Guitar Wolf Sneak Attack!

Sorry guys couldn't wait. Easily the best and loudest live show I have ever seen in my entire life. During the course of which the front man Seiji collapsed and was carried off stage three times, one of the times after vomiting. Three encores, the bass player re-combing his pompadour during every other song then asking me for blow(this was his last tour, r.i.p. the rumor was that during one of the final dates his heart exploded). The highlight of the night easily being the crowd surfing a beer in a pint glass, about 50 feet from the bar to the stage into Seiji hands which he held up then with out taking a sip dumped on his head. Quote of the night (in broken Japanese-Rock-and-Roll-English)

"San Francisco go home."

Enjoy

Hypnotic Brass/Betty Lavette/Fire/Lee Fields/Render Useless

Kelan Philip Cohran and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Here is another album of great spiritual jazz, this time with even more unabashed funk leanings.  Kelan Philip Cohran is probably best known for his work as a cornet player with Sun Ra's Arkestra where he appeared on a number of excellent records.  He has also released several excellent reecords of his own in the deep/spiritual jazz vein as well as founding the influential and afro-centric Afro Arts Theater in Chicago.  The Afro Arts Theater focussed on promoting African American art as well as having a strong kid-friendly educational aspect.  Music education was indeed another passion of Cohran's including the serious education of his many children, I mean many, check out the photo above of Cohran and some of his kids.  I believe that at least eight of his children are professional musicians and many of them play in the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.  This ensemble released an excellent record of brass band funk a few years ago and is now following it up with a collaboration with the father of much of the band.  The funk is still foremost but there is much more of a deep jazz feel on this one.  Absolutely one of the best albums of the last couple years and likely to please a wide variety of tastes from start to finish.  I highly recommend this album.

For example see Stateville:

Betty Lavette - Thankful N' Thoughtful

Betty Lavette spent the first four decades of her career as an almost successful soul singer with an abundance of heartbreaking stories of getting screwed over by record companies and their ilk.  It seems that she had all but given up on the dream in the early 2000s when her career was given new life by interest from Anti Records and a surprisingly good record where she was backed up by the Drive By Truckers.  The record received enthusiastically positive reviews and was followed by another surprisingly fanstastic record of British classic rock covers.  Last year she released Thankful N' Thoughtful, another collection of covers but without a theme this time and I would say this is her best record yet and one of the best records of 2012.  She is one of those aritsts who can really make a song entirely her own and is capable of giving her treatment to an astonishly wide range of material.  Here she tackles material from Gnarls Barkley, Neil Young, the Black Keys, Bob Dylan, Savoy Brown and Sly Stone to name a few.  There is to me great power in these songs although at first listen they may seem to be too restrained and somewhat underwhelming.  I recommend giving these songs a couple listens before casting judgement.  I cannot stress how much I love this record though.

Everything Is Broken:

 Thankful N' Thoughtful:

Fire with Jim O'Rourke - Unreleased?
Here's another Mats Gustafsson (see the Thing from the last post) project for you all.  Like the Thing, all fire records are quite different but in this case the constant elements seem to be a super repetitive, krauty vibe overlaid with some forceful, skronky saxophone noise.  And hey, Jim O'Rourke is here too, what's not to like?  Kindly Dig.

Please, I Am Released:

 
Lee Fields - Faithful Man

Yet another late in like soul singer success story.  Lee Fields has been quietly releasing fantastic albums in the James Brown style for several years now but final got noticed a couple of years ago thanks to what seems to be somewhat of a revival of interest in soul music and an excellent record, "My World".  Last year he followed up this success with an even more excellent and well rounded soul record, "Faithful Man".  This is maybe not as much of gem as the Charles Bradley record that I posted some weeks ago but it should be noted that T. Brennick, the guitar player and major songwriter for Charles Bradley also had a big hand in Lee Fields' last couple records.  It should also be noted how powerfully amazing this track is:




Wish You Were Here:

  
Vancouver Hardcore #3 - Render Useless

Continuing on in this mini-series that I can't imagine has much interest for people outside of Vancouver where these records are probable unattainable I present to you Render Useless.  These dudes were considered very clever and socially conscious etc.  They were favourites of nerdy, often humourless, punk rock activist types.  I was once one of those types and found inspiration or rather found shared idealistic frustration in the music of this band.  Despite all those associations, I still think that the band put out some fucking great hardcore, maybe too clever for its own good at times but, well, you know, think for yourself, judge for yourself etc. right?

I managed to find a youtube post of the entire 7" The Relationship Between a 1/4 note and an 1/8 Note so lucky you:

 Render Useless 7"  (For some reason, I couldn't get the video to embed here so you'll have to follow this link to Youtube.  Do it.)

Baptists/Haggatha/The Thing/Beak/Steve Reid

Alright.  Despite appearances and Adrian's comments to the contrary February has been a very productive month for me in terms of music appreciation.  This is a pretty big post this week to account for a glut of new music I've been digging recently.

Baptists - Bushcraft (2012)

Baptists are probably the darlings of Vancouver's thrash/hardcore scene right now and deservedly so.  Over the years playing in shitholes in East Van they have become a polished and devastating sonic machine.  They were just signed to the illustrious Southern Lord records and hosted a rightous record release party on Friday.  This record has been on my platter pretty steady for the last couple days.  Nothin' particularly original going on here but some very solid representations of the genre that definately repay repeat listens.

Check out a nicely packaged little trio of songs from the record release show (take note of the classic breakdown ~6:30):

Haggatha

Here's a little taste of another Vancouver band.  These guys are my current favourite local act.  They opened for Baptists at the aforementioned recent slow and are brutal.

Dig them from a recent European tour:

Their drummer is a personal hero of mine. Now dig them from their new record:

Neneh Cherry and The Thing - The Cherry Thing (2012)

The Thing are a Swedish based avant-jazz power trio led by superstar saxman Mats Gustafsson of whom more will come in future posts.  Each of their records is quite different but generally contain a good deal of devastating, balls out jazz noise and maybe a punk cover or two.


Item: Hidegen Fujnak A Szelek

Elsewhere they do a great cover of Lightning Bolt's Ride the Sky but it was sadly not to be found on Youtube.

For the new record though the trio is joined on vocals by Neneh Cherry, the daughter of pocket trumpet genius Don Cherry.  They run through a surprisingly accessible set of mostly covers which ends up being being a mix of sugary pop-jazz and fierce free jazz blowing.  This record is full of really fresh sounds not quite like anything I've heard before.

Check out the opening track Cashback:

 

 Beak - s/t 2009

Here's one for those more krautily inclined.  This is the new project from Portishead's Geoff Barrow and here he and a couple of other English dudes diligently follow the cartography of Can and Neu! This, their first is so indebted to the Can and Neu! that it sometimes feels that one is listening to some lost metting between those two motoric German ensembles.  Even the record's production carries with it the clean, warm sound of the early '70s.  Generally, each track centers around one repetitive minimal groove, I am given to understand that some of you out there enjoy this sort of thing.

Here is a characteristic example, Iron Action:

The second album is also very good  and finds the band adding more variety to the mix without moving far away from their krauty devotionals.

Check out the opening track from Beak II, The Gaol:

Steve Reid - Rhythmatism (1975)

Of late I have been going through somewhat of a deep jazz kick and one of the artists most able to provide the fix I need has been drummer/bandleader Steve Reid.  His is a long career the details of which I will not relate in full here but he grew up in New York out of the free/spiritual jazz scene associated with John Coltrane and Sun Ra.  He also spent some years in West Africa playing with Fela Kuti after which he was arrested and spent a few years in jail for missing his military duty in Vietnam.  Following his release from prison he recorded three birlliant records on his own label and helped to propel the burgeoning New York loft jazz scene.  The selection presented here comes from his first record.  The later two records follow in the same vein although they steadily move farther 'outside'.  Despite a move to freer playing Steve Reid remained dedicated to a strong rhythmic pulse in his work.  In the last decade Steve Reid has returned to the spotlight leading his own band with electronics whiz Keiran Hebden to much deserved acclaim.  I plan to post some contemporary material from Mr. Reid later this week along with a slew of other material that I have been spinning lately but for the time being I will close with some insanely groovy spiritual jazz.

 Kai:

Unfortunately I could not find a full version of this song online, it should be 12:45.  If you want more I guess you'll have to find the whole album for download or buy the thing.

 

Rock to Member Ratio

Friends!

It seems that February has been an idle month! And while I wish I could say it was because I felt Dan's most-righteous post deserved some extra spotlight (it does!), mostly it's just been real busy around the bustling metropolis that is Scotts Valley.

Quick Side Note: Dan's last post had me spend more $$ on more albums than any other so far...that's some kinda record...

Well, let's get down to bidness;

Kim has long held that a band needs a good "Rock to Member Ratio" (RTMR); what good is your 16-member-half-orchestra-hipster-guitar-drum-circle if you can't at least lay out the mutherfucking jams once in awhile (looking in your direction, modern-day Godspeed!). Reflecting on this for some time now, I cannot find fault with her logic.

So, today will be an exploration of those that take full advantage of this ratio. The ol' Rock n Roll two piece. Consider this an appetizer as I will post later in the week also with some fresh jams (a lot of these today will probably be familiar to you guys).

First up is a recommendation from my dear friend in Brooklyn some time ago. Senior Osorio tipped me off to the Brothers Bird and I couldn't get enough. In short, TWEAK BIRD rules. Start with Reservations, then move to their self-titlted, then to Undercover Crops. You can get through all of these in about an hour (not much of an exaggeration). These two are like the sugar-cookies of the heavy rock world: melt in your mouth fast and can't stop eating....they are also surprisingly heavy at times.

Here's one off their latest:

Next up we've got an oldie, but a goodie. BLACK COBRA! Now, they have a few albums that I can't really recommend (Chronomega is not their best work, in my humble opinion), but they have a few albums that KILL (Bestial, Invernal, Feather and Stone)! Start to finish, Bestial hauls serious ass and the production is heavy as shit. Definitely my fav from them. Kris didn't believe me it was just two dudes at first. Let this be a lesson: Tuned down baritone guitar + bass amp = holy shit! Sounds like a cello on steroids.

Seeing these dudes open for Sleep during the latter's first reunion in SF on my Birthday a few years ago will go down as one of my favorite shows ever. It was also this show that was the catalyst for the birth of the aforementioned "RTMR", as Saviours played next with what seemed like 10 dudes on stage and couldn't rock 1/2 as hard (or as LOUD) as the Cobra.

Exhibit A:

The riff that starts around 1:30 is ALL TIME! Drummer Rafa Martinez also played bass in ACID KING for a bit too....

Let's end things with a bit of the new. As mentioned earlier on the Divide, EAGLE TWIN recently released a new album: The Feather Tipped the Serpent's Scale. Now, their first album was a bit of a let-down for me. It promised throat singing and winding, giant, bottom heavy riffs, but never felt like it hit the mark. I feel like they got it right the second time around; endless riffs, some clever timing here and there, moody as all get out, and above all, super heavy. These guys have literally blown up amps during live performances (you can hunt around to see footage of amps on fire at basement shows and such) with a setup similar to BLACK COBRA's.

 Now, I feel of all the three, EAGLE TWIN's needs to be taken as an album. Clear an hour and sit down with this one.


Let's recap: It seems we've learned that the trick to the RTMR is a baritone guitar (or at least a de-tuned, super-heavy-gauge-strings guitar), a bass amp and a drummer that's not afraid to lay it down and take the lead once in awhile.

Honorable mention, but not covered (I think you guys are already all over them):
OM
SUNN 0)))))
Early EARTH
MELVINS (I consider them to be really just Buzz and Dale...)

Who'd I Miss?


"Said to bring luck in Hunting, Rain-making and Love",
-APB

Oh and remember:

"I make the guitar say what I say", R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Mark Quinn

Lately I'm kind of blindly feeling my way to new records. I've been getting the itch and then finding the sounds to scratch it. I'm very rarely going with what I know these days, or maybe I'm just flushing out and combing over all the odds and ends of my favorite genres. What ever it is, I'm pushing for fresh musical experiences, and I have this blog and you all to thank for that. 

So here we go- about a month ago I stumbled across, a style of Blues that hails from North Mississippi Juke Joints that consists of a certain feel rather then style(if that makes any sense at all). Stylistically one of the clinchers for me is the element of the electric slide guitar and a heavy boots on the stairs style bass drum. Perfect example here:

R.L. Burnside's Rollin' & Tumblin'

*Burnside went to prison in 1959 for killing a man at a Dice game, here's what he had to say about it:

"I didn't mean to kill nobody ... I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head. Him dying was between him and the Lord."

here is another: 

See My Jumper Hanging on the Line

caution! if you go Album hunting, the later releases have some hip hop remixes on them which fucking suck.

Another real special guy is Junior Kimborough, apparently his tombstone reads, "the beginning and end of all music."

I Cried Last Night:

 













careful this hole just keeps getting deeper >>>>>>>>>>

Meet Me in the City

Well I Done Got Old

I Gotta Try you Girl

(Instrumental) Most Things Haven't Worked Out

what are you doing for the next 10 minutes... and if you don't have 10 minutes then wait until you do this needs one of those patient listens, it's subtle and you'll miss it if you are in a rush

Lord, Have Mercy on Me

Alright now that I got that out of my system and into yours I guess I will just keep going with Mississippi and Blues and this is moving to a more traditional sound but this is magic:

Mississippi Fred Mcdowell, Baby Please Don't Go

and, Fred Mcdowell's Blues

this is where I sign off for the night but since I'm up this week I think I will be posting a few more, so much pressure. Last thing, I am voting for this image to be the one for our page. It is from English Artist Mark Quinn and it is his self portrait cast in his own blood. It's his frozen blood, and it's on display in a specially designed freezer, but despite their best attempts at keeping it intact it's melting or bleeding depending on which way you look at it. I am worthless at changing our photo so if you chaps and gal agree, someone will have to help me with that.

*

The Animals and Dusty

House of the Rising Sun is one of the best songs ever written (and check out Hilton Valentine's sweet Gretsch). If you don't love this song something is wrong with you...missing. I have only met one person who did not like it and I still don't believe it. It was originally an English ballad written from a woman's perspective.The Animals version is the one that I (and most of us) are most familiar. I am currently working on my own arrangement of it and learning it on electric guitar. Also, you should own one Animals album on vinyl. You will never regret it.

One of my prized LPs is this shitty, Korean bootleg of The Best of the Animals. It came from the Korean record store in which my mom was working when she and my dad met and fell in love (at first sight) in 1968.

I

I am always listening to Dusty Springfield. I am currently deprived of a vocal teacher but this song is teaching me a lot. I can't get enough of it. You should own Dusty in Memphis. Vinyl is not enough in this case because the CD/download versions of it have additional tracks (Hi De Ho/That Old Sweet Roll and Willie and Laura Mae Jones) that are just excellent. This album is in my top 10 of all time.

And there you have it. As far as other people's music, these two songs have held all of my creative/musical attention lately and there hasn't been room for anything else. As a fun side-note update on the Bozman Household: Adrian and I are getting tattooed by Stefan Johnsson ( http://stefanjohnsson.blogspot.com/ ) next week. Adrian bought me an awesome mic and personal PA for Christmas and I paid off my Tiny Terror amplifier and brought it home.

Isn't it cute? It is tiny and loud, just like me! If you are nice to me, I will let you rock out when you come to visit us. Sooo y'all should come visit.

xo

Pandit Pran Nath, Pedro The Lion, Dune Messiah

Amigos,

I've really enjoyed hearing new music through this blog and admittedly, it's probably the only place I've been digesting new music recently.  To the blog's credit, I'm way into The Budos Band which are actually from my neck of the woods.  I recently purchased a new video camera and have been shooting stuff around the gym. My last piece used "Chicago Falcon" as the background music. Classy!


CrossFit South Brooklyn Collected Training V:1 (Music: The Budos Band "Chicago Falcon")

The Gyuto Monks have also been a regular feature of my life. I probably listened to that youtube clip in its entirety over 20 times, no joke. Otherwise, everything has been really great.

The next musician will be familiar to AB, we saw one of his students, La Monte Young play at The Dream House in NY last year. It was sort of an unexpected and awesome experience.  Pandit Pran Nath's music style is an uncompromising adherence to the "alap" section of traditional Hindu Ragas. Basically, the really non-melodic, trance inducing and ethereal part of the song.  I couldn't find the quote verbatim, but he's been noted as saying that an entire lifetime was insufficient to do a full alap justice.  BOSS.

It's been cold, wet and very grey in New York recently which puts me in the mood to listen to some bleak and emotionally charged music. I recently have been playing a little Pedro the Lion and getting back into David Bazan in general. Kind of different for the theme of this blog perhaps, but my contribution none the less.

I saw him in PA perhaps 6 years ago and something he did at shows was ask the audience if they had any questions between some of the songs. While that might sound kind of weird and hokey, it actually led to an interesting dialog between artist and audience. He talked a little about his father being a priest and how that led to a lot of inner turmoil about religion and values as he was growing up which your really bleed into his lyrics.

 

 

Finally, a while back Ross mentioned reading "Dune" By Frank Herbert, a book I really enjoyed. I recently picked up the second book in the series, "Dune Messiah" which was equally good in my opinion and builds more depth into the characters and mythos of the first book. It picks up years after the first novel left off and has a lot to do with the weight of becoming god-like leader of a holy war.  If you've got some time and want to leave earth for a bit I recommend them both.  Also- does anyone else see the parallels between Fremen and the Weedians? Nomadic and mysterious sand people obsessed with a drug? The weedians even appear to be wearing stillsuits, perhaps to get baked moreso than retain moisture.. but still. Anyone?

 

 

 

What's in a Name?

Hello my friends!

I hope the new year finds you well. With the exception of Dan, whom I have seen in person recently, it's been radio silence from the rest of you. Everything OK? New Years resolution to permanently turn off the computer? Nothing worth listening to since the Mayan apocalypse?

All kidding aside, let's discuss something serious.

It's been said that there are two types of people in the world; those that enjoy bands with the word "BONG" in their moniker and those that don't. I think you all know where I stand, staunchly, on this issue. Although I wouldn't have the foggiest (haziest?) idea of how to actually use a bong, it seems to be as good a litmus as any for determining weather a group of rockers is worth their salt.

Most groups of this nature have the following in common:
They are heavy.
They play kinda loose. Kris observed a lot of them actually swing.
They usually aren't too fussed about vocals (or don't have them at all)

Let's explore, shall we?

First up, the mighty BONGRIPPER.

Pros:
-Brutal Tone.
-Way More Brutal Tone Live (Seriously. They were mammoth. Second only to YOB)
-No Vocals
-Some of the best shirts I've seen. Maybe David will post a pic of his if you ask nicely.
-Clean cut looking nice-guys that stuck out at last year's roadburn

Cons:
???

Here's the absolutely crushing REEFER SUTHERLAND. One of my all time favs. You may play the opening riff/growl on repeat at my viking funeral.




Next up from Poland BELZEBONG

Pros:
-Super Heavy, but almost...fun? for lack of a better term.
-A zesty dose of occultism/satanism
-Swing like crazy.
-Bonus points for creative use of the word of the day

Cons:
-have only released 4 tracks to date...

Ever wonder what the sound of an amp melting/catching on fire sounds like? Wonder no more with BONG THROWER. Soooo fuzzy. If you don't throw the requested $5 at these guys for this album I don't know if we can be friends.





Ok, we've had some fun. Let's get a bit more serious back in the good ol' US of A with BONGZILLA

Pros:
-Very Dirty
-A little more upbeat (at times) and, dare I say, nuanced than some of the others?
-Do a mean cover of Muddy's Champagne and Reefer.
-Crack me up every single time with this talk box/vocoder line

Cons
-They do have vocals. But homie sound like a demon, so it's ok.
-probably overstay their welcome more than any band on this list, in my opinion

...but listen to the riffage on this opening track AMERIJUANICAN. The drums are pretty sweet on this track too:




Finally, let's pay a little tribute to those crazy brits that cut right to the chase. Gentlemen (and Darling Wife), I present to you BONG.

Pros:
-Easily the spaciest of the bunch. Mysterious even.
-Basically they only play heavy raggas. Actually, there's no basically about it.
-Kim met them at Roadburn. Ask her.
-Seem to be super serious about what they do. Or as serious as one can get with a name like BONG.
-Look at that logo! It spells BONG! Look again!

Cons
-They don't jam in my living room every night

I love Bong. Enough said. I recommend "Beyond Ancient Space" or "Mana-Yood-Sushai" but they are hard to find these days. Their "Live at Roadburn" is killer too.

GILGAMESH LIVES!

Yours Truly,
-APB