Sunday, March 29, 2009
More Petulance on My Part
I'd like to review A-Trak's new mix, Infinity + 1, but I'm distracted by a voice that announces over the music, "You are listening to an advance of A-Trak's Infinity + 1." I'm not sure how regularly obscuring the sounds I'm supposed to be reviewing is supposed to help me review them, and there comes a point where I wait for the intruding voice and stop noticing the music. Of course, the announcement isn't there to help make sure I know what I'm listening to, but to keep me from bootlegging the album or sharing it without permission. But as a matter of principle, I won't review albums and artists that treat me as suspicious when I haven't given them any reason to do so. If I'm treated pre-emptively as the enemy, then I'll pass on that artist and review artists that wait until I do something wrong to treat me like a scumbag.
Beam Me Up?
Does every instrument Prince touches have to look like it first appeared in a Star Trek episode or movie?
Saturday, March 28, 2009
A Public Service
The list of the final 27 contestants in the most recent 33 1/3 book proposal derby was announced yesterday, and thank God someone's finally writing about the Beatles, Stones and Dylan. It's about time someone shone a light on these underanalyzed phenomena.
To be fair, mine was one of the proposals that didn't make the final cut, and the procedure was completely civilized so I'm not grousing beyond the observation that it sure looks like music stopped with the '70s according to this list.
To be fair, mine was one of the proposals that didn't make the final cut, and the procedure was completely civilized so I'm not grousing beyond the observation that it sure looks like music stopped with the '70s according to this list.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Do the Professor
After seeing Alejandro Escovedo play "Real as an Animal" with a horn section last Friday night in Austin, I've had the Saints' "Know Your Product" on my mind.
Monday, March 23, 2009
How Businesses Die
I have on my desk the book Battle of the Band Names by Burt Bull, and it is literally a book that lists band names. It's subtitle is "The Best and Worst Band Names Ever (and all the briliant, colorful, stupid ones in between." It's a list of band names with an art director who's gone wild. Someone published a list of band names. The Alarm Clocks - how wacky! Junior Murvin - those reggae guys must be high! Mojave 3 - is this some kind of joke?!
A Good Question
See here. And a similar question - why was Barack Obama referred to as Obama during the Democratic primary season but Hillary Clinton was referred to as Hillary?
... on the other hand
Todd Martens at the Los Angeles Times started his final take on SXSW this way:
As much as reporters sought to apply a theme to this year's South by Southwest, the musicians and industry reps in Austin, Texas, for the four-day music extravaganza just weren't making it easy. The economic realities of 2009 were a relatively obvious topic, but life for the many of the artists in Texas this week -- a record-setting 1,900 of them this year -- has never exactly been easy.
"During hard times, I didn't have much education or stuff like that to rely on," said the New York Dolls' Sylvain Sylvain, reminding attendees that artists are comfortable with recession-time living even in flush decades. "I wanted to take a job where I could still do my performances, or if I got drunk the night before, I wouldn't get fired."
Me, I want to follow up on yesterday's thoughts on Jazz Fest and SXSW and the relationship between the events and their towns. Yesterday my flight home was overbooked and the airline was looking for volunteers to stay until Tuesday - the soonest they could get the volunteers out - with a hotel paid for and a per diem. I considered it, thinking about friends from L.A. and New York that were still in town and what I could do if I stayed. What that reminded me was that SXSW is its own city, and Austin's simply the space it occupies. That might seem obvious, but graffiti on the bathroom wall in the Continental Club says, "Don't move to Austin," and I'm certain that many enjoy the town's vibe during SXSW and want to move there the same way people want to move to New Orleans after Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest. The difference is that the SXSW is as much shaped by the people visiting as the people who live there, and the glut of music will largely go away this week. In New Orleans, the big event may end but the same bands will play the next week as played during those events, and the vibe that surrounds them is entirely New Orleanian.
As much as reporters sought to apply a theme to this year's South by Southwest, the musicians and industry reps in Austin, Texas, for the four-day music extravaganza just weren't making it easy. The economic realities of 2009 were a relatively obvious topic, but life for the many of the artists in Texas this week -- a record-setting 1,900 of them this year -- has never exactly been easy.
"During hard times, I didn't have much education or stuff like that to rely on," said the New York Dolls' Sylvain Sylvain, reminding attendees that artists are comfortable with recession-time living even in flush decades. "I wanted to take a job where I could still do my performances, or if I got drunk the night before, I wouldn't get fired."
Me, I want to follow up on yesterday's thoughts on Jazz Fest and SXSW and the relationship between the events and their towns. Yesterday my flight home was overbooked and the airline was looking for volunteers to stay until Tuesday - the soonest they could get the volunteers out - with a hotel paid for and a per diem. I considered it, thinking about friends from L.A. and New York that were still in town and what I could do if I stayed. What that reminded me was that SXSW is its own city, and Austin's simply the space it occupies. That might seem obvious, but graffiti on the bathroom wall in the Continental Club says, "Don't move to Austin," and I'm certain that many enjoy the town's vibe during SXSW and want to move there the same way people want to move to New Orleans after Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest. The difference is that the SXSW is as much shaped by the people visiting as the people who live there, and the glut of music will largely go away this week. In New Orleans, the big event may end but the same bands will play the next week as played during those events, and the vibe that surrounds them is entirely New Orleanian.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Getting Religious
In New Orleans, it's impossible to hear about/think about Austin and SXSW without contrasting SXSW and Jazz Fest. The fact is that they share a few very significant characteristics. Both events represent the one occasion people from around the world have to see certain artists. Many regional artists don't tour, and both events collect most of the heavy hitters.
The more significant similarity is the sense of community that underlies both events. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and a host of networking events make it possible to build a virtual community, but at SXSW and Jazz Fest, you get the visceral reality of looking around a room at a band that draws 50 or so people in your town and find the space you're in at the festival packed. You can see the numbers of people who share values with you; they don't have to be imagined or assumed. It's very clear that you're not alone.
I've half-joked that Jazz Fest is the high holy holiday for the Church of New Orleans, those whose connection to the city and its culture has taken on the character of belief - something beyond the city and bands' actual ability to deliver. The ideas that are encoded in the city and its music speak to them even when the reality is less convincing. Simply because of its size, SXSW is more than that. It's the gathering for those who believe in rock 'n' roll, its inheritors and fellow travelers. There may be more reflexive irony and cool self-protection in SXSW's adherents, but there's no less of a sense of the meeting of the true believers at it than there is at Jazz Fest.
What the size of both events tells us is that the significance of music in our lives isn't on the wane, just anyone's ability to get paid making it. (Or writing about it, I might add.)
The more significant similarity is the sense of community that underlies both events. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and a host of networking events make it possible to build a virtual community, but at SXSW and Jazz Fest, you get the visceral reality of looking around a room at a band that draws 50 or so people in your town and find the space you're in at the festival packed. You can see the numbers of people who share values with you; they don't have to be imagined or assumed. It's very clear that you're not alone.
I've half-joked that Jazz Fest is the high holy holiday for the Church of New Orleans, those whose connection to the city and its culture has taken on the character of belief - something beyond the city and bands' actual ability to deliver. The ideas that are encoded in the city and its music speak to them even when the reality is less convincing. Simply because of its size, SXSW is more than that. It's the gathering for those who believe in rock 'n' roll, its inheritors and fellow travelers. There may be more reflexive irony and cool self-protection in SXSW's adherents, but there's no less of a sense of the meeting of the true believers at it than there is at Jazz Fest.
What the size of both events tells us is that the significance of music in our lives isn't on the wane, just anyone's ability to get paid making it. (Or writing about it, I might add.)
Friday, March 20, 2009
Louisiana at SXSW: Friday
Today from 3 to 5 p.m., there's a Louisiana party at the Continental Club featuring the Peekers, an indie rock band from Shreveport; the Iguanas, Tex-Mex veterans from New Orleans; and CC Adcock, Lil' Buck Sinegal and Kenny Bill Stinson's Louisiana All-State Louisiana Revue (yes, so Louisiana the state's in the name twice!). The latter should be a pretty fine introduction to swamp pop, and it's open to the public.
There will be a Southwest Louisiana party starting at 2 at Roadhouse Rags in South Austin. It will have boiled crawfish and music by Justin Primeaux, Drew Landry, all-woman string band the Figs, Dickie Landry and Grammy-nominated Cajun band the Pine Leaf Boys.
Tonight, Theresa Andersson brings her one-woman show to Antone's at 10 p.m. Between a series of looping pedals and the instruments around her, she's turned her music into true performance art, as much dance as song, and it's pretty enthralling and sweet. At 1 a.m., Big Sam's Funky Nation plays Opal Divine's Free House for a set that has roots in brass bands, but it's really all about the funk.
There will be a Southwest Louisiana party starting at 2 at Roadhouse Rags in South Austin. It will have boiled crawfish and music by Justin Primeaux, Drew Landry, all-woman string band the Figs, Dickie Landry and Grammy-nominated Cajun band the Pine Leaf Boys.
Tonight, Theresa Andersson brings her one-woman show to Antone's at 10 p.m. Between a series of looping pedals and the instruments around her, she's turned her music into true performance art, as much dance as song, and it's pretty enthralling and sweet. At 1 a.m., Big Sam's Funky Nation plays Opal Divine's Free House for a set that has roots in brass bands, but it's really all about the funk.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Louisiana at SXSW Today
Today there's a day party at the Historic Victory Grill hosted by NOLASoul starting at 11 a.m. with the Prince-meets-space rock-meets-indie rock of the White Bitch. Also in the day, power pop with MyNameIsJonMichael (who just finished a year of recording a song a week) and Rotary Downs (they play at 5:45). Rotary Downs (who are finally outgrowing Pavement comparisons that have hung around too long) also play at 3:30 at Habana Calle on 6th Street.
In official showcases, the street band from days of yore Hurray for the Riff Raff play the Central Presbyterian Church at 10. At the same time, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet makes its SXSW debut 30+ years into their career at 10 tonight at the Continental Club, followed at 11 by the Iguanas.
In official showcases, the street band from days of yore Hurray for the Riff Raff play the Central Presbyterian Church at 10. At the same time, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet makes its SXSW debut 30+ years into their career at 10 tonight at the Continental Club, followed at 11 by the Iguanas.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Hissy Fit
Jeez, do I hate the airport experience. I resent having to take off my shoes just because one chud tried unsuccessfully to make his blow up, and every effort to simplify (read: reduce manpower) the check-in process makes the process more inhuman. And now we get to pay extra for being treated this shittily. 'Cows - moo to the left and have your cuds out with a picture ID.'
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Test the Market
According to today's New York Times, A.I.G. chairman Edward Liddy defended bonuses the play to pay out thusly:
“We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury,” he wrote Mr. Geithner on Saturday.
The story also reports:
The bonuses will be paid to executives at A.I.G.’s financial products division, the unit that wrote trillions of dollars’ worth of credit-default swaps that protected investors from defaults on bonds backed in many cases by subprime mortgages.
The bonus plan covers 400 employees, and the bonuses range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $6.5 million. Seven executives at the financial products unit were entitled to receive more than $3 million in bonuses.
Two thoughts:
1) That's the best and the brightest talent? That's the irreplaceable talent A.I.G. has to protect?
2) Let those executives test the job market. People have the jobs they have for a host of reasons, money being just one of them. If the lack of bonuses at A.I.G. causes some to look for new work, they'll do so with their role in the economic collapse on their resume. But that's arguing a non-point - Liddy's defense is a mere pretext for maintaining a compensation structure he and everyone at A.I.G. want.
“We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury,” he wrote Mr. Geithner on Saturday.
The story also reports:
The bonuses will be paid to executives at A.I.G.’s financial products division, the unit that wrote trillions of dollars’ worth of credit-default swaps that protected investors from defaults on bonds backed in many cases by subprime mortgages.
The bonus plan covers 400 employees, and the bonuses range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $6.5 million. Seven executives at the financial products unit were entitled to receive more than $3 million in bonuses.
Two thoughts:
1) That's the best and the brightest talent? That's the irreplaceable talent A.I.G. has to protect?
2) Let those executives test the job market. People have the jobs they have for a host of reasons, money being just one of them. If the lack of bonuses at A.I.G. causes some to look for new work, they'll do so with their role in the economic collapse on their resume. But that's arguing a non-point - Liddy's defense is a mere pretext for maintaining a compensation structure he and everyone at A.I.G. want.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Bring Me More Everything
Isaac Hayes' 1976 album Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) fascinates me in a way that Black Moses - re-released at the same time - doesn't. Black Moses is the more significant album and presents Hayes at the peak of his artistic powers, while Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) features him one step over the line. The title hints that the world is starting to drift by him, and the slight songs stretched to indulgent lengths says the good times are catching up. Still, the fact that it's still entertaining says that even distracted, Isaac Hayes was a bad man with crazy compositional and arranging talents. And it's no surprise that Isaac Hayes' disco album isn't disco at all; it's pure Isaac Hayes.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
So Cynical
The tradition of Jazz Fest posters being anti-artist and anti-art is a proud one. Artists have been asked over and over again to mimic photos as realistically as possible where the figures are concerned, often at the expense of their style. That's the case in the Congo Square poster this year, which is in substance a reproduction of a Trombone Shorty publicity shot.
Worse is yet another James Michalopoulos poster, this one remarkably like the one he did of Fats Domino. This time, it's Allen Toussaint who's playing in the street with Michalopoulos' trademark curving buildings looming overhead. Besides the piece's lack of basic logic - why is he playing piano in the street? - it's also Michalopoulos' weakest effort. The piano is poorly drafted, resembling a key-tar more than a piano in the way it angles away from Toussaint's body. Since Michalopoulos' work usually shows better architectural consciousness than that, it's sad and inexplicable.
Still, his artistic sins are less glaring than Jazz Fest's. The choice of Michalopoulos for his third or fourth poster is simply cynical, as if people buying it will validate everything. Collectors collect, and those who have bought posters each year will buy them again this year, so the decision is whether or not to give them something as excellent as Doug Bourgeois's Irma Thomas poster last year, or pass off the same ol' same ol'. We know the answer.
Worse is yet another James Michalopoulos poster, this one remarkably like the one he did of Fats Domino. This time, it's Allen Toussaint who's playing in the street with Michalopoulos' trademark curving buildings looming overhead. Besides the piece's lack of basic logic - why is he playing piano in the street? - it's also Michalopoulos' weakest effort. The piano is poorly drafted, resembling a key-tar more than a piano in the way it angles away from Toussaint's body. Since Michalopoulos' work usually shows better architectural consciousness than that, it's sad and inexplicable.
Still, his artistic sins are less glaring than Jazz Fest's. The choice of Michalopoulos for his third or fourth poster is simply cynical, as if people buying it will validate everything. Collectors collect, and those who have bought posters each year will buy them again this year, so the decision is whether or not to give them something as excellent as Doug Bourgeois's Irma Thomas poster last year, or pass off the same ol' same ol'. We know the answer.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Because He Asked Nicely ...
Rotary Downs was confirmed for SXSW too late to make OffBeat's March issue rundown of who-plays-where. Drummer Zack Smith recently sent over the details, which include two day parties for the indie rock band. Here's the rundown:
Wednesday, March 18th
PASTE SXSW Showcase
Ace's Lounge - 222 E. 6th St., Austin, TX
Rotary Downs @ 9pm (21+)
wristband access
Thursday, March 19th -
Electronic Musician/reapandsow music SXSW Day party
Calle Habana 6 - 709 E. 6th St., Austin, TX
Rotary Downs @ 3pm - INSIDE STAGE
AND
NOLA Soul Presents
Historic Victory Grill - 1104 E. 11th St, Austin, TX
Rotary Downs @ 5:45
See them at least once.
Wednesday, March 18th
PASTE SXSW Showcase
Ace's Lounge - 222 E. 6th St., Austin, TX
Rotary Downs @ 9pm (21+)
wristband access
Thursday, March 19th -
Electronic Musician/reapandsow music SXSW Day party
Calle Habana 6 - 709 E. 6th St., Austin, TX
Rotary Downs @ 3pm - INSIDE STAGE
AND
NOLA Soul Presents
Historic Victory Grill - 1104 E. 11th St, Austin, TX
Rotary Downs @ 5:45
See them at least once.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Telefon Talking
Leo McGovern interviewed Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv about Charlie Cooper's death for Antigravity. It's a pretty frank interview, and Eustis doesn't pull punches discussing the possibility that Cooper's death was a suicide:
Are you mad at Charlie at all?
Sure. I like to tell myself, to give myself comfort in a very selfish way, that it’s a natural response to something like this. But I can’t really be mad at him because the Medical Examiner, for instance—I’ll tell you this, since everybody is wondering—ruled inconclusively. They couldn’t rule that it was a suicide, because there wasn’t enough evidence to indicate that it actually was. It very well could’ve been an accident and that’s what the Medical Examiner thinks at this time. We get the toxicology report in a week and it’s going to stay between me and his family. If it wasn’t intentional, then I’m a lot sadder, but I’ll take comfort in knowing he wasn’t trying to take an easy way out of life’s problems. But, if it was intentional (which I don’t think it was), then yeah I’m pissed off because it’s a bullshit way of dealing with life’s problems—problems that everybody has: girl problems, money problems. Fuck, everybody has those problems. To despair when you have problems is the height of folly, because despair is only for people who know the end beyond any doubt. If you know for a fact that it’s going to end badly, then you can despair, but nobody ever knows that everything is going to completely fall apart and your life is going to end. For that reason I would be pissed off if the Medical Examiner comes back and rules it a suicide.
Are you mad at Charlie at all?
Sure. I like to tell myself, to give myself comfort in a very selfish way, that it’s a natural response to something like this. But I can’t really be mad at him because the Medical Examiner, for instance—I’ll tell you this, since everybody is wondering—ruled inconclusively. They couldn’t rule that it was a suicide, because there wasn’t enough evidence to indicate that it actually was. It very well could’ve been an accident and that’s what the Medical Examiner thinks at this time. We get the toxicology report in a week and it’s going to stay between me and his family. If it wasn’t intentional, then I’m a lot sadder, but I’ll take comfort in knowing he wasn’t trying to take an easy way out of life’s problems. But, if it was intentional (which I don’t think it was), then yeah I’m pissed off because it’s a bullshit way of dealing with life’s problems—problems that everybody has: girl problems, money problems. Fuck, everybody has those problems. To despair when you have problems is the height of folly, because despair is only for people who know the end beyond any doubt. If you know for a fact that it’s going to end badly, then you can despair, but nobody ever knows that everything is going to completely fall apart and your life is going to end. For that reason I would be pissed off if the Medical Examiner comes back and rules it a suicide.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
The Gift of Clarity
These days, much Americana music sounds like mutually agreed-upon wish fulfillment. If we all agree that this is a distinctive genre and it's doing something particularly valuable, then it's so. But much of what crosses my desk isn't special or genre-busting, so it's hard to get with the program. Still, I was driving last night and listening to Raul Malo's Lucky One and Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women and their musical, melodic, lyrical and conceptual clarity were so refreshing.
Friday, March 6, 2009
It's Not Me, It's "Me"
No surprise - Lily Allen's second time around is less engaging than her debut album. On It's Not Me, It's You, she's more of a caricature - the cheeky gal who says the things people think. Now, with the knowledge that there's an audience, she does so in a less breezy, more programatic way: Lily takes on hypocrisy, Lily takes on racists, Lily takes on bad lovers. That doesn't make them bad songs - "Everyone's at It" suffers from a chorus that may be longer than the verse, but it's catchy - and "The Fear" does the 'living in the spotlight' song better than her American counterparts. Where Britney et al act defensive and persecuted, Allen confesses that she doesn't know how she should feel.
Still, the most entertaining tracks end the album, as if Allen and company ran out of topics and started writing songs. Perhaps its no surprise that when the songs become more interesting, so do the ideas. In "Him," her meditation on God, Allen speculates that his favorite band is Creedence Clearwater Revival - the one line that made me laugh out loud. And it's funny 'cause it's true.
Still, the most entertaining tracks end the album, as if Allen and company ran out of topics and started writing songs. Perhaps its no surprise that when the songs become more interesting, so do the ideas. In "Him," her meditation on God, Allen speculates that his favorite band is Creedence Clearwater Revival - the one line that made me laugh out loud. And it's funny 'cause it's true.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Doubt I'll Ever Make It
Friends tell me I'm missing something by not following Dexter Romweber, but Ruins of Berlin by the Dex Romweber Duo (with sister Sara on drums) hasn't changed my mind. I hear a guy writing entirely in the voice of his genre - song structures, lyrics, imagery, voice and guitar. What am I missing? There's nothing wrong with it, but I can't hear what would excite anyone but those so immersed in garage-ness that all of its iterations are intrinsically interesting - someone I haven't been in over 20 years.
Monday, March 2, 2009
On the Morning Drive
Spent the first half-hour of the day on the Juan MacLean's The Future Will Come. He has discovered the Human League - one song even quotes "Being Boiled." Best track is the opener, where the League meets Giorgio Moroder.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
