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| Musical Prozac |
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Hey everyone. It's been way too long, how've you been? I figured it's about damn time I got off (actually on) my ass and banged out another little editorial. It's been so long since I updated anything that I wonder if I still know how to do it. Time to knock off the cobwebs and see what's cooking. Really, I blame my other toys. Fallout 3 on the old XBox has officially taken more than 60 hours of my free time, before that was Call of Duty or something else where I get to shoot people in the face. The rest is split between reading books and magazines, and playing with the other main toy in my life, my iPhone. That thing is so retardedly cool that I actually hate it. I think they reviewed it in Concussion (RIP) so I won't expand further. Books, let's see, what have I been reading? The Artie Lange autobiography was good, I read Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. I love that guy. Is it a sign of old fartedness when you find yourself watching multiple cooking shows? Oh yeah, I also got my hands on The R.Crumb Handbook. For those of you that aren't comic book fans, think Fritz the Cat, Mr Natural, Keep on Truckin'. Yeah, that guy. Well apparently, he is also quite the music collector, and there is a CD included with the book that has about 20 tracks of his work. It's great ragtimey jazz banjo stuff, and it's makes the book about 10 times more valuable. Wanna hear some examples? Check this link:
NPR interview
That's right, you summabitches, I started off with some banjo! Deal with it. Next up is an early Butthole Surfers interview, followed up by some live footage from around the same time. Check out Gibby's hair:
Part 1
Part 2
Classic. Here's the live footage:
Butthole Surfers
That almost, ALMOST, makes up for Pepper. The Butthole Surfers reminded me to mention this next item. The independent music community lost a major contributor recently. Touch and Go records were responsible for the release of tons of great independent albums over the last quarter century or so, and they had to file for bankruptcy a couple of weeks ago. Another victim of the economy, although you can probably add the fact that nobody I know buys CDs anymore. This article on Pitchfork sums up some of the highlights nicely. I am personally hyped to see Enon on that list. That record is one of my sleepers that I like to bust out to impress fellow music nerds. Anyway, there's a little something for everyone on the list, and maybe it will motivate you to dig through the old records and relive some good times. Here you go:
Touch and Go top 25
I found a video of Enon on You Tube. I shouldn't be surprised, there's all kinds of shit on there. If you like the whole cute Japanese chick vocal thing, this will be right up your alley:
In This City
Oh shit. No Reservations is on, and I think I am going to take a Fallout 3 break after that. I'll be back in a bit, and then we'll switch gears. Maybe...
...See? That's exactly what I am talking about. Anthony Bourdain was in Sri Lanka. He always makes me want to immediately travel to wherever he is in that episode. And then I played that fucking game for about 4 hours. Then I was drunk and it was midnight. What an awesome existence. Notice that I haven't mentioned skateboarding once? That's because it's snowing. There's a local joke that goes like this. Q: What do you call two days of rain in Seattle? A: The weekend. That's no lie, either. Yesterday, Friday, was a perfect cloudless day, right around the low to mid 50's. Today, Saturday, it's snowing. Anyway, lets get back to some music. So I've been poking around the music scene here and there's a lot of stuff going on. Of course, you got the local heroes at Sub Pop. They can always be counted on for some solid output. My current favorites are probably Comets On Fire. Their brand of psychedelic guitar rock is totally up my alley. It's a pretty unique approach, and I am a sucker for those extendo-guitar jams. Here, check this out, maybe it's up your alley too:
Sour Smoke
I have a friend that works at Sub Pop, and her husband and I will sit for hours and talk about music. I usually end up talking to him about stuff from the 90's, like shoegaze and some of the great bands that got swept under the rug when grunge rolled through. And I usually talk to her about what's popular now. And i'll be damned, but what seems to be really popular now is pretty much the opposite of what I would expect from these fucked up times we are going through. Here's my theory. Art reflects the lives of the artists that make it (obviously), and times of turmoil can end up producing some great, revolutionary art. More simply, when people are pissed off, they make pissed off music. But based on what's most popular (at least at Sub Pop), there is a definite move towards the pretty and melodic. One of the most popular groups the label has right now is Fleet Foxes, and they make very nice, easy-to-listen-to music. When's the last time you heard 4 part harmonies, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young? Well, other reviews have thrown that out when talking about Fleet Foxes, so there you go. Here, have a listen:
White Winter Hymnal
See? It's nice. My first impression was "musical Prozac", to be completely honest, but it's growing on me. Besides, you only get a million hits on You Tube by doing something really good or something spectacularly bad. And this isn't bad. Another one of the more popular groups is Blitzen Trapper. Their new album, Furr is a good listen. Here's one of my favorite songs off that album:
Black River Killer
So maybe my theory needs a little adjusting, but I think it still applies. This music is definitely reflective of the times we live in, and in the right way. Think about it, things are ugly and shitty all over. We are surrounded, bombarded by violent images, superfake celebrities, and fearmongering in general. No need to add to that environment and besides, how are you gonna out-violent our governments and armies, out-fake our pop celebrities, or create more fear than the network nightly newscasts? So, I think that this music is so appealing to so many because it's the opposite of what gets shoved down our throats every day. Maybe it really is musical Prozac, and I mean that in the best possible way.
Fuck Prozac, you say? I want loud, fast, ugly and profane? Well my friends, there's plenty of that out there too. Here's a local band, Rat City Ruckus, and I think they would take loud, fast, ugly and profane as a compliment. And then they would probably punch me in the face or something. Check it:
MP3 sample page
Pretty much ideal for popping in the boom box to hype the session up, right? Let's see, I think it's about time to wrap this bad boy up, but I have one more thing to share with y'alls. It's my understanding that vinyl is kind of surging in popularity lately. Apparently, people are either going digital with downloads, or vinyl. And what's not to love? I love album covers, and there really is no better sound. Amazing that after all this time, vinyl still sounds best. The guy in this last clip knows, he has (or had, rather) the largest record collection in the world. This mini documentary is awesome, and made me wish I had 3 million dollars laying around. I'll leave you with this, see ya next time.
The Archive
Roy Starin
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