Underrated, Automatic, and Discarded

Sonic Youth was my favorite band for a short time in the mid 80's.  Every album they released was an explosion of my world.  I still consider EVOL to be one of the greatest albums of all time, and Bad Moon Rising isn't far behind.

Unlike the rest of the Pitchfork generation, I consider Daydream Nation their falling off point.  Actually, I probably only think that because DN was when it became clear that they were a psychedelic rock band that experiments rather than an experimental band that rocked.  That might have been okay, but I never felt that songwriting was their strong suit, even if they still did occasionally hit the jackpot.

I bought every album they did up to Murray Street (2002 - and the only reason that I got that one after the bitter disappointment of NYC Ghosts & Flowers is that Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich from Borbetomagus were on it).  I kept each one up through A Thousand Leaves, for a while, at least.  With NYC Ghosts & Flowers and Murray Street, I kept them for a month or two, and then traded them in.  After that, I would try to listen to the albums, but they were never in my budget for purchase.  As of now, I have DN on back, Washing Machine, and A Thousand Leaves (not counting their experimental releases on their own label, which I have most of: they are as hit-and-miss as their main releases, but when they fail, they fail in more interesting ways).

I have a certain soft spot for Goo, but it just didn't hold up for me.  As a matter of fact, I think that A Thousand Leaves is their best album post - SST . . . if I'm going to pick one "mainstream" Sonic Youth album to listen to, A Thousand Leaves is it.

It is here where Sonic Youth's psychedelic rock sound is at its most cohesive.  The album starts with "Contre Le Sexisme", a concrete voice-and-noise collage similar to what they've been doing since day one, followed by "Sunday", a sepia-tinged noise psychedelia much like what they started on Daydream Nation.  As it goes on, it becomes clear that none of this is new for Sonic Youth, but that it may be the best distillation that they came up with.  "Hits of Sunshine (for Allen Ginsberg)" stands as the best post-noise psychedelic workout that they have thus far recorded.

If you are a casual Sonic Youth listener and not familiar with this album, check it out.  If you are not familiar with Sonic Youth (anybody here?), this album is not what the fuss is about.  Check out Bad Moon Rising instead.

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I've immersed myself in the wild, wild world of Robert Ashley lately.  Atalanta (Acts of God) I & II are huge, sprawling operas (somewhere around 4 hours total, I believe) that I have yet to get a handle on, though on first listen, it seems that parts of the opera were a huge influence on Laurie Anderson (though "influence" may be kind).  Automatic Writing, on the other hand, is fairly simple in concept and execution.  I could go in in some detail, but I couldn't put it better than Ashley's Wikipedia entry (go down to section 4 for specific notes) or the notes to the blog that has the recording.

Other than that, all I have to say is, if you want to creep out a Halloween party this weekend, Automatic Writing could be one of your best friends.

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This is a nice little item I found here.  Once again, I'm not going to go into much detail, because it's all there, but just to tantalize you: a cassette compilation made of songs taken from the memory cards of discarded cell phones from Africa.  How cool is that?

R.I.P. Gregory Isaacs

He put out many a great tune. My favorite would have to be "We Don't Pet Sound Boys." I was going to post a video of it from Youtube but it's not on there.

I'll be spinning this tonight in his honor:

The End of the Sony Cassette Walkman

It is, I believe, impossible to overstate the importance of the Sony Walkman.  It was a complete "game changer", as the kids like to say.

I remember the first time I strapped one on.  I was in school up in South Bend, & I borrowed my roomie's Walkman with his copy of Dire Strait's Love Over Gold.  The album wasn't memorable, but the experience was: strolling across the darkened campus with the Walkman cranked up made me feel like I was in my own movie*.  That sentiment may be cliche now, but back then it was quite novel.

The cassette Walkman set the personal control innovations of the cassette tape (ability to make your own mix instead of consuming what record companies put out on vinyl or what programmers put on the radio or - heaven forbid! - even recording your own music) into a personal, portable platform.  The designers surely understood how the aspect of portability would affect music consumption, and they may have even had an inkling about how the personal listening aspects would affect the music experience, but I doubt that any one of them could know how the Walkman would change the way music would interact with the listener and his/her environment.  Like I say, it may be cliche now to think of portable music devices as scoring our lives in real time, but this was something revolutionary when portable music first appeared.

As of today, Sony has discontinued the production of the cassette Walkman in Japan.  Portable cassette players will still continue to be available in countries where computers are scarce and cassettes are still the primary mode of music consumption.  I am not going to be a nostalgic old fart and pretend that there is something inherently superior to the cassette Walkman, but it is, after all, the genesis of portable music.

Above is my own Walkman.  I bought it three years ago & had it on sale with the cassette release of Black Kaspar's Pain Free Living.  At some point I will get distribution for the cassette, but the special $50 custom Black Kaspar Walkman is apparently a thing of the past.  Or at least, if I find another source, they won't be Sonys.  And if it isn't a Sony, it isn't a Walkman.

[UPDATE: Sony has announced that the Walkman will still be available for the foreseeable future in the U.S.]
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*  Just like "Skateaway", from Dire Strait's Making Movies, which is a decent take on the personal soundtrack.

New Deerhunter

The other thing i wanted to say is that I finally got into the new Deerhunter. I downloaded it or got it as a burn or whatever a while ago but never really listened to it until this weekend.

It's killing me. Awesome... it's got this crazy timeless quality that's like part 80's, part classic rock, part Strokes, part Velvets... great songwriting. I honestly feel like Deerhunter are on that level with Radiohead as a band that has transcended the "indie" genre and are really the real deal.

"Revivial" and "Desire Lines" are my #1 jams, but really they are all good. Except that one song, "Fountain Steps" or whatever, that shit is so gay. Worst song ever.

dc

WFMU Record Fair

I went to the WFMU Record Fair yesterday. Kicked my ass.




WFMU is the world famous massive record sale they have in NYC once a year. People come in from all around the world. I was like "I'll come in on the train during nap time, rip through there, and be out in an hour and a half..."

Well, I got through one row (of maybe 12?) and I burned through an hour of my time and a third of my money. "damn, i got to pace myself!"



I was so stoked to find this booth... "avant african latino tropical" is my favorite genre.



This is more like it, dub dub dub dub dub... actually, come to think of it do you think they were trying to simulate the Echo-Plex?



This is the last record I bought after I burned through all my cash and texted my wife for an hour extension. VU box set with a bunch of old rarities and so forth. I saw it at one table for $120. Then a few down some guy had it for $60 due to the box being a little chewed up. I finally got it for $51.75 and pocket lint after begging a bit and turning my pockets inside out as proof that it was last of my cash. I was like a crack head.

You really do need three days and all possible disposable cash you can scrounge up to do this thing right.



Getting rid of the evidence on the way home on the train.

Got some good stuff but I'll save that for another post. Blayyyter.

dc

Attack of the . . . Sloth?!

This song has been absolutely killing me for over a week now.  Sorry, no video, song only:



This has officially made my list of best guitar solos ever. Not sure where on the list, exactly, but it's there.  Actually, the guitar is great all through this album (Die Healing).

This is dedicated to everyone who thought the Stonehenge scene in Spinal Tap would have been even funnier with a full-size Stonehenge.

Now excuse me while I mainline fish oil and ginkgo biloba in a desperate attempt to reclaim a fraction of the brain cells wasted listening to Saint Vitus records.

El Ten Eleven

I guess I kind of knew El Ten Eleven was a guy with a double neck guitar and a bunch of loopers? But I've never seen them live.

Check out this youTube clip. The hardest working man in show business!



dc

Vibes & Psychedelic Grooviness

Stealing when I should have been buying? Yeah, maybe, but sometimes they just aren't out there to be bought. Case in point with this stuff:

Love vibes, Love Roy Ayers, especially from this era. Maybe some of the vinyl heads on here can explain what a "direct cutting 45rpm" is, I'm just glad to have the tracks. Haven't seen them on any discography before, pretty much in that late 60's Stone Soul Picnic vibe. Two long tracks on each, not life changers, but you know (or at least DC does) that "Herbie Mann presents" means they were going to get you laid if you played them on a date.

Can't get enough shit like this; prime vintage European prog, ridiculously epic, overplayed, not a smirk in sight. Actually lots of variety on these comps, very well assembled and very limited edition. I was thrilled a couple years ago to find volumes 11 & 12, so I was happy to find a bunch more here. A lot of these are uploaded as a rapidshare file for each track, maybe not worth all that time, but grab the first four volumes which have a complete side on a single file.

This site also has lots of funky shit like this, might have to grab it just for the graphics

The American Joy Division

Back in the day, my crew (buncha damn art punks) was way down on the emo lyric . . . like, who wants to hear your petty problems, whiner?  Anger and nihilism was the currency of the day, as it ever was and shall be.  Of course, when nobody was paying attention, each and every one of us rocked our Joy Division.

Like everyone else, we were floored with the proto-goth atmospherics of Unknown Pleasures and Closer, but the more aggressive live sound showcased on the Amsterdam live 1980 bootleg was our real touchstone.

And here is the connection with Mark Edwards, a.k.a. My Dad Is Dead.  Like Ian Curtis (Joy Division was big influence on Edwards), Edwards is determined to strip life raw with his highly personal lyrics.  Unlike Joy Division, there was no Martin Hannett to tart up (or down, as the case may be) the recordings.  Edwards, previously a drummer, decided he wasn't willing to trust his vision to anybody else, so he taught himself guitar, got himself a drum machine - thanks to Big Black, drum machines were perfectly acceptable in mid 80's alt rock - and did everything himself.  In this manner, he released a couple LPs on local Cleveland labels before signing up with legendary 80's label Homestead Records and releasing three records, two of which ("Let's Skip the Details" and "The Taller You Are, the Shorter You Get") are absolutely essential.

Later Edwards augmented MDID with various bass players and drummers, frequently borrowing the rhythm section from fellow Cleveland alt rockers (with the emphasis on RAWK) Prisonshake.  His first full band recordings included "Shine(r)", which feature re-recordings of some of his old songs along with new material.  He has since moved to Chapel Hill and, in spite of threats to quit, has kept up MDID to this very day.

The shady business leading to the demise of Homestead didn't spare MDID.  In the midst of recording the fourth album for Homestead ("Chopping Down the Family Tree"),  Homestead voided his contract by cutting his advance in half, so Edwards bailed and went back to Cleveland label Scat, and then to Emperor Jones.  After not receiving royalties on his Homestead Records since he left, he tried to recover the rights to the records, only to find that the current owner wanted $10,000 each for them.  Unwilling and unable to pay anywhere near that much for the rights, he countered by posting all his early records for free on his website.  Lucky us!

If you're a fan of the bedroom rocker, the raw lo-fi singer/songwriter who doesn't fear a chunky guitar, then check out My Dad Is Dead.  "Shine(r)", "Chopping Down the Family Tree", "Let's Skip the Details", and "The Taller You Are, the Shorter You Get" rank along with the best of 80's/90's alt rock.

10/10/10 Mix - WWALT EXCLUSIVE

I just sent out the first release of the WWALT mailing list. I have a distro list of the emails of all the people with WWALT posting ability.

-If you don't like something that somebody sends, delete it.
-If you want to send out your own email to the mailing list, let me know and I'll send the list to you.
-If you don't want to get anymore emails (from me or others), holla at me.

For the first release I sent out the "10/10/10 Mix", just a little mix I whipped up on that most auspicious of days. It has some good tunes from what I'm listening to lately... recent records I've bought and MP3's I've downloaded. It's mostly on the instrumental/ambient tip. Throw it on for your commute or when you are cooking dinner or doing the dishes. It's pretty good, I feel. I've been bumping it non-stop for a couple of days.

Even if you don't like it, take a second to listen to the first track by Daphne Oram (the female Raymond Scott aka most esoteric comment of WWALT blog history). It sounds like Aphex Twin or something, that chick was way ahead of her time.

Next up, I'm going to digitize some of my better/rarer LPs (stuff I can't find on Captain Crawl) and blast out to y'all. WWALT EXCLUSIVE!

Hopefully some of you dudes follow suit. All right, hope you like it. Enjoy.

dc

Neil Young - Le Noise

Not sure what I think about this record. I've only been through it twice and have yet to listen at really high volume and/or with headphones. It's nice and muddy and reverb-full. The songs have that Neil Young quality--there are certain chord changes that he does over and over on song after song, but still sound great.

I did hear one lyric that kind of bugged me: "I've seen a lot of war." While I respect the artist's right to comment on things not personally experienced, something about saying that about war these days feels wrong. I despise our adventurism in Afghanistan and Iraq. I'm generally pacifist in nature. I just think war is something that if you haven't really seen (and by that I mean first hand), it's too presumptuous to say you have, even under artistic license.

Here's a vid about the making of the record. Daniel Lanois produced. He comes off cool and flakey in this--which is appropriate for a producer I'd hazard.

Eno on Warp?

I missed this until right now.

Brian eno has a new LP coming out on Warp. There is a track on his website (http://www.brian-eno.net/) and its pretty rad.

Def will keep an eye out for that.

dc

Live Emeralds

Found this download of some live Emeralds shows from 2008, really good stuff if you like that band. Good sound quality, too.

http://decrepittapes.blogspot.com/2010/09/emeralds-live-cd-r-2008.html

That blog has a ton of killer shit on it, FYI.

dc

Funeral Mariachi / Ritual Nova

Okay, I'm being a bit of a fanboy here, considering how the majority of my posts have something to do with the Sun City Girls, but you'll have to bear with me one more time.

Funeral Mariachi is the long-awaited "last official" Sun City Girls album, meaning that it was in the working stages before the death of Charles Gocher and the subsequent demise of SCG. It does, as a whole, dwell in the melancholy air suggested by its title and occasion.

Most of the commentary revolves around how "accessible" and "beautiful" this album is, and that thought is not wrong. Unlike most other SCG albums, Funeral Mariachi is significantly worked over in the studio, and as such, it is the most finished sounding SCG album. "Accessible" and "finished", however, don't mean timid, and there is still plenty experimentation going on here . . . though, unlike most SCG releases, the experimentation seems to be contained by the record, instead of trying to explode from the inside as per usual. The result is dense, active, and atmospheric. I haven't put the headphones to this yet, but that should prove interesting.

As with mariachi, there is a heaviness, almost a sadness, that underlies the proceedings. Side one relies on the familiar SCG ethno-pastiche, spatially spread out and polished like never before. Side two is heavily dependent on their interpretation of Ennio Morricone, and, in fact, contains a Morricone cover . . . which, interestingly enough, I can't pick out of the other songs, even though I am familiar with both Morricone and SCG.

The album, overall, is a somber and fitting coda to the Sun City Girl's body of work. It is impossible to find the essence of SCG on one release, and this one is no different. Given its finish, Funeral Mariachi is a good place to start with the band, though Torch of the Mystics is just as accessible and a little livelier. If you are looking for a deep, layered, riveting, moody record, this is one to pick up.

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The ear and mind of Boris Kovac must be the proverbial sponge. He soaks up the ethnic sounds of his native Serbia and surrounding areas, cuts them in with modern compositional tropes and techniques, and produces a work that is austere, atmospheric, and avant-garde, but still quite listenable.

Ritual Nova takes ethnic music as source material, and builds compositions with nods different 20th Century schools of musical thought (minimalism, atonality, repetition, etc.). The thing that makes this unique, other than its idiosyncratic ethnicity, is the almost pop sensibility that underlies all these pieces. For all of its "difficult listening" pedigree, this is a uniquely listenable record . . . fans of Fred Frith, the Art Bears, Henry Cow, the Residents, the soprano saxophone, or any 20th Century classical music should check this out.