June 5, 2013

#RECENTMEMORY // RUTH GARBUS - Rendezvous With Rama (Autumn Records, 2010)

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Back in early 2010, Autumn Records quietly released a compact disc by resolute Vermonter & former Feather, Ruth Garbus called Rendezvous With Rama. Housed in a tasteful disc-sized cardboard envelope with one-color silkscreened artwork and handwritten text, Rendezvous With Rama was exactly as it presented: understated as shit but really knowing exactly what it was doing. Comprised of eight reverberant guitar & vocal lullabies, Rendezvous is similar to Garbus’ contributions during her Feathers days, but stripped bare of all that nouveau hippie affection that kind of plagued our freak folk days in the early-to-mid aughts. What is left is haunting to say the least and near perfection at it’s best. From the chilling opener “Falling Down To Earth” to the weirdly celebratory closing track “My Apple”, Garbus proves to be a master at working with what she’s got. Shaky vocals, a simple-if-slightly-insecure strum, and an undeniably cool guitar tone, most of what’s so engaging about Rendezvous is the entire album feels revelatory, like a songwriter learning new facets of her power in each successive song. It’s an album that both hits on first listen and allows you to growth with it over time, never once losing grasp of the subtlety that is it’s biggest allure.

For the past few years, Ruth’s been living in the shadow of her older sister Merrill, who has garnered considerable success releases records under a name you might recognize, but really, this music is meant for the shadows so I guess I’m okay with that. Now, if someone would just reissue this gem on LP I might be able to sleep more soundly at night.


Add’l research: Ruth Garbus live at Flywheel, 2011 / Autumn Records / Purchase Rendezvous With Rama

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#RECENTMEMORY is a series focused on revisiting records/bands/labels/scenes/stuff of only the relatively recent past. Think late-90s thru yesterday.

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Filed under: Ruth Garbus Rendezvous With Rama Autumn Records Feathers Tune-Yards 
April 26, 2013

#RIP // GEORGE JONES (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013)

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You hippies all like Gram Parsons right?

Well, to appropriate a line about appropriation from Mos Def, he didn’t come up with that shit on his own.

The world lost one of its greatest voices in George Jones today, after a formidable illness that had left the legend hospitalized since mid-April. Born an actual Texan turned true Nashvillian, George Jones was a character who embodied all that is powerful and ugly about country music.  Through heavy drinking and hard loving, it’s kind of a triumph dude made it all the way to 81. Jones began his career in the 1950s trying hard to emulate the honky tonk of his hero Hank Williams, but really hit his stride in the mid-60s as a true balladeer, turning melodramatic tales of heartache into molten gold. Jones’ sad songs, of course, were always more devastating than they ever were maudlin, and his pipes, well, goddamn. Call it blue-eyed soul or white blues, whatever it was let us all pay our respects today. 

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(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: George Jones Hank Williams Mos Def Gram Parsons RIP 
April 10, 2013

#DONUTBREAK // KURT VILE - “Wakin On A Pretty Day” from Wakin On A Pretty Daze (Matador Records, 2013)

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Kurt Vile’s Greatest Hits album is gonna be one helluva record. All of his proper albums have ranged from good to very great, most of which angling towards the latter, but even as a consummate albumist, each LP invariably includes at least a couple of true standout tracks. From the J. Geilsian “Freeway” from which he built his now considerable rep to the krautrock jammer “Freak Train” to 2011’s everlasting “Jesus Fever”, Vile has proven himself also to be a total hit machine.

If you’ve been paying any attention at all, then you have undoubtably already stumbled upon “Wakin On A Pretty Day”, the opening track and de facto first single off Vile’s latest LP of the almost same name Wakin On  A Pretty Daze, released just this week. An all but certain entry into a future The Essential Kurt Vile collection, “Wakin On A Pretty Day” is a lackadaisical, stoney retreat built off a simple folk rock strum and accented with the soft jam of a meandering lead guitar. It’s a total pre-summer gem and absolute killer way to burn 9 and a half minutes.

Add’l research: Kurt Vile / Matador Records / Purchase Wakin On A Pretty Daze

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#DONUTBREAK is a series focusing on single tracks by artists. Generally, #DONUTBREAKs will be shorter takes than even the average Actual Donuts micro-criticism, but not always. Enjoy the snack.

3:47pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z3Ip1yiNUgK3
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Kurt Vile Wakin On A Pretty Day Wakin On A Pretty Daze Matador Records J. Geils 
March 18, 2013

#DONUTBREAK // TOWNES VAN ZANDT - “T For Texas” from Sunshine Boy: The Unheard Studio Sessions & Demos, 1971-1972 (Omnivore Recordings, 2013)

Memory workers have been hard at their labor over the past decade and a half since Townes Van Zandt’s untimely passing, trying to carve a space in the wider cultural canon for an artist who may be the finest country singer-songwriter of the modern era. Part of the narrative that’s emerged from all this memory production has come in the form of a disclaimer regarding Van Zandt’s studio work. The general consensus argues that Townes, however gifted a writer, never realized an album truly worthy of the songs he created. Truth be told, Van Zandt was always more of a songcrafter than he ever was an albummaker, adopting a fairly laissez–faire attitude towards his recordings which left key arrangement and production style decisions to the influence of others, namely every Townesian’s favorite scapegoat, Kevin Eggers, the Poppy Records head responsible for his early albums. What’s been left in the wake for the his-albums-aren’t-good  crowd has been the search for alternate recordings of the songwriter’s best works; versions that are somehow less compromised by the whims of bohemian New Yorkers like Eggers and more pure (as if postmodernity hadn’t rid us of the loaded garbage that is that term). Such is the premise behind Omnivore Recordings’ new release Sunshine Boy: The Unheard Sessions & Demos, 1971-1972,  a 2-CD set of scrapped studio cuts and  basic guitar & voice demo takes of some of Townes’ most accomplished songs from the period. 

Full disclosure is I’m not much of a TVZ album hater. Though certainly not without its flaws, I’d argue that an album like Our Mother The Mountain, clumsy psychedelic flute and all, is still a pretty cool sounding country record. And that clunky hand percussion on his pensive self-titled Townes Van Zandt gem only adds to its charm. But my hippie, northernist aesthetics aside, being a total Townes fanboy means I’m still pretty psyched to hear whatever “lost” recordings the reissue industry lays upon me. Though most of the tracks on Sunshine Boy don’t sound much more than other takes of songs I already love - most no better or no worse than their officially released counterparts - I’ve found myself more taken over by the lesser known parts of Townes’ repertoire. Namely, the set’s lead off track, “T For Texas” - a blue yodel originally penned and performed by Jimmie Rodgers. Townes’ subtle rollick on the recording is a nice counterpoint to his normal bummer summer modality and a welcomed way to start off any Van Zandt collection.

Add’l research: Townes Van Zandt / Omnivore Recordings / Purchase Sunshine Boy

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#DONUTBREAK is a series focusing on single tracks by artists. Generally, #DONUTBREAKs will be shorter takes than even the average Actual Donuts micro-criticism, but not always. Enjoy the snack.

2:48pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z3Ip1ygZ9t6K
(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: townes van zandt t for texas jimmie rodgers sunshine boy donutbreak 
March 12, 2013

#RECENTMEMORY // FLIN FLON - Boo Boo  (TeenBeat Records, 1999)

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I don’t think anyone’s hit the nail more on the head than when radio personality, comedy’s genius and hero-to-many Tom Scharpling described TeenBeat Records founder Mark Robinson’s post-Unrest, post-Air Miami outfit Flin Flon as “the sound of someone becoming a graphic designer.” Precise, clean and exacting, Flin Flon was based on a simple design: all the songs were to be written on the bass, the guitar would only play single notes at a time, and the percussion would be all drums & no cymbals (save a high-hat only when absolutely necessary). An exercise in self-imposed limits, the results as showcased on Boo Boo, the band’s second LP, sound like the individual tones and textures of an indie pop song being spliced up and repositioned together in new patterns. Much like Robinson’s design porn cover art (he himself becoming a graphic designer at the time as Scharpling suggested), Boo Boo is all chopped up but somehow more in order than it was when it began. And as if to emphasize its by design nature, the album was released “properly” on compact disc as well as pressed on LP but with different mixes for each track. Total nerdstuff for sure, but I’m partial to the LP version - officially titled Boo Boo (Version) - though I’m sure there are some heavy TeenBeat heads out there willing to fight me on that call. Ultimately, these are same great pop songs Robinson had been writing in earlier efforts under other monikers, but in Flin Flon they affect more of a post-punk bent. A crass description would call this an Unrest album of Gang of Four covers, but overly simplistic A + B = C equations never fully articulate the individual value possessed by any record. Unfortunately Boo Boo, and Flin Flon in general, will almost definitely be mostly lost to history - Robinson’s Unrest efforts will always take up most of the real estate allotted in his encyclopedia entry. But while we still can remember his other works, we probably should.

Flin Flon - ”Virgin Arm” from Boo Boo (TeenBeat Records, 1999)

Flin Flon - “Happy Adventure” (Version) from Boo Boo (Version) (TeenBeat Records, 1999)

Add’l Research: Flin Flon / TeenBeat Records / Purchase Boo Boo

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#RECENTMEMORY is a series focused on revisiting records/bands/labels/scenes/stuff of only the relatively recent past. Think late-90s thru yesterday.

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(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: Flin Flon Mark Robinson Unrest TeenBeat Records Tom Scharpling Best Show on WFMU Air Miami Gang of Four 
February 15, 2013

#DONUTBREAK // ICEAGE - “Ecstasy” from You’re Nothing LP (Matador Records, out on 02/19/13)

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Tuesday will see the release of Danish punk band Iceage’s second LP You’re Nothing. Whereas the band’s debut,  2011’s New Brigade, tumbled slowly into American consciousness, You’re Nothing is being released on and with the promotional aid of stateside indie rock institution Matador Records. Like fellow transnational hardcore labelmates Fucked Up, this is as big as it gets in the U.S. for bands that can still legitimately call themselves punks, and You’re Nothing feels poised to bring it.

Chaotic, foggy and a good approximation of bad drugs, ”Ecstasy”, the first track and single off You’re Nothing, is carried mostly on its opening section, a confusing and desperate cauchophony of drums, guitars and vocals all moving at different speeds. It’s a glorious mess that leads right into a brief moment of circle-pit cohesion between the three moving parts before breaking down again to the shouts of vocalist Elias Bender Rønnenfelt calling out “Pressure! Pressure! / Oh God no!”. But just as soon as the lyrics reach their emotional zenith, that weird disco beat from the opening returns, the distorted mess of guitars wash back over and Iceage moves us back into the haze. 

Add’l research: Iceage / Matador Records / Purchase You’re Nothing

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#DONUTBREAK is a series focusing on single tracks by artists. Generally, #DONUTBREAKs will be shorter takes than even the average Actual Donuts micro-criticism, but not always. Enjoy the snack.

7:10pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z3Ip1yeDzS8l
Filed under: iceage ecstasy you're nothing matador records fucked up donutbreak 
February 12, 2013

#OUTTHERE // NOAH HOWARD - The Black Ark (Freedom, 1969 / Bo’ Weavil, 2007 reissue)

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The late-1960s was a good time to be alive for heavy breathers like Noah Howard. The freer end of jazz was in full anti-swing and Howard, an altoist and true Albert Alyerite in the best possible sense (is there a worst?), is captured on The Black Ark in rare form even for an era when this kind of thing wasn’t all that rare. Demented melodies collapse into heady tumult throughout The Black Ark’s four movements with the urgency of its freeness never going limp into any kind of banal looseness. It’s one of the finer pieces of fire chaos ever created. 

Unfortunately, few people got to hear the LP as Freedom Records kept its numbers minimal when it first pressed the album in 1969 and The Black Ark maintained its rare form in most every sense of the word. In fitting tradition, Bo’Weavil reissued the record in 2007 in a run limited to 1000; there are still a few copies floating around and it’s well worth the heavy price. And oh yeah, the tenor is being played by this guy you may have heard of.


Add’l research: Noah Howard / Bo’Weavil Recordings / Purchase The Black Ark 

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#OUTTHERE is a series focusing on the noisier, freer avant-whaterrr of American music; the sub-subpopular, if you will.

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Filed under: Noah Howard The Black Ark Bo'Weavil Arthur Doyle Albert Ayler Outthere 
January 22, 2013

#DONUTBREAK // POTTY MOUTH - “Damage” (Official Video) from their forthcoming LP (2013)

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Northampton, MA’s Potty Mouth is one of several female-heavy bands cropping up in the area, including Honeysuck and the hopefully-only-on-hiatus Big Nils, that are doing their part to re-inject what had become a long-too-dormant feminism into the indie underground. You could dismiss this as a Riot Grrrl throwback if the politics and purpose of that movement weren’t still so topical now. In the late-90s, the Pioneer Valley was home to local heroes Tizzy and Mr. Lady (RIP) recording artists’ The Moves - and lifer Meghan Minior’s been holding it down for awhile now in aught-vets Ampere - but it’s been a long time since addressing gender equity in the punk and indie underworlds felt so intentional.

Named after an LP by riot-legends Bratmobile, Potty Mouth’s 90s leanings are obvious, but music that sounded good then is still very much needed now. Sun Damage, the band’s all-killer 6-song debut 12” EP  released last summer, was a sure thing for #BESTTHINGS2012 had I not run out of days in the calendar year (sorry, dudes), but 2013 has brought us the first single (and requisite video for) “Damage” off their forthcoming LP. Built on a steady sliding riff, the track charts some of the same waters that made Sun Damage so great, but adds depth with some nicely layered guitar work and a heavier overall emotional feel. The grainy video, appropriate to the song’s texture, features the band wandering the farming and post-industrial outskirts of Western Mass, including a personal favorite of mine, climbing that weird tire pile off South Maple St. in Hadley. Certainly more dour than anything Potty Mouth has released so far, “Damage” is also their most affecting track to date. And considering the press the song has received and that the video debuted on this other rag’s music website Noisey, “Damage” is almost definitely a sign of bigger things to come for the band.

Add’l research: Potty Mouth Bandcamp / Potty Mouth Tumblr / Purchase Sun Damage

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#DONUTBREAK is a series focusing on single tracks by artists. Generally, #DONUTBREAKs will be shorter takes than even the average Actual Donuts micro-criticism, but not always. Enjoy the snack.

6:35pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z3Ip1ycPY986
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Potty Mouth Honeysuck Big Nils Ampere feminism Riot Grrrl The Moves Tizzy Bratmobile donutbreak 
January 7, 2013

#DONUTBREAK // YO LA TENGO - “Ohm” from Fade (Matador, out on 01/15/13)

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Not sure what kind of market research Yo La Tengo does before releasing a new album, but it seems like the veteran alt-to-indie rock group lets the perfect about of time elapse between releases to get all us nerds hungry for more. For a band nearing the 30-year mark, Yo La Tengo is a veritable dinosaur amidst the flash-in-the-pan dynamic of the post-millennial independent music world. And if the fact that the band is from Hoboken and not Brooklyn wasn’t sign enough they are from a different era of indie rock,  Fade, their new album due next week, will be their 13th proper studio LP (if you count President Yo La Tengo as a full record, which you should) alongside a number of EPs, singles & compilations. Yet despite being old timers, Yo La Tengo still manage to generate the same kind of hype for new releases that much younger, and much less sustainable, of-the-minute rock outfits seem to garner. “Ohm” is the second - and better- of two officially “leaked” tracks from Fade. A bouncy pop song caked, but certainly not drowning, in fuzz and adorned with guitarist Ira Kaplan’s tasteful skronk,  “Ohm” is a nice reminder why the band deserves their now decades long hype.

Add’l research: Yo La Tengo | Matador Records | Pre-Order

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#DONUTBREAK is a series focusing on single tracks by artists. Generally, #DONUTBREAKs will be shorter takes than even the average Actual Donuts micro-criticism, but not always. Enjoy the snack.

2:18pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z3Ip1ybCqB_z
(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: yo la tengo ohm fade matador records 
December 31, 2012

#BESTTHINGS2012 // DONNIE & JOE EMERSON - Dreamin’ Wild (Enterprise & Co., 1979 / Light In The Attic, 2012 reissue)

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The liner notes to Light In The Attic’s reissue of Donnie & Joe Emerson’s 1979 home studio recorded teenaged pop rock record Dreamin’ Wild begin with this disclaimer: “You have to get past that cover.” The cover in question, as pictured above, is not cool by any stretch of the imagination - but I take objection to the assertion that one would need to “get past it.” To me, it’s hard to imagine cover art more befitting of this strange dollar-bin discovery. There is very little, next to nothing, “cool” about the music featured on Dreamin’ Wild. From the guitar tone on opening rocker “Good Time” to the clunky bass lines throughout to the absolute sincerity in young Donnie Emerson’s vocals - coolness was never much of a factor and that is part of its allure. The album is as awkward and almost unbelievable as the cover art itself.

Recorded on the Emerson family farm in rural eastern Washington at the tail end of the 1970s, Dreamin’ Wild could be classified as “outsider music” but not so much by intent as by sheer geographical isolation. The Emerson brothers may have thought they were recording music on the cusp of youth culture trends, but the mid-70s FM radio sound on Dreamin’ Wild - which I’m not sure was ever “in” - was certainly already dated by the time the album saw release. Fly-by-night aesthetic tastes aside, the real treat here is the beauty present in younger brother Donnie’s songs despite their often clumsy execution.  This is definitely an amateur hour kind of record - it’s lack of polish and awkward attempts at pop rock production only add to its earnesty. It’s the kind of album the reissue market was made for. A real diamond in the rough with some moments of unassuming genius. It has the unlikeliness of The Shaggs mixed with a maybe more geniune, even less self-aware naivete of Jonathan Richman. Donnie Emerson even croons in the same kind of wobbly, blue-eyed soul that Arthur Russell would become somewhat famous for twenty-years after his passing. All of Dreamin’ Wild is elevated no doubt by the syrupy yacht pop standout gem “Baby” - a treasure of a ballad that distills all of the qualities found on Numero Group’s endearing WTNG 89.9FM: Solid Bronze comp (also worth checking out)  but somehow manages to be leagues better than any of the more “accomplished” tracks featured there.

I want to call Dreamin’ Wild charming - because it is - but that kind of undercuts its beauty. It’s the kind of record that despite everything - its awkwardness, its remoteness, even its charm - still connects on a real level.

Donnie & Joe Emerson - “Good Time” from Dreamin’ Wild (Enterprise & Co., 1979 / Light In The Attic, 2012 reissue)

Donnie & Joe Emerson - “Baby” from Dreamin’ Wild [Enterprise & Co., 1979 / Light In The Attic, 2012 reissue)

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#BESTTHINGS2012 is a series focusing on the “best things” released in 2012. Bucking arbitrary numerical distinction, these postings will appear in no particular order with no particular concern for whether they are original releases or reissues from this year. I’m hoping to post one a day for the remainder of the calendar year or until I run out of best things to write about. Not sure which will come first.

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Filed under: donnie & joe emerson dreamin' wild light in the attic the shaggs jonathan richman arthur russell reissue outside music 
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