Singleversity #56

Audiversity’s weekly column on music we stumble across during our sonic adventures. No random numbers, just straight audio goodness.

MA:



“In the beginning there was nothing,
but it was kind of fun to watch nothing grow.
You came walking
into my life
carrying your own dreams.
You could have been,
yeah, you could have been good,
then why were you so goddamn mean?
But til you I never had any fun.
But I’m sure glad I never,
ain’t you glad I never,
be glad I never owned a gun.”
-Lee Hazlewood, “I’m Glad I Never…:”

I’ve gotten in the habit of listening to the Jesus Lizard in the 6am hour. Just, you know, because nothing goes better with the sunrise than a little atonal upchuck and chafed ass-shaking. Of course, that was only until I stumbled across Lee Hazlewood’s Requiem for an Almost Lady (released exclusively in Sweden) from 1971. Now instead of dewdrops and pseudo-industrial noise, it’s bird tweets and swinging country-pop grooves. Don’t mistake that for a loss of volatility though – see above transcription from the opening track. "I'll Live Yesterdays" is my personal favorite. “Seems we’re always doing something to hurt each other, but you know you never really hurt me until the fourth verse of this song.” Oh yeah? “Knives that have cut you when others have touched you have taken our children away. If there is no tomorrow for us, then I’ll live yesterdays.”

PM:



I recently got mixed up in this Indian kick for Netflix. We hit a groove for a few weeks where it just seemed like it was one after another - "The Namesake," "The Darjeeling Unlimited," and then most recently "Monsoon Wedding." Other than a comical subplot involving the wedding planner and the servant girl (who, it turns out, is the best looking actress in the movie), the latter isn't worth enduring unless you just really love Indian bickering. But hey, there's even a pot of gold at the end of this dusty rainbow: Stay tuned for the credits, because the best part of the movie plays right over them. Sukhwinder Singh is one of India's more recognizable Bollywood singers and is currently working on his own private studio in Mumbai. From a less complicated time when bleached out jean jackets were, um, all the rage (Revisionist history alert!), 2001's "Aaj Mera Jee Karda" has some great percussion and an instantly memorable melody. Put it this way: I enjoyed the credits more than the movie.

Singleversity #55

Audiversity’s weekly column on music we stumble across during our sonic adventures. No random numbers, just straight audio goodness.

MA:



According to the infallible wisdom of Wikipedia, Japan's preeminent proto-heavy metal, psych-rock collective – the Flower Travellin’ Band – has reunited as of January of 2008. And on top of that, they have a new album “in production” and are playing the Fuji Rock Festival ’08 (and you were excited about seeing a reunited Rage Against the Machine at Lollapalooza, tsk). If you are not already familiar with the influential hard rockers, let me introduce you to them via their most notorious collection of acid tripping, “beach blanket bong-out muscularity.” 1971’s Satori – the Flower’s first proper album of exclusively original material – is often their most revered record and sends worldly musicologist Julian Cope into literary fits: “Flower Travellin’ Band is furious Sabbath atonal doom played with a Zep fitness and a berserk Japanese thoroughness.” There is not a poor moment during the 40-minute set with "Satori, Pt. 1" unanimously inspiring the slow motion stoner rock head bang right from the initial Ozzian howl. It’s not only their transition from clever cover act to path burning legends, but they also established “a sense of musical space which made them into the Can of heavy rock.” If you aren’t already hip, which there is not really an excuse to not be at this point, do so today.

PM:



The same walk that had me simmering over Michael's abrupt dismissal of Santogold also eventually led us to a tangent on 90s genres coming back ( Hercules and Love Affair as Culture Beat, anyone?) and how average The Night Marchers are and whatever happened to art-damaged things and how about some fucking -core? How about bringing that back? At least the hardcore scene is still alive and well, even if Louisville one-off Pusher aren't. Featuring members of Breather Resist and Coliseum, their only full-length features a dozen songs clocking in at a mighty, yes, 12 minutes. True story: Songs like "Nail Spitter" and "Scapehole" have been known to restore faith in people who otherwise might still be having Haddaway nightmares.