Colorado didn’t have an indie rock scene in 1859, but they did have William Byers. At the age many people graduate these days, 28, Byers lugged a thousand pound printing press from Omaha to what was barely Denver and managed to beat another newspaper visionary by 20 minutes in printing the first edition of his Rocky Mountain News. It made for one of the best episodes ever of the old TV show “Death Valley Days.”
Coincidentally, today the Rocky Mountain News enters the valley of death. For Colorado to lose this most excellent of newspapers is a shonda on every level. You will see great and lofty editorials of bellyache and remorse over this. Hopefully somewhere, sometime, an appropriate free press will trace the roots of this tragedy because it isn’t your normal American failure story. The Rocky won Pulitzers, the Rocky had readers, the Rocky had spirit, spunk, and integrity. And, the Rocky made money. The catch was, it didn’t make enough money.
The blame will center around the internet, the declining readership, the changing world that will demand video games over newspapers. Somewhere though, there were decisions made, no matter how well intentioned, that doomed the Rocky big time. Today the Rocky ran out of time, just shy of a 150th birthday party that’s been canceled for all time. Sorry, Mr. Byers. Your independent spirit and legacy really deserved better.
I’m gonna start a weekly exercise on here… a project if you will, and I need your help.
Here’s what I’m doing- Picking a record I own that I haven’t listened to in years and re-review it!
How you can help- Comment on what album you think I should review next. I’ll leave you three choices and whichever gets the most votes, I’ll revisit for the following Friday.
My personal rules laid out for myself- No google, you don’t want to hear me try and sound “super smart” by “regurging” other peoples’ thoughts on the album. I will only write about what I remember about the record/artist and how the songs make me feel. I can read the liner notes in the cd to get album info. Also, I want to post a song so you can hear what the album sounds like, so I may use youtube or another source to post audio. I might also use google images to add a little pizzazz to the entry.
One last thing- Beware, I may accidentally post “incorrect” info about a band members name or somethin’, so if I do, feel free to correct me in the comments area on this blog entry. I’m trying to use the filofax of musical information in my head and not rely on the internetzzzz.
<3
Sound good? Okay, let’s begin!
VITAL STATS-
Artist: Land of the Loops
Album: Bundle of
Joy Label: Up Records
Year: 1996
What I remember about Land of the Loops… I think Alan Sutherland is the guy behind this project and if I remember correctly, he has a Denver connection. Maybe with Robert from The Apples in Stereo?! His albums are weaved together by using “found” audio like cassettes from thrift stores which help to tell a story/ compliment a song.
I found out about them via an old roommate who owned this record. When I heard him play it over dinner one night, I knew I needed it too. Why I own this album… the song “Multi-Family Garage Sale (Bargain Bin Mix).” I have played this song so much over the last ten years. It has even landed on many a mixtape that I’ve made.
Now, its time to listen to the record. I can see why I liked it back then, but now I feel like there’s too many audio clips that its a little distracting for me. I find myself just wanting pop songs without the added recording that takes away from the songs. It still holds up with a few good/great songs and the clips are are cleverly put together.
As I listen to this, I’m making connections in my head. Its starting to sound very “late-90s” to me. In a great way. Its putting me back where I was musically at this time in my teens and reminding me why I liked and still like this genre. I liked it because its lo-fi, but well produced enough to be listen-able. It honored the Casio keyboard, it used samples of clips from filmstrips ‘n stuff that you would never encounter otherwise. It has cute girl vocals. This album actually really reminds me of Bran Van 3000 and their album Glee. I used to LOVE that album too.
I liked this music because it was a quirky and poppy retreat away from the rock and crybaby stuff I loved equally as much back then like Modest Mouse and Radiohead. Looking back, I think it was good for me to not be immersed into the rock all the time… Land of the Loops was like listening to Erasure, but I didn’t need to get up and dance to it if I didn’t want to. It was enough to put me in a happy place, but I could do my homework to this album.
Overall, this isn’t a 5-star record on a mass scale, but at the time it was for me. I would say that if there were mp3s for download ten years ago (a la iTunes Store), I maybe would have just bought the “Multi-Family Garage Sale…” song, but I’m glad I own the whole album, because I was able to discover a cool concept album with more than one great song on it.
Notable songs/tracks:
-I Confess
-Growing Concern
-Burning Clutch (Five-Speed Dub)
-Heidi Cakes
…and here’s my jam, “Multi-Family Garage Sale (Bargain Bin Mix).” But wait! Before you press play, I just want to ask you not to watch the video. Close your eyes or have another window open. Its clearly a fan video as it doesn’t appear that there was an official music video and it may ruin the listening experience.
EDIT: I’m now on my second listen of the record and I like it even better than the first listen. I kind of want to listen to Bran Van now.
This concludes my first Record Revisit, what’d you think? Will you help me sustain this segment by voting for next week’s record?
VOTE FOR NEXT WEEK’S RECORD REVISIT- 1)Jurassic 5 – Quality Control 2)Sixteen Horsepower – Low Estate 3)Ween – Pure Guava
BTW: I chose these records at random by looking up at a lonely pile of cds on a really tall shelf in my office. I can’t even tell you the last time I’ve listened to any of these as a whole.
MAKE SURE TO ADD A COMMENT BELOW AND VOTE FOR NEXT WEEK’S RECORD REVISIT!
Before “Glasnost” in 1985, only a handful of Rock groups were signed to the only state-sanctioned recording label “Melodija”, the rest were relegated to obscurity. Such was the case of “Akvarium”.
There’s more than one reason I frequently rant and rave about Denver locals The Omens, but the most important is very simple; they are incredibly good at what they do.
I’m not the only one who has taken these guys in either. 2008′s “Make It Last” b/w “Won’t Be Ashamed” (45rpm Hipsville) got spins on legendary New York freeform station WFMU and was also picked up for distribution by the good folks at Bomp! records; home of the late great Greg Shaw.
2005′s “Destroy The ESP” was a killer and I can’t tell you how long I’ve been looking forward to a new Omens full-length. Suffice to say, I’m ecstatic the day has finally come. I’ve had the privilege of previewing their upcoming release “Send Black Flowers” and I can say in full confidence, The Omens do not disappoint. Get ready for another heavy dose of fuzzed out beat-punk, raved-up R&B workouts, and the occasional mild psych-freakout.
You can hear some cuts off their brand new release this Friday from 4-6pm on The Local Shakedown.
If you’re still not convinced you can see them for yourself later that day at the Hi-Dive as they celebrate their CD/LP release party (that’s right it’s also being released on vinyl; with a limited number of color vinyl copies to boot!) You’ll also find the psychedelic swirl of The Overcasters, and the Hawks of Paradise on the bill.
Grouper, the moniker of Portland’s experimental song crafter Liz Harris, showed up on numerous best-of lists last year with her debut for Type Records, Dragging a Dead Dear up a Hill. The moody landscapes and darkly delicate vocals parallel the title in its resemblance of a wistful forest, at times howling only to be followed by faint whispers. For Harris’s first release of 2009, she’s self-released a split 7-inch with City Center, the latest lo-fi project of Fred Thomas, of Saturday Looks Good to Me and His Name Is Alive.
The A-side, “False Horizon,” harbors the familiar sound of Grouper’s previous release, yet the vinyl gives her murky strums and croons added warmth. City Center’s “This Is How We See in the Dark” utilizes backward masking and vocals hidden behind the haze of the instrumentation to create a lovely odd-pop number to finish the split. All that on limited-edition clear vinyl.
The desert is often romanticized in modern music. From Josh Homes’Desert Sessions and Six Organs of Admittance’s “The Desert Is a Circle” to Magic Lantern’s “Cactus Raga,” the desert’s vast desolate landscape and its encompassing mystery is revered for its ability to inspire. As a Southwesterner, I’ve often fallen pray to this admiration, and I generally flock to music associated with the desert in any way. The Sublime Frequencies label hails from Seattle (a lush location for the home of so many arid sounds), but it has found a more authentic desert sound than most of the American underground. Group Bombino’s Guitars From Agadez Vol. 2 is a further exploration into the Saharan guitar culture, and the music doesn’t merely rely on desert themes or use the desert as a muse; it is entirely a product of the desert.
Sublime Frequencies has proven that Saharan guitar culture is flourishing. The label introduced the scene to Western audiences through the auditory documentary
Folk Music of the Sahara: Among the Tuareg of Libya and the group Tinariwen, which translates to “many deserts” (after the Tuereg belief that the Sahara is a region of numerous deserts). Since its initial Tuereg guitar release, the label has put out Group Doueh’s Guitar Music from the Western Sahara and Group Inerane’s Guitars from Agadez.
It’s the second in the Guitars from Agadez series, but it’s a perfect introduction to the Tuereg guitar sound because it features the two fundamental styles. The first side displays what Sublime Frequencies calls “dry guitar,” a stripped-down acoustic style, whereas the second side boosts the vigor with the Tuereg electric sound. Propelled by the innovative guitarist Omara Mochtar, Group Bombino offers a vivid glimpse into one of the most hidden regions and ethnic groups on the planet.
The Tuereg, a suppressed minority group in the Western Sahara (primarily in Mali and Niger), have struggled for autonomy for nearly a century: Group Bombino’s revolutionary sound parallels this struggle. The area of Agadez, where Group Bombino resides, has been shut off from the rest of the region. Although the political turmoil in Agadez is as dismal as the harsh environment that encompasses the region, Bombino’s reverberations are hopeful, optimistic and fertile.
-Bardos Freedoom
Guitars from Agadez is currently featured in 1190′s new rotation.
Peter Brotzmann, the leather-lunged reedist from Germany and his group ‘Last Exit’ consisting of ubiquitous bassist/producer Bill Laswell (Herbie Hancock, Material & c) Sonny Sharrock (Herbie Mann, Miles Davis, Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast) and Ronald Shannon Jackson (Albert Ayler) live in Frankfurt in 1986.
Witness the carnage. Submit to the sonic assault. Destroy Communism (the pent-up aggression expressed with this music can only be an allegory for tearing down the Berlin Wall)
I interviewed Andrew Novick last month about his art show “The Astounding Problem of Andrew Novick” which is currently on exhibit at The Lab.
You may know Andrew as the former frontman of the legendary late-80s group Warlock Pinchers, or have seen him around town perform his current solo project Get Your Going, or maybe you’ve even witnessed his Microsoft Powerpoint project For Sale 1989 Toyota Corolla.
For the interview I to talk to Andrew as an artist and collector who has an art exhibition at the Belmar Lab appropriately titled “The Astounding Problem of Andrew Novick” which in short exhibits about 5000 items that he’s collected over the years including: Barbie dolls, clown paintings, 90210 memorabilia, fake fingernails, phonebooks or one of my favorites cereal dust.
We talk about all this and more… and you’ll get to hear a Warlock Pinchers song about stalking Crispin Glover and afterward Andrew will tell you what Mr. Glover thinks of the song!
When it comes to six degrees of separation, Andrew is my Kevin Bacon of cool stuff and a lot of his collections are on exhibit right now. Maybe if you go, you can take me… as a date!
And so here’s the deets of the show:
The Astounding Problem of Andrew Novick
The Lab at Belmar
404 S. Upham St. in Lakewood
Running through May 12 www.belmarlab.org
I’m not a party gal. I don’t go frat it up on a regular basis, or at all really. But whenever I do get dragged along, I am bound to come across a trend that I cannot avoid…
The inevitable dance-off, with the song dujour.
I still don’t know the Soulja Boy dance. I don’t know what to crank when. Something about Superman? It’s always bad when a row of people try to do it, and one stumble causes a domino effect of squeals and ankle snaps.
Beyonce has the Single Ladies dance, which has been parodied on SNL and countless remixes on Youtube. I saw a drunken man at Hapa do his best to show off his ring finger. By the look on his girlfriend’s face, he was bound to be a single lady himself for a long time.
I don’t listen enough to regular radio to get in the loop on what’s the new dance craze, and it’s a little unsettling. I don’t want to be the old lady looking back on her youth and realizing, oh my gosh, I though the Mashed Potato was a side dish! I though the Twist was a soccer injury!
So I hereby propose an all-out call for indie artists to make dance songs. I’m not talking about any electronic hip-shaker, but a dance with specific steps, with style and grace and booty bouncing ingrained in the very lyrics. I want to go to a show at a dusky hole in the wall dive, and have everyone there suddenly break out of their head bobbing and gentle swaying for a line dance that only tightly-panted individuals could pull off. I want dances like the Soul Bleeder, the My-Girlfriend-Dumped-Me-Again-And-I-Hate-Her-But-Still-Love-Her Shuffle, the Refusal-to-Wash-My-Hair Twostep.
Mainly, on the off chance that I go to a frat house and by some blessed mistake Bon Iver comes on the iPod, I want to have the moves to impress. I want to dazzle. I want to be, dare I say, suave? Or the lady equivalent. Lady suave.
-Carolyn (That DJ who rambles, the girl who draws stuff for flyers)
We all know the South by Southwest music festival is coming up soon, March 13-22 in Austin, Texas. I found a great batch of podcasts showcasing international artists at SXSW since 2005. Check em out here. They’re gonna keep adding performances from last year up until this year’s festival begins. It’s a fantastic primer for the festival and a great introduction to some world artists.
