Two ways to wake up in the morning

Gorgeous morning today, went to the Y just to change, then out for a run, still a little foggy both weather-wise and alert-ness wise, and I came screamingly, joltingly into focus with music from the Body.

Here's the tag line from their Thrill Jockey page:

“There’s heaviness. There’s brutality. Then there’s The Body.” – Metal Sucks

Oh yeah, and in case you didn't get the biblical overtones in the band name, the current album is called Christs, Redeemers...plural, that will really bother some people, won't it?

It's remarkable that just two guys -- Chip King and Lee Buford -- make all this racket, or maybe not, considering they're from Rhode Island and have to compete with all that Lightning Bolt legacy.

Anyway, it's awesome and epic and only metal in the loosest possible sense...but I can't really recommend it for your iPod clock radio. Here's a bit:




Now it's later and I'm done running and have had some coffee, so naturally I am listening to something far gentler, far softer and more welcoming...something, in fact, that might be perfect for easing into a morning run, except for the danger of nodding away and veering off the sidewalk. It's an EP called Eternality by an LA-based film composer and electronic guy named Cuscino...lovely cool, rhythmic, faintly unsettling textures of electronics and voices.



Let's see what else...I am terrified that my paying job is just going to stop dead again, as it has half a dozen times since the global meltdown when the Republicans do something insane. (Let's tie the CR to mandatory baptism, full immersion, too, fuck that sprinkling shit.) Who cares about the country or the global economy when you get the chance to stick it to Obama once more, right?

Also I'm interviewing Zachary Cale this evening, not prepped at all. after I thrash around pointlessly trying to get some work this morning, I'm going to start working on that.

And finally, I am going to see Angel Olsen and Pillars and Tongues tomorrow and will be writing it up for Blurt.

Taste the sun

I ran ten miles today, not just without pain, but also one of those light-footed, bouncy "Is that eigth miles already?" runs. Which I attribute entirely to Bardo Pond and their ability to bend infinity back on itself and make it seem like no time at all. New album Peace On Venus out October 28th on Fire Records.

I Get Chills

The Chills wrote "Pink Frost" one of the best songs ever, and "I Love My Leather Jacket" one of the best fashion statements ever, and "Heavenly Pop Hit" which, in a better, fairer world, would actually be one. They are the radiant, pop-jangling magicians of the NZ pop triad (Clean, Bats, Chills), and they have a new live album out called Somewhere Beautiful. It's got all three of those songs I just mentioned and 17 others, a triple LP if you buy the vinyl, and it could not possibly be more fun. If you have all the Chills' proper albums (and I have a bunch of them), it's still worth listening to, even if just to hear them rough things up.

The Chills released a single "Molten Gold" this year, their first new material since 2004.


Here's a kind of minidocumentary about Somewhere Beautiful


Martin Phillips just does a little taste of "Pink Frost" in the above, which hardly seems right. Here's the whole thing. Isn't it wonderful?

If the whiskey's strong and the band plays on, I can do no wrong

There's a new album by Barton Carroll, the sometime Eric Bachman sideman who is also, seriously, one of the best alt.county songwriters you never heard of. The album is called Avery County, I'm Bound to You, and it's more down-home than my previous favorite The Lost One, not as funny and more blatantly tethered to real life. But it's really, really good, and you should check it out.

This is all I can find from the upcoming album.


"Superman" is pretty great, too.


Tour dates are of really limited use, unless you live in one of the Carolinas (in which case, good times!).

Friday, Oct 11
Seattle, WA
Conor Byrne
Record Release show for Avery County, I’m Bound To You
w/The Tripwires and Wayfinders

Thursday, Oct 17
Birmingham, AL
The Bottletree
w/The Delicate Cutters

Saturday, Oct 19
Charlotte, NC
Snug Harbor

Tuesday, Oct 22
Greenville, SC
The Dark Room Theater

Wednesday, Oct 23
Durham, NC
The Pinhook
w/Wood Ear

Thursday, Oct 24
Asheville, NC
The Grey Eagle
w/Band Of Heathens

Friday, Oct 25th
Spruce Pine, NC
Penland College

Saturday, Oct 26
Boone, NC
The Black Cat
w/The Karloffs

Monday, Oct 28
Banner Elk, NC
Lees McRae College (Evans Auditorium

Camera

I have been really liking Camera's Radiate out on Bureau B now, but beyond stating the obvious, duh, Krautrock, er, Neu!, don't have anything very original to say. Fortunately, Ben Graham at the Quietus has the whole thing under control. He says:

Just when you thought you didn't need another contemporary neo-krautrock outfit in your life... along come Camera, whose heavy kosmische grooves are not only near-irresistible, but who have more claim than most to be upholders of the kraut tradition, whatever that may be. Genuine Berliners, for a start, the three-piece have also been championed by Michael Rother of Neu! Rother gave the young band several early support slots before inviting them to play a joint show with him and his old Harmonia buddy Dieter Moebius, who was equally impressed with the way Camera have not only appropriated but extended the motorik machine music he and his peers pioneered throughout the 1970s.

The old school radical krautrockers may have been equally appreciative of Camera's liking for guerrilla gigs in public spaces, with stunts like gatecrashing the German Film Prize after show party, setting up and playing until security realised they weren't actually booked and booted them out, somewhat reminiscent of the anti-establishment, near-situationist streak that was such an important part of the make-up of bands like Neu!, Faust, Can and Amon Duul, but which inevitably has been filtered out as new bands take on the sounds without any of the political philosophy.

While setting up and playing in a Berlin underpass or public toilets may not equate with raging against the Nazi relics still holding public office in the late 60s / early 70s, or harbouring members of the Baader-Meinhof gang in your band squat, it does at least exhibit a taste for mischief-making and confrontation, and a disdain for conventional music biz careerism, that the old guard must have been relieved to find was still on the agenda.

Another quality of their forebears that Camera retain is a love of improvisation. Initially formed with no intention of recording or even of writing songs as such, the trio laid down Radiate! live in the studio, using just a couple of guitars, a synthesiser and a pared-down drum kit. The result is a muscular spontaneity that makes even the more by-numbers moments come alive, imbuing familiar musical phrases with an urgency and velocity that many more considered, reverential players often lose.

There's a bit more track by track description here.

I've always really liked the Quietus. I tried to write for them a while ago, but it didn't work out.

Motivational issues

I've been treading water in the sea of despond for a couple of days (yeah, the water's pretty warm, try it), no real reason, just that edge of unreality that sometimes creeps into things and makes it hard to focus. Work has slowed down and I might've done a stupid thing last week, asking for more money for something that looked like an awful lot of extra work and possible jeopardizing the small amount of money that I've been getting anyway. It's a fine line. I'm doing okay, but it could all fall through any second. I should be more careful with my family's livelihood.

I've also been listening to a lot of stuff, and was actually really enjoying the new Lee Ranaldo until my friend Bill Meyer shat all over it and gave me my usual complex about liking too much crap. What do you think? Is it boring? I must like boring.



Hey, how about this? Fun, eh? Band name: Giant Dog Single title: Bone. Hah. I need a big glass of wine.


Anyway, nice sunny fall weather, you can see your breath in the morning...trees on fire here and there, but not the way it will be later...

Spencer Krug goes piano bar

Spencer Krug, whom you may know from Wolf Parade, Swan Lake and Sunset Rubdown, has a solo project called Moonface, which is, apparently, whatever he feels like doing at the moment, in terms of instrumentation, sometimes marimba and shit-drums, sometimes organ (and not vibraphone like he'd hoped) and, in this case, piano. This is as close to Spencer Krug unplugged as we're likely to get, no electronics at all, just that wavery, emotionally-vibrating tenor and piano chords. I kind of like it -- he's an interesting writer -- though I like his stuff with drums a little better.

Anyway, it's out October 29 on Secretly Canadian. It's called Julia with Blue Jeans On. He's got a few shows lined-up, probably in places where there's a working piano. (St. Pancras Old Church!)

09/29/13 Montreal, QC - Pop Motreal @ Ukrainian Federation BUY TICKETS
11/08/13 Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts
11/09/13 New York, New York - Le Poisson Rouge
11/23/13 London, UK - St. Pancras Old Church

There's a fair amount of drama in the first single. It bangs more, wanders less than the rest of the album.