11/2: At the Cut

For the next several weeks Laughter will be featuring some of its favorite records from 2009, leading up to a year-end finale where we’ll play all the stuff we’ve liked most this year. Selections could possibly include reissues, but for the most part we’ll be considering only new recordings.

Our first album of the week is Vic Chesnutt’s At the Cut, just released at the end of September on Constellation. I had decided that Nudge’s As Good As Gone was going to be the first selection, but because both intern Jackie and I had been listening to At the Cut a lot, we went ahead with Vic’s record instead.

And it’s a hard record not to like. Chesnutt’s vocals on the opening “Coward” at first sound like a whispered confessional or an embarrassing admission, but when his backing band strikes up their violins, his confession transforms into a cathartic roar. In just seconds Vic Chesnutt and his band convert the quietude typical of many singer-songwriters into an epic sprawl of shrieking, heavily distorted guitar, hammered drums, and shouted vocals. It’s a shocking and unexpected move that is not again repeated anywhere on the album. The influence of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and A Silver Mt. Zion can be felt, but their dramatic frills and exaggerated qualities are held in check by the shape and precision of Vic’s writing.

Which isn’t to say that the album doesn’t ever rock again. It does, but in sweet and succinct moments. Both “Chinaberry Tree” and “Philip Guston” put the electric guitar at center stage. The former finds its voice in an extended solo that beams across Chesnutt’s vocals like a lightning strike, and the latter chugs and screams like an Einstürzende Neubauten song, except the band never quite pitches itself into the absolute chaos of noise or the flamboyance of theater. Ornate orchestrations and tight arrangements populate nearly every song, both pulling against each other and generating waves of tension. But, Chesnutt cuts loose sometimes, too, and manages to pull a couple of straight rock tunes out of his hat. “Concord Country Jubilee” sounds like it might’ve fit in on a Bob Dylan record and “Flirted With You All My Life” finds its strength in its lyrics and simple melody.

And the lyrics are probably what most people will think of when talking about this record. After all, Chesnutt opens himself up a lot on this record, referencing personal tragedies and simple moments with his family in the process. Elsewhere he references an American painter and apparently fits Victor Hugo, William Shakespeare, Franz Kafka, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Henry Darger, and W.H. Auden all into one song (“It Is What It Is”). I’m neither well-read enough nor interested in pursuing all those lyrical avenues, but without them At the Cut is impressive. In fact, the closing song, “Granny,” features one of the album’s most stunning lyrical moments and there’s not a bit of Kafka or Shakespeare to it: “She said, ‘You are the light of my life / and the beat of my heart.’” Half of that song’s appeal is its directness and the warmth of the scene it describes, the other half is the fact that Vic can deliver that line honestly and without a hint of banality. But, lyrics are only half the story, and that Vic and his band blend so many styles so well is an accomplishment worth noting, too. The result is one of my favorite records so far this year.

—

There’s plenty of great music featured this week, including more than a few cuts selected by interns Jackie and Anthony. Jackie ran the boards for the first hour of the show and did an incredible job. The second hour of the show features some abstract drone things, samples pulled from shows about aliens and UFOs, and the phenomenal talents of ‘O’ Rang and Cex. The former features Lee Harris and Paul Webb, both formerly of Talk Talk. Fans of Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock will definitely want to check them out.

If any of you have an album from 2009 that you think is particularly good and worth featuring, leave a comment or send an email our way. We’d definitely love to know what you’ve been listening to.

We’ll have more great music for you next week. Thanks for stopping by!

DOWNLOAD: 11/2 HOUR ONE

DOWNLOAD: 11/2 HOUR TWO

01. Vic Chesnutt “Coward” from At the Cut (2009) on Constellation

02. Caspian “Of Foam and Wave” from Tertia (2009) on The Myclene Sheath

03. Califone “1928” from all my friends are funeral singers (2009) on Dead Oceans

04. Vic Chesnutt “Chinaberry Tree” from At the Cut (2009) on Constellation

05. Hallelujah the Hills “The Might Come Back Club” from Colonial Drones (2009) on Misra

06. Wooden Birds “Bad” from Magnolia (2009) on Barsuk

07. A Place to Bury Strangers “In Your Heart” from Exploding Head (2009) on Mute

08. Beat Circus “Coney Island Creepshow” from Dreamland (2008) on Cuneiform

09. Karl Blau “Nothing New” from Zebra (2009) on K

10. Glenn Jones “Dead Reckoning” from Barbecue Bob in Fishtown (2009) on Strange Attractors Audio House

11. Nudge “Two Hands” from As Good As Gone (2009) on Kranky

12. Vic Chesnutt “Flirted With You All My Life” from At the Cut (2009) on Constellation

13. Haptic “Two” from The Medium (2009) on Flingco Sound

14. Nmperign “Fault” from Ommatidia (2009) on Intransitive

15. Jonathan Coleclough and Andrew Liles “Torch Song 1” from Torch Songs (2007) on Die Stadt

16. Human Bell “A Change in Fortunes” from Human Bell (2008) on Thrill Jockey

17. Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney “Blood Embrace” from Superwolf (2005) on Drag City

18. ‘O’ Rang “Loaded Values” from Herd of Instinct (1994) on Echo

19. Cex “Roland Park Acid” from Bataille Royale (2009) on Must Finish

10/19 and 10/26: Et in Arcadia Ego

Take the time to read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy if you haven’t already done so. The Road was a quick and fun read (as much as the apocalypse can be fun) and it received a ton of attention thanks to Oprah, but Blood Meridian shows off why McCarthy is held in such high esteem. The myth of the wild west fascinates me, and this book does everything it can to reveal it in all its gritty (un)glory.

Anyways, to the music. The time of year has arrived at WZBC where interns begin populating the station, insuring that another generation of student DJs will realize they know so very little about music. As a result, you’ll be hearing from my interns over the next few shows. They’ll also be selecting music for the show each week and, in general, contributing their knowledge and love of music to Laughter for at least the next month, if not longer.

The last two shows, posted below, contain mostly new music from records I’ve either enjoyed a ton over the last 10 months or that I’ve ignored for no good reason. I’m starting to think about the records I’ve liked the most this year, but each time I do so something amazing comes out and reminds me that I need to be patient. The new Fuck Buttons, for instance. It completely caught me off guard considering I wasn’t much of a fan of their last album. New releases from Kurt Vile, The Dutchess and the Duke, Pink Mountaintops, No Age, and The Twilight Sad have me equally excited. Throughout November I’m going to be thinking more about all the great music 2009 has given us. This seems like a year with an unusually high number of quality releases…

I think over the next couple of weeks I’m going to devote some of the show to one record or another. I’ll play multiple songs from that record and try to give each of my favorites a little more air time. First up will likely be Nudge, but perhaps I’ll have come up with a more coherent plan by the time Monday rolls around and thus have chosen a different band.

In any case, you’ll find a ton of new music below. Write me or leave a comment if you think there’s a record I absolutely need to hear or give my attention t0, especially if you notice it missing from either of the below broadcasts.

Until next time:

DOWNLOAD 10/26 SHOW, HOUR 1

DOWNLOAD 10/26 SHOW, HOUR 2

01. The Dutchess and The Duke “Hands” from Sunset/ Sunrise (2009) on Hardly Art

02. Magnolia Electric Co “Hope Dies Last” from Josephine (2009) on Secretly Canadian

03. Pink Mountaintops “Vampire” from Outside Love (2009) on Jagjaguwar

04. Kurt Vile “Hunchback” from Childish Prodigy (2009) on Matador

05. No Age “You’re A Target” from Losing Feeling EP (2009) on Sub Pop

06. Bear in Heaven “Fake Out” from Beast Rest Forth Mouth (2009) on hometapes

07. Digital Dance “Cleaned Mind/I’m So Shy” from Treatment (2009) on LTM

08. Mohamed Abdel Wahab “Sahara City” from Eastern Standard Time (2009) on Weltraum Disk

09. Ad Frank “Last Night Mark Eitzel Saved My Life” from Mr. Fancypants (2001) on Stop, Pop, and Roll

END OF HOUR 1

10. The Octopus Project “Crying at the Aquarium” from Identification Parade (2002) on Peek-a-boo

11. Caspian “Ghosts of the Garden City” from Tertia (2009) on The Myclene Sheath

12. Six Organs of Admittance “Jade Like Wine” from Shelter from the Ash (2007) on Drag City

13. Fuck Buttons “Surf Solar” from Tarot Sport (2009) on Atp

14. Animal Hospital “Paralarva” from S/T (2005) on Mr. Records

15. Language of Light “Double Helixes Up To Heaven” from Cortez / Language of Light (2009) on Anti-Clock

16. Zomby “Expert Tuition” from One Foot Ahead Of The Other (2009) on Ramp

17. Telefon Tel Aviv “Stay Away from Being Maybe” from Immolate Yourself (2009) on BPitch Control

18. Songs : Ohia “How To Be Perfect Men” from Axxess & Ace (1999) on Secretly Canadian

19. Calexico “Letter To Bowie Knife” from Garden Ruin (2006) on Quarterstick

20. Alec K. Redfearn and the Seizures “Isle of Swine” from Exterminating Angel (2009) on Corleone

21. The Twilight Sad “I Became a Prostitute” from Forget the Night Ahead (2009) on Fat Cat

———

DOWNLOAD 10/19 SHOW, HOUR 1

DOWNLOAD 10/19 SHOW, HOUR 2

01. Michael Hurley & Pals “The Werewolf” from Armchair Boogie (1971) on Warner Brothers

02. Six Organs of Admittance “Strangled Road” from Shelter from the Ash (2007) on Drag City

03. Michael Flower “Lake of Fire” from Open Strings (2009) on Honest Jons Records

04. Oneida “10:30 at the Oasis” from Rated O (2009) on Jagjaguwar / Brah

05. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe “Tercirkauitaamaso” from Fazo IV: La Kvalito de Speguloj (2009) on Rainbow Body Records

06. Castanets “Dance, Dance” from Texas Rose, the Thaw & the Beasts (2009) on Asthamatic Kitty Records

07. Califone “Salt” from All My Friends are Funeral Singers (2009) on Dead Oceans

08. Foetus “Sjogren’s Syndrome” from Limb (2009) on Ectopic Ents

09. Tim Friese-Greene “Untitled 3” from 10 Sketches for Piano Trio (2009) on LTM Recordings

10. Nightmares “We Were Melded Together” from Floating Above the Tracks / We Were Melded Together (2009) on Bloodlust! / Fatal Beliefs / Malsonus

END OF HOUR 1

11. Dinosaur Jr. “I Don’t Wanna Go There” from Farm (2009) on Jagjaguwar

12. Sunn O))) “Alice” from Monoliths & Dimensions (2009) on Southern Lord

13. The Black Angels “Science Killer” from Directions to See a Ghost (2008) on Light in the Attic

14. Health “Eat Flesh” from Get Color (2009) on Lovepump United

15. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words “This Room Seems Empty Without You” from Lost in Reflection (2009) on Killer Pimp

16. Six Organs of Admittance “Saint Cloud” from School of the Flower (2005) on Drag City

17. Lichens “Tempered Restorations (Re-edit Of HOSS007)” from Tanith (2009) on Self Released CDr

Those Om/Six Organs/Lichens Photos I Promised…

I get way too lazy sometimes. Here’s a link to Onafriday and the fantastic pictures they posted from the Om show at the ICA. Lichens was the highlight of the show for me, but I’m biased.

A Bizarre Bit of Bonnie…

Everything’s just fine until that digital Oldham hits the screen. Maybe there’s a reason the video is down everywhere except on Youtube?

8/5 and 8/12: Relax, or Practice Meditation unto Death

Making a mix tape of good music from the 1980s is not particularly difficult. The real challenge is creating a mix that will fit on one CD and catching a significant chunk of the diversity to which those 10 years were witness. I’ve yet to put together any kind of comprehensive mix, but what you’ll find below is a sample of what I enjoy.

Someone from WZBC was caught re-handed claiming that the years 1980 to 1989 contained virtually zero good music, popular or otherwise. She admitted it was an exaggeration: there were at least a couple of good bands around back then. But I took it as a challenge. It was a good chance to see what records I had laying around from that time and what was missing from my collection that obviously needed to be in it. I was born in the 1980s. Many of my strongest memories begin right around 1986, but I wasn’t even a teenager when many of the records featured last week were first released. Still, many of my favorite records came out sometime in those ten years. Coil, Joy Division, New Order, Husker Du, Talking Heads, Tom Waits, and Talk Talk were all waiting for me, there to prove that the 1980s were so much better than the crappy new wave imitators and MTV cock rockers would have you believe. As I went through my list of essential 80s recordings, I came across a lot of music to which I’d never given much time, including records by Dinosaur Jr. and The Gun Club. I knew their names and maybe a song or two, but I had never heard Fire of Love or You’re Living All Over Me, nor had I gone back to The Perfect Prescription and heard the likes of “Come Down Easy” or “Things’ll Never Be the Same.” And while Loveless remains their undisputed masterpiece, going back to My Bloody Valentine’s Isn’t Anything reminded me that they rocked just as much as the droned, hypnotized, and gazed. I learned just as much as I thought I knew and realized that there’s still so much more about which I know exactly nothing.

So you get the idea; last week’s show was all about exploring the 80s, but from my perspective. I didn’t intend this to be a complete survey or anything ridiculous like that. It’d take more than just a few shows to cover everything worth covering. I won’t editorialize much longer, but I do want to point out all the stuff I missed or couldn’t include. It should be obvious, but maybe you were born in the 90s like my defeated challenger and really don’t know that much about the 80s. Heavy metal, punk, and especially rap are completely absent from the 5th’s show, mostly because I am unfamiliar with the music or because I wanted to avoid playing music that’d violate FCC regulations. Had I taken more time to organize it, you most certainly would’ve heard some N.W.A., Public Enemy, early Metallica, Sepultura, Life Sentence, Mekons, 45 Grave, and many others. Maybe some more mixes will show up, maybe I’ll just try and filter what went missing through various shows until the end of the year… maybe I’ll drop it in a few weeks. Who knows, but it was fun. I hope you enjoy listening to the show, posted below. It contains one new song from Dinosaur Jr. – I had intended on playing a song from You’re Living All Over Me, but forgot to bring it with me to the station. Thus the modern substitute.

I was also going to post some links to music videos this week, too, but my schedule has become busier than anticipated. Writing about Kant’s theories of space and time are currently more important. You know where to look to find them. I’ll only suggest one for you, both because it’s a great song and because the photography is beautiful. Check it out here… I’d post it right in the body of this article, but embedding has been DENIED.

In addition to the 80s extravaganza I’m posting the second hour of this week’s show. WZBC’s streams had some technical hiccups again and the first hour went missing once more. I may resort to recording my shows again for awhile until I know this issue has been resolved.

However that may resolve, this week’s show featured a lot of new music, including songs from Six Organs of Admittance, Om, Califone, Arbouretum, Micah Blue Smaldone, and Steven R. Smith, as well as more (new) music from Causa Sui and lengthy cut from Lichens, which appeared in various places throughout 2008. You can read a review of Smith’s new record below and you can count on hearing new music from Lichens next week.

I had the good fortune of seeing Om, Six Organs, and Lichens play at the ICA in Boston last night, too. I’ll post a little summary of that show in the near future, hopefully with some photographs.

Cheers!

DOWNLOAD 80s BLOW OUT HOUR 1

DOWNLOAD 80s BLOW OUT HOUR 2

01. The Stone Roses “I Wanna Be Adored” from The Stone Roses (1989) on Silvertone

02. Dinosaur Jr. “Friends” from Farm (2009) on Jagjaguwar

03. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds “The Mercy Seat” from Tender Prey (1988) on Mute

04. 23 Skidoo “Coup” from Coup (1983) on Illuminated

05. A Certain Ratio “Do the Du (Casse)” from Do the Du (1981) on Factory

06. Joy Division “Isolation” from Closer (1980) on Factory

07. Kraftwerk “Computer Love” from Computer World (1981) on Elektra

08. Orchestral Manoeuvres in The Dark “Radio Waves” from Dazzle Ships (1983) on Virgin

09. New Order “Love Vigilantes” from Lowlife (1984) on Qwest

10. The Cramps “Garbageman” from Songs the Lord Taught Us (1980) on IRS

11. Bruce Springsteen “Johnny 99” from Nebraska (1982) on Columbia

12. Pixies “River Euphrates” from Surfer Rosa (1988) on 4AD

END OF HOUR 1 / START OF HOUR 2

13. Big Black “Jordan, Minnesota” from A Rich Man’s Eight Track Tape (1987) on Touch and Go

14. The Gun Club “Ghost on the Highway” from Fire Of Love (1980) on Ruby

15. Husker Du “Books About UFOs” from New Day Rising (1984) on SST

16. Talking Heads “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)” from Remain in Light (1980) on Sire

17. The Fall “L.A.” from This Nation’s Saving Grace (1985) on Beggars Banquet

18. Scraping Foetus off The Wheel “The Throne of Agony” from Nail (1985) on Self Immolation/Some Bizzare

19. Coil “Penetrailia” from Horse Rotorvator (1986) on Thershold House

20. This Heat “Cenotaph” from Deceit (1981) on Rough Trade

21. Mission of Burma “Trem Two” from Vs. (1982) on Ace Of Hearts

22. My Bloody Valentine “Feed Me With Your Kiss” from Isn’t Anything (1988) on Sire

23. Sonic Youth “Silver Rocket” from Daydream Nation (1988) on Blast First

24. Talk Talk “Desire” from Spirit of Eden (1988) on EMI

8/12 SHOW

DOWNLOAD HOUR 2 (THE ONLY HOUR…. again)

01. Lichens “Time and Light (Version)” from Brainwaves 2008 (2008) on Brainwashed Recordings

02. Om “Meditation is the Practice of Death” from God is Good (2009) on Drag City

03. Six Organs of Admittance “The Ballad of Charley Harper” from Luminous Night (2009) on Drag City

04. Dinosaur Jr. “Pieces” from Farm (2009) on Jagjaguwar

05. Califone “1928” from all my friends are funeral singers (2009) on Dead Oceans

06. Amadou & Mariam “Je Te Kiffe” from Welcome to Mali (2008) on Nonesuch

07. The Church “Cortez the Killer” from A Box of Birds (1999) on Thirsty Ear

END OF HOUR 1 / START OF HOUR 2

08. Causa Sui “The Open Road” from Summer Sessions Vol. 2 (2009) on Elektrohasch Schallplatten

09. The Durutti Column “Messidor” from LC (1981) on Factory

10. Steven R. Smith “The Road” from Cities (2009) on Immune Recordings

11. Palace Music “The Brute Choir” from Viva Last Blues (1995) on Palace/Drag City

12. Micah Blue Smaldone “Mortissa” from Open Strings (2009) on Honest Jons Records

13. Spacemen 3 “Come Down Easy” from The Perfect Perscription (1987) on Glass Records

14. Arbouretum “Tomorrow is a Long Time” from Song of the Pearl (2009) on Thrill Jockey — original by Bob Dylan, from Greatest Hits Volume II (1971)

15, Spiritualized “Take Your Time / Shine a Light” from Lazer Guided Melodies (1991) on Dedicated

9/28: (Could’ve Been) Acoustic Heaven

This week there were no issues with the transmitter, but for some reason the ZBC Archives failed to record the first half of my show. Hopefully you had the chance to listen live, though. Naturally, the one show that wasn’t recorded in its entirety was one of my better shows this year. The second half has a ton of great stuff, however, so all is not lost. This week’s show features new music from Magnolia Electric Co. with Centro-Matic member Will Johnson as well as new stuff from Ganglians, Burial & Four Tet, Six Organs of Admittance, and Boston’s own Glenn Jones (pictured left, at Brainwaves 2008).

Glenn might be one of Boston’s best kept secrets. He is one of the founding members of Cul de Sac and a masterful guitarist with a talent rivaled only by greats like Robbie Basho or John Fahey. He plays in a style that will be familiar to fans of either of those greats, but Glenn doesn’t exactly follow either of them. His latest, Barbecue Bob in Fishtown, was released by Strange Attractors Audio House at the beginning of September and features nine new cuts, including his first piece for 5-string banjo and an almost hallucinatory piece that’s every bit as cosmic as anything Basho produced. Anyone in love with folk, country, or modern American music will be impressed by Glenn and happy to have his work in their collection. His compositions are varied and incredibly imaginative, the artwork on all of his albums are superb, and his liner notes are always entertaining and informative.

Thankfully, Glenn has been willing to talk about his work in the past. A couple years ago Jon Whitney from Brainwashed.com recorded Glenn performing in the studio and answering questions about his 2007 album Against Which the Sea Continually Beats. Huddled up in the small WZBC studio, Glenn talked about how he writes his music, working with guys like Jack Rose, and the art of the guitar in general. It’s a great three part video interview and I highly recommend watching it. You can find that interview right here.

Also included the second hour was some stellar psych-rock from Danish band Causa Sui. Over the course of this year (and part of 2008) the band has released a series of LPs under the name Summer Sessions. Unfortunately, German label Elektrohasch sold through each of the three volumes very quickly and currently has nothing for sale. Hopefully a CD re-issue isn’t far off, but for now you can check out the rest of their catalog or try to find their music by other means. I’ll be playing more from them next week.

Sorry the second broken broadcast in a row. Hopefully this will be the last of them. Thanks for the emails you’ve been sending and for the requests.

Cheers!

DOWNLOAD HOUR 2 (the only hour….) HERE!

01. A Place to Bury Strangers “In Your Heart” from In Your Heart (2009) on Mute

02. Psychic TV “Roman P” from Hex Sex: The Singles, Pt. 1 (1994) on Cleopatra

03. Ulrich Schnauss “Clear Day” from a strangely isolated place (2003) on Domino

04. Magnolia Electric Co. “Rider. Shadow. Wolf.” from Rider. Shadow. Wolf / Josephine 7″ (2009) on Secretly Canadian

05. Man Or Astro-Man? “Principles Unknown” from Experiment Zero (1996) on Touch and Go

06. Centro-Matic “Fountains of Fire” from Distance and Clime (2001) on idol

07. Glenn Jones “Barbecue Bob in Fishtown” from Barbecue Bob in Fishtown (2009) on Strange Attractors Audio House

08. Jack Rose and The Black Twig Pickers “Soft Steel Piston” from Jack Rose and The Black Twig Pickers (2009) on VHF Records

09. Fred Gerlach “Devil’s Brew” from Imagitional Anthem Volume Two (2006) on Tompkins Square

10. Angels of Light “On the Mountain” from …Sing “Other People” (2005) on Young God

11. Susanna and Bonnie “Prince” Billy “(I’ll Love You) Forever and Ever” from For Ever and Ever / In Spite of Ourselves 7″ (2009) on Tour Only

12. Mark Lanegan “Waiting on a Train” from Scraps at Midnight (1998) on Subpop

END OF HOUR 1

13. Six Organs of Admittance “Ursa Minor” from Luminous Night (2009) on Drag City

14. Causa Sui “Red Sun in June” from Summer Sessions Vol. 1 (2008) on Elektrohasch Schallplatten

15. Richard Bishop “Canned Goods & Firearms” from Polytheistic Fragments (2007) on Drag City

16. Ganglians “Hair” from Ganglians (2009) on Woodsist

17. Miles Davis “One and One” from On the Corner (1972) on Columbia?Legacy

18. Burial & Four Tet “Moth” from Moth / Wolf Club (2009) on Text Records

19. Sam Prekop “Something” from Who’s Your New Professor (2005) on Thrill Jockey

20. Magnolia Electric Co. “Josephine (Demo Version w/ Will Johnson)” from Rider. Shadow. Wolf / Josephine 7″ (2009) on Secretly Canadian

21. Glenn Jones “Keep It A Hundred Years” from Barbecue Bob in Fishtown (2009) on Strange Attractors Audio House

22. Songs: Ohia “Darling…” from Hecla and Griper (1998) on Secretly Canadian

9/14: As Good As Great

You can probably tell from my review (posted below) that I’m very impressed with Nudge’s latest record on Kranky, As Good As Gone. It’s still running through my CD player and MP3 player and, all in all, I can now say that it is an easy contender for album of the year (Kranky has two albums on that list so far; the other is Tim Hecker’s album). An interview with Brian Foote (who you can see to the left, photographed by Greg Cristman) has popped up over at Textura. It discusses some of Nudge’s history and the imagery that has popped up on the last two albums, among other things. I’m hoping to get an interview with Mr. Foote myself, but that won’t be happening until the To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie interview is finished and published over at Brainwashed. After many months and some delays caused by my laziness, that’ll finally be hitting the web in the next week or so.

Interviews with Jon Whitney of Killer Pimp, Brainwashed, and Blood Money, Keith Fullerton Whitman of Hrvatski and Mimaroglu Music Sales, and Howard Stelzer from Intransitive Records and numerous noise collaborations are also a possibility, though I can’t promise anything yet. I hope to conduct those as part of a Boston-related interview series for Onafriday.com; I’ll post more about that here as soon as I can.

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the show this week. Included this week is new music from Om, Cluster, and A Place To Bury Strangers. Their new album, Exploding Head, is an excellent and aggressive rock record and sounded pretty great on air, but it sounds even better coming from the CD. The difference between the original copy and MP3 copies is astounding; make sure to grab a physical release of it if when it hits the shelves. This is the rare record where the proper medium is a total difference maker.

Monday’s show is posted below for your listening enjoyment. It’ll be available for two weeks and then, like most of the other shows, disappear forever. Sorry, but there’s no good reason to upload it permanently unless people particularly like one show or another and want it uploaded again. Requests are always welcome, but so far I’ve only agreed to upload one show. And there have been numerous requests.

I will be on the air at WZBC every Monday from 10AM until noon until at least the end of this semester. Hope you tune in next week.

Cheers!

DOWNLOAD: HOUR 1

DOWNLOAD: HOUR 2

01. Nina Simone “Be My Husband” from Pastel Blues (2006) on Verve Records — originally released in 1965 on Philips Records

02. Nudge “Two Hands” from As Good As Gone (2009) on Kranky

03. Spacemen 3 “I Love You” from Recurring (1990) on Fire Records

04. The Evpatoria Report “Dar Now” from Maar (2008) on Get A Life Records

05. Dirty Three “Great Waves” from Cinder (2005) on Touch and Go

06. Brian Eno “In Dark Trees” from Another Green World (2004) on Virgin — originally released in 1975

07. Venetian Snares “Miss Balaton” from Detrimentalist (2008) on Planet Mu

08. Cluster “Isodea” from Grosses Wasser (2009) on Bureau B — originally released in 1979 on Sky Records

09. Morton Feldman “Rothko Chapel 3” from Rothko Chapel/Why Patterns? (1991) on New Albion — Rothko Chapel composed in 1971

10. Out Hud “One Life To Leave” from Let Us Never Speak of It Again (2005) on Kranky

CONCERT REPORT, END OF HOUR 1

11. Om “Thebes” from God is Good (2009) on Drag City

12. Oneida “Tennessee” from Steel Rod (2000) on Jagjaguwar

13. Olivia Tremor Control “Suite One: Memories of Jacqueline 1906, The Giant Day, Outer Themes, Green Typewriters” from John Peel Session (2000) on Self Released

14. Melvins “Bar-X-The Rocking M” from Stag (1996) on Atlantic

15. Loop “Straight To Your Heart” from Heaven’s End (1991) on Reaktor — originally released in 1987 on Head Records

16. A Place to Bury Strangers “Keep Slipping Away” from Exploding Head (2009) on Mute

17. Nudge “Burns Blue” from As Good As Gone (2009) on Kranky

Review: Nudge, “As Good As Gone”

Brain Foote, along with Honey Owens, Paul Dickow, and a few new faces, have produced one of the most varied and unique records I’ve heard all year. The progress won on their Infinity Padlock EP has been further refined into a near seamless blend of miscellaneous musical styles and sleek, spaced-out atmospheres. With As Good As Gone Nudge has entered a world all their own; nobody else sounds quite like they do.

Initially, it isn’t clear what Foote and company are up to on their latest record. The opening song, “Harmo,” is a wheezing stretch of noise that never quite gels or finds a groove. It is held together in only the most abstract way: there are no strong rhythms, identifiable lyrics, or particularly notable sonic events, nor is there a particularly strong melody to which one might latch. Honey Owens’ voice merely slides in and out of intelligibility behind an orchestra of harmonica, vocal harmonies, guitar, bubbling bass, and other various electronic refuse. It develops a tangible tension, but release never comes. After listening to the album once, however, “Harmo’s” place is clear: it is the sound of Nudge warming up and preparing to blow minds. Over the next 35 minutes and six songs the band fuses together dub, rocksteady, drum ‘n’ bass, psychedelic rock, jazz, and various forms of electronic pop and dance music. The result is a dark, almost brooding album packed full of strong songs, memorable melodies, and an enormous (somewhat sexy) low end. Through it all Nudge sound cool and relaxed, as if these peculiar blends all came to them quite naturally. I imagine the opposite is true, however. As Good As Gone shows some improvisational color, but the album’s deliberate pace and sober tenor suggest that Nudge worked very hard to make this recipe sound as good as it does.

After “Harmo” shakes and buzzes away, “Two Hands” begins with a sudden rubbery bass line and a ruffled rhythm section that lends the song an uneven or unsure quality, at least at first. Strands of guitar hum to life and, shortly, Honey Owens sings a lilting tune that matches the music’s lazy gait perfectly. It also generates some forward motion. Once she begins singing the song takes off in a multitude of ways. Paul Dickow’s unmistakable rhythmic signature pops up almost simultaneously and is matched by both Owen’s screeching guitar work and a never-ending cascade of effects, synthesizers, and instrumental variations. To top it all off, Foote inserts some muted, highly processed trumpet into the mix, tacking a distinctly jazzy tone onto the end of an already complex and luxuriant song. That hint of jazz haunts the rest of the record, sometimes showing up obviously and sometimes only vaguely. This is partly due to Nudge emphasizing continuity and development over repetition and partly due to the album’s ambiguous use of otherwise familiar styles.

Aside from the repeating bass lines that anchor nearly every track on the album, loops seem to have disappeared from the band’s vocabulary altogether. The drums, guitars, and synthesizers featured throughout the record grow and shrink in unexpected ways instead of simply repeating. Nevertheless, strong grooves play a big role throughout As Good As Gone, whether they are subtle or distinctly felt. On “Tito,” rocksteady rhythms and unusual synthetic worms of melody produce a weightless or directionless effect, distorting time instead of keeping it. This makes the whole thing sound like a happy and drunken stroll outside a dance hall. As it turns out, the upbeat keyboard skanking, along with the pitch bending and shuffled effects, marks the brightest and happiest point on As Good As Gone. Nudge’s staggered beats and confused melodies are at their most playful here. Once it ends everything goes very, very dark, like the album’s artwork.

The howling dog on the cover reminds me of the slow and mournful atmosphere found on “Burns Blue” and “Dawn Comes Light.” The former is a churning song with a somber bass melody and slithering vocal effects. The airy keyboards and rumbling, cymbal-heavy rhythm generate an isolated mood and further develop the jazz themes only hinted at in the previous songs. The latter is a dreamy, somewhat barren piece populated by bouts of silence and splashes of guitar strumming. It brings to mind the closing song on Infinity Padlock, but this time around the band’s dynamic shift isn’t nearly as surprising. The quiet guitars and near-whispered vocals eventually give way to a wave of distortion and surging, pseudo-melodious strings, which contrast the previous five songs in a relieving and natural fashion.

The ideas first tested on Infinity Padlock have matured fully by the end of this album. Nudge no longer sound as though they are forcing developments or seeking their voice. Everything has its place, even if that place is chaotic and disheveled. On As Good As Gone, the band sounds completely in control with each member performing at the height of their abilities.

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As Good As Gone is available from Kranky
Sound samples available at Brainwashed.com

8/9: Presque Rien

Luc Ferrari’s electronic work as part of Le Groupe de Recherches Musicales has recently been collected in a 10-CD box set released by INA called L’Œuvre Électronique. John Kealy has written an excellent review of this compilation for Brainwashed.com, which includes sound samples. I encourage you to read all of it, but this excerpt both frames Ferrari’s place in the history of music and sums up Kealy’s impressions nicely:

While this set ignores Ferrari’s compositions for traditional instruments, it is possible to get a very clear picture of his work and ideology from this one (albeit very important) aspect of his work. I do not need to stress how much of an innovator Ferrari was, even now pieces like Danses Organiques and Dialogue Ordinaire avec la Machine sound mysterious and deeply complex; to my ears most electronic musicians are still playing catch up with him. Newer pieces such as Archives Génétiquement Modifées and the poignant Les Arhythmiques (composed in 2003 following Ferrari’s hospitalization for cardiac arrhythmia, the condition that would later lead to his death) show that his creativity burned bright even into his 70s. Even posthumously, his ideas live on as Brunhild Ferrari created the anything but derivative Dérivatif following his specifications.

L’Œuvre Électronique is the most fitting monument to Ferrari’s. Bearing in mind that there are 10 CDs worth of impeccable compositions as well as a detailed book (in French and English) that features a short biography, notes by Ferrari and an interview with Brunhild; this is also an exceptionally good value too with INA/GRM keeping the price as low as possible. Hopefully, there will be a sister release of his works for traditional instruments to accompany his electronic works but for the moment there is more than enough material here to keep anyone going for a long, long time.

Anyone interested in the history of modern music will likely be served well by obtaining a copy of this set. Lots has been written about Luc Ferrari’s work, so instead of adding more words to the pile, I’ll refer you to a couple of fine resources. The Wikipedia article is okay, but written in a fairly haphazard style. It’s worth reading for an explanation of his various techniques and concepts. An interview with Ferrari conducted by Dan Warburton is available at the Paris Transatlantic website. Warburton asks him about everything from his falsified autobiographies to his impression of other modern composers, his recording techniques, and the difference between “sound art” and music. It’s an excellent read and I recommend you take the time to peruse it at some point.

Loads of Youtube videos exist, most of them lo-fi recordings of his work set to still images. Some of his acoustic music is also available on Youtube, but again the recording qualities leave a lot to be desired.

Speaking of modern music, lately I’ve been totally captivated by The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross. Ross is a writer for the New Yorker and a damn good one. His book covers the history of modern music from Gustav Mahler to John Cage and beyond by weaving together the various political, social, religious, theoretical, and personal details that informed the music. His treatment of early twentieth century composers like Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg is excellent and insightful as it manages to both reduce these titanic intellectuals to their human foundation and acknowledge their (sometimes insane) genius. Picking up a copy will inevitably increase both your understanding of and appreciation for modern music. I’m going to go ahead and call it essential for anyone that loves music, weird sounds, noise, and abstract art in general.

Ross’ book has me considering a change in Laughter’s format, too. Now that Modern Music for Modern Men and Nouvelles Aventures are no longer aired on WZBC, there’s a serious lack of modern classical music being played at the station. If I find that I can talk reasonably about the music and play an interesting and entertaining mix of various composers, then Laughter might begin playing a feature I’m tentatively calling “Think the Note.” It will cover music from approximately 1900 until the present, but with an eye to composers who have thought seriously about what they’re writing and why. In other words, I want to cut the punk-DIY aesthetic out of the picture and focus on musicians more closely tied to classical traditions. If all goes well, I’ll be broadcasting a short sample of this feature next week.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my little Sunday afternoon mix. The show started a little early last week, so the first fifteen minutes or so of the show are available at the END of the first link.

Cheers and happy listening.

LISTEN: HOUR .25

LISTEN: HOUR 1

LISTEN: HOUR 2

01. Silver Jews “Punks in the Beerlight” from Tanglewood Numbers (2005) on Drag City

02. Scout Niblett “Dinosaur Egg” from This Fool Can Die Now (2007) on Too Pure

03. Songs: Ohia “Peoria Lunchbox Blues” from Magnolia Electric Co. (2003) on Secretly Canadian

04. Oneida “Brownout in Lagos” from Rated O (2009) on Jagjaguwar / Brah

05. Pan Sonic “Gravity” from Kesto (234.48:4) (2004) on Mute

06. Radian “Jet” from Rec.Extern (2002) on Thrill Jockey

07. Popul Vuh “Selig Sin Die, Die Da Hungern” from Seligpreisung (2004) on SPV — originally released in 1973 on Kosmische Kuriere

08. Current 93 “Idumea (w/ Marc Almond)” from Black Ships Ate the Sky (2006) on Durtro/Jnana

09. Rome “The Secret Sons of Europe” from Flowers from Exile (2009) on Trisol

10. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds “The Hammer Song” from The Good Son (1990) on Mute

11. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band “Pachuco Cadaver” from Trout Mask Replica (1969) on straight

12. Volcano the Bear “All the Paint I Can Breathe” from Guess the Birds (2001) on Beta-lactam Ring

13. A Place to Bury Strangers “Missing You” from A Place to Bury Strangers (2007) on Killer Pimp

14. Loop “Be Here Now” from A Gilded Eternity (1990) on Bmg

15. Nurse With Wound “The Golden Age of Telekinesis” from The Surveillance Lounge (2009) on United Dirter

16. Eyvind Kang “Mary of Magdalen” from Theater of Mineral NADEs (1998) on Tzadik

17. Luc Ferrari “Dialogue Ordinaire avec la Machine…(excerpt)” from L’Œuvre Électronique (2009) on Ina

18. Luc Ferrari “Presque Rien Avec Filles” from L’Œuvre Électronique (2009) on Ina

19. Luc Ferrari “Les Arythmiques (excerpt)” from L’Œuvre Électronique (2009) on Ina

Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia, and the Digital Era

Found this link over at Andrew Sullivan’s blog, The Daily Dish. Oliver Sacks is a neurologist and professor at Columbia University responsible for the book you see to your left. He recently produced a program for NOVA called Musical Minds, wherein he investigated all kinds of cool phenomenon related to music. In this article he talks a little about his book, music as torture, therapeutic techniques involving music, language, and about iPods. I never wrote the article about iPods that I had planned, mostly because I’m saving it for later, but Sacks identifies one of the disadvantages that mass exposure to music creates. You should read the entire article, but what follows is what Sacks had to say about digital media:

Clearly “brainworms” (or earworms, if you like) have been around for a long time. Mark Twain, writing before the era of recorded music, refers to the phenomenon in his story “Punch, Brothers, Punch!” A similar term, “the piper’s maggot,” goes back at least to the eighteenth century. Yet one has to wonder whether, in our current culture of nonstop musical exposure, brainworms may be triggered more often. (Certainly there is no doubt that overexposure to loud music is contributing to a rise in hearing loss.)

An interesting corollary is that our exposure to different types of music, and hence our musical literacy, has certainly expanded, but perhaps at a cost. As Daniel Levitin has pointed out, passive listening has largely replaced active music-making. Now that we can listen to anything we like on our iPods, we have less motivation to go to concerts or churches or synagogues, less occasion to sing together. This is unfortunate, because music-making engages much more of our brains than simply listening. Partly for this reason, to celebrate my 75th birthday last year, I started taking piano lessons (after a gap of more than sixty years). I still have my iPod (it contains the complete works of Bach), but I also need to make music every day.

If any readers have links to articles concerning the same topic, please send them my way. I think it’s fascinating stuff. If you aren’t sure what an earworm is, just check out this video.