Hotel X >> Flute routes

Hotel X - "Iqbal"

(SST Records, 1997)

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.

Pharmacy Lounge >> A little insane

Pharmacy Lounge - "Building A Compound"

(Atavistic Records, 1993)

This is from the 1996 edition of the State Of The Union compilation 2xCD, which features 147 songs, all of which are about a minute long.  (I previously posted the song "Backlash" by Margot Mifflin from this compilation.)  All I know about this band is what's in the liner notes, and this might be the only song they ever recorded / released.  Here's the data:

Matt Karn - guitar & vocals; Lokke Highstein - bass; Mark Ludwig - drums.
Excerpt from "WACO: The Rock Opera."
Recorded at Moldy Basement Studio, Madison, WI. 1993.

Ween, Prince, The White Bitch, or The Make Up would've killed to have written this ditty.  Every single second of it is instrumentally amazing down to the tiniest detail, and the vocals are just nailed perfectly, down to the intro and outro chant "Jesus... loved... guns."  It's hard to think of similar songs because this one has such a fast tempo, and most funk / r&b songs are on the slow to medium side.  Overall, it's one of the ultimate songs to use to fill out the spare time on a mix CD.

I don't like most sensations that are bracing, such as riding rollercoasters, eating York Peppermint Patties, or anything involving snow.  I had braces from age 13 to 16.

Based on the band name and song title, I had assumed the lyrics would be about synthesizing molecules in a laboratory.  We made soap in organic chemistry lab once.  But it's clearly about a David Koresh-style cult leader building a compound, as in a heavily-fortified building.  "Making a stockpile, plenty of guns... Screw the feds and the coke they run."  "I'll build a compound and be the messiah."  (Note: For hilarity, Google pics of Koresh playing guitar.)  Folks, think about it: Blowtorch Baby... The inferno at Koresh's Waco compound that was set by the feds... Talk about art imitating life, hello.  This is probably the best song to listen to on the day that Obama's jack-booted henchmen come knocking at our doors to take away all our guns, as Fox News and Tea Partiers (same difference) are always reminding us...  Er, wait, Obama has received a rating of "F" (lowest possible rating) from the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence, for doing absolutely nothing to curtail gun ownership or gun violence.  ("The group, which endorsed Obama in 2008, gave him an 'F' on every issue it scored, including background checks, gun trafficking, guns in public, the federal assault weapons ban, standing up to the gun lobby and leadership.")  Nah, that was reported in a newspaper, so it can't be trusted, since Obama has complete control over the media.

If anyone can turn me on to any other songs by Pharmacy Lounge, please get in touch.  Since I have no pic of the band, let me just dump some random photos.

Me at House Of Blues in June, about to drink the only appropriate beer with which to celebrate the Flaming Lips' Guinness Record-setting performance.  This was right after we saw this obnoxiously compelling opening act named MNDR, who had replaced Grimes at the last minute:

Camera phone pic by my sister

Coconut palm etching on that black paper that scratches off to reveal glitter underneath.  Made in about 15 mins. using only a disposable plastic dinner knife; total cost: about $1.  (Paper bought at Dollar Tree.)  I highly recommend buying some of this paper and just having a blast:

One of the few times I've signed something on the front rather than on the back.  My sister made a very different etching simultaneously, but I don't have a pic of it.

We all enjoy laughing at pathetic internet commenters.  Golly, SNL even did a skit about it last season.  This comment was so beautiful that I had to take a screenshot of it.  You may remember some topless pics of Kate Middleton surfaced last month, and, as the saying goes, "broke the internet."  Well, check out the critical insight of one Eddy Chorizo on the website of the Mercury News:

(Note: To see this or any other pic on Blogspot full size, drag it into your browser's URL bar and then click on it there.)  After admiring his sentence-construction prowess, I had to wonder if "Eddy" is actually a typo, since most/all guys go by Eddie.  If anyone knows how to contact this fellow so Blowtorch Baby can interview him, let me know.  I'd love to have him review some mp3s that I've posted, particularly stuff like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Scala, and this Pharmacy Lounge song.

Mind-blowing stat of the week: Monday night's game was the 666th Monday Night Football game in history.  In it, the Houston Texans beat the New York Jets.  On the season, Jets QB Mark "Sanchise" Sanchez has a QB rating of 66.6, with 6 TDs and 6 INTs, and has averaged 6.6 yards per pass.  He wears jersey number 6.  He played for Mission Viejo High School, whose mascot was the Diablos.  I've already seen him referred to by the new nickname "Satanchez."  The Jets' backup QB is devout Christian Tim Tebow.

NRA, gun industry once again mine profit from paranoia

Alpacas with post-punk hair

The NFL's campaign against breast cancer is a total scam

Planets with similar climates: Ween - "The Goin' Gets Tough From The Getgo" (1992), !!! - "Intensify" (2000), The Make Up - "Walking On The Dune" (199?), Gil Scott-Heron - "Free Will" (1972), Union Wireless - "Come And Tell Me" (1995), Medium, Medium - "Hungry, So Angry" (1981).