Thursday, August 22, 2024
Album Review- The Libertines- All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Album Review- Old 97s- American Primitive
My favorite band of the late 90s early Alt Country days is and was the Old 97s. They never seemed to get the attention that Wilco, Son Volt, the Jayhawks, or even Whiskeytown did, but they have hung around now that they have got their due. I always thought the band broke up between their 2004 and 2008 records but I am not sure that they did.
In any case, Drag It Up is perhaps their low point and after that four year layoff, they have come back with one great album after another. American Primitive is their fourth album in the last decade (fifth really - but one is a Christmas album). All of these albums are good but they all have different feels. 2017s Graveyard Whistling is probably my favorite but there is no wrong answer. (I may have thought the band broke up when Rhett Miller released 2006s The Believer. However, his solo career has run concurrently with the band.
I saw the band live in 2022 when Rhett’s album The Misfit was only a couple of weeks old. While I don’t think Rhett’s album are quite as consistent as the band’s- but the catalog is still quite good). American Primitive comes with an entirely different feel and though surely the band is due an inferior album, this isn’t that. It’s another worthwhile addition to the catalog.
Recorded and imagined as an album to catch the live feel of the band. American Primitive is at once a Stephen King reference and a reference to the Musical style made famous by John Fahey. This album is their first to be produced by Tucker Martine who has produced a good deal of respected Americana artists like My Morning Jacket, Laura Veirs and the Decemberists. Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey show up in guest spots too. However you rate it, there are a few songs like Falling Down that will be additions for Old 97s playlists for years to come.
Sunday, August 4, 2024
Concert Review- Southern Culture On the Skids
One of the bands that I discovered in College Radio was Southern Culture on the Skids. I mean if you have an album named Too Much Pork for Just One Fork, you are going to stand out. The band goes back to 1983 but albums like 1992s For Lovers Only and 1993s Peckin Party EP was putting them on the map. In 1996, they got their major label moment with Geffen’s DGC indie label and although it did not set the world on fire, did gather some attention and musically is probably the best distillation of the band’s sound. The band’s next two albums were able to keep them in the indie spotlight until 2000, and I hate to say it, but I kind of lost track of their band.
But the band didn’t stop and to their credit, as the world shut down for Covid, SCOTS was trying their best to take advantage of the downtime and released a fantastic album - 2001s At Home With… Before Covid, they had been a touring workhorse, yet somehow I never managed to see them When I found they were playing the local 250 capacity venue, attending the show became my number one priority. The opening band was the Surf Zombies. The Cedar Rapids based band are bona fide local legends, and whereas I usually think of that term as diminutive, in this case, they are a fantastic band - as good as any surf band whose only nearby body of water might be the Des Moines River.
Whether the audience were brought in by the opener, or by the surf and rockabilly advertised, it was certainly an older crowd. I am not sure what the typical SCOTS crowd would be, but the fabulous folks in their 50s, 60s and 70s outperform their younger (possibly nu metal listening) peers. Iowa is a weird place. SCOTS has a unique niche. It’s almost impossible to describe them without some comparison to the B-52s and the Cramps. Besides the retro obsession and rockabilly and surf influences, there lies the “white trash” celebration that might fit between John Waters and Mike Judge’s King of the Hill. Or is it satire. Songs like “My House has Wheels” don’t make the answer any clearer. No surprise most may know them from the Rob Zombie curated 1998 album Halloween Hootenany, and the band took a moment during the concert to acknowledge the recent passing of Roger Corman as they performed Zombiefied (not the Alien Sex Fiend) and Goo Goo Muck (the Gaylads song made famous by the Cramps) As much as the music, the band is known for throwing Oatmeal Creme Pies, Fried Chicken and (not today) Banana Pudding into the crowd. Which is as great as it sounds.
Age suits frontman Rick Miller. Now in his late 60s, he really resembles a King of the Hill or Squidbillies character. Bassist Mary Huff may be one of the unheralded female indie musicians of the 90s. She proves a nice counterpoint to Miller and she can sing as if she was born to be a 1950s or 60s country chanteuse. Drummer Dave Hartman is quietly amazing. He doesn’t say much but they moved him so he is pretty much in line of sight with the other two. I suspect that the band’s schtick hasn’t changed over the years, but it’s still hard to beat a group that gets fans onstage to sing about fried chicken and I was so glad I got to see them and definitely recommend them.
Saturday, August 3, 2024
Concert Review- Violent Femmes
My adopted hometown has seen some ups and downs as far as bands coming through. It will always fall second to neighboring cities like Kansas City and Minneapolis, even failing in comparison to Omaha. The one thing that makes up for it is that the concerts are usually more intimate affairs. I worry Des Moines doesn’t draw, though. In any case the last couple of years, two venues really did the hard lifting. There is an arena football stadium for the big names, of course. Also a 1200 person theater that usually focuses on songwriters.
But Des Moines losing a cool 200 capacity venue felt awful - one has finally sprung up in its place. Now, a new spot has been built and is being sponsored by Live Nation will bring in some large names. Bands like The Black Crowes, Pixies, Chicago and Gladys Knight have been some of the first to play here. But somewhere in here, the downside and upside is also augmented by the remodeling of the Val Air Ballroom. I had only been there to see Wilco, pro wrestling and MMA. A history that goes back over a century. The image draws forth images of 40s and 50s big bands but the renovation caused it to close for a year and a half. Anyone who is anyone has come through and I just don’t get to too many concerts anymore but I am glad I got out to see the Violent Femmes.
The Femmes are touring behind the 40th anniversary of their second album Hallowed Ground. They had been touring last year on the 40th of their first album, so this tour is featuring both played in their entirety. That doesn’t leave much for a Greatest Hits but they have been doing two song encores and we got American Music and I Held Her in my Arms. I hadn’t spent a lot of time with Hallowed Ground but I of course knew the first song which is a great opener. Country Death Song In retrospect, I am not sure that the Femmes get their dues as the roots of Americana. Released in 1984, I know Nick Cave and others were doing Goth country in Australia, it’s really kind of a late 90s/early 00s thing with Johnny Cash’s Rick Rubin albums kind of opening the genre and bands like BR549, the Handsome Family, Th’ Legendary Shakeshackers, Slim Cessna and 16 Horsepower bringing old school country death ballads to a rock audience.
The Femmes were doing it before that with this album, of course. Like 16 Horsepower, audiences weren’t sure that Gordon Gano was mining from Christian lore or an actual Christian. Famously, he was the latter. (Brian Ritchie, however is an atheist and has always been a tense counterpoint to Gano. An 2018 interview with Gano in Magnet suggested the two’s interactions with each other are completely limited to band performances) Hallowed Ground is not quite the album the debut is but it is an interesting album with a lot of highlights like “I Hear the Rain”. Gano played expertly on guitar and fiddle, Ritchie on his unique bass and drummer John Sparrow on two snares and a charcoal grill. Gano’s voice is exactly as it sounds on record.
The insecure frustrated teenager who wrote this album. I always think Modern Lovers-era Jonathan Richman is the prototype and dozens of 90s indie frontmen the progeny but Gano might be the best to ever portray that angst correctly. The band as always was accompanied by the Horns of Dilemma. Gano came out for the second set with his long hair down and the kind of colorful bathrobe looking outfit that he used to wear. The Violent Femmes debut a-side is probably as good as any five songs recorded in a batch. It makes for a definite crowd favorite. The B side isn’t half bad either and also has the strong anchor near the end of Gone Daddy Gone. The band hardly said anything to the audience. Gano before going into American Music- a perfect peak for the bands talent said “This place was good enough for Sinatra so it’s good enough for us” (referencing the Ballroom’s history). But without any interaction, there was just something in Gano’s presentation to communicate to the crowd (There’s also a noise ordinance so maybe there wasn’t time to fool around).
I was glad I got to see the band. I was a bit worried that I arrived at door open and that place wasn’t packed (NuMetal band the Disturbed were playing the same night at the Arena) but that only guaranteed a good view as the place did seem to fill the 2000 person vicinity by show start.
Friday, August 2, 2024
Real Estate- Daniel
The local public radio station has been playing songs from Daniel the new album by long time indie band Real Estate and I have been digging it.
The band released their debut in 2009 and to my ears, they feel very much like the bands of that time like Death Cab for Cutie and the Shins. I never really took notice of them until their last album 2020s The Main Thing had a song featured on an Uncut sampler and I liked it quite a bit.
Many reviews of this album mention REM. It’s not a perfect analogy for me but I think the thread of American indie rock is there. This album definitely reminds me of those Aughts bands with a poppy indie feel that could get chart success- Death Cab and Shins of course, but bigger picture also Vampire Weekend, Deerhunter, Best Coast and Wilco.
Being their sixth album, it won’t get noticed by the Pitchforks of the world, who move on after bands reach a certain age, and it may not be something for those who like rougher edges, but I think it’s a solid sounding album that I think you will find holds up years for now- even if the radio landscape of the past no longer exists for it to get played on.
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Documentary Watch : Joe Strummer: The Future is Unknown
A few more words on the Beatles- Get Back and Let It Be
Documentary Watch: Theory of Obscurity- A Film About The Residents
I will never forget. I was in high school and listening to alternative music and someone said “If you want to hear a weird band. You ought to check out the Residents and they have a new album of Elvis songs”
The implication being the Sex Pistols and the Cure weren’t mainstream but they sure weren’t as submervise as the Residents. I bought 1989s The King and Eye immediately.
In retrospect, it probably wasn’t a good jumping in spot ( the Allmusic review of 2.5 stars feels accurate) - I probably would have had a better reaction to their first two much more loved albums- but regardless I now had the Residents in my life.
In college, I became good friends with a big fan of the band. “Cult Band” is a term that gets thrown around a lot but they truly are the definition of that.
I have always been interested in what they are doing and they always seemed to be on the brink of new technology. I am probably not proud to say that my favorite moments of theirs are what might be their most accessible- 1991s Freak Show and 2009s The Ughs (in this case both of these albums are rated 3 stars on Allmusic and are some of the lowest ranked on that site. So it goes.)
I did get to see the Residents in concert which seems like a bucket list band. I believe it was the 2008 Bunny Boy tour. I don’t feel like I remember a ton of details bit it was certainly interesting
A key component of the Residents was the mystery. Certainly, more recent artists have taken similar approaches, but the Residents were surely the first major artist, and we loved to guess. Could it be one or all of the Beatles? That was far fetched but a lot of people thought it could be Frank Zappa.
As the Residents certainly aged, there was a bit of the lifting of the veil with some alignment to the group’s business company The Cryptic Corporation.
Hardy Fox who died in 2018 was identified as the bands main composer. Homer Flynn remains the band’s manager and shares the songwriting credits with Fox from the band onset.
The original four members of the Cryptic Corporation included Flynn, Fox, John Kennedy and Jay Clem. Kennedy and Clem left the corporation in 1982 around the time the band was in financial straits amidst an European tour.
In the last few years, I have made friends with Residents fans online and can be found in these corners of the internet and had exchanges with artists I never would have suspected.
I finally sat down and watched the band’s documentary 2017s Theory of Obscurity. For a band that doesn’t really have a “history”, this doc couldn’t be any better.
It is a history of the band who as weird as they were, somehow managed to stay in the spotlight. It also interviews all the members of the Cryptic Corporation and follows their journey from Louisiana to San Francisco.
It also interviews the people who worked with them throughout - early friends, later era celebrities like Penn Jillette and those bands that are closest to descendants of the band- Primus and Ween and perhaps their cousin Devo. (Who came to some of the same artistic aesthetics independently of the Residents but Jerry Casale complains here that the record company focus on Mothersbaugh broke the band teamwork).
There is a lot of early footage. There’s the story behind their iconic before their time videos and there’s a ton of behind the scene stories like Vileness Fats and their other memorable videos, the origin of the art including the iconic eye and a look at the fandom
I don’t know that the doc could be any better. It might have been nice to have more info than the brief flash of info on Ralph Records or collaborators like Snakefinger but it would be too much.
I recommend it to any Residents fan even if you only have the slightest appreciation for them or are just hearing of them. It is the kind of documentary that makes want to go out and create. It’s also an amazing story of a true American artist that transcends music into visual arts.
Shane MacGowan RIP
90s Whatever...... Kramer
I’m writing about 90s music and just happened to listen to Mark Kramer’s first appearance on a podcast which was for his friend and collaborator Penn Jillette.
Kramer is all over 90s music. His record label Shimmy Disc was the first place many cult bands recorded. His list of bands that he would end up producing include Gwar, King Missile, Galaxie 500, White Zombie, Urge Overkill, Daniel Johnston, Low, Naked City, Ween and Half Japanese.
He was half of Bongwater with Ann Magnuson. A group that was one of the weirdest bands on Earth and yet somehow broke through via college radio and cable TV. Their final album 1992s The Big Sell Out is a personal favorite.
That success didn’t really translate to Kramer’s solo career, but for me and my friends, the ambitious 1992 triple Lp The Guilt Trip was as important as the George Harrison album (All Things Must Pass) its cover referenced.
I was in a spot where I could keep up with Kramer’s work. I picked up 1994s The Secret of Comedy and probably should reconsider it. Allmusic gave it four stars and Jillette said it’s one of his all time favorites. I also picked up 1998s Song from the Pink Death.
Allmusic gave that album two and a half stars and I remember thinking it was a bit disappointing but now that I peruse the track list, I notice it’s stuck with me more than I thought.
He also formed a duo with Jillette called Captain Howdy who released albums in 96 and 98. I love the self titled debut which is so quirky with guest spots from Debbie Harry and Billy West of Ren and Stimpy. I either didn’t know or forgot about the second disc.
Kramer had some issues around this time where he got out of music. He went to work for James Randi, the magician and skeptic. In 2006, he announced Second Shimmy and has slowly became once more his prolific self. In 2016 and 2017, he released two albums of Brill Building covers.
In 2020, he relaunched Shimmy and has been busy since with the band/album Let it Come Down being his most high profile album in some time.
He has since collaborated with Pan American, Laraaji, Britta Phillips, Paul Leary, David Grubbs and others.
The podcast was a nice “visit” with Kramer hitting so many aspects of his career. Bongwater being the unmentionable. But covering his time playing with the Fugs, producing Urge Overkill’s big hit “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” (which Kramer put together while the band passed out) and backing GG Allin in a band with Steve Dasinger and J Mascis (I think these are the tracks on the ROIR album Hated in the Nation)- “We practiced ten songs knowing there was no way we would be performing ten. We didn’t”.
Album Review- Cody Jinks - Change the Game
Wayne Kramer RIP
I am writing about 90s music and I didn’t plan on including Wayne Kramer, though he is a fit that I will explain later. However, I have been meaning to write about Kramer since he passed away in February. I have fond memories of our local record store. It was always a dollar or two more expensive than the chains but most people forgave the owner who was a big personality. He was a true grown 50s rocker. He had colorful import records at expensive prices. I bought a few and don’t regret it (T Rex, Slade, The Clash) One record I bought was “Kick out the Jams” by the MC5. If you researched the roots of punk at all, you would hear about the MC5.
Although I never was obsessed with the 5 as I was with bands like the Stooges and New York Dolls, Kick Out the Jams is a strong album. Then again, it is a different strain of punk. Influenced by Sun Ra and James Brown as much as it was by the Sonics and the Kingsmen, it’s not so much punk as it is a precursor to metal, grunge and stoner rock. My next purchase was Babes in Arms- a ROIR cassette only compilation put together by Kramer in 1982. It is sort of a de facto Greatest Hits gathering alternate takes of the bands best songs from their short career. It was released on Compact Disc in the 90s and has been re-released at different points.
While it is not a must-have (with its odds and sods variety), the early version of Looking at You (later covered by the Damned) might be the wildest punk song ever. Kramer most famously went to prison in the 1970s as captured in the Clash song Jail Guitar Doors. He briefly joined Johnny Thunders in a band called Gang War and the early days of Was (Not Was)- he’s on their 1981 debut. Kramer in the 1980s was a carpenter and a woodworker. But he came back to prominence in the 1990s.
In 1995, he released the comeback album The Hard Stuff backed by the band Clawhammer. Punk label Epitaph (ran by Bad Religion’s Bret Guerwitz) was enjoying its largest success and now, Kramer was on the roster. The Bad Stuff got a lot of attention. It’s a bit of an unusual album. Nothing like the Bad Religion/Offspring type of music most Epitaph bands made. It was if anything like the jazz punk of Black Flag and maybe a bit of Charles Bukowski and Jim Carroll. More records were released in 1996 and 1997.
In 2014 he had a successful jazz album. In 2008, he wrote a book also called the Hard Stuff and started touring the MC5 again which had reunited in 2004. The new 5 were Kramer and the other surviving members (Michael Davis, Dennis Thompson) have at various times added Handsome Dick Manitoba, Gilby Clarke, Stevie Salas, Kim Thayil, dUg Pinnick of Kings X and Marcus Durant of Zen Guerilla among others. It was expected the most current iteration of the MC5 was expected to release a album in 2024. Bob Ezrin was producing with a guitar heavy sound with guest spots from Tom Morello, Slash and Vernon Reid and Brad Brooks as the band’s singer. If the MC5 album doesn’t come out then Kramer’s final epitaph might be Alice Cooper’s 2021 album Detroit Stories - a themed album that pays tribute to their home town. Cooper covers Sister Anne, the MC5 song and Bob Seger. Guests include Grand Funk Railroad’s Mark Farner and the surviving members of the Alice Cooper Group. Kramer can be found on 10 of the album’s 15 tracks- stepping away for the songs that feature Cooper’s famous 1970s band