So much to do, so little time

…and really – who needs another music blog?  Still listening to lots of music, but I’m giving up on talking about it in lieu of writing more music.  Maybe I’ll log back in and share a few of my tunes in the near future.

The soon to be obscure

…just thought this was a cool video and song that will probably be forgotten in the near future.  The guy who posted this on youtube apparently makes/edits videos.  Here are a few of his videos.  I’m guessing he is from Austin because most of the bands he works with tend to be local/former local bands.

Trunk of My Car by Volcano, I’m Still Excited – a former Austin band(who I assume are now defunct).  In a weird way, the first guy’s voice has a little bit of an awkward Chet Baker quality to it.  I really appreciate that.

Handful of Billions by Sound Team – this one is edited to clips from the movie “Network”.  Of course Sound Team is excellent but the now defunct Austin band with the spectacular rise and fall.  I was really sad to see them break up and fear they may too slip into obscurity.  I had several unofficial recordings of theirs through a friend of a friend of a friend and their demos and unreleased stuff were even better than their rather good recordings.  It’s a shame to see that output gone although the members have mostly all rejoined in various projects in other bands around Austin(most notably Bill’s {{Sunset}} project).

Chet Baker – You Don’t Know What Love Is – okay, I couldn’t resist a little vocal Chet Baker video since I mentioned it above.  His voice has a very sad quality to it – very smooth but dangerously vulnerable.  I guess it easily follows that he was one of the more heartbreaking(if only because he lived through the addictions) cases of a jazz great who succumbed to an out of control drug addiction.  Baker lived a HARD life because of it…but back in 1956, he had it all – the horn, the voice, the looks, the sound.

More good stuff to look forward to in 09

…just noticed that the Black Lips are scheduled to have a new release early in 09. I can’t wait! Between my wife and I, we nearly wore out our copy of their last release. I think I already did a Black Lips post but screw it – here is another video.

Katrina by the Black Lips – it’s worth noting this song was recorded way before the hurricane Katrina fiasco.

..and the Animal Collective are suppose to have an early 09 release.  I’m looking forward to it as well. Their newer albums have been more and more accessible so I’m curious to see if this one ends up bucking the trend or continues.  I think most of the guys in the band write songs so it seems like each album is really just a reflection of who happened to write the most songs that made the cut.  My favorite songwriter from the band is Panda Bear but I really love that wall of sound aesthetic.

Fireworks by Animal Collective – this is really a tough band to just listen to singles to.  You really have to sit with an AC album and listen to it from beginning to end and “let wash over you like a fine paste”(shout out to my boy Kenny Mayne).  I also noticed it tends to be better listening to them in headphones so your fully immersed in their sonic world.  

the reluctant female folk musicians

For this post I want to focus on a couple of very talented musicians who choose to walk away from promising music careers and as a result their music sunk into obscurity up until the last few years.  

It Hurts Me Too by Karen Dalton – In 2004 Bob Dylan wrote that Karen was his favorite singer when he first came to Greenwhich Village – in fact they even performed together a few times in those early days of the folk movement along with underrated folky Fred Neil.  Karen recorded two albums in the late 60s/early 70s before dropping out of the music scene all together.   Most music historians argue about what exactly became of her after she dropped out.  It seems the popular belief now is she split time between a desolate cabin in Colorado and staying with old friends in upstate New York.  She died in 1993 from complications of AIDS after spending 8 years living with the disease while fighting drug and alcohol problems.  Fun Fact (in an otherwise dreary post) – Karen’s mother was full Cherokee Indian.   

Tonight by Sibyelle Baier - the story goes German born Sibyelle recorded a handful of tunes in the early 70s when she was both a musician and actress.  She decided not to pursue those early careers and instead moved to America and concentrated on raising a family.  30 years later her son Robby compiled a CD to give as gifts to family after finding the original recordings his Mom had made.  One of those CDs ended up in the hands of J Mascis who in turn passed it on to some of his record label friends at Orange Twin who turned the CD into an official release.  Sibyelle is said to be working on a new album now.  

Diamond Day by Vashti Bunyan – In the mid 60s Vashti was discovered by Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham and released her first single – a Jagger/Richards tune- to little fan fare.  She then started writing her first album while on a commune with folk singer Donovan.  She finally released that album in 1970 but the album never found it’s audience and a frustrated Vashti retreated to live a rural life raising her 3 children and tending to animals.  In that time, her album had become a bit of a collectors item completely outside of her knowing it.  In 2000 the album was re-released and Vashti became a bit of an influence on the newer indie folk movement with Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Animal Collective, and members of Mice Parade working with her.  She now tours and is recording new material again.  

Art Rock guys who play Latin Music

…because there may not be another blog showing the many sides of guys like Arto Lindsay and Marc Ribot.

Aurora en Pekin by Marc Ribot – if you like this I highly recommend his two albums with Los Cubanos Postizos. They are basically a tribute to one of this earliest musical influences – Arsenio Rodriguez (who I featured in this blog a while back).

Disposable Head by Marc Ribot – here is the art rock side of Ribot(who also plays guitar with Tom Waits). Some of it can be difficult to listen to but I did really like his album Yo, I killed Your God which sounds like punk jazz for lack of a better term.

Mar De Gavea by Arto Lindsay - I don’t own any of his latin albums but that needs to change. His voice reminds me a lot of Caetano Veloso’s son Moreno.

Blonde Red Head by DNA – Arto was the lead singer of DNA(and the Ambitious Lovers) back in the 80s. This excerpt was taken from the movie Downtown 81 (with Basquiat). This is also the song that gave the band Blonde Redhead their name.

…and just because I mentioned Moreno Veloso above…

Duesa do Amor by Moreno Veloso – FINALLY a good youtube clip featuring Moreno’s music. He has a loose association with two other musicians who he plays with quite a lot. They take turns with who “leads” the band, but it’s essentially all the same. Moreno leads on “Moreno+2″ and then there is “Domenico+2″ which he plays on…you get the idea. I don’t think the 3rd one has made an album just yet but the first two are fantastic – especially Moreno’s album.

The Kuti-Ra dance party

It never happened but I think it should have. Can you imagine if Fela Kuti and Sun Ra had a dance party? Here is a start:

Fela Kuti with “Africa 70″ live in 1971 – this footage was shot by drummer Ginger Baker(of Cream fame)

Face the Music by the Sun Ra Arkestra – he has some really catchy jazz songs to his credit but he definitely gets more notice for his “space” outfits and “out there” free jazz. Looking for something catchy on youtube was a challenge for that reason…so I just found this one.

I couldn’t imagine the type of music these guys could have made together. By the way, check out there wiki entries when you get a chance – both were pretty far out guys. Kuti was a political refugee for large parts of his adult life and even tried to have his artist commune succeed. He was kicked out of several countries for his separatists stance and literally cult following which encouraged polygamy among those in his group.

Sun Ra (Sonny Blount) was NOT from Saturn as he claimed he was his entire adult life. He was actually a gifted child prodigy from Birmingham, Alabama – a vegan black man living in the south in the 20s and 30s who could sight read music before he was a teen and was said to be able to transcribe entire big band orchestral arrangements from memory. A funny story I read about him in a book I read goes something like this. A young aspiring jazz critic(who later contributed to the book I read on Sun Ra’s life), said he went to the house where the Arkestra lived and practiced. Band members were kept to strict schedules if they were to be a member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra. Violation of too many rules would not only get you kicked out of the band, but also out of the compound in Philly that Ra had taken up as a type of commune residence for him and his large band. The writer walked into one of the many scheduled rehearsals of Ra’s Arkestra and as he was sitting in this practice space he noticed that there appeared to be someone hiding in an closet at the back of the room. Someone was peering through a crack in the wood watching the rehearsals. After Ra was having a hard time with one of the drummers not syncopating his music properly, he excused them from the practice and called out a name. Just then the hidden figure popped out of the closet and ran up to the bandstand to jump in on drums. The writer said the guy proceeded to play brilliantly through the rest of the practice. Later on, the writer asked one of Ra’s Arkestra about what had happened and they explained the hidden drummer had missed curfew and was being punished to only be able to watch practice from the closet while someone else filled in for him.

Estonians Rock Out and start a shoegazer pop post

…or at least Estonians Pia Fraus do.  I don’t know enough(read: any) other Estonian bands, but judging by the sound of Pia Fraus, I might need to correct that quickly.  I urge you to drop by their myspace page and check out their perfect pop songs in nice little shoegazer packages.  Fans of bands like the Radio Department might really enjoy this nice little find.

You Look Fine by Pia Fraus: this is apparently a fan video and not one from the band.  Those crazy fans and their cool looking videos.

Against the Tide by the Radio Department: another fan video…or more like setting personal videos to their music.

Uh oh, I feel a shoegazer overload coming on…

I know I’ll see you Again by A Place to Bury Strangers: okay, this one comes from the darker side of the street than the other two but I would still consider this a shoegazer influenced pop song.

Kim and Jessie by M83: as explained by lead songwriter Anthony Gonzales, “This track is about two teen girls lost in the forest and getting high on drugs. To me, its atmosphere is very similar to that of Charles Burns’ comics [series], Black Hole. “Head Over Heels” by Tears for Fears was also a great influence for this song.”

Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears: Did someone say Tears for Fears?  This is a reward for sitting through 4 videos of shoegazer influenced pop.  You deserve it – now sing along!

Things to look forward to in 09

…like Dam Funk’s full length on Stones Throw.  Look, I don’t mean to be a Stones Throw fan boy, but I happen to like 90% of what they distribute and that’s not something I can say about very many other labels so deal with it.  Here are a couple of Dam Funk songs from a recent collection called Rhythm Trax Vo.4.  You probably noticed the song theme is colors.

Silver by Dam Funk:

Purple by Dam Funk:

…..by the way, he seems like a really well spoken and genuinely nice guy in this interview.  With the music he makes, I would have expected some cocky funkateer from outer space but the guy seems grounded and humble.  Kudos to Dam Funk for being real – that’s a welcome change from a world of musicians where everyone is trying to “outcool” each other.

It’s almost 2009

…but it isn’t yet so I need to get out quite a few posts.  I presently have ten posts in draft mode mostly over the last 4 months that for various reasons I never actually finished.  Then I have my best of 2008 list which won’t be near as fancy as other blog’s 2008 lists but it will be my first list to mark my first year of somewhat regular blogging.  More on this with my first post of the new year in a few days but until then, let’s get out some of the old stuff….

Define: Beach House

I never was a big fan of Beach House before hearing their new single, but I LOVE “Used to Be”.  I guess the new single is probably a little more accessible where as their older material tended to always have a an unfulfilled anxiousness to the introspective arrangements.  The word Maudlin, comes to mind when thinking about how I felt about their music.

The funny thing is, I love the aesthetic they use – simple, cheap drum machine beats mixed with woozy reverb drenched slide guitar lines and droney organs occasionally tempered with tinkly bell sounds filling out the arrangement.  The humble arrangements mask just how clever they are at writing pop songs…but all that said, I just never could get over how they teased me with these arrangements that never would resolve.  Listening to the music off their last album was like having a conversation with someone with someone who only communicates with questions.  You may find them interesting and insightful, but just when you think you are having a normal conversation they end another sentence in a question and you feel frustrated.

…if the new single is any indicator of the music to come of their 2009 release, it will be a welcome change to getting to know a band I always wanted to like in the first place.

Maudlin: Foolishly or mawkishly sentimental because of drunkenness.

Used to Be by Beach House