now with more bluster.
{ Monthly Archives }
Before hearing My Dad Is Dead I had no idea that one person (in this case, Mark Edwards) could play every instrument in a traditional rock band and end up with songs that sound like an actual band, then it only took me a decade to figure out how he did it.
My dad is dead. Seven months before he died, he swung by to catch a baseball game with me. Two days before he came over I was chatting with a friend, Evan, who said that I had to see this band. It was their last show; they had played twice in town in the last week and this was it for a while. Evan and I laughed at the prospect of taking my dad to see Lightning Bolt, me more than Evan. In retrospect, I wish I had taken my dad to this show. He was artsy, well, he was an architect, and I think he would’ve really enjoyed the spectacle and volume of the show, and the math and practice of the playing. Of course, the Giants lost.
Scott Herren is Prefuse 73 and he never ceases to amaze me with the sheer number of ways he approaches a problem. If Prefuse 73 puts something out, I buy it. Simple really.
Speaking of fusion. Some wags laugh at Return to Forever; too excessive, too serious, too much. I think RtF often sounds like a group that’s having a really good time killing it.
When I get mellow, I get mellow with the pre-fusion greatness that is Young-Holt Unlimited. From the essential Mellow Dreamin’ .
By my count, the Sun City Girls have released more than 51 full-length albums. Trying to provide a representative snapshot of who they are, what they do, or what they sound like is like trying to parse an avalanche. Good luck, sucker!
From 330,003 Crossdressers from Beyond the Rig Veda, an awesomely creepy song.
Followed directly by the perfect counterpoint.
The hype machine has been switched to high for the debut H & LA full-length. Updated, retro version of Fine Young Cannibals that somehow manages to be good? Yes, inexplicably, that is what I’m saying.
The supercharged supergroup showing real restraint. A beautiful song that’s part of a soundtrack for a movie that has yet to be made.
The Dodos make lemons into lemonade, squeezing an old song until it’s new and delicious. Okay, sort of like lemons into lemonade. Also, as a friend pointed out, they occasionally sound like Adam and the Ants. What’s not to like?
Broadcast was once a quintet and now they’re a duo. The quintet was a little too stereolab-light for me, but I’m a big fan of Broadcast the duo.