Holopaw goes underground

I first encountered Holopaw when the debut showed up in a box of Splendid review CDs sometime late in 2002…and was immediately transfixed by its whispery intensity. (It didn’t hurt that it was a Sub Pop record in the midst of a pile of self-releases and vanity productions…this was we-review-everything Splendid, after all, and I hadn’t worked my way up the totem pole very far yet.) It was good enough that I went to see Holopaw at my first SXSW. He was holding down the 8 p.m. slot in a long series of much-louder bands. The industry types, there for much-hyped atrocity Hot Hot Heat, talked all the way through the set, which was fairly stunning even so. (This was before iPhones, etc. I’ll say one thing for texting. It’s quiet.) Holopaw’s third album is not on Sub Pop, and the self-release phenomenon (plus a mostly new, much bigger band) seems to free Orth from expectations in a couple of ways. I concluded my review, up today at Dusted, like this:

Oh Glory, Oh Wilderness pulls in two very interesting ways. The more accessible, more exciting arrangements make it more than ever a pop record. Its appeal is immediate, rather than slow burning, and you can see it pulling in fans who are less transfixed by eccentricity, more interested in tightly constructed songs. Yet at the same time, the words and images in these songs are deeply personal and self-revealing in a way that, I think, the first two albums were not. Orth has found a way to make himself more accessible and more himself at the same time with this third album…a neat trick worth repeating.

"The Art Teacher and the Little Stallion"

Jack Rose again...

I have a piece up now at Philly weekly, with some very nice recollections of Jack Rose and his music. He sounds like a wonderful man, very much loved by fans and colleagues alike...wish I'd known him.

Doh, missed another one

Hey, this new Yo La Tengo is pretty good, don't you think?

It's called Popular Songs, which I'm guessing is meant to be slightly tongue-in-cheek.

Takes forever to get through the last three songs, but worth it.

Pazz & Jop is allowing me in again...apparently I'm one of 1500 odd critics.

No idea where I fit in on the oddity scale but let's hope I'm extreme.


"Periodically Double or Triple"

Jack Rose RIP

Jack Rose, one of his generation’s best acoustic guitar players, passed away this weekend of a heart attack. He was 38.

Rose contributed to both Imaginational Anthem 1 and 2, the first with the lovely “White Mule III” and second with the even more riveting and beautiful “Crossing the North Fork II.” He played on A Raga for Peter Walker, as well, and even gave me quote about Peter for a piece I wrote for Dusted.

I had the very good fortune to see Rose play a little over a year ago, opening for Michael Chapman. I met him briefly afterwards, and he seemed like a very nice, unassuming type…and also, quite young even to be playing this type of Fahey-esque primitive style. Let alone dying. You can read about it here, if you want.


Here’s Rose playing “Kensington Blues” in Sacramento a couple of years ago.


All thoughts and prayers to his family and friends. Very sad.

Goner Fest 4…damn

I got this DVD in the mail yesterday from Goner Records of Goner Fest 4 and watched most of it last night. I’m not sure I’ll be reviewing it, but if you like garage rock at all, you should check it out. It’s a total blast and includes pretty much every two-chord, distortion-crazed outfit worth caring about (circa 2007, there are some new ones since then). The production is better than you’d expect (better than some of these bands’ actual albums) with reasonably decent sound and three professionally manned cameras in continuous operation. You get about one song per band, two if you’re lucky, and some entertaining footage of spectators…you can almost smell the beer.

A partial list of bands:
Jay Reatard
Greg Cartwright
Mr. Airplane Man
Eddy Current Suppression Ring (also the Ooga Boogas)
CoCoComa
Hank IV
Marked Men
Quintron and Miss Pussycat
The Preacher’s Kids

Hank IV was one of my favorites:


It really made me want to go sometime….but I suppose that’ll never happen.

Corner Laughers…smart bubbly pop

Quite enjoyable new album from the Corner Laughers, a SF-area pop band that reminds me a little bit of Cub, a little bit of the Decemberists.
My review is up today at Blurt.

Smart, bubbly pop from two girls who have been pals since high school, The Corner Laughers' Ultraviolet Garden cuts studs its sugary hooks with quiz bowl vocabulary and surreal imagery. The tunes are airy, breezy and laced with unexpected lyrical twists as Karla Kane sings and plays ukulele here, while long-time pal, Angela Silletto slings a melodic Mersey inflected guitar. Their second album, produced by the Orange Peels' Alan Clapp, puts a 1960s sheen onto conflicted, ebullient and intricately intelligent girl pop.

More:

Wingdale Community Singers’ Spirit Duplicator

I'm not usually into actor/artist/writer-turned-musician projects, but Wingdale Community Singers (with Rick Moody) is pretty good. Here's my review in Blurt.

Wingdale Community Singers, an old time music collective made up of four decidedly post-modern artists, has always been a study in contradictions. Pristine clarity, city slicker ironies. Delicate melodies, lush counterpart and harmonies. Buttoned down tradition, wicked humor. There's a constant tug of war between the lulling simplicity of the songs and the sharpness of the words.

Perhaps this is because Wingdale draws together such divergent talents: novelist Rick Moody, folk singer Hannah Marcus, academic and musical experimenter David Grubbs and, lately, visual artist and songwriter Nina Katchadorian. The concept always sounded like a sitcom pitch ("so this famous author decides to start a bluegrass band..."), still the band has developed into a sure and accomplished musical enterprise. None of the songs on Spirit Duplicator sound like they're trying too hard, or arguing their point, or playing the devil's advocate. Instead, these compositions exist peacefully in a quiet, well-tended space, growing in eccentric and twisted ways out of the most traditional American music. They may or may not be making faces at us when we turn our backs.

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Best I can do for audio is the MySpace

I've been thinking about doing some original interviews, just for my blog. I really miss talking to baby bands, and I'm not doing very many interviews anymore. What do you think? Would people do it? Is there any way to get more people to read them? (Besides, you know, being brilliant and insightful and first on something that breaks big...I'm already planning on that.)

Anyway, let me know if you have any ideas.