Thanks to Matt, I'm rediscovering the music of Steve Reich. I liked his pieces from the 1970s and '80s, and then somewhere around "The Cave," I stopped listening. I found the classic piece from 1972 "Clapping Music" in its many permutations on YouTube. So much of Reich's music from this time is about phasing, the musical technique of repeating the same pattern in different tempos. To me, you can get a similar effect by playing Reich's music at slightly different times. You can phase his phasing in and out.
So here are six embedded videos to phase in and out as you please. You can press stop and play and do the same thing Steve Reich used to spend hours doing when he was cutting tape.
"Sometimes I'm afraid of yellow."
-Willem de Kooning
"As a picture painted in yellow always radiates spiritual warmth, or as one in blue has apparently a cooling effect, so green is only boring."
-Wassily Kandinsky
Make up your own mind by listening to The Scene is Now's "Yellow Sarong" (which was later covered by Yo La Tengo). Watch Ken Nordine's "Yellow" put to animation:
Kelefeh Sanneh has an article on Will Oldham in The New Yorker, called, appropriately enough, "The Pretender." The editorial slant is that Oldham has to play a role to feel comfortable. He bristles at any suggestions he's calculating and putting on a character, but warmly created the persona of Bonnie "Prince" Billy in order to connect with more people. He avoids his indie rock ghetto, and doesn't want to be thought of as an Americana country/western/blues hillbilly. Fair enough.
When I told Jen the name of the article, she asked whether David Berman had written it.
Neil Young overcomes loneliness at the United Palace
In his song "A Man Needs a Maid," Neil Young sings from the perspective of a man who has been hurt and confused by human relationships and would rather have something that he can "understand."
I was thinking that maybe I'd get a maid
Find a place nearby for her to stay.
Just somene to keep my house clean
Fix my meals and go away.
During his lively performance at New York City's United Palace Theater in Washington Heights last night, it was clear most of the audience knew the feeling.
The crowd was so engaged and shouted between songs, getting into philosophical arguments about their duties and Neil's. The typical exchange went something like this:
"Play 'Cinnamon Girl'!"
"Let him play what he wants!"
"Shut up!"
"Leave him alone!"
"We love you, Neil."
"'Old Man'!"
To which Neil Young smiled and replied, "Watch it, now."
If the crowd was engaged, it was becase Neil Young never seems to be going through the motions. A crowd does not need a rock star. They wanted Mr. Young, who did an acoustic set alone, surrounded by seven guitars, a banjo, a grand piano, his grandmother's upright piano, and a synthesizer, before doing a loud and white-hot plugged in set.
Sitting in a chair in the middle of the stage, surrounded by a circle of his guitars, he moved like a scarecrow with his limbs loose and syncopated, but not totally in control. Something moves him.
He performed my favorite song ("Ambulance Blues") and did an amazing rendition of "Mellow My Mind" on the banjo. His acoustic performance of "Cowgirl in the Sand" wowed the entire audience, leaving the woman behind me to ask how he could fill the United Palace with sound like that. "I can't believe it was just one guitar," she said.
Since so much of Neil Young's catalogue deals with loneliness (he played, for instance, songs called "Sad Movies," "Bad Fog of Lonelieness" and "Oh, Lonesome Me") it was overwhelming to feel a packed house singing along together to songs abut feeling alone.
By the time he plugged in, the crowd was willing to follow, and he did raucous renditions of some old songs and new. His last song before the encore was a 20-minute crunchy jam to "No Hidden Path."
For his encore, he blazed through "Cortez the Killer," which is a song whose lyrics have always mystified me. But to see Young intimate, with his guitar solos before an audience of thousands, was to understand.
Mos Def has said that hip-hop is medicine for loneliness, and it's clear that for Mr. Young -- and the audience last night -- a guitar can do just as well.
I was blown away by this incredible video for the song "Frijoleros" by the band Molotov. Catchy tune, with creative graphics and great color sense. Check it out -- but be prepared to wait for a slow download.
Also read this interview with the director of "Be Here to Love Me," a new documentary about singer-songwriter-senstive-and-cruel-70's-man Townes Van Zandt. Unrelated to Van Zandt, I love this part of the interview:
Margaret Brown (the young director and NYU grad): You thought I was some dumb New York girl.
Lee Daniel (veteran cinematographer): [laughs] Well, you know, NYU.
Read a brief into to Van Zandt here, and check out his family's site here. The man created a special body of work, and it gets my purple thumb's up.
I finally saw "Walk the Line" last night. Joaquin Phoenix is amazing as Cash, catching all the facial tics and vocal depth. And Reese Witherspoon is equally great; she captures the professional cheeriness and inner depth the Carter family is known for. It's got the HJ stamp of approval!
It reminded me of Sarah Vowell's story for 'This American Life.' She calls June and Johnny's relationship the "Love Story of the 20th Century." Go take a listen and decide for youself. (Link is on the side of the page, and Vowell's part begins around 47 minutes in)
You've see it around town. The t-shirt with a big red stop sign that reads: STOP SNITCHING. Now law enforcement is having problems with thug justice:
Criminals have always relied on a code of silence to evade prosecution. But calls to "stop snitching" have grown louder in hip-hop, which grew out of black inner cities to become a huge influence on youth culture across America.
Critics say this taboo on "snitching" or informing is now part of hip-hop's mystique and makes it increasingly hard for police to solve violent crimes in inner-city neighborhoods.
"The cultural shift that it is acceptable to tell people not to come to court to testify imperils the criminal justice system," said Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham.
Many hot hip-hop artists glorify crime and violence in their music. The "stop snitching" calls have helped sell records and magazines while branding those who cooperate with law enforcement as traitors.
The message is that drug dealing and shootings are normal and it's more noble to go to jail than to talk to police.
It's not exactly Yalta, but there's a new peace accord in town. Nas and Jay-Z have officially ended their feud. It's probably good for the hip-hop community, but I can't decide whether this is good or bad for the music, since Jay-Z's attacks put Nas at the top of his game again.
More Appropriately Named the "Go Ahead, Look Back" Series
This article from the Guardian Online describes a current London concert series in which artists play an album live from beginning to end, including among others Iggy Pop's Funhouse and Gang of Four's Entertainment.
The article then gives several artists' suggestions (I don't want to spoil the surprise, but let's just say the song "Sweet Leaf" is mentioned somewhere).
Personal aside: Many years ago in Boston, we saw Red House Painters perform the Rollercoaster album from beginning to end, which was a particular surprise since they had a new album to promote. (I remember cracking up when Kozelek asked for the purple "Sensitive Guy" lights during a couple of the songs. He apparently does have a sense of humor about himself.)
What albums would you want to see performed? Let's divide this into two categories: the living and the dead. Since we don't have comments anymore, email me your selections at teapot[at]dailygusto.com, and I'll post them later.
Ok. For all you people who wonder whether that new William Shatner album is any good, I've got a little treat for you. Check out the song below and immediately go out and buy the album.
Right-click-save-as this link to enjoy Shatner's "Has Been."
I first discovered the joys of Brian Dewan during the week of the election, when I kept seeing this strange show on Manhattan public access. It featured a musician in a red K-Mart jacket singing old political songs while alternating playing the music on the accordion and a zither (?). That I didn't even know what instrument he was playing intrigued me. And then there were these nutty watercolor backgrounds superimposed behind him. And always a stone-face, even when he sang a song about electing Alfred E. Newman for president. Eventually I got out a VHS and recorded half the show, which I have split into songs for your listening pleasure. If you like these, Mr. Dewan has two albums out there that I completely recommend, with total awe. (click each photo for videos)
What to Do This Saturday: East River Music Project
A friend forwarded this to us today about the East River Music Project, which is hosting a free show this Saturday, July 24 at the East River Park Amphitheatre. It's a fun place to hear music, and the kids (and by "kids," I mean, "adults") love Ted Leo, so I thought I'd pass it on. Additional info is here.
* * * * * * *
East River Music Project in cooperation with NYC Parks & Recreation presents:
Tigers and Monkeys
Sea Ray
The Natural History
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
Saturday July 24
1:30pm "doors," Show from 2-6
Free admission
Unless it's pouring at 12:30, we're on, drizzle or shine.
East River Park Amphitheatre NYC
Just south of the Williamsburg Bridge on the Manhattan side
Subway: F or JMZ to Essex / Delancey
I'm sure most of us are at least aware of William Shatner's past musical pursuits. Well, he's back with a new album. Follow the link, if you dare, to hear Captain Kirk and Joe Jackson (!) covering Pulp's "Common People."
Many years ago, a friend (now long lost to the clutches of law school) gave us a now-legendary set of mix tapes culled from his voluminous stacks of vinyl. From Killdozer's cover of Neil Diamond's "I Am, I Said" to the Rolling Stones's "2000 Man," these tapes struck the perfect balance between music that was new to us and stuff we already liked but didn't own.
Among the tracks were several songs from the 1993 Voo Doo Doll EP by April March (nee Elinore Blake), whom I'd never heard before. With her adorable voice, a French-pop-inspired sound, and witty lyrics, I fell in love immediately.
From "Voo Doo Doll":
I keep a Voo Doo Doll
To pierce when you're untrue
I take a pin and stick it in
And I'm amused
While fans of French pop will like her other releases, particularly Chick Habit, with its covers of Serge Gainsbourg and Francoise Hardy songs, I still find the songs from Voo Doo Doll to be her quirkiest and best. Unfortunately, since the album is out of print, it fetches a pretty penny when it comes 'round on Half.com.
Right-click-Save-Target-As... to get the songs or -- hey, big spender -- buy it already.
Because I saw this Guardian review of their show in London (doubt they'll be touring here anytime soon) and now have them on the brain (and in the CD player), I thought I'd post a couple of songs by the fantastic and completely underrated band The Go-Betweens. If there were justice in the music world, these guys would be diving into swimming pools full of money in Brisbane. Right-click-Save-Target-As... to get the songs, and then go buy some already (also, I haven't read this, but it looks interesting -- the 2003 David Nichols book, The Go Betweens).
PBS is airing (in NY on Thirteen) its American Masters episode "Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues" tonight at 8. For any fans of Hank's, the episode web site has some great information: an essay, career timeline, additional footage, and interview with filmmaker Morgan Neville.
Why don't we just hang it up and start a music blog, because that's all I've been blogging these days. Via The Morning News (now with 15% more Kevin Fanning!), this list of the 50 coolest song parts is great fun, some of the songs complete with clips. Heavy on punk and classic rock, the list captures some of the most memorable moments in some otherwise not-so-memorable songs.
Favorites?
UPDATE: Under Led Zep III, there is a link to this. "Valhalla, I am coming," indeed!
What a coincidence. After recently pulling out an old Edith Frost album to use a song for a mix CD group I'm in, I found out today through a comment on Chicagoist that she has a blog and a new collection of demos, available only online.
Frost's songs are haunting and spare and best enjoyed late at night. And I was thrilled to see a cover of Lefty Frizell's "Look What Thoughts Will Do" among the other songs on the collection.
Right-click-Save-Target-As... to get the songs, or get more from Comfort Stand, which has loads of great music for free, free, free!
The Guardian Online has a semi-positive review of PJ Harvey's latest album, Uh Huh Her:
PJ Harvey has a knack of writing love songs that make being loved by PJ Harvey seem only marginally preferable to a barium enema. Her sixth album, Uh Huh Her, contains Who the Fuck?, ostensibly inspired by a disastrous visit to the hairdressers. At a time when a single called Fuck It has recently been deposed from the Number One spot by a single called Fuck You Right Back, it seems fairly unlikely that the odd fuck could still shock anyone. But it's all in the delivery - in this case, a weird shrill whine: "Who the fuck? Who the fuck? Get your comb out of there!" she squeals. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck you!" At another point, she adds "I'm not like other girls". The listener can only concur: going on her reaction to an unfortunate shampoo and set, she's a certifiable lunatic.
Correction: Our favorite certifiable lunatic. If you haven't had a chance, hear some of the songs (I'm partial to "Shame") or watch the videos from PJ's new album on her website or read a recent interview here.
p.s. This interview is where I found out PJ dated Vincent Gallo, which begs the question: why does Polly Jean date exclusively male versions of herself?
p.p.s. If anyone managed to get tix to see PJ tonight at the Knitting Factory, give us a report, will you?
SM: About once a year, I'll see what people think. My favorite review of myself was in People magazine. They were reviewing the first 6ths record, and they said that ordinarily, "he sings the songs himself. He has a voice like the wind moaning through a small, relatively leafless tree."
I'm home sick today, so posting will be sparse or nonexistent. Keep the blues away with this track from the Mississippi Sheiks, a popular country blues string band from the 30's. I have to thank Greg for turning me on to this disc, which only recently came back into print. Right-click-Save-Target-As... to get the song, and then go buy the thing already.
Note: We have removed the link to the MP3. Because MP3s are for sampling purposes only, we do not always leave the links active.
Music fans stopped paying attention to Billy Joel at "We Didn't Start The Fire" (I remember one book named him the worst rock star of all time simply because "a list is not a song"). Blender's recent countdown of the 50 all-time worst songs included the rap-rock ballad at #41, citing special hatred of the line "China’s under martial law/ rock & roller cola wars!"). But here's a fun fact: the original line was "Poison apples in the stores, rock & roller cola wars." Then the whole Tiananmen Square thing replaced the alar scare headlines. Like I said, I know way too much about Billy Joel. Did I mention I did a fifth grade book report on an unauthorized Billy Joel biography? We were allowed to pick anything.
Jolly misanthrope Stephin Merritt has a new album out today called i. Don't stop to collect your misery. Buy it now.
Mr. Magnetic Fields was once a reviewer for Time Out NY, and his work there can still be found with search engines. Beyond his legendary reviews of Christmas albums (1998, 1999, 2000), he also reviewed NYC-area putt-putts and the music of someone else's century. God bless us everyone!
For those with a Salon subscription or the willingness to suffer the indignity of a day pass, here is a bonus article/interview, which inspired several letters to the editor along these lines:
I can't believe you think this smug, pompous bastard has enough merit [Ed. - pun unintended?] even to be considered for your front-page story. Sure, the fact that he's a pedantic, condescending curmudgeon isn't reason enough to ignore him, but the fact that the critical acclaim he's received has been nothing more than the knee-jerk, kiss-ass response of an insular music-writing industry is.
Forget School of Rock. Enter L'il Gn'R, The First Ever Guns 'n' Roses Kids Tribute Band, complete with L'il Axl, L'il Izzy, L'il Duff, L'il Steven Adler, and everyone's favorite, L'il Slash.
Yes, this is for real, but of course it was conceived by an NY comedian, Mark Malkoff. Read more about Mark's project in this Guardian article. An excerpt:
"He finally realised what he had let himself in for when he took Li'l Gn'R to a hotel room for an afternoon. "They trashed it! There was silly string everywhere, chocolate and candy and soda all over the room. They tore up sheets and pillows. It took me and my assistant four hours to clean up."
According to the L'il Gn'R website: "Depending on their school and what is on the Cartoon Network, Li'l Gn'r is available to play concerts and private events." Just what you need for your next Bar Mitzvah or wedding reception.
(p.s. I hereby promise not to use the word "l'il" for at least another six months.)
"And now I'm lying here, I've had too much booze
I've been shat on and spat on and raped and abused
I know that I am dying and I wish I could beg
For some money to take me from the old main drag"
Why write words when you can bask in the sun? I'm going to the park to spend my day off watching dogs, girls, and naughty nephews.
In keeping with yesterday's post, I've got to plug Archive.org again. Not only do they keep public domain films online for all to see and use, but they also have old records and music for all to use as they see fit. This is how a culture remains vital, not through corporations and money-hungry relatives keeping perpetual copyrights, but through open source use and reuse.
Download "White House Blues," an old bluegrass song about William McKinley's assassination here.
Well, Roosevelt's in the White House, doing his best
McKinley's in the graveyard taking his rest
He's gone, for a long time
This past Friday the parents of Weird Al passed away due to carbon monoxide inhalation. Try not to make any jokes or write any parody songs. When I was a kid I loved Weird Al. His song "Fat" was the height of hilarious. And his parents were often part of the act. Read his message for yourself here
The real challenge of writing songs isn’t just writing a bunch of parts -- like a verse, chorus, verse, but making something that flows together, that brings you back. I mean, that’s the thing with progressive rock -- you come up with a million riffs, and you just plug ‘em in!
Back in my day, there was a mini-craze among hipsters for semi-clueless musicians who couldn't hold a note but seemed compelled to perform music from the bottom of their hearts. There was the manic depression of Daniel Johnston and the schizophrenia of Wesley Willis. And now we have William Hung.
The current craze for the American Idol reject baffles me. What Hung has in common with Johnston and Willis is a a certain naivite about creating songs coupled with a compulsion to create them. They're all bad singers who don't seem to know it, and that's part of their charm.
It's as if they each embody the spirit of Allen Ginsberg: first thought, best thought. The more you edit and question your actions, the more you separate yourself from a primal experience. In this case, it's the simple joy of singing a song. There's an irony in liking something that's as wonderfully bad as Willis' "Rock 'n' Roll McDonalds" or Hung's redition of "She Bangs."
That irony is based on a performer's understanding being completely different from the audience's. Willis thought of himself as a rock god; hipsters thought of him as a crazy man singing weird songs. Hipsters' love of Johnston and Willis (leaving aside the individual merits of their songwriting) is based on envy of their spontaneity and freedom, but also an appreciation of the distance between their knowledge and the performers'.
Johnston and Willis struggled through mental illness and small independent labels to produce an incredible amount of work that was a kind of therapy, while Hung is an engineering student at a prestigious university who says it's his professional dream to make music. Hung isn't handing out cassette tapes in the streets of Texas like Johnston -- he's parlayed Fox television appearances into a global marketing and licensing extravaganza.
The Village Voice predictably calls Hung-mania hateful racism. There might be that element in it. But I don't think people who are stirred by Hung's jerky dancing think of it purely as something unlike themselves. When you watch the crowd, people will imitate his flailing limbs in a form of flattery. There may be a little bit of mockery, but mostly it's people enamored of someone who seems nice, believes in the dream, and doesn't care that he's grossly unqualified to be a pop star.
But Hung is a pop star now. People who might hate the streamlined characterlessness of the real American Idol can choose to put their love in a supposed reject of the system. Now there are more performances, more interviews, more articles, and more giddy assessments of how an anonymous no-talent can make it big by being genuine and letting his charisma shine through. The public taste for Hung is the triumph of hipster irony as co-opted by multinational corporations.
Anyways. I'm boring myself. You can probably catch me at the Knitting Factory when Daniel Johnston visits on Thursday, April 15.
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Buckle Down with Nixon
Charlie on the MTA
Jimmy Carter Says Yes
Vote for Newman
A friend forwarded this to us today about the 
PBS is airing (in NY on 
Forget School of Rock. Enter 
Ok. This is brilliant. Jay-Z's vocal hip-hop mixed with Pavement's "Slanted and Enchanted" lo-fi slackercore creates 
Back in my day, there was a mini-craze among hipsters for semi-clueless musicians who couldn't hold a note but seemed compelled to perform music from the bottom of their hearts. There was the manic depression of 