incidentals and accidentals

"I felt really blessed to have an all-ages venue that by its nature and by the many obstacles that..."

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:21:53 -0800

“I felt really blessed to have an all-ages venue that by its nature and by the many obstacles that tried to thwart the experience became a genuine experience. It wasn’t easy for Kimber to open the venue or to keep it alive. It wasn’t easy for volunteers to maintain it. It wasn’t easy for bands to perform well. And it was always so damn hot. It was definitely not an “easy” viewing experience. Nothing was really comfortable and nothing came without at least some effort from each person involved or in attendance. And because if it, everything felt genuine. For rock shows especially, if you were at Modified, you were there for the music and to support the bands and venue. For what other reason would be there? There was no other distraction or sustenance. You couldn’t get food. You couldn’t get drunk. You couldn’t get comfortable. You couldn’t even use the bathroom without standing in line, or waiting for some dude to get out of the shower.”

- So Much Silence

Modified, in downtown Phoenix, opened in late 1998. In mid-99 I took it over and ran it for a couple of years before Kimber Lanning, the original owner, took the reins again in late 2001. She’s run it ever since along with help from Leslie Barton and an army of volunteers. Apparently it is changing hands again and is going to head in a more art-focused direction (it always doubled as an art gallery).

So Much Silence is running a series of posts about Modified in honor of the club-as-kids-know-it ceasing. Dave Jensen, an old friend, offers the first post.

I haven’t been back to Modified since I left it in 2001—once I stood in its parking lot but couldn’t bring myself to actually go inside. Running it for that brief time was one of the greatest experiences of my life, though it also taught me a few hard lessons. Even if my participation has dwindled to a blip in some people’s minds, it will always be a significant memory and accomplishment for me. I’ve always been happy to know that it continued on, and remain happy that it will still continue on, even if in a different form.

"That’s a little lazy. Beach Boys is just kinda your go-to vocal harmony band—especially given the..."

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:30:06 -0800

“That’s a little lazy. Beach Boys is just kinda your go-to vocal harmony band—especially given the fact that there are so many bands right now with guys in them who do legitimately sing like the Beach Boys. I feel like Amber and Angel’s tones are very, very different. They’re much less about that “warm, round” thing than a very linear, angular thing. That’s a little lazy, dude.”

- Dirty Projectors’ David Longstreth reacts to comparisons of his music to a wide range of reference points in articles and reviews about Bitte Orca. He says some nice things about Beyoncé and of Montreal, so that’s cool. I guess he’s into insolent sex parties. (via perpetua)

Shared for calling out the limited vocabulary in music. I’ve fallen into this trap as well, but he’s right - too often, these “this sounds like that” comparisons are lazy.

(via bwall05)

Beach Boys references drive me up the wall. “This band harmonizes. What’s an old band that also harmonizes? The Beach Boys? Okay, these guys sound like the Beach Boys.”

newspeedwayboogie: Nirvana - School When I was in high school...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:00:49 -0800

newspeedwayboogie:

Nirvana - School

When I was in high school in 1991—I think I was a sophomore—my band’s first-ever show was a talent show at the high school our guitar player went to. One of the other bands on the bill played “School,” and I think it was the first time I had ever heard anything from Bleach.

My band did a cover by this band Kinghorse, “Lay Down and Die”. I don’t know how I found that record. Yes I do: I walked into the record store and the guy behind the counter saw the bullseye on my back: “Glenn Danzig produced it, and Pushead did the cover art.” So I bought it immediately and fell in love with it.

This weekend I met and interviewed the singer of Kinghorse while I was in Louisville working on the Slint book. It was probably equally exciting as meeting and talking with one of the guys from Slint.

songsthataregood: Can - I’m So Green (Ege Bamyasi) In addition...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:00:08 -0700

songsthataregood:

Can - I’m So Green
(Ege Bamyasi)

In addition to being the second most racially insensitive musical term (behind didgeridoo), Krautrock is the number one coolest genre it is possible to listen to. A properly delivered krautrock reference can reduce a lady’s undergarments to dust within microseconds. And of all the krautrockers, nobody has higher panty-disintegrating power than the almighty Can. ‘Tago Mago’ is basically the ‘abracadabra’ of getting some. ‘Ege Bamyasi’ not so much, but only because it is the Turkish word for okra.

grimmertown: pas-d: whitneymcn: Wooden Shjips - Contact

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:31:20 -0700

grimmertown:

pas-d:

whitneymcn:

Wooden Shjips - Contact

newspeedwayboogie: Holy Sons - Getting Old You think you know...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:38:48 -0700

newspeedwayboogie:

Holy Sons - Getting Old

You think you know everything, being a music snob and all, you’ve heard it all and can express opinions ranging from the guitar solo on Maggot Brain to the direction the Minutemen were taking before D Boon passed away.

Then you hear something you were previously ignorant to. And you realize you don’t know shit. And a new obsession starts all over again. Holy Sons.

This song is terrific.

marychrist: lilyna:retropop: Neil Young: “Harvest Moon”

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:25:53 -0700

marychrist:

lilyna:retropop:

Neil Young: “Harvest Moon”

dontforgetthecoffee: Dillard & Clark - Train Leaves Here...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:07:07 -0700

dontforgetthecoffee:

Dillard & Clark - Train Leaves Here This Morning

Man, I need to get this record.

(A bunch more Gene Clark classics over at Don’t Forget the Coffee today.)

newspeedwayboogie: Espers - Trollslända Another great song from...

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:00:31 -0700

newspeedwayboogie:

Espers - Trollslända

Another great song from Espers III, particularly if you like strings and lullaby harmonies and crescendos and sharp guitar.

Amazing.

This starts kinda okay and then somewhere in the middle really takes off.

countrysong: George Jones - The King Is Gone (And So Are...

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:53:54 -0700

countrysong:

George Jones - The King Is Gone (And So Are You)

My favorite song about drinking alone at home…

czupcaks: Moebius, Contramio.

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:50:05 -0700

czupcaks:

Moebius, Contramio.

about-today: Built To Spill, Car lizistwentythree: And since...

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:38:32 -0700

about-today:

Built To Spill, Car

lizistwentythree: And since it’s basically been BTS week around my house, here’s one that I keep coming back to.

Man, why don’t those guys do songs like this anymore?

newspeedwayboogie: Big Star - The Ballad of El Goodo One of NSB...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:19:23 -0700

newspeedwayboogie:

Big Star - The Ballad of El Goodo

One of NSB favorite songs ever, from the most excellent Keep An Eye On The Sky box set

Ive been built up and trusted
Broke down and busted
But they’ll get theirs and well get ours
Just if we can, just hold on

rendit: adayum: Big Black - Bad Penny

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:12:38 -0700

rendit:

adayum:

Big Black - Bad Penny

Jens Lekman: You Can Call Me Al

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:34:26 -0700

Jens Lekman: You Can Call Me Al

bmichael: Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Graceland I’ve...

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:29:50 -0700

bmichael:

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Graceland

I’ve been trying to get into Paul Simon’s Graceland—but I cannot. It’s the cheesy-to-my-ears bass. It sounds SO CHEAP and SHITTY that I cannot I just cannot listen to the album. I can’t. I feel like there’s something wrong with me, ~~but I can’t listen to a lot of 80s music because of this sound~~. Do you know what I mean?

Casiotone’s take, however, sounds like expansive fields of golden Tennessee corn worked by bourbon-besotted, dirtpoor workers. And a slight, slightly dirty uplift.

Suddenly this morning my “Graceland” post, which I did for postpunk about a month back, is being reblogged again, thus far by bmichael, johnny-mnemonic, and renurenu—all of whom hate the song. It’s hard to argue with slams on the production of Graceland the album (the fretless bass, the echo on the drums that was such a common trick in the 80s), and I can certainly see how someone would identify Simon as a symbol of post-60s egotism/ennui, or the comfortable stagnation that generation achieved which 80s punk reacted against. But, well, that all washes right off for me both as a fan of Paul Simon and as someone for whom Graceland has taken on layer upon layer of memories and associations. So, oh well, other people don’t like this song. No biggie.

But bmichael pointed out this version of the song, by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, which he finds to be superior. He says “At least the Casiotone version lets the beauty of the lyrics shine with its apocalyptic-yet-minimal instrumentation and speak-singing.” Now, I certainly can’t say that the Casiotone version is superior, but there is some truth to what bmichael says about the lyrics. Jens Lekman does a cover of “You Can Call Me Al” in which he removes the chorus and only sings the verses in a simple guitar/voice composition. When I saw him do it live a year or so back he said he did this precisely because he loved the lyrics so much but felt that they were lost amid the goofy chorus, the horns and fretless bass, the 80s production, the infamous video starring Chevy Chase. Again, I’ll still take the original, but Lekman’s version is pretty wonderful too, for the same reasons this Casiotone version, on some level, succeeds: everything has been stripped away so that the heart of the song is all that remains.

thekeri: youveescaped: Pixies - Here Comes Your...

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:57:35 -0700

thekeri:

youveescaped:

Pixies - Here Comes Your Man

Here’s a great Monday morning song. Time to get up and start the week.

(Not counting that I’m sick and, in fact, am not going to get up and start the week.)

grimmertown: Karen Dalton “Something On Your Mind” (from In My...

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:42:55 -0700

grimmertown:

Karen Dalton “Something On Your Mind” (from In My Own Time 1971)

bmichael: Animal Collective - For Reverend...

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:19:53 -0700

bmichael:

Animal Collective - For Reverend Green
(watchingtheplanets)
So I kind of intimated earlier this week that I go nuts sometimes when I’m running. To psych myself up. Anyway. This is ‘my song.’ I can’t see why it’s not hailed universally as the greatest thing ever. It is. “For Reverend Green” literally makes me see stars and little shiny black spots. Maybe it triggers an epileptic fit in me. I don’t know why, but it fucks up all my shit.

I actually find all of Strawberry Jam to be a great workout album.

dontforgetthecoffee: jakeoliver: Paul Simon - Gumboots So you...

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:06:33 -0700

dontforgetthecoffee:

jakeoliver:

Paul Simon - Gumboots

So you know which line to listen out for:
Believing I had supernatural powers I slammed into a brick wall

Hey senorita, that’s astute…

Why don’t we get together and call ourselves an institute?