The Butthole Surfers -

Surfin' a Brown Wave of Nostalgia

The Butthole Surfers are one of those bands that introduced me to acid weirdness as a teen. That first self titled E.P. (the actual name is Brown Reason to Live) came out in 1983 on Alternative Tentacles, the DK's label. At the time, I was generally into hardcore punk, so other than "the Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave", there was very little that resembled HC on this disc. Even so, that tune was more psychotic than practically anything I'd heard to that point. Add to that the completely tasteless cover, and songs with titles like "Bar-B-Q Pope", and "The Revenge of Anus Presley", and I was left wondering if this was just some "shock" band or something. So, like all music that has a lasting effect on me, I had no idea what to make of it at first. I ended up spinning that disc a lot at high volume, much to my parents chagrin. "There's a time to shit, and a time to die, I smoke Elvis Presley's toenails when I want to get high", and "I shot the Pope, I shot the Pope's ass" are just a couple of the lyrical gems from that disc that my parents failed to find an appreciation for. The surprise to me was, these dudes could actually play. Paul Leary was a monster on guitar, the rhythm section pummeled, and Gibby Haynes was a certified wackjob on vocals. Everything about this band seemed demented. Next they released another EP, a live one called PCPPEP. A good name, but not such a great record because they end up playing most of the first record. The insanity of the originals is not matched by the live versions.

A year later out comes Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac on Touch and Go Records, a label they would stay with for their best material. This album was even more demented than the first EP. This is the surfers at their creepiest. Everything comes together on this album; the two drummer sound, the megaphone, delay effect vocals, and more focused and bent guitar. There's a couple of fast songs ("Butthole Surfer" and "Mexican Caravan"), but for the most part this is an acid fueled journey, and not the sunshine and flowers variety. Around this time, the Surfers started touring everywhere, and I ended up catching them at City Gardens in Trenton. They played a good 1-1/2 hour set, then left the stage. Nothing too insane or over the top. Then they came out and played an encore, which consisted of a 20-25 psychedelic jam. There was less applause when they left the stage this time, and quite a few people had left. They came out again, same deal, 20 minute jam. They left the stage to even less applause, and maybe half of the original audience in attendance. At this point, the audience was not even calling for an encore, and of course, they came out again. They played four encores that night, and by the time they were done, there were very few people left in the crowd. It may not always be true, but in general any band that can clear a room is usually worth watching.

Around this time Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis, a four song EP, came out. It's one of my favorite Surfer's discs, though it's short. On "Moving to Florida" Gibby Haynes uses what a lot of people describe as "the old blues singer" voice (kind of like he did on "Lady Sniff" on Another Man's Sac...). To me he sounds like a character straight out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The song's got this staccato blues riff with weird sounds and the usual bizzarro lyrics ("they'll be making tadpoles the size of Mercurys in Florida"). "To Partner" is a great psych track with lyrics about selling quaaludes to monkeys, among other things.

A couple of months passed before my favorite Butthole Surfers album surfaced. Rembrandt Pussyhorse was different than anything they'd released to that point. There were programmed drums in spots, and the tunes were more sparse and focused. The production was clear, and, most importantly, the songs were surreal. "Creep in the Cellar" is a work of fucking genius.
There's a fiddle part in the song which fits right in with the eerie overtone. Weird thing is, the fiddle was actually on the tape before the band recorded the song. The Surfers bought a used tape to record over, and when they went to mix "Creep", they realized that there was a fiddle track from some bluegrass band that last used the tape. They were recording the tape in the opposite direction, so the track came up backwards. The cool thing was, the backwards fiddle track blended perfectly into the song. The rest of the album is definitely more subtle than their first. It's not over the top madness. It's more subtle, scary and psychedelic. Their version of "American Woman" is one of the greatest, most fucked up covers ever recorded, in my book. It's shrill female vocal and disjointed attack make for a much better tune than the original. Add to that songs with titles like "Strangers Die Everyday", "Waiting for Jimmy to Kick", and "Whirling Hall of Knives" and you've got a malevolent funfest that makes for a near perfect album. When the Surfers toured this album, they began their era of weird stage shows. I saw them in a few variations. The first included smoke machines, two very strange looking strippers, strobe lights, and Jacques Cousteau movies which were projected onto the stage. Later shows had other, much more disturbing movies, namely the notorious "penis surgery" film. Another thing they did was set up a fan facing the audience. They would drop hundreds of cut-out xeroxed roaches into the fan which would spray out all over the front of the club. The xeroxes had the top of a roach on one side, and the bottom on the other, so with the lights dimmed it looked like real roaches coming at you.

The Buttholes would release two more classic albums in the next couple of years, Locust Abortion Technician, and Hairway to Steven. The former includes two cool versions of "Graveyard", a tune that has one of the most wicked guitar riffs (literally wicked), and some seriously deranged vocals. It's also got a tune called "22 going on 23" that creates more mental discomfort than "the Hamburger Lady". Hairway to Steven was not quite as good as the albums that preceded it, but definitely had its moments. It's hard to describe in detail, because each track was signified on the sleeve by a cartoon drawing (hypodermic needle, rabbit shitting on a deer, etc.) I won't go too much into the Butthole Surfers career from this point on. They've had their ups and downs, with a couple of decent albums, some bad ones, but little of the insanity of the earlier stuff. It would've been impossible to keep that up. If you've never heard those first few albums, and you're into acid fueled insanity, you need to dig them up.

Album of the Week:
The Dream Syndicate

The Complete Live at Raji's
(Restless)

This is a review of an older album which I recently picked up simply out of curiousity. You see, like many people, I loved the Dream Syndicate's 1982 album the Days of Wine and Roses. Now I'm not old enough to have bought that album at the time it came out, but I am old enough to have purchased their second album the Medicine Show when it was released in 1984. The Medicine Show had some good tunes on it, but I have to admit, I felt like it was kind of a let down. Then they released This is Not the New Dream Syndicate Album...Live, which was suprisingly quite lame. I found out some time later that the band did not want to release the album, but, for whatever reason, their record label put it out without their say so. Anyway, at the time, I figured they were shaping up to be one of those bands that has one great album, then continues on a downward spiral toward mediocrity, or worse. So I ignored their last couple albums, and forgot about them, until a couple of months ago. I had recently listened to Days of Wine and Roses again, and I got to wondering if these guys had eventually released something worthwhile which may have slipped by me. I did a little reading up and the resounding choice was Live at Raji's. (Followed closely by The Day Before Wine and Roses, which is sadly out of print.)
Live at Raji's was originally released as a single disc in 1989, just about at the time the Dream Syndicate decided to call it a day. The music contained therein was recorded in 1988, while the band was touring their last studio album, Ghost Stories. The original disc was kind of a semi-bootleg (although it was released by Restless Records) and was not widely promoted at the time, nor released in big numbers. The original was out of print for a few years, and then reappeared in 1994, expanded to include the complete Raji's concert over two discs. The tracklist includes half a dozen songs from Days of..., and a couple or so each from Medicine Show and Out of the Grey. There are two covers, "All Along the Watch Tower" and a blistering version of Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave is Kept Clean". The former is an abbreviated take which comes off more or less as a goof, which is probably why it wasn't included on the single disc version. Other than that misstep, which in context is forgivable, this set is near perfect. I don't mean near perfect in the sense that everything is played with technical precision, which bores the piss out of me. Steve Wynn is obviously keyed up from the outset, and the rest of the band follows suit. Now every fan of the original lineup will tell you that Paul B. Cutler is not a suitable replacement for guitarist Karl Precoda. Paul runs a little close at times to sounding like one of those "guitar store guys", (You know, those guys who sit at their local Guitar Center all day, jamming out too many note solos, and using every imaginable flashy gimmick to attract attention.), yet he somehow just avoids overdoing it. In fact, Cutler's riffs are creative and add depth to Wynn's well written, but fairly simple songs. That said, the driving force here is Steve Wynn's performance. Even Steve's audience banter has a manic tone to it. You can tell that he's ready for action. This isn't a one dimensional album, there are dynamics to the performance that allow for quiet and build up, but there is an edgy intensity throughout. Wynn's vocals are especially focused. I've heard many of these songs before, but have never been drawn so completely into Wynn's neo-noir stories of the American underbelly. I'm willing to make the bold statement that the tunes from Days of Wines and Roses are as good as the original versions. (Except for "Tell Me When It's Over", of which the original will never be bettered.) If you don't believe me, check out "That's What They Always Say" and "Halloween". The guitar breaks on both tracks are spurred by Steve Wynn's strangulated attacks on his Strat, which, depending on your point of view, are either sloppy and unprofessional, or inspired and brilliant. I choose the latter. And there's more good news - when Wynn goes off on his tirades, the normally reasonable Cutler also decides to attempt to lay waste to his guitar. Cutler and Wynn make a hellish racket that's barely held together by the ryhthm section. In a word, perfect. The real suprise for me is that the songs that I hadn't heard are actually damn good, and in this context, every bit as good as their older stuff. This album documents that this band was really at their peak in a live setting toward the end of their existence.

MV & EE with The Bummer Road
Mother of Thousands 2CD/LP
(Time Lag)

Mother of Thousands is being touted as one of the few MV & EE releases that is available to a relatively wide audience. Until now, most of their releases have been micro editions on CDR and LP. Matt Valentine (MV) and Erika Elder (EE) have both been a part of the Tower Recordings, along with Tim Barnes (who also runs the excellent Quakebasket label) and Sumara Lubelski. They are joined on this release by Nemo Bidstrup and Sparrow Wildchild. I've followed the Tower Recordings over the years since their Siltbreeze days and have never been disappointed. As for MV&EE and the Bummer Road, I've just jumped on the bandwagon, having just recently acquired three of their recordings, including this one. First off, I can see only minor similarities between MV & EE and the Tower Recordings. MV & EE are much more free-form and wacked out, to my ears. Since this release is more widely available than usual, it's strange that it's no more accessible than the other work that I've heard. In fact, it's more "out there" than anything I've heard by them to this point. The album opens with "the Joyous Within", a spaced out droney piece which sets the scene for the remainder of the first disc. "Cold Rain, "Beautiful Mountain" and "Sunshine Girl" are the most song oriented tunes on the first disc. There is a whiff of Neil Young influence to these songs at times, although that description would be misleading in it's over-simplification. A sense of rural detachment is present in this work, as if it was created in a vacuum. The brilliant "Anthem of the Cocola Y&T" takes the first four or five minutes of its 13 minute plus length to get off the ground. It starts off with some at times almost Jandek-like guitar plunking, then slowly unravels as additional guitars join in, seemingly playing random guitar riffs. Somehow it coalesces into a kind of folky tune, with cool detached vocal harmonies by Matt and Erika (and their dog!), ultra reverbed psych guitar and violin. The second disc consists of interpretations of blues songs by Mississippi John Hurt, Charey Patton and Rev. Gary Davis. "Meditations on Payday" is as spaced out as a take on a blues song has ever been. It's a fascinating track from beginning to end. I'd try to describe it, but I'm not sure I could do it justice. "Banry Rooster Blues", which just Erika sings over spare guitar accompaniment, is probably the most straight-forward track on the album. "Dissatisfied", which I'm guessing is "traditional" since it's not credited, is a quiet track as well. It includes harp, more guitars, and some stoned sounding vocals by Matt. The last track, "Death Don't Have No Mercy" is over 23 minutes of haunted atmosphere. It comes across at times as a soundtrack for being lost in the woods, and ends the album on a high note. It's really hard to analyze this album on a track by track basis, but allow me to make some observations about this music: Matt and Erika's vocals are strange to the ear at first, since their singing style is unique. Once you listen for a while, however, the vocals make perfect sense. The music goes in so may directions at once, that the simple vocals, with their odd harmonies and relaxed feel, fit in with the backwoods vibe. Mo' Jiggs is credited with "harp environments" among other things here, and that description makes a lot of sense. The harmonica's rustic, lonesome tone is actually the base atmosphere at times during several of these songs. The interesting thing about this music is that there's no heirarchy between the different instruments. No one instrument dominates the proceedings at one time. Because of this multi-directional style, there is always something new to find in these recordings with repeated listens. Listening to this music, I'm reminded of another time in life when I first heard PIL's Metal Box. Of course this music is nothing like PIL, but that's not what I'm getting at here. When I heard that album, I was only familiar with Johnny Lydon as Rotten from the Pistols. The only thought that I had when I first heard Metal Box was "what the fuck is this?" I'd never heard anything like it because there was nothing like it. It took me a while to be able to process it enough to know whether I liked it or hated it. In a couple of weeks, I came to the realization that it was brilliant. When I introduced the album to my friends, there were polarized views, but most didn't take the time to get it. Well , like I said, MV & EE with the Bummer Band and PIL aren't alike. Except for the fact that they're creating something completely new.

A series of short reviews...
More stuff I've picked up in the last 3 months or so.

You can at least expect my reviews to be honest, because I actually pay for this stuff. I don't get it free, not that I would mind that. (If you wanna send me something to review, go for it!) Also, I don't download available releases. I don't care if people do that, but it ain't for me. Artists get fucked left and right by sleazy music business types (sometimes even indie record companies). It's almost impossible for anybody to do music full time as a result. That being said, I have no problem with somebody downloading huge mega-hits released on one of those evil multi-media conglomerate labels. Fuck them.



Colin Potter
It Was Like This... 2CD(r?)
(ICR)

Colin Potter is a sound artist who runs Integrated Circuit Records and Studio. Some of the most brilliant soundscape and drone works in the past 10 or so years have come out on ICR. Colin has collaborated with many of these artists, and has been involved in a few acts, notably Monos, Ora and Nurse With Wound. It was like this... was released at the time of the Nurse With Wound show which took place in San Francisco a few months back, and it consists of two disks of live material which span seven years. The music is an interesting mix of ambient drones, keyboard music, and, rare for Mr. Potter, some beats. The fact that there's more variety than normal for a Potter disk has its good and bad points. On the plus side, there's really nothing bad here, and it's nice to see that Potter is unafraid to experiment with different styles. On the other hand, the fact that the performances change direction from one to the next tends to detract from the continuity a bit. That's really a quibble though, especially since it seems that this material is intended to be archival. Considering that these recordings are board mixes from live shows, the sound is very good. Each of the performances are creative and well executed. The work also has an ominous atmosphere at times, which makes for some fun. This release comes with no artwork, and though the ICR website says this is a double CDR, it looks to me like they are standard pressed CD's. At the time it was released, there was some bogus information going around that this was limited to 100. It's not, so I expect it will be attainable for some time.

Nurse With Wound
Rat Tapes One CD
(ICR)

Rat Tapes One was released initially at the Nurse With Wound gig in San Francisco referenced in the Colin Potter review above. Aparently, there are 50 copies floating around with original "rusted" artwork by Jim Haynes. This release brings to mind an older Nurse With Wound release, A Sucked Orange, which was a collection of short pieces that Steve Stapleton released so that he wouldn't have to transport them on his move from England to Ireland. This release, billed as "An accumulation of discarded musical vermin 1983-2006", contains 18 un-named tracks. There are several instances where sounds from previous NWW albums are evident. Most evident are sounds from Rock and Roll Station and Thunder Perfect Mind, in the form of percussion tracks, bells, weird keyboards, etc. Some of these tracks work great on their own, but as a whole, the album doesn't hold together that well. There are a few short tracks which are fairly annoying little sketches, specifically the recurring sped up xylophone-sounding tracks. There are some suprises here that aren't normally expected for a NWW album. There's a weird Zappa cover, complete with vocals (by Steven Stapleton, I think) and a fairly straight ahead techno track. Sandwiched between are some trademark surrealist tracks that wouldn't sound out of place on a mid to late 80's NWW album, which is a good thing. The last track sounds like a remix of the extra track included on the Chance Meeting On A Dissecting Table... reissue, which was a recitation by David Tibet of the bands on the famous Nurse With Wound list. The list of influential bands was included in the original Chance Meeting LP, and later expanded when reissued. It has since become a Holy Grail for record collector geeks. While this CD has many fine moments, I find it hard to listen to over and over because of its disjointed nature. I realise I may be missing the point, since a release like this is expected to be scrappy. Still, I can't help but be disappointed, since a little editing would have made this a great album, instead of an album that has some great stuff, but is weighed down by under-developed material.





Nurse With Wound
Soundpooling CD
(ICR)

Among the recent torrent of Nurse With Wound releases comes Soundpooling. Most of this album was recorded live in Vienna, with a line up comprised of Steven Stapleton, Diana Rogerson (Steven's wife), Colin Potter and Matt Waldron (Irr. app. ext.). The first track, a 66+ minute performance, is billed as "improvisations on Salt Marie Celeste and Echo: Poeme Sequence No.2". Indeed there are many identifiable sounds from each of those releases present here, as well as sounds that seem to show up from a couple other releases, namely the Angry Eelectric Finger series, and possibly Man With the Woman Face (although I'm not positive about the latter). Salt Marie Celeste's creaking, sinking boat seems to be the frame for this performance. It is overlaid with sounds which gradually build in volume and insanity up to about the three quarter point, then slowly dies down again. The improvisors add depth to this work which creates a soundfield that is creepy, mysterious and very surreal. The second track, In Swollen Silence, is a relatively short studio track. Although the mammoth opening track is a hard act to follow, this track makes for a fine, demented coda. It's certainly not as subtle, since there are big jumps in volume at times, but it gets the job done. All in all, certainly one of the finest and most wacked out of the recent NWW releases. A rare instance where a live performance equals, if not exceeds the artist's studio work.

Keiji Haino & Sitaar Tah!

Animamima 2CD

(Archive)

The Sitaar Tah! are a 20 peice sitar orchestra, joined on this live performance by multi-intstrumentalist Keiji Haino, who adds flute, hurdy gurdy, vocals and a couple other instruments. I'd imagine a lot of people would consider this a drone recording, and I guess in part that would be fair. There are moments that could be compared to the Taj Mahal Travellers type of drone (which means this is really loud for the most part!). However, I don't think it really fits all that comfortably into one category, because there is way too much activity here to simply consider this a drone. It's more like an intense jam session. The Sitaar Tah! really seem to dominate the proceedings with their cross cutting improvisations. Their ability to improvise on such a scale, and not sound like a mess is nothing short of amazing. Haino adds flourishes with other instruments, which helps to elevate this performance in subtle ways, because he adds layers of sound in appropriate measure. The vocals at the end of disc one are fairly typical of Haino in their brutality, but, other than that, he manages to blend tastefully with the Sitaar Tah! This is a split release on Important/aRCHIVE, and as expected for any recording released by aRCHIVE, the packaging is unique and classy. There's a gatefold sleeve with a die cut which exposes what looks like an actual photograph with Keiji Haino on the front. It's limited to 1000 copies, and well worth seeking out.

Tom Carter & Robert Horton

Steeljaguar Rocket CD

(Digitalis)

This release is a follow up to this duo's Lunar Eclipse, which came out last year on Important Records. Carter, of member of Charalambides, has also collobarated recently with Horton in the bands Kyrgyz and Mudsuckers. Obviously, a lot of time was put into the editing of this material. There is a restlessness to these tracks that warrant close listening. This is not to say that these recordings are over the top, only that there is almost always a dense layer of sounds from different sources. The first track "Steeljaguar for Rocket" is the centerpiece. It's over 30 minutes long, and keeps you guessing the whole way. It starts as a drone that seems to include ebow guitar, keyboards and distant feedback. At around the fifteen minute mark some wah wah guitar comes in, followed by a bass and drum backing track. Then all hell breaks loose as insane psych guitar comes in from all directions. I can't even guess how many guitar tracks were used, but like I said previously, it's somehow not over the top. As the freakout progresses, backwards guitar tracks are layered over the frontwards ones, then the backing bass/drum track begins to fade, and somehow morph into a horn track. The horns get manipulated, and continue until about the 21 minute mark. Then the drone reappears, and is overlaid with violin by Hal Hughes. The volin fits in perfectly with the drone, which is constantly shifting underneath. The second track, "Rocket #9", pulls the Basil Kirchin trick of blending natural sounds into music to keep you guessing which is which. It starts off with geese sounds that morph into saxes, which both squawk similarly, then it progresses into a kind of free jazz jam, with plenty of sounds underneath. The last track is by far the noisiest of the three tracks that make up this CD. A carpet of sounds are laid out, most of which are unidentifiable, with the exception of guitars and feedback, which are evident. It's a blown out track which makes for a nice head cleaner. Although it's clear that a lot of time and effort went into this CD, Horton and Carter have put together a release which avoids the overly serious attitude that is too often taken with improv music. It sounds like they had fun making this, and it's a hell of a lot of fun to listen to.

Robert Horton

Warmth 1987 CDR

(Foxglove)

Warmth 1987 is volume 4 of Robert Horton's "archive series". Three other volumes have been released on Sloow Tapes, Jyrk and 23 Productions. Robert Horton has been extraordinarily prolific recently, releasing scads of stuff on different labels, mostly in CD-R format. This recording was aparently made in the 80's (duh), but I'm not sure why the name of the track is "rh1983" and the name of the release is Warmth 1987. I'll just assume this was completed in 1987. The aforementioned track is about 46 minutes long, and it's a drone created on two reel to reel machines. It's impossible to tell what the source material for the loop is, and somehow a boot is credited, along with the telling "rileytronics." This is a gentle drone piece, which actually reminds me less of Terry Riley and actually a bit more of some of Andrew Chalk's recent work. The piece moves at a relatively glacial pace, but is not static. It gets a bit louder, and more active at the midpoint, and works its way back to a gentle tone similar to the beginning. While this release is not a life changer, it makes for nice listening, and is accomplished loop music. This is limited to 100 copies.

Imperfect Masters

Strike Out CDR

(Foxglove)

How to review this? This is a weird one. The Imperfect Masters are made up principally of Robert Horton and Dan Plonsey, with members of the latter's band Daniel Popsicle. The song titles on Strike Out are mostly baseball related, with titles like "Outa Here", "Warning Track" and "Coincidence Plonsey On Deck". The music could be described as Sun Ra meets Anthony Braxton jazz mixed with weirdo drones and general noisemaking. Of course, that's an over-simplification, but as I already alluded, this is hard to describe. There are a couple of drone pieces here, but rather than just straight overtones, they usually seem to have live instruments on top of them. There are also some free jazz moments, with Horton's dense layer of noises thrown into the mix. Daniel Plonsey and his band are such fine musicians it's amazing to me that they haven't achieved more exposure. Plonsey exhibits a rare playfullness, and sense of humor which is missing from the current field of contemporary jazz or improv acts. As usual for Robert Horton, he makes noises with anything that comes to hand. He uses a dozen or so fairly traditional instruments, then "vibrator", "boot", " sex machine", "broken cassette player", etc. There seems to be an homage to Sun Ra running through this release, the obvious being "the Mighty Sun Ra at the Bat", which is credited as "Sun Ra arranged by Horton/Plonsey." The drone tracks, particularly "the Age of the First Ash Tree", are very enjoyable, and wedge into the mix nicely. Imperfect Masters Strike Out is a release which ignores the lines between genres, making for a refreshing change of pace.

That's it for now. I'm still digesting some other stuff, but I'm not quite ready to write up reviews yet. I just got the Loren Connors 3 CD singles collection Night Through, and it's a lot to take in. I'll go out on a limb and say it's goddamn awesome.

Some random video clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTQUQYDMGsw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmVCdPe2_Ao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9O2tsIbKD0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPy2_tTHsB4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZlyUgXG1qQ

I'm just starting to figure this blogging shit out so bear with me...It's Halloween, and I'm gonna try to write a couple more of my reviews which will most likely be read by few.


Pothole Skinny
Our Vanishing Landscape CDR
(Foxglove)

From what I've read this band is from Jersey City. I've been to Jersey City, and all I could think of was the Sopranos when I was there. Not to say it's crappy, but the landscape is fairly accurately represented on the show. It's a little old town surrounded by industry, in the shadow of NYC. Lotsa paving, lotsa dirt. I'm sure there are some nice neighborhoods, but nothing about it brings to mind quiet, rural sounding psychedelia. Of course, that's what this is. It does get a little menacing at times (as all good psych should), but for the most part it consists of repetive, acoustic based riffs, layered with flutes, electric guitar, effects, etc. This CDR consists of three tracks, the shortest of which is 14 minutes, so all of these tunes take their time building into droney weirdness. When I first heard this I thought it was good, but maybe a little too slight and un-threatening. The more I listen to it, however, I've found that it's actually quite layered. There's little guitar and flute (Or whatever instrument is making flute-like sounds) detours all over the place, and some general noise making that I missed the first time around. Pat Gubler (PG Six) contributes to the last track, and although this recording doesn't sound like PG Six or Tower Recordings (PG's other bands), it is a strong track. Nice guitar stuff, well worth investigating. This is limited to 150.

www.digitalisindustries.com/foxglove.html




Coleclough & Murmur
Husk
(ICR)

I picked up the 2CD limited edition of this release because I sold a bunch of stuff on eBAY, and I had a good amount of PayPal dollars (which almost always go right back into music purchases.) I start by saying this, because, if that wasn't the case, I probably wouldn't have shelled out the over $30 that this is selling for in the US. You see, I'm a cynical motherfucker, and I assume that a 2CD limited edition is going to consist of one good album (maybe), and an additional disc of lame remixes or shit that didn't make the cut for the "good" album.
Much to my suprise, in this case, the bonus disc actually overshadows the "good" album. The first disc consists of four pieces over 74 minutes. Of course, being a John Coleclough work, this is drone music, and it seems to be sourced from found sounds. I think a lot of the found sounds are Murmer's department. I've never heard anything by Murmur, so I won't pretend to be an expert. The first track starts with kind of a refrigerator hum, then slowly builds with the addition of eerie layers of sound. Throughout the disc, there's also storms, water sounds, kids voices, forest sounds (ala Monos), and other stuff which I couldn't identify. The first CD is cool, but the bonus disc is much more active and intense. It has three tracks, and is about 45 minutes long. It's harder to make out the found sounds, yet these pieces are almost melodic at times. I recommend selling some crap music, so that you too can afford the limited edition 2CD version. It's limited to 200.

www.icrdistribution.com/ or, in the U.S. try:
www.ominousdrone.com




We Jam Econo
The Story of the Minutemen DVD

It took me a while to watch this entire thing as there is over 5 hours of footage on both DVD's. The movie itself is a fairly straightforward documentary. It includes interviews conducted with the band over 20 years ago, and concert footage of the band in action. The quality of the concert action is raw, but the energy level is high, so it flows nicely within the framework of the film. The film also includes interviews with the surviving band members now, other musicians, and family members. The other musicians are people who either know them, or were influenced by them in some way. Some of the musicians are: Milo Aukerman (Descendents, All), J. Mascis, Joe Biaza (Sacharine Trust), John Doe (X), Flea, Henry Rollins (Black Flag), Richard Hell, Keith Morris (Circle Jerks, Black Flag) and the ubiquitus Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth, collaborations with every known musician on earth).
The most interesting aspect of the movie is the way it depicts the friendship between Mike Watt and D. Boon, prior to his untimely death in 1985. Mike Watt's interview segments, though rambling at times, manage to elevate this film above the typical rock documentary. Watt provides a tour of San Pedro, where he and D. Boon grew up, and met as teenagers. He explains how neither of them could play an instrument at the time, which makes for some pretty amusing stories. This film comes off as both a memorial to D. Boon, and a tribute to the DIY spirit that the Minutemen, and many of the underground bands of their day embodied. In short, if you're even remotely interested in their music, this movie is indispensable.
The extras are cool too. There's almost 4 hours of extra footage in the form of deleted scenes, all of their music videos, and two full concerts. Outstanding.

www.theminutemen.com/

Hi, this is my blog. Seems like a pretty ridiculous thing to do, but what the fuck? I'll just roll right into some reviews of some stuff I've picked up lately. I'll keep this up as long as my atention span will allow.




Charalambides
A Vintage Burden
Kranky Records

A Vintage Burden is Charalambides latest studio album, which comes two years after their last official album, Joy Shapes, and a few CD-R releases on their Wholly Other label (some of which I plan to review at some point). Unlike Joy Shapes, which included Heather Leigh Murray (also with Scorces), Charalmbides are Tom and Christina Carter for this release. This album is definitely less tense or "difficult" than the previous album, and therefore, it's their most accesible album to this point. Doesn't make it a commercial album though. The songs tend to build slowly, feature repeating guitar lines, and are for the most part pretty gentle. I've heard Charalambides described as psych/folk before, probably due to the fact that there's no drums or bass, and because Christina has a fairly reedy vocal quality. I agree that there a psychedelic quality to their music, but I think that vocally Christina is a little closer to Patty Waters, and, I may be insane for thinking it, but some of the songs here remind me a little bit of Bless It's Pointed Little Head era Jefferson Airplane. But it would be doing an injustice to this work to pigeonhole it in any way. I must say, the vocals on this album are beautiful. Christina Carter's voice is multi-tracked most of the time, creating these weird, just in tune harmonies.
"Spring" and "Dormant Love" are as close as this band comes to verse/chorus music, and because of their inclusion, this album feels a bit more structured than some of their other releases. The next two songs "Black Bed Blues" and "Two Birds" are slow, long tracks that each build to fascinating multi-tracked guitar explorations. I've listened to this album over and over, and each time I listen to it, I hear something new. The guitars throughout this album are meticulously placed. There's multitudes of sounds because of the use of picks, acoustics, pedal steel, ebow, slides, etc. It's impossible to tell what was improvised, and what wasn't, but everything comes together beautifully. My favorite album of the year by far.

www.kranky.net



Zaika
Recording From Il Corral CD-R
(Heavy Other)

Zaika is Tom Carter from Charalambides and Marcia Bassett from Double Leopards. This recording consists of one 29 minute piece, starts out with some nice feedback shaped drone, and eventually work its way up to an intense racket around the 18-20 minute mark. I wish I could describe it in more detail, but it's fairly impossible to tell who's doing what. Other than some Psych guitar and ebow, it's equally impossible to guess what instruments or effects are present here. This is a pretty heavy noisefest I guess, but I find it to be pleasant listening, despite Tom Carter's description of this as "a barbed wire q-tip". Yeah, it's got loads of feedback, but it all seems to fit together nicely, and it never gets boring or aimless. This CDR's limited to 205, on Heavy Other, which is an offshoot of Wholly Other.

www.wholly-other.com

Bardo Pond

Live

(aRCHIVE)

I have to admit I haven't kept up with this band since Dilate came out, however long ago that was. I picked this up because aRCHIVE seem to put out cool stuff, and just to see what these guys are up to these days. This CD is a live recording, made at somebody's house in Philly, to an audience of around 20 people. The first track, which clocks in at over 1/2 hour, starts and ends with a mellow psychedelic jam, which is droney, spacious and actually a little relaxing. The middle of the piece peaks with a bed of feedback, effects and violin, making it an immersive listen. The second track doesn't quite grab me quite as much as the first, not that it's bad or anything. It doesn't seem to get off the ground quite as much as the previous one, maybe because it's only 12 minutes or so in length, and doesn't have as much time to develop. The cool thing about this release is that it has a real you are there vibe. Listening to this CD, it's easy to imagine yourself sitting in somebody's living room with a beer (or whatever else is available), mellowing out to good music. Looks like it's time to dig up some Bardo stuff that I've missed out on these past few years.

www.archivecd.com