Procrastination Central: Bands I dig

So it's eleven at night, and I'm up writing and have hit a momentary block. Tattoo You just came on my headphones, and I'm groovin.' So I decided to do a quick short, non-exhaustive list of bands I love. First ones that come to mind. Why the heck not?

So here 'tis, kids. Enjoy.

1. The Rolling Stones (natch)
2. The Jayhawks
3. Pinback
4. Foghat (because "Slow Ride" kicks raw ass)
5. The hal al Shedad (You've never heard of them. You should have.)
6. Motörhead
7. The 3 Mustaphas 3
8. The Fall
9. Dion and the Belmonts
10. Jonatha Brooke
11. Sonny Boy Williamson
12. Romeo Void
13. Billy Squier
14. Heatmiser

There ya go. Back to writing. Have a good evening. Over and out.

Grab the sledgehammer, spraypaint the rubble (They built our monument without us)

This is Wir Sind Helden, a band I first learned about when I lived in Berlin. This songhas been going through my head all day, and I dig this stripped down acoustic version. So enjoy.

From somewhere back in your long ago

This is the vocal ensemble Neri Per Caso, and the soloist is a dude named Mario Bondi (Though I am suspicious that this might actually be an alias of my old and dear friend Dr. Alexander Badenoch)

Do not mistake coincidence for fate.

Thank you to Presvytera Marion Turner for sharing this with me.

Just plain PHAT

You know, I have a friend who teaches folks how to play violin concertos on the guitar. Now I just stumbled across Eric Stanley, who added these catgut licks to the Trey Songz joint "Say Aah." And what he drops is, quite frankly, mad fresh.

First, I am not sure I am allowed to be talking like this. Second, I don't care; I am smiling.

Features: The Resurrection of the The Late BP Helium - Flagpole Magazine: Colorbearer of Athens, GA

I just came across this article about my old friend, high school dance commander comrade, and band mate Bryan Poole in the Athens, GA Flagpole Magazine. He mostly plays with Of Montreal these days, but this article is about his solo projects. I'm especially psyched to link the picture. Read, listen, enjoy.

Features: The Resurrection of the The Late BP Helium - Flagpole Magazine: Colorbearer of Athens, GA

Also, I just found this video interview. Fun stuff.

"There ain't no Santa Claus on the evenin' stage"

So, for your viewing pleasure, here are a bunch of interviews with Don Van Vliet, better known to the world as Captain Beefheart.

1982:


A mix, with a later interview talking about his paintings (the 1982 interview repeats at the end):


And hey, here's a multi-part, BBC-produced documentary:


Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

"Don't know who he is? You're not alone":



Maker of banned television advertisements:


And finally, a late-career live performance of the title track (though this is an argued point) of the album Bat Chain Puller:


Merry Christmas, everybody.

Ave Atque Vale

Just got the word that, after 25 years of peeling the paint off the walls, Chicago's incendiary Touch and Go Records has ceased releasing new music. They'll still be supporting the back catalog, but the A&R wing is, sadly, closed down and shuttered for the foreseeable future.

Now, I gotta say, this is a bummer. It is hard to find a record company with integrity (I say, speaking as a guy who had his toes in that stagnant pool of commercial rock'n'roll for a few years as a performer as well as a consumer). On that front, Touch and Go had integrity in spades. Unlike, say, SST Records and the debacle that is Greg Ginn's accounting and royalties policies, I have never ever heard anyone say anything ill about Corey Rusk and company. They ran a good outfit, paid their bills, and supported their artists. Most of all, they put out hella good stuff.

And by hella good, I mean bands that I have flat out loved for most of my dissolute life. Big Black, fer gosh sake, was a TNG band, as were Pinback, The Jesus Lizard, Slint (!!), and the almost indescribably forward-thinking 3RA1N1AC (the most toothsomely listenable unlistenable band there ever was, Charlie, and make no mistake).

So here's to a quarter century of blistering music. Here's to making the anger of my youth have volume and melody. Here's to treating people decently and having your business associates speak well of you. Here's to Yow, Albini, Durango, Captain Dave Riley, David Wm. Sims, Rob Crow, ABSIV, John Schmersal and Timmy Taylor, God rest his soul.

And here's to you, Touch and Go. You done good. Hail, and farewell.

Favorite songs of the moment

The Brains: Money Changes Everything

While this song was made popular by Cyndi Lauper, I have always been a fan of its original incarnation, written and performed by Atlanta band The Brains. This version was recorded at the Wax-N-Facts 30 year anniversary, and I think that's another Atlanta band, the Swimming Pool Q's, backing up the lead singer.




Romeo Void: A Girl in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing)

I am a huge Romeo Void fan. The 80's were an interesting decade for music all around, but Debora Iyall and the rest of the group made some of the most challenging music - musically and politically - that I've ever heard. This particular song gets stuck in my mental jukebox pretty regularly, so I've included it here.



El Ten Eleven: Every Direction is North

I first heard these guys as part of the soundtrack for the film Helvetica, a documentary about the typeface. I like this video clip especially because you can watch the song being built from scratch in real time.



Avishai Cohen: Smash

Israeli-born Cohen is a phenomenal bass player. This is from his 2006 album Continuo. I like the whole album, but this was the track that made me say, "I have to go buy that right now."



The Producers: She Sheila

Another Atlanta band (I have them on my mind this week, it seems). Sorry for the poor-quality video. Best I could find. The song rocks, though.

Probably the reason I made it out of the Eighties alive.

I summer where I winter at. No one is allowed there.



Thanks, Bob. Thanks for everything.

Where the Hell have I been?

Okay. So apparently I am the last human in Hipsville to have heard of the Athens, GA band Now It's Overhead. Oh, my goodness, but I find them enjoyable in a dark and moody sort of way. Check out the vid, kids. Howl.

YouTube slightly bruised the Radio Star

This one's for you, Alec.

My favorite albums of the moment

Please note: all could change in the blink of an eye. However, this will do for now. Simply ignore that much of what follows could have been filed under My Favorite Eponimously Named Albums of the Moment. "Truth in Advertising," as that maniac painter of my ill-fated acquaintance used to say.

1. The Hal al Shedad by The Hal al Shedad. Spitting, angular, and supremely difficult music with amazing lyrics and a heavy Slint-meets-Sonic-Youth-at-your-sister's-graduation-party kind of vibe.

2. B-52's by The B-52's. Pulled this one out tonight (I still have it on LP, natch) and played the A side for Kira. She dug it. I dug it. Great guitar tone, and it sounds like it was recorded in a room with walls covered twelve feet thick in cotton. Strangely, that's a good aesthetic. Plus, the album flat out rocks.

3. Special Beat Service by The English Beat. I remember arriving at the end of one of my high school's football games with the express purpose of finding Jill, the coolest gal I knew, and putting this tape in her hands. It's that kind of album. Fast forward to earlier today, when Kira and I walked past a duo playing a steel-drum version of "Ackee 1-2-3" at a sidewalk festival. I swear the universe is conspiring to make me happy.

4. All the Best Cowboys have Chinese Eyes by Pete Townshend. Even cooler because an episode of Lost is named after it. I remember being quite taken, years ago, with the video for "Face Dances II," which is what initially made me buy the album. Every track is good, but his rendition of the old folk standard "North Country Girl" takes the cake for me every time. A brilliant album.

5. Rock N Roll by Ryan Adams. Came across this one by accident, long after its release and the buzz about it had passed. Heard the track "Burning Photographs" on the local slacker college station and my jaw dropped. Bought the album that very day. I'm told it's a bit different from his other material. That's a pity, because he has a knack for making adolescent crotch-rock with a lot of wit and a lot of heart. Also, the album's first track contains the best chorus any former philosophy major and still-unrepentant hopeless romantic could ever ask for: "Don't waste my time. This is it. This is really happening" - sung in the context of the teenage wannabe lover in all of us. Vital.

So there you have it. Go make your own list, citizen. Go.