Here you go. An excellent new (ish) CD from a classic Chicago band. The Effigies always made smart, aggressive rock music, but always different from what you might expect. They're not exactly punk, they're not exactly metal, they're not exactly New Wave, but you can hear bits of all of that. They're not liberal, they're not typically conservative, but they clearly have a worldview, equally informed by tradition and progress.
]]>I just got this one, so I don't know it inside out.For those not familiar, Mark Lanegan is the former singer for the Screaming Trees, and a part-time member of the Josh Homme posse.
He's got a voice that could melt butter, though. Imagine something about half way between Tom Waits and Michael Buble. Like crushed diamonds, it's very pretty but could slice you up.
This is probably his least "folksy" record. Much like the aforementioned Tom Waits, Mark likes a ramshackle sound, even on this, his most 'rock" record.
The thing is, this is a blues record. Not blues in that neutered Baby-boomer kinda way, where some watered down drek accompanies some skinny white guy who listens to more James Taylor than John Lee Hooker. No, this is a collection about when it all goes wrong, crooned by a guy who really has screwed up more times than most people get chances. Keep in mind, this is the guy who taught Kurt Cobain about both drugs and Leadbelly. This guy knows some serious hard times, and he doesn't seem particularly ashamed. Like the best in real blues, it's his talent that overcomes his own songs.
See, if I hear one more supposed "blues" record made by some little guy who looks like he'd be more comfortable at a seminar discussing the "folkways" of canadian stamp collectors, I might just see if I can't get Mark Lanegan to show up and inject them between the eyes with a syringe full of mexican black tar and lethal bacteria colonies. Like Johnny Cash, like John Lee Hooker, and like Miles Davis, this is tradition-based music that is anything but safe.
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Well, I was going to post about newer music I've been listening to, but then I got sidetracked.Then again, this record is a classic. Certainly, the music owes a debt to Led Zepplin, but really this was a new thing being created, right here. A mix of the aforementioned 70's hard rock, New Wave (echo boxes set to Psychedelic Furs level, with the bass as melodic lead instrument several times, a la New Order, and so on) tribal underpinnings (some real voodoo in the drums) and a charismatic, yet enigmatic lead singer. This was the real beginning of what got called "Alternative" in the early 1990's. Heck, Perry, the aforementioned lead singer came up with Lollapalooza!
They had bigger hits later, but for my money, this is the record to own. From the opening "Up The Beach" to the live favorite "Pigs in Zen" this was something new under the sun, coming down the mountain. The show stopper was "Ted, just admit it' which was directed against Ted Bundy, the serial killer, who had, shortly before, said in an interview that an addiction to pornography is what led him to kill. What was Ted supposed to admit? That it was violence, not sex that was his real addiction. Musically, the song manages to go from a calypso lilt with reggae bass lines to a zulu war drum passage, with heavy metal, and jazz in between. Meanwhile, how can you not fall in love with the gentle rollick of "Summertime Rolls"?
really, I know, nobody reads my blog for music criticism, let alone buying advice, but if they did, I'd say go buy this one.
Oh, and the title of this post? Back when this record was so new that my room-mates asked "What is that?" The next thing that room-mate Shawn said was "It sounds like purple explosions" and, no, he wasn't in an altered state. I always thought that was as good a descriptor as anything for what Jane's Addiction sounded like.
]]>Just got the New Hives record, and once again, they are FANTASTIC!!!! If you like Garagy rocknroll, you already know and love the Hives.
Are they sold out? Yes. They aren't trying to be sub-Bob Dylan protest singers. They're trying to be Sub-Rolling Stones rockers. They succeed at that, AND manage to be subversive, on the side. From the word go, their concept is a satire. Y'see, supposedly, they're a "pre-fab Boy Band" under directives from a shadowy figure called "Randy Fitzsimmons". They even do "wind up toy' routines on stage, of doing stuff like pausing mid-song for an extended period, like they're robots with the batteries removed.
But the music they make is so primal, raw and garagy that it's obvious the whole thing is a put on. If you can't see how that's a satire on the late 1990's, you must not remember that time, at all. So, you're either under 7, or you're just out of rehab after a twenty year bender. In either case, don't worry, you'll like the Hives, too.
But, if, like me, you like your Rocknroll raw, and feral, like the "Little Red Rooster" Rolling Stones, the "My Generation" Who, or the "You Really Got Me" Kinks, mixed with really good Punk Rock, like The Ramones, or The Misfits, the Hives are a beautiful thing. Highest praise, as always!
]]>So, this posted without a review. Sorry about that- butterfingers!
Anyway, you might have heard about Elliott Smith. But, this was his band, first. Well, him and Neil Gust. But,like a pet bought as a substitute for a child once that child is born, nobody claims Heatmiser, and that's sad to me.
First of all, they were a loud rock band , call it grunge, call it metal, call it whatever, and I rather like that sort of thing. But, Heatmiser was also openly gay in the lyrical themes. So, a very different loud rock band, indeed. But, the two principle song writers, Smith and Gust, really hated loud rock about halfway through this band's life. Head scratcher, ain't it? Nobody made them play hard rock, yet they hated it??? Well, I think it boils down to a kind of self-loathing. Smith probably stabbed himself in the chest at the age of 34. That, my friends, is self-loathing. He also wouldn't cop to being gay, half the time (now, granted, he did have some girlfriends, but there's a much longer line of boyfriends). He also was noted for all of his songs being full of self-hatred on a level rarely glimpsed outside of Kurt Kobain...
So, why would I like this unwanted first born? Because it's challenging, melodic, and unique music. Gust plays with a kind of post-punk conviction, similar to bands like Quicksand, and Fugazi, while Smith's fingerpicked guitar is very smooth and flowing, almost like an Allman Brother's slide guitar. The end result is like a Snicker's bar to me: hard peanuts suspended in caramel, wrapped in a fuzzy batch of chocolate distortion. Later on (this is their first widely-released record) they played with dynamics a lot more, and wrote music much more like their solo output (Kinks-y baroque retro pop for Smith, more seventies-influenced indie rock for Gust) But, I don't think the dynamics were good for their sound. It's better as a kind of sticky blur.
The songs are good, in an Emo kind of way (lots of sad songs) and the playing is talented and unique. What's not to love?. If you like the mellower side of Jimmy Eat World, Fugazi, or the Foo Fighters, but still want that loud distorted rock, you'll do no better than Heatmiser, who also get bonus points for naming their band after a really cool Stop-motion Animated figure, later played by Harvey Fierstein!
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Daydream Nation is, quite simply a classic. Up there with The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, and so on. Sonic Youth re-invented guitars, and on Daydream Nation, re-invented themselves to become rocknroll. It's noisy, and sprawling, and experimental, and pretty, and strange and unique and has a really nice personality. It might not be for all, but it is for some. I love this album more with each passing year.
Scanners on the other hand are a flash-in-the-pan. I honestly don't expect so much as a follow up record. They traffic in pseudo New Wave, and some horror/shock imagery. Oh-so-very Hip this year. But, they have a couple of really nice, tuneful songs. One is called "Bombs" and it's about being paranoid about whether your next door neighbor is a terrorist, or not. But, it's got a nice T Rexish backbeat that sounds like a snake, with a simple guitar riff that reminds me of the Stones. The other is a bit of self-congratulatory snark called "Raw (to the bone)". It's very, very catchy. The video for it is reprehensible, as it glorifies domestic violence (I think they meant it just as shock value, the lyrics have nothing to do with it) but the song is at a mid-point between "Blue Monday" by New Order and "Shut up and Drive" by Rihanna. Meaning it's a spritely New Wave dance song written in a minor key. I have to admit, i like those two songs, a lot.
But, I don't do the Mp3 thing, and I don't think they make singles anymore (at least, if they do, they're impossible to find) so I just skip a lot of tracks on that record.
Oh, and speaking of the Mp3 thing: Look, I love the EFF, and I think the RIAA are going to ruin the recording industry, but color me scared after reading this. There's just no way I'm going to download anything! About 9000 bucks a song?!? No, thank you.
]]>It's been awhile since I talked about music, and I got a copy of this older release, this week.
You Am I are friggin' HUGE in Australia, and virtually unknown in the US. I think that's because we have no taste, but what would I know?
Anyway, You Am I is a uniquely Australian band. You take 2 parts mod, like the Who, and The Animals, add another 2 parts Replacements styled swagger and stumble, add another part Stones-y country soul, and crank the whole thing up to 11, and you've got what You Am I do. With this purchase, I now have all of their recordings. I think I love all of their records for different reasons, but i imagine the two easiest to digest for people not familiar would be "#4 record" and "Hi Fi Way" . Both give an overview on their sound, but stay well on the "pop" side of "pop/rock".
This one is more on the Replacements and Stones end of things. Still head and shoulders over the stuff we listen to in America, and still better than the Australian imports you know (AC/DC are Ok, but a one trick pony. Midnight Oil had half a trick. Men At Work just made you feel tricked. And Jet? Are Cheap Trick, only taken a little too literally).
Definitely worth your time. If nothing else, follow this link to Tim Rogers (the singer) doing a great solo version of a song from "#4 Record" that's sure to make you think twice.
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