I haven't really been doing to much because I've been / am busy doing these things:
1. Going through records, picking out stuff I don't really want / can sell.
2. Selling this stuff online, VLV and Ebay.
3. Attempting to book a last minute Tent/City tour.
4. Attempting to fix, set up the "Stinkweeds" Tent/City CD.
Going through personal records and picking out stuff to sell to not only pay for a $750 root canal being finished up, but for a $200 7" that I sold for my friend Dan on Ebay, and was lost in the mail. In any other situation, this would be no big deal, but the guy is from Italy, and took a long time to pay, so Jasmin had to do it for me while I was on tour last month. For whatever reason (probably because it's what's normal for me anyway), the Post Office assured her sending it First Class International would be best, though doing so gives you no tracking number or insurance, and she doesn't have the receipt, I can't even prove that it was sent. ...the guy who won it has been nice about it, but if it doesn't show in the next week or two, I'm going to have to pay him money out of my pocket (since the $200 didn't go to me,... it wasn't my record after all). It's just a total bummer for all people involved. ...anyway, this hasn't been super fun, I've found very little that I feel like letting go of so far, though the things I have found should be enough to cover this stuff. ...I'm listing it all on VLV first, then Ebay halfway through the week.
I'm also trying to scrap together a last minute Tent/City tour, which was something sort of planned for a long time, but never really materialized and wasn't a 100% thing (as far as I knew) until a couple of weeks ago, and a 200% thing as of this weekend. (I wasn't sure that everyone was going to be okay with possibly spending a fair amount of money on it, as it's possibly going to be quite expensive). This also means that I am going to need to get this Tent/City - "Stinkweeds" CD out soon, but because this took a long time to be for sure, I was waiting, and now there's just not much time, blah blah blah. So, for now it'll be a short run CDr, but pro-burned discs, and with multiple runs if needed. There's just some minor things that need to be done to the recording before it's ready to go.
This week came and went so fast. The only specific thing I feel like I remember is Soft Shoulder playing with METH TEETH at the Bike Co-Op, which was a great little show that went really fast, allowing Ann and I enough time (barely) to head over to Trunkspace to see MY FERAL KIN, who were playing a tour kickoff show - they are doing the west coast currently, go check them out)!
Oh speaking of ITALY, here's my other fun mailing transaction with that country, this time on the receiving end. Thanks!!!
(This is the new MARGARET DOLL RODS LP! Believe it or not, after lots ofr re-bending, I've gotten some of the B-Side to play. In time, I'll win!
While passing through Portland on this last tour, I, of course, stopped by EXILED and ANTHEM Records. Although EXILED is probably my favorite record store in existence right now, I do usually find a few great things at Anthem each time I stop in. Amongst tons of great used things, there was a couple of new TARA JANE O'NEIL released, a nice, simply screened LP called "To Trace a Raveling" on Portland label Mississippi (which is a soft and layered, beautifully record (though short) collection of sound and songs, much more "open" than some of her more song-oriented recordings. (I enjoy both), and very much along the same lines, a new book/CD combination called "Wings. Strings. Meridians", which is incredible. More of an art book than anything else, this is 96 full color pages of Tara's art - which is something that's been all over records for a solid 15 years now and is something of a staple (in my opinion) of the Quarterstick-eqsue "scene". The audio portion is much longer feeling than the new LP, and very much in the same vein. Most exciting about this release, is that despite the fact that it is possible the most well done / professional / perfect looking thing, it was only $15. ...so often "underground music" CD releases are more than that on their own, let alone with a 100 page art book that is worth the money alone. Completely recommended 100%.
Lots of other awesome recent things, but a sheer lack of time at the moment is preventing me from writing too much about them, though in short, the BOSQUE BROWN LP, that I bought on a whim, was a favorite of recent "I don't know's", and I'm glad I grabbed - simple / simply beautiful song-writing, very nice and calm, relaxing. The stuff on the RUSSIAN TSARLAG / BLUE SHIFT LP is awesome though I wish Carlos (RTs) stuff was even MORE minimal and absurd, like when I did a show for him (and Blue Shift as well actually) several years ago. His portion of this LP continues to be odd-ball talking nonsense, but has all these other bizarre sounding things going on that it's shifted to something legitimately great in a whole new way. Comes with a great zine of scribbly at that perfectly compliments the music. 300 copies, probably gone fairly quickly, not for everyone, but definitely for me. Lastly, a new GLOCHIDS CDr on new Temple label, DISTANT COLONY. This collects sounds from various periods of time, including material that he (James R, also from Tent/City) composed for the live Mr. Fishsticks puppet shows (they opened a few shows in Tucson doing the performances, with Animal Collective and Deerhoof). Beautiful (and bizarre) sounds throught out, as always - intricate and interesting. After a quick check in at home in regards to some personal / family issues, he flew back out to rejoin the French Quarter / Glochids south/east/mid-coast tour, go check them out!
Still have tons of stuff to listen to from tour, including a huge stack of great looking things from Grant Capes (Phantom Limb, Sleepwalkers Local, and so on). The only one I've gotten to, other than his amazing CDr that I mentioned last week, was a (VxPxC) cassette that made for an eerie but calm drive in the pouring / monsoon rain today. As always, extremely excited to listen to everything else.
things:
Russian Tsarlag / Blue Shift - split LP (Rare Youth).
Margaret Doll Rods - "Sin'te Lat'in) LP (Gonna Puke).
Yellow Swans + Burning Star Core - collab LP (Pygmy / Blossoming Noise).
Bosque Brown - "Cerro Verde" LP (Burnt Toast Vinyl).
Glochids - "Puppet Sampler KeyboardSwee" CDr (Distant Colony).
Tara Jane O'Neil - "To Trace a Raveling" LP (Mississippi).
Tara Jane O'Neil - "Wings. Strings. Meridians" art book and CD (Yeti / Square Root).
The New Flesh / Puke Attack - split LP (self released).
(VxPxC) - "Dead Right There" cassette (Sky-Fi).
Antischism - s/t 2xLP (Prack) (I think it's everything other than the "Still Life" LP)!
Recently enjoyed: Me First, River City Tanlines - both LPs. The Horrors - "Vent" LP. Force Field - "Lords of the Ring Modulator" 2 x LP (Bulb). Miranda July
7/8/08 - HEAT!
June passed so quickly, it's insane. I was gone for a couple of weeks on tour with FRENCH QUARTER, which was the lowest stress situation ever. We played with tons of awesome people, some shows huge, some small, but when they were small, I'd end up selling $100+ of Gilgongo and distro stuff anyway. And surprisingly, despite the fact that I play weird sound / noise / and so on, and Stephen played singer/song-writer type music, it rarely felt like the shows were not making complete sense. It just worked really well typically.
I'll write much more about it some other time, but it was "good", and mostly nice to see and meet so many great people. Grabbed some scores from record stores up and down the coast, of course, but who really wants to talk about that anyway?
In the couple of weeks since I've been home, I've mostly been trying to get personal things taken care of. I had a monstrous TO DO list that is slowly getting completed (clean and organizing my room,... after Bri and I broke up and Jasmin was moving in, I decided to consolidate the label room into my bedroom as well, which is working okay now, but was an awful mess from before I left for tour, fixing stuff on the website, which is still not complete. I finally figured out what was wrong with getting the MP3s online, so that's fine now, still having trouble with the "Google Groups mailing list e-mail address entry box", which is really irritating. So many other random things too, but it's getting wrapped up now, slowly).
Caught a few great shows recently here in the Phoenix area, Yellow Fever at the Bike Saviors Co-Op in Tempe, Sex Vid at the Chamber in Phoenix and High Castle, also at he Co-Op. YELLOW FEVER are from Austin (I think), and have a very Quixotic sort of sound to them, a two piece that manages to keep a pretty full sound (their drummer often playing a synthesizer that holds bass tones for extended period as he drums, occasionally hitting other keys to change the note). Also playing the show was an awesome trio of Abe (Treasure Mammal) and Corey Fogel (Mae Shi, Gowns and the such) and another guy who's name I think was Adam? The three played an unexpected and engaging set of intricate percussion (anything Corey drums on is worth your time, trust me), left-field violin and Abe throwing down disintegrated guitar and vocals sporadically. I loved their set a lot.
SEX VID played an excellent short / fast set at a show with Think Fast amongst others at the Chamber a couple of days later. If you haven't checked out this band, go out of your way to - aggressive and "pissed off" trashy punk, with three 7"s over the past year and a half or so, I hope they have an LP on the way that's going to knock everyone's socks off. (Their two most recent 7"s are in their second and third pressings respectfully and probably on their way out (or print) too).
HIGH CASTLE are a relatively new band from the bay area, featuring members of Saboteurs and Wilson from Womens Worth / Duchesses and I was glad to be playing with them in Soft Shoulder when they were here. HC are a spastic and angular band, reminding me a lot of some God Is My Co-Pilot at times, and Wilson is secretly one of my favorite people I've met over the years through shows and all of that, though we've only crossed paths a few times. Soft Shoulder and his former band Duchesses played together in LA and Phoenix, and Tent/City with his free-jazz trio, Womens Worth, also in Phoenix. Definitely check out High Castle as they come though your town, they're a lot of fun.
ABE VIGODA recently came through town on tour with No Age, and I was so completely ecstatic, not just because they were the best I've ever seen them, and you could actually head all of Michaels vocals easily, but because they also had copies of their soon to be released LP that I had no idea was even on the way, on Post Present Medium, and it's the best they've sounded recorded before in my opinion, other than their side of the split 7" with Child P. (The recent 7" that was the first release on Kate Hall's label was also fucking awesome too). Abe Vigoda are nice guys and have been playing forever now, I hope that this current tour and new LP get them even more of the appreciation they deserve. Fourteen or so songs of solid, uplifting tropical/indie/punk, there's that specific amount of delay on top of that specific amount of angst, but you can hear how much fun this band is very clearly on this LP, and I hope that's what people get when they hear this: "I need to see this band play!" Trust me, you do! My only complaint, I totally don't dig the art, but seeing as this is going to be one of my favorite things from this year, I guess I'll have to get over it, won't I? It's going to be in my living room a lot.
The nice guy who does the 5NAKEFORK label contacted me when he finished up an ultra low-run SICK LLAMA / FOSSILS split LP and I grabbed a few for the distro. There's something like 200 of these completely mysterious splits, that aside from the stamp on the inside of the cover (and etchings in the vinyl itself), gives no info whatsoever, including speed, though I believe on this release that was the point of the Sick Llama side. On here, Fossils, who I believe are intending this to be a 45rpm'r) sound like they are sifting through the ruins of some post-apocalyptic destroyed orchestra submarine. Perhaps that sounds absurd, but it's accurate, and more enjoyable than was most people in this general area are doing, in my opinion. There's an oddly placed lock-groove right in the middle of their side, right at a climatic point of abused violin and broken guitar (sounds like the pick-ups are taped to bass strings occasionally being tugged across the floor or something. The Sick Llama side, which again, is "okay to play at any speed", was spun by me at 45 as well, as this sounds more like the normal Llama that I know. At first, less adventurous than some of his other things that I've had the please of picking up (I recently grabbed a copy of the LP on Hanson and a newer 7"s as well), but this is a pretty odd sounding piece, I truly don't know what's going on right now. haha. After another lock in the middle of his side, it picks up into some great material that I really loved. upset speakers having their lo-ends convexed too much with higher pitched tones scraping across the top. This was good. 5nakefork usually offers short run releases that come and go quick, and have / had / will have some great things from Sleepwalkers Local, Emeralds, Wether and tons tons more.
I finally picked up the LESLIE KEFFER LP on Ecstatic Peace after passing on doing so for however long it has been out now, maybe 6 months? (probably longer). The A-Side is a long ambient (in a mechanic and malfunctioning sort of way) piece that manages to slowly shift through various walls of full and thick, but not just scathing, sound. This reminds me of some of stuff that Warmth does. The flipside felt like it blazed by and has a similar feel.
I also took a pretty long time to pick up the most recent GROWING release, a 12" on the Social Registry, which is in the same vein as their last LP, "Vision Swim" and their recent contribution to the Social Registry 7" series. Pulsing and shimmering, ambient but textured, these four tracks fly by fairly quickly, honestly leaving you wanting more than anything else. (I instinctually took out Vision Swim to listen to afterwards, which is actually awesome, as any other day, that would probably be the last Growing record I'd have an urge to listen to, the double LP on Conspiracy (vinyl version of the live CDr on Archive) is a long time favorite, not just of the band, but in general, though as time is going by, I am learning to enjoy this newest direction more and more.
Took a little while to pick up IRON LUNG's new LP on Prank as well, called "Sexless / No Sex", which continues their short, fast, full volume hardcore assault from a two piece which contains members from some older favorites, Gob and Artimus Pyle. 20 songs in (I'm sure) not much more than 25 minutes, which thick sound and excellent mid-song transitions that keep it ultimately more interesting than what most band sof this general feel are doing. The Nick Blinko-esque are is apparently actually Nick Blinko art, and catches the eye of anyone my age or older, without a doubt, but anyone in generally as it's crust-punk meets Edward Gorey vibe is always appreciated.
Awesome recent (soft of) DEEP JEW 7" on Static Aktion that I just finally picked up from Nick / Hardlycore in Long Beach, out of his distro while I was on tour. I was going to grab a bunch of these (as well as a Sissy Spacek 7" that the label also put out), but never returning e-mails meant waiting and eventually grabbing single copies of each instead. ...I thought this one was great, more coherent than their LP in my opinion, this is still obliterated hardcore noise (much like Dynasty from a couple summers back), and blurs the lines of guitar noise and "music" quite well. I played with these guys last year in LA, their set at the Smell consisted of setting up stacks of amps facing the stage in the main room and then fist fighting the crowd while ripping their ears to shreds as well. Sounds like something that might be offensive if everyone in the building didn't completely eat it up.
There's a new SISSY SPACEK CD/LP called "French Record" that recently came out, though only the CD (on Australia's Dual Plover) is out so far. Great collection of sound as always, ranging from weird overly destroyed guitar tracks, to sparse and hardly-there percussion-sound collages. Most notable was an eight minute long track that had hard-panned alternating crashes of clatter that were thrown back and forth with other sounds occasionally levitating in the middle. Confused on some of this because I feel like it's familiar, the two tracks called Sepsis, I'm almost sure are from a 7" by the same name, but the recording dates don't match up with when that came out, I got a copy for myself and James R years ago. Could be a typo? Sometimes I'm confused on these releases, like how Wiese - "Soft Punk" LP had lots of stuff from other releases (great 7"s on Blue Sky Writings and Meu Dia De Muerte), but not indicated anywhere in the packaging. blah blah. Regardless, completely worth it if you're remotely interest in what this guy does. ...much more along the lines of the recent "Gore Jet" 7", another new Sissy Spacek record, a split 7" with The Gossip, was recently released as well. The SS side is their live set from No Fun Fest, 2006 I think, offhand, and (as mentioned - like "Gore Jet") a wall of noise/thrash/wreckage, though in this live context, the small sounds found on many Sissy Spacek records between them. The Gossip side is a live recording of "Jason's Basement", probably my favorite song of theirs, followed by some cut/paste/rearrangement of sound from the show, I'd assume by Wiese.
While on tour, I picked up the new ERIC COPELAND LP on Post Present Medium, "Hermaphrodite", then found a promo copy of the CD for 99 cents as well, allowing this to be listened to while driving in the middle of the night from Seattle into the weird abyss of Idaho. Excellent stuff that I suppose would be expected from this Black Dice member, though at times I find myself wishing things did not go on for as long as they do, even, for example, the second track "Scraps" which is an awesome, busy pitch-shifted gamelan sounding assault that is joyous and bizarre. Obviously recommended if you enjoy Black Dice, much of this sounds like components for something they would be working on / doing. This is really good.
Some other recent things that I enjoyed a lot: new MAHJONGG CD on K, I picked up a promo of this for a few cents while on the road, and it made for a solid hour of "awake" driving, interesting band, especially for K. New HOMOSTUPIDS 7" that is great too, I dug it mostly because it was "real" Homostupids, and not the silly joking around featured on their ultra low-budget / high cost short run 7"s that they've done over the past couple years. This is more along the lines of their LP, "The Intern" on Parts Unknown, which is so so so so good. Fucked / fast punk that is ridiculously good. Grabbed a copy of a BONE AWL LP called "Not For Our Feet", reissued on Nuclear War, which might have been a demo of sorts? Either way, I've yet to hear much from this band that I would consider "black metal", as they seem to have a big buzz about them in relation to that genre. To me, this is just really aggressive / angry sounding metallic crust punk, and I do like it a lot. Reminds me of bands I'd see from here in Phoenix when I first moved here, from the whole west side / Catchphraze Records scene and the bands they'd do shows for. After seeing it in Portland while on the road, I ordered a couple copies of a compilation LP for Ann and I, a celebration of / thank you to, the bands that participated in a festival, I think called Halleluwah / Festival of Enthused Arts (and I assume this LP goes by the same name). Tons of tracks from great people such as Valet, White Rainbow, Tara Jane O'Neil, Vashti Bunyan, Deerhoof and more. Simple but beautiful packaging, with what seems like stiff vellum-type paper. Awesome looking and sounding record, to be expected with anything released by Yeti. While traveling, I also picked up an old WARMTH tape, which presents more of a lighter sound than some of his other offerings (such as his epic LP on Arbor, which is perfect in all ways possible). This cassette is an eerie and warbled collage of midnight drone, and ironically enough sounded like a slowed down warped version of a diy "romance" mix-tape, found at a local thrift shop, that was being played right before this got thrown into the tape deck.
things:
Abe Vigoda - "Skeleton" LP (Post Present Medium).
Growing - "Lateral" LP (Social Registry).
Sick Llama / Fossils - split LP (5nakefork).
Leslie Keffer - "Feels Like Frenching" LP (Ecstatic Peace).
The Gossip / Sissy Spacek - split 7" (Helicopter).
Cadaver in Drag - "Raw Child" CD (Animal Disguise).
Mahjongg - s/t? CD (K).
Eric Copeland - "Hermaphrodite" LP (Post Present Medium) / CD (Paw Tracks).
Iron Lung - "Sexless/No Sex" LP (Prank).
Homostupids - "Cat Music" 7" (Fashionable Idiots).
Sex Vid - "Nests" 7" (Dom America).
Sex Vid - "Tania" 7" (Dom America).
Deep Jew - "Harem" 7" (Static Aktion).
Jay Reatard - "Singles 06-07" 2xLP (In The Red) .
Jay Reatard - "See Saw" 7" (Matador).
Iron Lung - "Sexless / No Sex" LP (Prank).
Bone Awl - "Not For Our Feet" LP (Nuclear War).
v/a - "Halleluwah / Festival of Enthused Arts" LP (Yeti / Blackbird).
Warmth - cassette (Cherried Out Merch). (found a used copy on tour).
(forgot to list these last time):
John Wiese + C Spencer Yeh - live CD (Helicopter).
Sissy Spacek - "California Ax" - 4xCD (Helicopter).
Sissy Spacek - "French Record" CD (Dual Plower).
6/15/08 - Note: Posted in Sacramento, CA at 4:30AM after Stephen / French Quarter asked: "Why haven't you posted in your blog in the past month" (we're currently on tour together for a couple of weeks on the west coast - come see us?).
5/11/08, 5/18/08, 5/25/08 - OOPS / OOPS
Vancouver is such a center point of weirdo punk and no wave noise right now, and after receiving an always appreciated package of magic from Nic Hughes (Shearing Pinx / N.213), full of great new things from his label ISOLATED NOW WAVES earlier in the week (SEE "THINGS" BELOW), Tempe had the pleasure of housing some of their residents in earlier May at the Bike Co-Op, in the form of a MUTATORS / MODERN CREATURES / SOFT SHOULDER show, which was awesome and a good chance for me to test a PA that I scored earlier in the day for $150 at a thrift store in town (which worked fine for us, but ify for the other bands, though there's all sorts of possible explanations for that one - cause trust me, Soft Shoulder plays fairly loud).
The following weekend I headed out to LA to play a couple of shows with Ann Marie (HELL-KITE). We had played a set together during the first week of May here in Phoenix, with the DEAD SCIENCE, who were completely amazing / wonderful as always (be sue to check out their upcoming LP on Constellation - this band has been playing for at least 7 years or so and are super nice kids doing something fairly unique and seriously legit). ...at that show she was playing with me, it was more of a loose noisy type thing (which Steve J recorded for us - allowing us to make a CD out of it). The LA shows were more so me playing along to her songs.
Originally we just had a Saturday show at the House of Vermont, which ended up being a pretty wild party type location, with an amazing DJ named Bianca who threw down The Vanishing and James White / Blacks tracks within the first 5 minutes of us walking up to the house. LA hangs out late, but this was even later, not even starting until 11:45 or so. We were exhausted and slept for a little, but the vibe was great and everyone was really nice there. We had heard some pretty over-the-top stories, maybe we hit an off night? Regardless, a pretty wild atmosphere, not the kind of thing that goes down in Phoenix very often.
The night before, we were asked to play a show at Echo Curio with a band called Queen Mae and the Belles, who were so incredible that it's not even worth trying to describe. Mostly percussion and vocal based, three girls in some pretty extravagantly bizarre outfits, sort of creeping all over the Curio like strange animals. We missed a good portion of their set trying to catch Naked on the Vague and Swift Wings at the Smell. We hung out for what was most of what ended up being Naked on the Vague's set, though we were completely in the dark because the kids at the door told us it was Swift Wings that were about to start and the set was pretty unlike the Naked stuff I have had the pleasure of picking up so far.
LA was a great trip through and through, really nice to get out of Phoenix for a minute, specifically with Ann. Getting away, even if not even that far, is always enjoyable and makes being where you are a little more tolerable. Got a great stack of records for cheap at Amoeba (what else is new?), though I was mostly excited about accidentally finding the Sleetmute Nightmute 7" for Ann for $1! Also had the pleasure of picking up a tenor sax at a thrift store for $50, with a $48 package of reeds being the first thing I saw when opening the case. Seems to work fairly okay so far, though even if some money needs to be invested in fixing it, so what? $50? Always really awesome to run into nice people too, even if for a minute or two (Grant / (VxPxC) / Sleepwalkers Local,... Eva / Kevin Shields,... etc).
More recently, there was a great FOOT VILLAGE show, the last in a tour of I think 23 days. Sounds like things have been going great for them this time around. I recently put out their awesome new LP, "Friendship Nation", and they sold through all of their copies halfway through the shows, though I think I got them more copies before they sold their last one. (If you're not familiar with them, Foot Village play post-apocalyptic hardcore, four drummers, not instruments, lots of yelling all around). Excellent set here in PHoenix, super energetic and hilarious, and Brian Miller managed to through down two of my favorite recent quotes of the year so far over the course of the evening:
1. (in regards to plugging in the lights they put in the middle of all of their drums): "These things are male on one side and female on the other, just like most humans".
2. (in reply to hearing Ann mention being hungry): "Well I hope you'e hungry for coal, because it doesn't matter if you've been naughty or nice, you're getting coal, cause Santa Clause is your waiter tonight"
___________________________________________________________________
An excellent cassingle from MODERN CREATURES, two songs of spooky punk, a little bit like a less sassy Subtonix perhaps, dark and driving and awesome, though not even half as awesome as the 7" they had wih them, put out by Mutators' drummer on his label GROTESQUE MODREN. The N.213 / JESSE TAYLOR split cassette it a good pairing with a new batch of Nic's solo mutations and 15 minutes of Jesse's synth-tragic-dance music. Jesse and Nic play together in Channels 3x4, and Jesse's also in another great Vancouver based band, Twin Crystals. There's something extremely endearing about seeing the two of them on this tapes' layout. Some great LES BEYOND releases, which is Erin of Shearing Pinx / Her Jazz Noise Collective doing her own thing, and so on and so on and so on.
Newest SONIC YOUTH - SYR LP (number 7) which recently came out is great, two long sides, A being a dense and kind of all over / swaying sort of early 2000's SY-era type song that winds up getting pretty loud and destroyed as time goes on. Unexpected vocals from Kim throughout a good portion was an unexpected plus that made it an even more engaging listen, the amazing sounding recording helps too. The B side is a dark and drone oriented piece with spurts of guitar clatter and bowed low-end strings that starts off with a few minutes of quieter and pretty sounding versions of what follows. Obviously not for the person that is only wanting to hear some new songs, but this LP is awesome.
Recently grabbed alternate format versions of some recent releases, a cassette version of the NEW BLOODS full length recently released as a CD / limited LP on Kill Rock Stars, with pro-printed cassettes / inserts making for a nice looking tape. The CD version of the extremely limited WOODS FAMILY CREEPS LP recently released on Time-Lag and finally grabbed the LP version of SHELLAC's newest LP, which I like a lot, almost as much, if not more (in time) than "At Action Park".
Lucked out on finding the SICK LLAMA LP on Hanson at Amoeba used, I've enjoyed most of his recordings that I've come across, and aesthetically as well in most cases, specifically the AA lathe. This LP is a good collection of varied sound recordings, thick low rumbles, sparse high pitched crackles, some weird tape manipulation processing and the occasional percussive portion as well. Above par in my opinion, great to listen to while typing up a month's worth of blog entries. ...I came home to his new 7" Nightly Melting" in my PO Box, and it carries the same vibe as the LP, though feels more condensed, not just in the sense that it's only 7"s and not 12. Perhaps not very everyone that enjoys the genre, but I think what this guy is doing is great.
Nestled in with the new Sick Llama 7" was a forgotten treat which blew my mind 100%, a new SISSY SPACEK 7", also on Troubleman. This one, called "Gore Jet" is not the typical destruction / cut / rearrange schematic, but is actually 4 songs from 1999 with Wiese doing distorted bass / drum machine and Cory Ronnau on vocals, it's fast and disgusting and out of control and blown out noise/core at it's finest, extremely (and surprisingly coherent). Dare I even try to compare this to something like Honeywell or something? (I hope not - no one would agree - it's more mechanical sounding, though what can you expect - it's a drum machine). God, this is a great one.
There's a package worth of Wiese stuff that showed up earlier in the month that I haven't had the chance to listen though all the way yet (at least not in the right environment), including the gigantic four-CD SISSY SPACEK - "California Ax", which he did on his on Helicopter label, and includes old random stuff, group efforts and the complete recordings of his recent Sissy Spacek 13-tet show that he did at the Smell. Also on Helicopter, a new CD of two live recordings of collaborations with C. Spencer Yeh, which I have gotten halfway though three or four times, but always end up having to leave or something else. (Love it so far though, great crisp recordings that tear through any stereo nicely - with much more of a sporadic approach rather than some blanket of loud-volume banter).
Continuing the Vancouver kick already mentioned, a grabbed a bunch of copies of a new SHEARING PINX 7" for the Gilgongo distro, called "Haruspex", put out by Canadian label Divorce (who have put out a few other great releases over the past couple of years, including the Be Bad CD and a Unicorn / Torso split). The A side track, "Negaman" starts out with the Pinx in full form, fast loud Unwound in a no-wave sort of way degenerating into open noise / all over the place nonsense that slows down and relaxes for just a short while until the "song" picks up and closes the side in the last twenty seconds. B Side picks up right where those last twenty seconds left off, fast noisy guitar at full volume / full force until reaching a herky stop and go section where to vocals start getting shouted over. Last song is a rough sounding live recording of squealing // squelching destruction. Excellent 7"!
Another great 7" that I was happy to show up locally at Eastside, a split between Gay Beast and Twin. Gay Beast are a secret favorite of mine, after playing with them (in Soft Shoulder) like a year and a half ago, and then re-falling in love with their beautiful looking and absurd sounding LP. This is the first recording I've heard since those times, and their brand of extremely quirky and angular queer-wave is in tact, and would make the children on Brainiac and God Is My Co-Pilot proud. Twin, from what I remember, are from the ashes of The King Cobra, and is a current project of one of the girls from The Need, which definitely makes sense for how this sounds, thick riff-heavy, but still sort poppy business. The more Quixotic side of things at times. ...on top of how great the music on this thing is, one of the most beautiful and intricate screening jobs I've seen in awhile, three colors, very detailed and on a good off-white stock. Everything about this record is perfect and it's well worth your time and money. This is what a 7" should be.
things:
Sonic Youth - SYR 7 LP (SYR).
Sick Llama - "Born Again To Die" LP (Hanson).
OCS - "Songs About Death and Dying Vol. #3" LP (Yik Yak).
Blank Dogs - "On Two Sides" LP (Troubleman).
Meanwhile - "Reality or Nothing" LP (Feral Ward).
Shellac - "Excellent Italian Greyhound" LP (Touch and Go). (finally)!
New Bloods - "The Secret Life" cassette (Hot Sauce).
Small Group - s/t cassette (Jankey).
Woods (Woods Family Creeps) CD version of LP (Time-Lag).
Woods -"From the Horn" cassette (Fuck It Tapes).
Nonhorse - "Mushhead" cassette (Fuck It Tapes).
Sex Negatives - "Parkade" 7" (Grotesque Modern / The Broadway to Boundary).
Nons / Lives Girls - split 7" (Grotesque Modern).
Moden Creatures - s/t 7" (Grotesque Modern).
Modern Creatures - "Took yr Girl / Becoming a Lizzard" cassingle (Isolated Now Waves).
Les Beyond / Racketball - split cassette (Thankless).
N.213 / Jesse Taylor - split cassette (Isolated Now Waves).
Black Dicks - "XY.33" - cassette (Isolated Now Waves).
Aja Rose Bond - "Flying Lion" cassette (Isolated Now Waves).
Aerosol Constellations - Stellations #3 Feb 08 CDr (Isolated Now Waves).
Les Beyond - "In A Gemstone" CDr (Isolated Now Waves).
Acre / Default Jamerson / Mongst - 3 x 3" CDr (Isolated Now Waves).
v/a - "The Affirmation Series Vol. 1" - 3 x cassette (Isolated Now Waves) (one side each from Les Beyond, Bonnie Mercer, Knell, Tara Jane O'Neil, Aja Rose Bond and Paradise Island).
Naked on the Vague - "Poltergeist Palm" 7" (Skulltones).
Alas, Alak, Alaska! / Whitman - split 7" (Folktale).
Sissy Spacek - "Gore Jet" 7" (Troubleman Unlimited).
Sick Llama - "Nightly Melting" 7" (Troubleman Unlimited).
Gay Beast / Twin - split 7" (Anti-Form / Strictly Amateur Films).
Shearing Pinx - "Haruspex" 7" (Divorce).
recent rotation:
Blue Meanies - live CD. Initial State LP on Prank. Delta 5. Marion Brown. Coltrane - "Meditation".
4/27/08 - we own we own we own we sell
This seemed like a really fast week, though was quite slow on some levels as well. I played a couple of shows alone this week. One was with a girl named Rachel. I'm not connected to the internet, so I can't look up her last name and type it here like I actually remembered, but she was playing her songs with other people under a collective ensemble name: "Coney Island Suite". I was asked to play by this great / nice guy from here, Steve, and what I thought he said was that she was on tour and has some people come with her / has random people from each town play with her, but in all actuality, she is from here and is actually Steve's partner (oops)! I really loved it, I thought the basis of her songs were much like Shannon Wright, who I think is excellent, but what Rachel did really took it a step beyond (or outside), having really loose and free drums / percussion, and clarinet parts that were so impressively complicated and well executed. Sometimes the overall effect was really smooth and laid back, but others it was very bizarre, fragmented and all over the place.
I liked what I did with my set, but it felt rushed and not-together, which is okay. It felt really strange too, like I was reacting to what I was doing fairly heavily. I felt like it was a pretty accurate representation of how I have / had been feeling lately, or maybe just sort of channeled something along those lines from some other time, I'm not sure - it wasn't attached to anything specific at all, but was sort of overwhelming in general.
I played pretty much the same set a few days later at Ann's house, and that time around I liked how it sounded a bit more, and didn't make me feel anything but really good. the first half of this thing is fairly abrasive but droney. There's supposed to be this section that becomes sort of pulsing on the left and very flowing on the right, but it hasn't come across the way I've meant it to these last two times. ...the ending or second half has this sort of skewed sounding feedback that's really quite, with long notes being held out on various things, in the case of the show at Ann's, it was Preston's wonderful sounding Wurlitzer organ with the amp holding down the sustain pedal (and hitting the same notes at different octaves), a guitar tuned to the same notes at different octaves and laying on the floor, vocals that come in and out very choppy, but are being layered and loops, and with Preston playing cello, Ann playing melodica. I liked it a lot. (I like them a lot)!
The show at Ann's house was weird, not a finer moment for Tempe, everyone was pretty out of it in a wide variety of ways, and in the time between my set ended and Kevin Greenspon's was starting, it just completely disintegrated. I could be wrong, but I think that for the last half of Kevin's set, it was literally just the band he was in town with, Hey Buddy and the Pals, and Ann and myself, maybe one o two others?. That might sound like a bummer in a way, but on a completely personal level, it gave me an extreme appreciation of Kevin / what he's doing. While it's not really my normal cup of tea by any means, his willingness to give it his all and go over the top, even when there is practically no one there, is really impressive and inspiring. We went to Trunkspace to see him play the following night, and I'd be willing to say that it seemed like he might have even exhausted more energy in the living room the night before. Oh: and he's fucking funny. Hey Buddy and the Pals had a pretty loud and unbalanced delivery - but I think they had fun, and a few people actually meandered back and got to see them. (and probably dug them okay, cause the same faces were at the Trunkspace show the following night).
That sort of show, the one at Ann's, can really make you second guess yourself and the things that you're involved with. Like whether or not it's worth it (trying to make things happen), and how you feel about your neighbors and team-mates and all of that stuff. But on the other hand, it had some purely good vibes floating underneath it all. Ann's set was wonderful. I liked what I did. And: Kevin and his friends were not only "okay" with how things went, they still had a ton of fun and were grateful and positive throughout the whole thing. I was really impressed with Ann keeping cool with all the weird stuff going on, I feel like I would have been more freaked and on edge if it was my thing / my house, and again, so impressed with Kevin's sincere enthusiasm as well.
Slow moment for the label, how nice! I got the tests for the Married in Berdichev 7" and they sound good. It'll still be a month before that thing surfaces. And I'm excited for the Tent/City "Stinkweeds" CD to finally be alive, but I think I'm going to wait till whenever in May that James R shows up, so that he can be there to help decide some things on it. And just waiting on the screen to be made for the Juniper Strain LP (so insane that it's going to be ready after three yeas or something)!
things:
like none this week, how weird?
No Paws (No Lions) / Hey Buddy and the Pals - split 3" CDr (Bridgetown).
No Paws (No Lions) / AM - split 7" (Silencio).
Daniel Striped Tiger / Sinaloa - split 7" (not sure on the label, again, not online right now, but I think it's on Clean Plate - and I should disclose, I have not listened to this yet, but it's two of the very few current "hardcoe" related bands and I'm really excited about it).
listening to:
Red Aunts - "Salt Box", "#1 Chicken". Meneguar - "The In Hour" (over and over). Sonic Youth - "NYC Ghosts and Flowers", "Murray Street". Emeralds - rip of double cassette.
4/20/08 - anahata!
So today is the first Sunday that I didn't have to work the first half of the shift. ...it made possible: staying up until 5am watching HORROR PARTY and having a nice breakfast / relax time with a few people over at 3 Roots,... though I am sure I would have been up with the HORROR regardless of having to wake up early or not. ...I hope that this is as concrete of a situation like it sounds, this schedule works so, so well for me, without a doubt. (and while on the subject, what it is: an hour and forty minutes of 30 second to 4 or 5 minute clips of weirdo B / cult horror movies, assembled by the genius that his Colin of the band Crime Desire - it is so worth your time, really really funny / bizarre and incredible).
This week kind of blazed by quite quickly. In a good way, 95% good I'd say. I continue feeling really good, about almost all things that surround me and absolutely with myself. And surroundings: Not just friends and people who are close, but neighbors that I don't know, the seemingly increased amount of young children that are hanging out on bikes and skateboards and with their parents up and down the same streets that all of these amazing creative people live on,... Doug, who owns the house that I live in and is just so active and good, the fact that the tree in the front yard is completely covered with leaves again. The "rock band" in the house to the west: that consists of Elizabeth and her boyfriend and their friend, who just play for themselves in their living room. The feeling that I get just knowing there's so much happening in such a highly dense way, even all of the things that I don't know about at all.
But at the same time, I did have a definite exhaustion crash on Friday night that was not enjoyable, one of those situations where you just want to cry because how tired you are hits you at once and you can't even think or talk. ...and that's okay, it was salvaged wonderfully anyway. And the following day, I finally did the majority of the cutting-up of the rug from Stinkweeds Tempe! (In preparation for a "some time soon" CD of Tent/City recordings that were done there in the middle of the night. - The CDs are going to be packaged with squares of the rug).
Playing three shows by myself this week: Tuesday at Trunkspace, with a woman that does fairly interesting but light jazz stuff from what I understand. I'm planning on keeping my set light as well to match the vibe as much as possible). Friday at Ann/Aaron/Greg's house, with Ann / Hell-Kite and Kevin Greenspon - who I feel like I'll finally actually be meeting, since I don't really count message board interactions and 2 minute long conversations when I am out of it and run into him at some show in LA or something. And Saturday is with Deep Jew at the Bike Co-Op. I'm really excited about getting the things that are coming up, done and out - though I don't care much, just as long as some or most are done in time for tour in June.
I think that my recent re-obsession with June of 44 / Shipping News is slowly winding down. Good news for people who ever enter my house! No more "Engine Takes To The Water" on repeat, just once a day instead? ...I don't know. Such long time favorites and legitimate assistants in helping me when I'm feeling off. I feel like these handfuls of records and I have just strongly reacquainted this time around, and it feels nice.
Saw Ben / Porches play last night, such a great guy - I can't wait till he finally ends up back here in Tempe. I forgot to grab one of their new CDs. I mastered the thing a month or two ago and didn't know it was even done / assembled and out. I don't think I have it on my computer, and am curious how it really sounds. I am a complete novice, would never want to be responsible for mastering anyone's stuff other than my own, but I don't mind doing my best in the name of helping out, and it was mostly just trimming out the dead space, some cuts and fade-outs, things like that. ...the recordings came out good, it's an awesome representation of the songs that Ben makes.
Some random new things that have come my way: an excellent double 3" CDr from OWL XOUNDS called "Stoned and Zoned", hard-hitting freejazz with hints of electronics / effects thrown in this time around. This is probably my favorite release of theirs thus far. It goes all over the place and never gets the least bit boring. The newest MENEGUAR LP is absolutely amazing. I believe, offhand, that the deal with the recordings is that they are new songs that were heavily left open for different interpretation during the recordings process - the end result being weird mixes and odd instrumentation, Meneguar songs that have 60's fringe pop melodies, especially in how backing vocals were recorded on some songs. I don't know, I feel like going into it much would make is sound a bit more bizarre than it is. It's not another "Meneguar" LP though, it's something that is way different and adventurous, while still being various obviously rooted in the Meneguar vein,... or something? Maybe what I am trying to get at is that this is one of the best things I've heard in awhile, loved it right away, and the first song on the B Side is probably going to be one of my favorites of the year. Get this.
things:
Owl Xounds - "Stoned and Zoned" 2 x 3" CDr (Thors Rubber).
German - "Street Food" CDr (Seafoam).
Meneguar - "The In Hour" LP (Woodsist).
Mike Tamburo / Matt McDowell - "At Bohemian Grave" CDr (Ruralfaune).
4/13/08 - funny games!
Voyeurism! (life)!
Changes!
Infection in my jaw / neck area. (painful / not all the way gone yet).
Restructured how I am doing some label work. (a "schedule": so that I am less stressed by it).
Only working at the group home for the second half of Sundays (starting next week).
Buying my mother's car in June (an Accord with just over 105K, just paying off the loan's remainder).
oh, almost forgot: I am single now.
I want to write about a lot of things, but this just isn't the forum for them. Honestly, there really is no forum aside from conversation with friends (and Mom!) and the manifestation of ideas and feelings into music and art (which is arguably inappropriate in certain cases as well, but that's just entirely too bad). And even if you sit down and talk about things with someone, no one can really understand just what you are feeling as much as you can anyway, though it can help you process, calm down, further develop your ideas, and so on. ...when things are overwhelming, it's obviously a huge benefit, and I absolutely owe a lot of listening time right now.
Though I will disclose: I am okay, and at no point have I been down on myself in a literal sort of sense at all. ...defiantly for short amounts of time as an expression of frustration and sadness, which is silly I think, but also understandable. The fact of the matter is: I know exactly who I am, how I think, what I believe in and what I desire from the world, and I'm happy with where I stand as a person. I mean: There are some small things that I would love to work on and change, as well as things I want to start, but much more than that: I know I'm good and have a lot to share. And: I deserve to be happy, and to be with someone that I can make happy and share something amazing with.
Maybe: some other time.
So, speaking of time: in an effort to keep myself sane / create more time for myself, I am doing this sort of schedule thing, where I try to do a majority of label work at two specific times: packing orders made from Friday to Monday on Monday night all at once, mailing them on Tuesday, and then the same: Tuesday through Thursday, all packed on Thursday and mailed on Friday. And doing all pertinent e-mailing and correspondence at those times as well. ...I'm still checking e-mail everyday and responding to short things, but most work is getting done at those times. I've been doing this since the beginning of April, and had been planning on it like that for awhile, and it's working out well.
And not working the first half of the group home shift on Sundays will be a huge help with having time to "live". Right now it's an 8am-10pm shift, which means I only have one day where I can be up as late as I want without having to worry about waking up. Cutting out the first 6 hours of this shift will give me another, and I really think that's a great thing for me right now. Possibly "needed" actually, I'm not sure. ...regardless, I think it is going to be a concrete, long-term thing. (Though you never know how things will go in this field, and my love of the guys at this group home and the lack of adequate coverage is the only reason I am even here. I don't care about the extra money. The 14 hour shift that I do every Sunday is an open position that could be filled at any time, but the specific individuals that I work with at this home are somewhat infamous for being out of control (though in reality: you don't get the behaviors if you know what you're doing and interact with them in just the right way), and so my temporary coverage of this entire day has been temporarily going on for four years now, which is crazy).
The infection, geez: The infection was insane, you would not believe it, so large I could hardly open my mouth. Pain killers were a life saver for a few days, it would just throb forever - such an awful feeling. It was disgusting and I'll spare the messy details, but I will embarrassingly admit that I was fairly flattered that the young woman referring to me as Mr. Fella at the Pharmacy was so obviously flirting with me despite the fact that I had this gigantic disfigured face and could hardly talk (and was almost in tears from being in so much pain at the moment). Usually I don't like those situations, perhaps because I am too uptight for my own good, but given the absurdity of the scenario, I appreciated it. ...right now it's still there, though only a little bit, to where I can just feel it from the inside. I ran out of my second script for antibiotics, so depending on what this thing looks and feels like over the next couple of days, I might have to go back in again.
All of that awful business prompted me to not leave my home to play a show with Married in Berdichev, who I love and am doing a record for (next month), though I decided to be there in ghost form, recording a 10 minute piece, freestyle / in one take and making a little pamphlet to go with it (which I made a bunch of for the crowd). The piece was weird, it went all over the place in such a short amount of time, and I just went direct into a stereo cassette deck. I thought it sounded great, and sent the tape deck to the show to be ran through the PA with the pamphlets for my "set". I heard I did okay! ...I made a CDr out of the tape, and cut up / resized the pamphlet for the packaging.
As for my mother's car: it seems like such a good plan for the moment. It's a young, healthy car and will cost me very little, especially since I can use it for the tour with French Quarter that I am doing in June, as that would have been $700 in rental car fees if I was going to have Stephen be able to legally drive, which I obviously would have. I am, after all: very up tight. So even with this car being a cheap-for-what-it-is sort of hook up, it's even less expensive when calculated NOT having to spend all that other money on a rental. ...I won't really use it much so it'll stay nice forever I'm sure. Six days a week I'll still be using my scooter to go to an from work. Realistically, the car will just be for shows outside of the neighborhood, (grocery) shopping, and the occasional trip to wherever. I don't know, I like the idea for now.
Oh, what else... I'm wanting to do a lot of other music things right now, but probably won't right away. Most recently, writing a lot of things that I would love to fully assemble before even attempting to work on with others. Slow and quiet things that are fairly sparse and stop and go. I'd compare it but it would just evoke "direct rip off", but I don't know. It's a particular style for sure, and would be a great great outlet for me. Regardless, I've been sending a lot of time just standing there and playing, which is something I never usually do. It's nice. It feels really good.
___________________________________________________________________
I saw the movie FUNNY GAMES, a remake of a shock/terror sort of movie from the 90's that I am not familiar with. I thought it was incredible, though am still a little ify on this one short scene that was a bit over the top quirky, though when talking to others about said scene, the appreciation of it makes tons of sense. Regardless: a pretty awesome film about two people terrorizing a family over the course of a day, essentially just for the sake of torturing them. I've said for years that the shock aspects of Clockwork Orange could use an updating and this is honestly a pretty similar sort o approach. This whole movie could have been a scene from that one, without a doubt. Pretty intense ideas were thrown down, and there wasn't much to be touched on that wasn't in the realm of "fucked up", but honestly much more gripping was the dry wit from boys doing the torturing, their softness was what really elevated what was going on to such a fucked up level, and it was just all really well done.
There's this one song that plays three times, beginning middle and end, this ultra fucked up / brutal nonsense that I was sure was some Dave Witte or Chris Dodge elated project, but was actually a Zorn thing called Naked City with Eye / Boredoms freaking out on vocals. Such an over the top song! Like if you played a Total Shutdown LP at 5 different speeds (all at least twice as fast as it should be) at the same time. And otherwise, no music at all. Just talking. Well, and other stuff.
I don't really feel like there's been too much else going on since the last time I wrote in here,... Soft Shoulder played Small Group's tape release show at the Bike Saviors Co-Op, but my mood kicked me out of the show for sure, though to be fair, I enjoyed wild company on the sidewalk down the street by my vehicle for a good while. We also played last night, at what ended up being a pretty bleak benefit show for Trunkspace. ...they made the rest of the money needed to get a Certificate of Occupancy cleared, but it was pretty sad. I largely blame it being fairly last minute, no one really knowing about it, and my own personal dealings getting in the way of my getting people stoked about it. ...you can't win every time, but then again: technically a success, so, maybe I should just shut up about it.
I'm still not feeling up to writing about music stuff at the moment. tsk tsk. Oh well?
things:
Sickness + Wolf Eyes - LP (Hospital).
Inca Ore - "Ballet Chop" CDr (Ruralfaune).
(VxPxC) - "I See a Fire In The Distance" CDr (Ruralfaune).
Foot Village, ZS - 7"s from Rock is Hell boxset.
Paradox #10 - book + CDr (American Tapes).
Life At These Speeds / Thank God - split 7" (Exotic Fever).
listening to:
June of 44 - all. Shotmaker - "Mouse Ear (Forget Me Not)". Lords of Light. Mania D. Mary Timony Band, Helium. Sickness - "Fuck Your Punk Rock". Caroliner - random. You and I - all. Get the Hell Out of the Way of the Volcano - "Everyday Examples..." Don Caballero - "American Don". Shipping News - "Save Everything".
