Apparently Japanese underground vocalist and guitarist Shizuka committed suicide early this month. A fairly under documented band and artist that really summarized all the stuff i love about the Japanese psychedelic world of Tokyo pre- 2000. Haunting, mysterious, shrouded in darkness, delicate but yet dashed with moments of blissful shredding guitar feedback. Her band featured guitarist Miura Maki on guitar, and Kosugi Jun on drums, who if I'm correct both served time in Haino's Fushitsusha. A pair of PSF CD's can be found without too much trouble one being a studio album and the Live Album traditional aesthetics which was recorded in 95 from Osaka but not released till 2008 is maybe one of the best releases PSF has done in years in my eyes.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
JACK ROSE RECORD RELEASE SHOW
So big show last night in Philly to mark the launch of Jack Rose's most recent studio release which will be out on Thrill Jockey records i suppose any day now? if not currently for sale. Lots of great bands played all of which made sense in the context of who and what Jack was. PELT, MICHEAL CHAPMAN, THURSTON MOORE/ CORSANO/ FLAHERTY/ NANCE/ + voilin girl, MEGABOOZEBAND, PELT, BLACK TWIG PICKERS, GLENN JONES, MEG BAIRD+CHRIS FORSYTH, WILLIE LANE and D CHARLES SPEER. Practically a mini fest sort of line-up. Hosted at the Latvian society in Philly (pretty kick ass venue actually) which featured lots of cool foreign beers. Anyway lots of great music, nothing really jumped out at me as being particularly awesome but was a cool collection of bands that were different enough to make keep it interesting. Between sets they played some video exerts of Jack in performance and interview that will be part of an upcoming DVD release on strange attractions. Below is a small trailer for the release
The DVD project was worked on by Jesse Sheppard and features some truly fantastic footage of Jack and Glenn Jones playing in a loft in Brooklyn on some sunny afternoon, along with interview footage conducted by Byron Coley from the same location. Also included is some concert footage from a Philly gig (i did external audio for this portion). All and all its a fantastic looking release and based on all the parts I've seen to date it does create a understanding of how Jack evolved into one of the the most prominent pickers of today. I've heard an early April release date for the the DVD but I'll post more when i hear about it being confirmed.
The DVD project was worked on by Jesse Sheppard and features some truly fantastic footage of Jack and Glenn Jones playing in a loft in Brooklyn on some sunny afternoon, along with interview footage conducted by Byron Coley from the same location. Also included is some concert footage from a Philly gig (i did external audio for this portion). All and all its a fantastic looking release and based on all the parts I've seen to date it does create a understanding of how Jack evolved into one of the the most prominent pickers of today. I've heard an early April release date for the the DVD but I'll post more when i hear about it being confirmed.
Friday, February 12, 2010
AI ASO
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Three consecutive snow storms of roughly 2 feet this winter which is an absurd amount for an area that might get 12" in an entire winter. Driving around at about midnight during the most recent storm on empty roads taking iphone pics to a soundtrack of Ai Aso's Lavender seemed very fitting and peaceful.
Monday, February 1, 2010
WALMART OF LABELS
So i meant to comment on this before when i first heard about it so finally had the time to share my thoughts.
IMPORTANT RECORDS SALE http://importantrecords.com/releases/44_66_sale.html
44/44 & 66/66 The Important Records 2009 Holiday Sale44 cds for $44 66 cds for $66shipping for either is:$7 in the USA via media rate (priority or UPS is available)$16 Canada/Mexico via airmail$42 overseas via flat rate global priority w/ tracking+ all cds will have a small drill hole in their barcode+ double cds count as 2
From a consumer prospective this is an absurd deal no doubt, their are like 300 or some odd releases on Important with lots being things i own currently, things I'd like to own, or things I would have liked to have released on my own label (minus the generic packages and shitty horrible ugly inner CD slipcase info commercials). But lots of great audio content, and 66 CD's is a shit load of music for that price. From a label perspective i suppose its a way to recoup some cash flow that is tied up potentially in junk stock that you have sitting around. A good way to jump start some sales and i suppose much better to get things out of the basement and warehouse and out to people who will listen to the stuff.. Hell that's the purpose of doing a label of love after all isn't it, even with selling the releases at a loss. But if i was a distro from either overseas or in the US i'd be mad as hell. What if i was Aquarius records for example. How the hell am i going to sell any Important record back catalog CD's against that deal he's running? I'd also be annoyed if i was the guy that two weeks prior i bought 3 or 4 titles from the site at regular price. I'd be feeling pretty cheated right about now, knowing that i could have had all the same discs for $1 each if i had waited. I'm reading way too much into this but does feel like some walmart moving into some small town dumping prices which forces the close outs of all the local stores on the main drag. http://www.newrules.org/retail/news/walmart-charged-predatory-pricing
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/24/business/wal-mart-on-trial-on-predatory-pricing-charges.html?pagewanted=1
I suppose i shouldn't care?? but i was basically glad i wasn't trying to release new shit the same month against that sale. I mean does the guy who bought 66CD's in one shot really need to buy anything else for the next 2-3 months???
IMPORTANT RECORDS SALE http://importantrecords.com/releases/44_66_sale.html
44/44 & 66/66 The Important Records 2009 Holiday Sale44 cds for $44 66 cds for $66shipping for either is:$7 in the USA via media rate (priority or UPS is available)$16 Canada/Mexico via airmail$42 overseas via flat rate global priority w/ tracking+ all cds will have a small drill hole in their barcode+ double cds count as 2
From a consumer prospective this is an absurd deal no doubt, their are like 300 or some odd releases on Important with lots being things i own currently, things I'd like to own, or things I would have liked to have released on my own label (minus the generic packages and shitty horrible ugly inner CD slipcase info commercials). But lots of great audio content, and 66 CD's is a shit load of music for that price. From a label perspective i suppose its a way to recoup some cash flow that is tied up potentially in junk stock that you have sitting around. A good way to jump start some sales and i suppose much better to get things out of the basement and warehouse and out to people who will listen to the stuff.. Hell that's the purpose of doing a label of love after all isn't it, even with selling the releases at a loss. But if i was a distro from either overseas or in the US i'd be mad as hell. What if i was Aquarius records for example. How the hell am i going to sell any Important record back catalog CD's against that deal he's running? I'd also be annoyed if i was the guy that two weeks prior i bought 3 or 4 titles from the site at regular price. I'd be feeling pretty cheated right about now, knowing that i could have had all the same discs for $1 each if i had waited. I'm reading way too much into this but does feel like some walmart moving into some small town dumping prices which forces the close outs of all the local stores on the main drag. http://www.newrules.org/retail/news/walmart-charged-predatory-pricing
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/24/business/wal-mart-on-trial-on-predatory-pricing-charges.html?pagewanted=1
I suppose i shouldn't care?? but i was basically glad i wasn't trying to release new shit the same month against that sale. I mean does the guy who bought 66CD's in one shot really need to buy anything else for the next 2-3 months???
Sunday, January 31, 2010
MISSIONS FOR THE YEAR 2010
Been a little while since my last batch of ragging blog posts so here's some pics and comments on 2010 shows I've seen in you guessed it 2010. from Top to bottom.
-OUTER SPACE 1.15.10 rotunda. John Elliot from EMERALDS terrible boring and predictable name for this duo analog synth project. I'm pretty partial to liking this type of stuff and i did enjoy their set, sort of brief but was cool enough. They played to visuals to the movie Ghost which i found kind of funny.. check out this excerpt from the email that came out for the gig
.......will be joined on analog synthesizer for this performance by Jeff Hatfield, best known as half of Fragments, who manage a singular fusion of rust belt basement electronics and Schnitzler-esque cantankerous opacity. This is the incarnation of Outer Space represented on the recent "Stereo Constellations" cdr and the forthcoming "Lightyear Demonstrations" double cassette. At a cultural moment in which many emerging artists are rightly charged with reliance upon facile nostalgia-qua-nostalgia, Outer Space represents a studied and gracefully substantive engagement.
Jesus what a shit load of verbal wankery. Exhibit A in things i hate about music reviews, press releases, and one sheets.
-TELECULT POWERS 1.15.10 Rotunda http://www.templeofpei.com/telecultpowers.html Never heard of this group before, but another duo from Brooklyn. They took a long ass time to setup, which included the lame presence of lots of candles on stage. Visually they used two film projectors pointed at these round curved mirror things that bounced onto the backdrop. The source materials were spacey film strips the kind of shit you'd see in science class in elementary school in the 70's.. ( I should know what that's like i was there the first time around) I think they ran the audio sources through a bunch of hand built oscillators, effects, and electronics and the effect was pretty excellent. Best set of the night i think by far. One complaint was the dude on my side of the stage with ass crack hanging out the whole time. Photographically I've decided to share this with all you.. note pic above.
-DAN MELCHOIR 1.15.10 Marvelous Records http://www.myspace.com/dasmenace same night as the electronic gang bang which was literally right next door to the Rotunda. By the way right dead in the middle of both of these shows geographically was some Philly style stickup shooting that brought like 10 million cops and police helicopters all over the area. Pretty intense shit http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Movie-Theater-Shooter-Still-at-Large-82215812.html anyway didn't know what to expect from this thing, Jason Kourkounis (Bardo Pond+ lots of others) hooked up with guitar guy and bass chick without ever actually playing together before. Pretty great all in all excellent guitar chops on this old UK punk dude.
DANIEL HIGGS 1.29.10 Brickbat books a hugely crowded show at my personal fav place to see shows. Daniel was pretty awesome and if you told me that he was one of those guys in west Virginia that danced around in religious trance with rattle snakes i think I'd believe you. http://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/ep/snake_bite.htm Recording sounds pretty awesome although I'm not 100% sure how much i like the dab of reverb that was on his voice. I think i may prefer him just totally dry with no PA or vocal mic, he projects so intensely on his own. But anyway if the label wasn't so much in the shit can financially I'd be all over him to do a release. on the same bill was ZOMES http://www.holymountain.com/artists/zomes/who played a bunch of short droney tunes (the Romones of drone??) on analog synth overtop of pre-recorded tapes of simply drum beats. This was pretty fantastic, some of the tunes totally reminded me of EARTH extracapsular extraction minus guitars. I'll post side my side mp3's later. Stellar Om also played and that sucked but made a good break for beer drinking and bullshitting with all the usual Philly characters. Although i have to say i very much missed Mr Rose who would have no doubt had been there.
-TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION 1/??/10 kungfu necktie Rich Hoak's grind core band with two new dudes.. haven't seen them in some time but still got to hear great jams like "box cutter" and the "necro anarchist" on the same bill was a band i hadn't heard before MAMMOTH GRINDER kick ass trio of young kids from Texas who i though smoked through a 15min set of a feedback induced metal. On relapse as it turns out (sorry) http://www.myspace.com/mammothgrinder renewed hope that not all new metal music from younger kids isn't Pelican or Isis driven copy drivel.
-JUICFER 1/??/10 kungfun necktie Have'nt seen them in a few years and they have'nt learned any new tricks.. fairly OK. Some Melvins style bullhead Leach mixed with some fast sections. A bit awkward in execution in my eyes but OK all in all. Lots and lots of gear on stage but ironically not nearly as loud as you would think (the meters never lie) I think i heard Greg Anderson refer to their setup one time as "looking like a garage sale on stage" pretty funny line actually.
Monday, January 4, 2010
THIS IS TERRIBLE
OK i was going to ignore the fact that i walked into a GROWING show like 6 months ago and was shocked into a state of senseless recognition by how horrible the new material they play is. I mean come on a band has to progress or degrees and is free to do something new for better or for worse. Just because i don't like it anymore doesn't make it worthless.. Then tonight while randomly looking online to see if i could find out where the Growing live Brooklyn tape was recorded i stumbled on this!! http://punkcast.com/1495/index.html i dare you to watch these video clips... WTF??? nice guys but god damn this sucks total ass
I was flipping through old pics the other day and i really really though around 2005-06 Growing was going to make this huge breakthrough of tone and guitar noodling that was just going to be a perfect blend of transcendental bliss... just complete perfection of stripped down bareness. purity extracted exactly everything i was looking for in music.. it was right their, right in the finger tips of Joe and Kevin i could feel it smell it..... but it just didn't happen?? fuck music is such a fleeting fickle beast, taste such an intangible. weird how that works huh????? In some ways i look at a band like emeralds or expo70 as bands making the records i wanted Growing to make in 2006 and beyond?? Pic from around 2005 at the old Vox Populi space in Philly opening for Comets on Fire
END OF THE YEAR BULLSHIT
Seems the thing to do at this time in the year is to make a list of "records" or "releases" that were the best of the year. To be honest I'm not sure i listen to any records that were recorded this year. I will say some one randomly sent me a promo copy of VIC CHESTNUT'S AT THE CUT. (might have been Henry from Chunklet? not really sure but thanks all the same who ever you were) Anyway that record was one of my favorite releases from the year that i listened to a good bit and i was really looking forward to seeing Vic live next time he passed through town. But i hear within the last few weeks he took his own life. Other then that I'd be hard pressed to tell you anything I've been listening to that was released in an official capacity. Lots of live stuff I've recorded makes the play list around here and older shit finds time in the CD tray.. Stuff Like recent Blue Cheer live gigs from Philly, Jack Rose stuff, Peaking Lights seeing them live this year was a highpoint. the Axemen from NZ fame was a pretty sloppy punk garage mess that i enjoyed a good bit. getting Goslings masters in the mail kicks pretty big ass also. Been rocking some older OM live sets with the real drummer that i love. Weedeater sets from back a few years ago also. .. So ok here's the current stack of loose shit on my floor that is getting played
ZAIKA +STEVE GUNN 1.10.09 brickbat books
WITCH "2.22.09 JB'S Philly" EHHHHH pretty whatever
UNLABELED DISC??? who the fuck knows?
AIDAN BAKER/ TIM HECKER "11.21.09 Kungfu Necktie Philly. funny when i was at this gig i was talking to Aidan about how to best record the sets since he plays all direct line to the board i was going to do a board patch but they have this fucked mixing desk at the club with no analog outs so i was going to patch directly off his on stage mixer, we asked Tim about it after Aidan introduced me and he was like "well what are you recording for" and i gave him the smart ass answer of "to steal your music" go figure he didn't seem to interested in letting me record direct. The aud. recordings actually sound pretty great all the same, which in general is always my preference since i don't have to talk to the sound guys who i fucking hate- Normally sound men are one of three things 1. Fat 2. Lazy or choice 3. retarded. I remember once at this fucking lame show Aidan played in Philly at the 4040 the sound guy gave me all this shit about plugging a XLR cable into the board... he was all like "well we need to know about this in advance.. was it on his rider"?? are you fucking kidding plug that shit in takes 2 secs. The other thing i like about aud recordings is most of the music i like is heavily amplified and a lot of the elements never even run through the PA so the mix can be screwy... in the case of something like Aidan Backer or Tim Hecker all that stuff runs through the board but i still like some of the presence that airborne recordings give. Its sort of an interesting dichotomy of something that's very electronic having an added analog element to it. Plus i always feel like its more of a fuck you to the sound guy whose help you don't have to ask for.
JACK ROSE "7.10.09 BRICKBAT BOOKS Philly" Jack playing with a guy on keys and Harmonica Dan very intimate setting at the bookstore.. sterling gig of course and one of the first few times the trio played together. Jack really started to hit a groove during the past year or so playing more and more in interesting small groupings. Shame the man left us with some many great ones on the table still to come. I miss you guy!
BARDO POND "4.15.09 KHYBER PASS Philly" tuneup gig for NOFUN fest. Heard they were pretty good at nofun but i could bare to go this year had the worse time the year prior and seemed like a repeat fest so no point in going. Plus Sonic Youth played the same night and i hate them.
CURANDEROS "APRIL 09 KUNGFU" free jams with Gibbons brothers, Aaron Igler, and Khoutek drummer.
HEAVY WINGED/ US GIRLS 10.24.09 some house in Philly. great US girls set shitty HW mix
BLANK DISC
BEEMASK "DANGER DANGER HOUSE Philly sept. 09 analog electronics from some philly kid
OM not sure which set ?? probably JB's in 2007?
AANAL BEEHEMOTH finish old style stuff this is an actual release
KAORU ABE disc 2 of the passe-temps CDR set.... total shit disc of horrible recorded material
S. Philly show 2006 not sure what this disc is?? i think it has the BATHRUB SHITTER live set on it though recorded at some fucked up little flop house.
AI ASO "brickbat books Philly" wonderful
KHOUTEK 11.7.09 M ROOM Philly" with Clint from Bardo on bass.. pretty awesome set
DAVID DANIELL "PLAYS AND PLAYERS spring 2009 Philly"
BLANK DISC
AXEMEN/ MADSCENE "11.15.09 kungfun Philly" currently playing. New Zealand invasion Axemen were pretty great front man i couldn't decide if he had down syndrome or was really really fucking drunk or possible both.. current re-issue record on siltbreeze. Check out this FMU blog that has links to mp3 files from some in studio session http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/11/new-zealands-axemen-at-wfmu.html
FIRST MISSION OF 2010 on the 6th JUCIFER then on the 7th TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION fear of a black metal planet Rich Hoak is the man!!!
ZAIKA +STEVE GUNN 1.10.09 brickbat books
WITCH "2.22.09 JB'S Philly" EHHHHH pretty whatever
UNLABELED DISC??? who the fuck knows?
AIDAN BAKER/ TIM HECKER "11.21.09 Kungfu Necktie Philly. funny when i was at this gig i was talking to Aidan about how to best record the sets since he plays all direct line to the board i was going to do a board patch but they have this fucked mixing desk at the club with no analog outs so i was going to patch directly off his on stage mixer, we asked Tim about it after Aidan introduced me and he was like "well what are you recording for" and i gave him the smart ass answer of "to steal your music" go figure he didn't seem to interested in letting me record direct. The aud. recordings actually sound pretty great all the same, which in general is always my preference since i don't have to talk to the sound guys who i fucking hate- Normally sound men are one of three things 1. Fat 2. Lazy or choice 3. retarded. I remember once at this fucking lame show Aidan played in Philly at the 4040 the sound guy gave me all this shit about plugging a XLR cable into the board... he was all like "well we need to know about this in advance.. was it on his rider"?? are you fucking kidding plug that shit in takes 2 secs. The other thing i like about aud recordings is most of the music i like is heavily amplified and a lot of the elements never even run through the PA so the mix can be screwy... in the case of something like Aidan Backer or Tim Hecker all that stuff runs through the board but i still like some of the presence that airborne recordings give. Its sort of an interesting dichotomy of something that's very electronic having an added analog element to it. Plus i always feel like its more of a fuck you to the sound guy whose help you don't have to ask for.
JACK ROSE "7.10.09 BRICKBAT BOOKS Philly" Jack playing with a guy on keys and Harmonica Dan very intimate setting at the bookstore.. sterling gig of course and one of the first few times the trio played together. Jack really started to hit a groove during the past year or so playing more and more in interesting small groupings. Shame the man left us with some many great ones on the table still to come. I miss you guy!
BARDO POND "4.15.09 KHYBER PASS Philly" tuneup gig for NOFUN fest. Heard they were pretty good at nofun but i could bare to go this year had the worse time the year prior and seemed like a repeat fest so no point in going. Plus Sonic Youth played the same night and i hate them.
CURANDEROS "APRIL 09 KUNGFU" free jams with Gibbons brothers, Aaron Igler, and Khoutek drummer.
HEAVY WINGED/ US GIRLS 10.24.09 some house in Philly. great US girls set shitty HW mix
BLANK DISC
BEEMASK "DANGER DANGER HOUSE Philly sept. 09 analog electronics from some philly kid
OM not sure which set ?? probably JB's in 2007?
AANAL BEEHEMOTH finish old style stuff this is an actual release
KAORU ABE disc 2 of the passe-temps CDR set.... total shit disc of horrible recorded material
S. Philly show 2006 not sure what this disc is?? i think it has the BATHRUB SHITTER live set on it though recorded at some fucked up little flop house.
AI ASO "brickbat books Philly" wonderful
KHOUTEK 11.7.09 M ROOM Philly" with Clint from Bardo on bass.. pretty awesome set
DAVID DANIELL "PLAYS AND PLAYERS spring 2009 Philly"
BLANK DISC
AXEMEN/ MADSCENE "11.15.09 kungfun Philly" currently playing. New Zealand invasion Axemen were pretty great front man i couldn't decide if he had down syndrome or was really really fucking drunk or possible both.. current re-issue record on siltbreeze. Check out this FMU blog that has links to mp3 files from some in studio session http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/11/new-zealands-axemen-at-wfmu.html
FIRST MISSION OF 2010 on the 6th JUCIFER then on the 7th TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION fear of a black metal planet Rich Hoak is the man!!!
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