pftjschute

2011 Cream of the Crop

2011-12-24T13:34:00.008-06:00

I'm a bit dismayed when people say that they really didn't like any music that came out over the past year...that's never happened to me. Even when I look back at years like 1985 (Howard Jones Dream Into Action, Jefferson Starship's We Built This City - which, I'm happy to say, I hated even then, Bryan Adams - Summer of '69 - my first rock concert, followed shortly after, fortunately for my continued interest in music, by a Husker Du show at the 'Cat's Arena in Bozeman, as they toured for New Day Rising), I liked a lot of that '85 music then and some of it, I still do. This year of 2011 was no slouch either. As usual, I spent a lot of time in the archives but there was no dirth of good, provocative, truly new music that's been created over the past 12 months. Here are a handfull of some that have been most loved, respected, or re-visited for me...

> PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
If I had to put down coin, this would be my record of the year. It's a totally English album - one that acknowledges all of PJ's back-catalogue, everything that the Mekons have put to tape, everything in the catalogue of Anne Briggs, Fairport Convention, the Pogues, and all of the folk and punk music that has been wrenched out of the British Isles over the past 50 years - wrenched because there's a real pain in many of these songs. PJ explores war, politics, social and financial blights that have eviscerated the queen's island over the years. It's got the stuff that made some of her first few albums some of my favorite albums ever, but it also does a brilliant job of bringing it all to the here and now - recorded in an ancient church in the nowheres of the English countryside, it is all about the here-and-now of All of our country's shakings and quake'ings.

> Richmond Fontaine - The High Country
This is a brutal listen, totally beautiful, but heart-breakingly brutal. Willy Vlautin writes songs that attain a southern gothic sense of deep dark nepotistic pain that even few novels can reach. The High Country is a series of vignettes that build on the story of 'the Girl' and 'the Boy' who fall into a forbidden love, in a run-down, rain-sodden dead end of the Pacific Northwest. Things don't go well - not at all - but the music veers from desultory day-in-the-life moments to life-changing non-decisions that just seem to happen, when high and drunk on muddy roads. The musicianship is top-notch and the production and attention to sonic nuance is flat-out gorgeous on the vinyl version of this release (on the British-pressed Diverse Records rendition and, from what I hear, the well-recorded hi-rez state-side cd version too). This is an under-the-radar gem that deserves many more ears to be raised to attention. The last few releases by these guys have hit a lovely, cinematic, dark stride of Pacific-Northwest-Redneck-Noir that this one takes even a lil' step further....highly recommended.

great live studio rendition courtesy of the Line Best Of Best Fit Sessions
> Destroyer - Kaputt

LOVE IT! This is one of my favorite releases of the past year, and one of the better and most unique ones of the past handfull of years. Dan Bejar takes all of his scorn and bitter observations of the American Way (and, yes, that includes ALL of N. America with his Canadian lineage and his semi-removed/askance perspectives on our USA-ism's in general), and channels them through the musical canon of the past 20 years, with special attention paid to the late eighties/early nineties. Horns are brilliantly deployed in late night jams that stretch almost all the way back to Steely Dan-era cool. Just the right amount of synth. and eighties pseudo-funk liven the tracks that, in the end, in true Destroyer style, are most informed by the atmospheric moments of mid-70's Bowie. And that ain't a bad thing at all.

worth it just for sec. 41 - 60... a great song too...seeing this album, along with Painter in Your Pocket performed live with full horn section was a big time Best Of 2011-Moment for me...

> iceage - New Brigade
My faith in punk restored - incarnate. A few teenagers from Denmark channel their record collections and no small dose of Ian Curtis in a skate-punk smash-shit-fest that is heavily colored by the wearing of Nordic winter goggles gazing at a far-off So-Cal dream of surf and sun. The drums are propulsive, the breaks are insane, and the fuzzy guitars are heavy, what's not to love?

(so, shitty s.q. on this video but it captures the live vibe better than most other YouTubes I saw...great live show, the most real punkin' and moshin' I've seen in a long while.)

> Bon Iver - Bon Iver

This is a pretty obvious pick but totally necessary...it's one of the best things to be done, musically, in a long time. We were lucky enough to see them perform at the State Theater in Mpls. this summer, just an awesome show that showcased how great these new songs are. The arrangements are excellent, the vocals and lyrics perfect, the production is a bit weird but works well for the album - the guitars and some of the instruments are buried with the vocals put Way up front. While his debut album was intimate and 'late-night', this one is painted in broader strokes - indicated right off the bat with the geographic city and state song-titles. A great document of the evolution of an artist and album that is approaching a perfect 10.

> Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
I always feel like a bit of a white-boy schmuck when I get psyched about hip hop albums in my year-end lists...as usual though, there're a few unignore-able thumping and, ahem, black, albums to mention. Black Up is, if nothing else, a hands-in-the-air celebration of everything the Digible Planets ever did back in 'the day'. This was the era of guys like me to listen to, love, and actually be ok, listening and loving some honest-to-god hip hop. NWA was cool, good - but not mine. Beastie Boys were awesome. And fer real. But they were, and are, white boys. Digible Planets sang some outrageously surreal, and real, lyrics. Rapping and rhyming in a way that made Everyone feel good. And laying down true beats that bridged a gap that was real in a music/social/racial/political way...they were game-changing, and friggin' awesome, and for just about everybody.
Shabazz Palaces takes up this helm, 20 years later. Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, now aka 'Palaceer Lazaro' is the primary guy here and the album shows that Butterfly's been Listening to music and has his finger on the pulse of current dub and the atmospheric raw-rubbed sound environments that have been explored in recent years by Burial, Ohneotrix Point, and a bunch of stuff that I just don't know... this album reeks of being nostalgic (and good weed) but I'm so happy that it's transcended that. Butterfly is always cool like that.

> Helm's Alee - WeatherHead
Brad Verellen from the one-off-wonder's Harkonen, and a master guitar amp builder, has put out two full lengths under the name of Helm's Alee. It's a lineup configuration I love, two chicks - playing drums and bass - and singing, with Brad playing guitar and making sure it all sounds Awe-Full. At the end of the day, I think I like their first full-length, Night Terrors, better, but this is an amazingly strong release considering the amount of (non) attention it got...part of it's fun is that it takes the total love of three people making a melodic, cool-sounding rock n'roll record, and makes it palpable...you can taste the fun they're having.

> Meg Baird - Seasons On Earth
A lot of music made over the past year or two has harkened back to another day and age - reverbed folk with banjo as a lead instrument is - against all odds - cool right now. No complaints from me - in theory - but the level of earnestness and dumb-down'ed-ness seems especially high (see Dawes, Mumford and Sons, and to a lesser degree, Fleet Foxes). This is where Espers and, the lovely/incredible lead singer Meg Baird, come into play to save the day. Espers continues to put out absolutely amazing neo-folk-psychedelic tapestries in the form of music but their sound is streamlined and coelesced in the form of Meg Baird's solo albums, and specifically, in her new release. The pedal steel of Marc Orleans is in and of itself, worthy of a Grammy. It's nuanced, poetic, technically perfect, and mind-fuckingly soaring as good pedal-steel should be. The way Meg's guitar harmonizes with her vocals is reminiscent of the first Joni Mitchell album and her voice, though similarly lovely, is more a nod to the British folk chanteuse-highest bar of Sandy Denny. All this, yet unique and, somehow, contemporary enough to never be mistaken for anything but a voice of our new and confused millenia.

> Jesus Lizard - Club
This was recorded in 2009, the first show on their reunion tour, in Nashville - in other words - their first live show together in over a decade. Doesn't show. It is blistering, sweaty, virile as fuck, tight and loud. The sonics are lush and honest...live but not blurred or bloated. All the 'hits' are here and sound spot-on. This is an awesome release by one of the better bands that's graced our collective rock n' roll ears in the past 25 years. Yow!

> Grails - Deep Politics

What's in the water in Portland, OR?...(it's the killer weed!)...something's going on. And only getting better. Earth put out a great album of desert-drenched instrumental explorations this year. Agalloch has only continued to hone their heady stew of death metal wintery folk to a fine, baleful blade over the past few releases. And Grails just put out an outstanding lp, their most refined and concise yet, if not achieving the ragged raw truth that the Black Tar releases revealed, Deep Politics is a precise showcase of all the aspects that have made them the purveyor of eastern-tinged psychedelia drone metal for the past handfull of years. Buy it, Turn it up!

> M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Epic and anthemic. Less My Bloody Valentine, more Depeche Mode on this one but strikes a great balance between atmosphere and luscious, crescendo-ing pop songs. Wasn't sure of this one at first but I keep wanting to listen to it. So I do.

> Key Losers - California Lite
I have a friend who has five or six cassette tapes and cds - stuff that's continued to be put in boxes as she's moved from dorms to apartments to mortgage-world. She just doesn't listen to music as an activity. Weird. I get the feeling that Katy Davidson, who is the Key Loser - backed by a stellar band culled from the Mount Eerie stable, doesn't listen to music very much either. That her go-to stuff is mid-eighties Joni Mitchell, maybe an Arthur Russell mix tape or two, stuff a few quirky friends have recorded themselves. She takes these dubious influences and has crafted them into a totally unique, but so refreshing and comfortable album that's a bit ineffable in it's appeal. Kind of Lite rock, kind of Laurel Canyon rock, kind of timeless and not like anything else.
> Wye Oak - Civilian
Not sure why this stands out so much because it doesn't do anything too unique - Jenn Wasner singing and playing guitar, Andy Stack on drums, keyboards. Sort of folk-leaning indie rock with a bit of crunchy noise and moments of shoegaze drifting here and there. It's just good music.

Runner's Up ...aka: Good Stuff /but doesn't/hasn't gotten as many spins:

Fucked Up - David's Town (and the awesome accompanying David's Town)
Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
BruteHeart - Lonely Hunter
War On Drugs - Ambient Slave

Tinariwen - Tassili

Lee Noble - Horrorism
Low Anthem - Smart Flesh
Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread
+ Great Reissues from 2011:
Beach Boys - SMiLE
Neutral Milk Hotel - complete discography box set (this is luscious!)

looking Minnesota, feeling California

2011-08-16T21:35:00.003-05:00

There has been a fantastic spate of good albums coming out lately featuring artwork by Minnesota artists. Of course, much of that music has been locally grown, and in our thriving lil' artworld, like supports like. Many MN musicians either know, or are themselves, practicing artists/designers. Due to the awesomeness of some of this music and probably, the geographically-obliterating tendencies of social media and internet marketing presences, Minnesota is really rockin' it in the rock n' roll design world.

Bon Iver - Bon Iver cover by Gregory Euclide

I first saw Gregory Euclide's art at the Urban Bean coffee shop in Uptown about 12 years ago. While there was a nodding resemblance to his current work - soft blues and greens, almost pastels, and layers of imagery that slide deftly between abstracted landscapes and well-rendered moments of realism - he has since drastically refined his drawing skills and expanded his approach to creating more sculptural paintings and installations. I'm happy to have this gorgeous new Bon Iver on vinyl for the obvious sonic reasons, but it also offers a drastically better viewing vantage on the surreal landscape that Euclide created for this cover art. Reading like a Japanese scroll, the painting brings you up into the background space rather than creating a receding sense of deep perspective. It's also somewhat easier to see, with the larger format of the lp, that the paper Euclide created the painting/drawing on, has actually been ripped and crumpled, toying with the relative lack of pictorial depth by creating a literal depth of 3-D-ness with the piece. There's a nice synergy between the artwork and the music here too. The expanded palate of instruments Justin Vernon uses on his new compositions create denser layers than on previous work, with banjos and staccato drum brushes standing sharp against the guitar and his wavering voice, both of which were recorded with a guazed layer of reverb and auto-tune. Overall it is, as they say, a nice package.

Japanese landscape painting - artist unknown

I was fortunate enough to be at the Bombay Sweets record release show at the Turf Club this past Saturday night. Brute Heart, Birthday Suits, Bombay Sweets, and Blind Shake - that's an amazing line-up already before you add in Michael Yonkers showing up late night to join the Blind Shake for 5 or 6 crazy-a*#! songs that would've been worth the price of admission alone...though the Birthday Suits set had already taken care of that. Besides the sheer energy and great music that each of these sonically diverse bands brought to the stage, they also each boast excellent recent releases that showcase MN artists/designers as the aesthetic arbiters of our consumption of their products. And how yummy it is!

Brute Heart has released 2 full lengths in the last couple years, 2009's Brass Beads and this year's Lonely Hunter. The Brass Beads cover featured a painting by local duo Tynan Kerr & Andie Mazorol and the even better 2011 lp, Lonely Hunter, features artwork by local phenom Crystal Quinn.

Brute Heart - Lonely Hunter art by Crystal Quinn

Birthday Suits destroyed the Turf this night, as they do really everywhere they play. Calm and incredibly mellow in person, they tear. shit. up. on stage and they do it with aplomb.

Birthday Suits - The Minnesota: Mouth to Mouth

Bombay Sweets were the new kids on the block tonight. I didn't know them so much as the other bands and they stepped into their rock star spotlight with a bit more trepidation - seen through their overdramatized stage presence and apparent hesitancy to really stretch it out musically. When they did stray from the page a bit and stretch things out, they were at their best and were a band I'd like to see some more of.

Artwork by Aesthetic Apparatus

The Blind Shake! Shit...I guess I really had no idea who these guys were. I'd heard the name enough but hadn't seen a show yet. It seemed like they had emerged from a Navy Seals stake-out of Devo's house via a 1985 punk portal - channeling some revved-up version of Wire...then, about 1:30am, Michael Yonkers came out to join them...Minneapolis's wild-card-up-the-sleeve for the past 20+ years. They truly kicked out the jams and put out another 40 minutes of amazing rock n' roll. epic. The artwork for their newest release features a painting by The Blind Shake's own Jim Blaha.

art by Jim Blaha

It was a couple years ago already that POS put out his kick-ass Never Better album. Artwork by Eric Carlson (also of Hardland/Heartland). Carlson is a fantastic draftsman who balances a tight technical proficiency with defiant drips, smudges, and off-kilter decisions all created with a whip-smart graphic designer eye.

POS - Never Better cover art by Eric Carlson

An aside:

Sooo, who cares. the album is dead right? The thumbnailed album art is just a marker of on the screen - not art anymore but just a blip of information to click on? I'm certainly a bit old fashioned when it comes to this but I really think that album art is an amazing reflection, and sometimes even an arbiter, of contemporary pop-culture consumer's tastes. Music is still the most broadly consumed artform out there...nevermind how 'artsy' your tastes are, music is being written, recorded, played, listened to, danced to, etc. by pretty much every demographic and right or left-leaning yahoo out there.

Back in the day, when the transition was being made from hand-cranked 78's and 45's to long-play 33rpm's, jazz was the primary music being pressed on vinyl. From the very get-go, the graphic design of the album art was integral to the package being marketed and sold. The Blue Note imprint quickly found their signature look in the graphic work of Reid Miles.

Bold shadows on dynamically posed musicians - most not yet household names, often with a vibrant monochromatic tinted filter, and precisely modern and graphic font and text choices - designed with "a splendid sense of certainty"* and a new, for the time, importance placed on space - negative and positive - in the layout. These were some of the first 'long play' albums (not 78rpm singles) being sold in the world ever! and the first introduction, on this scale, of black artists creating such phenomenally proficient and groundbreaking performances. They were being packaged as such - iconic individuals, thoughtful and in charge of the proceedings contained within, and - just to slightly placate the biases of the times - not entirely black skinned, just a filtered touch of red, white or blue over the nicely sleeved package.

* from Robin Kinross, Eye Magazine, 2001

The Best of It

2011-08-01T13:10:00.012-05:00

Now that Summer's finally established itself and the spectre of Autumn has already begun to creep onto my horizon, I'm looking back over music that's come out in the last 8 months and adding yet another list to my already teetering pile. There's also a bunch of releases that are probably excellent that I just haven't heard -- some glaring holes such as the new Grails - Deep Politics, Radiohead - King of Limbs, Fucked Up - David's Town, Richard Buckner - Our Blood, and others that just haven't made the listen/purchase list yet.

So what have I been digging this year?

Bon Iver - s/t

A flat-out gorgeous album that was a bit of a 'grower' for me. Much more fleshed out than For Emma, Forever Ago but still retaining a sense of the personal and intimate that infused that lovely debut. Some of the production buries certain instruments too much, esp. guitars, but a great album as a whole.

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

Sadly, I lost touch with PJ after her first 2 releases and missed out on a few of her stronger albums (To Bring You My Love and Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, esp.). Though her new one is touted as a companion piece to 2007's White Chalk, I find it drastically more interesting and engaging. She sings of war, collusion among nations, loss of faith in her country, all with an anger that can only come from a deep engagement and love of her muse. She sounds more like her fellow angry countrymen, The Mekons, than I've noticed before - making use, like them, of non-rock n' roll instruments, esp. the Autoharp that is so prevalent on this album. She was just nominated for England's Mercury Prize again - now tied with Radiohead for the most nominations for the prestigious award. Go Polly Jean!

iceage - New Brigade

Straying away from the Dad Rock that somehow has seeped onto my turntable over the past couple years, iceage are a blast of teen hormone angst from 2011 via 1981. The opening track(s) - Intro. into White Rune, literally make me laugh with their awesome-ness. A swirly atmosphere kicks around for 30-some seconds, grinding industrial clatter that could be a song segue from early Sonic Youth before we're thrown head-first into the monstrous speeding riffs of White Rune which sputters a minute or so in as a breakdown tempo shift drops your jaw - as cool as any since Sebadoh's Gimmie Indie Rock - before throwing you back into the mosh pit to close it out. This awesome-ness continues, with out letting up or retreading anything they've clearly been listening to on their parent's turntables for the duration of the album. For 34 minutes, I'm 18 again.

Destroyer - Kaputt

Chasing cocaine, through the back rooms of the world, all right...

This is sung, deadpanned, with absolutely no irony or sense of sensation by Dan Bejar (aka Destroyer, always in the room with an amazing band, be it the New Pornographers or his current line up of the Destroyer band). Well, maybe some irony...the video to Kaputt is awash in irony, flying whales, desert dance scenes, and other cerebral wankery. On many of his releases, Bejar has been accused/applauded for sounding so much like Bowie. Here he mines the 70's lite rock heavily but makes an album that is truly unique and fully his own. His nod to Bowie is a brilliant one - side three (of the vinyl version) is a song series that basically updates what Bowie was doing with the latter half of Low. It's a gorgeous wash of atmosphere and just-below-the-surface paranoia that is steeped with 1970's-era studio session brilliance but, listening through headphones at night, it's absolutely time-less.

Brute Heart - Lonely Hunter

The mighty Brute Heart. I think of those who shambled out to watch Husker Du and the Replacements in the early '80s as they gigged around the Twin Cities and beyond - sometimes not even knowing about the ripples of influence that were spiralling outward from their plop into the collective consciousness (ie. I heard a 90 min. Husker Du set on Bozeman's KGLT college radio in 1987 that turned my head around - I still have it on Maxell 90 min. Chromo.(no Dolby) cassette tape - and then I saw them at Bozeman's MSU basketball court/stadium in 1988!...what venues were they playing in Mpls. in these days I wonder?..). Anyways, will we look back on seeing Brute Heart in a similar way? Those who saw the Raincoats in the early 80's or still talk about Throwing Muses shows as shambolic rituals where they played Pearl with an acoustic guitar intro...yep, Brute Heart is this type of experience...a great band that has put out yet another great album capturing this moment of their ascendance.

City of Music: Brute Heart from MPLS.TV on Vimeo.

Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo

Bedroom Garage Rock. That's what I said the opening band for Thurston Moore was like as Emily and I headed out on a Hot date night (hot like 100+ deg. hot). That is, picture garage rock being raucaus noisy guitar rock made by snotty teenagers drinking cheap beer in their parent's garage...Bedroom Garage Rock is made by older dude - singular, dude - in his bedroom, drinking good beer/pot on acoustic guitar but holding tight to that virile inner punk-ass 17 year old. Add a great band and awesome producer (John Agnello of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. fame) and you've got the best album Vile's done yet. Lots of melodic folk-y rockers buried under a psychedelic warm haze with a few tunes that border on Tom Petty-style classic rock.

Jessie Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter - Marble Son

I love Jessie Sykes and she loves me...so she wrote on the lp I bought from her when she opened up for the late Mark Linkous nee' Sparklehorse a few years ago at 1st Ave. Though her last album wasn't great imo, it featured some laid back but still fiery guitar work from Phil Wandscher (ex. Whiskeytown guitarist) and, of course, Jessie's smoky voice. The new one has limited spins for me so far but it definitely sits high on the year's best-of list already. Way heavier and full of life than the last release, some of the songs veer towards psych-rock work-outs with dark, slow passages that erupt into heavy riffage and then soar off in guitar jam wonkery that mashes bits of Black Sabbath with Jefferson Airplane. The production is beautiful - capturing the surprisingly loud and boisterous songs with as much finesse and detail as the softer subtle moments. Her voice is still awesome too.

The title of this post, of course, refers to the best music of the year so far - from a totally objective viewpoint (ahem)...it is also a line from one of my favorite poets of late - one I keep coming back to and gleaning new tidbits and tiny revelations from :

However carved up
or pared down we get,
we keep on making
the best of it as though
it doesn’t matter that
our acre’s down to
a square foot. As
though our garden
could be one bean
and we’d rejoice if
it flourishes, as
though one bean
could nourish us.

~ Kay Ryan (from The Niagara River)

A few honorable mentions that are no slouches:
Wye Oak - Civilian
James Blake - s/t
Earth - A Beaurocratic Desire For Extra-Capsular Extraction (a 2010 reissue I know but...awesome!)
J Mascis - Several Shades of Why

Skull Defekts @ the Turf Club

2011-03-29T13:10:00.008-05:00

Opting to see the 'other band playing their first US show in Minneapolis this week' (cc: The Volcano Choir), I walked into the Turf Club this past Sunday night with few expectations. I knew some Lungfish - Daniel Higgs' band from many years ago that boasted solid post-punk rock credentials from the Dischord label ala' Fugazi/June of '44/ Rites of Spring -era DC scene - but don't know too much of the Skull Defekts, the Swedish psych./garage-rockers that Higgs is fronting for this tour and their most recent release.
A fairly mellow scene percolated as locals whitesands/badlands set up on the new side stage of the Turf Club. The ambient, wall-of-noise sound-scapers, w-sands/b-lands, quietly boiled up a churning stew of emo-tethered atmosphere. Squalling then quiet noisy dissonance with a constant battering of percussion - I found them a little too tied to the vocals of Casey Holmgren who brought the otherwise ambiguously (in a good way) soaring and engaging aural explorations to a flattened level of indie-rock been-there-ism. Overall though, a good band that I'll be excited to see again and hope they can attain some of the nuance and mystery their excellent vinyl release - Seeding The Clouds - displayed in spades last year.

2nd Opener - Zomes (interesting for a couple songs, then, yawn...it was midnight on a Sunday...)

Daniel Higgs, first of all, seems to be a charismatic dude. On the new Skull Defekts lp (Peer Amid on Thrill Jockey) - his first outing with them, he is an extremely competent front man for the band - his vocals and "lyrics" carry the show (not to knock the blistering and beautiful musicality of the band). Walking around the Turf, drinking tea and allaying any hopes of anyone else having an even slightly cool beard, he turned heads and owned the space that he occupied. This turned out to be important because one of the roles Daniel Higgs plays for the Skull Defekts is that of shambolic shaman. From the moment he stepped on the stage, he grasped a small wooden drum under one arm and alternatively busied his arms with loosely robotic dance undulations or the rapid beating of this hand-held Balinese percussive instrument Daniel translated the name as being 'Waves of Joy'. He played the shit out of that thing. His hand flicking upon it faster than I could follow - though, even when the rest of the band was totally silent, I couldn't hear a peep out of his 'Waves of Joy'...he seemed to enjoy it.
A keyboardist, guitar, bass, two drummers - one on a kit, one playing three empty 5 gallon plastic gasoline drums with mallets, and then Daniel Higgs incanting over it all. Despite a strong kinship with bands such as The Fall, the Ex, and early Sonic Youth, a significant discerning difference is the sense The Skull Defekts are making their music and Higgs exists separately - filling in the spaces that he deems need filling - sometimes with poetic ramblings, recountings of his dreams, or with lyrics he wrote to actually fit over the music. When he forgot the lyrics to one of the songs, he told us so and resumed beating his 'Waves of Joy' and shouting out hoots and moans over the 3 punishing chords the Defekts pounded out. It was as if the band could play their angular, repetitive, mandalas of garage rock over and over with totally different incarnations of Higgs' contributions each time. To the benefit of all, each rendition I heard - in concert and, even more, on lp, was unique and stood up as a testimony to both the entity of the band Skull Defekts and to the vocal/lyrical/ shamanic contributions of Daniel Higgs.

PS. Those who dared to look, saw a scantily-clad dude in a white tank-top and brown fedora breakdancing the shit out of the 'mosh pit', replete with some boss hat-brim swipes and wind-up robot moves. At first, I admit I scoffed at his moves, but by the end of the evening, he was poppin' and lockin' in a way that I haven't seen since I was 17...color me jealous...

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

2011-03-04T23:56:00.007-06:00

Coming clean ~ I'm woefully uninformed on a handfull of key PJ Harvey albums. Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea. Is This Desire. Uh Huh Her. Don't know them too well, which only makes my life less rich because of everything I do know of her and her solid catalog - it's filled with varied, smart, rockin', just damn good music. Her earlier albums have always held a tender and roughly worn spot close to my heart. Dry and Rid Of Me crash and clamor along with a Capt. Beefheart blues fracas, a sex-fueled 'we're not gonna take it cause I'm busy givin it to ya' stomp, grunge to out-grunge anything else of the time but the edges softened by cellos and PJ's hushed moans and groans.
Let England Shake comes on the heels - 4 years later, but still - of White Chalk, somehow a sister album to this lovely release. Recorded in the same 19th Century church overlooking the chalk white cliffs of Dover, with the same outstanding cast of supporting/collaborating musicians and producer (John Parish, former Bad Seed Mick Harvey, and Flood, respectively) the musical ante is upped here and the fingers are pointed with much more alarming alacrity and precision.
First off, this is an absolutely gorgeous album. Deeply dark and affecting, sure, but gorgeous - the instrumentation, the production and the overall SQ (props to Arcade Fire and anyone else who records their albums in old churches - there are some righteous atmospherics lent to the whole by just setting up in there), and then the lyrics. Oh, the lyrics...PJ has never, to me, had the greatest voice. She uses it to great effect and all but her attitude, delivery, and the lyrics far surpass the actual voice that belts it out. Here too, this is true, though on a couple tracks - like on the lovely 'On Battleship Hill' - she slides into a high register artfulness that reminds me of Joanna Newsom (bordering on Bjorkishness too) and it works great for her and for the song. Still, the lyrics are key to this album - no matter how brilliantly supported they are by the music - and they're smart, provocative and scary. Polly Jean is pissed and pissed for her countrymen and for everyone who've lost people in useless wars or been frustrated by the seeming necessity of war - which, of course, is everyone. She delves into the history of warfare - mostly sticking to England's involvement, as well as culling from Iraq and Afganistan front-line testimonials. She doesn't mince words here but between the wincing truths she wrings moments of poetic reprieve.
   I have seen and done things I want to forget;
                             soldiers fell like lumps of meat,
       blown and shot out beyond belief.
       arms and legs were in the trees.

Despite this universal theme, Let England Shake is a heavily-leaning English album. I can't help but place it next to many things from the Mekons, especially their amazing Journey to the End of the Night. This is music that would sit firmly and comfortably on a worn stool in late night drinking sessions in any south London pub but ultimately it sends you out into the street to rage loud and lonely against all the sad, mad wrongness that's brought upon us.
   Let me walk through the stinking alleys
                               to the music of drunken beatings,
                               past the Thames River, glistening like gold
                               hastily sold for nothing.

Thanks Polly Jean for your anger, your frustration, and your restraint in the face of all this, and for putting out another kick-ass, lovely album.

Hell-Friggin'-O to 2011!!

2011-01-20T22:27:00.001-06:00

We're only a couple weeks into the new year...already fraught with sick kiddo, too many snow storms to count, and currently - approaching negative 20 deg. on a Thursday night, a ginger-bourbon in hand and a couple new tunes spinnin'. All in all, a pretty great kick-off to the new year. oh, and a full moon tonight, a soft 1/2 inch coating of fresh snow to hide the crud out there, and some great tunes in the queue and books on the nightstand. When I was outside this morning at 6am, a flock, nay, a murder, of 100+ crows flew overhead as the bitter cold sun rose against the fading full moon, nary a one dared to desecrate the silence of the moment, even the flapping of wings was silent in the crisp air.

I'm currently nuts over the new Destroyer, Kaputt (at the Cedar Cultural Center April 12). Softer listening than previous outings and a lot more emph. on 70's late night horn sections - if Van Morrison was David Bowie and his Astral Weeks was then sessioned by a 1978 crew of porn soundtrack musicians, we'd be gettin' there...+, of course, some extremely choice songwriting moments and steller production choices. plus, there's this crazy cool video...

Destroyer - Kaputt from Merge Records on Vimeo.

The new Iron and Wine, Kiss Each Other Clean (def. not wild over the title..) is so different than the first couple I&W albums - what I'm stuck on cuz' I didn't ever pick up the past few (the Calexico split and Shepard's Dog...) yet it's very much a Sam Beam affair. It also appeases a personal jones for the Postal Service new one which we'll probably never see, nice female harmonies, some tasteful keyboarding, great, gentle songwriting chops on display...
link to a cool NPR session where they played the whole album live
...reminds me of Laura Nyro -styled music and I also keep thinking it's the new Decemberist's album somehow...pretty lovely though anyhow.

New Akron/Family?! - called, somehow, S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT. cool video that's an appropriate mind-fuck...haven't heard the rest of the album yet so I'm not sure what else to say...except their first one and Angels of Light releases stand as some of my fave aural stuff ever...this is a great sounding song and gives me an excited thrill at least to see them live at the Cedar Cultural Center this Feb. 25th, and a premature psyched buzz for the album release in early Feb.

So It Goes by Akron/Family from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

Are these the 2011 BreakOut albums?...dunno yet, but they're esp. good a few listens in and I look forward to more of 'em.

Best of 2010

2010-12-04T22:33:00.026-06:00

There's been some very good music coming out over the past year, some even worming it's way into the generally unassailably poor judgement of America's collective consciousness - see: The National hitting the Billboard at #3, Arcade Fire ratcheting up some Grammy nods (3, I think), Lady Gaga - despite being taken seriously by most - seems to be sticking a smart and talented Vaudevillian monkey-wrench into the cogs of pop(ular) music (see from 1:35 on... here ) , etc...

Here's a handful of the albums I liked the most over the past year, in no particular order:

Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

alright, this one is listed first 'cause it's probably my top pick. So easy to love right off the get-go (she's famously easy to not...). With a bold 3 lp release, she has very little filler here. Truly, to see her and her band live will twist even the most reluctant arm into it's rightful place. Not much to compare this too, maybe some Joni (Hissing of Summer Lawns-era), touches of Fairport Convention, but there's nothing dated here either, even though she's a Gelfling playing the harp(!). When it comes down to it, I may love Ys. more, but this blows the roof off of most music I know.

Grinderman - Grinderman II
Nick Cave is the horniest, bad-ass-ist ~~teenager~~ old dude in rock n' roll today. oh, and so's Warren Ellis. Jim Sclavunos is no slouch either, or the other guy (ok, Martyn P. Casey). They've been Grinderman for 2 albums now and basically, more ~~or less~~ have been the Bad Seeds for 14 albums with Nick Cave fronting. They're an incredible live show and a sophisticated, surprisingly nuanced studio band considering the raw, raucous sounds they batter you with. Blues-y, rockin', well played, well written, gorgeously produced album that you should be listening to.

(plus, they got beards/mustaches like no other, yo.)

Mogwai - Special Moves

a live album/DVD release that captures the band live in Brooklyn in 2009. If you know them, you like them, if not, you probably won't care. This is just some excellent versions of songs, one or two from each of their albums, and a pretty cool film of the show. This makes the list 'cause I don't have too much Mogwai to listen to and this is a perfect entrypoint...and they're just really good.

BruteHeart - Brass Beads

yes, and yes! a local band that's making incredible music - contemporary, smart, talented and hitting every button that I love to have pushed. There's plucked and bowed viola, bass, some moody organ, gorgeous lady harmonies, and atmosphere enough to shake down the most hardened punk...Ari Up would be proud. I keep thinking I'm listening to old Raincoats albums, but I can see these guys down the street next week! There's a sense of communion going on here, coos and hoots that get funneled into a groove by the drums and viola riffs. One of the coolest things I've heard in a long time.
here's a much better review...
Here's a couple songs ala' Radio K in-studio performance

Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs - Medicine County

this is possibly the most fun album I've picked up over the past year. Rollicking good time that'll make you want to grab your lil' pardner by the arm, swing around the room, kick back a swig o' somethin' strong and by end of the day, cry a tear in your beer or make some sweet hay. Holly (from Thee Headcoatees ala' Billy Childish) and hubby? Lawyer Dave make these sounds by channeling some Delta blues, Lee and Nancy, and honky-tonkin' porch playin', whisky-soaked evenings. If you like to listen to music, this is worth picking up...the vinyl sounds fantastic and comes in a tie-dye marbelized slab.

listen to some live tunes here!

James Blake - Klavierwerke

I just picked this up so I'm including it tentatively...how can I not though. If you know Burial - Untrue, then you know. This hits in a similar vein, minimal and late night feel with crackles, pops, handclaps, and drop-dead gorgeous vocal manipulations that can almost make you cry. I don't have any idea why but it's true. Klavierwerke is just a few songs on an ep of piano, vocals, tape manipulation, and perfectly played blank space, in anticipation of a debut full release this next year. He gives a brilliant nod to not-so-obvious influence in the video below (Feist channeling Nina Simone) and an amazing tune from the Klavierwerke ep is here.

Superchunk - Majesty Shredding

this is Superchunk at their finest. Sure, they've been around forever (well, since 1989) and, my favorite success story of the year - they started Merge to release their own albums and, this year they put out Spoon, Arcade Fire, Teenage Fanclub, Destroyer, and at least a handfull of others that will be critically acclaimed, potentially awesome, and done to the artist's/ label's collective ambitions. Cheers!

An awesome pop-punk album that sounds just like they sound - irreverently uninterested in anything heavier than a good hook and some jammin'. Super fun? Super Chunk.

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
I'll admit I didn't love this on first listen. I mean it was pretty good, Deerhunter has an amazing trackrecord, and an amazing record collection, which drastically helps their success. Main dude, Bradford Cox, mines some great sonic avenues with a deft hand at production and subtlety of pop hooks. His Cryptogram/Flourescent Grey lp I picked up at the last show of theirs I saw (Fine Line, lousy venue, good company - thanks Stephanie!) is outstanding. This new one is very good. Maybe not astounding, but it's definitely grown on me and I find myself wanting more. 50's/60's doo-wop harmonies, an amazing sax jam (hello "Coronado"), the downtown and late-night cool that few others besides the Velvet Underground have perfectly nailed. Really this's turned out to be one of the better things I've heard this year...

Sun City Girls - Funeral Mariachi

Somehow, I just got turned onto these guys this past year. They have everything going that I like in a band though - caterwauling cacophony, folksy psychedelia, smart instrumentation, a touch of mystery. Their drummer, Charles Gocher, died recently so this is their official final release. It feels like it. Not mournful per se, but there is a mourning throughout the album...wailing middle-eastern vocals, pounding drums and strumming ouds, a pastoral ambience of desert atmospherics...lots of space to settle into. It's a perfectly titled album, it's so obviously a celebration of a life loved, but lost. I don't know too much of the Sun City Girls discography but this seems a perfect encapsulation of their past career.

The National - High Violet

so,what else to say about this. It's very good...maybe not as dark as previous outings, maybe not as good as Boxer but great songs, really good sounding vinyl. I'm in awe of drummer, Bryan Devendorf, who was a little more up front in the mix on Boxer. I'm glad they're getting some accolades for this one and hope folks revisit Alligator and some other tasty ones, tasty with a dash of bitters and very much on-the-rocks.

White Sands/BadLands - Seeding the Clouds

this one is bridging the gap between my straight-up best-of list and the 'Local List'. It's an excellent album but I can't say it's without some freshman faults... To their benefit, I put this on a lot! The closest reference is Low and I play this more than I play my Low records. It has a similar feel, but squirrels that sound up with some prog-leaning rock noodling that's very wintery feeling to me. It's not music that finds a resolve but it spreads out in a comfortable and thick layer of gauzy ambience, guitar exploration, effects, and the like of non-descript goodness. All good, but never quite coalescing into a full-formation. A strong debut from a local band and something I look forward to hearing more of...
hear here

Charlie Parr - When the Devil Goes Blind

So very good. I don't really listen to enough ol' timey guitar blues to have this one rank as a top ten of the year, but that's really a fault of my own. It's an awesome album by a luminary dude playing songs he's writing and playing in a time/place removed from anything/anywhere he's got a right to be. That is to say - it's timelessly lovely, perfectly hewn, and impeccably presented. It should be on so many year-end lists and on so many record players (the vinyl comes with a cd too but, man, this is one somethin' somethin' that should be heard on the lovingly recorded vinyl), but it's one of those releases that is beyond it's time and won't be heard by nearly enough people. It's the kind of music that creates train hobos in an era when that just doesn't really fly. Thank you Charlie Parr, and thanks to your foundering demons...
I Dreamed I saw Jesse James Last Night

Reissues of 2010 of high consequence:

Soft Machine - Live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971

I saw a Boyle Family Exhibit in Edinborough, Scotland that included an hour's worth of their light projections for early 70's Soft Machine shows shown in darkened rooms of the museum filled with pillows and overstuffed beanbag chairs. It was brilliantly psychedelic but got old with my lack of psylocybin ingestion...this album doesn't get old and I haven't dropped any acid to it yet! I do wish there was some Robert Wyatt vocals, one of the great moments in early Soft Machine is when the precisely perfect rollicking of Robert Wyatt's drumming leads to a moment of his excellent voice, but otherwise, this is a fantastic recording of primo Soft Machine. Soundboard recordings, great performance from the Third songlist, and 2 discs of improv. goodness.

Sonic Youth - Sister / Bad Moon Rising

bring 'em. I saw these listed as a pre-order in August, ordered them, and haven't seen them yet. Same press plant, RTI, as the EVOL repress so it'll surely sound great. Just a bit of 'jumpin' the gun' from Insound/Amazon. Looking forward to these on some quality, repressed vinyl.

apropos of nothing

2010-12-04T20:28:00.006-06:00

just a great shot of Iggy...

I've been spinning some Stooges lately - esp. loving 'Dirt' from Fun House (this link is many shades paler than the vinyl listen so you should do that if you can) and the whole Raw Power album. Just sayin'.

...and here's a painting I just finished - oil, spray paint, collage on tar paper.

Pumpkins and Harps

2009-11-14T09:14:00.011-06:00

Beckett just gets funnier every day. We've determined that he's "a good egg" and "a keeper". After 10+ years together, Emily and I have never carved pumpkins together. A shame that we finally remedied this season...I love roasted pumpkin seeds for one - actually all things pumpkin, so it's win-win on the pumpkin-carving thing. That's our scary lil' guys below...Beckett was nominally involved but appreciated checking out the lit-up version later.

Some music takes the Love It or Hate It scale to new extremes - Joanna Newsom is one of those artists for a lot of folks. Emily and I first saw her opening for a very food-poisoned Devendra Banhart at the Women's Club in 2004 - her first album was just out and we had no idea...no one did. She flowed on the stage like a hippie Gelfling - long, gossamer white dress and a huge golden harp - that's it. It was the most unexpected music I've heard, which is so hard to do in this day & age. There was that palpable tension that creeps into a room when music is too loud, obnoxious, or just not being dug upon. But everyone was captivated in spite of themselves - Emily said afterwards that she hated it at moments but then she found herself with tears in her eyes a minute later. Later, she put out one of the best albums I know, Ys. with a much matured voice and compositions...now we wait for a new release and another chance to see her live (our friend Joanna - who shares the hometown of Nevada City with J. Newsom, tried to go see her at the 400 Club with us - lines 2 blocks long in the cold dashed those hopes and we ended up drinking beers at Tracy's Saloon instead - good times!). This is a sweet one from her first album...

Every Step is Moving Me Up

2009-10-17T20:04:00.019-05:00

The Sony Walkman came out in 1984 (couple years earlier in Japan). Unless you made music or carried a boombox on your shoulder, you probably hadn't ever had the chance to walk around the streets with your own personal soundtrack accompanying your every step.
If you're taking the time to read this, play the video/tune below and read on, the video's nothing but the tune is a good one from this era of Russell's work.

A corn-fed boy from Iowa and classically trained on the cello, Arthur Russell came to Manhattan in the late 70's when the rents were cheap and the anger of punk had already knocked down the walls - musicians were starting to explore the spaces behind the facades - rediscovering rhythm, picking up new things to make sounds with, and creating new atmospheres to inhabit with their music and their bodies. Loft spaces and derelict buildings were taken over as artist studios and, late night, would turn into furtive spaces for dj's and dancers to congregate and see what was new that might make them want to move. Post-punk, art-rock experimenting was here and still a few years from creating the molds that would soon be filled with hair-gelled, synth-laden pap that makes so many cringe when you say 80's music.

Russell looking out at the Statue of Liberty, listening to his compositions

The advent of the Walkman allowed you to really inhabit new spaces with your music and body...taking with you the soundtrack of your choice that would totally fill your head as you walked around the dirty city streets. We take it for granted now, but sometimes, especially when you're walking through an unfamiliar place with your tunes going, you're able to newly realize how totally transformed the experience is by having a soundtrack for your walk...imagine if every time you walked down the street, Stayin' Alive filled the world or you walk in a room and Superfly booms as the door flys open...yeah.
This is entirely the way Russell composed his music - so much music too - some of it throbbing dance beats with simple and suggestive mantras song in his gentle voice, or sawing, ebb and flow cello with that voice, layered and processed over it all, or even country-tinged pop songs that could and should have been all over some radio station that just didn't exist - they're all unquestionably created in his 'voice' though ...he'd record much of it in his apartment (which apparently had piles of studio equipment, his cello, and a few pallets pushed together with a mat on them for meditating), he'd dump the songs onto a mini tape deck and go walking through Manhattan, along the East River, through Greenwich Village, letting the city sounds seep through the headphones and meld with his music. It's Great music to walk to.
I like to think of all of them doing this: Lou Reed, Richard Hell, Tom Verlaine, David Byrne, Debbie Harry - maybe they did, these people behind the music - sporting their oversized headphones and walking the streets demo'ing early versions of Marquee Moon, Making Flippy Flop, Sweet Jane, or Another World - when no one else was walking around with headphones on yet, most people's soundtracks limited to the clang and clamor of the city. I don't know, but I do know that this is how Arthur Russell first listened to much of his own music. To me, this is my favorite way to listen to him still - a good pair of Grados' turned up loud on an Autumn walk. Get yourself some and join me on the streets, I'll give you a nod when we pass on the sidewalk, every step is moving me up...

Arthur Russell - Pop Your Funk 7" instrumental
..this is a download link to one of the rarest of all dance/disco singles there is...and a sweet one at that. 150 copies pressed on 7" vinyl in 1980-ish and it's never been repressed! Put this on your iTunes, or whatev. if you're even a bit interested. This amazes me 'cause of its utter-ahead-of-its-time-ness...sounds like Black Dice or some Brooklyn noise/funk band from 2008 but, at it's tweaked heart, has the same song and spirit as all of his lovely stuff. Russell also released this as a single with lyrics in a different mix and it took the downtown discos and clubs by storm...an afro-dub sexuality bubbling up through the gentle-ness of his voice, the bongos and the looped and altered cello strokes taking the dance floor in a direction that, to me, feels so much more comfortable, personal, and home-y than the distant and cold dance-floor stuff that makes so much of this kind of music have the staying power of a birthday cake on a New York sidewalk in a downpour.

Snow Day

2009-10-10T08:15:00.011-05:00

Snowing as I write this - little early but whatcha gonna do.
Beckett weighs in at over 11 pounds this week! A week of milestones - first taking of a bottle (from me!...being the provider of sustenance is a pretty sweet thing, even if I Am just the middleman), first time he actually slept through the entire night, holding head up with ever greater authority, first time seeing snow this morning, and will have his first evening sans ma and pa tonight as we go swoon with Over the Rhine at the Cedar...lil' B gets to stay with Grandpa.

Emily and I have been addicted to Hem lately (not hemp...times have changed...). It's the definition of lovely, and good music for baby-hanging-out time too - the singer's voice is incredible and all the more so since she didn't really sing prior to joining the band. They put out an ad and she submitted the one recording she had - singing a friend's baby to sleep with a lullabye. The band creates a rich, taut sound with beautifull and poetic lyrics while it all retains the dreamy simplicity of a lullabye - as if it has always existed.

Beckett Rocks Out

2009-09-17T16:11:00.016-05:00

This is what Beck looks like when he hears mind-blowing jams in the daddy/son vinyl spinning sessions we've been doing. I think this was on hearing Third Uncle from Eno's 'Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)'. It's an excellent way to listen to some of my faves because I get to re-live hearing them for the first time by watching Beckett's expressions and response. He's diggin' the slow grooves still but likes some of the heavy goods too.

On hearing Double Nickles on the Dime for the first time ever

So, we're planning our first evening out without lil' Beckett (!). It may not work, but if it does, its an Over the Rhine show at the Cedar. We almost opted for the Yo La Tengo show at 1st Ave. but, having seen them a few times, a new experience is winning out. Yo La T. is one of the better shows I've ever seen though but I've also been waay into O.T.R. lately and they don't seem to tour much. Here's a video clip created by 7 different animators responding to the same Over the Rhine song.

*

Califone

2009-09-10T17:03:00.004-05:00

New Califone album is due out next month...dusty, rusty shambling rock that's rough around the edges in all the right ways. Like the finest moments of country-era Rolling Stones but as if they recorded in a barn with brooms for drumsticks and an awesome collection of vintage amps and mixing boards. 'Roots and Crowns' from a few years ago is one of my faves from recent times so the new one will be cause for excitement in our house.

All My Friends Are Funeral Singers Trailer from Califone on Vimeo.

Happy Birth Day!

2009-09-06T10:53:00.017-05:00

Beckett smiling like crazy - 9 days old

Happy parents, morning of his birth

As August 28th rolled over on the clock, a new baby boy met the world. One minute before midnight, I looked down at Emily and said, "you know it's..."
"I know", she eked out. Her birthday - 34 years earlier.
And Beckett's birthday today - in 5 minutes. He's perfect at 7# 9oz. Actually, 1 week later, he's just passing the 8lb. mark, a healthy eater, decent sleeper, and yes, perfect. We've had a blessed string of visitors - family and friends, bringing well-wishes and congrats, food, and helping hands. It's been a surreal and excellent experience so far. I'm sure I'll post absurd amounts of pictures and drivel about the cuteness of the baby and all the things we do with him - looking at him, reading to him, looking at him, etc.

A Slideshow of Beckett's first days
...ain't he cute?

Hot Heaters, Brick Ovens, Warm Bellies

2009-07-28T17:37:00.020-05:00

Emily at 39 weeks! Beckett's knockin' at our door...
+couple shots of the nursery

I've been thinking of building a concrete bread oven in the backyard...for loaves of bread and pizza's. Got some good designs waiting in the wing...but mostly - my goal this summer - has been to come up with the ultimate Veggie Burger. I've had too many disappointing moments of ordering an $8 Veggie Burger and getting a Boca Burger on a stale, toasted bun. I just finished 5 days of sprouting Adzuki Beans which were then ground with shredded beets, cooked oatmeal, tons of chopped basil, thyme, and oregano, toasted walnuts and sesame seeds, diced garlic scapes, diced Vidalia onions, gnd. celery seed and dry ground mustard.
I'll admit that I'm totally impressed with this batch...light, tasting of veggies, and toasty-ness, spicy and satisfying...yum!

The Fiery Furnaces - Charmaine Champagne from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

I've been really into the new Fiery Furnaces album...it's not quite as Captn. Beefheart-y as their other recent releases but it's got a great groove and is as smart a pop album as you're likely to hear this year.

Beck rocks!

2009-06-19T16:56:00.013-05:00

Emily at 32 weeks in the nursery room.

In other Beck news...I've been hearing about Beck doing covers of entire albums for awhile now. Inviting a bunch of musician friends over and they record the whole album in one day with no pre-rehearsal. He recently did a great cover of Green Light from the awesome EVOL Sonic Youth album (actually this one will always be thought of as a cassette tape for me 'cuz that's how I bought it when it first came out and I still listen the-hell-outta that original copy today). Apparently that's how it was for Beck too, cuz he's putting out his rendition of the entire EVOL album - to be available on cassette only. coolness.

In the meantime, he's releasing his rendition of the whole VU/Nico album, Andy Warhol's Banana, song-by-song on his website with a lil' video of each session. Here's the first 2 songs (seems like a new one pops up every week or so, I'll try to keep throwing them up so they're easily collected for yer aural pleasure).

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico 'Sunday Morning' from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

2009-06-01T22:39:00.008-05:00

a gorgeous lil' video of a live Magnolia Electric Co. show from Chicago a few months ago. These guys, well it's mostly just Jason Molina, have made my antlers gone twisty lately. Such great sonics, lyrics, atmosphere, etc. It's very cool to see them live and am looking forward to an upcoming show at the 7th St. Entry in Aug. by them... I'm always amazed when a band plays such a small venue that I personally hold in such high esteem - when I saw Dead Moon play there a few years ago, I expected throngs! Actually, it was just a handfull of us and Toody, Fred, and Andrew were sitting next to me with a pitcher for half the show! its weird that so few folks get into what I see as a Major Event. oh well, enjoy!

We Have Signal: Live From Birmingham - Magnolia Electric Co. from We Have Signal on Vimeo.

Grizzly Bears aren't scary until they explode

2009-05-24T14:28:00.005-05:00

Cool video for an even cooler song...weird close-up shots and then,... they explode. Their new album is out now and is absolutely lovely...I'll be going to see Grizzly Bear at the Cedar in June - very exciting. I mean, listen to those harmonies!..it just slays me.
Also, we just got a cool lil' video camera from Emily's Dad so hopefully I'll be posting some short lil' clips up here in the coming weeks of house stuff, skateboarding, experimental artsy stuff, etc.

New creations

2009-05-10T22:35:00.012-05:00

Emily at 25 weeks

Feeling good (and feeling lots of kicks too). We hear he's about 13" long and getting a full head of hair already. How ya doin' in there?!

I've found the time to make a couple new sculptures over the past couple weeks. I'll be showing them at Art-A-Whirl next weekend and for the following month or so at NE Community Lutheran Church on corner of 13th and Monroe - Open during most days but Definitely on Saturday, May 16th from 12n - 4pm (Art-A-Whirl weekend!).

Night Flight

left wanting (detail)

left wanting (detail)

+ Rain which I made a year ago or so...

2009-05-04T22:26:00.006-05:00

This is just about the most beautiful lil' haunting song you're gonna hear. I missed Townes Van Zandt playing at the Iron Horse in Eugene in '94 or so...this begins to make up for it.
love the woman humming harmony for a line or two...Steve Earle once said something like, “Townes van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” That's props.

I also read an interview once with TvZ. and a Rolling Stone guy where the dude seemed really confused/amazed...he had to drive into some seemingly deserted ranch with a 4-wheel drive jeep, Townes was sitting in his 1-room cabin, outhouse out back, the walls festooned with metallic red and green wrapping paper for wall-paper, a cot in the corner and a healthy row of bourbon bottles on a 2x4 shelf.

He tapped into some rich vein of country blues that only a couple others have mined - Dock Boggs, Steve Earle, Elizabeth Cotton, Bob Dylan was a tourist there, and many an anonymous negro men who lived the life that gave them carte blanche to the words that Townes brushed the dirt off of and let folks like me gently bite on with a tentative chomp...just enough to know that this is the real deal but not confident enough to chew heartily...not without some rotgut first to numb the pain.

2009-04-25T11:43:00.004-05:00

Erykah Badu. How awesome is her last album?

Very.

It's thoroughly steeped in 70's funk and soul (Parliament Funkadelic'in good) but still contemporary sounding. The production on it is amazing...if it wasn't so good to turn up loud as we cook and cruise around the house, it'd be a headphone album - but it's a hard one to sit still for.

New Amerykah, Pt. I ~ highly recommended

Half-Blood Prince trailer...that's right

2009-04-15T23:04:00.003-05:00

this is the brand-spankin' new trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!

I'm actually posting this before it's viewable so I don't know how it looks or is formatted but it should be live Thurs. evening...

Sweet Summer Stuff II

2009-04-02T19:56:00.007-05:00

Emily 1 week after the last shot...and we know it's a lil' guy in there now! All is going well and he's growing before our very eyes.

I'm going to see Wavves this weekend at 7th St. Entry. This is definitely my Summer cruisin' song of the moment ('course we're still getting snowed on, so my summer song has time to change...).

Sweet Summer Stuff

2009-03-28T11:27:00.014-05:00

Tough Alliance - Hung up on a Dream (The Zombies cover)

this is an awesome 'lil summer song...breezy pop confection from Sweden's Tough Alliance covering the Zombies tune. (clicking above will actually d/l it to your iTunes or whatever you use). Enjoy the sun!

Emily's really pregnant! We go in for the ultrasound on Monday that shows us the organ and extremities development...and the sex. We're excited to assure ourselves of the lil' guy's health and to not have to call it an it anymore. There are more joke names on the list than real ones but there's some good real ones in there too. Due August 22nd!

Gonna paint that town red tonite

2009-03-05T18:10:00.005-06:00

Actually, I'll do no such thing tonight. I'm extremely tired and think I'll have a drink and watch Lost and Dexter reclined with the pooch on the couch. There was a rash of lay-offs at the MIA this week of which I was spared but I felt the breeze from the axe as it swept past. Scary stuff and brought this recession-thing to a very concrete reality for me and Emily.

plus --->

If you haven't heard, Emily's expecting! with child! preggers!... We're very excited and are looking forward to seeing the revealing ultrasound at the end of this month. Yay!

Muppets hate Mary Lucia

2009-02-16T22:25:00.039-06:00

Big Bird and The 'Queen'

I see Muppets everywhere I go...I like to think that Fraggles are the things that make the sounds in our walls, certainly not squirrels or mice or what-nots. Our dog looks exactly like Sprocket (from Fraggle Rock) but is named Fozzy Bear. My wife is totally into puppetry and mimes. So, of course, I see Muppets personified in the people I know or see everyday. Not an original idea, I'm sure, but here's some folks who I think look like Muppets...

Mary Lucia from the Current (interviewing Greil Marcus at the Fitzgerald) - hard to tell, but you can sorta see it...&
Janice

Grover and Screech

Duane Allman and Floyd Pepper

Crazy Harry and Pete Doherty

Hurley ('Lost') and Rolf the Dog

Ten Songs for a Deserted Island Marooning - Final Installment

2009-02-09T18:29:00.010-06:00

This is it. The final three songs I'd stick on my iPod if I knew I was goin' down in the Indian Ocean. For the most part, I'd take the original album version, but have stuck a couple YouTube live clips in for good, clean aural pleasure.

All right, so here's a summary of the top ten songs I'd want on my iPod (with unlimited batteries) if crashing on a tropical island. This list is likely to change but not too much...these songs have been near and dear to me for many years - 20+ years in the case of Sonic Youth, Husker Du, Tom Tom Club, and a few of the others.

1) Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
2) Patti Smith - Birdland
3) Sandy Denny - The Sea
4) Henryk Gorecki - Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrow)
5) Sonic Youth - Shadow of a Doubt
6) Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood
7) Brian Eno - On Some Faraway Beach
8) Neil Young w/ The Band, Joni Mitchell - Helpless
9) Black Sabbath - Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots
10) Husker Du - Pink Turns To Blue

10) Husker Du - 'Pink Turns To Blue'

Hard to pick a favorite Husker song. I was listening to KGLT, the college radio station in Bozeman, when I was in 7th grade and was into taping music from the radio to make mix-tapes. The DJ said "cue up your tape 'cuz I'm playing 2 consecutive 45 min. Husker Du sessions". I didn't know them yet but did as I was told and recorded it all. Well, that was one of the most thread-bare tapes I had over the next couple years. Pink Turns to Blue was always one of my favorite tunes off Zen Arcade. They had two totally distinctive sounds depending on whose tune was being played (Bob Mould or Grant Hart) and threw in just the right mix of rockin' art-damaged punk, melody, acoustic-ness, noise, and smart lyrics. One of the best bands ever in my opinion...

9) Black Sabbath - 'Fairies Wear Boots'

Like a few other heavy as shit, but oh-so-sludgy slow faves (like 'Dirt' from The Stooges Raw Power), this song is great to me 'cuz it doesn't rock you too hard, just too heavy. It's basically a simple blues tune with a kick-ass bass line and Tony Iommi just wailin'. It's also sort of a funny song - it makes me smile and bounce every time I hear it so it seems like a good Sabbath representer for an island get-away.

8) Neil Young - 'Helpless'

In my nerdy life of defining everything by where it falls on an internally ranked list, Neil Young is usually the top of the songwriters list (others that dally near the upper echelon are Joni Mitchell, John Darneille of Mtn. Goats, Gene Clark, and the Lennon/McCartney team). This is one of my fave songs of his and my fave versions from Scorcese's 1978 Last Waltz (the Band, and Joni hiding behind the speakers, c'mon!...plus, Neil's infamous 'cocaine booger'...). I've probably watched this performance hundreds of times and could listen to it for a long time comin' without it wearing down those rough, beautiful, perfect edges.

cheating moment...
Being an unabashed Byrds fan, I had trouble leaving a tune by them off my list. This is one that kept trying to creep onto the list but I guess didn't make the cut. I actually got to sit down with Peter Fonda once and talk about Easy Rider and told him I loved this song...he didn't really care.

Island Top Ten continues...

2009-01-25T17:34:00.014-06:00

7) Brian Eno - 'On Some Faraway Beach'

Besides being the most aptly named song for this list, it is one of the most perfect. There is nary a note out of place (nary), the music is perfect, the lyrics lovely, the production divine. From Eno's first solo album, Here Come the Warm Jets from 1973. The band is essentially Roxy Music without Bryan Ferry but throwing Robert Fripp into the mix on guitar. Eno split from Roxy right before this album and he's finally doing what he wants with the music...still arty, damaged pop but lots of atmosphere and texture and no crooning vocals. Some of the vocals on this album are pretty nasally but I think Eno's voice sounds great on this track. He is probably the most influential music-maker in my world - playing in and/or producing some of the best albums from Roxy Music, Talking Heads, Devo, U2, Coldplay, David Bowie, and David Byrne. I'd say his next solo album Taking Tiger Mountain (by strategy) is in my top couple albums ever list.

Plus, if you were the coolest person ever, you could arrange to play Uno with Eno, Yoko Ono, Bono, (Sonny) Bono, and Emo (Philips) and that would be really funny, no?

I don't know why the video is of Iwo Jima but, it is.

More Songs from the Top Ten Island List...

2009-01-23T19:21:00.010-06:00

The next installment in my list of the ten songs - and only ten - I would have on my iPod when stranded on a deserted island. If you're not checking out Adam's list too, Do It. This couple of songs I am truly still wowed by and listen to often but are loved nostagically too...these go back a couple years for me.

6) Tom Tom Club - 'Wordy Rappinghood'

Really the first 2 T.T Club albums are incredible. This is one of my favorite songs of theirs and one that would be fun to sing along with really loud on the beach (seeing as how I'd be alone and all esp.). Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth from the Talking Heads, Adrian Belew, and a bunch of others went to the Bahamas in the early 80's - right after the Heads Remain in Light came out and recorded the extremely fun Tom Tom Club album. The tunes are goofy but the musicianship is great...the second side of the album is actually a lot more atmospheric and dark, similar sound but like they did the second side late, late at night or something.
I picked this up on vinyl in Jr. High, probably 8th grade, and still have it today...and still put it on every month or so (much to Emily's astonished chagrin). I also Highly recommend their second one, Close to the Bone.

The video, I'll admit, is a bit much - don't be too distracted by the blinding neon or the tight moves...

5) Sonic Youth - 'Shadow of a Doubt'

Had to have a Sonic Youth song on this list and, out of all the incredible ones over the past 26 years!, this remains one of my faves. I picked up EVOL, the album its on, when it first came out in 1986 after I saw the video on Night Flight (I hope people remember this great show)...and I still have it too (on cassette).
This song has Kim singing, which I love, and has everything I love/evol about SY - the slow burning tension, the release and cacophany, the simmering undercurrent of menace, sex, violence, and beauty.
Plus, the first thing I did when I moved to Mpls. was go to the Sonic Youth outdoor show at the Walker. Walking down the hill on Groveland and hearing the first chords of Schizophrenia and later meeting the Choses (just Nicole and Chose back then) and going to the Red Dragon for mega-drinks...good times!

Immaculate Queen of Heaven Support Me Always

2009-01-18T12:13:00.010-06:00

Songs on an Island list continues with a sad but gorgeous one:

4) Henryk Gorecki - Symphony No.3 (Symphony of Sorrow)

This was only composed in 1976 (just a year after Muskrat Love came out!..). I didn't know too much about it before I recently read up on it, knowing it was on my list. I've found the piece, especially the 2nd and 3rd movements to be some of the most hauntingly gorgeous music I know. The focus is a minimal ebbing of strings and some woodwinds with a woman's Soprano singing in Polish. I knew it had something to do with sadness and, presumably, the Holocaust which turns out to be sorta the case. The second movement (my favorite) is based on the text that an 18 year old girl wrote on the wall of her cell in a Gestapo prison - "O Mamo nie płacz nie—Niebios Przeczysta Królowo Ty zawsze wspieraj mnie" (Oh Mamma do not cry—Immaculate Queen of Heaven support me always). Gorecki spoke of how he was moved by the tone of the plead...
"In prison, the whole wall was covered with inscriptions screaming out loud: 'I'm innocent', 'Murderers', 'Executioners', 'Free me', 'You have to save me'—it was all so loud, so banal. Adults were writing this, while here it is an eighteen-year-old girl, almost a child. And she is so different. She does not despair, does not cry, does not scream for revenge. She does not think about herself; whether she deserves her fate or not. Instead, she only thinks about her mother: because it is her mother who will experience true despair. This inscription was something extraordinary. And it really fascinated me."

The first and third movements are from the perspective of a mother who lost a child, one a lament of Mother Mary and one a mother who's son died in a war. The restraint and gentle ebb and flow of the music seem to speak of a resignation and acceptance of the sadness - maybe a coming to terms with it - and then, as the piece comes to a close, a quiet peace is all you're left with as the violins so softly fade out, repeating their note like a mantra.

If you listen to some more contemporary 'post-rock' types of music like godspeed You! black emperor, Mogwai, or Explosions In the Sky, you'll hear a very familiar swell and atmosphere to Gorecki's music. All the loaded history of the symphony aside, it is mournful but absolutely moving and undeniably beautiful to listen to.

Stuck On an Island Top Ten Songs (S.O.I.T.T.S.)

2009-01-10T17:54:00.023-06:00

I decided to follow in the footsteps of the inestimable Adam Chose and post a couple songs at a time. The challenge was to come up with the ten songs that you'd most like to have on your iPod if you were crashed on a weird island ala' Lost. Here's a couple of my must-haves:

1) "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" by The Talking Heads

From their 1983 Speaking In Tongues album. They had put out 2 great albums with Brian Eno playing a crucial role and delving into some afro-rhythms and really textured atmospheres (Fear of Music and Remain In Light - probably my fave all around Heads album), but they were a bit oh-so-serious and intellectual. This album, and esp. this excellent song, were a welcome breeze of fun and sunny(-esque) hope. It's the song that I would pick to be the Jonathan Theme Song...the one that plays whenever I walk down the street in the opening scene from some un-yet filmed movie of which I'm the star (this actually happens in my head pretty often). There is also a great version of this song on Stop Making Sense - the rockumentary that Jonathan Demme filmed in 1984 - that I'm including here for your pleasure.

2) "Birdland" by Patti Smith *

From her debut album, Horses, in 1975. This is/was undeniably punk - from the 'Godmother of Punk' - but not like anything that'd been heard before. Even now, we've heard P.J. Harvey or Liz Phair but, Patti had the poetry, the jazz, the coolness, and the Balls to yell:
"...He's gonna run through the fields dreaming in animation
It's all gonna split his skull
It's gonna come out like a black bouquet shining
Like a fist that's gonna shoot them up
Like light, like Mohammed Boxer
Take them up up up up up up
Oh, let's go up, up, take me up, I'll go up,
I'm going up, I'm going up
Take me up, I'm going up, I'll go up there
Go up go up go up go up up up up up up up
Up, up to the belly of a ship.
Let the ship slide open and we'll go inside of it
Where we are not human, we're not human..."

...and when you listen to this, very loud for heaven's sake, possibly while driving on a winding road through the forest, you may cry or yell or orgasm but you will definitely be taken up and if you can imagine hearing this in 1975 (the year Emily was born, the year of Thank God I'm a Country Boy by John Denver, One of these Nights by the Eagles, and this incredible gem that you really have to watch at least up 'til the 1:00 mark...Muskrat Love) well, then you can imagine how startling it may have been. It Still is more intense than most music I know of and is almost more of an experience than a song.

* (this link is to a pretty good live version)

3) "The Sea" by Sandy Denny

Sandy Denny sang in Fairport Convention (with Richard Thompson singing and playing guitar) and Fotheringay in the late sixties and early seventies. She also was the only person to ever provide guest vocals on a Led Zeppelin album (on Battle of Evermore from Zep IV). Sandy D. has one of the greatest voices I know of...some may think her stuff sounds dated but I say No Way...just gorgeous. I also love how this song sounds like the sea...it's expansive, open and the instrumentation ebbs and flows and crashes with her voice just floating above it all. There are a couple songs of hers I could've picked - esp. "Autopsy" from Fairport Convention's Unhalfbricking but 'The Sea' is one of the most perfect folk-rock songs, nay - Songs, that I know.

Obviously, the cutest canine...vote for me!

2009-01-01T16:08:00.017-06:00

(Update from 1/9/2009 - Sorry Fozzy, guess you're not so cute after all. Thanks for voting...)

You can vote often (seems like once every 5 or 10 minutes) until the first round is over January 8th. Help Fozzy earn his keep...and Happy New Year!

P.S. pass this onto any of your friends who care about cute-ness in the world.

(sorry if you liked the snow pic....removed to focus energies on the one that is winning big at this point.) thanks for voting!

Fozzy to enter Star Tribune Cutest Dog Contest

2008-12-13T14:35:00.009-06:00

We can enter one picture of Fozzy in the contest.
Which one should it be?!

The voting begins on Monday, December 29 and you can actually vote once every hour.

Help Fozzy win so he can start earning his keep around this joint!

Best Music of 2008!

2008-12-06T21:17:00.044-06:00

It's been a pretty good year for new music I thought...some folks are complaining about it but I think they're a bunch of whiners.
This is an incomplete list because I'm sure there are some outstanding albums that I just didn't hear. In no particular order here's
some winning moments from 2008:

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Less pretentious than Radiohead, much more creative than Coldplay...This one won the coveted Mercury Prize in England this year.
This is the first Elbow I've heard though good things have been said for almost everything they've done. The production is awesome
on this, not too compressed and lots of subtle richness to the sound. This album has my vote for the best song of the year...it got
played daily, loudly, for the weeks after the election - track 10 'One Day Like This'.

Black Keys - Attack and Release
The White Stripes should be this good. Great voice, great -and odd- drumming, production by Danger Mouse is incredible with lots
of unexpected and subtle sounds and instrumentation. This is just an album that I feel like putting on a lot, don't get sick of at all,
and sounds good turned up loud or sitting in the background.

Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold
This gets tons of play in our house and car...a fave of both me and Emily which is no small feat. There's a heavy 80's sound to this album
...we're talkin' Grandmaster Flash synths and Sister Sledge grooves. Thick. The raps and stories flow but stay real, smart, and poignant
(one almost makes me cry even...). Plus he's local guy done good - support Slug and buy this. Oh, and again, awesome production (ala'
Ant) - great headphone album.

Antony & the Johnsons - Another World ep
He could sing about skunks pooping and he'd make my list. When Antony chooses to sing about rebirth, love, loss, and absolute transformation,
well...he had me at pooping. This is a gorgeous lil' 45 rpm album. 5 songs that are a teaser for the full length due in January. The sound
production is exquisite - gorgeous piano from Antony, sparse but perfect instrument accompaniment. Their last awesome album, I Am a Bird
Now, won the Mercury Prize two years ago (which Elbow won this year).
Plus, it's got friggin' Kazuo Ohno on the cover (the Butoh dancer).
Really a gem of an album.

Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
I love Spacemen 3. Deerhunter is making the music of an adolescent Spacemen 3. Shoegazing punk that's bored, pissed off, and kinda
confused and awkward about who the hell they are. I'm glad that Bradford Cox (Deerhunter dude) is friends with Jay Reatard...they're
both putting out some super fun, poppy-as-hell-but-you-need-to-give-it-a-good-listen-to-hear-it kinda' music.
Plus, I got to see them at the Triple Rock a few weeks ago (thanks for going Maggie!). A really good show that fleshes out my enjoyment
of the album even more.

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Lovely stuff. This is the kind of music that should have been made ages ago...so many people in the world making things - someone should
have come up with just the right combination of a few guitar strums and some words that would make this album redundant but Bon Iver
hit it just right and, yes, this is lovely stuff.

Watch 'til the 3:10+ minute mark and see if you don't get a little shiver...

Shearwater - Rook
Jonathan Meiburg not only has an awesome name, he's got a voice the likes of we don't get to hear very often. Think Jeff Buckley or the underrated
Mark Hollis (from Talk Talk)...almost a croon that has an unholy range and is able to make the space around the notes mean as much as the sound.
I tend to think Shearwater sound a bit like Midlake and they both share a lyrical penchant for Falconers, flocks of birds over winter fields, and other
rusticnesses. It's a quiet listen that can feel too slow but if sat with, it's a great album that surpasses most anything else over the past couple years.

Josephine Foster - This Coming Gladness
This album, along with her Born Heller release, scares the hell out of me. Her voice - she's an opera singer drop-out, the guitar - psychedelic as fuck
and just 'off' sometimes but mostly gentle and restrained. It's the unexpectedness of how fucked up her music is that is so great and so disconcerting.
All the components, esp. her voice, lead you to forgotten 70's folkies or maybe lost Germanic 78rpm recordings from the 1920's. Listen to 'Indelible
Rainbows', late night, with a glass of scotch and headphones, and see what doesn't get exorcised.

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
One of the best songwriters ever. Really, his name should be mentioned alongside Neil Young and Joni Mitchell more often. This album finally feels like
John Darnielle is back in form. I haven't spent enough time with this one yet to Love it but I think I will. Mountain Goat songs are weird 'cause they don't
feel addictive or overly poppy, they're even a bit annoying...but the good ones get deep under your skin and come up often and unexpectedly - over and
over. There are some gorgeous female vocals on this one too which is a nice contrast to his nasally voice. I've made more art based on lines from Mtn. Goat
songs than any other music. I think this album's got a few paintings in it too.

Honorable Mentions:

Jay Reatard - Matador Singles
Hammer, I Miss You is one of the best songs of the year.
Probably should just be on the list...great songs but not all top notch.

Ray LaMontagne - Gossip In the Grain
very nice album...not as strong as his last one imo ('Til the Sun Turns Black).

Wire - Object 47
I don't have this one yet but if I did, it'd probably make the list. I love Wire (see my post
last month) and saw them at First Ave. a few months ago. Great show!

No Age - Nouns
not as strong as last years Weirdo Rippers...saw them at Triple Rock this year, good show.

WovenHand - Ten Stones
pretty good but not great...have to be in the mood for this heavy bastard.

Black Mountain - In the Future
I like that one of the women in the band said,"we don't try to totally rock out, we like to kinda'
rock". A good album that has that prog/Black Sabbath/folk rock sound that I like.

Hicksmade iPhone cozies

2008-11-15T21:43:00.013-06:00

Variations on the Black theme
Originally uploaded by Hicksmade

So, I'm needing protection for my phone...it's cold in MN and I'm clumsy so it needs, what else, a cozy. I really dig the classiness of the Vaja cases but they're pretty spendy and they seem, well...a bit much, all around...am I that guy? ('course they're leather and extremely customizable as far as styles and colors).

Other end of the spectrum, there are these lovely lil' handmade felt jobbies that Leigh Hicks makes. I'm pretty partial to these but don't wear patchouli anymore, soooo...

'Course there are more generic options which are probably the practical and fiscally responsible way to go but they're kinda boring. I'm in the middle of deciding so if anyone has an opinion...

Halloween...Vegas-Style

2008-11-09T20:15:00.012-06:00

Emily doing the Thriller dance at the Vegas Lounge

So Emily and I joined a bunch of friends and
acquaintances for a Halloween shindig...we
ended up with, quite possibly, the lamest costumes
at the party (Em as a Freudian Slip - great idea
but execution was ummm, well... And I was Elmer Fudd
- looked like I do everyday except for the
foamcore gun). But it was a good time and props
to the Vegas Lounge for bringing a bit of 'up north'
to the city. And props to Nicole and Heather for
throwing a party that did not include
stripping ex's this year but was a super-blast.

Nik and Heather throwin' down their own Vegas act

O marks the spot

2008-10-21T21:43:00.003-05:00

a little painting
housepaint, oil, graphite on cut-out wood

What's Up Minutemen vs. Wire?..........(the first of a 'What's Up _vs._?' -series of obscure compare/contrasts).

2008-10-18T13:35:00.043-05:00

So, I've been listening to a lot of Minutemen. 'Double Nickles On the Dime' is one of my favorite albums. Ever. And I just watched 'We Jam Econo'...an excellent documentary of the band. So, they're three guys from San Pedro, CA who hit the burgeoning LA punk scene ala' SST records (Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets, Saccharine Trust, and the original label for Husker Du...) upside the head in the early 80's. I came upon them in '85 or so - the year after Double Nickles came out (which they named, off the cuff, in response to the Sammy Hagar tune).
I've also been spinnin' a lot of Wire. 'Pink Flag' and 'Chairs Missing' is what I've got...plus - my intro. to the band - a homemade cassette tape of early Wire stuff that my painting prof. gave to me as a driving cross-country gift. He said to fast forward past anything that had synths. I did for awhile but have slowed down and found that some of those songs are actually ok.

What's up Minutemen vs. Wire?

Well, they were both three piece punk bands from the early 80's. Both with high tuned, angular guitar. Both with massive bass guitar that almost played as lead. Both totally political. Both totally unlike so much else that was around them at the time.

Both have had bottles and spit flung on them by hardcore punkers who thought they were too artsy and weren't rockin' it hard enough.

Both have been more known for their influence on others than their own discographies. Both integrated their philosophical/political ideology into their actual music-making... brilliantly.
Is the only reason they aren't the same band the "British" thing? Sure, Wire is from London while Minutemen are from San Pedro, CA. There's more though...

(I'm working on Pt. II of this exciting lil' essay on obscurity that no one is reading...but if you are - and your numbers will be growing - hold tight 'cuz more is coming. Plus, I think a lil' rage about politics is festering - though I'm feeling cautiously hopeful 'cause it's just hard to believe that the dumb people can keep winning when Everything is against them.....plus, they're dumb.)

Couple shots of a really excellent
show - Friday night, Oct. 17, 2008
Wire @ 1st Ave. Mpls.

http://www.pinkflag.com/assets/mp3/One-Of-Us_from_Object-47_by_Wire.mp3
....'fraid you have to copy and paste to listen but it's an easy Quicktime link and a great song...if you know how to embed this, post a comment and tell me how. thanks.

Couple new paintings

2008-10-12T13:45:00.006-05:00

'Migrations' oil, etching transfer print, collage on wood and tar paper

'Rain' oil, thread, gold leaf, acrylic transfer cheese cloth, wood and metal

detail shot of 'Rain'

New Art from Jonathan

2008-10-05T21:50:00.007-05:00

A couple more shots of some boat paintings I've done lately...waiting for a bunch of stuff that I had shot this summer by a much better photographer than me.

this is a detail of 'Three Ships' and is actually 3" high x 44" long.

Breaking News - Sara Palin steps down as McCain running mate!

2008-09-29T18:38:00.008-05:00

As both Republican and Democratic insiders have been hinting, embattled V.P. hopeful, Sara Palin, has stepped down in her bid for President of the United States
(assuming, of course, that John McCain does not make it through a first term that is increasingly looking like a huge stretch anyways). Republicans have gathered,
somewhat embarrassedly, around the new running mate that they are calling, "pretty short", and "a vast improvement over the last pick". At least he has been
practicing some interview responses that are clearly more intelligent and appropriate than what the other one had to offer. Good luck new V.P. hopeful, Gary Coleman.

Robert Wyatt - when I'm 64...if I can rock it like this...

2008-09-28T00:52:00.025-05:00

Robert Wyatt was the drummer, vocalist, and songwriter for the Soft Machine in the mid-60's thru 1973ish. He suffered an accident then which left him wheelchair-bound
but still filled with some of the greatest songs that were to come out of the progressive rock canon from then until now (his 'ComicOpera' came out in 2007 and is one of the best
releases of the millenium)...it also got him ushered out of the lugubrious folds of the Soft Machine, who then floundered on in saxa-maphone-hell for many years with Elton Dean
and different line-ups but never regained the funky groove of the Wyatt years.

I went, a couple times, to the Boyle Family exhibit in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2003. They invented the practice of showing colored-oil projections behind bands in the mid-60's.
They were the exclusive lighting artists behind the Soft Machine and introduced moving oil projections along with all sorts of light and other video tweekings as adjunct hallucinatory
experiences into the psychedelic rock world. They really made the rock concert a multi-sensory psychedelic experience like noone else...

J's Art - some work-in-progress and a done one

2008-09-19T21:57:00.015-05:00

Mast (oil,chalk, cyanotype print on paper)

Sheep (2 detail shots...workin' on these still...oil, oil stick, sign paint enamel on panel)

Massive cooking/rainy day

2008-09-14T14:50:00.018-05:00

Dill Pickles

Tomato-Basil Focaccia

Baba Gannoush

Yogurt-Feta Bean Dip

Roasted stuffed peppers

A rainy autumnal day with our friend Joanna...eating, cooking, and spinnin' lots of 70's vinyl. We had bags
of veggies from the CSA to deal with so we made all this, canned the pickles, and ate copiously. Good Times.

Matt Damon gets down on Sara Palin (not Silverman this time...)

2008-09-13T12:58:00.006-05:00

pretty concise response and fear...she'd be a monsterous error, huh?

Emily visits the Golden State

2008-09-10T23:35:00.001-05:00

80 silk-screened t-shirts later...

2008-09-10T23:22:00.004-05:00

Making the shirts for ArtShare's Rivalry project

ArtShare brings rivalry to NE Lutheran Church

2008-09-09T19:13:00.021-05:00

ArtShare had the first day of our Rivalry project this past weekend.
I'll post some more on it and throw up some pics in the next day or so...
this'll just have to serve as an enticing, titillating lil' blip until then.

"I've never felt more depressed after a church service..."

~ NELC congregation member

check out more of this project --- http://artsharene.blogspot.com/

my new helmet!

2008-09-06T11:32:00.008-05:00

exciting...esp. since I've been riding bucket-less for the last week or two.
Emily got in on the bike commute this summer too...we're looking forward to
autumn biking - hopefully a trip to Stillwater will still make the list and the
Mpls. Bike Tour in a few weeks.

Expunging vermin

2008-09-06T10:30:00.006-05:00

This weekend, we're celebrating the exodus of thousands of rats from the twin cities. The plague was shortlived - though they'll surely
continue to spread disease and skittering sounds of no consequence as they drag their wet, pink tails across the land. If you see any of
them, have pity...they may look disgusting but just try to ignore them and seek the high ground and the light...they can't follow you there.

Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet (Sept. 15 @ the Guthrie!)

2008-09-04T22:32:00.002-05:00

+=====Jay Reatard=====+

2008-09-01T01:40:00.007-05:00

...for your inner snot-nosed brat...

2008-09-01T01:35:00.002-05:00

Shots from my exhibit - May '06

2008-09-01T00:49:00.005-05:00

in lieu of wings (detail)

2008-08-31T22:57:00.002-05:00

flickr .................................................>

in lieu of wings (detail)
Originally uploaded by jon a than

random recent work

2008-08-31T01:11:00.001-05:00

rough shots of some new drawings

2008-08-27T23:07:00.001-05:00

Set up test

2008-08-17T23:24:00.002-05:00

let's see...
I live in NE Minneapolis with my lovely wife Emily and our dog Fozzy. We're busy savoring corn, basil, and tomatoes these days before the coming months of winter. I spend a lot of time in my studio making stuff and listening to music... uhyeah ...

pftjschute

2011 Cream of the Crop

looking Minnesota, feeling California

The Best of It

Skull Defekts @ the Turf Club

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

Hell-Friggin'-O to 2011!!

Best of 2010

apropos of nothing

Pumpkins and Harps

Every Step is Moving Me Up

Snow Day

Beckett Rocks Out

Califone

Happy Birth Day!

Hot Heaters, Brick Ovens, Warm Bellies

Beck rocks!

Grizzly Bears aren't scary until they explode

New creations

Half-Blood Prince trailer...that's right

Sweet Summer Stuff II

Sweet Summer Stuff

Gonna paint that town red tonite

Muppets hate Mary Lucia

Ten Songs for a Deserted Island Marooning - Final Installment

Island Top Ten continues...

More Songs from the Top Ten Island List...

Immaculate Queen of Heaven Support Me Always

~~ Stuck On an Island Top Ten Songs (S.O.I.T.T.S.) ~~

Obviously, the cutest canine...vote for me!

Fozzy to enter Star Tribune Cutest Dog Contest

Best Music of 2008!

Hicksmade iPhone cozies

Halloween...Vegas-Style

O marks the spot

What's Up Minutemen vs. Wire?..........(the first of a 'What's Up _________vs._________?' -series of obscure compare/contrasts).

Couple new paintings

New Art from Jonathan

Breaking News - Sara Palin steps down as McCain running mate!

Robert Wyatt - when I'm 64...if I can rock it like this...

J's Art - some work-in-progress and a done one

Massive cooking/rainy day

Matt Damon gets down on Sara Palin (not Silverman this time...)

Emily visits the Golden State

80 silk-screened t-shirts later...

ArtShare brings rivalry to NE Lutheran Church

my new helmet!

Expunging vermin

Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet (Sept. 15 @ the Guthrie!)

+=====Jay Reatard=====+

Shots from my exhibit - May '06

in lieu of wings (detail)

random recent work

rough shots of some new drawings

Set up test

Stuck On an Island Top Ten Songs (S.O.I.T.T.S.)

What's Up Minutemen vs. Wire?..........(the first of a 'What's Up _vs._?' -series of obscure compare/contrasts).