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.

Solid Gold is Solid Gold

When I first got hooked on Gang of Four in 2005, I immediately fell in love with Entertainment!. It's a swell album. I soon after bought Solid Gold and didn't really like it as much. I guess this mainly had to do with my penchant, my natural penchant, for faster songs. Vitriol is what I need! And this need for speed doesn't even really qualify good or bad. For example, I love the Birthday Party. They're nervous, faster, and much more angry than Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. But Nick Cave's work is FAR more important and useful than the Birthday Party. Still, I don't commonly put on Abattoir Blues versus Hee-Haw on your average Tuesday night. See what I mean? Same thing with the Replacements. I'm nuts over their first album, but it really can't compare to Let it Be, an album I listent to much less often but which is yards better.

What I am trying to say then is, while I do think Entertainment! is more enjoyable and faster and more significant, Solid Gold really is a much better album than I first thought.

At-first one might be put off with it's slower, mid-tempo nerves and grooves, but this album is a delight. "Paralysed" is such a great first song, so much so even Black Flag would name their first track on In My Head the same, although with the American "z" thrown in instead of the "s." I think this is just coincidence, as I bet Henry Rollins thought/still does think Gang of Four are a bunch of fags. Whatever the reason though, both bands had some brains to make such cool song titles be their opening tracks on such different yet eerily similar albums.

And who can't dig "Why Theory?":

Each day seems like a natural fact
And what we think changes how we act
So to change ideas
Change is what we do
Too much thinking makes me ill
I think I’ll have another gin
A few more drinks it’ll be alright

It's kind of pedantic, especially the part on booze, but I still struggle daily with the full meaning of the first line: each day seems like a natural fact. It's not that complex, but still offers me a little mystery, no matter how useless.

I never really cared for "Cheeseburger," but it's an alright track.

The thing I guess I like best about this album though, aside from it's killer cover art, is the collective feeling of edgey malaise. What Gang of Four did so well on this album is that they made a huge bummer of an album that you can still dance too but not feel gimmicky while doing so. I mean, you can dance to depressing Bauhaus songs, but then you just start thinking about vampires and it kind of loses it's organic feel. This is edgey, nervous, dancey music that's bummed out and slightly angry, but perfect for your average, smart white kid. It's like Unknown Pleasures without the apocalypse. Unknown Pleasures is about sitting in a room alone and planning on killing one's self while listening to Iggy Pop and hating your wife, whereas Solid Gold is about being a little drunk on a Thursday, seeing through loads of bullshit, and feeling dull and pointless and yet a little playful. Much more organic and relatable right?

I guess it also has a lot to do with mood. Gang of Four's first album is just as pissed, but works more on building tension, and then releasing it in bursts. Solid Gold is all about the build, and never really the release.

So while I normally will grab Entertainment! with relish, maybe it just tells me I prefer
Solid Goldright now because I am not interested in release or too much tension. I need just the right amount of tension. But no release. I'm looking inward. Also, I listen to Hard when I want to be entertained in a very mindless disco sort of way (btw, like Solid Gold, Hard is very underrated, but in a completely divergent sort of way. Solid Gold is the Brian Eno to Hard 's B-52s).

Also, the CD updated version screws up everything, as it includes the Another Day/Another Dollar EP which has one of my favorite Gang of Four song's ever "To Hell with Poverty." It's an absolutely raucous dance-punk gem. That song being coupled with Solid Goldscrews up this whole essay I've written here.

Rads Lifes

Wine doesn't make me drunk, it just makes me light headed and then it goes away.

The first time I ever got drunk was in 8th grade. I chugged one of those big bottles of cheap red wine. I felt great for about 15 minutes and then vomited a vile black spew. Luckily, my friend's brother had a birthday that night, so when the Mom came up to see what the commotion was all about, my friend just told her I had too much cake and she went away. I can only imagine what that Mother thought as she walked away from a fresh pile of digested wine on her carpet.

I am very thankful this Thanksgiving. Having two turkeys tomorrow. One grilled, one brined? I always look on past Thanksgivings with great fondness. It's so ridiculous in so many ways, but just so great. Drinking, eating, talking, and football. They don't do things like this in Nigeria.

And gas is like $1.67!

Did you know at the 1st Thanksgiving reportedly only 4 women made the big meal for 400 people? Hardcore.

"Hanging on the Telephone" by the Nerves is one of the best songs I've ever heard in my life. Period. It's like Television and Sleater Kinney and the Beatles all rolled into one. But perfect.

I don't care for the Blondie version.

The Nerves' "anthology" "One Way Ticket" was just released by Bomp Records and includes all their recorded tracks (six from their sole release) and then a bunch of live tracks (some sounding better than others). I bought it digitally on iTunes for cheap. I also bought it from Bomp for $14 for a red colored vinyl version that's only 1 of 500. It's funny but if you YouTube "The Nerves," a recent in-studio at Waterloo or some record store in Austin will be one of the few things that pops up. The Nerves (all bald and old looking) play the seminal song, giving it their darndest.

One thing about being single: your ex-girlfriend doesn't get a single drop of the new music you buy. It's funny I was thinking today, 8 months later, we're driving around, having a great time, FRIENDS, just having so much fun, and she's like "So ummm....I meant to ask you. That music you downloaded? The Nerves? The Birthday Party? Lilliput? All that great shit? Can I like.......burn that stuff and put it on my computer?"

And I will laugh and go "NO." And glare.

Music is a very personal thing to me. Once you exit the building, there is no getting back in.

It's funny when I first started coming back to Sugar Land for holidays, I always thought I had something to prove. There were girls, and people in high school, and kids from college. It was a big grab bag of post-teenage partying and nonsense. People had sex, and shot of fireworks, and bands played. That's all long gone though, as probably since Summer 2007 it's just turned into a big health spa for me. No friends, no enemies, no partie, no lust. All it is is a nice dinner with my parents, some boring movies, a lot less booze (it's there, I just don't grab it), bike rides, tennis, and taking it easy. This used to bother me at first, but now I just enjoy it. I feel bad for kids who have to leave MSU to go back to Detroit or some crap.

Salty Texas, "Says Good Mornin'!" is coming out with a new album in Spring '09 hopefully. I have thirteen songs right now, so why not? I am trying to finish 5 more for quality purposes (only the best get it) but it should work. I am glad no one probably knows what Salty Texas is. Keep 'em guessing.

Their is nothing wrong with sucking the juice that flows off the suburbs smooth soft skin.