I've removed the Joel R.L. Phelps post because of a discussion with the label head that started to become rather heated.
I mean no harm to anyone by this blog and I need to reiterate:
If anybody wants anything removed from here, or objects to any material posted, please email me at analogloyalist at gmail dot com.
Tim Cook, please contact me if you can. I would appreciate it.
This blog exists purely because I love music, and I'm bigheaded enough to think that others need to hear the music that rocks my world on a daily basis. Whether that's ultimately true or not I don't care, I just enjoy blathering about music, my thoughts on it, and giving people the opportunity to hear what they most likely will never come across during their daily travels across the Internets.
I've suspended posting for a duration because I'm rethinking my approach to this site. Will I continue to post about my favorite music? I don't know. If so, will I continue to link to files? I don't know. I'm not sure my interest in maintaining this site can be sustained by just writing about records, it's the feedback in the comments that I also enjoy almost as much as the process.
So allow me my time to have a rethink about the blog's future direction, if you will. Please share your comments below about what you like (or dislike) about this blog. Do you enjoy the full albums? If you are a loyal reader, do you download the links, or do you just read my writings?
Do you want more writing, or more files?
Thanks.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
MINUTEMEN Double Nickels On The Dime rare 1987 remix
In 1984 the legendary (and already blogged) MINUTEMEN released their masterpiece, the double LP Double Nickels On The Dime.
Suffice it to say that this record features on nearly every "Top 100 albums of the 1980s" list you'll find - and for good reason: it's utterly fantastic.
But being a double album, it didn't fit on one disc in 1987 (the land of the 74-minute maximum CD timing). So Mike Watt, having to edit the record already to fit in the 74-minute time constraint, decided to remix the entire record with Vitus Matare in August 1987. (The original record was mixed by Ethan James on 8-track in one long marathon session in 1984.)
Besides remixing the whole album, Watt and Matare also removed the tracks "Don't Look Now", "Mr. Robot's Holy Orders", "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", "Doctor Wu" and the remake of "Little Man With A Gun In His Hand".
Released in 1988 and subsequently available for a short time only, this is the rarest Minutemen CD. The remix does nothing for the music, and Watt thought so himself: the CD was quickly withdrawn and the original mix restored, with "Don't Look Now" and "Doctor Wu" re-added to the proceedings.
In 2007, Watt said that this remix was a "nightmare" and "totally worse than the Ethan James mix."
When I bought my Double Nickels... CD in 1988, it was this version I purchased. I immediately realized it sounded "different" than my original vinyl copy, so I eventually sold it because it just didn't sound right. The version I subsequently purchased was the restored-mix version, and that's what I've had since.
Since I found out what the issue was with the 1988 CD, curiosity has lead me on a search for this thing and to this day the best I've found are high-bitrate MP3's on the internets. So of course I'm featuring it here, and also casting the net out there for anyone who has this CD and can rip it losslessly for the public.
Enjoy! You won't want to replace your common Double Nickels... set with these, but as a companion piece of history, it's pretty good.
MINUTEMEN
Double Nickels On The Dime
SST 028 CD
Remixed August 1987 by Mike Watt and Vitus Matare
Withdrawn sometime in 1988/1989
01 D's Car Jam
02 Anxious Mo-Fo
03 Theatre Is The Life Of You
04 Vietnam
05 Cohesion
06 It's Expected I'm Gone
07 #1 Hit Song
08 Two Beads At The End
09 Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want The Truth?
10 Shit From An Old Notebook
11 Nature Without Man
12 One Reporter's Opinion
13 Mike's Car Jam
14 Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing
15 Maybe Partying Will Help
16 Toadies
17 Retreat
18 The Big Foist
19 God Bows To Math
20 Corona
21 The Glory Of Man
22 Take 5, D.
23 My Heart And The Real World
24 History Lesson - Part II
25 George's Car Jam
26 You Need The Glory
27 The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts
28 West Germany
29 The Politics Of Time
30 Themselves
31 Please Don't Be Gentle With Me
32 Nothing Indeed
33 No Exchange
34 There Ain't Shit On T.V. Tonight
35 This Ain't No Picnic
36 Spillage
37 Three Car Jam
38 Untitled Song For Latin America
39 Jesus And Tequila
40 June 16th
41 Storm In My House
42 Martin's Story
43 The World According To Nouns
44 Love Dance
Grab the files here - 320kbps MP3.
PLEASE I beg of my readers, someone somewhere has to have this actual CD. You know you have it if track 01 is "D's Car Jam", and track 02 is "Anxious Mo-Fo." The common original-mix CD has a snippet of "D's Car Jam" appended to "Anxious Mo-Fo", and the whole thing is titled "D's Car Jam / Anxious Mo-Fo" as track 01 on the 1989-to-current CD.
Suffice it to say that this record features on nearly every "Top 100 albums of the 1980s" list you'll find - and for good reason: it's utterly fantastic.
But being a double album, it didn't fit on one disc in 1987 (the land of the 74-minute maximum CD timing). So Mike Watt, having to edit the record already to fit in the 74-minute time constraint, decided to remix the entire record with Vitus Matare in August 1987. (The original record was mixed by Ethan James on 8-track in one long marathon session in 1984.)
Besides remixing the whole album, Watt and Matare also removed the tracks "Don't Look Now", "Mr. Robot's Holy Orders", "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", "Doctor Wu" and the remake of "Little Man With A Gun In His Hand".
Released in 1988 and subsequently available for a short time only, this is the rarest Minutemen CD. The remix does nothing for the music, and Watt thought so himself: the CD was quickly withdrawn and the original mix restored, with "Don't Look Now" and "Doctor Wu" re-added to the proceedings.
In 2007, Watt said that this remix was a "nightmare" and "totally worse than the Ethan James mix."
When I bought my Double Nickels... CD in 1988, it was this version I purchased. I immediately realized it sounded "different" than my original vinyl copy, so I eventually sold it because it just didn't sound right. The version I subsequently purchased was the restored-mix version, and that's what I've had since.
Since I found out what the issue was with the 1988 CD, curiosity has lead me on a search for this thing and to this day the best I've found are high-bitrate MP3's on the internets. So of course I'm featuring it here, and also casting the net out there for anyone who has this CD and can rip it losslessly for the public.
Enjoy! You won't want to replace your common Double Nickels... set with these, but as a companion piece of history, it's pretty good.
MINUTEMEN
Double Nickels On The Dime
SST 028 CD
Remixed August 1987 by Mike Watt and Vitus Matare
Withdrawn sometime in 1988/1989
01 D's Car Jam
02 Anxious Mo-Fo
03 Theatre Is The Life Of You
04 Vietnam
05 Cohesion
06 It's Expected I'm Gone
07 #1 Hit Song
08 Two Beads At The End
09 Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want The Truth?
10 Shit From An Old Notebook
11 Nature Without Man
12 One Reporter's Opinion
13 Mike's Car Jam
14 Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing
15 Maybe Partying Will Help
16 Toadies
17 Retreat
18 The Big Foist
19 God Bows To Math
20 Corona
21 The Glory Of Man
22 Take 5, D.
23 My Heart And The Real World
24 History Lesson - Part II
25 George's Car Jam
26 You Need The Glory
27 The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts
28 West Germany
29 The Politics Of Time
30 Themselves
31 Please Don't Be Gentle With Me
32 Nothing Indeed
33 No Exchange
34 There Ain't Shit On T.V. Tonight
35 This Ain't No Picnic
36 Spillage
37 Three Car Jam
38 Untitled Song For Latin America
39 Jesus And Tequila
40 June 16th
41 Storm In My House
42 Martin's Story
43 The World According To Nouns
44 Love Dance
Grab the files here - 320kbps MP3.
PLEASE I beg of my readers, someone somewhere has to have this actual CD. You know you have it if track 01 is "D's Car Jam", and track 02 is "Anxious Mo-Fo." The common original-mix CD has a snippet of "D's Car Jam" appended to "Anxious Mo-Fo", and the whole thing is titled "D's Car Jam / Anxious Mo-Fo" as track 01 on the 1989-to-current CD.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Recorded by STEVE ALBINI: 17 unconventional songs
(This turned out to be my favorite blog post to assemble - because in researching entries for this post over the past several months, I discovered some wonderful music I've never heard before - music that's leapt to the top of my new favorites list.)
I've always been more of a music than lyrics guy.
See, I think the best records are those records that you don't listen to for the effects or the singer's thoughts, you listen to for the music. The performances. The cohesive jelling of the band, performing their music, as one.
Oh I like those "studio creation" records as much as the next guy, because I think the studio - given the right circumstances and the right personnel - can be just as effective of a compositional tool as a band's jam session in the basement. But to me, nothing beats the sound of music performed by a well-rehearsed band, firing on all cylinders, captured in glorious room-sound-and-all recordings.
And the master of this is Steve Albini.
Now I'm no Albini fanboy (though I'm sure the world's laughing at that statement), because I know not everything he's touched is gold (last week's Bitch Magnet EP for starters). And the man records anything that comes his way and pays his fee (that's right, unlike any other "name" recordist/engineers (he hates the term "producer") out there, he charges a flat fee rather than royalty points), as long as he doesn't violently despise the music. And given the man's rep as a master noisemonger, it's a wonderful breath of fresh air to know that virtually anybody - from Nirvana to the three kids in the basement next door, playing Appalachian jug band folk songs - can walk up to Steve and record with him.
I suppose it's best to define "the Steve Albini sound" though, before we really get started. Albini is a no-bullshit engineer who, to the best of his ability (and it's an INCREDIBLE ability) tries to capture the sound of the band performing live. Most of the time the bands do exactly that, and while anybody can stick a mic or twenty in front of a band playing live in studio, it's the actual mic techniques, the dedication to capturing the natural room sound, the non-reliance on computers, and the basic "know your shit before you set up in studio with Steve" preparation that makes Albini's recordings sound so damn good.
So in celebration of this - and to bring greater appreciation to the breadth of music that sometimes never gets heard - I made this mini mix-tape-of-a-post celebrating the Unconventional Steve Albini: recordings that are antithetical to the common perception of the man, recordings that capture a mood, a sound not normally associated with the "recorded by Steve Albini" tag, etc. Basically, it's a fantastic compilation of wonderful songs, all recorded by Albini, that have nothing to do with noise rock, hardcore, "Chicago sound" punk, or what-have-you.
And I pre-emptively warn you (though you know... is there any other kind of warning than a pre-emptive one? Just asking...) however: There are some tracks here that will surprise you. Genres you'd never associate with Albini, or tracks you'd expect to hear at the local joint that has $1 Pabst drafts (or for those non-Americans, substitute your local hillbilly/redneck/low-class beer instead) for the regulars.
As with the blog's other compilations, I am not claiming this is anywhere close to definitive: by his own count, Albini has recorded thousands of projects. I only have perhaps, and this is a stretch, a hundred of them. If not less. So this is just the proverbial tip o' the ol' iceberg, as you will.
So let's roll the tapes...
- - - - -
RECORDED by STEVE ALBINI
17 "unconventional" songs recorded by Steve Albini
a powerofindependenttrucking.blogspot.com exclusive
- - - - -
01 THE NEW YEAR / Folios
From the 2008 Touch and Go LP The New Year
02 MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO / The Dark Don't Hide It
From the 2005 Secretly Canadian LP What Comes After The Blues
03 LOW / Dinosaur Act
From the 2001 Kranky LP Things We Lost In The Fire
04 PALACE MUSIC / More Brother Rides
From the 1995 Drag City LP Viva Last Blues
05 NINA NASTASIA & JIM WRIGHT / Odd Said The Doe
From the 2007 Touch and Go LP You Follow Me
06 JOEL R.L. PHELPS & THE DOWNER TRIO / Always Glide
From the 1998 Pacifico Recordings LP 3
07 SHANNON WRIGHT / Black Little Stray
From the 2004 Quarterstic Records LP Over The Sun
08 MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO / Hard To Love A Man
From the 2005 Secretly Canadian LP What Comes After The Blues
09 BEDHEAD / Parade
From the 1998 Trance Syndicate LP Transaction de Novo
10 LOW / Lion/Lamb
From the 1999 Kranky LP Secret Name
11 SILKWORM with KELLY HOGAN / Young
From the 2002 Touch and Go LP Italian Platinum
12 SONGS: OHIA / The Old Black Hen
From the 2003 Secretly Canadian LP Magnolia Electric Co
13 NINA NASTASIA / One Old Woman
From the 2006 Touch and Go LP On Leaving
14 MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO / Northstar Blues
From the 2005 Secretly Canadian LP What Comes After The Blues
15 SILKWORM / Goodnight Mr. Maugham
From the 1997 Matador LP Developer
16 THE NEW YEAR / 18
From the 2004 Touch And Go LP The End Is Near
17 MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO / I Can Not Have Seen The Light
From the 2005 Secretly Canadian LP What Comes After The Blues
- - - - -
enjoy! Grab the project here.
And if you have any suggestions of similar records that I've not covered, recorded by Albini, please drop a comment below!
I've always been more of a music than lyrics guy.
See, I think the best records are those records that you don't listen to for the effects or the singer's thoughts, you listen to for the music. The performances. The cohesive jelling of the band, performing their music, as one.
Oh I like those "studio creation" records as much as the next guy, because I think the studio - given the right circumstances and the right personnel - can be just as effective of a compositional tool as a band's jam session in the basement. But to me, nothing beats the sound of music performed by a well-rehearsed band, firing on all cylinders, captured in glorious room-sound-and-all recordings.
And the master of this is Steve Albini.
Now I'm no Albini fanboy (though I'm sure the world's laughing at that statement), because I know not everything he's touched is gold (last week's Bitch Magnet EP for starters). And the man records anything that comes his way and pays his fee (that's right, unlike any other "name" recordist/engineers (he hates the term "producer") out there, he charges a flat fee rather than royalty points), as long as he doesn't violently despise the music. And given the man's rep as a master noisemonger, it's a wonderful breath of fresh air to know that virtually anybody - from Nirvana to the three kids in the basement next door, playing Appalachian jug band folk songs - can walk up to Steve and record with him.
I suppose it's best to define "the Steve Albini sound" though, before we really get started. Albini is a no-bullshit engineer who, to the best of his ability (and it's an INCREDIBLE ability) tries to capture the sound of the band performing live. Most of the time the bands do exactly that, and while anybody can stick a mic or twenty in front of a band playing live in studio, it's the actual mic techniques, the dedication to capturing the natural room sound, the non-reliance on computers, and the basic "know your shit before you set up in studio with Steve" preparation that makes Albini's recordings sound so damn good.
So in celebration of this - and to bring greater appreciation to the breadth of music that sometimes never gets heard - I made this mini mix-tape-of-a-post celebrating the Unconventional Steve Albini: recordings that are antithetical to the common perception of the man, recordings that capture a mood, a sound not normally associated with the "recorded by Steve Albini" tag, etc. Basically, it's a fantastic compilation of wonderful songs, all recorded by Albini, that have nothing to do with noise rock, hardcore, "Chicago sound" punk, or what-have-you.
And I pre-emptively warn you (though you know... is there any other kind of warning than a pre-emptive one? Just asking...) however: There are some tracks here that will surprise you. Genres you'd never associate with Albini, or tracks you'd expect to hear at the local joint that has $1 Pabst drafts (or for those non-Americans, substitute your local hillbilly/redneck/low-class beer instead) for the regulars.
As with the blog's other compilations, I am not claiming this is anywhere close to definitive: by his own count, Albini has recorded thousands of projects. I only have perhaps, and this is a stretch, a hundred of them. If not less. So this is just the proverbial tip o' the ol' iceberg, as you will.
So let's roll the tapes...
- - - - -
RECORDED by STEVE ALBINI
17 "unconventional" songs recorded by Steve Albini
a powerofindependenttrucking.blogspot.com exclusive
- - - - -
01 THE NEW YEAR / Folios
From the 2008 Touch and Go LP The New Year
Twee pop and Steve Albini? You got it! Twee with a subverted twist of course...
02 MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO / The Dark Don't Hide It
From the 2005 Secretly Canadian LP What Comes After The Blues
Imagine you were given an extremely detailed blueprint of the typical Neil Young and Crazy Horse sound. Then, taking that blueprint, you made a record. This is what the Magnolia Electric Co (Jason Molina) tracks on this compilation sound like: Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" dissected, thrown into the Crazy Horse blender, and the results sliced/diced and recorded by Albini. Absolutely reverential, absolutely essential.
03 LOW / Dinosaur Act
From the 2001 Kranky LP Things We Lost In The Fire
The drums on this track are amazing - I imagine a giant, empty cavern, with a lonely drum kit in the middle, and microphones all around the walls - and the resulting recording being just of the room reverbs. Stellar.
04 PALACE MUSIC / More Brother Rides
From the 1995 Drag City LP Viva Last Blues
This sounds as if Albini showed up on Will Oldham's porch armed with a tape machine and microphones, and just started recording Will and the guys. Appalachian hillbilly porch music at its finest modern interpretation.
05 NINA NASTASIA & JIM WRIGHT / Odd Said The Doe
From the 2007 Touch and Go LP You Follow Me
Brooklyn singer/songwriter Nina Nastasia teams up with Dirty Three drummer Jim Wright to record a beautiful collection of tracks based on Nina's fragile voice, gentle guitars and White's fractured drumming.
06 JOEL R.L. PHELPS & THE DOWNER TRIO / Always Glide
From the 1998 Pacifico Recordings LP 3
Just beautiful, barebones acoustic guitar, drums, wistful pedal steel and Phelps' unique voice.
07 SHANNON WRIGHT / Black Little Stray
From the 2004 Quarterstic Records LP Over The Sun
A very loud, quiet electric guitar and powerful drumming song. Very dynamic and a great showcase for Shannon's powerful voice.
08 MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO / Hard To Love A Man
From the 2005 Secretly Canadian LP What Comes After The Blues
09 BEDHEAD / Parade
From the 1998 Trance Syndicate LP Transaction de Novo
This "slowcore" band from Dallas, TX made their final record (as Bedhead) with Albini, before "reforming" in 2001 as The New Year. Basically this band is the Kadane brothers with whomever plays with them. The New Year trends towards more upbeat, acoustic and/or piano-based stylings, while Bedhead was a bit louder but slower. If that makes any sense.
10 LOW / Lion/Lamb
From the 1999 Kranky LP Secret Name
11 SILKWORM with KELLY HOGAN / Young
From the 2002 Touch and Go LP Italian Platinum
Bassist Tim Midgett wrote this piano-based song for noted Chicago-based alt.country chantreuse Kelly Hogan to sing. Midgett, to this day, thinks this should have been a Nashville hit.
12 SONGS: OHIA / The Old Black Hen
From the 2003 Secretly Canadian LP Magnolia Electric Co
Jason Molina's first sessions with Albini produced this amazing record, after which he changed his band's name to the name of this album. This track features the outlaw country vocals of a Lawrence Peters and is perhaps among the least likely songs you'd picture Albini recording - but it's just plain beautiful. I love the harmonies on the chorus as well.
13 NINA NASTASIA / One Old Woman
From the 2006 Touch and Go LP On Leaving
I just love these drums.
14 MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO / Northstar Blues
From the 2005 Secretly Canadian LP What Comes After The Blues
15 SILKWORM / Goodnight Mr. Maugham
From the 1997 Matador LP Developer
Andy Cohen's simple acoustic number is just beautiful. I like the opening.
16 THE NEW YEAR / 18
From the 2004 Touch And Go LP The End Is Near
17 MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO / I Can Not Have Seen The Light
From the 2005 Secretly Canadian LP What Comes After The Blues
And off we go gently into that good night.
- - - - -
enjoy! Grab the project here.
And if you have any suggestions of similar records that I've not covered, recorded by Albini, please drop a comment below!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
indie postpunk pre-postrock: BITCH MAGNET
There have been three bands, or rather, two basic bands and another band that evolved from one of the basic bands, that I haven't been able to stop listening to for the past week or so.
So why not blog one of them? This week's particular band was on my future "I should probably blog these guys" list, but as is the case with most of my postings, bands move up and down the schedule - or are completely unplanned until I sit down to write the entry - with reckless abandon.
So, seeing as how last week we featured Slint, this week I chose one of Slint's compatriot bands, the North Carolina (by way of Oberlin College, Ohio) postrock pseudohardcore proto-math-rock combo Bitch Magnet. Slint and Bitch Magnet are related by band interbreeding, if you will: Slint's root band Squirrel Bait bequeathed Slint's Brian McMahan and Britt Walford, and that same band also bequeathed free agent guitarist David Grubbs, who played with Bitch Magnet for a duration.
But besides a terrific appreciation for dynamics, that's about the end of the similarities (though Slint's Tweez can be a good starting comparison point with Bitch Magnet in terms of dynamics, and raw sound). While a fan of Bitch Magnet will probably also enjoy Slint, fans of Slint's later material (i.e. Spiderland) may not appreciate the getting-away-from-hardcore basics underlying Bitch Magnet.
And besides, Bitch Magnet featured one of the BEST drummers ever in the annals of 1980s/1990s indierock, Orestes Delatorre (aka Orestes Morfin). The only comparison I can think of for Orestes's amazing drumming is Scratch Acid and Rapeman drummer Rey Washam - widely thought of as one of the greatest indierock drummers EVER. Orestes is absolutely up there with Rey: one of the best drummers I've ever heard, and criminally underrated amongst those who should know better (Pitchfork, I'm looking at you). There are transcendent moments all over the place with Orestes's drumming, touches such as the recurring "ting ting ting ting" of his bell-like ride cymbal slay me every time.
The only consistent Bitch Magnet members were Sooyoung Park (vocals, bass), Jon Fine (guitars), and Orestes (drums). Guitarist David Galt joined the band for their first full-length - 1989's Umber, and David Grubbs played on one track on 1990's Ben Hur. Galt did not play on Ben Hur.
Bitch Magnet's oeuvre was rather limited, with mainstream releases consisting of just a brief EP (1988's Star Booty) and the two previously-mentioned full-length albums. The band also released a few 7" and 12" singles, but those are VERY hard to find and I personally have never heard them.
Bitch Magnet broke up for unknown reasons following Ben Hur, with members going on to found Seam (Sooyoung Park), remaining in Bastro (David Grubbs), or disappear from the scene entirely (Orestes - though he did join Minnesota's Walt Mink for a brief spell in the mid 90s).
Star Booty, their 1988 debut EP, was engineered (or only mixed, the Internets are not clear on the details) by Steve Albini and I have to be honest here: it's really crap sounding. I wonder if the record label screwed something up in the mastering for release, because I'm really surprised such product passed Albini's legendary no-bullshit quality control. Granted I've not heard this on original vinyl, only the CD version - it's entirely possible the vinyl version sounds spectacular ;) The music is OK - I do like the proto-Seam melodicism of "Sea of Pearls", and "Hatpins" is a nice blast of 1980s hardcore, but overall this EP isn't what made me a Bitch Magnet fan. The songs eventually blur into a samey miasma that, while noisy, does seem lacking. (This EP was appended to the CD release of the following LP by their record label.)
Umber, the band's 1989 LP produced by Mike McMackin, is what made me a fan. I simply love this record. From wigout opener "Motor" to the understated beauty of the closer "Americruiser", the full 10-song set grabs you by the proverbial balls and never lets go. I hear audio references to Big Black and Scratch Acid (Austin, TX mid-1980s punk and Jesus Lizard ancestor) all over the place. "Navajo Ace" is a BLISTERING punk workout with some utterly jaw-dropping drumming courtesy Orestes. The languid soft/loud/soft dynamic beauty of "Clay" - another proto-Seam track - leads nicely into the very-Scratch Acid "Joan of Arc". Then we get an amazing quieter number "Douglas Leader", the first 2:30 or so consisting only of Sooyoung's gently-melodic bass and spoke/sung vocals. Orestes comes in with a nice touch in restrained drums, and finally we hear guitars washing over the track with icy-cold feedback. A standout. Then we have a few more brilliant post-punk mini-epics in a row, all with amazing drums and noisy guitars, and finally bring matters to a close with the stunningly beautiful "Americruiser". I can listen to this song on repeat all day, the gentle verses leading into the swelling choruses is so Seam-like it's ridiculous (and wonderful). And I have no idea what Sooyoung's vocals are about, though the musical phrase from his last vocal "sure could use a good place to sleep" leading into the overwhelming chorus of guitars and drums is spectacular. Yeah it sounds like Slint - but remember, this was before Slint's own take on this same style.
Overall rating? Almost 10 fucking stars.
1990 saw the band add Bastro's David Grubbs to replace the departing David Galt for one track (after touring with the band in 1989), and released the swan song LP Ben Hur (track 2 recorded by Howie Gano; tracks 4 and 8 recorded by McMackin; and tracks 1, 3, 5 and 7 by "Arden Geist" - which I suspect to be an Albini pseudonym, because 1) there is zero biographical, or anything for that matter, information on "Arden Geist" on the Internet besides mention of these particular BM tracks, and 2) the tracks bear every single hallmark of an Albini recording). While more a refinement of, than a dizzying progression from, the sound established with Umber, Ben Hur shows the band increasingly exploring a more textured side of their music: "Dragoon" is a nearly 10-minute epic beginning with feedback-laden guitar and Orestes' simple ride cymbal tings, before exploding into a melody-laced all-out assault of guitars, frenzied drumming and barely-audible spoken word vocals. "Valmead" (featuring a pseudonymous Grubbs as "Shannon Doughton") and "Gator" are instrumentals, "Valmead" exploring dissonance while "Gator" returns to Umber's pummelling in-your-face guitar and drum workouts. "Mesentery" is brilliant, while "Ducks and Drakes" and the amazing, beautiful closing track "Crescent" foreshadow Sooyoung's future Seam project: in fact "Crescent" could easily fit on either of Seam's first two LPs and nobody would bat an eye.
Overall rating? Not quite as strong as Umber, so almost 8 fucking stars. I wish the band explored more of the Seam/Slint textures they explored briefly on Umber, and touched on a bit here, and there are no absolute stunners (to me) on this record (as opposed to Umber, which features several), but this is still a fine, fine record the likes of which is almost never seen today.
I present all three records described above, slightly remastered for your listening pleasure, in glorious lossless FLAC. I really attempted to fix up Star Booty but essentially it's helpless, someone needs to revisit that from the original master reel.
- - - - -
BITCH MAGNET Essentials
remastered from redbook CD by thepowerofindependenttrucking.blogspot.com
- - - - -
STAR BOOTY (1988, Communion Records)
Recorded by - or only mixed by, it's unclear - Steve Albini
01 Carnation
02 C Word
03 Sea of Pearls
04 Hatpins
05 Knucklehead
06 Circle K
07 Polio
08 Cantaloupe
- - - - -
UMBER (1989, Communion Records)
Recorded by Mike McMackin
01 Motor
02 Navajo Ace
03 Clay
04 Joan of Arc
05 Douglas Leader
06 Goat-Legged Country God
07 Big Pining
08 Joyless Street
09 Punch and Judy
10 Americruiser
- - - - -
BEN HUR (1990, Communion Records)
1/3/5/7 recorded by "Arden Geist" (Albini)
2 recorded by Howie Gano
4/8 recorded by Mike McMackin
01 Dragoon
02 Valmead
03 Ducks and Drakes
04 Mesentery
05 Lookin' At The Devil
06 Gator
07 Spite y Malice
08 Crescent
- - - - -
edit #2: removed link. Watch for official deluxe reissues!
edit: some factual updates thanks to Fred in the comments...
enjoy!
So why not blog one of them? This week's particular band was on my future "I should probably blog these guys" list, but as is the case with most of my postings, bands move up and down the schedule - or are completely unplanned until I sit down to write the entry - with reckless abandon.
So, seeing as how last week we featured Slint, this week I chose one of Slint's compatriot bands, the North Carolina (by way of Oberlin College, Ohio) postrock pseudohardcore proto-math-rock combo Bitch Magnet. Slint and Bitch Magnet are related by band interbreeding, if you will: Slint's root band Squirrel Bait bequeathed Slint's Brian McMahan and Britt Walford, and that same band also bequeathed free agent guitarist David Grubbs, who played with Bitch Magnet for a duration.
But besides a terrific appreciation for dynamics, that's about the end of the similarities (though Slint's Tweez can be a good starting comparison point with Bitch Magnet in terms of dynamics, and raw sound). While a fan of Bitch Magnet will probably also enjoy Slint, fans of Slint's later material (i.e. Spiderland) may not appreciate the getting-away-from-hardcore basics underlying Bitch Magnet.
And besides, Bitch Magnet featured one of the BEST drummers ever in the annals of 1980s/1990s indierock, Orestes Delatorre (aka Orestes Morfin). The only comparison I can think of for Orestes's amazing drumming is Scratch Acid and Rapeman drummer Rey Washam - widely thought of as one of the greatest indierock drummers EVER. Orestes is absolutely up there with Rey: one of the best drummers I've ever heard, and criminally underrated amongst those who should know better (Pitchfork, I'm looking at you). There are transcendent moments all over the place with Orestes's drumming, touches such as the recurring "ting ting ting ting" of his bell-like ride cymbal slay me every time.
The only consistent Bitch Magnet members were Sooyoung Park (vocals, bass), Jon Fine (guitars), and Orestes (drums). Guitarist David Galt joined the band for their first full-length - 1989's Umber, and David Grubbs played on one track on 1990's Ben Hur. Galt did not play on Ben Hur.
Bitch Magnet's oeuvre was rather limited, with mainstream releases consisting of just a brief EP (1988's Star Booty) and the two previously-mentioned full-length albums. The band also released a few 7" and 12" singles, but those are VERY hard to find and I personally have never heard them.
Bitch Magnet broke up for unknown reasons following Ben Hur, with members going on to found Seam (Sooyoung Park), remaining in Bastro (David Grubbs), or disappear from the scene entirely (Orestes - though he did join Minnesota's Walt Mink for a brief spell in the mid 90s).
Star Booty, their 1988 debut EP, was engineered (or only mixed, the Internets are not clear on the details) by Steve Albini and I have to be honest here: it's really crap sounding. I wonder if the record label screwed something up in the mastering for release, because I'm really surprised such product passed Albini's legendary no-bullshit quality control. Granted I've not heard this on original vinyl, only the CD version - it's entirely possible the vinyl version sounds spectacular ;) The music is OK - I do like the proto-Seam melodicism of "Sea of Pearls", and "Hatpins" is a nice blast of 1980s hardcore, but overall this EP isn't what made me a Bitch Magnet fan. The songs eventually blur into a samey miasma that, while noisy, does seem lacking. (This EP was appended to the CD release of the following LP by their record label.)
Umber, the band's 1989 LP produced by Mike McMackin, is what made me a fan. I simply love this record. From wigout opener "Motor" to the understated beauty of the closer "Americruiser", the full 10-song set grabs you by the proverbial balls and never lets go. I hear audio references to Big Black and Scratch Acid (Austin, TX mid-1980s punk and Jesus Lizard ancestor) all over the place. "Navajo Ace" is a BLISTERING punk workout with some utterly jaw-dropping drumming courtesy Orestes. The languid soft/loud/soft dynamic beauty of "Clay" - another proto-Seam track - leads nicely into the very-Scratch Acid "Joan of Arc". Then we get an amazing quieter number "Douglas Leader", the first 2:30 or so consisting only of Sooyoung's gently-melodic bass and spoke/sung vocals. Orestes comes in with a nice touch in restrained drums, and finally we hear guitars washing over the track with icy-cold feedback. A standout. Then we have a few more brilliant post-punk mini-epics in a row, all with amazing drums and noisy guitars, and finally bring matters to a close with the stunningly beautiful "Americruiser". I can listen to this song on repeat all day, the gentle verses leading into the swelling choruses is so Seam-like it's ridiculous (and wonderful). And I have no idea what Sooyoung's vocals are about, though the musical phrase from his last vocal "sure could use a good place to sleep" leading into the overwhelming chorus of guitars and drums is spectacular. Yeah it sounds like Slint - but remember, this was before Slint's own take on this same style.
Overall rating? Almost 10 fucking stars.
1990 saw the band add Bastro's David Grubbs to replace the departing David Galt for one track (after touring with the band in 1989), and released the swan song LP Ben Hur (track 2 recorded by Howie Gano; tracks 4 and 8 recorded by McMackin; and tracks 1, 3, 5 and 7 by "Arden Geist" - which I suspect to be an Albini pseudonym, because 1) there is zero biographical, or anything for that matter, information on "Arden Geist" on the Internet besides mention of these particular BM tracks, and 2) the tracks bear every single hallmark of an Albini recording). While more a refinement of, than a dizzying progression from, the sound established with Umber, Ben Hur shows the band increasingly exploring a more textured side of their music: "Dragoon" is a nearly 10-minute epic beginning with feedback-laden guitar and Orestes' simple ride cymbal tings, before exploding into a melody-laced all-out assault of guitars, frenzied drumming and barely-audible spoken word vocals. "Valmead" (featuring a pseudonymous Grubbs as "Shannon Doughton") and "Gator" are instrumentals, "Valmead" exploring dissonance while "Gator" returns to Umber's pummelling in-your-face guitar and drum workouts. "Mesentery" is brilliant, while "Ducks and Drakes" and the amazing, beautiful closing track "Crescent" foreshadow Sooyoung's future Seam project: in fact "Crescent" could easily fit on either of Seam's first two LPs and nobody would bat an eye.
Overall rating? Not quite as strong as Umber, so almost 8 fucking stars. I wish the band explored more of the Seam/Slint textures they explored briefly on Umber, and touched on a bit here, and there are no absolute stunners (to me) on this record (as opposed to Umber, which features several), but this is still a fine, fine record the likes of which is almost never seen today.
I present all three records described above, slightly remastered for your listening pleasure, in glorious lossless FLAC. I really attempted to fix up Star Booty but essentially it's helpless, someone needs to revisit that from the original master reel.
- - - - -
BITCH MAGNET Essentials
remastered from redbook CD by thepowerofindependenttrucking.blogspot.com
- - - - -
STAR BOOTY (1988, Communion Records)
Recorded by - or only mixed by, it's unclear - Steve Albini
01 Carnation
02 C Word
03 Sea of Pearls
04 Hatpins
05 Knucklehead
06 Circle K
07 Polio
08 Cantaloupe
- - - - -
UMBER (1989, Communion Records)
Recorded by Mike McMackin
01 Motor
02 Navajo Ace
03 Clay
04 Joan of Arc
05 Douglas Leader
06 Goat-Legged Country God
07 Big Pining
08 Joyless Street
09 Punch and Judy
10 Americruiser
- - - - -
BEN HUR (1990, Communion Records)
1/3/5/7 recorded by "Arden Geist" (Albini)
2 recorded by Howie Gano
4/8 recorded by Mike McMackin
01 Dragoon
02 Valmead
03 Ducks and Drakes
04 Mesentery
05 Lookin' At The Devil
06 Gator
07 Spite y Malice
08 Crescent
- - - - -
edit #2: removed link. Watch for official deluxe reissues!
edit: some factual updates thanks to Fred in the comments...
enjoy!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
great record: SILKWORM Libertine (1994)
Sorry for the update delay, kids, real life does intrude occasionally and I've also been busy looking for that record. You know, the one that really strikes me as "hey, that's the one! That's the one I'm going to blog next!"...
And oddly enough, while I was already a fan of this week's artist, I never did have this particular record until yesterday. And I've spent the past 24 hours kicking myself in the ass for not discovering it sooner (though admittedly it HAS been physically out-of-print for some time).
Silkworm formed in the thriving postpunk hotbed of Missoula, Montana in 1987, then after spending much of their career in the Pacific Northwest, ended up in Chicago with longtime pal Steve Albini. Tracing a path from 70's retro homage to 80's postpunk to 90's angular indierock, Silkworm was a steady workaday band who reliably issued forth new records every couple years - until 2005, when long-loved drummer Mike Dahlquist was killed (with 2 co-workers) in a car accident near Chicago's Northwest Side by a foolish woman intent on ending her own life (she survived). Needless to say the band ended with this, though two of the members carry on today as part of Bottomless Pit.
Today's record is Silkworm's 1994 release Libertine, their last with founder member Joel Phelps on board (singer, guitars and songwriting). It's a great record that leaps stylistically from Pavement-ish skwonk (I made that word up) to Neil Young rustic to rhythmic postpunk to near Palace-esque Appalachia. They pull it off, somehow, and engineer Steve Albini (him again) captured the enormity of this band's sound just perfectly.
Recorded over a 4-day period in rural Minnesota in May 1994, this record has managed to claw its way to my Desert Island Disc selection in record time. I love the pacing, the songwriting, the rubbery basslines, the sometimes-Televisionesque guitars, the whole damn thing. The quasi-schizoid switching back and forth amongst three different singers (Phelps, bassist Tim Midgett, and guitarist Andy Cohen) just adds to the record's greatness. HIGHLY recommended.
From an archived Matador Records website:
And now you too can enjoy it!
SILKWORM
Libertine
1994 El Recordo, Ltd.
01 There Is A Party In Warsaw Tonight
02 Grotto Of Miracles
03 Cotton Girl
04 Yen + Janet Forever
05 Oh How We Laughed
06 The Cigarette Lighters
07 Couldn't You Wait?
08 A Tunnel
09 Written On The Wind
10 Wild In My Day
11 Bloody Eyes
EDIT: Removed at new label's request. The record is available digitally via new label Comedy Minus One so go forth and purchase, post-haste!
And oddly enough, while I was already a fan of this week's artist, I never did have this particular record until yesterday. And I've spent the past 24 hours kicking myself in the ass for not discovering it sooner (though admittedly it HAS been physically out-of-print for some time).
Silkworm formed in the thriving postpunk hotbed of Missoula, Montana in 1987, then after spending much of their career in the Pacific Northwest, ended up in Chicago with longtime pal Steve Albini. Tracing a path from 70's retro homage to 80's postpunk to 90's angular indierock, Silkworm was a steady workaday band who reliably issued forth new records every couple years - until 2005, when long-loved drummer Mike Dahlquist was killed (with 2 co-workers) in a car accident near Chicago's Northwest Side by a foolish woman intent on ending her own life (she survived). Needless to say the band ended with this, though two of the members carry on today as part of Bottomless Pit.
Today's record is Silkworm's 1994 release Libertine, their last with founder member Joel Phelps on board (singer, guitars and songwriting). It's a great record that leaps stylistically from Pavement-ish skwonk (I made that word up) to Neil Young rustic to rhythmic postpunk to near Palace-esque Appalachia. They pull it off, somehow, and engineer Steve Albini (him again) captured the enormity of this band's sound just perfectly.
Recorded over a 4-day period in rural Minnesota in May 1994, this record has managed to claw its way to my Desert Island Disc selection in record time. I love the pacing, the songwriting, the rubbery basslines, the sometimes-Televisionesque guitars, the whole damn thing. The quasi-schizoid switching back and forth amongst three different singers (Phelps, bassist Tim Midgett, and guitarist Andy Cohen) just adds to the record's greatness. HIGHLY recommended.
From an archived Matador Records website:
As has been their custom, Silkworm recorded Libertine cheaply and efficiently in a mid-Western recording studio after a lengthy gestation. Discerning listeners will notice the songs of the recording combine to form a compelling inner-rhythm and feel of a high-concept album due to a refinement in the playing and marked diversity in the songs themselves. Libertine includes several classics: Cohen's "Grotto of Miracles", Phelps' "Yen + Janet Forever" and Midgett's "Couldn't You Wait", to our ears the best composition by each of the three writers to date. Many memorable performances are captured on the record: "Written On The Wind" (a self-empowerment dirge), "The Cigarette Lighters" (hey, if W.D.C. can base an entire youth movement on a Gang of 4 rip, please allow this one song nod to Wire, O.K.?), and especially on "Wild In My Day" where the band meticulously recreated the sound and studio environment of the Wedding Present's Seamonsters LP (from the amp settings down to the string gauges and studio engineer).
At the conclusion of the recording the band was asked if they were comfortable with the Hendrix/Television/Band/Roxy Music genre they've invented. Tim Midgett replied "Oh yeah sure". So are we.
The band at the time of this record:
Joel R.L. Phelps -- Telecaster guitar, vocals ("Yen + Janet Forever", "Oh How We Laughed", "The Cigarette Lighters" & "A Tunnel"
Michael Dahlquist -- Drums
Tim Midgett -- Bass, vocals ("Cotton Girl", "Couldn't You Wait?", "Written On The Wind", "Wild In My Day", "Bloody Eyes")
Andrew Cohen -- Stratocaster guitar, vocals ("There Is A Party In Warsaw Tonight", "Grotto Of Miracles")
And now you too can enjoy it!
SILKWORM
Libertine
1994 El Recordo, Ltd.
01 There Is A Party In Warsaw Tonight
02 Grotto Of Miracles
03 Cotton Girl
04 Yen + Janet Forever
05 Oh How We Laughed
06 The Cigarette Lighters
07 Couldn't You Wait?
08 A Tunnel
09 Written On The Wind
10 Wild In My Day
11 Bloody Eyes
EDIT: Removed at new label's request. The record is available digitally via new label Comedy Minus One so go forth and purchase, post-haste!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
WILCO 26 June 2003 Philadelphia *mastered soundboard*
Several posts back, I suggested that the "4-piece" incarnation of WILCO from 2001-2003 was my favorite brand of Wilco, at least live. Frail band post-Jay Bennett, audibly searching for their place behind Jeff Tweedy choosing to carry the torch on lead guitar, performances completely challenging audiences, amazingly-dynamic performances, etc.
I'm not changing that opinion, but I've found an even better gig from that era that really shows the depth the band was able to develop relying solely on Jeff Tweedy as the lead guitar.
From June 28, 2003, this Philadelphia, PA soundboard recording - as good as it gets regarding non-official live Wilco - features the 4-piece lineup as a 5-piece, with the soon-to-officially-join-band Mikael Jorgenson on keyboards and laptop duties. Jorgenson enhances Tweedy's Television-esque guitar skronk with Mission of Burma-style loops and feedback (see the segue between "Reservations" and "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart", for example), and adds occasional piano and keyboards to the performance as well.
This gig has a really good early version of "Muzzle of Bees" done up electric style, in contrast to the stunning acoustic beauty of the recorded version on the band's 2004 LP A Ghost Is Born.
"At Least That's What You Said" ends on a very long, very impressive Tweedy electric guitar wigout, obviously influenced by the New York 1970's No Wave scene (think Richard Lloyd/Television). It's otherworldly, and probably the best pre-2004 performance of this track I've ever heard.
Furthermore, longtime band friend (and producer) Jim O'Rourke joins the participants onstage for a spectacular Loose Fur raveup on track 17 "Laminated Cat" (or "Not For The Season", call it what you will). It's by FAR the best performance of this track I've come across, and I've searched for many as it borders on my favorite live Wilco track of all time.
"Spiders (kidsmoke)" is (relatively) close to the version they'd capture on the Ghost LP, with a heavy Krautrock influence that would only get stronger on the LP version. And any Wilco fan will love the full-on guitar assault starting with "Red-Eyed and Blue" and ending on the vintage "Casino Queen".
This show betters the Tampa gig from 2002 that I previously posted, in all ways. And furthermore, it's been fixed up from what was circulating in the past, if you're at all even remotely a fan of the band I strongly suggest you grab this.
Lossless FLAC, even!
There is only one small, minute problem with this otherwise-spotless recording - apparently Tweedy is suffering from a loose guitar cable during the first 1/4 of "Misunderstood" which leads to ugly crackling in the right channel. But it would have sounded the same at the gig, too, so you take what you can get! Needless to say it does clear up and all ends up great.
WILCO
28 June 2003
Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
*mastered soundboard recording*
01 I'm Always In Love
02 Muzzle Of Bees
03 I'm The Man Who Loves You
04 Poor Places
05 Reservations
06 I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
07 War On War
08 At Least That's What You Said
09 Via Chicago
10 Jesus, etc.
11 Spiders (kidsmoke)
12 Red-Eyed and Blue
13 I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
14 We've Been Had (Uncle Tupelo)
15 Monday
16 Casino Queen
17 Not For The Season (or Laminated Cat, you choose) (with Jim O'Rourke)
18 Kicking Television
19 Misunderstood
20 California Stars
Split across 6 RAR files here.
enjoy!
I'm not changing that opinion, but I've found an even better gig from that era that really shows the depth the band was able to develop relying solely on Jeff Tweedy as the lead guitar.
From June 28, 2003, this Philadelphia, PA soundboard recording - as good as it gets regarding non-official live Wilco - features the 4-piece lineup as a 5-piece, with the soon-to-officially-join-band Mikael Jorgenson on keyboards and laptop duties. Jorgenson enhances Tweedy's Television-esque guitar skronk with Mission of Burma-style loops and feedback (see the segue between "Reservations" and "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart", for example), and adds occasional piano and keyboards to the performance as well.
This gig has a really good early version of "Muzzle of Bees" done up electric style, in contrast to the stunning acoustic beauty of the recorded version on the band's 2004 LP A Ghost Is Born.
"At Least That's What You Said" ends on a very long, very impressive Tweedy electric guitar wigout, obviously influenced by the New York 1970's No Wave scene (think Richard Lloyd/Television). It's otherworldly, and probably the best pre-2004 performance of this track I've ever heard.
Furthermore, longtime band friend (and producer) Jim O'Rourke joins the participants onstage for a spectacular Loose Fur raveup on track 17 "Laminated Cat" (or "Not For The Season", call it what you will). It's by FAR the best performance of this track I've come across, and I've searched for many as it borders on my favorite live Wilco track of all time.
"Spiders (kidsmoke)" is (relatively) close to the version they'd capture on the Ghost LP, with a heavy Krautrock influence that would only get stronger on the LP version. And any Wilco fan will love the full-on guitar assault starting with "Red-Eyed and Blue" and ending on the vintage "Casino Queen".
This show betters the Tampa gig from 2002 that I previously posted, in all ways. And furthermore, it's been fixed up from what was circulating in the past, if you're at all even remotely a fan of the band I strongly suggest you grab this.
Lossless FLAC, even!
There is only one small, minute problem with this otherwise-spotless recording - apparently Tweedy is suffering from a loose guitar cable during the first 1/4 of "Misunderstood" which leads to ugly crackling in the right channel. But it would have sounded the same at the gig, too, so you take what you can get! Needless to say it does clear up and all ends up great.
WILCO
28 June 2003
Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
*mastered soundboard recording*
01 I'm Always In Love
02 Muzzle Of Bees
03 I'm The Man Who Loves You
04 Poor Places
05 Reservations
06 I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
07 War On War
08 At Least That's What You Said
09 Via Chicago
10 Jesus, etc.
11 Spiders (kidsmoke)
12 Red-Eyed and Blue
13 I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
14 We've Been Had (Uncle Tupelo)
15 Monday
16 Casino Queen
17 Not For The Season (or Laminated Cat, you choose) (with Jim O'Rourke)
18 Kicking Television
19 Misunderstood
20 California Stars
Split across 6 RAR files here.
enjoy!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Fartpants: The Legacy of Iain Burgess
Iain Burgess died on Thursday, February 11, 2010 from complications due to pancreatic cancer.
He left a lasting legacy behind in the fantastic body of work he engineered, recorded, or produced, as an "architect" of the 1980s "Chicago Sound" style of melodic post-punk.
Iain came to Chicago from his native Weymouth, England just in time to witness the birth of a scene, and have his own hand in shaping and defining it.
Striking a deal with the owner of the megacorporate Chicago Recording Company studio in Chicago's pricey River North neighborhood, he would record bands in lightning sessions from the close of business on a Friday night, vacating just in time by the following Monday morning for the studio's corporate ad agency clients. These bands defined a scene, a style, an ethos. The scene spawned Steve Albini, for starters - and to this day Albini credits Iain for jumpstarting his own engineering career.
Iain's characteristic sound was once defined as the sound of a tank driving into World War III. The guitars are amazingly loud and in-your face, and the drums are often massively powerful. Yet each instrument had its perfect place in the mix - the style of music Iain typically recorded could just as easily have been one muddy, anamorphic mess (see Spot's SST productions). But what often resulted from these "bash 'em out" breakneck weekend recording sessions are pictures of clarity. Many an engineer can learn plenty just by listening to Iain's resume.
Iain lived out his dreams by relocating to provincial France and built an amazing residential studio complex, called Black Box, in the mid 1990s. While not as active as he was in the 1980s/early 1990s, Iain still hosted bands and engineered the odd session at Black Box even through this past January.
Pond at Black Box, France
It's really something how so many of my very favorite, or very sentimental, records from my teenage years have Iain's name printed on the back. It almost became that if it had Iain's name anywhere in the credits, you just knew it was gonna be good.
So in the spirit of the blog, I've put together a bracing compilation of selected works from Iain's long resume. While nowhere near definitive - not even in definitive's city - this collection is as good as any of an introduction to Iain's amazing talent in capturing the sound of an era.
The majority of these tracks were recorded by Iain and produced by him as well. A couple of them, namely the Rapeman and Nina Nastasia tracks, were only engineered by him - yet his fingerprints are all over the tracks. Nina Nastasia's selection was recorded at Black Box with Iain and Albini handling the recording.
Why "Fartpants"? Because Albini gave him that name long ago. Better than "Rumbleknickers", I suppose, which Pegboy calls him in the liner notes to their Strong Reaction / Three-Chord Monte CD.
- - - - - -
FARTPANTS
The Legacy of Iain Burgess
a Power of Independent Trucking Special
01 RIFLE SPORT Exploding Man (1990)
02 EFFIGIES Fly On A Wire (1985)
03 BHOPAL STIFFS Bottle It Up (1987)
04 NAKED RAYGUN Soldiers Requiem (1988)
05 BREAKING CIRCUS Song Of The South (1986)
06 BIG BLACK Passing Complexion (1986)
07 DIDJITS Joliet (1988)
08 NAKED RAYGUN I Don't Know (1984)
09 BLOODSPORT Better and Best (1985)
10 POSTER CHILDREN Question (1989)
11 BIG BLACK Il Duce (1985)
12 NAKED RAYGUN Managua (1984)
13 PEGBOY Through My Fingers (1990)
14 TAR Les Paul Worries (1990)
15 BIG BLACK Bad Houses (1986)
16 DEFOLIANTS Mr. Spy (1987)
17 POSTER CHILDREN Jeremy Straight (1989)
18 NAKED RAYGUN Vanilla Blue (1988)
19 RAPEMAN Dutch Courage (1988)
20 JAWBOX Static (1992)
21 PEGBOY Revolver (1994)
22 POSTER CHILDREN She Walks (1989)
23 NINA NASTASIA Superstar (2003)
24 NAKED RAYGUN New Dreams (1985)
Split across two RAR files available here.
RIP Iain, may you live on in your legacy......
He left a lasting legacy behind in the fantastic body of work he engineered, recorded, or produced, as an "architect" of the 1980s "Chicago Sound" style of melodic post-punk.
Iain came to Chicago from his native Weymouth, England just in time to witness the birth of a scene, and have his own hand in shaping and defining it.
Striking a deal with the owner of the megacorporate Chicago Recording Company studio in Chicago's pricey River North neighborhood, he would record bands in lightning sessions from the close of business on a Friday night, vacating just in time by the following Monday morning for the studio's corporate ad agency clients. These bands defined a scene, a style, an ethos. The scene spawned Steve Albini, for starters - and to this day Albini credits Iain for jumpstarting his own engineering career.
Iain's characteristic sound was once defined as the sound of a tank driving into World War III. The guitars are amazingly loud and in-your face, and the drums are often massively powerful. Yet each instrument had its perfect place in the mix - the style of music Iain typically recorded could just as easily have been one muddy, anamorphic mess (see Spot's SST productions). But what often resulted from these "bash 'em out" breakneck weekend recording sessions are pictures of clarity. Many an engineer can learn plenty just by listening to Iain's resume.
Iain lived out his dreams by relocating to provincial France and built an amazing residential studio complex, called Black Box, in the mid 1990s. While not as active as he was in the 1980s/early 1990s, Iain still hosted bands and engineered the odd session at Black Box even through this past January.
Pond at Black Box, France
It's really something how so many of my very favorite, or very sentimental, records from my teenage years have Iain's name printed on the back. It almost became that if it had Iain's name anywhere in the credits, you just knew it was gonna be good.
So in the spirit of the blog, I've put together a bracing compilation of selected works from Iain's long resume. While nowhere near definitive - not even in definitive's city - this collection is as good as any of an introduction to Iain's amazing talent in capturing the sound of an era.
The majority of these tracks were recorded by Iain and produced by him as well. A couple of them, namely the Rapeman and Nina Nastasia tracks, were only engineered by him - yet his fingerprints are all over the tracks. Nina Nastasia's selection was recorded at Black Box with Iain and Albini handling the recording.
Why "Fartpants"? Because Albini gave him that name long ago. Better than "Rumbleknickers", I suppose, which Pegboy calls him in the liner notes to their Strong Reaction / Three-Chord Monte CD.
- - - - - -
FARTPANTS
The Legacy of Iain Burgess
a Power of Independent Trucking Special
01 RIFLE SPORT Exploding Man (1990)
02 EFFIGIES Fly On A Wire (1985)
03 BHOPAL STIFFS Bottle It Up (1987)
04 NAKED RAYGUN Soldiers Requiem (1988)
05 BREAKING CIRCUS Song Of The South (1986)
06 BIG BLACK Passing Complexion (1986)
07 DIDJITS Joliet (1988)
08 NAKED RAYGUN I Don't Know (1984)
09 BLOODSPORT Better and Best (1985)
10 POSTER CHILDREN Question (1989)
11 BIG BLACK Il Duce (1985)
12 NAKED RAYGUN Managua (1984)
13 PEGBOY Through My Fingers (1990)
14 TAR Les Paul Worries (1990)
15 BIG BLACK Bad Houses (1986)
16 DEFOLIANTS Mr. Spy (1987)
17 POSTER CHILDREN Jeremy Straight (1989)
18 NAKED RAYGUN Vanilla Blue (1988)
19 RAPEMAN Dutch Courage (1988)
20 JAWBOX Static (1992)
21 PEGBOY Revolver (1994)
22 POSTER CHILDREN She Walks (1989)
23 NINA NASTASIA Superstar (2003)
24 NAKED RAYGUN New Dreams (1985)
Split across two RAR files available here.
RIP Iain, may you live on in your legacy......
Saturday, February 13, 2010
RIP Iain Burgess, legendary punk engineer
I've profiled him before on these pages and I will put together a more comprehensive "best-of" compilation of tracks he was involved in.
Legendary architect of the 1980s "Chicago Sound" of punk rock, Iain Burgess died on Thursday of complications from pancreatic cancer.
Steve Albini wrote a beautiful post with stories about Iain's generosity here.
RIP Iain.
Legendary architect of the 1980s "Chicago Sound" of punk rock, Iain Burgess died on Thursday of complications from pancreatic cancer.
Steve Albini wrote a beautiful post with stories about Iain's generosity here.
RIP Iain.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
FOUL v2.0: the Jesus Lizard '89-'94, remastered
Sorry for the long delay folks, though I guess it's not THAT long.
As we wait for the Recycle blog to post the next installment of the Joy Division series (again, prepared by your humble blogger), I've decided to revisit a (fairly) popular previous post on this very blog.
About a year ago I presented a "best-of", or a taster package, what have you, of that very awesome Chicago band the Jesus Lizard. It was one of the more popular posts here, and suffered through a couple file deletions by the powers that be.
Since that post, the entire Jesus Lizard oeuvre - on legendary Chicago label Touch and Go, that is - has been remastered by none other than Bob Weston and Steve Albini themselves. This is fantastic because both are about as bullshit-free as it gets regarding audio engineering, and both think the modern brickwall mastering style is horseshit (see the "loudness war" links over there on the right).
So when the news came that the tJL catalog was getting the Weston treatment (essentially, all the tracks that the band recorded with Albini) by being remastered at Weston's own Chicago Mastering Service - with Albini overseeing the process, I nearly crapped my pants.
And the wait was very much well worth it.
One of the really fantastic things about this set of remasters is that it gave me the chance to reappraise the band's final Touch and Go album, 1994's Down. I had previously dismissed this record as the weakest one in the bunch - and barely gave it a fair shake. I included tracks from it in my last tJL post just to do so, not because I necessarily liked them all that much. On reappraisal, however - and the improved mastering certainly hasn't hurt - I really love this record. It's not their best record per-se, but it sounds FANTASTIC and there are some stellar songs that need to be heard.
So today I'm posting an updated and expanded version of my prior FOUL compilation - this time, with all tracks from the remastered albums, and expanded to include some of the critical-to-my-ears bonus tracks included with the reissues. Alas, this also necessitated the growth from one CD to two, but hey - who's going to complain when they have more Jesus Lizard to listen to?
So on with it!
the JESUS LIZARD
FOUL v2.0: the Jesus Lizard 89-94, compiled: the remastered editions
See the prior post for the complete illustrated discography.
01 Blockbuster (studio)
02 Chrome
03 One Evening
04 S.D.B.J.
05 My Own Urine
06 If You Had Lips
07 7 vs. 8
08 Waxeater
09 Tight 'N Shiny
10 Then Comes Dudley
11 Mouth Breather
12 Nub
13 Seasick
14 Monkey Trick
15 Lady Shoes
16 Pop Song
17 Wheelchair Epidemic
18 Dancing Naked Ladies (single version)
19 Blockbuster (live 4 Dec. 1992 9:30 Club, Washington DC)
- cd break here -
20 Boilermaker (Idful Studio Sessions demo)
21 Gladiator (Idful Studio Sessions demo)
22 Boilermaker
23 Gladiator
24 Puss
25 Whirl
26 Rope
27 Zachariah
28 Dancing Naked Ladies
29 Glamorous
30 Fly On The Wall
31 Countless Backs Of Sad Losers
32 The Associate
33 Destroy Before Reading
34 Low Rider
35 The Best Parts
36 Panic In Cicero
sources:
1-9 Head/Pure 2009 remastered reissue
10-16 Goat 2009 remastered reissue
19 bootleg soundboard recording
17-18, 20-28 Liar 2009 remastered reissue
29-36 Down 2009 remastered reissue
All tracks originally issued on Touch and Go Records except where noted
1 originally from the EP Pure (1989)
2 originally from 7" single (1990)
3-9 originally from the LP Head (1990)
10-15 originally from the LP Goat (1991)
16 originally from the Dope, Guns and Fucking #7 7" on Amphetamine Reptile (1991)
17-18 originally from 7" single (1992)
20-21 originally from Australian 7" on Insipid (1992)
22-28 originally from the LP Liar (1992)
29 originally from the EP Lash (1993)
30-35 originally from the LP Down (1994)
36 originally from the Clerks soundtrack LP on Sony (1994)
3 RAR files, 320kbps MP3, here!
enjoy!
As we wait for the Recycle blog to post the next installment of the Joy Division series (again, prepared by your humble blogger), I've decided to revisit a (fairly) popular previous post on this very blog.
About a year ago I presented a "best-of", or a taster package, what have you, of that very awesome Chicago band the Jesus Lizard. It was one of the more popular posts here, and suffered through a couple file deletions by the powers that be.
Since that post, the entire Jesus Lizard oeuvre - on legendary Chicago label Touch and Go, that is - has been remastered by none other than Bob Weston and Steve Albini themselves. This is fantastic because both are about as bullshit-free as it gets regarding audio engineering, and both think the modern brickwall mastering style is horseshit (see the "loudness war" links over there on the right).
So when the news came that the tJL catalog was getting the Weston treatment (essentially, all the tracks that the band recorded with Albini) by being remastered at Weston's own Chicago Mastering Service - with Albini overseeing the process, I nearly crapped my pants.
And the wait was very much well worth it.
One of the really fantastic things about this set of remasters is that it gave me the chance to reappraise the band's final Touch and Go album, 1994's Down. I had previously dismissed this record as the weakest one in the bunch - and barely gave it a fair shake. I included tracks from it in my last tJL post just to do so, not because I necessarily liked them all that much. On reappraisal, however - and the improved mastering certainly hasn't hurt - I really love this record. It's not their best record per-se, but it sounds FANTASTIC and there are some stellar songs that need to be heard.
So today I'm posting an updated and expanded version of my prior FOUL compilation - this time, with all tracks from the remastered albums, and expanded to include some of the critical-to-my-ears bonus tracks included with the reissues. Alas, this also necessitated the growth from one CD to two, but hey - who's going to complain when they have more Jesus Lizard to listen to?
So on with it!
the JESUS LIZARD
FOUL v2.0: the Jesus Lizard 89-94, compiled: the remastered editions
See the prior post for the complete illustrated discography.
01 Blockbuster (studio)
02 Chrome
03 One Evening
04 S.D.B.J.
05 My Own Urine
06 If You Had Lips
07 7 vs. 8
08 Waxeater
09 Tight 'N Shiny
10 Then Comes Dudley
11 Mouth Breather
12 Nub
13 Seasick
14 Monkey Trick
15 Lady Shoes
16 Pop Song
17 Wheelchair Epidemic
18 Dancing Naked Ladies (single version)
19 Blockbuster (live 4 Dec. 1992 9:30 Club, Washington DC)
- cd break here -
20 Boilermaker (Idful Studio Sessions demo)
21 Gladiator (Idful Studio Sessions demo)
22 Boilermaker
23 Gladiator
24 Puss
25 Whirl
26 Rope
27 Zachariah
28 Dancing Naked Ladies
29 Glamorous
30 Fly On The Wall
31 Countless Backs Of Sad Losers
32 The Associate
33 Destroy Before Reading
34 Low Rider
35 The Best Parts
36 Panic In Cicero
sources:
1-9 Head/Pure 2009 remastered reissue
10-16 Goat 2009 remastered reissue
19 bootleg soundboard recording
17-18, 20-28 Liar 2009 remastered reissue
29-36 Down 2009 remastered reissue
All tracks originally issued on Touch and Go Records except where noted
1 originally from the EP Pure (1989)
2 originally from 7" single (1990)
3-9 originally from the LP Head (1990)
10-15 originally from the LP Goat (1991)
16 originally from the Dope, Guns and Fucking #7 7" on Amphetamine Reptile (1991)
17-18 originally from 7" single (1992)
20-21 originally from Australian 7" on Insipid (1992)
22-28 originally from the LP Liar (1992)
29 originally from the EP Lash (1993)
30-35 originally from the LP Down (1994)
36 originally from the Clerks soundtrack LP on Sony (1994)
3 RAR files, 320kbps MP3, here!
enjoy!
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