It happens every spring as SXSW approaches: I start thinking “how can I get sent to Texas to cover the music?”
I made it in 2010, covering for New Times (and myself as well), missed 2011, and likely will miss 2012 – it’s tough to get media outlets to do anything other than the bare minimum these days.
But I was looking through some photos from 2010 and came across two of my favorite moments from 2010 : Ty Segall’s indoor set at the Mohawk (which blew away media darlings Surfer Blood, who were playing outside at the same time), and the unexpected Noah Engh set at Manic Fest Destiny.
I’d expected neither; I hadn’t really paid attention to the Mohawk lineup (except I knew I had to see Surfer Blood per a New Times request, and I personally wanted to see Death play), and Noah Engh wasn’t even on the list of performers that day.
But those are really really the best parts of SXSW: the stuff that happens BETWEEN the stuff people go for. With SXSW becoming almost a parody of itself (and doing some sleazy shit with performers), it’s people like Segall and Engh that still make me long to cover it. See for yourself, with this short clip, badly shot, of Noah Engh making Austin worthwhile:
I don’t have an iPad. I don’t have any intention of buying an iPad either. Hell, I don’t even wish for one. I mean, if one appeared at my front door I might play with it, but then I’d probably sell it.
Or that’s the way I’ve felt until today, when I found out that Moog released a synth for iPad called Animoog.
I hit the Moog site and listened to some samples, and it’s just incredibly cool. For musicians, or wannabe-musicians that have dropped the cash on an iPad, it’s a no brainer.
Normally priced at $29.99, it’s available for a limited time (for 30 days, but I think that started a while ago) for $.99. Yeah, 99 cents.
Go buy it, play with it, and make me regret my aversion to iProducts.
Sound samples and more information here on the Moog site or just dig it right here (I want one so bad…):
I’ve written about them before, and as long as they keep doing stuff like this I’ll write about them again. Or at least I’ll put up a sentence or two with an embed.
Tell me you can watch this without loving this:
I know – you cant, right? Hell, I even dig the page on their site on which they embedded it.
Oh, and they’ve given me one more reason to be pissed I moved out of New York: they’re playing in Brooklyn on November 11 at the Brookly Electronic Music Festival. Awesome - panelle specials AND Eclectic Method, all jammed into one fine borough.
Chris Glover - Possibly not a tool, hopefully not a Jesus freak (this photo is a bit Christ-ey, right?)
Last week, in advance of Penguin Prison filming a video for the song “Don’t Fuck With My Money” during an Occupy Wall Street march, I wrote a brief piece in which I that said it was a crass attempt to commercialize a worthwhile event, and called Chris Glover (the man behind the penguin) a tool.
Well, technically, I didn’t call him a tool, I defaced one of his head shots to make a penguin call him a tool. Either way, it turns out that we might both be wrong.
Yesterday, I received an email from him (not his publicist) about my post, explaining that he’d written the song long before the #OWS demonstration started (which I knew – I didn’t think the dude was THAT crass) and that he thought some of the lyrics reflected some sentiments that people were having right now.
Moreover, he said he wanted the video to be a tribute to, and not exploitation of, the #OWS demonstrations. Which I’m betting has a good bit of truth to it, though I doubt he’d bum out if his career got a boost (which isn’t a bad thing, by the way; the music industry is shit – I was in the recording and producing side in NYC for quite a while and it was depressing – and I’m all for musicians breaking out to reach an audience that likes what they have to offer).
And frankly, keeping the #OWS protests visible is a very good thing in and of itself, so pretending that they wouldn’t benefit at all would be completely disingenuous of me (by the way, if you’re interested in #OWS there are worse places to visit than the main Adbusters site – some say they prompted the whole thing – or their #OWS-specific page).
Anyway, the part of his letter that really resonated with me, the part that got me thinking maybe the dude isn’t what the penguin claimed, was this:
“The press release that was sent out recently claiming the song was “fast becoming an anthem of the movement” was totally over the top and does not reflect what I think at all. I apologize for the confusion and look forward to working with the occupy wall street movement to help their cause in any way I can.”
So perhaps he was a victim of an overzealous PR rep, which should remind everyone to read the press releases that their “people” write before they go out. It also sounds like an offer to the Occupy Wall Streeters to come down and supply some music, or pizza, or at least some good weed – all of which I myself would be happy to accept in their stead if they’ve got enough of each.
There was one other nice part of his email as well, and it went like this:
“Also nice drawing
Ha
Have a nice day,
Chris”
Is the penguin just pissed he's losing his natural environment? Am I just pissed I'm not in mine? Either way, we may have been wrong.
I’m not saying that all you have to do is flatter me (or say I’ve amused you) to get me to bend over and pick up the soap for you, but that coda does indicate a somewhat self-effacing sense of humor, which is a quality I deeply appreciate (no, it’s not lost on the cynical part of me that this could all be a well-crafted stroke job – but I’ve had a few of those, and this feels more spontaneous, like one in a movie theater or something, you know, from someone you met buying Twizzlers or Gummy Worms).
And I’ll also say this – I gave a listen to more of his stuff on Soundcloud and the dude is definitely skilled – it takes me back to a certain place and time I tend to miss, which isn’t a bad thing. I also appreciate the fact that he’s talented, and think his mashup with the Michael Jackson song is quite good (yes, when you’re working source material that was produced by Quincy Jones and sung by a late-70s MJ that features a who’s-who of studio players – including the mighty Larry Carlton- you’re starting out with brilliance, but it’s still a really, really well-done track). But judge for yourself by listening to the following embed:
So I’m going to go out on a limb, fight my inner cynic, and tell the penguin in my original post that he may have been wrong, and that Chris Glover probably isn’t the tool our Antarctic friend thinks he is. He may, in fact, be the kinda guy I’d enjoy having a beer with (which is the kind of guy I’m not finding in abundance where I live – and one reason I wish I could head back home to NYC for good), if only to chat about the horrors of the music industry, the joy of recording music, and the fun of synthpop.
Maybe when he hits Miami next week for (I’m assuming) an 80s-style DJ set, I’ll swing down for a Bartles & Jaymes.
It takes a lot to drag me out of my stupor to write these days, but a press release I just got from Penguin Prison’s publicist did it. If you don’t know Penguin Prison, it’s a retro synth-pop band (person?) headed by a dude named Chris Glover that has a mediocre retro synth-pop song out called “Don’t Fuck With My Money.”
I guess the song never broke big enough, so tomorrow (that’d be Saturday) Glover will try to leverage the Occupy Wall Street protest by filming the song’s official video in Liberty Plaza.
From the press release:
“See you tomorrow and remember to SPEAK LOUD AND CLEAR TO WALL STREET!
‘DON’T FUCK WITH OUR MONEY!’”
(emphasis theirs, except they spelled “fuck” with a couple of asterisks because they may be rebels, but they don’t want to offend anyone).
My friend Mickie has informed me that she has not heard the infamous Troggs studio spy tape – thus, I make it available to all.
I was given a copy on cassette during a recording session in New York sometime back in 1990 or so. Engineers and producers tend to share these sorts of things (I’ve got the Buddy Rich tapes, the Linda McCartney vocal isolation tapes, etc), though I don’t know who gave this particular tape to me.
We also tend to MAKE these sorts of things, rolling tape while the band is in the main studio arguing over something idiotic, then sitting with studio staff after the session and having a laugh. They’re easier to get your hands on then they used to be (like I said, they were kind of an insiders’ joke once upon a time), but no less enjoyable.
One of my favorite things about the Starbucks I used to frequent was Brian Weinthal, a (now former) barista there who also happens to be the drummer in Lavola a band I’ve written about extensively (long before they were named 2011′s best band by New Times), and to whom you should really give a listen.
At any rate, before he left Starbucks, Brian and I used to share music and car stories (something we now tackle at Lavola shows), and I still owe him a thanks for hipping me to mighty funkitude of The New Mastersounds.
Well the Leeds-based band has a new album coming out August 9 and are currently touring the US (I’m betting that catching their show is well worth the dosh and any travel time involved, and assuming I haven’t fled Florida by 2012 I’ll catch their FTL shows).
If you don’t know them, here’s an intro – and if you dig ‘em (and I think it’s quite impossible not to) follow the link after the video to grab a free download from their upcoming release.
Grab the free MP3 and Tour date info after the jump.
If you’ve read Bone in the Fan or The Meatist with any regularity, you know I’m a Ty Segall fan. I caught his live show in Austin during SXSW 2010, and, despite the fact that both Death and alt-press liplock recipients Surfer Blood were playing at the same venue, Segall’s set was by far the best of the night, and one of my favorite shows of the entire week.
The thing is, and perhaps this is a function of me being a bitter old man born in the 60s, an awful lot of bands I hear these days, particularly those that might be loosely termed “punk rock,” strike me as a bunch of pathetic, derivative poseurs that wouldn’t have lasted though one set in NYC or DC pre-’85. Sorry, Attack Attack!.
I know the problem: the thought of braving pools of spilled Pabst Blue Ribbon, acres of Salvation Army clothing and the constant yammering of hipsters desperately trying to prove how deck* they are by out-obscuring each other with musical references is pretty awful.
But this spring the original lineup of Guided By Voices is doing some extremely limited touring and you may just have to suck it up and go.
A quick note: some of you may have read this story already, in print or online; aggregating my work at one site can lead to this sort of thing. Apologies to those of you for whom this is not new.
On the night of January 16, 1958, at the Pershing Lounge in Chicago, Ahmad Jamal sat down to play piano. He was joined, as he had been on many nights previous, by Israel Crosby on bass and Vernell Fournier on drums. The three were artists in residence at the Pershing, and had been playing together for months.
On that Thursday night, though, Jamal’s performance would change a few things. It would change how people thought about jazz. It would change the way musicians approached their craft. And it would change how I thought about my father, albeit after he died, by becoming part of a gift he gave me.
It was a gift we never talked about, one he gave unknowingly, one I did not realize the value of while he was alive. But it was a gift all the same as I’ll explain in a moment. For now though, all you need to know is that January 16 was the night that Ahmad Jamal’s performance of “Poinciana” was recorded.
The song had been a standard in Jamal’s repertoire for long before the recording was made, and as I have no friends that were regulars at the Pershing in the late 50s I have no way of knowing if that particular night’s rendition was in some way different from those that came before or those to follow.
But that’s irrelevant; the fact that it was recorded and released on vinyl made that night’s performance incredibly important. Because that’s what would allow it to reach well beyond the confines of the Pershing, and last far longer than the few minutes it took to play.
