in search of the lost chord

Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick

2010-04-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

Martin Carthy gets tagged as the "English Bob Dylan" a lot. This comparison is not entirely unfounded, as they both worked hard to dig up their traditional folk repertoire, they both exposed folk to a broader audience, and they both shocked their fans when they went electric. Bob even thanks Martin in the liner notes on one of his early records (the Freewheelin', I think, but I might be wrong...). But Martin Carthy doesn't get due credit for all his accomplishments when this comparison is made. Carthy is a true folk scholar and archivist, who pieced together ancient material from scraps preserved both written and orally passed down. And his numerous records present this material in a largely traditional fashion - much of his music is acappella, sung in his distinctive, Anne Briggs-ish delivery; or with the spare accompaniment of Dave Swarbrick's fiddle and his own stark and reserved guitar work.
After Swarbrick (who never received equal billing as Carthy, due to contractual reasons) parted ways for a time, Carthy went on solo, as well as joining groups like Steeleye Span and the Albion Country Band; while Swarb became a long-standing member of Fairport Convention.
From 1967's Byker Hill, here are two songs representative of the finest English traditions, mainly murder and incest. Hoowee...

The Bloody Gardener

Lucy Wan

R.I.P. Def Jux

2010-02-22T01:37:00.000-08:00

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, what with the rigamortis-like state of the record industry these days, but I just heard the other day that indie hip hop label Def Jux shut down. It's too bad - when the label started, it had one of the most promising line-ups in modern hip hop: Innovators Company Flow, rising star Aesop Rock, DJ/producer virtuoso RJD2, underground vampires Cannibal Ox, and smurfy Mr. Lif. Their early releases likewise were all heat. Mr. Lif's debut Enters the Colossus, Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein, and compilation Def Jux Presents were some of my favorite records of the era, largely due to the fact that beat maker/rapper/label head El-P produced much of the initial output. His production style is unlike any other; it's a dense, claustrophobic and cluttered hybrid of hip hop and industrial music. It sounds like where he's from (New York in the 22nd century). Other notable releases of that time included El-P's debut solo release Fantastic Damage and Aesop Rock's Labor Days.
But like so many other trends, the quality couldn't be kept up indefinitely. El-P started producing less and less, and outside talent began creeping in. I had always equated the sound of Def Jux with El's production, and the songs he didn't touch always sounded a bit lackluster. Also, Aesop Rock quit working with producer Blockhead (who fit his style like a glove), and his subsequent efforts fell short. Cannibal Ox never had a follow-up to their debut (except for a live record), and both members left the Def Jux fold to pursue other interests. RJD2 left in 2004, and changed his style.
In an attempt to expand, Def Jux enlisted outside talent to swell their ranks. The Weathermen, Atoms Fam, C-Rayz Walz, Rob Sonic, Cage and Camu Tao were all promising enlistees, but in many cases these new artists seemed like an ill fit. Yeah, I'm talking about mistakes like Murs and the Party Fun Action Committee, or whatever they were called. The Weathermen never got beyond a mix tape, Atoms Fam went their own way, Cage became an emo, and the amazing Camu Tao unfortunately passed away.
In the latter days, El-P tried his best to rally. He released his sophomore cd, which was more focused than his debut, but lacked the energy of Fantastic Damage. Def Jux also saw the release of west coast legend Del the Funkee Homosapien's latest record. But it was too little too late.
It's unclear if Def Jux is shut down for good or merely on hiatus, but the results are the same: it's another sign that the American music industry is no longer viable.
Burn a candle and think of them in this unknown country, while you listen to a few of my favorite tracks from the late label's heyday.

Iron Galaxy - Cannibal Ox

Kill 'Em All - Aesop Rock (RJD2 Remix)

El-P - Tuned Mass Damper

Die Antwoord

2010-02-18T23:43:00.000-08:00

South African hip hop. I think I really like it, I think. Makes me feel weird.

Ellensburg just does that to people

2010-02-08T23:46:00.001-08:00

...wow.

This song by the Screaming Trees is my favorite song to sing when I don't think anyone can hear me. My singing sucks, but if I turn the song up loud enough, you can't tell.

Dying Days

764-HERO

2010-02-07T02:05:00.000-08:00

764-Hero were part of the 2nd wave of Northwest bands to make it relatively big. Along with Sleater-Kinney, Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, etc, 764-Her0 reinvented the image of Northwest music, pushing it past the long-johns-wearing, illiterate backwoods grunge stereotype into decidedly more credible indie hipsterism. For better or for worse, it can be argued that this wave has had the most enduring effect on the image and sound of this corner of the world. This song is off their 3rd album for Up Records, entitled Get Here and Stay. It's my personal favorite from this duo-turned-trio. Here's a sampling, with "Ottowa Dropout".

Ottawa Dropout

Radiohead Light

2010-02-05T21:20:00.000-08:00

Thousands of pre-teen girls around the world ban Radiohead for hating on Hannah Montana

The above pic was from a made-for-tv Incredible Hulk movie from when I was a kid. A while back, they made a slightly better movie where they somehow convinced Jennifer Connelly to be the Hulk's girlfriend, Betty Ross. Last year or so they made another Hulk movie, this time getting Liv Tyler to play Betty. Liv Tyler used to be with this guy named Royston Langdon who I suspect was teased a lot by Liv's dad. They aren't together any more. That's really only Langdon's claim to fame, besides being in this band that put out this one song that was on MTV for a minute in the mid-nineties. The song is called "In the Meantime", but it's not the song by Helmet. It's by Spacehog. The Incredible Hulk was on at the same time as the Dukes of Hazard, which I loved, so I didn't watch the hulk that often.

In the Meantime

Oh yeah, these guys, whatever their name is

2010-02-04T22:47:00.000-08:00

Sponge... Temple Pilots.

Whenever I hear this song by alternative b-listers Sponge, it brings back a horrible memory of the clock radio jarring me awake in the dark, and shivering my way out of bed to get ready for high school.

Despite being so traumatized, I always thought this was a catchy tune, but I never thought it was catchy enough to fork over the dough to buy the album. And that's pretty much all I can say for this band.

Now I feel kind of bad for them.

Plowed

The Hipster Offspring of Billy Corgan (Shudder)

2010-02-03T22:46:00.000-08:00

Silversun Pickups

Despite being a band that shamelessly worships and copies the Smashing Pumkins sound, Silversun Pickups are honestly a lot of fun to listen to. In fact, they do the Pumkins better than the Pumkins, at least the current incarnation. The classic early 'nineties energy (remember the whole quiet-loud-quiet-loud dynamic?) is present in full force from beginning to end, the songwriting is alienated without being melodramatic or overly-obvious, and the playing is accomplished without being polished. Besides all that, the music is just refreshing. The Pickups aren't trying to say anything new, they settle for just making catchy tunes. You've probably already heard them and have already formulated your opinions on this band, but here's a sampling anyway:

Melatonin

Lazy Eye

Speed Your Love To Me

2010-01-01T14:55:00.000-08:00

Simple Minds has had a long and varied career, from their beginnings as punkish Roxy Music wannabe's, to their experiments in fusing punk and dance, to mid-eighties stadium rockers, to today's status as sophisticated elder statesmen. I grew up with their records from the mid 80's (Sparkle In the Rain and Once Upon a Time), but it wasn't until adulthood that I got my hands on a bunch of their old LP's from the late 70's and early 80's. As I listened I became more and more astounded the further back I went. They had an impressive output (5 albums in 2 years!), running the gamut between glossy synth numbers and all-out noise fests. Often described as a weaker version of U2, I came away much more impressed with Simple Minds' creativity and variety than I ever felt about U2's work. More importantly it made me appreciate those two records I remembered from childhood even more.
This song was a single off of Sparkle, and I might consider it my favorite Simple Minds track. It's four minutes of pure energy wrapped up in a shiny wash of chiming guitars and keyboards. Nice and reverb-y, the sound of the music completely reminds me of my childhood. It makes me glad to have been a kid back then, since so much of the music of the time had this magical, synth-y, glossy quality.

Speed Your Love To Me

A pagan singalong for the apocalypse

2009-12-20T15:39:00.001-08:00

Lal and Mike Waterson's Bright Phoebus

This collection of tunes came from one half of the English folk singing troupe The Watersons, who, after years of travelling for a living, took an undefined hiatus to pursue other interests. While Norma Waterson went abroad for a time, Mike and Lal continued to make music, although in a much different vein than what they had done before.
Departing from the unaccompanied stark a cappella versions of traditional folk songs that defined the Waterson's sound, Mike and Lal enlisted the top brass of the English folk community to help them record this stunning collection of self-penned songs. Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, Tim Hart, Maddy Prior, Martin Carthy, Ashley Hutchings, Sue Kirkpatrick and Norma Waterson are included in the list of luminaries that came together to make this psychedelic folk-rock gem.
The title track to Lal and Mike Waterson's album Bright Phoebus is one of the strangest and most compelling songs I've ever come across. It's a simple tune that manages to be uplifting and joyous while absolutely devastating you at the time. It's an absolutely chilling song, unlike any other. Give it a listen or three.

Bright Phoebus

The Recognized Thresholds of Negative Stress

2009-12-10T17:47:00.000-08:00

Skinny Puppy

Whenever life gets hectic I notice that my musical tastes tend to reflect it. This is always most noticeable at the end of the school quarter, when term papers are due, finals are eminent, and sleep becomes scarce. You'd think that one would seek a balance at times like this, and start listening to Kenny G or Raffi or some shit like that, but no. Nope, when major stress hits and my brain feels like a pressure cooker, that's when I head for the nasty stuff. A few years ago in the final month of my engineering program, I became obsessed with the early records of Scandinavian death metalers Amorphis. Last year at this time I got really into doom n' bass drummer Mick Harris. And this year is no different, but for the band: Skinny Puppy. To me they are the quintessential industrial band: Abrasive percussion, eighties synths, blood, distortion, and growls in a fake British accent. Do you know what it's like to listen to skinny puppy on headphones for 8 hours straight, while reading about hemorrhaging vaginas? Well, I do, and I can tell you, it's not a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Here's a little sample, minus the anatomy.

Morpheus Laughing

Psychosomatic Addict Insane

2009-11-15T15:15:00.000-08:00

Remember this song? Of course you do.
Back in '97, when electronic music had managed to gain a tentative foothold as a legit part of the mainstream, the Prodigy ranked high on the list of techno A-listers. They had been huge since the early nineties in England, but it wasn't until 1996, and their single for "Firestarter", that they exploded onto MTV and alternative radio here in the U.S. Although "Firestarter" was a delicious slab of noise, "Breathe" was in my opinion a superior track, and one of the genre's best works. From the warbly bass, Spy Hunter-ish melody and chopped breakbeats, to the kung-fu samples and snarling vocal delivery, this song has it. Give it another listen for old time's sake, try not to let the walls melt on you, and remember to breathe.

Breathe

dead links

2009-09-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note. If you come across any dead links, just leave a comment and I'll put it back up! In response to a couple comments already, the more recent links have been reposted.

That's How It's Done At the World Market

2009-08-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

So I've been working the early morning shift (4 am to whenever) at Costplus Werld Markit, unloading trucks and stocking shelves. It's a job fraught with many a potential misery, but I actually don't mind it. I work with some cool people, and I like to organize things anyhow, and we get to listen to music, so it's not so bad. The music isn't what I'd call my style, though: I'm forced to hear a lot of Dave Matthews, Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne, and emo, none of which are "my thing". However, every now and again a song comes on that I like. In the following cases, these songs have become favorites - I play them all the time! Lucky me. The first is by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and it's called "Zero", off of their new album It's Blitz! I've always liked the Yeahs, but I hadn't heard that they had a new album out. The second, "Around the Bend", is by the Asteroid Galaxy Tour, which I guess everybody but me knows about already due to a feature in some Apple commercial. I don't stay plugged into current trends for very long, so I feel fortunate to have caught these two tracks before they fade into ADD MP3 obscurity. Here are the videos for both. I find it interesting that both videos go for the same early 80's new york Blondie vibe - although each in different ways.

Sweaty and Uncomfortable

2009-07-27T23:11:00.001-07:00

Santana III

David Crosby

The temperature supposedly reached 97 today, which is a pretty rare occurrence here in the pacific northwest. On top of the heat, it rained yesterday, making it nice and humid. Ugh. I feel like I'm breathing and wading through hot, sticky, damp, fetid water vapor. I'm usually a hot weather person, but not this kind of hot weather.
Of course, it's too miserable to sleep, even with the fan on in the bedroom. It's almost midnight as I write this and the temperature is still in the 80's, so I'm still up (despite starting a new job at 6 tomorrow morning). So just to make the atmosphere complete, I'm posting a couple "uncomfortably hot and sweaty summer night" songs.
The first is "Taboo" from Santana's III album. The cover of the album let's you know what it sounds like. It's a great track, great and sweaty. I picked this album up at a yard sale in the dog days when I was in high school and I guess this song sums up the feel of humid northwest summers for me.
The second track is David Crosby's "Almost Cut My Hair", off of CSN&Y's Deja Vu, and if you think the first song is hot and sweaty, this track is like taking a bath in a hot KFC bucket of steamy lard. A family size bucket. For real, in the pantheon of disgusting, sweaty songs, this one is the most likely to start a grease fire. You can almost hear the oil drip off David's straining neck veins.
So turn off the lights (they emit heat), sit back on the couch in your underwear, try not to move too much (except to pick the crumbs out of your mustache/beard/chest hair/navel), and have a listen. Oh yeah, the heat is supposed to last through the week...

Taboo

Almost Cut My Hair

Bring That Beat Back!

2009-07-23T23:49:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, just a quick note. I've started up another blog to run concurrently with this one. Whereas In Search of the Lost Chord showcases all kinds of music I love, this new one (Bring That Beat Back) will deal exclusively with hip hop releases (at least for the time being). The reason for this is because I have some rare and out-of-print hip hopery that I don't feel necessarily warrants the dear-to-my-heart specification I have here at Lost Chord, but I know some cats want to hear anyway. So there you go. Feel free to stop in and check it out!
The URL is http://beetbak.blogspot.com/

The Ethiopians

2009-07-23T23:24:00.000-07:00

The Ethiopians are a complete joy to listen to. They recorded a ton of great music in the golden age of Jamaican music, from the mid 60's to the mid 70's. Because their output is so immense and their music so good, I picked their song for this post, "Come On Now," completely at random.
And it seems the Fates chose wisely. This cautionary rocksteady tune has all the best elements the Ethiopians utilized: The high, soaring harmony vocals; the bouncy, infectious rhythm; the ragged horns; and the unnameable, magical quality that makes the world a happy place.
The temperature in the next few days is supposed to reach the mid-90's, so at some point give yourself a few minutes to sit back with a cold beverage and listen to this track. It's the perfect music for a summer afternoon.

Come On Now

Hip Hop Holy Grail Part 3: Puzoozoo Watt: Self-Help

2009-07-22T23:49:00.001-07:00

Here's another impossible-to-find nugget. This weird release came out only on cassette in 1999, at least I think. This cerebral Blowdian rapper Puzoozoowatt was, and maybe still is, a member of the group Onomatopoeia, along with Slant (who made the beats for this release, as well as guested on one spot), and Vixen, who shows up a couple of times. I remember ordering this from P-Minus' website back in the day, along with a bunch of Rifleman, CVE, and GPAC cds. When I got the package it was one of the happiest days of my pathetic, nerdy life. Go check out Puzoozoo's myspace page to hear the strange and cool stuff he's up to these days. While you're there, ask him please to release some more tracks! Please!! For now, enjoy this strange tape.

Self-Help

Hip Hop Holy Grail Part 2: Give and Ye Shall Receive

2009-07-19T23:45:00.000-07:00

Ganjah K

Ganjah K's legendary unreleased album from the early 90's, Harvest For the World, is a record I've tried to find for more than a decade. It's my own personal "most sought after" record. I'd hear about it here and there, and I'd find it listed on online trade sites, but despite a number of valiant efforts at getting a copy, (including ignored offers to trade, then ignored offers of money/sex, leading to ignored threats of emotional blackmail, extortion, and bodily harm) I would always ultimately fail at getting my hands on this coveted gem.
But I never gave up hope. I knew that some day, on some blog, or sketchy hip hop forum, or Russian pirate/porn site, I would find this most holy of hip hop holy grails. And low and behold, it finally happened. And not only did I find Harvest for the World, but I also located his other impossible-to-find album, Danksta Life!
Before I go further, a quick run-down of the man of the hour: Ganjah K is a Los Angeles emcee, a member of First Brigade (and possibly also an early member of Freestyle Fellowship?), who kills it on the mic. He yells when he raps. He has amazing battle skills. He's had an elusive career, getting signed to the great Satan Pallas Records in the mid nineties, never getting official release for his records, and subsequently appearing almost entirely on small compilations and guest spots for nearly 20 years.
And this could very well be a valid reason why I'm so passionate about Ganjah K's work. Certainly there's the struggle I have to go through to find his music, which I find rewarding. But more importantly, where some of his more successful cohorts have had the means to become slicker, flashier, and more mainstream, Ganjah K has been denied that success and therefore still retains that raw edge that is so appealing. Ultimately, this means that whenever I hear a new appearance by Ganjah I'm not disappointed.
Here's where I found these jems:
http://philaflava.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=111336&sid=50851f9312644e3f977ae8364c5a3a00
Be sure to give praise where praise is due(i.e. to Ganjah K and the dudes who actually uploaded this shiz)! But be aware: I'd always heard that the sound quality of Ganjah's Harvest was terrible, but I wasn't prepared for just how terrible it was. So, if anybody out there reading this has a better copy, please let me know! I Will gladly trade/pay money for/have sex with you for/blackmail you for/threaten you with bodily harm for a quality version of Harvest.
Now that I've finally found these records, my life is strangely empty.
Here's a hit of the Ganjah.

Got My Mind Trippin

Hip Hop Holy Grail Part One: Portrait Of A Ghetto Raised

2009-07-15T23:55:00.001-07:00

As far as I can tell, this can't be found anywhere. For those who know of this, no intro is necessary. For everyone else, this is the ultra-rare Project Blowed-related compilation album Portrait of a Ghetto Raised on One Punch Records. Just barely dropping in 1998, it came about soon after the blow-up that was Beneath the Surface and just before the equally-incendiary Cater To the DJ. However, unlike those two comps, Portrait came and went with barely a rumor to mark it's passing.
Produced in large by Fat Jack, Portrait boasts some unheard tracks by some Blowed veterans: Abstract Tribe Unique, Ganjah K, Volume 10, Smooth 7, Dutch, DK Toon and others. The vibe is a relative departure from the experimental flavor that the Blowed camp generally deliver: This is raw, post-g-funk-era hip hop. The beats are from drum machines, not samples; the bass is smooth and prominant; and high, whiney synth lines dominate.
I remember learning about this release when a promo cd single showed up at the indie record store down the street from my apartment. I recognized Fat Jack's and Dutch's name at the time, and waited impatiently for the album to show up, but to no avail. Then one night, years later, I was checking out the tiny shelf of tapes in the same record shop (Orpheum, for those who care-RIP) and low and behold, there it was! I asked the tight-pantsed clerk about it, and he told me it had been sitting collecting dust for all those years, waiting for my sweaty palms to clutch at it. Cosmic.
Check it out! The tracks by Ganjah K and Dutchman are standouts.

Track listing:
A1: Portrait of a Ghetto Raised: Intro - Ab Rude
A2: In the Club Tonight - The Suspects
A3: It's the Life - Smooth 7
A4: Right Or Wrong - Mark Means feat. Mr. Beloved
A5: Feel the High - Ganjah K
A6: Clothes By the Trees - K-Lam
A7: Do Or Die - The Suspects feat. Sir Loon
A8: Affiliations - Abstract Tribe Unique
A9: The Game Has Been Good To Me - Ganjah K
B1: Profound - K-Lam
B2: Everybody Banging - DK Toon feat. Smooth 7
B3: Peace Of the West - Dutchman feat. Volume 10 & DZL
B4: Take Me - Billie feat. Mr. Beloved
B5: Give It Up - Israel
B6: Low Low - Volume 10 feat. Flowood
B7: In the Zone - The Suspects feat. Money Green

Portrait of a Ghetto Raised

Another Notch In My Elitist Bastard Belt

2009-07-13T23:51:00.001-07:00

It's a sad-but-true fact: When it comes to music, I'm a snob. I'm as worse as they come. It's despicable, and at night I cry to the Lord and beat my pillow about it, but there it is, staring me in the face come morning.
But really, if I wasn't such a snob, then why else would I have a music blog?
Case in point: The subject of this week's post, the Coachmen. Who the hell are the Coachmen, you ask? Thurston Moore's band before Sonic Youth, I say! Are they any good, you query? No, but that's not the point!, I shout at your face with spittle. Listen: recordings like the Coachmen's are released for one purpose and one purpose only: To let hipster wannabe's obtain and then name-drop crap that normal people don't know about. I know you know what I'm talking about.
I worshiped Sonic Youth in my early teens. I saw their video for "Kool Thing" on MTV one night and fell in love. They were angry, beautiful, hip and ugly all at the same time. They posed and presented a themselves as detached observers and passionate activists; as proponants of hipster culture and dejectors of corporate America. they were articulate and abrasive, and unlike anything I had heard before that point.
"Kool Thing" was on their new album Goo. But what did album did I go out and pick up? "Sonic Death", a soon-to-be out-of-print slab of dark, claustrophobic noise recorded by the Youth on 4-track in the dark days of the early 80's, during their European Tour. Yep, 64 minutes of audience chatter mixed with abrasive, dirgy, out-of-tune noise. And next I bought what this post is about: The Coachmen's 13-minute 1979 demo record - just to show the world how cool and into Sonic Youth I was. But, as it turned out, nobody cared. Which I guess, by my standards, actually means that I was EXTRA cool.
The Coachmen were snobs themselves. Consisting of a RISD student, some other guys, and Thurston, they rode on the coattails of the Talking Heads and Television, playing, nerdy, edgy, New York punk. But where the former bands succeeded in creating amazing and transcendent works of forward-thinking and sophisticated artwork, the Coachmen didn't really have the same spark. They sounded exactly like what they were: A bunch of guys shamelessly in love with Tom Verlaine and David Byrne.
But therin lies their beauty. They strike me as naive and wide-eyed, worshipping the time and place they found themselves in. If punk hadn't become the measuring stick of all that was cool, the Coachmen might have seemed even downright endearing.
So take a listen with that in mind, and what you'll hear are a group of young people tentatively stretching their imaginations in a genre that was known for its constraints, singing about what they're familiar with. And just to get the added hipster effect, you're getting the entire record (as one single track), dubbed off tape. How hardcore is that!? Enjoy the tape hiss.

Failure To Thrive

You Wanna Hear About My New Obsession?

2009-07-06T23:29:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie

I have a voracious appetite when it comes to music. I get a hankering for some sound, or some band, or some song, and I get an insatiable buzzing in my brain, and when I find what I'm looking for I gorge myself on it until the very thought of it makes me want to puke. Yep, sounds healthy. But that's the way I am, and that's what makes the buzzing subside, and there isn't much I can do about it. At least I'm not into crack.
By chance I happened to hear a song by Garbage the other day, and for whatever reason the buzzing started up and it got me to thinking about an old video I saw on MTV late one night back in the 90's. Garbage had been receiving heavy airplay of their song "Only Happy When It Rains", and on the late-night alternative show 120 Minutes, MTV played "Suffocate Me" by Shirley Manson's earlier group, Angelfish. Buzz. I did a little online research and as it turns out, Angelfish was just a side-project of another band, a Scots group called Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie. Apparently they were a big deal in their homeland, but unfortunately didn't make much of a splash elsewhere. So, to make the buzzing go away, in short order I tracked down everything I could by Angelfish, and just to be safe, I did the same with the Mackenzies. For the sake of my sanity, am I glad that I did!
Angelfish were a decent outfit, and comparisons to Garbage are warranted, since it was essentially Shirley Manson's solo outing with Mackenzie members serving as her backup band. The mood of the music was similar as well: although rawer than the band that would make Manson famous, the music was still dark and dirgy alternative rock. But where Angelfish seemed to point the way to Garbage, Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie struck me as a complete about face. Their sound was that of an honest, hard-working, and full-fledged band with a penchant for soaring melodies and catchy hooks. The music was lively and memorable, with a foot-stomping rhythm and songs that got stuck in my head after only one listen.
Shirley actually played only a supporting role in Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie, as a backup singer (sounding a lot like Deborah Harry) and keyboardist. The major focus of the band was the charismatic vocalist, Martin Metcalfe, who at a turn could remind you of diverse talents like Scott Walker, Ian McCulloch, Nick Cave, Michael Hutchence or Lou Reed.
They were glossy and idealistic as only an 80's band can be, singing at times dingy third-person narratives about street life (Jim's Killer), and other times slick, Simple Minds wannabe anthems concerning vague world issues (Goodwill City). Whatever the style or subject matter, they tackled it with a raw energy that Garbage never came close to attaining (thanks in part to ex-Exploited guitarist John Duncan). It's almost a crime that they never made it big, when at the time shit like Information Society and Escape Club were radio mainstays. But that's always how it is, I guess.
I'm still listening to the Mackenzies every day, and I don't feel like puking my guts out yet. So they must be good. Check out the following tracks to hear some great music.

Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie

Goodwill City (12" Remix)

The Roxy Music Megapost part the First

2009-06-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

Roxy Music

I'm afraid that I'm never going to fully wrap my brain around Roxy Music. I just can't comprehend them, as much as I try. So, in an attempt to understand this band and the conflicting roller coaster of emotions the music generates for me, I'm writing this post.
Here's what I know: Roxy Music was envisioned by keyboardist/vocalist Bryan Ferry and bassist Graham Simpson in the early 70's, but by the time the world met them, Simpson had left and the band was fueled by the creative tension between Ferry and Brian Eno. Along with classically trained oboist/saxaphonist Andy Mackay and guitarist Phil Manzanera, Roxy Music was nothing if not dynamic. Bryan Ferry was essentially a soul singer - he was influenced by American R&B and Motown. He also had a knack for crafting memorable hooks reminiscent at times of the Beatles and the Bee Gees' art pop experiments. His most immediately definable feature, however, was his voice: He utilized a bloodless, vampiric croon, stark and cold; sort of a nightmarish version of Nina Simone or Odetta.
Eno, the great anti-musician, didn't so much play music as warp music with the various electronics he had at his disposal. With the Velvet Underground as an obvious influence, Eno would twiddle knobs, push buttons and systematically tear down any standard pop construct Ferry would send his way. The result was that choruses would have eerie atonal synthesized noise floating underneath them. Pounding bass and drum rhythms would disappear behind a wall of white noise cranked to the max. Ferry's organ would have to contend with Eno's space noises from the corner of the stage.
This dynamic served them well, at least early on. The music was a confounding concoction of sounds both smooth and abrasive, sleek and ugly, predictable and jarring, sophisticated and primitive. Pop songs seemed to effortlessly meld into art rock and from there to atonal noise jams. Eventually the tension would be stretched to the breaking point, as demonstrated on their sophomore album For Your Pleasure - where literally every attempt of Ferry's to create an effective pop sound would be thwarted by Eno's maniacal treatments. But for seeming polar opposites, Ferry and Eno worked remarkably well together for longer than anyone could expect.
What derails me isn't so much the seeming compatibility of the disparate elements of Roxy Music, but what Roxy Music portrayed through their songs and imagery. On stage, they were flamboyant, covered in makeup and ridiculous outfits. They were preoccupied with fashion, glamour, the cult of celebrity, and expounded on the virtues of materialism with a fervor that was 10 years ahead of its time. Their music could just as easily be a mainstream pastiche than an abrasive dirge. They appeared on the outside merely as shallow punks cashing in on the dominant elements of Marc Bolan's glam movement.
But they were so maddeningly sincere about it! They were all top-notch musicians, for one thing, and Ferry wrote with the articulation of a poet. No other band could write a song about a robotic lover, seem completely serious about it, and involve an oboe player. Which leads me to another point - they approached these shallow, materialistic ideals without any sense of irony. Ferry could sing about his new-found celebrity status, his big house, his new pool, and his new mail-order rubber woman with a singular intensity that could cause chills. He sang like a man burdened under the weight of the worlds' sins - only this man was self-centered, filthy rich, and a sociopath, who was unaware of any of the worlds' actual problems.
It was a band that thrived on uncomfortable contradictions. To appear as clowns and deliver stunning music, and to sing about materialism from the heart, is what confuses me so much about Roxy Music. In their early period at least, I get the feeling that deep down they were poking fun at the absurdities of the jet-setters and watered-down pop culture in general. But I can't be sure of that, because not once would any of them crack a smile. After Brian Eno left the band, and Bryan Ferry asserted his dominance over the group, things became a bit more obvious. But even then, the lines of distinction between celebrity and critic never fully came into focus.
Below are a few videos I came across that show Roxy Music in their early glory. Since they were such a visual band, I figured that these would be more pertinent than just audio tracks. Enjoy.

The Angry Young Them

2009-06-24T00:02:00.000-07:00

Them

This song kicks, that's all there is to it. From the opening fuzz-guitar lick to the all-too-soon fade out at the end, "I Can Only Give You Everything" is pure energy. The Yardbirds may have had the amphetamine edginess, and the Stones may have had the predatory swagger, but to me Van Morrison's Them epitomized the rough and unpolished anger and exuberance of the 60's English rhythm and blues movement (and so what if they were Irish?). I can only imagine how the clubs must have erupted when this song was performed live. Badassitude.

I Can Only Give You Everything

Hot Potato

2009-06-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

Aceyalone, Mikah 9, Ganjah K, Volume 10, Big Al

Here's a criminally hard-to-find Freestyle Fellowship track. Originally a b-side from 1993, it was the featured version in their "Hot Potato" video. For whatever reason it hasn't popped up anywhere since. This version has little to do with the album track. The beat is much livelier and the Fellowship exude an energy that was rare even at their peak (at least on record). This was the Fellowship's golden age. The way they fed off of each other, constantly pushing the boundaries of what each emcee could do individually and as part of the group is at times jaw-dropping. They don't disappoint here. Check out guest emcee Ganjah K's verse early on - He definitely holds his own like the heavyweight he is.

Hot Potato (Blow Up Club Remix)

Eww...

2009-06-18T23:42:00.000-07:00

Ratt

I liked this song a lot, when I was seven. Not that I would have ever admitted it at the time - at that age I was still eager please my parents, and Ratt definitely did not please them - But I secretly wrote in my diary that I thought they were rad. And who could blame me? This was 1985, smack dab in the era of hair metal, and MTV played their video for "Round and Round" all the time. To an impressionable child, the Ratt people seemed dangerous: They were sweaty and over-sexed, surrounded by women and smoke pots and neon green light. Their clothes were shredded, seemingly by their sheer manliness. Their hair was permed in a badass fashion.
Listening to their music now I'm struck by how tame it is. It almost sounds as if "Round and Round" could have been sung by the Angels or the Shirelles. And after all, hair metal was for all purposes in the 80's what the Brill Building sound was for the early 60's: Pop music for the kiddies. Young men and women singing about their stupid girlfriends and boyfriends, and sometimes cars. Now that I think about it, I guess this point was already made back when Twisted Sister sang "Leader of the Pack." Hmm. But it bears repeating.
So Ratt and Warrant and Winger and White Lion and endless other skinny white boys dressed in tights with big hair might not actually be as hard core as I once thought, but the music can still be appreciated. Or hated. Take your pick.

Round and Round

Phenomenal Cats

2009-06-18T00:03:00.000-07:00

The Kinks

I can't really say anything about the Kinks that hasn't already been said a thousand times, so I won't bother too much. But I will say this: I love the Kinks. Ray Davies has to be among the best songwriters in recorded history. In the mid-to-late sixties they played quiet, homey music, in contrast to an era that was known for experimentation and excess. At the time they must have appeared an anathema to many a hipsters' ear, writing songs that their mothers' could enjoy listening to.
Two of my favorite Kinks tracks from this era are "Waterloo Sunset" and "Autumn Almanac", a pair of pastoral and childlike numbers that touted the virtues of home and stability; and rather than inciting revolution they spoke of calmly witnessing the passage of time. Listening to these tracks makes me want to curl up with a cup of tea or some shit and read Agatha Christie. Or climb an apple tree with a stick and whack apples in the fall. Something along those lines. Something English. So if you like the following tracks, I encourage you to pick up "Face To Face", "Something Else" and the deluxe edition of "The Village Green Preservation Society". They're all amazing records.

Waterloo Sunset

Autumn Almanac

Bring out the Green Trumpet!

2009-06-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

The U-Men

So at some point The U-Men were singled out and saddled with the responsibility of being the first "grunge band." This distinction has also in the past been given to other and more fitting bands (most appropriately with Portland's Wipers), but the U-Men can't seem to shake it. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they were a Seattle band in the mid-Eighties, and that various U-Men went on to form notable groups after their break-up (The Crows, Gas Huffer and Catbutt, for example). But honestly the amped up music they made had little to do with Black Sabbath and the Stooges, and sounded more like Richard Hell or Hasil Adkins on a particularly sauced day.
They played punk with a decidedly hillbilly-ish twist, like they were the Butthole Surfers' less inbred northern relatives (In fact the Surfers wrote a tribute to them, "O-Men"). Guitarist Tom Price would churn and clang his instrument along like a derailed train over the solid rhythm section of Chaz Ryan and Jason Tillman (to be replaced by Amphetamine Reptile's Tom Hazelmeyer!), while singer John Bigley howled, growled and shrieked in what cumulated as a hallucinatory hay-ride involving drunken surgeons, unfortunate accidents, animal abusers, juice parties and something that can only be described as being "too good to be food". By all accounts they should have been much more appreciated during their time, should have been legendary even without the tag of being a Seattle band. The music speaks for itself: It's by turns disturbing, hilarious, original and energetic as all get out. Check out "The Green Trumpet" off their 1985 EP "Stop Spinning". It's a song that makes me wish I had been old enough to see them live, but it also makes me laugh out loud every time I hear it. Hold on to something.

The Green Trumpet

In response to the last post...

2009-04-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

"If you go here
http://www.judydyble.com
and look at my blog, you can see what I have been up to for the last few years and what I am doing now..."

So I had no idea she was making music again, but from what I've heard on her myspace page it's fantastic work. Sounding a little like Carter/Tutti or This Mortal Coil, (but without the obvious goth posturing) Judy's music nowadays falls somewhere between ambient music and folk, creating an ephemeral and mystical sound that is perfectly suited to her voice. Check out her myspace page here!

Spring catch-up: Fairport Convention, part 4

2009-03-31T13:33:00.001-07:00

Judy Dyble

Okay, so it's been a while. How's it going? For the past few months I've been in school, and although I've thought about posting often, it's been hard to find the time. However, it's now Spring break, and I have no excuses. And, since it's a bright, sunny day I thought I'd reinstate in search of the lost chord with some sunny, hippy-dippy English psych-folk!
After Fairport Convention replaced her with Sandy Denny, Judy Dyble became somewhat of an obscure commodity until disappearing off the face of the musical map altogether. However, for a few years in the late sixties and early seventies she could be found if you looked hard enough. And here she is: popping up (and just as quickly disappearing again) on the 1968 demo recordings of Giles, Giles and Fripp. Sounding much more lighthearted and whimsical then they would with King Crimson, these rough recordings are a glimpse of the transistion that occured within psychedelia that led to prog rock. So, I guess this could be seen as a major step in the world of progressive music, but in the Fairport world this is just a minor footnote. So here it is, Judy Dyble singing with Giles, Giles and Fripp.

I Talk To the Wind

R.I.P. Ben McMillan

2008-11-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

Gruntruck

I just found this out a couple weeks ago, but on January 28th of this year Ben McMillan, singer of Skin Yard, Gruntruck and Mona Diesel died from complications relating to Diabetes. He was 46.
I liked Gruntruck a lot when they were around. Along with quasi-metal bands like Alice and Chains, My Sister's Machine and Skin Yard, they represented the darker and more alienated side of the Seattle grunge scene. When I was 19 or so I actually got to meet Ben - He came into the bookstore where I worked. He was the first "celebrity" I had ever met, and I geeked out so hard I think I pissed him off. He never came in again after that. Well, by all accounts he was a really sweet, considerate and creative individual, and he will be sorely missed.

Not A Lot To Save

I Am I Be

2008-10-18T23:53:00.001-07:00

De La Soul

This lands in my "top 5 best hip hop songs ever" category. Let's see, what else would go there..."By The Time I Get To Arizona" by Public Enemy for sure, hmmm..."Iron Galaxy" by Cannibal Ox (go Cat People!)... Something from U-God, but of course...ehmm...Ooh! And "Syntax Era" by Leaders of the New School! Okay, for those few who read this, if you have beef with my taste, feel free to diss (that means you, Liam.)
What I love about "I Am I Be" is it's sense of poignant sadness and resignation. For De La Soul, a happy-go-lucky, hippy-hop group, to pull off something so mature was a feat in itself; but the track went beyond all expectations and set a new landmark in the world of hiphop. As you can probably tell by the sound, this song came out in the early nineties, back when hiphop was in its adolescence and the genre was still taking baby steps. This came long before the advent of underground, and g-funk and gangsta were still in their germinal period. I mean, it had only been a short while since Ice-T and the 2 Live Crew had made their marks by being infatuated with penis humor and swear words. And De La came out with THIS. Just listen to the lyrics. Posdnous raps about a number of sobering topics, from the personal struggle of unplanned fatherhood, to the public tragedy of the disolusionment of the Native Tongues click. Prince Paul as always sets the perfect sonic backdrop, and a host of guest voices float in and out of the mix(Listen for Q-Tip's bitter remark "I Am Q-Tip and I Be friction"). I will never tire of this one, and I hope you enjoy it....I'm thinking now I should switch U-God with "Ghetto Bastard" by Naughty By Nature...Nah.

I Am I Be

Miracles of Sant'iago

2008-10-08T22:03:00.001-07:00

Here's a pretty little ditty. I don't know anything about this kind of music, except that I think it sounds nice. This track is an ancient choral piece traditionally sung by a boys choir, but sung by women (the Anonymous 4) in this recording. I listened to this song a lot last winter when I'd drive to work in the dark, then home in the dark, blasting over the sound of the defogger. It was cold and wet, and I'd shiver; feverishly slurping coffee and and chewing stale Pop Tarts as I drove. Praise the Lord.

Vox nostra resonet

More wu...sorry

2008-10-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

John Spencer

I promise I'll eventually get over the Wu-Tang obsession soon...but not quite yet. This is off the Experimental Remixes album that the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion put out in '95. It featured reworkings of Blues Explosion material by people as diverse as Calvin Johnson, Moby, UNKLE, and Beck. I was into some of these artists at the time, so I picked it up. I tried hard to like it, but I really wasn't into the cd and wound up selling it back to Easy Street Records after a few listens. The record was noisy and uneven, except for the last track, "Greyhound Part 2 (Genius Remix)", which I think marked the recording debut of Wu-family member Killah Priest. This is dark and desolate music, and Killah Priest's imagery-filled lyrics are poetic and impressive. It definitely stood out on the record. Check out his groaning that closes the song. Classic old-school Wu.

Greyhound Part 2

Crappy Wu-Tang track left off of 8 Diagrams

2008-09-29T20:47:00.001-07:00

This was supposed to be the first single off of 8 Diagrams, but it didn't make the grade. So I'm including it here for those who need to hear every melodious tone from U-God and those other guys.

Watch Your Mouth

Sunz of Man

2008-09-27T00:31:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm in school I'm afraid I won't have as much time to do as much posting as I'd like, so I'm gonna keep things brief for a while. I'm listening to a lot of Wu-Tang stuff right now (really digging 8 diagrams) and lucky me that I found this at a record store a few weeks back for 4 bucks: Wu-Tang family Sunz of Man's first impressive lp. The following track is the most infectious of the bunch. After the obligatory skit that opens it, the song blows up like a classic Wu-Tang track should; with a heavy, sludgy, repetitive loop, and a lot of yelling. I especially dig the incomprehensible bellowing that takes up the last minute and a half or so of the song. Great classic Wu material.

For the Lust of Money/The Grandz

Les Fleur de Lys

2008-09-23T22:57:00.001-07:00

I was shopping for a helmet and a bike lock today at Fred Meyer (school starts tomorrow, and since school is only a few miles from my house I thought I'd be a good carbon-conscious citizen and bike it, but I didn't have a bike until just a couple weeks ago when I bought my friend's bike -- thanks Dee! -- so I needed a helmet and a lock) when I happened to overhear a conversation between two hipster-looking kids who were easily half my age, about this band: Les Fleur de Lys. I was very impressed that they had even heard about this band, let alone could have a conversation about them. After all, when I was fifteen I didn't know shit about anything.
Les Fleur de Lys were a mid-to-late sixties English freakbeat band with zero hits and an ever-changing lineup, who still managed to make some awesome mod/psychedelia. I still wouldn't know anything about them if I hadn't been introduced to their music by a friend at work a few years back who was an ex-record store clerk, and who was deep into the English sixties scene. Through him I learned about Les Fleur and other bands like them; like the Smoke, the Downliner's Sect, the Sorrows, and many more. To me, this seems like some pretty obscure stuff, and it was great to see someone into it besides an old fogey like myself. So, good job, random kids! Don't spend all your allowance at Zumiez.
The following track was recorded while Les Fleur were operating under the name "Rupert's People", but a fleur by any other name and all that...

Reflections of Charlie Brown

Caustic Window

2008-09-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

Richard D. James

Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin, aka AFX, aka Polygon Window etc, is an insane acid-munching musical genius, and his Caustic Window project is just another testament to that. This unparalleled collection came out in the salad days of electronica (1992!), and to this day it's still more visionary and creative than most of what the genre has to offer. It's half mental and half crazy. I'll eventually write more in-depth commentary on Richard and his hundred or so aliases, but for now just get blissfully weirded out by these two tunes.

Cordialatron

On the Romance Tip

Down To the Wire

2008-09-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

Buffalo Springfield

I can't figure out why "Down To the Wire" was ever left off of an official Buffalo Springfield release, but it was. It's such a driving, economical and powerful song, and Stephen Stills delivered one of his very best vocal performances singing it. An alternate version to this appeared in the seventies (with Neil Young singing lead) on his Decade retrospective, but this version (from the Buffalo Springfield Box Set) delivers more punch. It's one of the best songs from a band that literally overflowed with talent and creativity. Dig it.

Down To the Wire

Don't Tell Me You Haven't Heard of Doublevision

2008-09-22T00:40:00.000-07:00

Doublevision

In the years between "Baby Got Back" and Blue Scholars, Seattle was less than a speck of dust on the hip hop radar. I hate to say it but this is due in part because a lot of hip hop music out of the Northwest just straight-up sucked. I should know: I was a loyal patriot and bought every 12", tape and home-made cd from Northwest hip hop artists that I came across. Don't get me wrong, there was a treasure trove of great stuff (Ghetto Chilldren, Vitamin D, Sharpshooters, Silent Lambs Project). But for every good release I found, I had to wade through seemingly endless amounts of crap (I'm not here to talk smack about anyone, but never buy anything by the High Children). Luckily for me, Doublevision didn't fall into the crap category.
I know next to nothing about Doublevision. And as far as I know The Year Two Gee... was their only release. This early production effort from young up-and-comer Bean One featured X.Troydinare and Page3 on vocals, and it dropped in 1999. I came across it in the dearly departed Orpheum Records shop on Broadway one night after work, and was immediately unimpressed by the cheesy packaging. But being the loyal local arts supporter that I was I shelled out the cash and listened to it with an open mind and an open bottle while walking home. And what I heard surprised me: It wasn't the best ever, but for being an obviously home-made Seattle production it sounded pretty damn good. It was a warm summer night, the walk was pleasant, and the tunes sounded fine, so now whenever I hear this record I always think of this first impression while journeying home. It definitely has a nocturnal, lo-fi, distinctly Northwest sound to it, so I recommend listening to the following tracks like I did: Late at night, on headphones, walking down a quiet shaded street (and don't forget the 211!).

True

My Pleasure

The Stone Roses

2008-09-18T23:30:00.001-07:00

Depending on how you feel, the Stone Roses might be one of the best rock bands ever, or they might have a lot to answer for. They're definitely influential; you can hear their mark in British music from the Charlatans U.K, to the Verve, to Oasis, and even Radiohead. Although they only lasted for a couple albums and a handful of singles, their sound and attitude have been left on rock'n'roll for nearly two decades.
Emerging out of the late-eighties Manchester rave scene, the Stone Roses quickly rose to prominence with early singles like "Sally Cinnamon" and "Here It Comes", before releasing their debut self-titled full-length, and hatching a score of immitaters. What marked the band from their lesser counterparts was their sense of beyond-cocky self-assurance and arrogance. It was as if they were aware of the legacy they would create, and felt completely as if it was their birthright to be placed between Elvis and Mick Jagger in the rock bad-boy history books. That egotistical attitude fits perfectly within Ian Brown's hushed vocals and John Squire's guitar heroics, and it's even endearing. Certainly that sense of superhuman entitlement helped the Roses achieve the rock stardom they strove for. It's a formula that fits, as seemingly everyone in British rock royalty has adopted this attitude, from the Gallagher brothers to Pete Doherty. And it definitely left an impression me. For a brief while in the early nineties (before I heard Nirvana) I thought they were the coolest band - hands down. I've included two of their most memorable tracks, the aptly named "I Wanna Be Adored" and "I Am the Resurrection". See any consistencies?

I Wanna Be Adored

I Am the Resurrection

Siouxsie and the Banshees

2008-09-18T23:30:00.000-07:00

"This is music for people with no friends." - Beavis and Butthead

Dazzle

P.E.A.C.E. and Jizzm

2008-09-17T23:31:00.000-07:00

P.E.A.C.E. is insane, and he has stupid-amazing skills! All Deadly Jizzm High Definition has the coolest name in hiphop! Dank P. doesn't even have a name as cool as that! P.E.A.C.E. rapped on this track, and Jizzm produced it! They work really well together, and they should do it more often! Click on the link below to hear "Vehicular Manslaughter," and become a shameless fan like me!!!

Vehicular Manslaughter

Genesis

2008-09-16T22:46:00.000-07:00

This is one of my first "favorite songs." I remember being really into it in 2nd grade. I loved the eeriness of it. It has that inhuman, robotic percussion and that evil-sounding keyboard melody. And then there's Phil Collin's dirty-old-man cackle, which just takes the song over the top. I've always been a fan of spooky stuff, and at the time the song made me think of Halloween and all the spooky things that go with it. It wasn't until much later that I noticed how disturbing and Oedipal the lyrics are, but hey, I guess that just makes it even creepier. Click the title of this post to hear "Mama."

Bob Andy

2008-09-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

This is Jamaican superstar Bob Andy's rocksteady version of the Joe South song "Games People Play," and he performs it like it was made for him. He cut this infectious track back in early 1969, shortly before achieving international star status with his duet with Marcia Griffiths of "Young, Gifted and Black," but in my opinion "Games" is a superior performance. I love his voice and his delivery; he really belts it out on this song. And at only three minutes I can't ever listen to it just once (I'm on my third listen as I write this). The link is below, so enjoy.

Games People Play

R.I.P. Rick Wright

2008-09-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

See-Saw

Fairport Convention, Pt. 3

2008-09-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

Fairport's sound improved considerably from their first album to their next, 1969's What We Did On Our Holidays. One reason was that Judy Dyble's replacement, Sandy Denny, was a much more full-bodied and charismatic singer. Another reason is that the band members were more confident in their rolls as songwriters. Stylistically the album is all over the place, but it isn't lacking because of this. Instead it gives it a sense of vitality and enthusiasm, as the members of Fairport were all still very young and eager to explore where the music could go. Their sound would become much more cohesive on their next outing, so What We Did remains a brief snapshot of a band still coming into their own.

Tale In Hard Time

She Moves Through the Fair

What I'm listening to this week, sept. 10th pt. 2

2008-09-10T16:47:00.001-07:00

Portishead

I'm not articulate enough, nor do I want to spend all day trying in vain to express to you just how amazed I am at this record, so I'm including a link to Amazon where Mike Newmark's review of Portishead's Third sums it all up, right here. Also, I'm not including a track for dl as I usually do, because I feel like Third can't be represented by just one of its songs. So check it out here at last.fm, or better yet, go buy the album. Really, I don't know the last time I geeked out so hard over a record. Yay.

What I'm Listening to This Week, September 10th '08

2008-09-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals

This was my favorite album of 2007. When I heard "2080" on the radio it was catchy enough to hook me on first listen, but it's also that rare breed of song that offers more each time I hear it. That's one of the great things about all of the tunes on Yeasayer's impressive and sophisticated debut album, All Hour Cymbals: Each time I listen to it I hear something new. I'm always catching instruments and studio effects I hadn't heard before, and songs which seemed weaker in comparison to others suddenly stand out on their own.
Although they know how to craft songs with instantly memorable hooks, Yeasayer's music can also be ethereal and mysterious, and the songs constantly veer off from their expected paths to take off elsewhere. The album in an instrumental sense is all over the place, incorporating sequencers and studio effects with eclectic folk and world music instrumentation. But under the gauzy atmospherics and meandering song structures they keep a deep and heavy beat, at times even approaching Timbaland's stuttering, percussive territory. This is truly a compelling and awe-inspiring album. For a debut record to be this consistent and strong, I'm really excited to hear what they'll offer us in the future. Click the title of the post to hear "2080".

Rebirth of Cool

2008-09-09T09:06:00.001-07:00

I know a lot of people don't like to hear about it, but for a while back in the mid-to-late nineties trip hop was alive and well as a legitimate genre. borrowing heavily from hiphop, soul and techno, the largely-English form of stoner dance music gained a brief but monstrous amount of popularity before an even bigger backlash fractionalized and ghettoized it to various subgenres of electronica such as downbeat, lounge, chillout, etc. So it gets talked a lot of smack now, but back in the day I thought it was the end-all and be-all of modern music, and the pinnacle of urban pop.
And this album is where I heard it first. The Rebirth of Cool gave me my initial exposure to artists such as Tricky, Massive Attack, Portishead, the Prodigy, Kruder & Dorfmeister, and a host of others. For a high-school kid in the rural northwest, where everything was still really grunged-out, these artists made music that sounded alien, futuristic and ominous, but also groovy and rough-edged enough to have street cred. It was truly exciting music and to me it seemed like something completely new. Apparently trip hop had that effect on a lot of people, because by 1997 Tricky and the Prodigy were MTV darlings, and second-wavers like the Sneaker Pimps and Hooverphonic were making a very brief but spectacular rise. Of course, overexposure killed the scene off, but in the brief years prior to that I was a shameless fanboy, and I still count the Rebirth of Cool as one of my favorite and influential collections of music.

Tricky - Hell Is Round the Corner

Portishead - Revenge of the Number

Milk Cult

2008-09-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

The same friend who introduced me to Download also exposed me to this twisted work: Milk Cult. Essentially a Steel Pole Bathtub side project, dj C.C. Nova and guitarist Bumblebee created aural experiments with samples, found sounds and a host of other bay-area guest-musicians. I have a vivid memory of listening to this one night years ago on my car's crappy tape deck while driving around aimlessly through the Northwest woods. The night was pitch-black, and the music should have been from a David Lynch film. So I got the willies, turned my car around and went home. Yep, Milk Cult.
I included two tracks here, the understated "Blue Godzilla" (with guitar and vocal contribution from Jawbreaker's Blake Schwartzenbach) and the song that creeped me out so good, "Son of Obituary".

Base Metal

2008-09-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

I remember the first time I heard this song. I had stayed over at a friends house, making music and partying until the wee hours. The morning after I sat bleary and stupid in his parents dining room, eating Cracklin' Oat Bran, while I listened to this loud, obnoxious, noisy record. "Who is this?", I mumbled. "Download," was the reply, and I was all set to dismiss it as another one of my friends' little brothers' abrasive industrial death records, (which is great and all but at that moment,was not really my thing) when Base Metal came on. Surprisingly consistent and cohesive (especially for Download), the driving percussion and circular synth line was hypnotic and captivating (and captivating me before noon is quite a feat, since I'm the most non-morning person on the planet). The mood of the song was dark and desolate (I have a soft, gooey spot for dark and desolate things), with treated dialogue floating in and out of the mix, which included heavilly reverbed percussion and the constant sound of running water. It was such a lean and direct sound, that at four and a half minutes I felt like the song could have easily gone on for twice as long. It's an example of industrial music at its grooviest and finest, from some of the originators of the genre. Click on the title of the post or click the link below to hear the track.

base metal

Fairport Convention, Pt. 2 (Sandy Denny and the Strawbs)

2008-09-07T19:24:00.001-07:00

In the same year as Fairport's debut record, the Strawbs were shopping their brand-new demo around the English labels. The folk trio had recently acquired a brand-new singer, as well - a young woman by the name of Sandy Denny. Guitarist Dave Cousins had seen her playing one night at the Troubadour in Earl's Court, and was instantly taken with her breathtaking voice. He asked her to join that very night, and to his surprise she agreed. However, in the ages it took to find a suitable label, Sandy was wooed away by the Fairport Convention, who were a more established group, who and had recently lost the vocal talents of Judy Dyble. Together, Sandy and the Fairport Convention would make four memorable albums, reach their highest achievements, and eventually create the genre known as English folk-rock. Click on the title of this post to hear "Sail Away To the Sea" by Sandy and the Strawbs.

Dum Dum Boys

2008-09-04T23:41:00.001-07:00

Iggy

This song from Mr. Pop's first solo album ('77) is vintage Iggy at his best. The groove is instantly memorable. It's one of his most poetical songs. Every off-key note he hits is purposeful and perfect and spot-on. Bowie's production is sympathetic, creating a sound that matches the lyrical content like nobody else could. And, most effectively, it oozes like a weeping sore. Nothing portrays sickness and wasted life like "Dum Dum Boys". God, why can't I write songs this cool?
Click the title of the post to hear the song.

Pipher

2008-09-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

I came across Pipher wilst surfing on the world-wide web! Myspace, to be exact! See, it's not all bad! Check out umor-rex.net and http://www.myspace.com/umor to hear more of Pipher and other like-minded artists. Download their albums for free (that's how they like it) and give them props, since they're the most innovative collective of musical artists on the planet, for sure. I can't praise them enough, and they all seem like nice people to boot. Click the title of this post to hear "Chanson des Astres" from his album Vendetta Lullaby.

Fairport Convention (Part 1)

2008-09-02T22:33:00.000-07:00

Fairport Convention has been one of my favorite bands over the last several years, partly because their music was so varied and compelling, partly because their history is so interesting, and partly because of the amazing outgrowth of solo artists, side projects, and groups that have ties to them. With over 40 years of playing under their belts, Fairport has a huge family tree, and chronicling that alone could fill an entire book. I promise I won't go into that much detail, and I won't cover their entire history, but I will start at the beginning: Their debut album from '68. Although it is a competent release from a talented group of young people (who wanted really badly to be the Jefferson Airplane), I enjoy the album not because of the music (don't get me wrong, the music is fine) but because it offers a glimpse of the greater musical heights of creativity this band would soon achieve. Here are guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicole, Bassist Ashley Hutchings, drummer Martin Lamble, and singers Ian Matthews and Judy Dyble taking their first tentative steps together. Click on the title of the post to hear "Time Will Show the Wiser".

The Cruel Mother

2008-09-02T18:17:00.000-07:00

Shirley Collins

Only an English ballad could be so morbid and beautiful at the same time. And nobody can sing such a ballad like Shirley Collins. One of the great grand dammes of the English folk scene, Shirley collins has had a wide and varied career. In the 50's, she lived and traveled with Alan Lomax, and was there when he "discovered" Fred McDowell. Later on she created a folk-blues hybrid with guitar visionary Davey Graham, and in the sixties pioneered a kind of baroque-folk using only period instruments with sister Dolly Collins, as well as with members of the Early Music Consort. And in the seventies she helped create the first folk-rock super group, the Albion Country Band, with now ex-husband Ashley Hutchings.
What Shirley is best known for is her voice, which is thick and dusky and old. Whether the song she's singing is acapella, or with a full electrified accompaniment, her voice is always the obvious focus. And although her voice can't always be considered beautiful in the usual sense of the word, it is never the less unique and captivating, and she always chooses the right songs to showcase her talent. Of her immense body of work, "The Cruel Mother" is to me her finest example of the emotive quality she can project. Using a spare arrangement consisting of a backing male chorus and her own minimal banjo playing, this song is heartbreaking and perfect. Click on the title of the post to hear the track.

What I'm Listening To This Week, Aug 27, '08

2008-08-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 1993, my parents finally let me go to Lollapalooza. On the bill were Rage Against the Machine, Babes in Toyland, Front 242, Arrested Development, Fishbone, Dinosaur Jr, Alice in Chains and Primus. It was a blazing hot day in the middle of July, and we all cooked under the burning sun in the field where the concert was being held. In the late afternoon, as the sun was finally beginning to go down, Arrested Development came on stage and tore through an amazing set. I remember how they performed "Fishin' 4 Religion" as the sun shone low behind them, with dancers and musicians grooving and bouncing all over the stage and the catwalks. It was a song different from the slouching, pixilated funk of their initial hit "Tennessee". "Fishin'" was upbeat and relatively slick, with fewer verses by Speech in favor of the chorus which featured rich, distant African-sounding harmonies. The song reached its peak when singer Dionne Farris took the center of a catwalk and let loose with her amazing vocal contribution. With the sun behind her and everyone dancing around and below her, it was as if I had never seen or heard anyone so beautiful. It's a fitting song, with its spiritual message and youthful naivete. Arrested Development existed at the tail-end of a time when positivity and wide-eyed preachiness had a place in pop music, and they pulled their roll off beautifully and then broke up before the world forced them to change or dilute their message. In many ways "Fishin'" is a perfect distillation of their early-nineties vision and sound. Click the title of the post to hear the song.

Camp Lo

2008-08-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

Camp Lo

I love this track for the simple reason that it rocks. When it dropped in 1996, I remember thinking that it sounded like a slicked-up colaboration between Joe Sample and the Digable Planets. This was far from a coincidence, as Butterfly from the Digables even makes an appearance elsewhere on the cd. Anyhow, they sounded great back then and still do today. Click on the title of the post to hear "Luchini AKA This Is It", and try to keep your head from nodding too hard.

Love On Ice

2008-08-24T20:03:00.001-07:00

Back in the early nineties my favorite radio station started putting the lead-off to this album in heavy rotation. The song was loud, fast, snotty, and super catchy. It was one of those songs that I'd sit around after school with the radio on waiting to hear, and it wasn't long before I spent my hardly-earned allowance on obtaining this tape.
Coming out of Portland, Oregon, Love on Ice fell musically between the edgy butt-rock of Jane's Addiction, and the hippy butt-rock of Mother Love Bone (two of my fav's around that time). Since it was the early nineties, they got touted as another northwest grunge act, but their style wasn't quite dark or moody enough, and after the hype died down they quietly disappeared without a trace. Their lone album was a fun, energetic listen, but none of the tracks were as strong as their first punk-meets-metal "hit". All the same, "Don't Leave Me" was an awesome song and I still enjoy pulling the album out every so often to give it a listen. Click the title of the post to hear the track.

Music For Hobbits

2008-08-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Before Mark Bolan and his band T.Rex became household words with his glam-rock mega-hit "Bang a Gong (Get It On)", he performed a very different kind of music under the full name Tyrannosaurus Rex. This stuff was weird. Far removed from the superficial and sinewy electric boogie that he would later be known for, Bolan and teenage percussionist Steve Peregrine Took made short, quiet, and compellingly strange little compositions that fell somewhere between the whimsical, childlike psychedelia of Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd and the acoustic and exotic acid-folk of the Incredible String Band. On stage the delicate, effeminate Bolan would sit cross-legged, strumming his acoustic guitar and howling like a cat in heat, while the tall lanky Took would sing harmony and bang away on any number of instruments ranging from bongos to chimes to children's toys. The lyrics were as out there as the sound, which read as strange vignettes from fairy tales and fantasy novels. While not exactly a combination that made hit material, the duo definitely had a cult following in England, and not just because they had a psychedelic niche to fall into. Listening to their songs, it's really hard not to get sucked in by the lyrics and music. Bolan knew how to write songs that could grab you, if not with a great hook then with incredible lyrical and sonic imagery. If you sit down and listen to any of their three early albums as a duo, this imagery causes you to be transported away to some weird fairy-world that is at turns childlike, upbeat, melancholy and disturbing. Upon hearing their second LP Prophets, Seers and Sages the Angels of the Ages (which was my introduction to anything Bolan had made with Took), I was instantly mesmerized and addicted. From one song to the next I felt as if I were catching auditory glimpses of ancient music describing scenes from some imaginary planet. Really thought-provoking and trippy music here. One song among many that I found particularly haunting is "Wind Quartets", with it's dirge-like minor key, ghostly wailing harmony and dark, abstract lyrics. In my opinion it narrowly beats out "salamanda Palaganda" and "Scenescof Dynasty" as the most powerful moment on the record. It's a shame that Bolan and Took only made one more album after this before parting company, but T.Rex did go on to make plenty of great music all the same. Click the title of the post to hear the track.

Honor Your Mother and Father

2008-08-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

Desmond Dekker

This bouncy, joyous debut for Desmond Dekker was a Jamaican chart-topper when it hit back in 1963. I love this track because it's so infectiously jolly. I first heard it a few years back on a Jamaican ska compilation in the dark days of winter, and I remember listening to it over and over like it was an aural happy pill. It was storming this week (that's Summer in the Northwest for you) and the rain and the gloom made me pull it out again. Good stuff. Jolly stuff. Click on the title of the post to hear the song, or save it for the next gloomy day.

What I'm Listening To This Week Part 2

2008-08-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

M.I.A.

Don't need to say anything about M.I.A. Perez Hilton digs her. She rocks. Click on the title of the post to hear "20 Dollar", like you haven't heard it already.

What I'm Listening To This Week

2008-08-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

Rip, Rig & Panic

This loose collection of musicians came together in 1981 after the demise of the Pop Group, and continued the former outfits' post-punk tradition of cacophony and sonic anarchy. Featuring a young Neneh Cherry on vocals, Rip, Rig & Panic crossed soul, funk, jazz, minimalism and punk to form a unique and exuberant animal. Although not always an easy listen, the music is exciting and vibrant, and you know the group must have had a blast making it. The track I'm including here is "Shadows Only There Because of the Sun", and features one of my favorite appearances by the one and only Ari Up of the Slits and New Age Steppers. This is Ari at her most soulful and exposed. Listening to her belt at the top of her lungs followed by her wilting lyric at the end of the song always gives me shivers. Click on the title of this post to get the song.

Beneath the Surface

2008-08-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

Back in 1999, I impulsively moved down to Venice California and almost immediately started hearing about this record in the various record shops I haunted. My interest in hip hop at the time had been lagging somewhat, but seeing a familiar name (Freestyle Fellowship) I took a chance and picked up this double LP. Since that day I've probably listened to this record more than any other.
Beneath the Surface was unlike anything else in hip hop that I'd heard at the time. Showcasing the musical genius of producer O.D, and the vocal talents of what seemed like the entire LA underground, The record marked, at least for me, the blossoming of the West Coast underground hip hop movement. The record was reverbed out, atmospheric and stoney. The music sounded like some murky and forgotten psychedelic soul album, and the lyrics were by far the most far out that I had ever heard coming out of hip hop. Leaving the typical rap bravado and posturing in the dust, the topics addressed by the various emcees on the tracks ranged from the future of human evolution to our insignificance in the face of God and the Universe. And the rhyme styles were also varied and fresh, ranging from the chop-chop machine-gun patter of Ellay Khule to the abstract poetry of Darkleaf.
From this record my interest in hip hop was renewed, and it marked the beginning of my obsession with West Coast underground music, especially anything affiliated with the LA hip hop workshop Project Blowed. Beneath the Surface also renewed my interest in recording my own music, and I count O.D. as my prime inspiration and influence. It's been a decade since this release, and to me it still remains the very best of the underground genre.
Click on the title of this post to get "For Her Souly, Slowly, Solely" from the album.

Anne Briggs

2008-08-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm starting off with Anne Briggs. Anne was a major player in the English folk scene of the sixties and early seventies. While still a teenager she was singlehandedly instrumental in changing the way the traditional folk song was sung, and singers as diverse as Norma Watterson and Sandy Denny site her as a prime influence on their singing styles and careers. Anne went largely unrecorded through her career, appearing on a few compilations and ep's throughout the sixties. In the early seventies she finally recorded three albums worth of material, before promptly dropping out into self-imposed musical exile when she was only 27(apparently she detested the recording process and was unhappy with the sound of her voice on record).
So what, you ask? Well, what recordings she did leave for us are so frigging beautiful they practically defy description. They are simple and unadorned, free of studio effects and often without instrumentation. Her voice is the obvious focus, and it's so perfect that it sounds like it's coming out of someone who's more than a human being. The song I'm including here is one of her earliest tracks, "She Moves Through the Fair". She has better songs in my opinion, but this is the first song I heard her sing, and it's what caused me to instantly fall in love with her voice. Click the title of this post to get the track.

The Pre Post

2008-08-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, my name's Jack and this is my music blog. Simply put, I'm really, really, really into music. I love listening to it, playing it, reading about it, talking about it, arguing about it, etc. I think about it all day long, and it rattles around in my head like an acorn in an empty coffee can. It's an obsession, really. I also love introducing others to what music I have, (but forcing my friends and loved ones into appreciating whatever obscure piece of garbage I found at the St. Vincent's doesn't always pan out like I plan) so it's for this reason that I created In Search of the Lost Chord. Each post will deal with a different song, album, group or musical movement that I think is special or exciting or important musically or culturally or historically or Blah blah blah. I'll post stuff that I like, for whatever reason.
So, I hope you find some of this stuff enjoyable or at least interesting. If you do, leave a comment! If you don't, you can still leave a comment!
Bye for now...