The Minimal Wave Tapes VOL 2

I've listened to this 100 times. The video makes it even better. When he goes "Set your life on ... FIRE!" I get amped every time.

Volume 2 is now up on Spotify. Wooooord. Igor, get on this. Or I mean Ivor?

dc

Teebs

I'm feeling this track a lot for some reason. Teebs is down with Flying Lotus and Matthewdavid and that whole glitchy LA scene.



dc

Neutral Milk Hotel

I have checked them out in the past and thought they were pretty cool, but it never moved me. I remember being surprised when I went to the Colbert Show and he was doing his Q&A with the crowd before getting in character and gave NMH as his favorite band when asked. I checked them out again recently and like In An Aeroplane Over the Sea a lot, though some tracks a lot more than others.

I'm really really blown away by the song "Two-Headed Boy" though. I'm prone to hyperbole when I'm obsessed with a song/album/artist, but I'm feeling like this is one of the best songs I've ever heard. The lyrics give me chills and the delivery--defiant and beautiful--perfectly matches those lyrics and both the urgent pace of the music. If you don't know this song, check it out. If you do, go listen again.

Scraping Foetus Off the Mix; plus, Transplanted NYC Psychedelica

Foetus, a.k.a. J.G. Thirwell, "reprocessed" the infamous Mars '77-'78 studio recordings.  It is the Thirwell versions that most have heard, including the 1996 Atavistic re-issue 78+.  There has been rumblings of dissatisfaction over the Thirwell treatments (much like the mutterings that Zappa somehow "ruined" Troutmaskreplica - he didn't, although he really could have done a better job - or the guy who "ruined" Strictly Personal by dumping the whole album into a phaser - he did, but that has been corrected on reissues - or even rumors of the legendary "guitar mix" of MX-80 Sound's Hard Attack).  In about 2003, Mark Cunningham reissued the complete studio recordings in their original state, but the reissues were incredibly obscure, especially compared to the Atavistic CD.  Finally, in 2008, No More Records got a clean unprocessed version out to a larger audience.

Were the original releases that were around for so many years from flood-damaged masters?  If so, does that really explain the obnoxious booming reverb that Thirwell soaked everything with?  Without the Thirwell treatment, the Mars LP is at the same time an easier and more radical listen.  Easier, because you don't have that "jangle at the end of a tunnel" sound going (admittedly, it probably bothers me more than most because of my tinnitus); and more radical, because you can better hear the clashing patterns in the music when they're not masked with a ton of reverb.  You can also hear much more of Sonic Youth, and even the Feelies, in the music when it is scraped of the Foetus treatment.

Not sure if there are any No Wave heads in the audience; but if there are, order this from your local music boutique post-haste.  If you already own the Atavistic re-issue, you've got the general idea, but you will want to hear the difference.

The YouTube video below has the unprocessed versions of two songs:

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Some of the Louisville posse ended up in Brooklyn  . . . psychedelic/krautrock head Dominic Cipolla moved his project Phantom Family Halo to the big city because he needed a "jolt of energy".

He got a little boost from Will Oldham on his way out of town: for the anniversary party of (Slint bassist) Todd Brashear's Wild and Wooly Video, Phantom Family Halo did a smoking set, with Oldham and Brashear joining them for the encore (this was the set opening up for Roky Erickson!).  Oldham also recorded a 10" with PFH under his Bonnie Prince Billie moniker.

Here is that collab:

and here is Phantom Family Halo live:



I have three of their four albums, and I like them all very much.  It would be a good idea to start from the latest and move backwards.

Here is a cut from the latest:



So, New York peeps, if this sounds good to you, pick it up.  And if you get a chance to see them live, don't miss it.

I'm out -

Send me your party hits

throwing a house party next Saturday and having a good time putting together a playlist. I got a pretty eclectic list going with slightly more laid-back stuff for early on, to more body-moving material for mid-party, to increasingly oUt stuff as people become more inebriated. I'm not talking about blasting people with Black Dice at 2 AM, more like Beck's "Hollywood Freaks" (best first line ever: "hot milk/mmm, tweak my nipple"), maybe some old-school Nas, still working on it.

but I'd thought I'd throw it out there to the community. what are the songs you want to hear at a house party?

There's a new British Expeditionary Force on the way at the end of March

The British Expeditionary Force – Commotion (Official Music Video) from Erased Tapes on Vimeo.

Erased Tapes is like the Kranky of Europe.  In fact, Kranky distributes Erased Tapes' A Winged Victory for the Sullen Stateside. 

Long, long after they said it'd be out, B.E.F. Chapter 2, Constellation Neu (follow up to Chapter 1, A Long Way From Home) will be out at the end of March.  This is one of those bands that I measure everything else against, and now there's more.

Growing

I'm really feeling "Growing" lately. Color Wheel (2006) is a stand out, and their Black Dice-esque "Pumps" got lots of props when it came out (2 years ago? 1 year ago?)

Mainly posting this to point out they have a bunch of live shows up on Spotify, first time I've seen that. I don't think these are "live" releases that a label put out and now Spotify is distributing, i think it is more like a bootleg of a live show that the band put up there (that they are getting paid for). Kind of huge if bands had that ability to post live shows easily and get paid for listens (although, as discussed, the band is getting peanuts from Spotify... but still...)

If you like Growing I might also suggest this guy/band that Rootless tipped me off to, Jason Urick and his LP "I Love You". It's pretty good, it has a similar sonic palette as Growing: dissonant/distorted but with melodic ambiance on top.

Regards,

the Chizzle

Classy...

Within an hour of news of Whitney Houston's death, Sony jacked up costs of her albums online.

I guess i can't fault them, if you're going under you have to try to make cash wherever you see an opportunity.

In related news, I've had "I want to dance (with someone who loves me)" stuck in my head for 48 hours.

dc

Nels Cline Geek Out

In case you want to geek out about Nels Cline's gear.

Keith Fullerton Whitman

This interview actually came out in 2006 but I just read it and thought it was awesome. I suspect some people on this blog haven't read it and would really like it too so thought I'd post it.

25 Songs: Blues Vol. 1

Paul's Boutique Record Release Party

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique - Record Release Party 1989 from sjx on Vimeo.

BLAM!

Sharon Van Etten "Tramp"

Just listened to it on NPR's first listen. I'd heard part of a song on the radio here in dirty jersey, shazam'ed it, and I'm now not being disappointed. Really really good songs with nice varied arrangements. I like her voice, it's not typically indie twee, or screamy, it's quite strong, almost cat power-strong. She's depressingly young--yes, I'm bitter and jealous. This sounds like what a "mature" record would sound like if calling something "mature" wasn't usually implying that it was boring and lame. The song "We Are Fine" is a highlight.

I missed you, 1999.

We Jam Econo

Being a bass player (and one who is a self taught and learned by playing in bands at that) it's kind of crazy that I never got into The Minutemen. I knew Mike Watt from fIREHOSE fame, and was pretty deep into them, but I think I just bought one Minutemen CD, kind of went "meh" and then never came back. I was a Fugazi/fIREHOSE kid growing up, not a Minor Threat/Minutemen kid.

I've already had my late bloomer moment with Minor Threat (having listened to Minor Threat Discography enough over the last few years to make up for lost time) but I never got into The Minutemen. I only really dug in after scoring a copy of Double Nickels on The Dime at a garage sale (for $1.00, selling on eBay for $100, DC!! DC!!!).

What a great, fascinating, intensely creative and original band. This is clearly displayed in the documentary about them "We Jam Econo". If you are a fan or want to be or are interested in them any way, I recommend checking it out, it's on Netflix streaming.

(I also checked out the Pearl Jam "20" documentary by Cameron Crowe, also defintiely worth checking on Netflix, also known as the Spotify of movies.)

d-nice