“They’re a bunch of tiny, tiny, tiny, little points of light – miniscule zaps of recorded information. Photographs are pieces of art built on information! How awesome is that?” ~Sterling Andrews, Los Angeles-based photographer.
“‘Smooth Noodle Maps’ is a criminally under-rated album. It’s hard to tell if the record is a sincere attempt (and success) at symmetry-perfect new wave or a searing send-up of the genre Devo helped pioneer. Either way, it ages much better than the other later entries into the Devo catalog.
By the time Smooth Noodle Maps came out, Daydream Nation was nearly two years old and Dave Grohl had just joined Nirvana. Released in 1990, one might call Smooth Noodle Maps the great, dying gasp of new wave music; ‘Et tu, Brutus?’”
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(Devo plays “Freedom of Choice” in its entirety tonight at the Henry Fonda Theatre. Tickets are still available.)
My second feature article for Radio Free Silverlake is up. It’s on Manhattan Murder Mystery, a band that CGT readers are already familiar with. (Feature #3 is on a very new, very different subject.)
This one was tricky in large part because I felt that I’d already said most everything I could say about the band on this blog, but they were one of the first bands Joe Fielder mentioned when we talked about me writing for RFS. I had to work really hard to come-up with an original take, but I found my inspiration from Teardrop’s Facebook page and I am proud of how it came out.
Really though, my words are uber-eclipsed by Laurie Scavo’s amazing photos. MMM has never had photos this good before.
“The next time I saw Teardrop was through beer telescopes. He led me by the arm, like an indie rock Tom Bombadil, into a strange van after a night of blistering music at the art gallery-turned-music-venue Echo Curio. There was wandering through a mysterious house. Strange people. Sweet smells and bitter liquids. Later Teardrop drove me home at an abyssal hour, street lights smeared across my vision through a dirty windshield like electric shit-streaks on midnight underpants. It was a helluva night.”
READ THE REST HERE AT RADIO FREE SILVERLAKE!
“Why you should care about Steve Earle: Anyone who keeps company with Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, The Pogues, and the late Townes Van Zandt is someone who probably knows a thing or two.”
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(Steve Earle plays a three-night stint at the Troubadour on October 9th, 10th and 11th; $35 ADV; the Nightwatchman (aka Tom Morello) opens.)
My first feature article for Radio Free Silverlake ran Friday evening. YOU CAN READ IT HERE.
It’s on Leslie and the Badgers, a wonderful little band that you should know about. They play every Monday in September at The Echo for free, so you don’t have much of an excuse not to check ‘em out.
I want to thank RFS editor Joe Fielder for having me on board. He’s courted me since RFS first went to a staff format and I hope to do the great RFS brand justice.
My goal then for these feature articles on Radio Free Silverlake is to write something that is enjoyable to read. I’m less interested in reporting the details of how a band got together or how the record was made and more interested in trying to tell a story that somehow gives the reader a reason to care about the subject. I’m looking to old Rolling Stone features for guidance here.
We’re also trying to have exclusive photos for every piece. I think that matters. I want to try to transcend simple blogging with these; a feature article elevates. And exclusive photos help elevate. In my own small way I want to elevate both the local music and the writing about local music. We also want the features to be timely, generally centered on the release of a record or a residency or some such thing.
I’m considerably happy with how this first one turned out. Leslie and the Badgers were a real joy to interview. Every band member was extremely quotable. They also said some really intelligent, insightful things about technology and touring that were well-stated but just a little too dry for the piece. But as far as covering unsigned bands goes, they truly made my job easy.
I went with pretty colorful descriptions of the band members. The Badgers are a funnier bunch than the piece conveys, and I regret not getting that aspect of their personalities in there. I don’t feel I perfectly captured the subjects this time, but I think they at least come to life. I took some minor liberties with sequence but every quote is still in its original context.
As for the writing… oof. There’s some truly treacherous paragraph transitions in there, but I think 95% of all music writing is boring and I erred on the side of “keep the piece moving” vs. “classical style says do x”.
On a personal note, it’s strange seeing my words on RFS’ font and layout.
I welcome feedback in the comments section. I scaled-down CGT in part due to burnout. I was running out of things to say and ways to write about local music. This feature poured out of me though; it was the most fun I’ve had writing in almost six months.
Anyways, go to their residency. It’ll be worth your time.
I’ve been trying to be less of a “blogger” and more of a “writer,” which has meant spending less time posting on CGT and more time working on my short stories, poems, and scripts. I’ve also taken-up monthly writing gigs at Web In Front and Radio Free Silverlake.
More on RFS later, but my first Nerd’s Eye View for Web In Front went up today. The premise behind NEV is to offer a CGT-styled “Collected Thoughts” type post on one national artist who is coming through town, ideally one who has been around for a while. The first Nerd’s Eye View is on Ted Leo and The Pharmacists.
“How big of a geek is Ted Leo? His old band, Chisel, wrote a song called “Beta Ray Bill,” named for the alien Korbinite whose mind was transferred into cybernetic spacebeast’s flesh husk and who briefly assumed the power of Thor’s mighty hammer Mjolnir in the Marvel Comics universe.”
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(As a fan and friend of current and former members of The Mae Shi, this was a challenging post to write. I consider myself an unofficial historian of The Mae Shi though, and felt it was important to do. I’m no journalist, but I’ve done my best to write honestly and fairly. ~Mouse)
Yesterday Pitchfork broke the news that The Mae Shi would be “splitting into two”; founding member Jeff Byron is keeping The Mae Shi name and the remaining touring members (vocalist Jon Gray, bassist Bill Gray, and drummer Jacob Safari) are moving on to form Signals.
The Pitchfork article makes the split seem amicable enough, but the full story is a bit more complicated: Before The Mae Shi’s last European tour (which began in May) the exiting members informed Jeff Byron they’d be leaving once the tour was over. Throughout the tour Byron wrestled with worsening substance abuse problems, ultimately needing to exit the tour midway through. At one point Byron, still in no shape to play, asked to cancel the Pitchfork Music Festival performance. The others decided to play on against his request and that seems to have put finality to end of the creative partnership. Thankfully, Byron is much better now, but he will not be appearing in the lineup at The Pitchfork Music Festival this weekend.
Signals’ myspace page and Twitter account read “I’m Glad You’re Alive”. They seem to be implying Signals is the genuine Mae Shi article. Objectively it should be said, with due respect, that while the Signals members have devoted a lot of time to The Mae Shi and have performed exceptionally in that band, they do not make-up The Mae Shi.
Through all the Mae Shi lineup changes the singular constant is Jeff Byron’s incredible work ethic; Brad Breeck’s ideas on the music are absolutely essential; and the true foundation of what The Mae Shi “is” consists of Jeff Byron, Tim Byron, Brad Breeck, and Ezra Buchla. Long-time fans know the band that Pitchfork Media began covering was built on the blood, the sweat, and (most importantly) the brains of those founding members. Signals should be viewed as a new band. This weekend’s performance at the Pitchfork Music Festival should be viewed as a Signals show.
The Mae Shi have had many lineups but their catalog can be easily divided into the vocalist eras; the angular electropunk of the initial Ezra Buchla years and pop-desecration noisepunk of the more recent Jon Gray years.
I’ve seen Jon Gray sing in The Mae Shi more times than I can count. To me he’s been friendly, warm, gracious, and gives great hugs. His stage presence (god, those facial expressions!) is special. But at recent shows I could begin to see that he’d reached his limit with that material and though they’ve debuted some new songs this year, I’m not sure that The Mae Shi ever truly evolved creatively beyond the release of HLLLYH.
But they played some transcendent shows; three for CGT, including my 27th birthday party, which I will never forget. This second era of The Mae Shi has not been a lesser one and the significant contributions of both Grays and Safari to the band’s history and legacy should not be diminished. I am excited to hear what Signals comes up with. There’s a lot of talent in those three guys and their new band will most likely be awesome.
A third era of The Mae Shi is in the cards, but Jeff Byron has told me that the band will lay dormant for a while. In the interim he’s working on separate projects with Buchla and Tim Byron, as well as a pop-inspired project of some kind. I’ve also heard that the unreleased Mae Shi recorded material may eventually be used by various side projects of remaining members.
One frustration for Mae Shi fans is that the most recent recordings available are seldom representative of the band’s current form. With that in mind, these lyrics that open HLLLYH, their most recent full-length, seem especially poignant:
I predict a decline in the price
of Lamb & Lion International.
The lamb’s gone missing and
the lion’s sleeping peacefully.
We’ve lost our quorum.
In respect, second thought,
this merger was established rather hastily.
We thought we read it in the book,
but we couldn’t find the verse,
now the storm clouds roll in…
The Henry Clay People perform on The Daily Habit 01-23-09
This piece is awfully puffy, but it’s supposed to be. When I cover a band’s in-studio performance for Fuel.TV, I’m writing an introduction to the band for the Fuel viewers / website readers. I pride CGT on it’s honesty in both the positive and the negative, and since I’m writing with an agenda for Fuel, I couldn’t resist the over-the-top question-as-a-headline in the style of puff magazine covers.
Behind the scenes, the taping was not flawless. I plan to ask the band about it when I meet-up with them in the midwest.
But without a doubt, I believe the style and mode of The Henry Clay People’s music has potential to lead rock’s resurgency. I mean every word in the piece. It’s slanted toward the extreme positive, but you’ll never find me writing a sentence I don’t believe in.
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