I wrote most of this post in 2012 or '13 but never posted it. I got this album, Routes Music, on used CD in '97 for 2 bucks on a whim and found myself smitten by its haphazard blending of styles into a cohesive subtropical gumbo. This was not long after I had spent a year at the University of Richmond in Hotel X's hometown. The name of their first album, A Random History Of The Avant Groove, sums up their aesthetic quite well. I once did an internet search for the band name (pre-Google... I have no idea what search engine I used back then), and I remember that it was a reference to some movie. This piece is presumably named after Muhammad Iqbal, who helped create the 6th-most populous country on earth, Pakistan.
The coolest thing in my opinion was that SST signed a band like this. I'm sure the SST logo is the reason I even picked the CD up and inspected it in the first place. I only ever got one other album by Hotel X, Residential Suite (1994), but didn't like it very much. Post-1997, the band is still sporadically together, but they seem to only perform live, not release new music. Based on the insanely huge amount of people who have done time in the Hotel (62, says their website), it must've been some sort of revolving-door collective, apparently always led by Tim Harding. To see the full list, click here.
Time to cut and paste... On this album the band was: Tim Harding: alto sax, bass Ron Curry: bass, guitar, trombone Chris Davis: drums Pat Best: guitar, bass Eric Ungar: guitar, flute
With guests: Billy Fox: timbales, percussion Steve Matthews: vibes
According to their website, "Hotel X toured regionally and nationally between 1992 and 1997, received reviews in Jazz Times, The Washington Post, Option, The Wire and Alternative Press among others; was nominated for Best Jazz Group by NAIRD (National Association of Independent Record Distributors) in 1996, and participated in the JVC Jazz Festival in NYC, 1997. National Public Radio selected soundbites of several songs from the Hotel X CD Engendered Species for use between news stories during Morning Edition in 1994. Richmond Magazine awarded Hotel X with the Pollack Prize for Excellence in Arts in September of 2005."
And "Hotel X has shared the stage with Bern Nix (Ornette Coleman and Primetime), Greg Ginn (Black Flag), Balla Kouyate (Super Rail Band), Papa Susso (Gambian kora master),The Roots, Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart, solo), Harvey Sorgen (Hot Tuna), Yellowman, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Ran Blake, Hasidic New Wave, Marc Ribot, Plunky Branch, Wayne Horvitz and Pigpen, Amy Denio, John Bradshaw and Bazooka, just to name a few."
Their website has a photo titled "The Routes Music line up" at the URL http://www.hotelxband.com/page12/files/collage_lb_image_page12_13_1.png, but it won't load. Oh well. I prefer to not see what bands look like anyway. So here's the highly memorable, primitivist album cover:
Here's a great pic I found on Tumblr recently. If anyone knows what it's from, let me know:
Planets with similar climates: Frank Zappa - "Peaches en Regalia" (1969), maybe some Yusef Lateef (R.I.P.) due to the flute, Gil Scott-Heron, Fela Kuti, '70s Miles Davis, etc.
Alrighty, I'm back. After realizing three years have passed since I started this thing, I've decided to stop beating around the bush and just post lots of my all-time favorite songs, since I've barely gotten to many of my all-time favorite artists. Yes, Tumblr has been consuming most of my attention, since I can post major-label songs (recently by the likes of Ween, the Sundays, the Pointer Sisters, the Police, *NSYNC, Ride, PJ Harvey, the Church, Marvin Gaye, Goldie, the Bangles, the Future Sound Of London, Depeche Mode, PM Dawn, Daft Punk, Plexi, Sinéad O'Connor, etc.), which is something I obviously can't do on here. I'm going to start doing shorter posts on here.
Miracle - "Strange Taste"
(self-released[?], 2013)
Here is an astounding song from Steve Moore (Zombi) and Daniel O'Sullivan (lots of bands). It effortlessly lays to waste most of the '80s-wannabe bands of the current era, as well as the output of most actual '80s bands. I got it for free from Mixmag at SoundCloud. The production is gorgeous. You can tell the band did not treat this song as a mere throwaway.
Here are the young men
This song is not on any of Miracle's official releases (an album, an EP, and two singles), for some unfathomable reason. I really hope they release it as a standalone single, because it could be huge on college radio. The bio at the Planet Mu page says "In fact it was on a Guapo / Zombi tour in 2006 they first met, with the music starting to trickle out slowly around 2010. Initially the music was intended as an instrumental dance project, however the project started to take on a life of its own when Daniel started to add vocals and lyrics." I would love to get an instrumental version of "Strange Taste," but the version with vocals is impossible to improve upon. The long pause between "sun" and "fall" in the chorus is so tantalizing.
I think this sums up Miracle's main influences pretty well
The concerts I've seen since I last posted on here 4 months ago:
Cat Power + Nico Turner at House Of Blues
Rihanna + A$AP Rocky at New Orleans Arena (rechristened Smoothie King Center [really] last week)
Bodhi3 w/ guest poet Moose Jackson at Siberia
Darkside + High Water at House of Blues
Julianna Barwick + Vasillus at Tulane's LBC Quad
Cobalt Cranes + Grooms at Circle Bar
The Body + Pyeya at the Mushroom
The Amazing Acro-Cats (yes, performing cats) at the AllWays Lounge's Marigny Theatre
Chelsea Light Moving + Merchandise at One Eyed Jacks
(After the Darkside show ended on Super Bowl night, I drove by Siberia to possibly catch High On Fire, but after seeing the huge throng of black-clad people milling about outside, I assumed it was a sellout and didn't even stop.) Skipped Voodoo Fest, at which the Cure played "Burn," my favorite song by them, for the first time ever. Out of the bands in the list, Grooms were the most striking and memorable. Expect a song from them on here very soon. The new Warpaint and Blouse albums are big disappointments so far. And Grimes signed to Jay-Z's management team... No comment on that.
Planets with similar climates: Depeche Mode - "Blasphemous Rumours" (1984), National Skyline - "Metropolis" (2000), Tears For Fears - "Change" & "Start Of The Breakdown" (1982), Satisfact - "Dysfunction" (1996).
This song takes the Pixies' sound a bit further by adding a rockabilly-style guitar riff and Sonic Youth-y flourishes. Just an amazingly badass song overall, though it took a while to grow on me. I actually overlooked this song for years because "Purge" was my favorite song on the EP (La Mano), which I bought at a thrift store ca. 2006. "Come Inside" steadily grew on me over the years, with its simple, chanted slogan and well-placed "oh-ohh"s. I think the rockabilly thing is what prevented me from loving it immediately. Orbit were yet another Boston band that wanted to be the Pixies, even covering "Where Is My Mind?" in 1998. But they came at it with their own personality and charisma, and created some of the flat-out greatest songs of the era. I think they could've been legitimate stars.
Above is my 7" which I bought at Euclid Records a few months ago. I had seen it there 2 years ago but stupidly passed on it, and only recently re-found it while spending a few hours digging through their endless boxes of used 7"s. It's actually a split single with a band called Welcome To Julian (wow... and you thought band names nowadays sucked...), on Orbit's own label, Lunch Records. It's a numbered edition and one of the hidden crown jewels of my record collection. Marine biology buffs like myself know that starfish look cute but are relentless predators of bivalves, often expelling their stomachs out of their bodies to digest their prey. (Info) Hence the genteel cover art hides a violent secret, muahaha. This song is likely about sexual assault, with Jeff Robbins singing from the perspective of the assaulter. The opening line is "Why can I not come inside? Beautiful, I'm beautiful like you." The phrase "come inside" takes on a disturbing meaning when you think about the song this way. This of course ties in with the disgusting way that a starfish feeds.
The music video is strange, pretentious, trippy, and NSFW, so I doubt MTV ever aired it:
Most people know Orbit for their 1997 MTV / alt-radio hit "Medicine", a.k.a. "Medicine (Baby Come Back)." That album, Libido Speedway, also had the stunningly awesome song "Nocturnal Autodrive". I can't post it because it came out on a major label, but trust me, go out of your way to track it down. It's very dark, intense, and predatory. It takes the sound of "Come Inside" to a new dimension of desperation and obsession.
So to summarize, here are Orbital's best songs, in order, from Libido Speedway and La Mano:
1. "Nocturnal Autodrive"
2. "Come Inside"
3. "Medicine"
4. "Purge"
Tue. Oct. 1: I photographed the most metal car in New Orleans on Tulane Ave. (That elevated freeway is I-10.)
As best as I can make out, these are the band stickers on it: Pestilence, Opeth, Testament, Iron Maiden, Terrorizer, Suffocation, Asphyx, Nuclear Assault, At The Gates, Skeletonwitch. Plus four more that I can't make out. But I can tell you without hesitation that they were all bought at The Mushroom.
Wed. Oct. 2: Saw Local Natives + Wild Nothing at Tiptitina's. Jack from WN sang live exactly like he does on record, which for some reason really impressed me. They concluded with a killer extended version of new cut "Ride," but sadly omitted personal favorites "Shadow," "A Dancing Shell," and "Disappear Always." In fact, they played a mere three songs from Nocturne, my favorite album of last year. (They opened with the title track, and later did "Paradise" and "The Blue Dress.") We went just for WN, but were all won over by LN by night's end. I inflicted a severely sprained ankle on myself in between bands by trying to jump up and touch the Napoleon Ave. sign on the median. It was probably 11 feet high and the ground was slightly slick from rain. I was able to see most of LN though.
Thu. Oct. 3: I opted to ditch my crutches and go to see Sigur Rós on two feet like a boss. They played at Champions Square, which is outside right next to the Superdome. Louisiana-born ambient vocal soundscaper Julianna Barwick was the opening act. She cancelled her fall headlining tour (incl. stops in N.O. and Baton Rouge) to do this. The concert was amazing; see a clip I took of SR here and a few pics I took of J-Bar here. This made up for missing SR at the House Of Blues in early 2003, something I had regretted constantly since that night.
Planets with similar climates: Pixies - "Is She Weird?" (1990), Pavement - "Conduit For Sale!" (1991), Poem Rocket - "Appeal To The Imagination" (2000).
(Arena Rock Recording Co. [U.S.] / Rykodisc [Europe], 2002)
Sorry for neglecting this site yet again, but I'm back in the fuckin' saddle, baby, and all it took was thinking about this song. The lyrics are about someone who is on life support due to being in a coma or persistent vegetative state. (In the class on medical ethics that I took in college, the difference between a coma and a PVS was one of the most frequently discussed topics. See the famous Terri Schiavo case.) "If you were sent to prison, [and] prison was your mind, would you try escaping or would you do the time?" is a boldly chilling way to open a song. For what it's worth, this song is similar in topic to Metallica's masterpiece "Fade To Black" (which is of course based on the book / movie Johnny Got His Gun). The delivery of the line "WAAAAKE UPPPPP!" at the end of this song is the most stunning thing I've ever heard in music, singing-wise. Singer Aaron Perino could've tried to end it with some sort of pretentious bit of phrasing, but the fact that he chose just those two primal words really makes his sentiment hit home. He summoned up his internal passion and just let loose. I'd pay to see video footage of him laying down this song's vocals in the studio. One would never guess that Perino is a blond guy in a suit and horn-rimmed glasses. Frank Black is rightly considered the gold standard for the shrieking style of vocals in indie rock, especially in the Boston scene, but I'd say Perino swiped his crown with this song (especially the very ending). Though hardly anyone knows about it, of course.
This song gives me the energy of 7 PowerBars and 3 to 4 cans of Jolt cola. And it is my personal fuck you to all the shitty imagecore "indie rock" bands of the '00s like the Strokes, Spoon, Arcade Fire, the Hold Steady, etc. Those bands and most of their fans should pretty much be slaughtered after being sent to dig ditches for a few decades in Siberian prison camps, but that's another topic. Search out better music and you shall find it.
I downloaded the EP Secret Society from eMusic in 2003, and was immediately knocked out of my chair by this song, especially since it comes a few tracks after the very cool, restrained and elegant "The Swan". I had read about TSD going back to '99, when their album New Parade was released to somewhat frenzied acclaim in the music mags. In fact, that album predated the whole Interpol / Editors suave Britpoppy post-punk revival thing by several years. (Makes you wonder if Paul Banks & Co. ever caught any gigs by TSD in Interpol's formative days...) Of course, the Sheilas broke up the same year I finally heard them, which was the same year that Interpol became international icons. Not picking on Interpol, by the way. TSD never played in the New Orleans area as far as I know.
AllMusic Guide's terribly-written review starts off by comparing the band to Weezer, then mentions "politely anguished vocals" and John Hughes soundtracks. And of course, the author doesn't even mention "Back To The Cradle." (Guess he was busy answering the door or hosing off his latte machine in the backyard when that song erupted onto his hi-fi.)
Fun Fact: The band's name is Aussie slang for "faggot."
Image I found on Tumblr that has been weirding me out / cracking me up for weeks
Some more songs that end with alarmingly tortured screams like this one does:
You Am I - "Embarrassed" ("Gonna tear it, you'll forGETTTTT ITTTT!")
Pixies - "Tame" ("TEHHHAAAAAAME!")
Nirvana - "Territorial Pissings" (A better WAAAAYY!")
Unwound - "Feeling$ Real" ("The world starts coming DOWWWWN!")
Helmet - "Murder" ([some yelling])
If you hate amazingly tortured screams, go to this concert on Thursday:
Planets with similar climates: Black Flag - "Room 13" (1981), Hole - "Violet" (1993), The Sound - "The Fire" (1981), Buffalo Tom - "Taillights Fade" (1992) & "Summer" (1995), U2 - "Like A Song..." (1982), Catherine Wheel - "Chrome" (1993).
Note: I wrote almost all of this post on July 2nd.
Note 2: The title of this post is a vinyl etching from the stunning "Columbus" 7" by one of my favorite bands, the Church. I found it here years ago and made myself memorize it. See, the band Caspian is named after the Caspian Sea, and... uh, yeah, you knew that. Did you know that seas are smaller than oceans? Ah, you did. Moving on then...
I've seen this rock band three times in New Orleans. They played "La Cerva" the first two times (as their opening song in March 2010 at the Dragon's Den; at an unknown part of their set in April 2011 at the Howlin' Wolf), but alas, they did not the third time (February 2013 at Siberia). Hopefully it's still in their setlist from time to time. Right before Caspian went on at that Dragon's Den show, I helped to save a guy who was overdosing outside on the Esplanade median. I then bounded up the winding staircase as "La Cerva" rained down upon me, just as it is about to rain down upon you.
I first heard this song after on a split Caspian / Constants 7" (upper left in pic above) that I bought at a Constants show in New Orleans in Oct. 2009. I highly recommend this single, as you could imagine. Constants are badass as hell.
Lots of so-called "post-rock" / "post-metal" bands get (justly) criticized for just relying on climax after climax, but son of a bitch if it isn't awe-inspiring when done right. Caspian wastes no time frittering around before getting right to the heavy stuff in this track. I bet even Beavis and Butt-head would've lost their shit over this one. The jazzy drumming (à la Tristeza, Dif Juz, Tortoise) gives this track a certain cool swagger that most furrow-browed "post-rock" bands fail to achieve. The cello playing is credited to a guy named John Rogers.
LIVE PIC (2013) [coming tomorrow]
Planets with similar climates: Trans Am - "Trans Am" (1995), Metallica - "Orion" (1986), Mogwai - "Mogwai Fear Satan" (1997), Sonic Youth - "Death To Our Friends" (1986).
I wrote this post last September & October, but for some reason never got around to posting it. So since I'm doing Massachusetts bands, here it is. Sorry for the 2-month delay since the last post.
By the way, my mp3 hosing service, DivShare, has a new policy: "All your files will stay online as long as they are viewed at least once every 30 days. (Upgrade to keep your files online forever.)" So it looks like most of the songs on this site will be deleted gradually, since I doubt anyone downloads or streams them very often.
Swirlies are the only band that I know of that has a song called "Chris R." (my name), but this song is much better. If there is ever a noise pop box set on Rhino -- Yes, I love saying "If there is ever a [genre] box set on Rhino..." -- this song ought to make the cut. And its title could even be used as the name of this box set, since operating a motor vehicle while listening to such angular riffage could be dangerous. Apparently the band named itself after the prank of putting someone's head in a toilet and flushing it. I only recently learned that a melvin is a particularly severe type of wedgie, so I guess highbrow rock outfit the Melvins were named after that. The name of this blog is a lyric in a song that's named after a wrist-abrasion technique. Smashing Pumpkins are named after a prank in which you smash someone's pumpkins. Bands... They're so funny!
The first time I ever heard of Swirlies was in a review of Modest Mouse's Interstate 8 EP in Alternative Press in fall '96. I immediately bought that M.M. EP just because I assumed that any band that sounded like a band with the name "Swirlies" must have a really swirly, unique, shoegazey sound. Yes, I bought a CD in large part because I liked the name of a band to which they were being compared in a review. (Gotta love those pre-internet fumblings... People these days have no idea how easy they have it. One can now literally become an expert on some obscure old band in 20 minutes by just reading up on the right websites.) That rationale turned out to be not quite accurate, but I'll still vouch for the quality of that Modest Mouse disc.
Jumping a year forward... In fall of '97 I decided to finally get into the Swirlies, after having heard about them in AOL's indie rock chatroom quite a bit that year...
October: I bought their Brokedick Car EP for about a dollar at a booth at the French Market in New Orleans and was fairly impressed. (This purchase was overshadowed by the fact that I also bought You Am I's stunning Coprolalia EP from the same seller on the same day.)
November: I saw Syrup USA, a band helmed by former Swirlies singer Seana Carmody, at the Mermaid Lounge. The crowd was about 10 people and it was freezing outside, but the Syrup still rocked out in a cutesy sort of way. Syrup USA had a very keyboard-based sound, not the fuzzy noise-pop of Swirlies. I even bought a t-shirt and both of their 7"s.
December: I bought this CD, Blonder Tongue Audio Baton (named after a guitar pedal) for my sister for Christmas. I kind of soon "borrowed" it back and I don't think she ever really dug it. The noisy guitar textures made me sit up and say "Dayumn," even though I was a huge Sonic Youth, MBV & Dino Jr. fan and I had thought that genre was tapped out. Swirlies obviously proved me wrong. Anyway, Swirlies' heyday was a little before my time, so I never got to see them. After Seana left the band, she was replaced by a soundalike named Christina Files, and uh, well, I don't like to sit here and give band bios unless I have some cool factoids to add, so you can go read an exorbitant amount about them on any number of fine websites. If Swirlies hadn't been so in thrall to the early '90s slacker ethos popularized by Pavement, Archer Of Loaf, etc., they could've really been great. They probably have the worst cover art of any band ever, aside from Pavement, and some irritatingly pointless song titles too. In fact, my favorite Swirlies song overall is "Jeremy Parker", but I name-specific song titles annoy me so much that I couldn't allow myself to post that song.
This one goes out to the local band Glish, who apparently arrived at a similar sound as that of Swirlies without all members even knowing about them, or at least without trying to emulate them. This could be compared to the biological concept called convergent evolution, a prime example of which is the similar appearances of the green tree python (Morelia viridis) from the Indo-Pacific and the emerald tree boa (Corallus caninus) from South America, which each evolved separately to sit in trees and be green while waiting for prey to pass below.
So, last month my sister got married and the band was Meschiya Lake and The Little Big Horns. The first-dance song was the Cure's "Just Like Heaven." Yes, it was weird seeing a female-fronted 1920's-style jazz band covering a Cure song.
In other musical news: The weekend before that, I went to Jazz Fest and caught Fleetwood Mac, Frank Ocean, and some Terence Blanchard and Stanley Clarke / George Duke. Saw Pure X (chilled-out desert pop) + ArchAnimals (angsty emocore) at the Circle Bar. This month I saw a typically kickass performance by A Place To Bury Strangers, opening for Japandroids at the Spanish Moon. Also saw an incredibly fun and strange performance-art-y headlining set by Prince Rama at Circle Bar. (The opening band, Spaceface, ended with a cover of David Bowie's glam classic "Moonage Daydream.") Also saw a few songs at the AllWays Lounge by a promising band called Jane Jane. They have recently relocated to New Orleans and shortened their name from Jane Jane Pollock.
In May and June I missed lots of concerts: Broken Water + Glish at someone's house called the Stripped Mall; Twin Shadow + Elliphant at Maison; Glish (opening for Coliseum) at Circle Bar; Faun Fables (headlined over Jane Jane but played first for some reason); Des Ark at the Big Top and at the Spanish Moon; the Record Raid on Piety Street.
Planets with similar climates: Mystery Machine - "Shaky Ground" (1992), Sonic Youth - "Silver Rocket" (1988), My Bloody Valentine - "Feed Me With Your Kiss" & "(When You Wake) You're Still In A Dream" (1988), Glish - "Future Things" & "Swings" (2012), Polvo - "Bend Or Break" (1992) & "High-Wire Moves" (1995), Pond - "Sideroad" (1995), Sebadoh - "Rebound" (1994). Currently obsessed with: Sacred Grinds coffee house. It's the size of a closet, but has some of the best food and smoothies in town, and two of the best baristas ever. R.I.P. Maple Street Books Mid-City and Maple Street Books on St. Claude Ave. Both closed on June 28th. Not to be rude, but wouldn't it have helped if they had changed their names to fit into their respective neighborhoods?
Since the Boston Marathon bombing, I've been definitely catching some of the "We are all Bostonians" fever. So my next few posts will be by Massachusetts bands, even though I've never been to that state.
I can't believe I've never posted this absolute scorcher of a song by Westfield's finest, so here it is. I think some of the lyrics can work as a fuck-you to potential terrorists: "It's twice as hard to fool us" and "Careful as a soldier, we're so strong." And the disarming opening line "Drop your guard, I'll get to know you" gives another way to deal with psychopaths. This one was written by bassist / guitarist Jason Loewenstein, not mainman Lou Barlow. J-Loew seems to have been responsible for some of Sebadoh's more manic / edgy / fleshed-out / non-"lo-fi" songs.
[Note: This mp3 is from the original '94 release, not the recent remastered 2-CD reissue. That one has an alternate version of "Careful" on the bonus disc.]
I bought this album, Bakesale, in October 1996, on the same day that I bought Tool's Aenima on the day it came out. My main reasons were: 1.) hearing the infectious indie classic song "Rebound" on a Sub Pop sampler CD called That Virtua Feeling: Sub Pop And Sega Get Together and 2.) a long article about Lou / Sebadoh punningly titled "Kind Of Blue" in Rolling Stone around that time. (I was a subscriber.) I also bought Smash Your Head On The Punk Rock at around this time through Sub Pop mailorder. Despite the awful nude-Lou cover art, Bakesale is one of the most essential albums in rock history, not just indie rock history, from an era when the phrase "indie rock" meant more than just "a rock band on an independent label." Every song is a cornucopia of inventive riffs, melodies and lyrics, and the band never came even close to equalling it before or after. Some of the songs are slow and shoegazey ("Dreams"), and a few are quick and ultra-poppy ("Got It"). It comes off as a great mix tape seemingly made up of songs by many different bands, yet still retains that certain Sebadohness that fans demand.
I was totally crestfallen to miss a Sebadoh concert at the Howlin' Wolf (now called Republic) at the end of January '97. As in: I fucking sat in the living room and watched an episode of 7th Heaven (yes, I remember exactly what I was watching) by myself and felt like such a poseur for liking Sebadoh but not knowing anyone to go see them with. I think this was actually a transformative moment for me, in that it made me determined to go see bands I wanted to see even if that meant sometimes doing it alone. And I later found out that Sebadoh had played just a few months earlier at House Of Blues, with a then-unknown moper / budding junkie named Elliott Smith as an opening act. Then they came back and played somewhere in early '99 in support of their disappointing swan song The Sebadoh. Have still never seen them, and have skipped lots of dates on their recent reunion tours, because I just don't go to reunion tours. And because aside from this album, Sebadoh's overall discography is very hit-or-miss. The only other songs by them that I'd say are in the same category of intensity as "Careful" would be "Beauty Of The Ride," "Crisis," and the speed-metal ending of "Mean Distance."
Loewenstein put out a well-received solo album about a decade ago, but I've never heard it. Dinosaur Jr.'s reunion has taken Barlow away from his Sebaduties. Dino are stuck in a classic rock rut, so I personally would rather take in the more varied stylings of Sebadoh, if given a chance to see one of them or the other. At one point in my life, I would've shouted "Just gimme indie rock!" It's a new generation of electric white-boy blues!
Funniest / truest thing I've seen on Tumblr in a while:
#voodoofest #jazzfest
Sat. Apr. 13: Went to a crawfish boil at Sprague's new house, and he decided to let me landscape it after we talked about trees for an hour or so.
Fri. Apr. 19: Skipped a Crystal Castles / Doldrums concert at HOB because it was $31 plus a $10 "service fee." I had been wanting to go for months but I just couldn't justify the cost. I'm sure it sold out anyway.
Sat. Apr. 20: Caught the end of a Record Store Day concert at Euclid Records. Saw Truth Universal (politically-charged hip-hop), AF The Naysayer (futuristic beatmaking), and Peace Love Technicolor Dream (collaborated on sax with AF, then did a solo house set on MacBook). I then by total chance caught a free happy-hour show by the hilarious Alex McMurray (honestly, he's funnier than any stand-up comedian I can think of) at Siberia, and got some of their excellent Slavic / Russian food.
Tonight and tomorrow night: Skipping Deerhunter for about the infinityith time because I still think they suck, aside from half a song or so per album. The amount of press they continue to get is nothing short of baffling to me. In the '90s heyday of indie rock, a band with their talent level would've barely merited a mention in its own hometown's zines, but I guess by today's standards they're considered edgy / inventive / cool, thanks to the ongoing wussification & dilution of indie rock into mere sonic wallpaper in which bands try to relay to the listener "Okay, on this song we show that we're into the Beach Boys, and on this next one we do an homage to the Replacements, and then we're gonna blow everyone's minds by showing that we dig synth-pop!," etc. "Record-collector rock," it's been wisely called. Well, Deerhunter seem to be one of the token RCR bands of the '00s, so more power to them, I guess, and I do feel bad for the singer since he has Marfan Syndrome and presumably doesn't have too many more years left to live. I don't even know if they have any synth-pop songs; I was mainly referring to the Strokes with that one. I guess I should just shut up at this point. If Deerhunter has any songs that I should like, let me know; I only like "Helicopter" by them, mainly b/c it sounds unlike any of their regular output.
Planets with similar climates: Dinosaur Jr. - "Let It Ride" (1988), The Sound - "The Fire" (1981), Sand Rubies - "Drugged" (1993), Polvo - "Tragic Carpet Ride" (1994), Sonic Youth - "Stereo Sanctity" (1987), Fugazi - "Sieve-Fisted Find" (1989).
(Matador Records [U.S.] / P-Vine Records [Japan], 2006)
Since I was befriended by an Aussie on both RYM and Tumblr last week (two separate people), I knew my next post on here had to be a killer Aussie song.
With a killer bassline, spiky guitar, mammoth drumming, and a set of memorable lyrics, this song should've made Love Of Diagrams into instant indie rock royalty. This song just destroys on so many levels, and is one of the most addictive songs I've ever heard. Sonic Youth have been unable or unwilling to craft a tune like this since the mid-'90s, so I guess it's good that they finally kicked the bucket, but the point is that their progeny will always continue to churn out great music. Just look at the list of bands at the bottom of this post for proof.
Note: Matador Records is still giving this song away for free; download it here. That link is where I originally acquired this song, though this rip is from my own CD, bought in 2010.
I had been hearing a bit about this band as part of the whole post-punk revival of the mid-'00s, and thought about going to see them open for Ted Leo at the Spanish Moon in 2007. Really, really regretting that. They have apparently been broken up for a few years now, and, being from Australia, the chances are less than zero that they'll ever trek to Louisiana again. The lyrics are apparently about rape, with "the pyramid" representing the vagina, which the intruder "broke into." And what he "stole" was presumably the protagonist's innocence and/or trust in humanity. So it's a fun & thought-provoking protest song in the best Gang Of Four tradition, but hopefully the lyrics are not autobiographical.
The video mainly involves the band members physically playing their instruments, which is the stupidest fucking thing in the world for any music video to feature. But an edgy "house" theme is used in it, tying in with the lyrics, and the visual effects are pretty amazing. In fact, you'll never be able to get these colors out of your head whenever you hear this song in the future:
My sister had her appendix removed last week, so I made her this mix CD. Last weekend, I met my future sister-in-law Mila, and lent her some CDs to copy (The Church's Heyday, Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation). We also went to brunch at Commander's Palace with the whole fam, and to the Spring Garden Show at City Park. It was my first time going to Commander's in almost 20 years. Also went to Parkway Bakery & Tavern (best chicken po-boy of my life) and Angelo Brocato's later that night. (Thought I was pretty clever for including a song about having a sliver of herself removed... And the Black Flag song has the lyric "Keep me alive / Only you can do it." And so forth with some other medical-related lyrics.)
I snapped this pic of an impressive Mammillaria bombycina (Silken pincushion cactus), a recent addition to the cactus / succulent greenhouse at the N.O. Botanical Garden.
I have three of these myself (tip: get one right now at Lowe's or Home Depot), but none of mine have clustered like this one, which must be 10-15 years old.
On Monday, I skipped the 2nd half of the college basketball championship to see a rock concert starring Merchandise, White Lung, and Glish. Glish were great as usual, and debuted two new songs, but sadly didn't play longtime set opener "Collider." Luckily they played the quite similar song "Sex." White Lung just kicked all kinds of ass, especially on my two favorite songs of theirs, "Bag" and "Take The Mirror." I expect them to go down as the key hardcore band of this generation. Singer Mish Way seemed a bit annoyed with the crowd's passivity, and I was thinking to myself how their set would've spawned a serious mosh pit back in the '90s. Oh well. Merchandise now have a human drummer, and crooner Carson Cox now plays guitar, and they now have a sax player on a few songs. So their sound was much fuller (and I would say sometimes too full / busy) as compared to last fall, when they only had two human-played instruments (guitar and bass), plus a drum machine. DJ Wesley Stokes played some good stuff, such as Slowdive's "Morningrise," My Bloody Valentine's "You Made Me Realise," and CHVRCHES' "The Mother We Share." And speaking of Sonic Youth, Carson wore a Chelsea Light Moving t-shirt.
I planned on seeing the movie Spring Breakers, but its theater run seems to be over. I will say without shame that I've seen Ashley Benson's movie Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal about 5 times. One of the most quotable movies ever.
Planets with similar climates: Drop Nineteens - "Delaware" (1992), Bleach - "First" (1991), A.C. Temple - "Miss Sky" (1988), Gang Of Four - "It Is Not Enough" (1982), Springhouse - "Enslave Me" (1992), The Black Watch - "Come Inside" (1994), Catherine Wheel - "Chrome" (1993), Moonshake - "Spaceship Earth" (1992).
On their 1991 tour, burgeoning indie rock stalwarts Sebadoh were known for playing a tape of obnoxious / baffling spoken word stuff in between songs while they were tuning. (By the same token, Sonic Youth were known for playing Madonna songs and samples of European church bells in between songs in the '80s, since they had to tune and retune dozens of modified guitars.) It was all spoken by singer / guitarist Lou Barlow, fresh off of being kicked out of Dinosaur Jr. Tapes of this were passed on in the underground tape-trading community, and it was finally released in 2006 by Domino on the deluxe reissue of III. I bought that album in '97, but was not too impressed and soon sold it. I had heard about the showtape, so I didn't think it could live up to my expectations, but definitely did, and then some. Lou spoof lots of things that later became indie tropes (e.g. "drone-rock," emo, fanzine dweebs, Swans worship), and uses a strange enunciation most of the time to convey either sarcasm or mental instability. He constantly hammers away at the "three guys" premise, casting the band's members as everymen, heroes of the hoi polloi. Towards the end, it starts to get unhinged and quite uncomfortable to listen to, as Lou ruthlessly skewers his band's own motives for making music. It took me until just today to realize that "The lonely band that mutters" is a spoof of the Clash's laughably false slogan "The only band that matters." Hahahahahaha.... x 1000. The first line is an example of Lou intentionally messing up the syntax to make it sound more like a sound collage made from various sources.
Some samples, in the order they appear:
"Guitars, in front of Marshall stacks as full wall of them explode with a simultaneous on switch, begin wailing various percussion at any tempo. I, bloody with Uzi blast, reach to play guitar, fumbling violently as it screeches through the Marshalls. Grab guitar and plays what he wants. I struggle to my feet, hoisting the guitar over my head. Ladies and gentlemen: The pieces of meat! Dual denial... Duel of denial... Dueling denial." "Your postmodern folkcore saviors: Sebadoh!" "Three guys who appreciate and simulate [assimilate?] the power of modern drone-rock: Sebadoh!" "Sebadoh... Featuring that guy who played bass in Soul Asylum: Lou Barlow!" "Another evening of oppressive noodling, courtesy of Sebadoh!" "Three guys in search of the eternal party: Sebadoh." "Open-chord tuning saviors of alternative rock and roll: Sebadoh!" "And now, shattering the barrier between artist and audience... Three guys with smiles you can trust: Sebadoh." "Three more reasons to doubt your boyfriend... Sebadoh: Jason, Eric and Lou." "Guitar, bass, percussion... The fire, the wind, the heartbeat. A live experience surely among the top ten this year: Sebadoh." "Three guys who think it's much more important if the music is heartfelt rather than if the music sounds like shit or not: Sebadoh!" "The east is where the vampires live. The west is where the searchers go. Searching for a reason just like you: Ladies and gentlemen, the sensitive power of Sebadoh." "In the tradition of Daniel Johnston under a cloud of hiss: Sebadoh!" "Searching for a reason, just like you. Ladies and gentlemen, the sensitive power of Sebadoh." "It's not bullshit, it's Sebadoh." "Distinctive songwriters, any Beatle wannabe, three guys you need to know. Super show, Sebadoh!" "Unencumbered by structure... masters of melodic, atonal free-association. Three free spirits... Jason, Eric and Lou: Sebadoh!" "A crystal shining forever moment, courtesy of Sebadoh!" "Sweet, destructive, turning musical corners at breakneck speed." "Battling monumental indifference, sadly overlooked as creatively inferior bands are basically treated like geniuses and receive enormous recording budgets. Buns up to corporate wastemongers: Sebadoh!" "Three dumpy guys with no fashion sense." "Shaking hands or sharing feasts, three friendly minstrels who aren't very friendly... Reinventing folk music: Sebadoh!" "Boys and girls, as free as the fingers flow, a heartful drone you should know: Sebadoh." "Sebadoh: The lonely band that mutters." "Perhaps smoking pot or drinking beer before setting foot onstage, it's Sebadoh." "Figuratively pissing in your mouth, humiliating and subduing your spirit, exposing every nook and cranny of the human psyche... Way to go, Sebadoh!" "Searching for the lowest common denominator, resorting to tired tales of naughty-boy boredom, asking annoying questions and providing bogus answers. Self-serving closet fascists making money from marijuana masturbation." "Incompetence masquerading as inspiration, inspiration mistaken for true talent, a spectre of egocentric behavior sputtering wildly out of control. Ladies and gentlemen, indie rock's newest unrecognized genius of songwriting sucker-punch, in a minivan for a six-week tour: Sebadoh!" "Taking every opportunity to subtly manipulate your expectations for a moment's amusement. Becoming suddenly bored at your immature attempt to engage our approval with your typical butt-licking fanboy fervor: Sebadoh!" "Driving dozens of college-age lemmings off the cliff of limited imagination. Smashing their soft skulls on the jagged boulders of our bitter sarcasm... Three assholes: Sebadoh!" "Laughing at your shortcomings, tactlessly wielding destructive honesty to protect themselves from true feeling, eagerly butt-fucking your grandpa." "Turning personal vendetta and small-minded revenge tactics into eventual cult status... The only man in the world who truly appreciated the genius of the Swans: Lou Barlow!" "Rescuing wounded animals and diligently nursing them back to health and returning them to their woodland homes: Sebadoh!" "Putting down everything, judging all as lame. But for all their hype as something new, they play the same old game. Another letdown, another reason to do it yourself: Sebadoh!"
Some of today's pompous indie-hero windbags (Arcade Fire, Conor Oberst, and Radiohead / Thom Yorke come to mind quickly) could learn a lot from Lou and the boys on this track.
Here's a pic I found a few weeks ago of a pair of flyers created by the NOLADIY guys. They apparently date back to at least 2006, maybe earlier. The one on the left is a spoof of the "punk police" (people who decide whether or not a band is worthy of remaining relevant), I guess. (I think I remember reading that it was put up in protest of a gig at One Eyed Jacks by the Dead Kennedys after they had reformed without Jello Biafra, but I could be totally wrong.) Pretty simple and effective... but the one on the right really stopped me in my tracks:
Reverse psychology can be a great weapon...
Best / least pompous bio I've probably ever seen, found today on IMDB's message boards for the movie School Daze: LadyGlamSlam - "I was born, I grew, I learned, there was pain, I got fat, then there was some sex scenes, roll credits."
This is one of those songs that causes you to think "Okay, this band is gonna have a box set one day." Just like the Wye Oak song in my last post, I heard this one on WTUL while driving around (in this case, on the Westbank), and just about flipped out and had to call in immediately to find out what band it was. This was in spring of 2006. I obtained the mp3 as a free download from their website probably the same day, probably with crazed drool issuing forth from my mouth and my eyes bugging out of my head. Just last week, I finally bought the CD that it's on, The Dividing Island. Befitting the band's artsy leanings, it comes in cool gatefold packaging with triangular flaps, all done in a black and white color scheme.
Right down to its puzzling name, Lansing-Dreiden has always shrouded itself in mystery, and I always heard that they do not actually appear in the official music video:
As one astute YouTuber said: "Lansing-Dreiden rule! Fuck Pitchfork!" I swear, someday I hope to have "Fuck Pitchfork" on my tombstone. Make it happen, someone... I'll have my sister make you a free mix CD. (Pitchfork actually gave the album a 7.7 rating.)
The video was also available for free download on their site back in 2006 in MPG format, and I sent out its URL to all my online music buddies. (This was at the dawn of the YouTube era.) Yes, they simply gave away this song and its video for free, for many years in fact. Incredibly, this song wasn't released as a single, though having a video qualifies it as a de facto single. I was constantly haranguing people to check this band out, and I was sure they'd be the next big pop stars or something. L-D seemed to pattern themselves after The KLF in many ways, and "A Line" could've been as big a hit as "3 A.M. Eternal", if not bigger. (I bought the "3 A.M. Eternal" cassingle in 1991, a day before going to Cozumel!) In my review of The Dividing Island on Rate Your Music in 2007, I said "Unfortunately, the rest of the album veers from quirky '60s pop to other genres, since I once read that the band's goal on this album was to make it sound like a compilation of several different bands in different genres."
In recent years, the post-L-D project Violens has been garnering a good amount of attention in the indie blogosphere. They released the dazzling, kinetic single "Acid Reign" in 2010, but have turned sort of boring since then in my opinion. They're currently on Slumberland Records.
Mexican Summer (home of Best Coast, Tamaryn, No Joy, and others) is about to reissue L-D's first three releases. Ariel Pink is quoted as saying "Lansing-Dreiden was a musical entity shrouded in mystery and a best kept secret to muso’s the world over in the early 2000's. With this highly anticipated and beautifully packaged reissue of the band’s most treasured ouvres, Lansing-Dreiden is finally set to gain the appreciation and attention they have always deserved."
(Note: The mp3 in this post is from the original 2006 CD, not the upcoming Mexican Summer reissue, which will presumably be remastered. Remember that I always try to avoid giving away the highest-quality version of a song, because I want people to have a reason to buy the latest pressing of an album.)
Mon. 3/25: Went to the Baton Rouge Zoo for the first time, and my animal-snob self was pretty impressed. Also went to the Cohn Arboretum right down the road, but my über-plant-snob self was not too impressed. Lots of cheesy generic landscaping plants like waxleaf ligusturum, yuck.
Wed. 3/27: Went to the Hornets-Clippers game with Damion via free tix from Hector. The Hornets lost, but I did excitedly snap a pic of a young Chris & Cliff Paul as we were arriving.
Afterwards, I went to see Helen Gillet play a fun but poorly-attended solo show at the AllWays Lounge. She did lots of covers of peppy French pop tunes, which came as quite a shock to me, since I had seen her doing strictly experimental stuff with her cello.
Those are copies of her two CDs for sale at the foot of the stage
Had a great 1AM conversation with a WTUL DJ, Calder King, in which we talked about shoegaze bands. I was blown away when he immediately played my requests for Drop Nineteens' "Delaware" and Swervedriver's "Never Lose That Feeling." And I pretty much decided to become a DJ there, since I now know of three WTUL DJs who didn't go to Tulane.
Thu. 3/28: Went to the Iron Rail's new location to pick up a 12" by Arctic Flowers that I had ordered last Oct., but someone had bought it. Bryan (Funck, the Ian MacKaye of the NOLA punk / indie scene) was playing a Duran Duran best-of album, and not for irony value either. In fact, when it ended, he upped the ante by wordlessly putting on a Milli Vanilli album, again not for irony value. They definitely don't make 'em like that dude very often... Loyola represent. Some of the crusty punks shopping inside seemed a bit bewildered, but I can report that I heard some people humming along. I'd like to volunteer there or help out in some way, but I'm unfortunately not much of an anarchist.
Fri. 3/29: Continuing the theme of going to new places, I went to Pizza Delicious' new digs with Ashley (impressive art gallery inside, by the way), then showed her Euclid Records and Harold's nursery briefly. Scored Blouse's debut LP on white vinyl w/ alternate cover art at Euclid; a pretty unexpected find. I lent Ashley Wild Nothing's Nocturne and the Cure's Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. Went to the Defend New Orleans store for the first time and bought a mohawked-skull logo pin. Finally made it to Stein's Deli for the first time, and was not disappointed by their beer selection, which was rumored to be amazing. They were playing Tool's Undertow in its entirety, not the hipster stuff that you'd hear at, say, Dat Dog. Gave the remainder of my pizza to two difft. thrift stores, since it was too spicy for me and I'm trying to cut way down on my dairy intake in order to clear up my sinuses. I'm not religious, but this Good Friday really lived up to its name, right down to the breezy, NorCal-esque weather. Sorry for all the details, but this was an eventful week for li'l old me. The next post will be free of personal details because I will not do anything next week.
Planets with similar climates: Tears For Fears - "Head Over Heels" (1984), Simple Minds - "Promised You A Miracle" (1982), Depeche Mode - "Stripped" (1986), School Of Seven Bells - "Heart Is Strange" (2010), The Psychedelic Furs - "Heartbreak Beat" (1986).
On August 3rd, while pulling into the parking lot outside the Saints' facility in Metairie to watch an open practice, I heard this song on WTUL and just about lost my shit. I called in and found out who it was, then asked the DJ if he was sure that it was really Wye Oak, since this song is totally different from their normal rustic alt-country sound. He and I talked about how 4AD-ish it was, and I mentioned that it sounded a lot like the album Euphoria by the band Insides. He said he hadn't heard any Insides, but would check them out. The next night, the Oak opened for the dreadful Dirty Projectors at the House Of Blues. I almost went just to see them perform this song, but I couldn't justify the cost of around $30.00, plus I would've lost all respect for myself if I had stood in the same room with the Dirty Projectors or their fanbase.
Wye Oak are named after the state-champion (that means largest) oak tree in Maryland. R.I.P. This song premiered as a free download at Stereogum, which is where I downloaded it, and it is still available there. Singer / guitarist Jenn Wasner said on Stereogum "This track was written specifically for this Adult Swim series, but they didn’t provide any thematic or sonic guidance for the song. A lot of the music I had been working on independently at the time sounded something like this — so I felt like the Adult Swim opportunity was, as a standalone track, a great opportunity to experiment with some of these new sonic and rhythmic ideas in a low-pressure context. The song revolves around the idea of repetition and rhythmic interplay — parts that are fairly minimalist and circular that come together to form an almost hypnotic wash." The song's stuttering ambient marimba finale strikes me as a clear homage to Tortoise's genre-busting "Djed." Check out the passion with which impending indie heartthrob Wasner belted out this song on the same day I first heard it, meaning the night before they played in N.O.:
After seeing that video, I was absolutely kicking myself for not going to the gig. But I'll see them when they come back to N.O. or B.R. as headliners. If they can continue exploring this type of sound, I'd say they'll instantly be the most compelling band in all of indiedom. You could say Wye Oak pulled a reverse Slowdive with this song, considering how Slowdive suddenly went from an electronic dream pop sound to a country-ish sound under their new name Mojave 3 in the mid-'90s. Well, folks, the Oak is the new sheriff in town and they're ready to right Slowjave 3's wrong. My only complaint is that the vocals in "Spiral" are hard to decipher due to the massive amounts of reverb and Wasner's breathy, innovative phrasing, but that actually helps the music to more dreamlike and disorienting. For a not-so-accurate stab at them, go here. I think she sings "Hearts have signed for(?) a contract: Constant contact" and then she definitely sings "You look over my shoulder / Distant, abstract."
You can download every digital single in the Adult Swim series for free here.
Jenn's new project, the hilariously-named Dungeonesse, is a full-on dance/synth thing, so hopefully they'll put out at least a few songs in the same vein as "Spiral."
View the best pic I took at Saints practice that momentous day here.
Tue. 3/12: Got an eye exam from a new doctor and then got contact lenses for the first time in a few years; had been wearing really scratched up old glasses. It was like seeing the world in HD and I was somewhat in shock for the rest of the day / week.
Sat. 3/16: Went to the spring Record Raid and talked to the usual music buddiez but didn't see the person I hoped would be there, so I was pretty depressed the rest of the day. In my haul: School Of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire (2xLP on swirly gray vinyl), Broken Water - Whet (LP on translucent green vinyl), Steve Reich - Reich Remixed (2xLP), Dead Leaf Echo - Truth (EP), Niki And The Dove - Instinct, Crowded House - Temple Of Low Men, Joan Armatrading - Greatest Hits, Frank Ocean - Channel Orange, Toro Y Moi - "So Many Details" promo single, Mary Timony - The Golden Dove, TEEN - In Limbo. Bought some vitamin B-12.
Thur. 3/21: Went to the Alicia Keys / Miguel concert at New Orleans Arena with Em, Ashley, and Ashley's mom. Was stunned at Em's new car that she bought a few days earlier. Almost wore my Glish t-shirt, but donned a long-sleeve shirt at the last minute. Only saw Miguel's last 3 songs due to a ticket snafu, so I dunno if he played my fav. song of his, the future #1 hit "Don't Look Back". He finished with an extended rendition of his mega-hit "Adorn." Saw Hornets star Eric Gordon in the drink line; probably should've shook his hand or something since he will surely leave as a free agent soon. Alicia brought her A-game despite the fact that the arena was about half full. (Everyone on the upper level got a free upgrade to the middle level.) Seeing her perform "Un-Thinkable" while bathed in orange lighting was one of the top 10 concert moments of my life, and I was pleasantly surprised at how berserk the crowd went when she did an old fave of mine, "Diary." Maxwell dueted with her via a pre-recorded video segment shown on the screen behind her. She played for almost 2 hours, meaning about twice as long as when I saw her in '04. Afterwards, I hurried over and absorbed the end of a hushed and beautiful Benoît Pioulard show at the Circle Bar by myself. A rude bartender tried to throw shade when I mentioned the concert I had just seen up the street, but I still stupidly tipped her a dollar.
Fri. 3/22: Decided to do the "be a tourist in your own town" thing... Well, in my previous hometown at least. Went to Barrister's Gallery at its new location on St. Claude (used to be inside of or next to Zeitgeist Theatre on Oretha Castle Haley) and saw some very impressive avant-garde stuff; got a poetry book at Maple Street Book Shop at the N.O. Healing Center; got some cool stuff at Euclid Records (Acetone LP, Cul De Sac 7", Lansing-Dreiden CD); got a thyme plant at Harold's; played basketball at Delgado for 2+ hrs until dark; watched March Madness.
Sat. 3/23: Went to Slidell on a whim and scored a book about Ani Difranco at Goodwill. Man, I had forgotten how much she once meant to me, and how endearingly funny she was/is, but flipping through a few pages in this book brought it rushing back.
Planets with similar climates: Cocteau Twins - "Road, River And Rail" (1990), Insides - "Distractions" (1993), Beach House - "Wild" (2012), Lush - "Undertow" (1993), Twin Sister - "The Other Side Of Your Face" (2010), Grimes - "Be A Body" (2011).
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