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| From | Stewart Mason <flamingo@theworld.com> |
| Subject | Re: Rants are us.. |
| Date | Fri, 11 Jul 2003 00:17:30 -0400 |
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At 12:48 PM 7/11/2003 +1000, Michael Carpenter wrote:
>But i gotta agree with Wendie here. Do you think that Pearl Jam would have
>had a decade plus career existing on the sort of numbers we're talking about
>that the music we make is selling?
Ironically, right this second I'm listening to a 1968 recording by R.
Stevie Moore, who has maintained a 35-year career (300+ CDs and counting)
on sales that would make the average Not Lame artist look like Madonna in
comparison. I'm not saying it's easy, but it CAN be done.
>Hmm.. i wish it was that simple. No offense to anyone here, but as Robert
>Berry said in the start of the last digest i got, there's less discussion
>about the sort of music we love on this list, as a small microcosm of the
>'pop world', than ever.
I've always done my best to talk up new releases here, but just in case,
here's another batch of recent releases and reissues (not including the
great new Dom Mariani and Danny McDonald records) that I recently talked up
on another list. (eMusic downloads marked with a *):
Club 8 -- STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL (Hidden Agenda): Wispy female vocals,
synthesizers, acoustic guitars, electronic drums, tempos that rarely rise
above a relaxed amble...a lot of people do this sort of thing, but these
guys do it really well. Although I don't like this one quite as much as
last year's SPRING CAME, RAIN FELL, it's a more varied record that
incorporates a few new elements into their music.
Dame Darcy -- GREATEST HITS (Bop Tart): If you know her comic MEATCAKE, you
might imagine this to be all dark and oppressive and gloomy and
Gothy...which it largely is, but because it largely consists of utterly
straight, basically tradition-minded (with some noise and weirdness) murder
ballads and folk songs, plus several originals in the style and a couple
odd ringers. Her father, a folk musician named Mike Stanger, appears on
several tracks, including Steve Gillette's "Darcy Farrow," which probably
explains how she got her name. I did not expect to like this at all, but I
found it utterly endearing, and anyone who likes Cordelia's Dad might
appreciate it.
Dengue Fever -- DENGUE FEVER (Web of Mimicry): L.A. psych band with a
female Cambodian-born lead singer, who take their cues from those
grey-market collections of obscure Asian psych records from the '60s but
are making something identifiably new out of their influences.
*Roky Erickson and the Aliens -- THE EVIL ONE (PLUS ONE) (Sympathy): Disc
one is basically a reissue of the 1987 Pink Dust CD THE EVIL ONE, itself a
combination of all the tracks from two related albums released in the UK
and the US in 1980-81. As a whole, this album is prime Roky, with many of
his best-known songs given their best treatments. Particular highlight:
"Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play," one of my all-time faves of his.
Disc two is a very rare pair of EPs from the late '70s and clips from a
radio interview with a lucid and good-humored Roky in Berkeley, circa 1979.
The High Dials -- A NEW DEVOTION (Rainbow Quartz): Montreal-based group
does the psychedelic concept album thing, with delightful results. A
subtle electronic influence keeps it from sounding like a bunch of outtakes
from the second Nuggets box.
James Kirk -- YOU CAN MAKE IT IF YOU BOOGIE (Marina): Unexpected new solo
record by the former Orange Juice guitarist. Contains a tribute to Nilsson
and a new version of his classic OJ track "Felicity," and it sounds a lot
like the Pearlfishers.
Jeffrey Lewis -- IT'S THE ONES WHO'VE CRACKED THAT THE LIGHT SHINES THROUGH
(Rough Trade): Second album by the New York singer-songwriter, who now has
a bassist and drummer backing him up and has increased the psychedelic
aspects of his sound. best song: the Camper van Beethoven-like "No LSD
Tonihgt," about all the people who have misunderstood the title song of his
last album, "The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane."
*The Lovetones -- BE WHAT YOU WANT (Bomp/Committee To Keep Music Evil):
Australian trio that surprisingly includes neither Dom Mariani nor Kim from
the Summer Suns, but sounds very much in that style: jangly pop rooted in
the '60s, but not beholden to any particular style. Recommended to Michael
Penn and Allen Clapp fans in particular.
Nellie McKay -- NELLIE McKAY (no label): Sold out, but she's been signed to
Columbia and her new album is out in the fall. Trust me: she's going to be
marketed as the new Norah Jones. However, she's more like a cross between
John Southworth, Janet Klein, Erin McKeown and Stephin Merritt.
*Mono -- ONE STEP MORE AND YOU DIE (Arena Rock 2003): Don't let the
description "Japanese noise rock band" give you the wrong idea. This album
is about dynamics and pacing, not aural assault. It's actually rather
quiet and, dare I say it, very pretty in spots, and when the noise level
does kick up, the results sound like LARKS TONGUES-era Crimso fed a steady
diet of anabolic steroids and Red Bull. Comparisons to Mogwai are legion
and not far off the mark, but if you've heard of an American band called
Larval, that's closer.
*The Rumblers -- HOLD ON TIGHT (Lookout): Like recent albums by the Queers,
the Methadones (whose new CAREER OBJECTIVE is just as good as this) or Atom
and His Package, the general tone of the Rumblers is "I'm well into my 30s,
but dammit, I still like the Undertones." The singer bears a striking
vocal resemblance to Mike Ness of Social Distortion, who I always thought
was one of the great American punk singers.
S
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