Buttshakers Vol 4

I reviewed volume one or two of this awhile ago. House Party on one wax platter. Just get it. Shouters,Squawkers,Bar Walkers. Tunes that get it done.
Marvelle and the Blue Mats is a killer. Lynn Minor drops a pretty textbook track for this comp series. Mel Brown drops "chicken fat" for the organ grinders.

You know you are dealing with some rare records when google comes up empty handed.
I guess the only question is how did I miss Volume 3?

Relatively Clean Rivers. Rural Rockers

Pavement stretched out into some territory that was pretty much the Grateful Dead's and they did a lot to make that country-pysch rock thing palatable to kids born in the 70s.
Never been able to get down with the Dead-and I am clear on how many bands I do like are clearly in the same vein. Regardless can't do it. Relatively Clean Rivers are a mid 70s band who get genre-checked as acid-folk, country-rock, pastoral, and most notably my new favorite category rural rocker!
Got the frowned upon Radioactive Records CD.(label sucks cause they don't give money to the bands/songwriters). 9 tracks that do pretty good to live up to and occasionally defy genre expectations and stereotypes. Make no mistake this is some mandatory organic sandals and composting everything commune rock, but it's mid 70s time frame has some synth type stuff sneaking around. One thing I like is no song sprawls on for more than 6 minutes.
I think the mids 70s recording time frame also gives it a post-manson family summer of love failure vibe that takes the edge off what could be unbearable flower power positivism. There is also a few jabs at some Far-Eastern sounds.
This is what I wished a lot of the krsna related records I dug up sounded like.

I have never understood the people that post audio files on youtube with static pictures of an album cover or spinning record, but this is the 2nd track from the RCR record.

Moondog

Growing up wasn't easy for the youth crew. Just look at this B-team "gorilla biscuits" line up. Porcell and TC3? This was definitely the awkward larval stage before Quicksand and Civ would appear. Not to be a hater, but tanks tops, long hair, and creepers?? What is this the 2nd Uniform Choice LP?
The looks might not have been up to par, but "coded messages in slowed down songs" turned out a lot better
For example-the Moondog demo. Walter was really pushing the envelope with this. For years, I had a shitty tape copy of the demo. Thanks to the internet, you can buy a digital version that seems to sound as bad as my x-generation copy.
Regardless, these songs were sick. Pointing the way towards Quicksand. Some-like The Distance turned up in the last gasp of GB and others turn up on the Civ discography CD that equal vision put out.
I wish Quicksand had recorded some of these. They deserved to be preserved with way better sound quality.
I remember standing outside the Safari Club in DC when I was in college waiting for a Moondog/Burn show. Club never opened. Don't know if it was the bands fault or the club, but I remember waiting for at least 2 hours for something to happen. Would have been stoked to see some odd Moondog lineup.
Another cool Walter related thing can be found here. GB LP with him doing vocals....

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!

genius

this is funnier than the cyclocross hipster video. xtranormal is pretty rad