Food for Thought

"In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other." - From his final address at the Constitutional Convention
Ben Franklin

Cue Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin....


Heard this in an interview with Jay Parini on Onpoint this morning. This book will be on my xmas list.

Vegan Cheese

bear with me on this. Record collector's all have trigger words, whether its freakbeat, folk-psych, boris, Sunn, there are certain things that make your ears perk up and take notice. Lungfish is high on the list of things that start my nerd antenna's quivering. So it was no surprise that upon reading about a TX psych-doom band covering Lungfish, I was buying it as fast as my fingers could fly.
There were some obvious warning signs, but there was no way I wasn't rolling the dice-especially after AQ describes some Deep Purplesque organ work....
A few days later the goods arrive. Nice screen printed cover, white wax. Arclight is the label out of Austin.
Tia Carrera(name should have made me more skeptical. Wayne's World? Come on) stretch out "You are the War" from Feral Hymns(another warning sign-not one of my favorite Lungfish records) over both sides of a 7"(1 song 7"?-another warning sign). In addition to the organ stomp, there is some serious guitar attack on the first side-which is all instrumental. Wah Wah Heaven. They definitely bring it down to a more doom stomp rather than the more hypnotic repetitive way Lungfish do it. 7" might not be the best format for this as you have to flip it, but the sides can sort of stand independently if you(like me) are not savvy enough to digitally meld it into one opus. As far as the vocals, no one is touching Higgs so maybe they could have kept it all instrumental.
So why is this post called Vegan Cheese? cause this single reminds me of when vegans tell you that such and such a food tastes "just like cheese". It never does. The taste may be good, but it is never as described. That is how I feel about this cover. It is good and makes good use of the original, but it really leaves me wanting to listen to the real thing.
So that is a lot of words for an oddball 7".

I guess Higgs related things happen in threes because I heard about this, his NYC art show, and got his new solo record all within a few days. How long do I have to wait for the next triad to manifest?

Daniel Higgs Hymprovisations for Banjo by (A*I*U)

Ideal Recordings dropped this. 2007 recorded in Paris and Orkney Island. Higgs and the Orkneys with piano and raindrops? Weird Beards everywhere tremble with anticipation. Maybe from this tour? His last few records have shown a real strong progression and this one continues that evolution. The appalachian ragga thing I liked is still there, but with some cool new twists and some dissonant almost rockish melodies. Maybe some single note ginnish shredding,but don't get your hopes up for anything too Discordian. He is becoming a much stronger player. First side was my favorite. The odd field recording sounds turn up on side 2. 2nd track on side 2 is pretty amazing. He really does seem to just manifest these jams or receive,perform, and record as it says on the back of the LP. Intense and visceral.
Layout and graphics are basic black, minimalist, and hand screened. Have not figured out the riddle of his drawing on the cover.limited to 500.
Have to dump this onto my IPod for the road trip down to see this!