Congrats to Kira Roessler and the Mad Max : Fury Road sound editing team for winning an oscar last night. How much more feminist and cool is this movie now that you know legendary Black Flag / DC3 / DOS bass player worked on this film too?
This also isn't her first major award as she has already won several Emmy's for her sound work and her IMDB page tells us that she has over 50 credits in the film and television industry. So for those wondering what ever happened to Kira, there ya go - kicking ass for over 30 years.
Let's now enjoy her bass playing in Black Flag circa 1984.
Oakland, CA 5 piece Naked Lights has a brand new record out via Castle Face Records (WARNING: there is a flashing graphic on this label site that is not friendly to those of us with seizure tendencies). The band's genetic pool is embedded with post-punk rhythms, avant garde no wavery, and vocal jabs ALA Bow Wow Wow, Suburban Lawns, Pylon, and Bush Tetras. On Nature delivers a level of quality songwriting that will place it among the top tier of this genre; think: The Fall, Gang of Four, and This Heat's best album Deceit.
Among the groups two guitar players, one of them occasionally takes on a frantic early '90s post-hardcore bursts that could be taken from Rye Coalition's earliest recordings (Kitty cat, where's the money at?) but then its thrown into a blender with something much closer to the organized chaos of Pere Ubu and DNA or maybe a swarm of bees. Lyrical themes of the record include Werner Herzog rants, carnivore / omnivore ecosystems, and sexual tensions - all of which makes for a smart, artful, and interesting listening from start to finish.
This is the first release to make my 2016 best of list.
The music industry may not be selling as many records but the music fan has not gone away. In fact there are more ways than ever people who love music can discover new artists (previously left to bands who were on big record labels, were played on the radio, or toured a often) Thanks to the world wide web, there are thousands of ways and platforms for people to find new music or learn more about a band. The marketing oportunities for an artist in the modern world are bountiful. We have more avenues than ever to get our music heard, gain exposure, and to reach / interact with fans.
This brings me to the soulful yet childlike voice of Roarke.
A few days ago I had never heard of her but a quick internet search not only revealed the artist behind a voice in a television commercial but it also showed me just how many people where like me, also looking to find out who this musician was. People are listening and care enough to try and find more music by this artist.
A new advertising campaign kicked off for the University of Phoenix on February 12th. It features a remake of "If I Only Had a Brain" from the Wizard of Oz. For one minute, the listener hears a woman's voice singing along to a piano. The lyrics from this song (written by Arlen/ Harburg) first heard in 1939 have been updated but it is her fragile voice that draws you in. We the viewer and listener know this is just an advertisement but the attack of the song (meaning the voice singing the jingle) sells the idea of an already hard working individual trying to better his or her self. We see and hear a struggle for a better life - not just for themselves but for their family. The premise is that increasing your education can bring positive change in your life. Through education new jobs, more money, and a better life awaits. This is a big message to try and push in 60 seconds. This is a lot of pressure to put on an advertising agency who is hired to deliver this sales pitch. The sales angle is key but the power of song to knock this message out of the park is more evident than ever.
From the looks of the response on social media (and yes, loads of insulting Youtube comment too), people are curious about the woman behind this voice.
For those who want to hear more from the NYC musician, here is her Soundcloud page where you can hear some original material and lots of covers versions of everything from Nirvana to The Pixies and Karen O.
A potent three piece band is a thing of beauty. Each member owns a huge and powerful piece of the audio real estate. This set up allows each member's playing technique and style to shine through. They can be as dense or as minimal in their attack of the song as they see fit but whatever the choice, all three sides of the triangle offer a necessary side to the structure.
Eight Bells approach heavy music as an atmospheric chorus soaked in fuzz and delay, They lead me to believe that if Lemmy had remained in Hawkwind, this is perhaps what we could have expected. Their atmospheric dirge is illuminated by two voices that together paint a dramatic landscape filled with contrast and beauty.
Landless is the second album from this Portland, OR trio featuring Melynda Jackson formerly of SubArachnoid Space, Haley Westeiner, and Ray Amitay of Immortal Bird. I was recently introduced to the band as one of the openers on the current Voivod tour; another metal band that expands the boundary of what defines heavy music through experimentation. Silk is composed of a prism like fibers that comes across as reflective, sleek, and flexible yet it is also the strongest of all the natural fabrics. Pound for pound when the threads are weaved together, it is stronger than steel. This is the music of Eight Bells, exactly.
Here is a live video of the band from the show I saw at Strange Matter in Richmond, VA.
I never had the opportunity to see the mighty Pylon but this show sounds like a respectable plan B. Pylon vocalist Vanessa Brisco Hay is performing her songs with Athens musicians dubbed the Pylon Reenactment Society with Dressy Bessy as the opening band. Road trip!
And this first video was my introduction to them in high school.
Catalog Songs of Praise 1987 - Further / Mute Blowtorch - 1988 - Torso Sourpuss - 1989 - Blast first (Jon Langford produced) Belinda Backwards - 1991 blast first (and I am sure I am missing some!) Singles :
Band of Susans split 7" 1989 - Blast First
Wedding Present split flexi 1993 Ablaze! Magazine insert
Hometown- Sheffield, UK
They are a perfect blend of so many genres and bands I love…only A.C. Temple was doing it before many of these newer groups. I was undeniably an old school emo indie rocker kid (still am I suppose minus the kid part) so my point of reference here is the early to middle years of Dischord Records. Some of the great guitar bands to come from San Diego like Pitchfork and Drive Like Jehu. The classic Chicago / Touch and Go sound. American and British variations of Riot Grrrl. Anything Sub Pop from the late 80’s up until the mid 90’s. UK and US 90’s shoegaze and last but not least the more slightly dissonant noisy groups like Sonic Youth.
In high school I didn’t know about groups like Lilliput, Kleenex, Delta 5, The Slits, The Au Pairs,Th' Faith Healers, The Raincoats….but I have discovered these artists between 1988 and now and still I wonder how A.C. Temple records didn’t make their way into my collection sooner. This band and their catalog of music is equally as poignant and pertinent as any of these other groups yet for some reason A.C. Temple never made it to the underground music hall of fame.
Does A.C. Temple really fit into the same musical family as ALL the groups mentioned above?
YES! (I suspect for some people this group might sound a little too derivative of that decade but they were ahead of their time damn it so be nice!)
Phew! These southern California born sisters Chelsea and Justine Brown are busy. Let me try to map it all out here.
First we have Summer Twins which matches something like She & Him aesthetically (but She & She) as well as musically IE highly stylized and with a '60s vintage guitar pop sound. They released a brand new album towards the end of last year entitled Limbo.
They are also members of the Honey Power music and arts collective of ladies who DJ, make zines, host events, and release mixes.
They work at a family owned business called Dee-Lux and as you might guess, they are a vintage clothing store which makes the sisters fashion sense all the more special because of the connection to their parents.
In 1969 Peter Howell and and his musical partner John Fernando (prolific writers) recorded and released a private press album that was a soundtrack for an underground film entitled Tomorrow Come Someday, limited to less than 100 copies. The musical comedy is based around the idea of a town "threatened by a motorway expansion, and the efforts of short skirted guitar-slinging young painter Emma Stacey and a local boy to save the day". Light in the Attic is offering a re-release of this LP along with the DVD debut of the film as a double disc set that also carries a nice sized booklet with lots of photos that tell the full story of this film and recording.
Musically speaking, imagine the kitchen sink tales of The Kinks as told by Vashti Bunyan or Nico.
Currently I am sitting in a New Jersey hotel room watching the finest of snow make its way down. It looks like the sky is giving us a dusting of powder sugar for breakfast. This soft early morning winter light has me thinking of the Toronto band Fresh Snow. While they are a band of 4 gents, there is one song that features Carmen Elle (Army Girls / Diana) on vocals. I love the ominous John Carpenter soundtrack feel with a Pop overtone. It makes my skin crawl and yet I want to dance too.
Ratka says they are not trying to attach themselves to any specific genre (peace-punk, anarcho, death rock, goth, post-punk) however the group's desert island picks in a 2014 cvltnation.com interview were intriguing enought that I was inspired to check out their music for myself.
Q:A question I ask all bands: If you all were stranded on a desert island, and somehow magically had the means to play records, but could only take 5 records with you, what would those 5 records be?
Natha: Big Boys records and definitely Ramones.
Laura: Hahaha, maybe Cólera Pela “Paz em Todo Mundo” LP, Crass’s 7’’ EP “Nagasaki Nightmare,” Gauze’s “Fuckheads” LP, Las Otras’ “Devolver el Golpe” LP, and Ras Michael and Sons of Negus LP. Nyahbinghi compilation.
Paula: This is so hard. Om, “Advaitic Songs“; Pedro Santos, “Krishnanda“; Spacemen 3, “Playing with Fire“; Dead Can Dance, “Spiritchaser“; Pink Floyd, “Live at Pompeii.”
Carla: Melody Nelson, Serge Gainsbourg. Universal Consciousness, Alice Coltrane. Ramones, Ramones. Black Ark in Dub, Lee Perry. Garlands, Cocteau Twins. Future Days, Can.
Ratka's music definitely reminds me of an '80s crust punk band slowed down with a delay pedal and extra reverb to a speed better suited for slow motion head banging in a cave.
Ava Luna has always interested me because this 5 piece NYC group gracefully combines the impossible - Prince and the Revolution recreating a Dirty Projector's album.
Member Felicia Douglass is also one half of Gemma who released As Ever last October. I can't decide was I like most about this smart, modern R&B duo; the undeniable chemistry or fresh song structures that are complex and strong without being dense much like a spider's web. The backdrop is lacey, clever electronics paired with a soulful voice that avoids showy acrobatics by tactfully weaving herself into the body of music. This versatile body of work bridges the likes of Stones Throw Records art-hop to Domino Records electro-pop.
Bands like Kiss, The Stooges, and the Ramones never appealed to me as a kid mostly because it seemed like a boys club. I liked heavy music but by the late '80s most of the hardcore and metal scene felt almost exclusively made by men and for men. The audience included women however at shows women were rarely up front by the stage where the pit was often violent or targeted any girl who dare enter that frenzied male dominated arena.
It was frustrating to like a style of music, have the same aggression and teenage hormones as the boys in the room, but still feel pushed to the back of the room and unwelcomed. It wasn't until 1990 that I discovered bands like L7, Babes in Toyland, STP, Hole, and Lunachicks who were the first women I had ever seen not just play heavy music but dominate it. These bands were a tight unit of girls that looked like a gang (minus Hole who had a male member) and I wanted to be a part of. They were tough, loud, could play their instruments, drank, spit, cursed, screamed, had tattoos, performed in filthy dark clubs, and proved to me that there was room in punk / grunge / metal for ladies too.
These women all seemed fearless and each member took on a slightly different shade of rebellion so there was room to be as feminine, masculine, or anything in between you felt best fit you. This is the stuff of awe to a teenage girl who didn't think there was room for women in hard rock. Riot Grrrl was just starting to bubble up on the other side of the country so for those of us who were teens in the '80s looking for women to inspire us on a stage who were loud and angry, these were our heroines and they came first.
The Lunachicks were perhaps the biggest influence to me because I could see them perform the most often. They were a New York City all female band who played NY and NJ relatively often from the late '80s through the '90s. I enjoyed that they played heavy / fast music and looked tougher than any guy I knew. I mean this was a band that looked tougher than any local male musicians I knew and they were heavily tattooed before this was cool or accepted in popular culture. Hell, one of the members was a tattoo artist, something incredibly bad ass to teenage me.
Their vocalist Theo Kogan depending on her over the top theatrical costume choices could also rival an exoctic runway model. She could magically morph herself into any freak character, had a sense of humor, carried kitsch like an extreme version of the B-52s, but was still insanely strong. I had never seen a women present such a intense balance of feminine and masculine characteristics.
I worshipped the Lunachicks but sort of feared for my life in their presence too. It was a lot to process while I was in high school trying to feel comfortable in my own skin but they were the perfect storm of bold to give me the inspiration to join a band a few years later. They are also probably why I got my first tattoo as a senior in high school much to everyone's horror. They and L7 are also why I had dreads in 1990. They were also the first band to deliver a mosh pit that welcomed women which is something to this day I rarely see. Thanks ladies.
I don't have many fears but being locked alone in a tight space without light would be on the short list. A deep depression is much like this, it can feel like you are alone, lost, and trapped in a place of darkness with not hope of escape. Daughter's new and second album is an unabashed display of sadness and varying scales of black and grey. Thematically this does not stray far from their debut If You Leave however the music and the production this time around place a magnifying glass to the ripples of quiet gloom and here you have amplified swells of heartache bringing them closer to a post-rock band like Mogwai or Sigur Ros with the voice much like Margo Timmins from from Cowboy Junkies (smokey hush).
My introduction to the band came through the film A Long Way Down and their single "Youth". It seems in hindsight that this match of film to band couldn't have been more appropriate. It is film dedicated to the concept of suicide of what it takes to step back of that ledge to keep on living. If there was a body of music that places you teetering on that ledge, feeling the combination of grief and the weightlessness of leaving it all behind, English band Daughter's catalog is that.
My only complaint is that after two records of heartache going from subtle to a little louder, I would like to hear other colors in the band's emotional pallet. It doesn't matter how gorgeous your hamster wheel is, you are still going around in sad little circles.
The '60s offered quite a few campy beach movies with ginchy musical numbers featuring kids dancing along in wild appreciation. One of my favorites of this genre stars Nancy Sinatra who also performs a song in the 1966 classic The Ghost Of the Invisible Bikini. It's packs a one two punch of comedy-kiddie horror meets an excuse to parade good looking college kinds in bathing suits who writhe with pleasure to those crazy sounds of surf guitars. Yummy!
(Nancy performs at the 13:50 mark but here is the whole film for your viewing pleasure)
The She-Devils are a boy/girl Montreal duo that electronically reproduces these retro beachy tunes to perfection. They have even mastered the snap, crackle, and pop of an old record to make their brand of dreamy pop all the more vintage. I highly recommend checking out their new EP which is out now. The lead single "Come" is posted below.
A group like Noonday Underground have come before them to blend mod, soul, and bubblegum to sophisticated UK breakbeats but this is the first time I have heard someone come this close to recreating Nancy Sinatra's dead pan sex kitten voice. If you loved Mad Men for their thoughtful recreation of another time, The She-Devils will be the olive in your martini.
I have a review to post but that will happen tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy one of my favorite bands Girls at Our Best. They were from Leeds, England and existed from 1979 to 1982. The are perfectly pop but still rough around the edges. Fun fact, "She Blinded Me with Science" artist Thomas Dolby was a guest artist on their 1981 LP entitled Pleasure.
Some folks might recognize this song because the Wedding Present covered it.
