The tilt of the tape head in the direction perpendicular to the tape travel.Sometimes what drives you is fear.
A Swarm of the Sun
I really wanted to skip my post today. I had a long week, followed by a bender of a weekend. I kept playing all the new tunes I had recently received, but nothing was worth mentioning. There were even some unfinished posts I thought about finishing, but the music that I once thought was fresh enough to write about seemed stale today. I read about the Taylor/Kanye performances at the VMA’s so I figured I better watch those performances.Those would surely give me something to write about! Sadly, although I’d love to rehash the discussion about these two, BOTH their performances put me to sleep.
Nothing in the inbox was speaking to me. My last chance was in the mailbox! I found two CD sized envelopes and quickly open the one that has the international postage on it! Sweden?
I rip it open and see it’s a CD by a group called A Swarm of the Sun. I think I remember previewing this online, and I remember it was really good. I hope I’m not wrong…I need to get this post done!
I throw the CD in and begin listening while reading the press release. A Swarm of the Sun is from Sweden (right…I got that…) and the core group is Erik Nilsson and Jakob Berglund who are joined by a number of musical collaborators.
It’s right around now that I get to track two in the CD and I get that tingle… Oh yeah…this has fucking got everything. It’s light and dark. Strong yet fragile. It’s got an Industrial sound that simmers until boiling over in a searing explosion of guitar and distortion. It’s like the song you might hear in a movie where the protagonist realizes the Zombie Armageddon is upon him. He reloads his shotgun and wipes the blood off his brow while this song plays in the background. The title is called “This One Has No Heart” and I suggest you crank the volume all the way up!
The full-length debut is called Zenith, it was released August 30th of this year. The band documented the making of the album through a series of pictures on their facebook page. If you like Nine Inch Nails, and need something to fill the hole Trent left in your heart when he decided to put NIN on the shelf, then click the Amazon link below.
We sell crutches in Las Vegas. In all shapes in sizes. We have one for every type of person, ready for emergency use. Even if you’re healthy and able, we’d like to provide you one in advance…in case you stumble and fall.
What ever it is that will make you feel better, it’s here. It’s temporary and fleeting, but for a short time you will feel whole again. Renewed and alive. In the end it will cripple you completely.
Sex? Food? Drugs? Got a gamblers spirit? Need a companion, or two? Looking for a savior? It’s all here.
I have lived here since I was 3 years old. It’s home. Living here will build some callouses in your armpit. I’ve grabbed a free crutch or two. I’ve window shopped for crutches, needing to understand the drive of this person or that. I’ve bought crutches in time of need, and stolen them in times of great happiness. Still, I am stronger for all of this. My two feet ARE in fact capable of holding myself up.
Yet.
Sometimes…sometimes you just wanna give your feet a rest.
It’s a city that will eat you alive. You’ll never enjoy that more than here.
Sunsets and neon lights Call girls and neon lights Black jack and lady luck Cocaine and lady luck You call upon her on holy knees tonight
I am always to excited to see a local band make it big. The Killers are a certified success, with 15 million records sold worldwide, but in my heart…I just wasn’t sure what to think. The songs I loved by The Killers were scattered across their 4 studio albums, but was I ready to stand by this band of ours? We’ve had bands break out and up from this neon jungle before. Panic At The Disco! was the other BIG band that blasted out of the Vegas Valley. Sure, I loved much of “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out”, but still something was missing. Where is the song that sums up what it’s like to live here in my City of Sin?
Ends up, it wasn’t a band, but Killers frontman Brandon Flowers gone solo that finally provides the link and connection for me. This connection came via his brilliant solo album called Flamingo, set to be released September 14th, 2010.
The opening sounds of tree crickets at night, that start the song and album off, to the the final words of “the house always wins” are bookends to the most perfect song about Las Vegas I have ever heard. Brandon Flowers would know. He is from Vegas, as you might know. Brandon was born in Henderson, NV (very close to Las Vegas) and lived here until he was 8, when his family moved to Utah. After his junior year of high school, he returned to Las Vegas to live with his aunt. The rest is history, so to speak. He went on to form the Vegas-based band The Killers and live out a dream of being a musician and songwriter.
The song title, “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas,” is a greeting known to locals and tourists alike. The words emblazon the sign you see at the top of this post. The sign that greets you as you enter the Las Vegas Blvd., THE Strip, from the South end of town. It doesn’t stop there, as I mentioned earlier. Those tree crickets at the beginning of the song? I can step outside on to my patio, right now, and hear those same sounds. They are the sounds of my home for the last 30 years. The pull already of this song has me in a tight orbit. Then the lyrics. The lyrics are so perfectly written. I can see visions of my own life, in this town, flash in front of my minds eye. The feelings and smells. The neon framing my misadventures and misfortune as well as the joy and love.
Cameras on the ceiling tile no place for you to hide One-Oh-Seven and you’re looking for shade That no palm tree can provide But there’s a little girl you remember back in Tennessee You have this recurring dream Where you see her playing hide and seek With a woman who used to know you very well
It’s not the the kind of song the Las Vegas Tourist Bureau would ever want to use for a commercial, but it is the song that most accurately paints the picture of this town. From the eyes of someone who has stayed a little too long.
Las Vegas makes you wonder sometimes. Where does your strength come from. Is it me standing, or is there a crutch under my arms. You wonder if the hot blonde you love is just a crutch. We all need a ninja-killing lover to save us from ourselves, don’t we? Don’t we?
The Little One and I have begun frequenting a particular bar once a week to enjoy happy hour drinks and food specials. We have become fast friends with the bartender there, he pours heavy and provides some great conversations.
One of the down sides of this particular bar is that there is no jukebox. Like most bars, they are moving away from the jukebox to Satellite Radio. Mostly because allowing your drunk customers to have control over what the bar is forced to listen to is problematic. Imagine the drunk guy or girl who just broke up with their significant other? The entire bar will want to slit their collective wrists from having to listen to $5 worth of sad breakup songs. I have been known to throw $5 in and play all my favorite post-hardcore bands. Usually after only the second song the “regulars” tend to grumble. After 4 songs they usually turn the volume down!
Even with satellite radio, patrons will grumble. When the bartender overheard me complaining about Chris Cornell though, it nearly started a war!
If you have been reading my posts on this blog, you know I can’t stand ANY incarnation of a band that includes Chris Cornell. I’ve tried. I was even hopeful about that abortion of an album, “Scream”, Chris did with Timbaland. The single was good…but the rest of the album was just a disjointed mess. I try to avoid sharing my opinions on Cornell in public. The fans of Soundgarden or Audioslave are many, and I am but one. Unfortunately, the alcohol had loosened my lips, and I blurted out to the bartender “Chris Cornell is a talentless twat!”
The bartender erupts in disbelief. “Soundgarden! Audioslave!” he exclaims. “All garbage,” I respond. He walks around the bar to tell his patrons of what has just been uttered from the other corner of the bar.
Or something like that. I was drunk.
I watch as he walks around the bar. I watch the people squint their faces to listen to what the bar-keep is ranting on about. Then I see their faces change. Surprise at first. Then to contempt as they scan the bar to see who uttered such blasphemy.Then they lock eyes with me. Then I see hate.
I held my head high, affirmed in my belief.
Then the crowd seems to surround me. They begin to test me..to figure out who they are dealing with. They ask me about Mother Love Bone. Temple Of the Dog. Singles. Seattle. “Do you like Pearl Jam?” they ask. “Yes!” I reply. “Do you like Pantera?” they ask. “Meh,” I respond. “Alice In Chains?” they ask, with their breath held. “No,” I mutter. Drunk or not, I should have never allowed them to lead me into this trap.
They all turn on me, with blood in their eyes. I think secretly they all know Cornell is a hack…but their beloved Layne Staley? The juggernaut that is Alice In Chains? This will NOT pass! They begin to joke and laugh me off. They taunt me and throw insults. Until, that is, the drunk burn out Granger speaks up.
Granger is considered by the regulars of the bar as THE music guru. He is usually heavily sedated by grain alcohol, and tonight is no exception. Granger clears his throat. “I agree,” he says to me. Granger continues, “There are better bands. Tool for example.” I’m not even sure exactly what he means, but the bar is hushed.
“Tool is amazing. League of their own,” I spit out.
The bar retreats, grumbling and disappointed, back to their stools. Unsure where to go from here. Their wise Granger has spoken, and HE approves of the visitor from another land.
I have only one friend left in the building, and if I don’t befriend him and strengthen this new found friendship, then I’ll probably get shanked on the way out to my car.
The Black Angels
Granger and I parry. Nothing too aggressive. We throw out names of bands and artists. The other agrees when a good choice is named, and sends back a few more names the other way. We finally get to the final draw. “Thrice. Amazing Post-Hardcore band. Do you know them?” I ask the wise but wobbly Granger. “Thrice? No. I’ll check into them. Have you heard of The Black Angels? Neo-psychedelia. Post-Punk,” he says. He knows now that we are finished. You see it in his face. It’s a draw. We’ll continue another day perhaps. But not today. He is my nemesis…and I am his.
He retreats into the night and I pay my bill and do the same. Immediately when I get home I research The Black Angels. I buy the albums, create a playlist, and meet my pillow in an embrace.
Click image to see full size
The next day I put The Black Angels on the iPhone and head out into to my day. The first album I really get into is the self-titled one released in 2005. It’s getting me really exicted! It’s like Jim Morrison meet the Beatles in a dark LCD fueled dream. The band has toured with Wolfmother, The Black Keys, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to name a few. Those three bands in particular though, do share acoustic similarities with The Black Angels. Dark, Bluesy, effect heavy guitars. Let’s listen to track one off this album. A cut called Black Grease.
There is two other albums by the Black Angels you can and should pick up right now. “Directions To See A Ghost” and the indie-acclaimed, internationally praised “Passover”.
I checked out The Black Angels official site and discover they have a new album coming out September 14th on Blue Horizon Records. I suggest the pre-order. I’ve already paid for mine. Has Granger? I doubt it.
I bet he hasn’t even heard the new song Bad Vibrations. Guess who did? That’s right…Us.
One of my guilty pleasures, and I have many, would be comics. More specifically, the graphic novel. Graphic novels are like watching a TV series on DVD. You get all the episodes in one neat package, and you don’t have to wait a month to get the new issue at the comic book store.
Not that I mind going to the comic book store…but it saves me money if I don’t have to go that frequently. Mostly because I lack self control. It’s exponentially harder when your comic book store is as great as mine. Alternate Reality Comics is, and I say this with confidence because I’ve been around, the BEST comic book store of ALL TIME! OF ALL TIME! (when I wrote that I channeled Kanye West…)
The reason Alternate Reality is so amazing is the man behind the counter. Ralph Mathieu. Ralph owns the oldest comic book store in Las Vegas. Ralph has been in love with comic books since 1975. That’s 34 years. In 1995 when Dungeon Comics, established in 1987, came up for sale Mr. Mathieu jumped at the chance. He also runs an awesome blog too! About comics obviously. Did I mention he’s German? No? Check out Ich Liebe Comics when you are done here!
The best part is that once Ralph knows what you like, he runs around his store grabbing all the new stuff you should like based on what you are into. He’s never been wrong. This last time I visited the store, I threw him a curve ball. Graphic Novels with a music theme? He hit it out of the park.
Phonogram. Two graphic novels about music. And magic.
You Must Dance
The stories revolve around Phonomancers, those who use music to enter magical states. A world where every song is a spell and every gig a chance for magical misadventure. The second book takes the perspective of 7 different Phonomancers on one night at a club.
I want to share four pages from the book. It’s from the DJ and promoters’ point of view. I should also remind you of the rules of this particular club night.
1. NO BOY SINGERS 2. YOU MUST DANCE 3. NO MAGIC
(You can click the images of the pages to make them full size…)
I thought it would be fun to give you the soundtrack to these four pages. I hope that sharing these songs will romance you into buying the music from these talented women. More importantly, if you live in Vegas, that you might go see Ralph at Alternate Reality, or at least buy these great novels using the Amazon links below. This is the most important part really…to buy the novel. Because…well…because I really need you to. I’ll let the writer of Phonogram, Kieron Gillen give you the bad news about why there will never be a third book:
Best plan I have is just writing series 3 and then writing into my will that assuming I die young and Jamie’s still around, lob him whatever’s in my bank account to draw it. Which is assuming he’d even be willing to do it then. It’s not that we’re bitter about it — well, not just because we’re bitter about it — but that it’s been emotionally exhausting. We’ve been doing “Phonogram” for over 4 years, not including the years before the first series came out. Imagine if we could have just done the comic and not had to deal with any of the shit we’ve had to. We’d have been up to issue 44 now. Instead, we have 13 issues.
I feel frustrated. Enormously lucky, sure, but frustrated. We’ve done this wonderful thing we’re crazy-proud about. But if the whole economic system was just a couple of degrees to the left, everything would have been different. I mean, just to give you an idea about narrow the margins are between what we are and what we could be, if we were selling 6K instead of 4K, we could have done those 44 issues. The difference between breaking even and actually being able to do it in comics is insane. It’s like being kept under ice, clawing. I feel like a bonsai plant.
C’mon people. Do this for me. I need more Phonogram.
I’d feel guilty taking their money…if I wasn’t one of them.
-Rob
I wish I could remember the backstory reason for why people often recommend High Fidelity to me. It’s probably not too crazy to assume that if someone got to know me that they might think I would love this movie. Even after all those recommendations, and reading other books by Nick Hornby, I still managed to never see High Fidelity. Until today. These are my notes while watching the movie. I even notated the elapsed time, in case you want to follow along. Just for the record, if someone had mentioned a relatively unknown Catherine Zeta Jones was in the movie, I might have made it happen sooner. *Also…I probably should have watched it alone.
:17 I love vinyl. I love looking at vinyl. I love listening to vinyl. I love watching vinyls spin on the platter. They have me locked 17 seconds in. 1:29 ah. The chicken or the egg dilemma.
What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?
3:50 I too have had a relationship this short! 6 hours. My day at the YMCA started off awesome as I had attracted the interest of a cute girl with a ponytail and a pink and green jacket. She realized she had better options by the end of the day. 7:40Belle & Sebastian 8:02 Belle & Sebastian is not really Barry’s (Jack Black’s character) cup of tea. Although for me, sometimes you gotta be in the right mood for Belle & Sabastian. 9:37 how can it be bullshit to state a preference 9:51 top five records to play on a monday morning and all that (But it’s Monday afternoon now.)
Rob Gordon (John Cusack)
13:33 look into this Johnny Cash book: Johnny Cash’s autobiography “Cash” by Johnny Cash. 14:35 Snobby record store employees are the bane of my existence. Ever since the guy in the Ween shirt at the store Balcony Lights shunned me. 17:22
Some people never got over Vietnam, or the night their band opened for Nirvana. I guess I never got over Charlie.
20:17 chronological. NO. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL. Holy shit! 21:39 man. I can relate to this feeling. All these parents want is marriage and grandkids. And if it hasn’t happened it must be you who fucks it up. 22:20 Peter Fucking Frampton (baby i love the way) “Baby, I Love Your Way” went to No. 12 on the charts. 23:49 Jack Black wants to date a musician. I kinda want to date a musician too. That would be nice to discuss music, be a part of the process of song writing and creation. I’m just a groupie looking for love…
27:19
Top 5 Side Ones. Track Ones
1. “Janie Jones” by The Clash from The Clash (meh.) 2. “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye from Let’s Get It On 3. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana from Nevermind (Barry: That’s not obvious enough) 4. “White Light/White Heat” by Velvet Underground from White Light/White Heat 5. “Radiation Ruling the Nation” by Massive Attack vs. Mad Professor off No Protection
34:34 LOL Rob Gordon was a dj! I was a DJ. I had a short lived career though. I quit right around the time I realized that DJ’s get paid free drinks and barely any money. That and I hated having to take requests. 35:12 I’ll make you a tape! 41:54 BRUCE! Have you ever had conversations with someone you admire? Like, have you ever discussed life’s problems with Trent Reznor or Kurt Cobain? Maybe in your mind you discussed relationship problems while smoking joint with Tupac Shakur? 45:55 Remember phone books? 46:12 oh…and answering machines! 46:52 Green Day was influenced by the Clash…and oh..it’s the physicist slut from The Big Bang Theory 48:23 The Beta Band Beta Band’s 3 EPs: The album was released in 1998 by Astralwerks, after their self-titled debut. The song, “Dry the Rain,” from he EP Champion Versions put them on the map. 48:34 shoplifters – my first shoplifting episode?…I stole Danzig’s Mother from a local record store. (ashamed) 54:21 LOL, ROFL, ha ha ha… We are the Champions! 55:38
I agreed that what really matters is what you like, not what you are like… Books, records, films — these things matter. Call me shallow but it’s the fuckin’ truth, and by this measure I was having one of the best dates of my life.
57:01 “Behind Closed Doors” by Charlie Rich: A No. 1 for Rich in 1973, taken from the album of the same name. It’s one of Rob’s favorite songs. Need to check that out.
John Cusack and Lisa Bonet
57:44 Lisa Bonet IS HOT! 1:14:16 For the record I would die to open a record store like this. Maybe that’s what I should do…LOL 1:17:22 I like the way The Little One smells and tastes…i would miss that if she broke up with me. 1:19:44 Pop Abrams and the Smurfs? Gotta look that up later… 1:21:52 is this where Jack Black realized he should create Tenacious D 1:22:24 Songs Rob wants at his funeral: “Many Rivers To Cross” by Jimmy Cliff, “Angel” by Aretha Franklin and “You’re The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me” by Gladys Knight. 1:30:01 “And so we got back together!” …after an awkward my dad just died…and I feel numb, let’s screw in the car scene. ew. 1:30:39
Rob: Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Laura: No, it’s really not, Rob. You know why? Because Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel make pop records. Rob: Made. Made. Marvin Gaye is dead. His father shot him.
1:33:58 “You’re making something,” his girlfriend tells him approvingly. “You—the critic, the professional appreciator—put something new into the world.” 1:34:48 I’ll just make you a tape. This is the standard way a music snob picks up a music snob 1:36:38 The marriage proposal…I don’t think she said “yes“? *1:38:00 ah! Those cotton panties that have been washed a 100 times… (Nodding my head approvingly gets me slapped in the head.)Edit by TLO: Uh, that is because TLO owns NO SUCH THING, so thinking about someone else’s ratty underwear isn’t going to brighten the day! 1:40:49 Definitely watching the beginnings of Tenacious D. Right? 1:42:44 Great Movie…why did I wait so long to watch this? It’s a break-up movie mash-up! I loved the “Top 5” theme that Cusack’s character employees throughout the movie. so….
Here’s MY top 5 of favorite songs from live shows this year!
1. Neon Trees – 1983 I’ve seen this band twice already this year. This song rocks so much…I love it! Tyler Glenn, the front-man/keyboardist/songwriter for the band says 1983 is about his mother…spreading her legs…to give birth to him. Um…it’s better than what I thought it was about.
Electric Toys
2.The Dig – She’s Going To Kill That Boy It’s a great song, especially in concert. Saw them when they opened for Thrice this year. Bought the album “Electric Toys” afterwards. Great album cover, but be sure to flip it over to get a giggle.
3.Thrice – Image Of The Invisible It was nice to hear this relatively old song (5 years ago) since the last time I saw Thrice it was notably absent.
4.Cypress Hill – Insane in the Brain I saw Cypress Hill in 2010 at the Mandalay Beach Pool. With my feet in the pool…and well…a smoke in between my fingers. Surely you have heard Insane in the Membrane a gabillion times…so I offer this awesome remix by the 2 Bit Thugs instead.
5.Imagine Dragons – I Don’t Mind Vegas band that blew my mind. This band is a must to look into, because we’re sure they will be a force to be beckoned by in the near future. Yes. Beckoned. You can TRY and ignore them…
A bowler hat he wore, his eyes became obscured, his teeth were telescopes, you should have seen his legs were the rolling rivers, they call him the forgiver although he cannot forgive
With the proliferation of the hardware and software to allow any musician to record and master an album, we have entered exciting and refreshing times in music. There are many people making music now, without the help of a label and it’s marketing machine. Enter the music blog. Once your blog is established… bands, labels, and even your friends will send music for submission. My inbox gets stuffed with links to bandcamp and soundcloud. NOT complaining, but it’s tough to get through it all. As a necessity, I must only allocate a brief read and listen and move on if I wish to clear the unread messages in one sitting. Sometimes though, something catches my eye or ear, and I settle in for a more in-depth discovery.
Laura Roslin, President of the 12 Colonies
In this case, it was a rather innocuous thing that grabbed my attention. The title of a song. “ROSYLN IS A CYLON”. Being a fan of the BattlesStar Galactica franchise, including the 2003 re-imagining, gave me cause to pause and pay attention. If you avoided watching BSG because you thought it was, well…to geeky for your tastes, I don’t think I can get you up to speed with out making this post too long winded. In a nutshell, Roslin was the president of the 12 Colonies and Cylons are a race of sentient machines, created by humans. These machines had learned how to look human, so figuring out who was a human and who was a “skin-job” made for some interesting episodes throughout the series.
I quickly load up track two off Petrushka , the yet to be released LP from the band Honeytrap, and take a listen.
The sound of the song, and much of the album, is unconventional in many ways, yet strangely familiar. An Eastern European sound combined with Folk and Rock, much like Gogol Bordello, but with a Pop sensibility that will likely allow them that crossover factor that is so important today.
David Bowie is a fan, and sums up the band well in this quote taken from the The Times:
Balkan-inspired slice of craziness… Puts me in mind of some of Camper Van Beethoven’s finer moments.
Oh yeah! Camper Van Beethoven! The side project of lead singer, and co-founder of the band Cracker! Damn that Bowie is good. It’s a good thing HE doesn’t have a music blog!
Curious about the origins of the song and expecting a BSG fan’s fantastical analysis of some episode where a clue was found pointing to the possibility of Roslin secretly being a Cylon (she isn’t) and using her presidency as a way to undermine the fleet (she didn’t), lead me to shoot an email off to the band.
“Big Dan” (guitar/vox) was the author of this particular song, and quickly replied back with an explanation. Sadly, no BSG fan was found, but the story was interesting none the less.
The song is basically about being under control. I guess it represents the lack of trust the the government had for us. There is the shadowy figure always watchful throughout the track, representing the feeling of a nanny state I was having at the time. The Roslin line comes from a sign in the toilet where I work. Its printed “please be careful, leave the bowl as found”. I got squeamish at the thought of the management unable to trust its educated staff to properly use such facilities and it went into the song. There’s a little cartoon fish in the picture and someone has scrawled “Roslin is a Cylon” as a speech bubble.
I guess there was no point in asking if he was disappointed in the ending of the BattleStar series. (frown)
Sometimes it’s a song title, or an album cover…but to an up-and-coming band to get noticed, takes a bit of luck sometimes. Luckily for me, I noticed a song title and discovered a great band in the process.
You can pre-order the album Petrushka on Honeytrap’s BandCamp site. I suggest you do…unless you are some sort of Skin Job?
I want to introduce you to two guys with a lot of talent as musicians who have a lofty goal: To get the world to appreciate electro, dubstep, and nudisco.
Aptly named On The Rise, two sophomores at Bucknell University are quickly gaining attention and picking up fans at every show they rock. They’re playing some of the hottest and unique dubstep/electro/indie mashups every weekend at parties all over the Northwest. They have even booked east coast gigs at venues such as The Middle East in Boston and Webster Hall in New York City (August 4th).
On The Rise is Brian Pei and Doug Bogan. They met as freshmen out at Bucknell and discovered they both were musicians with similar tastes in music. Brian plays guitar and Doug is a classical pianist. After becoming friends they started to play acoustic shows together. One day Doug asked Brian if he would like to join him at DJ’ing gigs…and well…the rest is history!
They are a little crazy though. Right? I mean who would take the band Thee Armada and mash it up with Ludacris! It sounds awesome, I just want to know where do you get the idea!
On The Rise even put together a dubstep mashup exclusively for us! We are proud and honored to present to you, this amazing exclusive. Take the Grifta Dubstep Remix of Deadmau5’s “Faxing Berlin”, Outkast’s “Bombs Over Baghdad” and, because that’s not big enough already…add the song “Move Shake Drop” from DJ Laz. Submitted for your approval:
“We Are Bound To Save Some Souls Tonight is a record full of dirges, shanties and shithouse anthems, transmitted from a land where your dancing is proportional to your depression. Eric Rykal is someone to keep an eye on”
– My Old Kentucky Blog
My post about Mumford and Sons got me an opportunity to review the new album from Eric Rykal’s band, The Gentle Guest. The band’s PR firm describes The Gentle Guest as the “hyperactive brother of Mumford and Sons”! The band released the new album, Cast Off Your Human Form on July 20th. I love how this album is absolutely a dark and bluesy explosion of Americana, only now it’s drunk after drinking from a big ole cup of trouble and sins.
These boys from Eau Claire, Wisconsin have really created something special with this sophomore effort. Not that their freshman release is anything to scoff at. We Are Bound to Save Some Souls Tonight was a fast burning fuse of an album, a combustion so fast and strong it will ignite the synaptic pleasure center of your brain. Let us listen as the match makes contact:
“I gave her a kiss, and she ran right off with my soul…”
The new album was recorded by Rykal not only in the local hometown studio that he owns and runs, but also in several surrounding locations including a basement here and a living room there. The musicians involved on the album are a rotating list of Eric’s friends from the Chippewa Valley. How do you take that kind of sound out on the road?
Playing the new songs live has been a bit of a chore for the band, if not for trying to recreate the feeling of the album, than just for the simple task of fitting all the members and instruments on stage. “We’ve had upwards of 8 or 9 people,” says Rykal. “We wanted it to be some sort of rowdy, theatrical spectacle. We figured having a ton of people on stage was the easiest way to accomplish that.”
Sounds like an epic show…I can’t wait to see them live! There is one song on the new album that is very stripped down, and actually is one of my favorite tracks.
Sometimes a chorus of voices and a hand-clap is all you really need…
That’s what I said to The Little One when it dawned on me that we had never written a post on Kevin Devine.
I was listening to the entire Kevin Devine disocgraphy in preparation for an upcoming concert when that thought occurred to me. Everything from Circle Gets the Square (2002), various Daytrotter recordings, to the new EP released this year, She Stayed As Steam, was on constant rotation for the last week or so.
We have been fans of Kevin since before the Brand New/Manchester Orchestra tour of 2007. Being fans of Brand New we quickly began digging in to these two openers of their show. After listening to albums from both Manchester and Kevin Devine, we decided that we needed to catch these two acts. Sadly, I was late getting to the venue and only caught the final song of Kevin Devine’s set. What a finale it was! Members of all the bands on the tour came on stage to cover Nuetral Milk Hotel’s “Holland 1945” alongside Kevin.
I’ve followed Kevin’s career closely after that show. I watched youtube videos of his performances. I read interviews and articles about Kevin. I enjoyed his albums immensely and shared them with friends. But it was always with some regret over missing Mr. Devine’s set with the Goddamn Band.
Kevin is a pretty amazing and eloquent songwriter; creating characters and backgrounds for weaving tales in some songs (I’ve never been a joiner, no, I’ve quit every team I’ve been on), allowing for honest examination of personal relationships in others (when you realize it’s a pattern and not a phase), and rallying against war and human rights violations in what I presume are his favorites (It’s the mission of modernity, go get what’s ours til there’s nothing leftover to get no more). Pair that with a strong and distinctive voice, and well…well you can only come up with Kevin Devine.
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We got to the House Of Blues early, knowing we had to catch ALL the openers. “Is that Kevin manning his merch table?” says The Little One. I look over…well it looks like Kevin. It’s not ridiculous to see members of the band a the merch table, but for some reason I just didn’t think this was Kevin. “Nah…he probably hires people that look just like him. Makes him more comfortable. I would do the same.” I say, smiling. What else is new – she didn’t listen to me, and went over to chat him up. Together we reminisced about that last Vegas show, now over three years’ past, other acts we’ve caught since then, and the projects he’s most excited about now.
One of the projects is called Bad Books and his a collaboration between Kevin and members of Manchester Orchestra! Kevin thinks it should have a release date sometime in October this year! You can catch an acoustic version of one of these songs on the PodWreck podcast featuring Devine. The track is called “You’re a Mirror I Cannot Avoid” and the lyrics and melody are captivating. Check out the song and interview here.
Kevin’s set was notched up in intensity from what you might find on his albums. Opening for post-hardcore band Thrice is likely the main reason for this, although I found it refreshing. Imagine your favorite tracks turned up to eleven, a new found fire lit fresh under an already boiling pot.
Things really get hot when Kevin Devine and his God Damn Band take off their shirts…during “Time To Burn (Another Bag of Bones)”. Yes. That is correct. The boys removed their shirts. And then various members of the other bands came out shirtless, wearing makeshift masks, pantsless, or a combination thereof. As Kevin counted off a litany of inequities in the world, other men gyrated around him. How’s that for not taking yourself too seriously?
It was a great show and it was great to spend some time chatting with Kevin. Maybe we can convince him to do a proper interview with us in the future? Mr. Devine hinted at a possible Hull/Devine tour (he said that it might be around 15 dates) to support Bad Books. If one of the dates isn’t in Vegas we’re hoping it’s somewhere close…
One last thing…Kevin didn’t know about the recording from Jackson, MS of a little acoustic tour he did with Jesse Lacey. It’s one of our favorite finds. Check out Kevin playing Cotton Crush with Lacey:
I’ll be seeing The Pixies play here in Vegas in September. I’m totally stoked to see the show.I even bought a book from the 33 1/3 series on Doolittle to tide me over…but more on that later.
I have been taking piano lessons from a friend of mine. We’ll call her Vanessa. Vanessa texted me a few weeks back asking if the girlfriend and I would like to see The Pixies in concert. The Pixies are a band that I love that I have not gotten to see in concert. In fact they were already broken up by the time I became a fan.
Jump to 11 years after the breakup to the year 2003, and the front-man Black Francis agrees to go on a reunion tour with his former band mates.
Now it’s 2010 and with rumors of a new album in the works, the band is back on tour, and I’m gonna see them when they stop in my city. This is being called the Doolittle Tour to commemorate the 20th anniversary of this stellar album. They promise to play every song on the album, along with some b-sides and surprises!
The Pixies, although not a full on success in the States, have been given the trophy of “influential” and is likely the starting point for many alternative bands who did achieve success. Bands like Nirvana to Bush probably can credit The Pixies to any success they have seen. Cobain has even said that “Smells Like Teen Spirit was an effort to make a Pixies song. Although many would have trouble making the connection, The Pixies perhaps invented the Quiet/Loud/Quiet formula. Here’s a Cobain quote from a Rolling Stone interview:
“I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it (smiles). When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band – or at least in a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.”
Excited about seeing the band, I grabbed the book Doolittle from the 33 1/3 series of books. Here is what the publisher describes the book:
DOOLITTLE. By Ben Sisario. (Continuum, paper, $9.95.) A friend of mine once had a girlfriend who kept a careful diary. “Never has so much been written about so little,” he’d say. You could say that about “Doolittle,” too, an entire book devoted to a Pixies album (part of Continuum’s “33·” series). But that would mean you don’t know the alt-rock god Charles Thompson, a k a Frank Black. Sisario, who is on the arts desk staff of The New York Times, explains how Thompson and a buddy once placed an ad in The Boston Phoenix: “Seeking female bassist into Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul & Mary.” Only one person responded: Kim Deal (later of the Breeders). In April 1989, “Doolittle” was released, and history was made. “They had a good angle . . . band with pretty girl and silly name makes weird music that critics dig,” Sisario writes. Thompson was “an Everydude, a pudgy blank slate” whose lyrics about “sexual loathing and visions of apocalypse” touched a chord. “I don’t know that sex is a totally beautiful, normal thing the way that the gods intended for a lot of people,” says Thompson, who (to his credit) refuses to get too deep about his music.
The book is great, and I can’t wait to share the book with Vanessa at my next lesson! My favorite part of the book is the breakdown of each song on the album. Here is the excerpt about the song Tame:
Pure minimalism is a straight line dividing space in half. Night and Day. Loud and soft. Whisper and scream. And there is no better example of the Pies’ particular kind of minimalism than “Tame,” a switch abruptly goes from hot to cold to hot again.
The composition is so simple that it’s almost insignificant. Three chords reduced to three throbbing bass notes–D,C,F–persistant without change or interruption. It’s song writing done on a dare: see how much we can do with so little, with the same chromosomes that are in every single pop song.
