Omar Rodriguez-Lopez -Telesterion (2011)

Supreme dictator of the unknown and steam-powered musical engine Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is "at it again" with what feels like his 30 or 40th studio release, Telesterion.  If you couldn't keep up with last year's 10 new albums like me, don't panic, as Telesterion is a much-needed compilation of 38 tracks spanning all across Omar's solo projects.  Over the course of his life, Omar has dabbled in all kinds of genres, nomadically discarding the musical approach taken in each previous album and playing with many different musicians, all the while retaining his signature melodic dissonance and unpredictability on guitar.  The dynamic of the album can seem a little weird at times, with jumps from heavy rock with spanish vocals to laid-back instrumental funk with real sexy saxophone work. Keep an ear open for the drums too, reigning great work from avant-garde powerhouses Deantoni Parks and Thomas Pridgen. Grab it down in the comments.

...as a baby's bottom: Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic

Just recently made the switch to vinyl! And the blog's back in session. Ya! So I'll be throwing up a few oldies records I've recently been throwing around.
Steely Dan are one of the pen-ultimate bands to collect on vinyl.  Rarely is something this smooth, with slick production and tight instrumentation, also capable of maintaining a cool factor.  Rock fusion groups like Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra, maybe, but....they're jazz fusion.  
The album is Dan's prime example of the marriage between studio professionalism and Fagen's vicious lyrics. The low to-the-ground funk of "Monkey In Your Soul" and tight jam on the self-titled track show the band sounding off like an actual rock "band" for the last time, as beyond this album Steely Dan became two dudes and a bunch of session musicians. This album deserves a more thorough review but I'm heading out to get a costume.  Enjoy your junk food.

"When the demon is at your door, in the morning he won't be there no more.  Any major dude will tell you..."
Wilco try to pay homage here, fairly successfully..

Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum/ Outisdeinside

Thought I might open up this old shop again with a goody bag from Blue Cheer: their debut from '68 Vencebus Eruptum and the follow-up Outsideinside released later that year. A Hard Rock Trio.

Watch the video below of them playing what-might-be-the-best-song-of-all-time "Summertime Blues". They have the first heavy metal drummer in rock 'n roll, just look at his hair and the way he slackly bangs at the drums. No one is cooler than Blue Cheer.

Hope You're Having a Good Summer

Hey everyone looks like we've slowed down to practically a total halt during these summer days. So whether you're outside enjoying the humidity or inside blasting the AC and listening to tunes, hopefully you haven't noticed and/or can forgive our apparent lethargy. Anyway, here are some swell tunes from guitarist John Fahey to help you through these tryin' heartland afternoons. Sorry I couldn't find a live version of "St. Louis Blues," for you, but nonetheless, enjoy.

Muddy Waters : Electric Mud (1968)

Muddy Waters purists love to hate this album. Released in '78, Electric Mud was recorded as his record company's attempt to capitalize on the hippies idolatry for Muddy Waters near the end of the seventies. You'll hear a wah wah pedal and fuzzbox combo all over this album, laying down a psychedelic production style on classic 50's Waters tunes. It's an incredibly goofy idea and I'm sure Muddy was ticked with his management for putting him in the session and for putting it out under his name, but it totally works. It rips. The b side re-working of "Mannish Boy" is wild and his cover of "Let's Spend the Night Together" is vicious. His backing band (Rotary connection) is tight throughout the release and complicates Waters' style in a unique way. You could argue it's a gimmick, and I'm sure most music fans with a strong sense of history and authenticity will bag on it, but this meeting point between psychedelia and traditional blues jams is a gem in my eyes.

Pyschobilly

Sometimes you got to thank a video camera for coming out.

Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts (2011)

The repeated phrases of "without shame, without shame" on "Mina Loy" (track 7) perfectly articulate the feelings of critical defiance and courageous self-redefinition that are present in Thurston's new solo album. Because maybe it's just the addition of the lazy, sweeping strings in the background, or perhaps the subdued and subtle guitar work, but with Demolished Thoughts, it finally appears as though Moore has made a name for himself as a singer/songwriter outside the often inescapably realms of Sonic Youth and his dozens of other projects. There's still the characteristic Thurston to be found in the album, but the go-to techniques that he's been imploring for years seem to have reached full maturation, and have blended together on this 100% acoustic album in a unique way to create a wholly original and uniquely charming release.

There's certainly stereotypical Thurston in the album. "Circulation" begins a bit of all too recognizable quick-wristed, loose, punky guitar work that's come to define the Lee/Moore guitar dichotomy over the years. There's also prime examples of the all-too-cryptic lyrics that he's been known for over the years with stand-alone lines like "Wet and drunken desire, dripping tears" in the track "Orchard Street." And as with almost every true Sonic Youth composition, there's some (although here, subdued) squeaky, shrill guitar buildups that happen after a couple of verses.

But there's a lot of new techniques that Moore implores on this album that make it fresh exciting for any Sonic Youth fan to listen to. As mentioned before, the presence of really soft and pure string in every track is a welcomed addition to the instrumental core that takes some pressure off the guitar while providing some rhythmic value. Also, without mucking up the melody, some slick production from Beck adds an elusive stand-up bass to the background of the album. It's pretty subtle, but it allows the album to maintain depth without obscuring or burdening the melodies. Oh, and did I mention that there's a prevalent lack of percussion? That's right, the man's made a living of banging, crashing, and exploding sounds and there's only a few drum tracks on this album. And for some reason, it makes sense. If there were a little snare and cymbal in the background on every track, it wouldn't sound bad, but it would add a weird sense of urgency to an album that really has nothing to prove. The usually loud Thurston Moore impatient and in-your-face sonic suggestions of "what if?" and "why not?" are replaced by languid expressions of perfect musical content. Instead of the usual punk call to arms, the album's expressions are far more introverted and less enigmatic. And maybe that's what separates it from even his previous acoustic release, Trees Outside the Academy. Certainly the two albums are technically similar, but on Demolished Thoughts there is even less of a sense of responsibility and continuity. Thurston has finally, quite totally, removed himself from the lifelong cliches that critics have been firing at him. This album seeks not to be "innovative," "cutting-edge," "chaotic," or "noisy" or any of the pigeon-holed tags that writers insist on pushing on Moore, but stands as a deep sigh of rebellious accomplishment.

Demolished Thoughts is a gorgeous album that any musician could be proud of making, but I'm especially happy to see probably one of my favorite guitarist of all time, who has been so predictably unpredictable, finally make a solo album that is totally unpredictably predictable.

Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, and Dan Bennink - The Topography of the Lungs (1970)

The words "free improvisation" inspire an elusive curiosity in some, while encouraging distrusting and annoyed grimaces from many others in the music community. Having roots in both free jazz and modern classical composition structure, the "genre" (or maybe, "set of techniques") seemingly continues where the modal jazz left off, that is trading even more harmony in for atonal structure. The movement values not so much the relationship between pitches and rhythms, but individual textures themselves.

Parker, Bailey, and Bennink's 1970 release on Incus records (the label's first) stands today as the most relevant and quintessential artifact of true, free improvisation. It's seemingly endless labyrinth of cymbal taps, guitar tappings, and saxophone buzzes provide an enigmatic map for listeners to follow, while struggling to find their way through the chaos. Evan Parker's solo work (which both mirrored American avant-garde pioneers such as Coltrane, while making them more abrasive), Derek Bailey's radical departure from traditional guitar technique, and Bennink's absurdist take on jazz percussion all culminate to create a monolithically landmark album. It can be challenging to listen to at first because it's object is to contain as little recognizable material/techniques as possible, but that doesn't mean it's unlistenable or unrewarding. Listen to it like your would a jazz album, and your mind will fill in the dots where the musicians suggest connections. It's extremely fidgety, disjointed, and unsettling at times, but once you get into the mode of listening to it, it'll challenge previous truths you held about rhythm, harmony, and song structure.

RIP Tim Taylor

On this day in 1997, Tim Taylor, frontman of the Dayton, Ohio punk band Brainiac died suddenly and tragically in a car crash. Brainiac (or 3RA1N1AC) were known primarily for their incredibly raucous live shows and their masterwork sophomore LP Bonsai Superstar. Here's my personal favorite track off the album "Radio Apeshot." Link to full album in comments. Never forget the fallen punks.

The Original Texas Groover: Doug Sahm :: Groover's Paradise (1974)

This post is dedicated to my Texan pal Zach Jones, who, like Doug Sahm, has always been playfully aware of the stigmas that people hold against Texas, but through playful admonishment and sincere pride always tends to turn these stereotypes around and instead represent Texas as a place of strong convictions, values, and fun.

It is this sort of self-awareness that Doug Sahm uses to his advantage in all of his running work, especially in this 1974 release, Groover's Paradise. Sahm plays on your typical western topics, especially in tunes like "Houston Chicks" and "Beautiful Texas Sunshine", but never drags them out to the cheesy extent that most modern country stars do, essentially providing the stigma to most music fans that country music is a genre of gimmicks lacking any substance. No, Doug Sahm does quite the opposite. He plays with the cards of his aforementioned state, but in a way that makes them real, even at sometimes tender.

A part of the success of Sahm's work certainly revolves around his ability to blow the doors down in any genre arena he attempts. People call his style "Tex-mex", but I'd understand that as being a term used because they have no idea how in the hell to briefly classify his style otherwise. So props to the original Texas groover for that. The album opens appropriately with the self-titled track, "Groover's Paradise", which exemplifies the jangly influence the members Doug Clifford and Stu Cook of Creedence Clearwater Revival left on Sahm with their studio involvement on this record. These guys allowed for a coherent sounding band, having a great time, unlike the feel of his first solo record, Doug Sahm and Band, which sounds like Doug Sahm just messing around with a bunch of hired guns. This opening track is the anthem and single that sets the theme for the whole album: being a groovin' stoner in Texas is an incredible time, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

The second track, "Devil Heart" continues to throw listeners for a loop, with a chugging riff, almost Allman Brothers-esque, that never really builds up beyond a feel-good chorus, which is fine and dandy with me. It's hypnotic and shows that with CCR's rhythm section, Sahm can lay down a really bluesy cut. Following this blues is "Houston Chicks", a sweet autobiographical love song paying homage to the lovely ladies he's made memories with in Houston.

"For The Sake of Rock n Roll" is the kind of song that got me initially interested in Doug Sahm. Lyrics that would at first come off as tongue-in-cheek become genuine once you realize how seriously Sahm valued Rock n roll in his life, almost to the point where he'd sacrifice anything to uphold the joys of the lifestyle. "Just Groove Me" plays out in a similar manner, as Sahm offers that he'll "love you to the sky" if you'll just groove him. He doesn't ask for much here people!

Good lord, "Girls Today (Don't Like To Sleep Alone)" might be one of the most style-defining songs Sahm's ever released. I cannot help but smile as Sahm sings this most socially incorrect song, it's sung too sincerely to get angry with, and so naturally I just take his side on it. He croons, "So if you got someone who loves you, go ahead and try to be yourself," a lyric that is so harshly honest to the situation a sheepish male may find himself in.

As I said before, part of Sahm's success lies in that he can look toward his roots with pride, and with a cover of the Mexican standard "La Cacahuata", meaning "the peanut", he shows that he can in so goofy a manner that it actually works perfectly for the album. I've always had a personal nostalgic relationship with this song as well because it sounds identically like this crummy instrumental tune that came on daily when Will and I spent a month down in Central America.

The album ends with what I believe is the greatest country song ever written, "Catch Me In the Morning". Beginning in a hard place, Sahm tells us "the keg was hard on his head last night" and that he naturally said some things that he now regrets. He's speaking of the problems that every cowboy's gotta deal with, but with the driving chorus chant of "Catch Me In the Morning", it is all about the hope that rests in the light of the morning after. The very un-country driving chord changes that take the slow-groovin' verse for such a wild spin make this the perfect album closer. He's made mistakes, but he looks at the future as a place for forgiveness and redemption. He doesn't seem to ever learn from the hardships that befall a groovin' Texas cowboy, but the purity he links with the morning after make the good balance out the bad, for such is life.