Paradise Vendors >> I know what you need

Paradise Vendors - "Prozac" (a.k.a. "Proloft")

(self-released [Spartie Records], 2003 / 2005)

Paradise Vendors were a short-lived New Orleans band, or dare I say supergroup, named after the fictitious hot dog company for which Ignatius J. Reilly worked in the novel A Confederacy Of Dunces.  I read that book over 20 years ago and later unknowingly went to the same university (Loyola) as its author.  The book has always annoyed me a bit, but it's undeniably a classic of Southern literature.

I first heard this song on WTUL in late 2003, under its original title of "Prozac."  I was driving and had no cell phone yet, so when I got home I immediately called the station to ask what the song was.  I knew it'd go down as a local classic.  (This mp3 is from the impossibly-rare Music 1... demo EP CD-R.)  In 2004 PV played around town a lot and in early 2005 put out their one and only album, Candy.  It included "Prozac," but under the name "Proloft," presumably to avoid lawsuits, though the second name seems more likely stir up two lawsuits, if you ask me.  The semi-rapped ending verse of the song reminds of me of the surrealist "eatin' cars" part in Blondie's "Rapture," and the song in general has a playfully quirky, genre-busting feel like that of "Rapture."

Live in the crimson confines of Circle Bar on Oct. 26, 2004; photo by Jason Songe

I saw a subtly brilliant performance by a local band called the Vivid Prawns in March 1998 at the Mermaid Lounge, with fellow locals Sage Maas (proggy alt-metal) and Zoom (lame retro power pop).  The Prawns were basically a clone of The Sea And Cake (one of my favorite bands ever), and I was sure they'd get signed to Thrill Jockey Records, but they never released any official music, to my knowledge, and kinda faded away.  If anyone has any Vivid Prawns music or info to send my way, please do so.  They morphed into Veloka in the early '00s or perhaps late '90s.  So if you know about the two bands that made up PV, you'll understand how they got their hybrid sound: smooth tropical stylings from the Vivid Prawns, and burlesque-y edge from Veloka.  Paradise Vendors' bassist Dave Baker and drummer Elzy Lindsey were each in the Vivid Prawns and Veloka, as well as some band called Nuclear Choir.)  I'm sure I'm making this sound way too confusing...  So I'll put it this way: The bassist and drummer in any band comprise what is known as the rhythm section.  The following three NOLA bands had the same rhythm section: The Vivid Prawns, Veloka, Paradise Vendors.  And the synth guru from Electrical Spectacle, Anton Gussoni, was PV's secret weapon.  Add the dynamic vocal stylings and fashion sense of Jeanne Stallworth and you have the final piece in the Paradise puzzle.

I don't have any clips of the Vivid Prawns, but here's one of Veloka at the Howlin' Wolf (now called Republic) in glorious 144p:

Since I think it's rude to embed more than one video per page, see another super-psychedelic clip of Veloka here.

Hidden under a "Read More" tab at CD Baby is a great trove of info about Paradise Vendors, so I will simply cut and paste some of it over here, in case that page ever disappears.
First is a bio, presumably written by the band members themselves:

"If the illegitimate children of Martin Denny and Nancy Sinatra grew up in New Orleans and they formed a band... or you played turntables with LPs by Brasil 66, Dick Dale, The Pixies, and Burt Bacharach simultaneously and all the tunes were in E minor... or punks play bossa nova in the Irish Channel... or The Cramps fell in love with Doris Day... You might have pop exotica space rock.

When bassist Dave Baker (Veloka [alternative rock], The Vivid Prawns [Asian pop rock fusion], Nuclear Choir [new wave punk]) and drummer Elzy Lindsey (Veloka, The Vivid Prawns, Nuclear Choir, Fucus and way too many more bands to mention...) met thespian and chanteuse Jeanne Stallworth, (The Foxy HooHoos), guitarist Robert Vicknair (Veloka, Frank [digital garage], Merkins [post punk]) and last but not least, Anton Gussoni (Electrical Spectacle) on Moog and Rhodes piano... the eclectic collaboration of Paradise Vendors was born."

Here are excerpts from some local reviews:

Bunny Matthews (OffBeat magazine) describes our music as "excellent."
Anthony DelRosario (Turducken Productions) says "Paradise Vendors blends gypsy, surf, new wave, moog stuff, cabaret, world percussion, trashy girl rock & spacey instrumentals into an otherworldly hybrid too eclectic to readily classify."
Steve Perrin (rock journalist) says "P.J. Harvey meets Marlene Dietrich."
Jason Songe (liveneworleans.com) says "The music was a soundtrack to an underbelly... The band's music exposed what was under the city's black veil."
Keith Spera (Lagniappe / Times-Picayune) describes Candy as "eclectic, adventurous and artful modern pop..."
Alex Rawls (Gambit) says Paradise Vendors' music "evokes the luxuriousness of artists like Les Baxter or John Barry."

Songe is the affable booker at the Circle Bar, and he used to run the aforementioned site liveneworleans.com, which was an invaluable resource for reviewing under-the-radar local bands in the pre-MySpace/Facebook/Tumblr/Twitter era.  It has what are probably the only two detailed gig reviews that Paradise Vendors ever received, replete with photos:
Cafe Brasil (April 11, 2004)
Circle Bar (Oct. 26, 2004)

Last month I finally(!) got the original 2003 demo EP, Music 1..., whilst enjoying an in-store performance by What Moon Things at Euclid Records.  Afterwards, I convinced the band to snag a used copy of Candy for a few bucks after I had a Euclid employee play "Prozac" on the stereo.

This is of course the EP spread open; the front cover uses the same photo that's on the CD.
It's a purse with a Paradise Vendors 7" record (which doesn't actually exist) sewn or glued onto it, replete with the band's label, "Spartie Records." And a light-up ring.

Planets with similar climates: Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra - "Some Velvet Morning" (1967), Moonshake - "Exotic Siren Song" (1996), Blondie - "Rapture" (1980), Bleach - "Surround" (1991), The Cardigans - "Carnival" (1994), Furry Things - "Burn For" (1997).

Lid >> The atmosphere is somewhere very, very close to here

Lid - "Up"

(Brilliant Records, 1992)

In early 2010 I was at The Mushroom and picked up a compilation CD called Something Pretty Beautiful from the pile of free used CDs that they sometimes stack up at the top of the entry stairway.  (They give away CDs that have gone unsold for years, sometimes for over a decade.)  When listening to the track by a band called Lid, something sounded very familiar to me.  I was all "This is like a bluesier, more psychedelic version of Poem Rocket!"  Well, it turns out Lid was P.R. singer / guitarist Michael Peters' previous band, and as far as I know, this was the only song they ever released, though hopefully I'm wrong.  Doing an online search for "lid" + "up" does not exactly return many music-related results.

"The atmosphere is somewhere very, very close to here" is a pretty unique way of saying that one is at a high altitude.  All the elements of Poem Rocket's genius are present here.  This song really takes the major-label suits on a wild rollercoaster courtship ride in the confusing wake of Nirvana, and makes them get out their pens and start clicking them to test if the ink works before fishing around in their pockets for a piece of paper on which to scrawl a multi-album contract for Lid to sign.  That's how good of a song it is.  The production values are simply stunning, with some of the most "3-D" surround-sound I've ever heard.  The closing guitar onslaught (3:58 mark) all but leaps out of the speakers; I really can't emphasize the coolness of this last part enough.  You have to listen to this song on a good stereo or with headphones, but it does sound rather massive even on small speakers, without relying on simple loudness.  I made this a high-quality 224 kbps file for maximum shock and awe.

Poem Rocket's press kit .pdf (see two posts ago), says that Peters lived in both Ohio and Virginia before moving to NYC and forming Poem Rocket.  Brilliant Records was based in Richmond, so it makes sense that this compilation has a good amount of VA bands, especially since the northern VA / southern MD area was really fertile with great bands at the time... Not that I knew this when I went to the Univ. of Richmond for a year in the mid-'90s, sadly.  The Virginia bands on this comp. are: Fudge (Richmond), The Knievels (Chester), Lid (Richmond), Lorelei (Arlington), The Petals (Richmond), Schwa (Richmond), The Technical Jed (Richmond), The Tribbles (Richmond), Twitch Hazel (Richmond), Ultra Cindy (Chesapeake), The Waking Hours (Midlothian).  The booklet says Lid also put out some stuff on a label called Radioactive Rat, which I really need to hear.  Unfortunately, the liner notes don't list the members of the bands.  I found out that Something Pretty Beautiful was the name of a band on Creation Records, so this comp must've been named after them.

Speaking of the word "Lid" and the mid-'90s, I once went on a date with this girl Lydia in May '95, my last month of high school.  (That was also the month I got accepted into the Univ. of Richmond.)  We went to a women's beach volleyball match at Coconut Beach (R.I.P.) and then went to Blockbuster Music, where I bought Jeff Buckley's Grace on cassette.  I popped it in the tape deck, and it was kind of awkward listening to "Last Goodbye"'s line "Kiss me, pleeeease kiss meeee" during the car ride back to her place to drop her off.  And no, we didn't.  Strangely, the last time I ever saw her was on the morning of 9/11/11, walking across the campus of Loyola Univ. in New Orleans.

Planets with similar climates: Swervedriver - "Deep Seat" (1991) & "Duress" (1993), Juno (with Jen Wood) - "A Listening Ear" (1998), Acetone - "Sundown" (1993), Temple Of The Dog - "Reach Down" (1990), Nudeswirl - "Three" (1993), Big Head Todd & The Monsters - "Circle" (1993), Screaming Trees - "Shadow Of The Season" (1992), Soundgarden - "Blind Dogs" (1995).

Currently eating or drinking: Vincotto orange velvety condiment (fermented grape & orange must), BelGioioso mascarpone, Rouses polder goat gouda, Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout, Naturally Delicious banana bread.

Poem Rocket >> At the point of impact, don't rule anything out

Poem Rocket - "Levy 9 R.S.V.P."

(Magic Eye Singles, 1998)

So by now you know what Poem Rocket was capable of in terms of harnessing atonality and melody into oddly memorable and gripping songs.  What would happen if they really let their hair down and drifted off into the outer realms, like a non-sucky version of Hawkwind?

You have to admit that "At the point of impact, don't rule anything out" would make a great tattoo or Nike slogan, as would "If it hits us, we'll say 'I told you so' with no regrets."  Stick around until the last minute for some eerie, softly spoken vocals concluding with the epitaph "Deep in the dense layers of hydrogen."  This song's lyrics are presumably based on the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, whose collision with Jupiter in July 1994 was a huge event amongst astronomers worldwide.  I don't personally remember it, but I vividly remember the Mars Pathfinder rover in '97 and Halley's Comet in '86.  I can't say whether Levy-9 was in the same general category of public excitement causation as those two, but I doubt it.

This song is from the Rocket's hard-to-find 1999 EP The Universe Explained In Six Songs.  According to the liner notes, it was recorded and mastered by the band itself, no small feat for such a sprawling, sonically-adventurous song.  The members of the band at this time are credited as: "Sandra Gardner (bass guitar, bowed bass, organ, violin, marimba, vocals), Peter Gordon (drums, piano, tape loops, harmonica, assorted mayhem) and Michael Peters (guitars, vocals, star shaker, drums)."  It comes in a cool mini clamshell (DVD-style) case with an interesting booklet.  I bought a copy ca. 2004, but the CD broke, so I bought another; I think I got both on eBay.  I have no use for the one containing the broken CD, so if someone wants it and is a somewhat-longtime reader of this site, drop me a line.

What you're looking at above is both of my booklets (front side; back side), the intact CD, the broken CD, and both cases (showing the white band / EP name stickers on the outside).

Inside the little Magic Eye Singles mailorder catalog (just one piece of paper folded in half) that came inside one of my Universe Explained CDs. (Pic added 2/23/13) Anything that contains the phrase "way better than Elliott Smith" gets a thumbs up in my book!

If you want to hear another Poem Rocket song in this spacey vein, check out "Contrail de l'avion" from their Into The Aether 10" (1994).  I actually was going to post that one instead, but opted for the longer, less hummable, more sui generis "Levy."

Illustration by Michael Peters from his book Vaast Bin; n Ephemerisi.  (The book has no page #s, but this pic is right in the middle.)

The happiest person on the planet right now has to be LL Cool J's manager.  His client just hosted the Grammys on Sunday, released (sorry, "dropped") a new single the next day, and is a dead ringer for the hopefully-late terrorist Christopher Dorner & is hence a lock to play him in the inevitable upcoming biopic.

Wed. 1/30/13: Saw Onuinu and Terrain at Siberia. I'm not sure if instrumental rockers Terrain are local, but the guitarist told the crowd it was their first-ever performance.  While Onuinu was performing (entirely solo) his catchy chillwave anthems-in-waiting, my sister and I kept telling each other "He's gonna be huge."  We bought a little too much merch after talking to him, just because of how nice and down-to-earth he is.

Thur. 1/31/13: Saw Chelsea Wolfe at the Spanish Moon.  Unfortunately, it was her "acoustic tour," and the crowd grew very antsy and belligerently talkative as it went on.  An actual quote I overheard: "It was amazing for the first 10 minutes, but after an hour I'm starting to hate it."  (It was an early show, with some sort of 80's Night beginning right afterwards at 10, so lots of obnoxious people were filling up the club.)  I was surprised C.W. didn't leave the stage due to all the talking and pool playing.  A local singer / songwriter named Erin Miley and her band opened with a set of post-Ani Difranco introspective pop.

Fri. 2/1/13: Termite treatment began.  Turns out one of the guys is a YouTube mogul who makes rap videos in New Orleans, but I forgot to ask for his YouTube name.

2/2/13: Went to the Mushroom for the first time since Nov. and learned my favorite employee and dear music buddy had quit.  Was crushed, speechless, etc.  I fittingly, and joylessly, bought Placebo's "Without You I'm Nothing" (one of my favorite songs ever) CD single for a buck.  Managed to go to the NFL Experience at the Convention Center with a bunch of my sister's friends and her fiancée right afterwards, but was sort of walking around in a depressed funk.  It didn't help that My Bloody Valentine released a dud of an album that night.  Was in much better spirits the next day on my birthday, though my prediction of Super Bowl tickets as a gift did not materialize.  Local product Jacoby Jones should've won Super Bowl MVP after setting the S.B. single-game yardage record, but he did earn a spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

2/8/13: Saw a sold-out show by the XX at House Of Blues with Em, Damion, Tace, and Alex, via free VIP lounge tickets.  I wore my School Of Seven Bells t-shirt, since their guitarist's cancer diagnosis was announced that day.  Opening act Austra went on at 9:30 instead of the heavily-advertised start time of 10:00, so we completely missed them.  I was looking forward to seeing them do their one good song, "The Beat And The Pulse," so I was pretty mad, especially since I missed a Toro Y Moi concert a few days earlier due to it being a sellout.  (In other words, I missed 3 bands on Wed. night, plus the opening band on this night, meaning I missed 4 of the 5 bands I ought to have seen in the week.)  After a long wait, the XX went on and delivered a very professional set with lots of cool lighting effects.  I'll admit I was skeptical about their ability to translate their hushed, "small" songs to the stage, but they really impressed me.  After hanging out in the posh upstairs lounge and listening to a DJ (forgot his DJ name, but it's 4 letters, maybe Flex?) spin such cutting-edge stuff as One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful," Beyoncé's "Single Ladies," and Lenny Kravitz' "American Woman" on CD "turntables," and talking to Jenn Howard for the first time since high school, we bailed.  Met Oliver XX and Romy XX outside afterwards (since most of the crowd had dispersed to the Quarter to check out Mardi Gras madness) and got our posters signed.  This is one of my sister's top 5 fav. bands, so it was pretty momentous for her.  A girl from Baton Rouge named Emilie and a guy in a wheelchair named Fuji were both elated after meeting the band, and Emilie honestly looked like she needed a cigarette afterwards.  Oliver XX even climbed over the barricade to talk to us (well, mainly to talk to Fuji), and was later blatantly propositioned by a leggy fan wearing an all-white denim outfit.  Also talked to their tour manager after I noticed his Beak shirt and told him we (Em & I) had seen Portishead at this very club in 1998.  Turns out he was Portishead's manager or tour manger up until 2007.  A very cool guy. We saw Jamie XX carrying a bag of records he had just bought at Louisiana Music Factory directly across the street, but never found out what exactly he bought.  We walked around amidst the thongs on Bourbon Street for a while and went in some mediocre bar, then I spent about 45 mins. trying to catch a cab.  Saw an obese African-American woman in a Misfits skull t-shirt walking in front of the Joy Theater while I was waiting.  The increasing ubiquity / market saturation of early punk bands ceased to surprise me long ago, but I have to admit this sighting made me do a double-take, mainly because she was walking with some decidedly non-punk friends.  As usual, sorry for the excessively detailed descriptions; just trying to capture some of the little moments that make up a night like this one.

Planets with similar climates: Bardo Pond - "Rumination" (1996), The Church - "Chaos" (1992), Juno feat. Jen Wood - "A Listening Ear" (1998), Verve - "Butterfly" (1993), Sonic Youth - "Expressway To Yr. Skull" (a.k.a. "Madonna, Sean And Me") (1986), CAN - "Father Cannot Yell" (1969), Polvo - "When Will You Die For The Last Time In My Dreams" (1996), Morphine - "Down Love's Tributaries" (1993).

Juno >> When you turn off the alarm, I turn on you

Juno - "Leave A Clean Camp And A Dead Fire"

(DeSoto Records / Pacifico Records, 1998; Modern City Records [France], 2001)

This song really has it all: A ridiculously long, atmospheric intro, cool guitar textures galore, rocket-propelled drumming, a tsunami of psychedelic axe-mangling, and of course a monster climax to end all climaxes.  And only four lines of of lyrics in ten minutes.  And three guitarists.  Do the math.  You can see by the genre tags I used that this band was not exactly easy to pigeonhole.  I've always wondered where that word came from.

Due to the stealthy escalation of tempo, there is an 85-90% chance that you'll get a speeding ticket if you listen to this on ye olde American highway, so it's better to listen to it at bingo nite or any other time you need a quick pick-me-up without caffeine.  In order to stave off insomnia, I avoid caffeine after noon.  Juno covered DJ Shadow's "High Noon" on a split EP with DeSoto labelmates The Dismemberment Plan.

I first heard about Juno in a Jade Tree Records mailorder catalog in early '98, and almost ordered a 7" by them.  I read reviews of this album, This Is The Way It Goes And Goes And Goes, around the time it came out in '99.  But I didn't buy it until spring '03, when the Wherehouse Music (formerly Blockbuster Music) on Tchoupitoulas St. had a going-out-of-business sale and I snagged dozens of used CDs.  (That's the only time I've ever seen this CD for sale in the used bins in the 13+ years since it was released, since almost no one who buys it is dumb enough to sell it.  If you ever see it used, do not hesitate to open your wallet.)  Articles about the band always mention singer Arlie Carstens' former career as a pro snowboarder, and the grisly accident he sustained which forced him to focus solely on music.  His loss, our gain.  The review of the album in CMJ by Kelso Jacks said "Juno crafts its music slowly.  However, the brilliance of this album more than compensates for Juno's less-than-prolific nature.  The band relies on the powerful interplay of three guitars to churn up an expansive whirlpool of textures.  Juno's blasting, six-string complexities mimic everything from airplanes to waterfalls to banjo plucks.  Unfettered by convention, these Northwesterners follow their sonic muse without paying mind to the clock, allowing sweeping, 10-minute epics such as 'Leave A Clean Camp And A Dead Fire' to unfold with the kind of passionate aggression that makes potentially self-indulgent duration a moot point.  The brutal rhythm section adds to and controls the thunder using carefully measured accents and punctuations.  This raucous din is topped off by guitarist Arlie Carstens' intelligent, surreal utterances, which are processed through a fuzzbox to complete Juno's wall of intensity.  Truly worth the wait."  That's basically a clinic on how to write a compact and informative review, by the way, though he should've mentioned more than just one specific song.  (I omitted one discography-related sentence near the beginning.)  It concludes: "Marketing Data: A summer tour is possible, though Carstens is currently recovering from spinal cord injuries, the result of his severely being injured in a snowboarding accident, earlier this year."

Great live clip at an unspecified venue in an unspecified year:

Also check out the sublimely haunting murder ballad "A Listening Ear", featuring co-lead vocals from Seattle chanteuse Jen Wood.  It has some of the coolest slide guitar I've ever heard.  A band called The Sea, Like Lead named itself after the album's closing song, "The Sea Looked Like Lead."

This Is The Way It Goes And Goes And Goes was not originally released on vinyl, but in 2001 a European tour edition on double LP was pressed on a French label called Modern City Records.  Juno's live shows are the stuff of legend.  They never played in New Orleans, sadly, and believe me, I sat around staring out my window for several years, pining for them to come by and Junoify my city.  I guess Europe was a lot more inviting to them.  The only other three-guitarist band that I actually listen to on a regular basis is Band Of Susans.

2001 gatefold double LP with two different colored records; pic courtesy of discogs.com

Juno's stature in the indie rock community is such that a documentary film was made about their recent comeback, but I don't know if it ever came out, and its website appears to be in mothballs.

Fri. Oct. 5: Despite having some sort of sinus infection or cold, saw Merchandise and Glish at the Big Top.  It was kickass, and each band played the songs I wanted to hear, though it was evident that Merchandise's (very charismatic) singer was wasted off his ass.  More on this show in an upcoming post!  Oh yeah, I donated a book called For The Vegetarian In You to the NOLADIY / An Idea Like No Other guys so they could add it to the Iron Rail library.  And I requested that they order me a copy of the new Possession EP by this Portland band called Arctic Flowers.  Wandered around Frenchmen St. afterwards, mainly to catch the end of a photography exhibit called Velado by Melissa Stryker at Scott Edwards Photography Studio & Gallery.  The photos had naked ppl and were printed on huge aluminum sheets, but in my opinion were not as racy or scandalous as the artist probably thought they would be.  Here's the front and back of the postcard that made me decide to trek to the exhibit:

No, that's not Stryker in the pic.  I saw a few songs by a crazy funk / party band called Yojimbo that was playing at Maison.  Their singer / trombonist is a super-energetic, bespectacled redhead, and I was stunned to see she was wearing this bootleg Sonic Youth Sister t-shirt that is commonly sold by shady sellers online.  I got mine on eBay about a decade ago; I think I gave it away to my internet girlfriend Michelle, whom I am no longer internet dating.

I took some video clips of Yojimbo, if only as proof that the singer had this shirt on.  I didn't go inside due to it being packed and me being sick, but the open door and huge glass windows made it easy to see & hear inside.  This girl, Carly Meyers, will be a superstar.  In between jumping up and down as if on a pogo stick, playing her trombone pointed up at the ceiling, and laughingly wiping sweat from her face with a towel, she guided the crowd in holding up a blanket and urged them to "Get in the love tunnel!"  I found a great Merchandise show poster (a big one, different from the small one shown above) on Frenchmen, so my night was complete.

Sat. Oct. 6: Went to the Bridge House thrift store and bought some sweet books and NIN's The Downward Spiral on CD ($1), then played hoops at that Annunciation Street court.  One of the dudes was LSU's point guard in the late '80s / early '90s.  He was a stocky redhead who could fill it up from outside.  I mentioned that I went to LSU basketball camp in 1990.  Watched some of the #4 LSU vs. #10 Florida football game with my sister, then we tried to go to the Botanical Garden.  She was impressed by the raw power of "I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart" by A Place To Bury Strangers on the drive over there.  NOBG was due to a wedding, so we walked around City Park and did some obnoxious stuff.  Came back and watched LSU lose in pathetic fashion.  I had lost track of my The Downward Spiral CD long ago, and was blown away by how fresh and visceral it still sounds.  I still have the promo postcard that Interscope sent me when the album came out, and my friend Warren and I listened to it all the time in the mid-'90s.  I had kind of swept the album under the rug of my mind as I got into better music over the years, but songs like "Reptile" and "Mr. Self-Destruct" are just inimitable and stand up to any sort of highbrow scrutiny.

Sun. Oct. 7: This was a pretty interesting day.  A cold front blasted through, bringing the temp. down by about 20º from the previous day's high.  I helped to stake some Chinese pistachio trees on Metairie Rd. with some Parkway Partners people.  I was wearing my red Drew Brees practice jersey since he was gonna try to break Johnny Unitas' streak of 47 straight games with a TD pass that night, and the NFL wisely made sure it was against the team that let Drew go, the Chargers, a team that is so inept that it actually got the name Chargers from the fact that it was founded by a credit card ("charge card") magnate.  Then Em and mom and I went to the zoo; Em said "Oh my God" so many times that mom and I had to tell her to limit it to one time per exhibit, but she couldn't even do that.  Then we ate at this pizzeria called Slice next to Whole Foods, then went to Whole Foods, then went home to watch the first half of the Saints game.  Drew got the record early with a pass that literally hit Devery Henderson on the numbers and in stride.  That means "The ball flew through the air and hit the receiver on the chest, and the receiver did not have to alter his running motion."  Found out that the Godspeed show already started, since the dumb promo postcard and poster had the wrong start times on them.  So Em and I drove over to Tip's, knowing that we had missed the opening act, G String Orchestra.  Luckily Godspeed were in peak form, beginning with a long (10-minute?) ambient drone, the one at the beginning of "The Dead Flag Blues" but unfortunately omitting the ominous dude talking about cars on fire, a thousand lonely suicides, etc.  Minimalistic film clips (sometimes just words) were projected behind them throughout the show; they also did this when I saw then in March '03 at TwiRoPa.  I was disappointed at a few downsized elements: The band was down to only one female member, and no longer had any cello; the venue was smaller than last time; the merch table was way smaller, with only the (brand) new album for sale (and only on vinyl), plus some t-shirts.  These are minor complaints, because it was a really challenging and uncompromising concert, the kind most "post-rock" bands wouldn't even dare attempt.  Even by GYBE's standards, the buildups were extra-long and the climaxes were done with a great flair for layering.  Mom texted me to say the Saints had won; I texted back "Fuck yeah."  Near the middle of the show a dude passed out and hit the ground with a huge thud right behind us, and had to be escorted out.  (This was nowhere near as cool as when a guy slashed his wrists outside a Humpers / Neckbones show that I caught in '97 at Monaco Bob's.  That show continued after only a brief pause, by the way.)  The finale was just incredible, with two of the greatest pieces of music I've ever seen, set to a backdrop of a factory on fire.  I'm pretty sure the last thing they played was "World Police And Friendly Fires."  There was no encore, despite lots of cheering.  Efrim didn't say a word to the crowd, despite the fact that he was practically a stand-up comedian at the A Silver Mt. Zion show in Feb. at One Eyed Jacks.  To celebrate the fact that her computer had not been stolen, despite being parked with one window totally down, we went to this bar called Ms. Mae's up the street.  It was as lame as my sister told me it would be, though I played two Interpol songs and Catherine Wheel's "Black Metallic" on the internet jukebox.  Some guy in a just-bought Godspeed (or G String Orchestra) shirt juked some Pelican and Russian Circles.  Uhh... No comment, Beavis.  A charismatic 59.9 year old art teacher at Tulane sit right down at our table and hit on Emily right in front of me, and kept claiming he had met us before.  So we had to eventually make a daring exit, which prompted him to desperately ask us "Are you guys on Facebook?"  "No, sorry."  We were, as the saying goes, so done with that.

I stupidly trusted the door time on the postcard rather than the door time on the ticket, hence why we missed the opening band

Sorry for all the pics in this post.

Planets with similar climates: Plexi - "Peel / He" (1995), Catherine Wheel - "Ferment" (1992), Kitchens Of Distinction - "Blue Pedal" (1992), The Sound - "New Dark Age" (1981), "Missiles" (1979) & "Whirlpool" (1985), The Church - "Chaos" (1992), Unwound - "For Your Entertainment" (1996), Pantera - "Hollow" (1992).

Swervedriver >> Get me to the world on time

Swervedriver - "99th Dream"

(DGC Records, 1996 [unreleased] / Zero Hour Records [U.S.], Cortex [Australia], 1998)

I wrote most of this in September, during California Month, so I couldn't post it then.  I recently revived and expanded it, and then yesterday I learned the astounding news that the Swervies will be playing on the Jimmy Fallon show tonight.  Yes, go back and read that sentence again.  A cult band from England that hasn't recorded any new music in ~15 years will be playing on the Jimmy Fallon show tonight.  Unfortunately, the Swervies live up to the "shoegaze" stereotype of being quite uncharismatic live (ever since losing charismatic bassist Adi Vines in the early 90s), so I'd recommend closing your eyes and turning up the volume.  They truly are all talent and no image; Adam Franklin even shaved his trademark dreads.

Yes, this was recorded in 1996, for Geffen / DGC Records, and a promo CD was sent out in '97.  But li'l Dave Geffen dropped the band and the album was shelved and the promos were probably ordered destroyed.  It ultimately came out on indie Zero Hour in early '98, with a different mix of "These Times".  (Those who have heard both versions say the original DGC mix of that song was superior.)  Just another installment in of the Swervies' legendary record label-related woes...

"Architecture, nature, alcohol / Space travel, rock and roll."  Any questions?  "I'm dreaming number 99 / Get me to the world on time."  This is the song that should've finally catapulted them to arena headlining status, after deafening audiences in arenas for the previous 7 or so years as the opening act for alterna-stars like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Monster Magnet, and the Smashing Pumpkins.  (I should've gone to the Pumpkins show in late '93; Swervedriver and Shudder To Think, two bands I had never even heard of at that time, were the opening acts).  The very Beatles/Oasis-esque "These Times" also had major chart potential, obviously.
Here is the back cover of the super-rare '97 DGC promo CD; even the photo itself is so rare that hardly anyone has ever seen it:

1998 Zero Hour promo CD single (edited down by 2 minutes) showing the band's new "satellite" logo

The opening surf rock lick is mighty nice, but I wish it had continued throughout the song.  Dick Dale would be proud.  Adam had learned to sing by this album, bringing a lot more nuance and tenderness to his delivery, and this song is a great example of it.  This album, also titled 99th Dream, is generally viewed as being the least great of their four LPs, but it has some impressive moments.  I personally rank it ahead of Ejector Seat Reservation, but way behind the essential one-two punch of Mezcal Head and Raise.

My obsession with Swervedriver began when I read about Mezcal Head in Alternative Press in '95, then listened to it in '96 at Plan 9 in Richmond, VA, then finally bought it in '97 at the Mushroom in NOLA.  Then I saw them in March '98 opening for Hum, which was an incredible show of course, and still one of the loudest and most amazing I've ever seen.  Then I got their debut album Raise late that year, an album that, like Mezcal Head, is simply chock-full of songs that should've stormed the airwaves.  The band broke up the following year, making the upcoming millennium look even more grim.  In early 2003 I won a lot of four Swervie 12"s on eBay for a shockingly low price (I pretty much got them free and just had to pay shipping), and then gradually acquired most of their singles.  For example, I have "Never Lose That Feeling" on 7", 12", white-sleeve promo 12", and CD single.  Yes, it's that mind-blowing of a song, and is probably the one song that most encapsulates everything that this site stands for:

Be sure to listen to the equally mind-blowing instrumental dub/space-rock meltdown "Never Learn" immediately after the above song finishes, since it comes right after "Never Lose That Feeling" on the EP.  Trust me.

Here is an entire set they did on March 16, 1998 in Oklahoma City, which was five days after I saw them at the House Of Blues in New Orleans.  I actually would recommend not watching that unless you saw them live in the '90s, because it doesn't do justice to how stunningly loud and tight they were.

Not mentioned on the ticket was an incredible local band called The Universal Chrome (formerly known as Flux), who played first

Like The Sound and The Comsat Angels in the '80s, Catherine Wheel and Plexi in the '90s, and Film School in the '00s, Swervedriver's failure to reach ultramegastardom will never cease to baffle myself and other enthusiasts of this kind of music.  Luckily they became pretty big in Australia, where Stooges-influenced rock always finds eager ears.
"99th Dream" live in '98 on the Aussie Saturday morning(!) TV show Recovery; the flashing polka-dot background is apparently based on the promo CD's cover art shown above:

Logo I drew freehand in '06 in about a minute; tried to improvise some sort of vaguely "Asian" script style

Yesterday I signed onto AOL for the first time in almost 3 months.  There's stuff to talk about from the past week pertaining to two concerts (Alcest, Tineke Postma), and the spring Record Raid at Tulane, but no room or desire right now.

Last night's episode of Finding Your Roots, featuring Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis, was so interesting that I was inspired to dig out my family's genealogy book.  Some tidbits: There was a guy named Kermit who married a lady named Starlie Joy, and they had daughters named Starmary and Rosemary. About my great-grandfather Per, who emigrated from Sweden in 1903: "Changed surname [from Stadig to Rame, then to Ramee] in the Swedish army.  Counted Eisenhower, Marshall and Patton among his pupils at the military academy in Kansas City, where he taught for 10 years after being pensioned.  He was a good friend of Pres. Harry S. Truman."  And "Occasionally Pop [Per] was summoned to fill in at the President's poker table."  Um, what?  He trained and partied with some fuckers who later helped to defeat the Nazis and hence save the world? I suddenly feel pretty lame in comparison...

Blame the GOP for $4 gas

How exercise can change your DNA

God Hates Facts - "This explains a lot"

The NFL's punishment of the Saints is harsh, nonsensical, and hypocritical

Bounty penalties remove New Orleans Saints from Super Bowl contention - has an interesting comment provided by someone named Hazzard27: "It's funny how in 2009 the Saints were only fined a total of $10,000 (which was tied for 22nd in the league) and $40,000 in 2010 (18th in the league)......if there was so much cheap-shotting and intending to injure going on, it wasn't outside the rules according to the league."

Planets with similar climates: Catherine Wheel - "Black Metallic" (1991), Hum - "Little Dipper" (1995), The Bevis Frond - "Coming Round" (1992), Talk Talk - "Life's What You Make It" (1986), Plexi - "Forest Ranger" (1996).

Psychic Ills >> Your eyes looked gray in the rain

Psychic Ills - "January Rain"

(The Social Registry, 2005)

(Note: This is not a cover of the song of the same name by the Aussie band Hunters & Collectors.)  January Rain would be a great pornstar name, almost as good as Allysin Chaynes or Avy Lee Roth.  (The latter actually claims to be an illegitimate child of David Lee Roth.)  This is the poppiest song on their first album, and maybe the poppiest thing they've ever done, though I haven't really paid attention to them since seeing their second album.  I saw them live in spring '06 opening for the very mediocre Blood On The Wall.  They definitely stole the show.  I don't think I got any pics or video clips, unfortunately.  They opened for the Butthole Surfers at House Of Blues a year or two later, but I didn't even consider going, so deep is my loathing for the Surfers and for reunion tours in general.

I wish the Ills would do more songs like "January Rain" rather than the drugged-out meanderings that they are so fond of, though those meanderings are pretty thrilling live.  British bands are always singing about rain, so it's no surprise that a band with a lot of U.K. influences would do it too.  The opening lines of the song go something like "I saw you today, there was nothing to say / Your eyes looked gray (in the rain), I've felt the same way."  This is surely Psychic Ills' best-known song, since the Social Registry website has offered it as a free download since way back when the album came out.

Winter rain is really bad for cacti / succulents, since they essentially go dormant at that time of year, and excess water around their roots can lead to lethal fungal infections.  Hence the main reason I got a greenhouse: more for protection from the rain than for protection from the cold.

Undated (probably ca. 2006-08) live photo from TVPRTY.com, titled "Psychic Ills out in Bed-Stuy on Saturday night"; no PHTGRPHR is credited

Note: I added this pic of the concert flyer on 9/18/12

The Saints-Lions game last weekend, the one Saints game I got to go to the whole season, turned out to be pretty epic.  We went with the owner of Mosca's restaurant and his wife.  It was pretty much tied at halftime but we dominated in the second half en route to an NFL playoff-record 626 total yards of offense, breaking a 49-year-old mark.  Calvin Johnson is completely unstoppable, though, piling up almost 500 yds. receiving in his last two (yes, two) games.  He and Fat Matt Stafford could shatter every NFL passing/receiving record eventually.  I almost brought my Barry Sanders jersey along to try to sell it to some intrepid fan who had come down from Detroit.  (I actually passed a car on I-10 that day with Michigan plates that was being driven by a dude with a towering blue mohawk, so I have to give Lions fans props for their loyalty.)

Might I suggest that you download this photo (photographer unknown) and use it as your desktop image, like I am currently doing?

In regards to my recent touting of Guinness Draught, I have to put out an urgent do-not-buy alert in regards to the bottled version of it.  Guinness recently took out the nitrogen widgets from the bottled version, ruining its taste.  I guess they did it to save $.  So stick with the canned version, which still has the widgets and is of course much larger.  It's basically a health elixir like tea, since it's just a bunch of plant parts dissolved in water and allowed to ferment a tiny bit (4% ABV).

Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop, 30, Arrested By Madison, Wisc. Police

Planets with similar climates: Pearl Harbor / Puro Instinct - "California Shakedown" (~2009), CAN - "Oh Yeah" (1971), Catherine Wheel - "She's My Friend" (1990), Indian Jewelry - "Excessive Moonlight" (2010), Plexi - "Change" (1996).

Nice Strong Arm >> There's no room in this room for us to expand

Nice Strong Arm - "Cloud Machine"

(Homestead Records, 1989)

I obviously like the drifty dreamy music as much as the next person, if not 100 times more, but sometimes you just have to throw on a viscerally rocking Rock Song.  I downloaded this EP, Cloud Machine, several years ago, but just bought it on 12" the other day.  It was one of those things I never thought I'd find, so I was a bit stunned to see it in the flesh, and it's #1991 in a numbered edition of 2000.  (My copy is on black vinyl, but it was also pressed on purple.  Black vinyl always sounds better than other colors, so I'm actually glad I don't have a purple one.)  It was the first time I ever just picked up a vinyl release and just tossed it on the store's counter and bought it without even checking on the condition of the vinyl.  If you're into borderline metal stuff like Helmet or Quicksand, check out the two very intense live songs on the B-side, recorded at CBGB by Prong's singer / guitarist Tommy Victor.  (I saw Prong slay in an opening slot for Pantera & Sepultura in 1994.  It seems to me that their single "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck" might've been inspired by "Cloud Machine."  The choruses have a similar feel, at least.  And check out the machinery in the guy's head at the 1:56 mark...)  Aside from England, New York City was simply the epicenter of great music in the '80s.  The guitar on "Cloud Machine" is so expressive and imaginative, exploding the notion of what a "noise rock" or "indie rock" band could be, going into abstract psychedelic realms, especially near the end.  The vocal melody is addictive enough that I can forgive the singer's gruff voice.  The spoken-word backing vocals near the middle are an interesting, mellow touch.  Somehow I think Jimi Hendrix would smile if he ever heard this song (or the previous song I posted, by Bright Channel).

© Charles Schulz, 1970

Occupying something, probably in New York City

I first got into this band in 2005 by seeing their video for "Framingham" on an Atavistic Records DVD called Twelve O'Clock High:

Another NSA song I'll be posting someday is "Everyday An Ambulance."  I don't know if NSA could have "become big," but I think they would've surely gotten a major-label deal had they stayed around a few more years until the Nirvana thing happened.  They certainly had better melodic sense than lots of mediocre indie bands that got deals at that time.

Congrats to Drew Brees for setting the single-season passing yardage record last night, though Tom Brady will probably eclipse it next week if Brees sits out game 16... I doubt Sean Payton would let such a snafu happen, though.

Planets with similar climates: The Chameleons - "Return Of The Roughnecks" (1985), Poem Rocket - "Small White Animal" (1995), Swervedriver - "For Seeking Heat" (1993), Dinosaur Jr. - "Raisans" (1987), Live Skull - "Fort Belvedere" (1985), Broken Water - "Coming True" (2009).

Bright Channel >> Were you scared when a chill touched your spine?

Bright Channel - "Airborne"

(Flight Approved Records, 2005)

Jeff's voice soars into a new realm of epic beauty in this song, easily one of the best songs ever made.  And I'd say it's one of the most atmospheric and Volplane-esque songs that Bright Channel has made.  His vocals are more confident and are mixed more up-front than ever before.  The delicate guitar arpeggios during the instrumental breaks are spine-tingling.  For someone like me, this is the kind of song that is truly life-affirming, because not only does it fill up my spine, heart and spleen with vigorous excitement particles, it's the kind of hidden gem that makes slogging through trillions of mediocre CDs, LPs, mp3s, etc. worthwhile.

In film noir fashion, he describes some unseen menace in vague terms, just as he sang about something chasing him in his sleep in "Night Eyes."  In the previously-mentioned interview, after I asked how he writes lyrics, Jeff said "My lyrics are usually simple and a bit abstract.  I build them from memories, dreams, déjà vu's, and subconscious / altered states... or whatever helps translate the mood of the music.  I never get too heavy or serious with the words.  I like to leave it fairly transparent and open, allowing more focus on the sounds."

I will be posting another amazing song from this album called "Out Of Focus," and I recommend checking out the great instrumental closing track "Interception."

Live at Little Radio Warehouse, Los Angeles., 4/21/06, opening for Brian Jonestown Massacre. Photo by Timothy Norris.

Creepy Azn sex supplement box found on the ground by the CAC last week

On Friday I saw a local band called The Honorable South do a free CD-release show at Euclid Records.  The singer told us she had cooked the macaroni & cheese (w/ bourbon), and there was also roast beef and sweet potatoes.  I got a few kickass Psychedelic Furs 7"s, including a picture disc of "The Ghost In You".

Planets with similar climates: The Church - "Chaos" (1992), Colfax Abbey - "Once In A While" (1996), Venus Beads - "Heaven And Back" (1990), Bailter Space - "Shine" (1992), My Bloody Valentine - "Only Shallow" (1990).

Bright Channel >> Someone's chasing me in my sleep

Bright Channel - "Night Eyes" (demo)

(unreleased, 2003)

So, back to what I was saying in the previous two posts... In February 2002, Jeff and Shannon of Volplane reassembled with a new drummer, Brian Banks, and a new name, Bright Channel.
In my 2003 interview I asked "How is Bright Channel going to differ from Volplane?"
Jeff just said "Slightly less wine..."
Shannon said "Not as loud for one (or as many amps to carry).  I'd say the Bright Channel sound is more streamlined and articulated than Volplane, with a little more power behind it.  To use a Bailter Space analogy, Bright Channel's more Solar.3 or Photon, where Volplane was more Robot World."  (In my previous question, I had asked if Robot World was a big influence on them.)
I secretly died a little inside, and thought about how every single shoegazey band that I loved soon abandoned that sound for a more "normal" rock sound.  Examples: Catherine Wheel, Verve, Lush, Bailter Space, Ride, etc.  And worst of all was Slowdive morphing into frickin' Mojave 3, jeesh.  So I honestly wasn't expecting Bright Channel's music to impress me, much less amaze me, but that's just what it did.  I have to say I disagree with Shannon's "less amps" statement, because B.C.'s music is way louder / heavier than Volplane's.

Anyway, back to the interview.  Jeff later said "Our music was designed to be as hypnotic and suggestively psychedelic as possible.  However, it was done at high volumes.  Volplane caused a great deal of hearing damage to ourselves and to fans.  I don't think we were able to capture the type of air movement or "wall-of-sound" effect we wanted on our early recordings.  Bright Channel, on the other hand, is slightly trimmed down and more focused.  Instead of multiple digital delays and amplifiers, we are using more organic effects such as fuzz and reverb."

This is a demo of a song that appeared on their self-titled 2004 debut album.  I prefer this version because it's a bit slower (hence 10 seconds longer), and the album version seems a tad too rushed to me.  This was sent to me by Smelly in 2003, or 2004 at the latest, after I asked her to track some Bright Channel songs down for me.  She is so cool that her RYM username is a fucking Swervedriver lyric.  The other demo she sent me was a crushingly heavy / amazing demo of "Ice Field."  Steve Albini produced the debut album, but I don't know if he produced (sorry, "engineered") the demos; I'm guessing not.  I could spend hours talking about why I dislike his production (sorry, "engineering") style, but I won't.  "Night Eyes" is a very subtle song, with the vocals starting off low and reptilian, and later going to a higher register and becoming more beautiful.  The guitar parts follow a similar path, like a loyal puppy dog tagging along with its owner.  The song has a weird overall marching-band swagger to it, driven by a mutant funk bassline and billowing clouds of guitar.  The drums suddenly go ballistic in the final minute.  It's only my 3rd-favorite song on the album, but it's definitely sui generis.  Rock music for people who are bored with rock music.

I know this is an early (2002 or 2003) Bright Channel pic, because I used it in my interview in '03.
Note the images of trees projected onto them.  L-R: Jeff Suthers, Brian Banks, Shannon Stein

This is a pic from the roof of the Ogden Museum of Art, taken by by sister when we visited it last week.  (See previous post.)  That's a kinetic Lin Emery aluminum sculpture on the left, the Crescent City Connection bridge in the middle, then some unknown black sculpture, then the water tower atop the Cotton Mill apartments, where she briefly lived.  This is direct from her camera to my email, not cropped or color-adjusted in any way.  Even the clouds are just perfect.

Most of Emery's stuff is in the same vein, and she has a similar, but larger and much more famous, statue right in front of the New Orleans Museum Of Art:

I was surprised that one of my favorite (one-man) bands, National Skyline, released a new album last week.  It's good, though poppy enough to maybe generate cries of "sellout" from longtime fans.  Garbs is still a master of catchy melodies, and a little bit of extra chillwave is fine by me.

Today I played hoops for about 3 hours in Thibodaux, which completely derailed an intended trip down to Houma.  Better luck next time... I lent my Del The Funky Homosapien CD to this guy so he could play it on his car stereo while we played, but it skipped on a few songs so he had to take it out.  There were around 25-30 people playing.

An amazing thing I found out about on the History Channel on Saturday: The Year Without A Summer.  Last night I watched the season finales of Dexter and Homeland, and tonight was the season finale of Terra Nova.  The ultra-intense Homeland is the best show no one knows about.

R.I.P. Christopher Hitchens, The Chris Paul era in New Orleans, and Kim Jong-Il

Planets with similar climates: DUSTdevils - "Neck Surfing" (1990), True Widow - "Skull Eyes" (2011), Bailter Space - "Hard Wired" (1989), Failure - "Heliotropic" (1996), U2 - "Bullet The Blue Sky" (1987), Idaho - "Crawling Out" (1994), Live Skull - "Cloud One" (1985).

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).