I have something in the works that I wanted to have done before I left on vacation, but it's just not quite there yet. So in the meantime, here are some indie summer tunes from '09 thus far. Go here.
1) Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"
2) ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - "Ascending"
3) Cymbals Eat Guitars - "And the Hazy Sea"
4) Japandroids - "Wet Hair"
5) Crystal Antlers - "Andrew"
6) Blank Dogs - "Tin Birds"
7) Passion Pit - "Little Secrets"
8) Harlem Shakes - "Strictly Game"
9) The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "The Tenure Itch"
10) The Shivers - "Only In It For the $$$"
11) Jay Reatard - "It Ain't Gonna Save Me"
12) Future Of The Left - "Arming Eritrea"
13) Beirut - "My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille"
14) Suckers - "It Gets Your Body Movin'"
Slacking. Even with nothing to do. I'm not going to compose a big post on what this particular artist (Fugazi) meant to/means to me. Because it's basically one big idea that overshadows every other big idea: DIY.*
*this, despite the fact that i do have some very nice fugazi-related memories: like a large contingent of interested participants piling into my minivan and driving from syracuse to rochester to see fugazi play for $5 (natch), which was the first time i met one of my best friends from college and future roomie, paige.
Never has the concept of DIY been so effective and easily done than in the age we're living. I can record a song in my house with my computer and crappy guitars and put it on this blog and a kid from Utica, NY can download it on his computer. I have the means of production and the means of distribution. Not only am I a one man band. I am a one man recording studio and record label. Just like that.
15-20 years ago as an un-radio friendly hardcore band, it was a little tougher. There weren't mp3s or iTunes. There were 1000 7"s to be stuffed into 1000 hand-pressed sleeves. And mail. And word of mouth. And snow up to your teeth. Both ways. Uphill.
Still, no one streamlined the DIY ethos as effectively as Dischord Records. And because of them and Mr. Ian McKaye, we got a lot of great bands and a lot of inspired and inspiring record labels (Simple Machines, Merge, Teenbeat, etc.) Thanks up and to the right.
On to the tune...
I've been picking this one out on the Beast for quite a while now. I didn't stay true to the original bassline at all, which is the song's calling card. But my intent was that this version wouldn't lack the intensity of the original, even though it won't get 5,000 kids jumping up and down, pumping their fists. I think I like it. As always, let me know what you think.
Download file here:
The FMTana-"Waiting Room"
Years ago, I found an old book at my parents’ house called “Rough Rhymes of a Padre” which was a collection of poems written by G.A. Studdert Kennedy, a British military chaplain during World War I. Originally written in 1918, it was handed down through my mom’s side of the family. I ended up packing it up with me and taking it home. (Not sure why at the time. Maybe because the US had just invaded Iraq. Maybe because the lyrical form of the poetry was simple and appealing. Maybe a combination of the two. Don’t know.)
Kennedy was widely known as “Woodbine Willie” for his penchant of giving Woodbine cigarettes to British soldiers along the Western Front. His poetry largely focuses on those soldiers and the daily horrors they faced on the front lines of WWI.
For me, aside from the subject matter in Kennedy’s work, this project is a fairly simple one conceptually. Generally speaking, the way I’ve always written songs is music first, lyrics second. The “Woodbine Willie Project” is an attempt to do the opposite: lyrics first, music second, which, for me, feels almost as awkward as putting on shoes before socks. Hence, I would probably refer to this project mostly as an exercise, since I’m working some very underdeveloped muscles. Writing with my left hand instead of my right, and so forth.
Kennedy’s poetry works well for this exercise because it does have a naturally lyrical feel and is conducive to melody and structure. I picked Willie’s poem “The Secret” for my first piece for no particular reason. Aside from liking the poem and liking the vocal melody that came to mind. I kept it to 3 chords, which is very punk rock for the World War I era, but apparently Woodbine was somewhat punk rock as a pastor. He once told a congregation that “he would like to take a great sledgehammer and smash every stained glass window in the church, and then go out and celebrate the Eucharist in a field with a tea-cup and plate.”
As always, let me know what you think.
download file here:
The FMTana-“The Secret”
My cover of Archers of Loaf's "Backwash." Let me know what you think.
Download file here:
The FMTana-"Backwash"
The show that got away>The Archers played at Decibels, in Mechanicsburg, PA, which was a place with a lot of potential. Except for the fact that it was located in Mechanicsburg, PA next to a MAACO Auto Body Repair shop. No one to blame but myself. I think I hadn’t picked up Icky Mettle by then. I can’t even remember what I was doing instead, but it couldn’t have been more important than seeing this great a band this close to the house I grew up in. I did see what was one of their last shows ever though in LA at the Troubadour. Though that doesn’t make up for missing the Decibels show. Not at all.Dial-up is DEAD>AOL will never be “America Online” to me. It will always stand for “Archers of Loaf.” I wish I got as many CDs from Archers in the mail as I have from crappy America Online over the years. Luckily for us, Archers never repackaged the same shit with a “.1” at the end of it.How your favorite band should end their career>White Trash Heroes, the Loaf’s swansong, is as powerful and consistent a record as any other they’ve recorded. Most bands end with a whimper. Here you can actually hear a songwriter crack the cocoon and evolve. Crooked Fingers, AOL Mach II.Probably taking credit where credit isn’t due>There was this cool chick at Syracuse who was head of the band-booking committee for the university. A powerful collective that decided what the kids trapped in the unforgiving tundra of Syracuse, NY were allowed to be entertained by. She and I were talking one day about bands to bring up for the Spring block party or whatever the hell it was. Archers was a name she had heard. I feel like I left her with a strong impression that they should be the band they booked. And they were. And I actually felt bad when they had to play with gloves on. Because it was Syracuse, NY. Where winters die long, painful deaths.
AOL > Time>I don’t see how you can look at the legacy that Eric Bachman is leaving as a songwriter and not be utterly impressed. To go from the aggression and panic of Vs. the Greatest of All Time to the somber solitude of Bring on the Snakes is remarkable. One of my favorite songwriters of all-time.
I'm going to try to update the "Thank you for being totally (insert positive adjective here)" section as routinely as possible. In the spirit of the soon-to-be-posted cover of "Backwash," one of my favorite Archers of Loaf songs, this time I'm thanking Archers of Loaf. Natch. If you click on the pic, a download of selected Archers songs will be available to the clicker.
This will be a rinse and repeat operation.
I still love music. And I’m sure it will always be a large part of my identity. At least as a listener, collector, blah-blah-blaher. But as an alleged musician? As someone who creates, produces, blah-blah-blahs? Time is already a bit more tenuous in that regards. Everything I own that can produce a note, tone or chord has been shoved into a bright blue room against a bright blue wall. My amps and guitars look like they’re awaiting a firing squad. And furthermore, it wasn’t my idea to paint that room bright blue.
Eventually there is always the inevitable. I’m trying to make better use of my time in the meantime. Slowly and surely, I intend this blog to become a venue for my musical exercises and excesses. Please come back regularly to see how it’s all working out.
JD
