JFA/TSOL Pianos

Wow it's been a long time. Exactly 6 months since my last posting!! It's funny, this whole time, I've been reading and thinking about music and culture, but just never really got my shit together to comment in terms of a readable public forum. Well here's something. Originally an email, now a blog post.

Now for something very interesting....

what happens when you give early 80s punk bands pianos and organs:

JFA (jodie foster's army) - Nowhere Blossoms

http://www.mediafire.com/?ym5dlz5nojg

this southwest band used to be really hard when they first started and wrote songs about skateboarding, and bongs and beaches (beach blanket bong out) and snickers, and then three years later, the first song on their record is a two minute piano led instrumental called "julies song." what. despite this change in sound, i actually really like this record. it's got a light american post punk thing kinda going on. not new wave at all. its ok. also you must check out gems such as a totally obligatory note for note cover of james brown's "i feel good" (i seriously do not remotely understand why they recorded this whatsover) and "signifying monkey" which features a field recorded crazy black guy rapping in chicago a litty ditty about a lion and a tiger or something. weird record.

TSOL - Beneath the Shadows

http://www.mediafire.com/?rhu5dhzmldd

This still sounds a lot like primer era TSOL. Okay, no more songs about necrophilia or how property is theft, but overall the lyrics are standard TSOL suburban psuedo-goth odes to darkness, loss and memories. the thing is about this record is that despite being the same lyrically, and for the most part also musically (no real change in production values), this guy for some reason is DRENCHED in piano and organ. and the thing about this, and by extension JFA using pianos and what not, is that it in no way resembles new wave. notice how i i have not once so far used the word keyboard. Nope. This is all piano or cheesy organ (see the beginning of "walk alone" and the middle of "wash away" on this record). its almost like these bands were attempting a sort of, proto new wave balance on these records. like, more eno, stranglers and the damned in their use of piano instead of electronic uses ala devo or kraftwerk or the b-52s. the best way to describe it, for the TSOL record at least, is harkening back to the occasional sounds of the film A Clockwork Orange which Beneath the Shadows' cover clearly references. pre-new wave constructions. but not experimental...

Weird shit man. I don't get it.

TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV

I am listening to The Dictator's live album "Fuck 'Em All If They Can't Take a Joke" as I type this.

What I want to discuss tonight is TV.

So much of new wave, punk, and post-punk was obsessed with television. The television, available commercially since the 1930s, was a recent invention and gadget in the 70s and 80s, but why the sudden fascination with the device at that time?

Either way there's so much TV in punk and punk-related new wave music of the era. Bands: TV Sex Star, Television, Alternative TV, TV Personalities. Songs: The Cramps' "TV Set," The Stooges' "TV Eye" (although this one is purportedly based on a Iggy Pop nickname given to him by a female friend to describe his knack for scopin' babes), The Misfits' "TV Casualty," Los Microwaves' "TV in My Eye," Magazine's "TV Baby," and of course "TV Party" by Black Flag. The show, "TV Party" for chrissakes.

What's with the TV obsession? In most cases the songs have to do with violence and human carnage. With the band names, it's subversion, vulgarity, and a little mischief (a band named "Television" is up to something if not a lot). Man has long feared death by technology.

Plus TV imagery looks really great, with neon cathode rays and all.

"Uncle Handsome's got the microphone...Uncle Handsome's got the power....the man with the power of the hour. And you gotta wait for me.....cause we I say go, then we go. Then you party."

Greg Nortons

I really want to go to Greg Norton's restaurant some day:

Welcome to Norton's Downtown & Lucky Cat Lounge

The Nortons' offers an original, chef driven menu that is often described as modern American with international influences. The Nortons' have also put together a highly competitive, hand selected wine list of about 200 bottles and half bottles. This winner of three consecutive Wine Spectator Awards of Excellence also boasts one of the best Spanish selections in the five state area.

Our New Address is:

307 Main St.
Red Wing, MN 55066
651-388-2711

http://www.thenortonsrestaurant.com/

Let's make a trip of it.

Harness your Hopes

Are these good lyrics? Debate.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Well show me
A word that rhymes with Pavement
And I won't kill your parents
And roast them on a spit

And a-don't you try to etch it
Or permanently sketch it
Or your gonna catch a bad bad cold

And the freaks have stormed the white house
I moved into a lighthouse
It's on a scenic quay
It's oh so far away

Surprise, Surprise

The following is simultaneously the most insulting/skewed (false)/complimentary (true) thing ever written about me. I can't decide which camp it belongs in though. I'm thinking compliment mostly:

"I feel like the last year and a half of our relationship consisted of me sitting on the couch listening to you talk about music."

I have no regrets. What can I say. Look at this blog. What is it mostly about? Ummmmmmm

In related news, do yourself a favor and by "The Hollywood Years 79-84" by the Rubber City Rebels. They are a really great Akron, Ohio band of the same era as Pere Ubu, Bizarros, Dead Boys, etc. Their big hit was "Child Eaters" a snazzy little song about eating babies (duh). They also cover "Paper Dolls" quite well (2 versions included). Why is everyone, past and present, so obsessed with the Nerves?

Anyways the band sounds a lot like the Vibrators, but a lot better and way less sappy. And many more guitar solos. That's how you kiss distinctly American.