different covers for the CD and the LP).  All Music Guide gave the album a brief but glowing 4-star review: "While more refined and accessible than their self-titled debut, Bare Minimum's sophomore outing is still a dense and difficult record; Brian Speckman and Mark Pinkos – credited with left and right guitar, respectively – together create a mighty racket, with the Branca-esque dynamics of their twin attack employing intricate rhythmic patterns and thick, atonal chord structures to forge an amorphous yet strangely taut post-rock sound."
All three of Bare Minimum's Rx Remedy releases used to be on iTunes, but I guess they were yanked due to slow or nonexistent sales.

I did a "Lost Classics" article on this album in February 2003 for my old online zine, Cold Comfort.  I began it by saying "This is one of those albums that lit a fire under me when I got it in early '99, and led to me inflicting this zine upon you all.  And the current dearth of albums like this is the reason why I'll probably discontinue this zine in the near future.  [I did.]  So... how can an album from 1998 already be a 'lost classic'?  Well, the sounds contained on this disc are indisputably classic, but as for the 'lost' part... let's just say this was destined to be lost before it even came out.  Zero promotion, practically zero touring, zero college radio-friendly tunes."  Then under the entry for "Swim In Anxious Moment" (I always did a song-by-song analysis), I said "Most horrifying guitar climax I've ever heard."
In the closing section, I said "For whatever reason, the even numbered songs on the album tend to be delicate, whereas the odd numbered ones are aggressive. (...) This is definitely not beginners' stuff.  For example, the listener has to be familiar with all the Sonic Youth and Slint clichés (i.e. atypical song structure, dissonant guitar work) to appreciate how brilliantly Bare Minimum avoids them, and even obliterates them. The album was produced by Phil Ek, best known for producing all six Built To Spill albums, and albums by almost every other Northwest band, including my beloved Lync.  Ek nestles this album in a womblike aura that suits the vocals and intricate guitar work perfectly.
For more on why this is a lost album, aside from the extremely difficult music, let's put it this way: Rx Remedy is (was?) a tiny daughter label of Sub Pop which apparently was a clearinghouse for S.P.'s acts with little commercial potential, and Rx Remedy never even had a website.  And their mail order catalog was always just a postcard sized scrap of paper included with the big Sub Pop catalogs.  The interesting thing is that, since Sub Pop has been 49% owned by Atlantic Records since 1995, every Bare Minimum release was theoretically funded by profits from the likes of Stone Temple Pilots, Phil Collins and Aretha Franklin.  Heads probably rolled when some Atlantic exec found out about Bare Minimum's existence.  Plummer went on to join experimental Unwound side project Replikants, and I don't know the whereabouts of the rest of the group.
Note: After putting this review up, I went to bed and looked through the new issue of Magnet magazine, and saw a photo of Joe Plummer as the drummer in the Black Heart Procession.  So it's good to see he's found a gig (although BHP are crap compared to Bare Minimum)."

I took this pic not long before the sun went down today, hence the lusciously long shadows coming from the blades of grass:

I couldn't find that promo CD I bought in '99, unfortunately.  I actually painted over the front of its paper-sleeve packaging with translucent pearlescent paint right after buying it, so it's one of a kind.  It has a press photo of the band in which one member is wearing goggles like it's no big deal.

Fun Fact 2: There's only music on sides 1 to 3 of the double LP; side 4 is just smooth, blank vinyl... smooth and reflective enough to use as a mirror, in fact.  I don't think I've ever seen that on any other record, though I've often seen etchings put onto sides of records where there is no music.

Fun Fact 3: You can see the series of dour little symbols on the CD, the CD jewel tray insert, and on each side of the records.  The first is a butterfly, the second is an umbrella, and the other two are hard to decipher.  When you open the CD booklet, it seems to be laid out so that each symbol corresponds to each band member's headshot.  Maybe this was some sort of spoof of Led Zeppelin's ZOSO?  Like I said before, Bare Minimum were some cryptic m.f.'s.

The most anxious moment I've ever had involving swimming was in early '94 at John Marriott's house next to UNO.  He was about 5 feet tall, a new student at my high school fresh off the boat from England, and really outgoing.  He and his mom had left for an errand or something while I was staying over there for the weekend one time.  For some reason I decided to teach myself to do a flip off of their pool's diving board.  This was in February or maybe early March, hence quite cold out, and I just stood there at the end of the board in my swimsuit for pretty much an eternity, pondering how to flip without over- or under-rotating, because I didn't want to somehow do a bad belly flop and be knocked unconscious and die while no one was there.  The longer I waited, the colder it got and the more I tried to talk myself out of doing it, but I finally did the flip and that was that.  I think we watched part of the movie Judgment Night that weekend but didn't like it.

Tue. Feb. 28th: I shot hoops at Ama Park and got pretty sunburned.  Later I went to a show at a little place in the 9th Ward called The Mudlark Theatre.  It was a Japanese guy named Tatsuya Nakatani on percussion, local cellist Helen Gillet, and local guitarist (and Anxious Sound booker) Rob Cambre on guitar.  (I had seen all of them separately over the years, but this was a very intriguing three-way pileup, so I had to go check it out.)  I got there late and only saw the last 5 minutes, but it was ultra-intense:

Since it was over pretty early (10:00ish), I walked around the French Quarter for a while.  I saw a woman playing cello for tips on the street, and asked her if she had heard of Helen Gillet.  She said yeah, and was incredulous when I showed her a video clip of what I'd just seen.  "Helen Gillet played two blocks from my house and I missed it!"  I ended up in a little Rouses grocery store and got some German honey, among other stuff.

Wed. 29th: Shot at the court on Annunciation Street, then went shopping on the Westbank, then played some full-court 5-on-5 at Ama Park.  After the other dudes all left for the night, I played some 21 against a guy who said he was 50 and had played for the U. of Texas and then for the Cleveland Cavaliers and in several European leagues.  I beat him in the first game, but he beat me easily in the second.  I never got his name, but if someone knows a player who went to UT, finished college ca. '84, then later played for the Cavs, then I'd have an i.d. on him.  He was 6'6", had messed up knees, and looked like Rick Fox, meaning sickeningly handsome, and looked closer to 30 than to 50.  It gave me inspiration that I'll be able to play at that age or beyond, assuming I take good care of my knees.

Thur. March 1st: Went down to Houma and got two more LP shelves from Office Depot, and some clay pots at an evil store whose name I won't mention.  Researched the Canadian indie blog sensation Grimes (Claire Boucher) in anticipation of seeing her live the following day, even though I didn't dig her music.  It's amazing how fast she has usurped the spotlight from the likes of Lana Del Rey, St. Vincent, Liturgy, etc.  Some sample reading:
Is Grimes the next BIG Indie Diva, or an overhyped product of the Corrupt Indie Machine?
Deconstructing: Grimes
(That Ohio kid who killed some of his classmates last week was apparently a Grimes fan and had recently posted at least one of her vids on his Facebook page.)

I should mention that she played at a local dive-y bar called The Saint last fall, opening for fellow Canadian techno-poppers Austra.  It was on the same night (Nov. 4th) that I was at the Boris concert, otherwise I would've gone.  I actually planned on going to both, but Boris ran long.

Fri. March 2nd: Drove into NOLA through a bad storm, put down some mulch at Barbara's herb garden, then went to the Grimes show, which was outdoors at Tulane.  I only caught the last song by the opening act, shameless '80s synth-pop replicators Born Gold.  For 30 entire minutes, Grimes sat on the back of the stage chatting with Born Gold.  This was her sound check period, so I wondered why she didn't at least pretend to fiddle with some knobs or check some wires or whatever.  All her equipment was set up before BG even played, so my point is, why not just play immediately after they finish, especially with a monster rainstorm looming?  So I was a little annoyed right from the outset.  Amazingly, the rain never arrived, and the front swept away the muggy 85º heat, replacing it with beautiful, breezy 70º perfection.  She finally came on, played two songs solo with some technical glitches.  Then Born Gold came on as her backing band for the majority of the set.  It was surprisingly good, and she's pretty entertaining.  She had more technical problems and exclaimed "Fuck! Fuck!" at some points, but soldiered on.  After 45 mins. she finally told us that the sunlight was giving her problems, since it was making it hard for her to see all the lights on her various electronic devices, and that she hence couldn't keep playing.  I only took three pics, and here are two:

She was shaking her head side to side pretty hardcore during at this moment, so I was surprised to have gotten such a nice focused shot.
Yes, that is a Bob Marley poster in the dorm window at the left; this is a college campus, 'member?

I bought two boxes of Girl Scout cookies that were being sold right behind the stage, then wandered around the campus for a bit looking for a show flyer.  I was going to give one of the boxes to the Mushroom, so I started walking back towards Pocket Park, where the concert was held.  I saw Claire was still there, talking with a Born Golder (Calvin) behind the stage, so I made the impromptu decision to give her a box of the cookies, and told her she did a good job despite the technical problems.  I later noticed that the cookies were fittingly called Thank U Berry Munch.  I probably should've shaken her hand or something, but she's so incredibly petite and skinny that I guess I subliminally thought I might injure her?  Sorry for all this info on Grimes.  If you get to see her or talk to her you'll find her energy contagious, and it becomes hard not to like her or her music, so I think she deserves all of the fame that's coming her way.  Compare her spazzy, unpretentious nature to the cool, calculated, detached demeanor of a St. Vincent (I like SV a lot, for what it's worth), or a Lana Del Rey (no opinion yet), or a Steve Malkmus (despise him), or a Laurie Anderson (dig her), etc.  Speaking of musical things that are grime-y, this show was better than the Dizzee Rascal "History Of Grime" tour that I saw in '05.

One last thing: An interview with her done in WTUL's studio right after the show.

Wow, I just realized that I have now contributed to the internet's Grimes Overkill.  It's funny how things work out sometimes.  I guess I'm just as fascinated by fame, hype, etc. as anyone else is.  And for some reason I just love seeing electronic music live, even if an artist's studio recordings are not something I'd want to listen to very much.

To cap off an interesting Friday, the lowly (to the untrained observer) Hornets shocked the defending-champion Mavericks despite having four players, three of whom are starters, out with injuries.  It's looking like a sure bet that someone will buy the team this month and thereby relieve the NBA of its ownership role involving the Hornets.  (For those who don't follow basketball, here's a summary: Rather than possibly let the team relocate to Seattle or somewhere else, the NBA stepped in and bought the Hornets last year when the team couldn't find a buyer.  This had never been done before in league history.  The Hornets lost superstar point guard Chris Paul to the L.A. Clippers in December and immediately became one of the league's bottom-dwellers, fueling speculation that the team would move, especially since a really wealthy computer czar from Seattle wanted to buy them.)
Unfortunately, the "Bountygate" scandal involving the Saints broke this same night.  The team will probably receive the biggest penalty in the history of the NFL for it.  Thanks a lot, Gregg Williams.

Photo montage by Josh Helfferich of cell phones before and after the iPhone; I think the relative sizes are incorrect, but you get the idea:

Sorry for all the pics and videos in this post, and I will try not to do it in the future.  It's definitely the most media I've ever put in one post, and I generally hate when people do that because it can cause your computer to slow down or freeze up.  But sometimes you have to live on the edge, and I have a big backlog of images and videos to share, so.  I'm a technical Luddite compared to most interneters of today, so I was surprised when I thought about all the various software programs and physical devices that were used in the making of this post:
Blogspot (blog software / website hosting) (duh) [free]
iTunes (mp3 player) [free with any Mac]
DivShare (mp3 hosting) [free]
Canon SD870 IS digital camera (photos) (also takes mediocre videos) [passed down from my mom when she got a new camera]
Flip Video camcorder (both videos) [given by my dad, who got it as a freebie at a business meeting]
iPhoto (photo editing) [free with any Mac]
YouTube (video hosting) [free]
PageSpinner (HTML editor) (excerpts from Cold Comfort article) [free trial software that I got in '99 and never paid for]

Planets with similar climates: Bright Channel - "Airborne" (2005), Bleach - "Seeing" (1991), Interpol - "Obstacle 2" (2002), Bailter Space - "Orbit" (1992), Slint - "Good Morning, Captain" (1990), Juno - "The Sea Looked Like Lead" (1998).