A Plea To Bands

It's no secret that band names are getting dumber and dumber as time progresses. Perhaps it's because we are running out of band names, much like domain names, that many musicians have resorted to branding themselves with numbers and letters, sometimes both at once. The list is long, and ugly: NT89, SBKMRT, M83, NRBQ, ZZT (a lame rip-off of ZZ Tops name), HTRK, NOFX, PG Six, MGMT, etc. There's a reason that Van Halen's OU812 album was easily the worst of their career and it wasn't Sammy Hagar. How do you market a serial number, or a license plate for that matter? It's a small leap to a musical future full of bands with emoticons in their names. General marketing note: If your product has a terrible name it better be a damn good product, so keep that in mind when you're thinking of naming your band IM2DUM4SK8. You should also try putting more naked women on your album covers, it helps.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks- Mirror Traffic

The new Malkmus record is much more similar to a Pavement record than his recent solo records. There are no extended jams on this, no proggy asides or hard rock guitar solos. This may have something to do with the production of Beck Hansen, who seems to have brought out the nostalgic side of Malkmus. I found it interesting that Janet Weiss, Jicks drummer and former member of Sleater-Kinney, stated in a NY Times article that Beck wanted  to explore some tracks that Malkmus had considered throwaways, leading Weiss to say that the band wasn't sure what they were playing exactly, or more precisely, that they weren't sure of the direction that the songs were taking. This turned out to be beneficial because, although there is a mellow vibe to several tracks, there is also an exuberance to a lot of the music that seemed to be missing from some of Malkmus's solo work. It may just be that I've always wanted to hear a new Pavement record and this comes pretty close.

Buy this record if you plan on meeting up with an old friend again.

www.stephenmalkmus.com

Jacuzzi Boys- Glazin'

I'm sure the Jacuzzi Boys would love to be mentioned in the same breath as the Ramones, they'd be happy just to sniff the Converses that Joey wore. But that's impossible because the Jacuzzi Boys are from Miami, not New York City. Growing up in the grimy borough of Queens in that rat-trap city of New York left a permanent sneer on The Ramones faces. NYC drove them to implore the people to "beat on the brat with a baseball bat". You can't be that kind of angry in Miami. Sorry, but you just don't have that kind of edge on the edge of the Everglades. And that's not a bad thing. You live in a beautiful area with beautiful water fringed by beautiful beaches full of beautiful people. You can play your garage rock with a no edge South Florida punk attitude and you'll still have a quality of life, probably live to a ripe, old posh retirement home on a golf course age, and get to look back on your former selves, the good-looking trio of nice boys who wrote some catchy tunes.

Buy this record if you own a hammock and your drink umbrellas come etched with Anarchy signs.

www.myspace.com/jacuzziboys 

Weeknd- Thursday

New free download mix-tape that follows up the critically acclaimed House of Balloons record released earlier this year. This 21 year old Toronto-based singer gained a lot of attention with deep atmospheric grooves buffered by vintage alto R&B vocals, singing incendiary lyrics about drugs and promiscuous sex, all of it peppered with profanities. There's not a lot of evolution to be found on this new set, but it's a fine compliment to House of Balloons, plus it's free so why complain.

Buy this record if you really just want to buy a record, but you can have it for free cos that's how they roll in Canada.

the-weeknd.com

Zenph Presents Jazz Legends: Gershwin At The Piano, in Raleigh, NC

Durham, NC – August 18, 2011 – Zenph Sound Innovations and Raleigh Little Theatre announce dates for their newest live production, Zenph Presents Jazz Legends: Gershwin At The Piano.

The show provides the thrill of actually being in the room to hear and watch George Gershwin play. The Wall Street Journal described Zenph’s work as “a technological miracle,” andThe Newport Daily News reviewed the Gershwin show’s recent world premiere at the 2011 Newport Music Festival as, “Gershwin, as it was meant to be.” The groundbreaking technology that drives

the show was developed by Zenph Sound Innovations, a company headquartered in the Triangle. The show will run September 15th through October 2nd at the Raleigh Little Theatre's Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre. The production looks at George Gershwin’s piano legacy in a way not possible before Zenph, comparing how he played with what hepublished. It incorporates rare film footage of Gershwin, imagery from the Gershwin estate (including his artwork), and the pièce de résistance—the composerplaying all his solo performances on a concert grand piano onstage. 

“I was familiar with what Gershwin published my whole life, but it didn’t prepare me for hearing what he didn’t publish: unheard of jokes, runs, quotes, riffs – his publications aren’t the last word, they’re the tip of the iceberg,” noted Dr. John Q. Walker, Zenph co-founder and often the show’s enthusiastic host. “The ability to sit in the room, and see and hear George Gershwin himself play is amazing. On that night, that experience isn’t possible anywhere else on Earth, and it’s happening right here in the Triangle.” Walker said.   

These piano performances, called Re-performances®, are the result of Zenph’s high-resolution process which precisely extracts every note, pedal movement, and nuance from Gershwin’s original playing, resulting in breathtaking and often never-before-heard renditions of Gershwin’s piano mastery.  

“This show is great fun for the audience and for me as a pianist,” said Philip Amalong, one of the show’s concert pianists who is a Zenph performance analyst and noted touring pianist in his own right.  “I play the Gershwin music just as it was published, and then we get to hear the man himself play the compositions. The differences are dramatic, and everyone – whether they’re a Gershwin fan or have never heard of him – walks away humming his irresistible tunes with a new insight into his music.”

“We’re very excited to offer our patrons this completely unique theater experience,” said Ellen Landau, managing director at RLT. “Gershwin At The Piano provides an exhilaratingperformance based on the fascinating intersection of music and the latest technology.”

Ticket Information

Tickets for the show are available through the Raleigh Little Theatre web site, http://www.raleighlittletheatre.org and in person at the box office located at 301 Pogue St, Raleigh, NC, 27607. The box office phone number is 919-821-3111. Tickets are $20 for adults, $16 for students with ID, seniors and active military. Special pricing for groups is available. 

About Raleigh Little Theatre

Raleigh Little Theatre is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to enrich, educate, and entertain our community by providing a superior theatre experience. Raleigh Little Theatre is a community theatre that produces 11 full productions annually and maintains a comprehensive youth and adult theatre education programs. The theater is located west of downtown Raleigh near Cameron Village Shopping Center and the campus of North Carolina State University.

About Zenph Sound Innovations, Inc.

Zenph® Sound Innovations is a music technology company based in Durham, North Carolina. The company creates proprietary software and algorithms that transform recorded music into data describing precisely how musicians perform. From this data, musical performances can become immersive and interactive: recordings can be “re-performed” with astonishing fidelity, and contemporary artists and consumers can gain access to an entirely new set of creative possibilities through Zenph software. By understanding the nuances of an individual musical style as a digital “signature,” Zenph’s technology enables the re-imagining of the entire music industry. The company’s work was named one of the “Best Ideas of the Year” by The New York Times Magazine and has received multiple GRAMMY® nominations. The editor of Stereophile magazine described Zenph’s Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff album as “one of the finest piano recordings ever made.” For more information, visit www.zenph.com.

www.zenph.com 

Richmond Fontaine- The High Country

Richmond Fontaine is not an individual but a four-piece band from Portland, OR. Apparently, the band name derives from a chance encounter with an ex-pat/hippy that helped out Fontaine frontman Willy Vlautin (who is also a published novelist and originally hails from Biggest Little City in the World, Reno, NV), when he had a flat tire in Baja, Mexico. This is a folksy, rootsy concept album based on the love story of a mechanic and a girl in a rural logging town in Oregon. Sounds like a blast, huh? Vlautin is like the roots rock version of The Hold Steady's Craig Finn. Or a high desert version of Uncle Tupelo's Jay Farrar, except Vlautin replaces struggling miners with struggling loggers.  He talk-sings through his novella songs with a raspy voice that sounds like it's been driving on a gravel road for three days. A narrator supplies the voice for the female character on three songs, but not in a Nancy Sinatra/ Lee Hazlewood kind of way, and it comes off sounding wonky. For those who have always wanted to combine a Danielle Steele audiobook with an Uncle Tupelo record, congratulations, you've found a home!

Buy this record if you like listening to audio books while driving to your logging job in some rural Oregon community.

www.myspace.com/richmondfontaine

Turkish Freakout 2: Psych Folk 1970-1978

Note: Kudos to whoever posted this awesome youtube version of Edip lip-syncing a version of Mehmit Emmi in what appears to be some daytime studio roundtable discussion setting.

Turkey, Constantinople aka Istanbul specifically, is known as the gateway between East and West, the natural bridge between Western and Eastern civilizations, so it's also natural that this retrospective collection features a fine blend of Eastern and Western musical styles. Traditional Anatolian folk meets Western rock music and the result is thoroughly original. I can't imagine how Turkey's predominantly Muslim citizens reacted to this when it was being played locally because it really begs to be accompanied by Western vices. Many of Turkey's finest artists are represented, including Edip Akbayram, Baris Manco, and Cem Karaca & Mogollar. A lot of ground is covered, from the traditional folk of Ozel Turkbas's "Ozel's Dance Routine", to the heavy psych-meets-Shocking Blue on Perihan's "Nerden Nereye", and straight through to the haunting pop sound of Kamuran Akkor's "Kim Ne Derse Desin". Turkish Freakout 2 is just another in a growing list of compilations that have found a Western audience, lending credence to the worldwide notion that you need only a guitar, amplifier, kef, saz, kaval and ney to truly rock out.

Buy this record if you want to feel worldly without the hassle of dealing with foreigners.

www.soundsoftheuniverse.com/releases/?id=24228

Girls- Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Back in 2008, while singer/songwriter Christopher Owens was still playing in Ariel Pink's band Holy Fuck, his new project Girls took root, jump-starting a portion of the Bay Area music scene that was recreating a 50's style of rock, combining elements of doo-wop, surf, and rockabilly. Partially because they were one of the first and mostly because they did it best, the guitars had pitch perfect tremolo and Owens nasally, but evocative, voice had just the right amount of reverb added to it, Girls were the poster child of the scene. Many bands, whose sound is so inherently tied to genre imitation and nostalgia, have trouble discovering their own sound, something that Girls seem to be striving for on their new release. The production is much more polished on Father, Son, Holy Ghost and the band is now taking forays into extended jams, with some fiery guitar solos. They also throw more pastoral musical interludes with acoustic finger picking into the mix. However, the strongest part of Girls sound, Owen's voice, is buried in the mix on several songs. The opening track, "Honey Bunny", allows listeners a safe place to settle in,  with an extension of the Buddy Holly type ditties offered up on the debut record Album. Then Owens and his writing mate, Chet White, hit you with their new sound. "Alex" is standard head-bobbing indie fare, verses punctuated by well-trod electric guitar fills with an acoustic bridge breakdown followed by a triumphant guitar burst. "Die" resembles any number of stoner rock dirges, Black Mountain especially comes to mind. "Myma" bears an eerie resemblance to the Cat Power song "The Greatest". The most rewarding track on the record, "How Can I Say I Love You",  a winking nod to The Everly Brothers that was written a couple years back but just now received proper recording treatment, is an earnest mid-tempo ballad, a jangle of three chords and start-stops with an irresistible guitar solo. The album succeeds when Owens mines territory explored on their previous release, while the more roots oriented, organ-tinged songs seem to lack the cohesion and personal intensity of Album. I'm pretty confident, however, that the new direction will open up Girls appeal to a more mainstream audience. It won't help the purists who hung their hats on Girls, but it'll probably suit Owens and his crew just fine.

Buy this record if you're looking for something new but find the old to be true.

www.myspace.com/girls

Chelsea Wolfe- APOKALYPSIS

She looks like a female version of Marilyn Manson, her album cover resembles Marilyn Manson, and youtube videos present her as standard issue coffee-house singer/songwriter material, but this sophomore release from the NorCal native belies all of those assumptions. It's got some dirgy metal moments, "Pale On Pale", there a healthy dose of Sonic Youth's tribal floor tom meets dirty guitar distortion on "Demons", "Mer" employs vintage '90s guitar riffs a la Polvo, and there's a great cinematic slow build on "Tracks (Tall Bodies)". All of it punctuated by ghostly backing yelps and howls. Her vocals are clipped and arching, yet strong, sort of a goth take on Annie Clark of St. Vincent's voice, and a there is a definite resemblance to PJ Harvey going on. There are no burners on this record, it generally plods and floats along on an other-worldly vibe, but the song cycle should fulfill fans of various genres. Chelsea Wolfe is someone to watch, for sure.

Buy this record when you wanna tear the wallpaper down, burn the bedroom to the ground, and start all over again.

www.chelseawolfe.net

Bass Drum Of Death- GB City

Imminently forgettable rehash of Black Keys and The White Stripes from Mississippi guitar/drum duo. Dude who wrote Bass Drum Of Death songs worked for Fat Possum and the music fits the lo-fi/bluesy/garage rock aesthetic that the label has tended to seek out recently. I have a soft spot for Mississippi, my dad lived there for years, he's also buried in Corinth, plus dude sports a Sixers jersey in band promo shot, probably a nod to Philadelphia, Mississippi, so I can't blame these dudes for jumping on the two-man garage rock bandwagon. And they nailed the marketing angle because kids will dig wearing a shirt that says Bass Drum Of Death on it.

Buy this record if you can't decide between a Yazoo Razoo and a Mississippi Mud Pie.

bassdrumofdeath.blogspot.com

Gulag Tunes- Melodies & Rhythms

Amalgamation of instrumental surf music, klezmer, and traditional Odessa/Russian prison work songs by Russian morgue worker Mikhail Antipov, who records under the moniker Vivisectors. The album has a decidedly surf rock feel and, despite the allusions to Gulag life, which will undoubtedly bring back horrible memories for Russian people, a beach party air to it. The cover alone is worth the price of the record, a ridiculous photo of Stalin's discombobulated head, a lei of skulls draped around his neck, hovering over a Gulag camp at dusk. The FSB is probably monitoring Antipov's activities, but I'm confident he can play his way out of any jam he gets into.

Buy this record if you're catching a gnarly set on the North Shore with Anne Applebaum.

thevivisectors.narod.ru/

aTelecine- The Falcon And The Pod

This is one of those bands that defies the logic that you need to be able to sing or play instruments in order to make music. I'm not denying that they're musicians, just like I won't deny that their singer is an ex-porn star, which leads to press releases where nerdy PR flacks urge you to hurry because space and requests are very limited if you want an interview with Sasha Grey, as if the interview will serve as your shot at courtship with the industrially noisy, gothic-sexbot frontwoman, or maybe as the gateway to an LA world of backstage actors' parties and Vodka commercial table readings. It can be awash in industrial noise, but unlike their previous work, some true melody is beginning to seep from its pores on this new release, from the nice people at Pendu Sound Recordings. A lot of aTelecine still sounds like a high school art project though.

Buy this record if the mall kiosk is out of black lipstick and you just traded your Kools for Camel non-filters.

www.pendusound.com/artists/atelecine

Ween- Caesar (Quebec Demos)

Ween's guitarist, Mickey Melchiondo aka Dean Ween, uploaded most of the demos, about 2 hours worth of music, from their 2003 record Quebec, posting them on facebook for about 10 minutes before taking the link down. Ween have a track record of providing unreleased music to their fans, Craters of the Sac being the prime example, and many demos from their other records are floating around the infernalnet. Some of these demo tracks are throwaways and some real gems, "Kim Smoltz", "Seconds", "Short Span Of Attention" representing the latter. The Caesar Demos is much more hit than miss. There's a vintage Prince homage, "Ambrosia Parsley", a highway drivin' pop ditty sung by Dean, "Linda (The Sexy Dancer)", a bluesy bar-burner "That Man (From The Flatlands)", "Love Come Down (9-11-01)", A Zeppelin-esque psych tune, wherein Gene Ween repeats the title's lyrics as a descending and rising accompaniment, that encapsulates a lot of Quebec's overall mood and aesthetic, "She Caught My Fancy", a sweet, straight-forward ballad with just Gener and acoustic guitar, plus all of the Quebec songs in demo form, sans "The Argus" and "Fucked Jam". This is a must have for any serious Ween fan but it should entertain casual listeners equally as well. Below are Mickey's "liner" notes:


ween-caesar (we were calling this record that until the last moment when we decided to change the title to "quebec")

well what can i say about this here, lemme see. the first thing that comes to mind is that all the while we were doing this we still had claude coleman on drums, he eventually got into a major car wreck and wasn't around when it finally came time to make the "real" record. instead the drum duties fell on me, josh freese, and sim cain for a couple of tunes. almost all of this was recorded at our beach house in holgate, nj onto 16 track tape. a tiny bit of it was recorded in the garage behind aaron's house in pt. pleasant, pa. some of it was recorded in the spare bedroom of my house in new hope. most of the tunes are just me and aaron, with the two of us playing everything, with me on drums. the songs with claude, dave, and glenn are pretty obvious. on just a few tunes we took what you hear here and cleaned them up and had andrew weiss mix them for the record after some overdubs. dave sings on "it's gonna be a long night", this was days before he had surgery to remove polyps in his throat and his voice was really rough so we figured he was the guy for the job. This isn't even all of the tunes that we ended up choosing from, just the ones i happened to burn to cd before we drove home from the beach every week. hope you dig it for what it is.

-mickey

Buy this record if you like alternate movie endings and tri-colored pasta.

www.ween.com 

Rob- Rob

Lean West African funk record by Ghanan native Rob "Roy" Raindorf", who spent time with the formidable Benin group Orchestre Poly-Rythmo. The grooves are methodical, cutting deep with simple wah-wah guitar licks, snare drum & high hat combos, wiry synth lines, and crisp percussion accompaniment. The production on this 1977 release is superb, every instrument resonates, having room to breath in the mix. Apparently, Raindorf approached the band Mag-2, the de facto Ghanan military band, about playing on his record, recruiting the well-respected guitarist Amponsah in the process, with Amponsah handling all of the musical arrangements and chord progressions for the record. He created a nimble and cleanly psychedelic record out of Rob's musical vision.

Buy this record if you march to the beat of a military drummer, on LSD.

www.analogafrica.blogspot.com

Noveller- Glacial Glow

Glacial Glow centers around the guitar work of Brooklyn-based, Lafayette, LA born Sarah Lipstate, but it has a decidedly ambient, other-worldly feel. Guitar notes are doled out sparingly, serving as an anchor for cosmic blips and industrial drones. She often builds off of subtle feedback and delay then layers arpeggio runs and individually strummed higher fret notes to create these made for NOVA musical space probe explorations. It's very mood specific, don't plan on throwing it on at a backyard barbecue, but do plan on a calming and ruminative listening experience.

Buy this record if you want to know how the Mars Rover feels.

sarahlipstate.com/wordpress

Fungi Girls- Some Easy Magic

Three teenage boys from Texas serve up a rehash of surf and psychedelic garage rock with reverb and treble cranked up high. The playing is sloppy, the singing is haphazard, but the flow is earnest. For all we know these kids may not even be aware of their predecessors The Ventures, The 13th Floor Elevators, Dick Dale, et al. Fungi Girls provide a good bookend to Vivian Girls for younger listeners, providing them a peer group to steer toward the dusty shelves of rock's history.

Buy this record if you're learning to ride a bike.

www.hozacrecords.com/2010/08/fungi-girls/

Death Grips- Ex Military

Whenever my girlfriend says to me, "What the hell are you playing on the stereo?" that's usually a good sign. She was annoyed by the overtly aggressive hip-hop on this free download mix tape, produced by a three man collective from Northern California. Apparently, the group are planning a proper full-length release later this year. Ex Military has an industrial vibe and an ever-present rumble of forcefullness, but it's peppered with a lot of interesting samples: 60's keyboard psych, space age synth notes, Pet Shop Boys "West End Girls", guitar riffs borrowed from Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive", and dub-step electronics to name a few. Imagine if Girl Talk was huffing glue on a street corner in West Oakland while construction workers jackhammered a street to build the base for a Chuck D. statue and that's pretty much what you get here, except Death Grips are more directly involved with the actual making of their music. As Death Grips so eloquently put it, "Culture shock, fuck yourself".
*Go to the link below for a free download of this mixtape.

Buy this record if you need a little down time from the significant other.

thirdworlds.net

Boyd Rice Film Screening at Anthology Films in NYC

ICONOCLAST: BOYD RICE

An Epic Film about the life of Boyd Rice

by Larry Wessel

SPECIAL SCREENINGS AT NEW YORK’S INFLUENTIAL ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES

August 20 – Anthology Film Archives, NYC - 7pm

August 21 – Anthology Film Archives, NYC - 7pm

Four hours in length and six years in the making, Larry Wessel’s documentary about the “Godfather of Noise Music” and industrial music pioneer has two screenings lined up on August 20th and 21st at the iconic Anthology Film Archive cinema in New York. To purchase tickets visithttp://anthologyfilmarchives.org

ICONOCLAST is an epic view of the controversial life of American underground artist/musicianBoyd Rice. Currently finishing his forthcoming NON album set for release on Mute in 2012, Boyd recently performed in the UK at the Roundhouse for Mute’s Short Circuit festival. Boyd Rice first came to prominence in the 1970s as one of the founders of the genre known as Industrial Music. Since then, Rice has enjoyed a career spanning four decades, encompassing the worlds of pop culture, music, art, and film. He has been dubbed ‘The Godfather of Noise Music’, authored several books, exhibited his art in a number of one-man gallery shows, and even lectured at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, despite having been a high-school dropout.

Told through the words of the provocative raconteur himself, ICONOCLAST is a roller coaster ride through the fevered mindscape of one of the most controversial artists of the modern age. From Charles Manson to Marilyn Manson, tiki bars to industrial noise, this kaleidoscopic magnum opus features dozens and dozens of interview subjects, including filmmaker Allison Anders, televangelist Bob Larson, satanist Blanche Barton, and disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer.

"My life, says Boyd Rice, "is a testament to the idea that you can achieve whatever the hell you want if you possess a modicum of creativity, and a certain amount of naiveté concerning what is and isn't possible in this world. I've had one-man shows of my paintings in New York, but I'm not a painter. I've authored several books, but I'm not a writer. I've made a living as a recording artist for the last 30 years, but I can't read a note of music or play any instrument. I've somehow managed to make a career out of doing a great number of things I'm in no way qualified to do."

Along the way, Rice worked as a celebrity bodyguard (protecting the likes of Julie Newmar and Maureen McCormack), owned a Tiki Bar (Tiki Boyd's), starred in an exploitation movie (Pearls Before Swine), and co-edited an influential book on low budget cult films (Incredibly Strange Films).

Check out the film’s website for more info, trailer, cast & credits:

http://www.iconoclastmovie.com/wp/

**

About Anthology Film Archives:  Founded in 1969 by Jonas Mekas, Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, and Stan Brakhage, Anthology in its original conception was a showcase for the Essential Cinema Repertory collection. Its mission is to preserve, exhibit, and promote public and scholarly understanding of independent, classic, and avant-gardecinema. Anthology screens more than 900 film and video programs per year, publishes books and catalogs annually, and has preserved more than 800 films to date.

Four hours in length and six years in the making, Larry Wessel’s documentary about the “Godfather of Noise Music” and industrial music pioneer has two screenings lined up on August 20th and 21st at the iconic Anthology Film Archive cinema in New York. To purchase tickets visithttp://anthologyfilmarchives.org ICONOCLAST is an epic view of the controversial life of American underground artist/musicianBoyd Rice. Currently finishing his forthcoming NON album set for release on Mute in 2012, Boyd recently performed in the UK at the Roundhouse for Mute’s Short Circuit festival. Boyd Rice first came to prominence in the 1970s as one of the founders of the genre known as Industrial Music. Since then, Rice has enjoyed a career spanning four decades, encompassing the worlds of pop culture, music, art, and film. He has been dubbed ‘The Godfather of Noise Music’, authored several books, exhibited his art in a number of one-man gallery shows, and even lectured at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, despite having been a high-school dropout. Told through the words of the provocative raconteur himself, ICONOCLAST is a roller coaster ride through the fevered mindscape of one of the most controversial artists of the modern age. From Charles Manson to Marilyn Manson, tiki bars to industrial noise, this kaleidoscopic magnum opus features dozens and dozens of interview subjects, including filmmaker Allison Anders, televangelist Bob Larson, satanist Blanche Barton, and disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer. "My life, says Boyd Rice, "is a testament to the idea that you can achieve whatever the hell you want if you possess a modicum of creativity, and a certain amount of naiveté concerning what is and isn't possible in this world. I've had one-man shows of my paintings in New York, but I'm not a painter. I've authored several books, but I'm not a writer. I've made a living as a recording artist for the last 30 years, but I can't read a note of music or play any instrument. I've somehow managed to make a career out of doing a great number of things I'm in no way qualified to do." Along the way, Rice worked as a celebrity bodyguard (protecting the likes of Julie Newmar and Maureen McCormack), owned a Tiki Bar (Tiki Boyd's), starred in an exploitation movie (Pearls Before Swine), and co-edited an influential book on low budget cult films (Incredibly Strange Films). Check out the film’s website for more info, trailer, cast & credits: http://www.iconoclastmovie.com/wp/ ** About Anthology Film Archives:  Founded in 1969 by Jonas Mekas, Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, and Stan Brakhage, Anthology in its original conception was a showcase for the Essential Cinema Repertory collection. Its mission is to preserve, exhibit, and promote public and scholarly understanding of independent, classic, and avant-gardecinema. Anthology screens more than 900 film and video programs per year, publishes books and catalogs annually, and has preserved more than 800 films to date.

John Fahey- Requia

Fahey was a master at the finger-picking style of guitar playing. The British guitarist James Blackshaw is a fine current example of this difficult style and Philadelphia songwriter Kurt Vile has also listed Fahey as a big influence. When Requia was released in 1968 it received mixed reviews. Fahey broke the record into two parts: the first half, just Fahey and his guitar, are requiems for dead musicians utilizing the folk and blues styles that Fahey had explored with his earlier work. The work is engaging and often beautiful. The second half of the record consists of his attempt at "musique concrete", a combination of white noise and sound collages consisting of found sounds, speeches, clanging pans, animal noises, you get the idea. It was this style that turned critics off, even Fahey mentioned that he was disappointed with his initial attempts at this musical style. Oddly, perhaps by coincidence, The Beatles released their own "musique concrete experiment, "Revolution No. 9", at almost the same time as Requia. John Fahey should be required listening for any aspiring guitarist.

Buy this record if you wanna make your fingers bleed.

www.johnfahey.com

The Power of the Riff Festival Taking Place in LA, Seattle, and SF

8/13/2011 Echo/Echoplex – Los Angeles, CA
Pentagram, Eyehategod, Winter , Pelican, Trap Them, All Pigs Must Die, Acephalix, Black Cobra, Skin Like Iron, Baptists, Masakari, Alpinist, Seven Sisters of Sleep, Aeges, Early Graves, Slave, Black Breath, Harrassor, Plagues.
Doors @ Noon
TICKETS

8/15/2011 Elbo Room – San Francisco, CA
Winter, Noothgrush, Trap Them, Black Breath, All Pigs Must Die, Acephalix
Doors @ 7:00pm
TICKETS

8/16/2011 – The Mezzanine – San Francisco, CA
Pentagram, Pelican, Alpinist , Masakari, Early Graves, Baptists, Aeges
Doors @ 6:30pm
TICKETS

8/18/2011 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Winter, Pelican, Noothgrush, All Pigs Must Die, Alpinist, Masakari, Aeges
Doors @ 6:00pm
TICKETS

8/20/2011 The Highline – Seattle, WA
From Ashes Rise, Black Breath, Trap Them, Baptists and Special Guests.
Doors @ 8:00pm
TICKETS

www.thepoweroftheriff.com 

Mathieu Santos- Massachusetts

With Cheers, the Berkshires, and Ben & Matt, what's not to love? Naming your record Massachusetts is a sure way to engender good vibes. Naming your album Nebraska, however, might have a much different effect. Oh wait, Springsteen already did that. Well, Santos is the bassist for the Syracuse, NY based band Ra Ra Riot, a prime example of the current music industry's hype machine in that they were playing large festivals shortly after being "discovered". Ra Ra Riot's drummer accidentally drowned in a Massachusetts bay in 2007 so the title may be an homage to him. Knowing such, there is an eeriness to the seagull and maritime sounds that buffer the title track, a track that borrows derivative African vocal and melody patterns, similar to those found in Paul Simon and Vampire Weekend songs. Santos vocal effects also resemble the echo/reverb effects used by Animal Collective, a layered chorus in an empty cathedral sound. "Wait To Get Up" sounds like the synth exercise for a Police song. The album's charm lies in it's lo-fi pop aesthetic and fans of Animal Collective will be especially appreciative of it.

Buy this record if you're stuck in Rhode Island with a broken fuel pump and no windshield wiper fluid.

www.myspace.com/mathieusantos

FRKWYS Vol. 5: Mirror Mirror

This is the second review I've done for the FRKWYS series. This volume was released in April of 2011 and features remixes of three songs from the Brooklyn-based duo Mirror Mirror, plus an original composition from Mirror Mirror and Stuart Argabright, of Ike's Yard, Comet Crew, and Dominatrix. Remixes are handled by British stalwarts Stuart Moxham of Young Marble Giants, Alig Fodder of Family Fodder, and Rico Conning of The Lines. The people responsible for the FRKWYS series, RVNG Intl., are big Mirror Mirror fans and wanted to bring more attention to the band while allowing some respected older British musicians to showcase their talents as well. Mirror Mirror's sound is an homage to 60's British psych pop and the British musicians enlisted to remix it do an outstanding job expounding on the originals' intentions, turning young artists musings into psychedelic masterpieces resplendent with meaty hooks, kaleidoscopic atmosphere, and varied nuance. It's a shame that the one new song here, "Nau Ser Ser Bil Uma Rah Rab", which stands amply on its own, didn't get the same remix treatment. However, with only four tracks this volume feels like a teaser and would benefit from a full player treatment, in case the good folks at RVNG Intl are listening.

Buy this record for the Ferris Wheel ride with a root beer float in hand.

www.igetrvng.com/discography/91

Amy Winehouse- Demos

I wanted to avoid exploiting Amy Winehouse's death by writing anything about her, but several people have called her out as a talentless hack, saying that other people are responsible for her success. Then this demo bootleg fell into my lap. First off, Amy Winehouse had been singing since a very early age, she was frequently reprimanded in grade school for singing in class, and she learned to play guitar when she was 13. She was no musical novice when her career took off. Now Mark Ronson could be accused of engineering her success. He produced her Back To Black record, helping mold the voice and music into the final product that we all hear. But it's obvious from these demos that Winehouse wasn't just some hack singer who could be auto-tuned into acceptable listening. People have also speculated that her success was due largely to her being white. Well, I would make that argument for almost the entirety of the rock genre, as well as the blues. Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis were just the first of countless white artists to benefit from African and African-American musicians hard work. Conversely, I could make the argument that the Dap Kings, a predominately white, Jewish group of musicians who backed up Amy on her Back To Black record, are guilty of reaping the rewards of their black predecessors. So that finger can be pointed in many directions. Amy Winehouse was not successful because she was white or because four individuals played music on her record, she was a gifted singer song-writer.  You may not like her style of music, but it's hard to deny the artistry in her songs. It also remains to be seen if her name will be mentioned with the likes of Joplin, Morrison, Hendrix, et al in twenty years, but it'll be interesting to see how her legacy plays out. That being said, this demo contains four songs from the Back To Black sessions: "Rehab" and "Back To Black" showcase Amy singing early versions with the live band, while "He Can Only Hold Her" has Amy singing her vocal track over pre-recorded music. The real gem on this bootleg is a beautiful version of "Love Is A Losing Game" that features just Amy and an acoustic guitar, creating the air of a personal living room show. This particular song is a great reminder of Amy's singular talent.

Buy this record if you don't care about the context.

www.amywinehouse.com

Fun Fun Fun Fest Lineup Announced!

FUN FUN FUN FEST 2011 ANNOUNCES FULL LINEUP

FEATURING: 

PASSION PIT, PUBLIC ENEMY, THE DAMNED, MAJOR LAZER, SLAYER, HUM, LYKKE LI, HENRY ROLLINS, GIRLS, DANZIG LEGACY TOUR (DANZIG/SAMHAIN/DANZIG & DOYLE PERFORMING MISFITS), M83, DIPLO, ODD FUTURE (OFWGKTA), BLONDE REDHEAD, HOT SNAKES, AND MORE

-- WEEKEND PASSES NOW ON SALE --

AUSTIN, TX (August 1, 2011) – Fun Fun Fun Fest is proud to announce the current lineup for the 6^th annual Fun Fun Fun Fest to be held November 4 – 6, 2011 at Auditorium Shores in Austin, TX. 

The Transmission Entertainment team, who produces Fun Fun Fun Fest, once again has delivered on an exciting and genre-blurring (from hip hop to indie rock, punk rock to dance, metal to comedy) mix of old and new acts, while keeping their reputation for being a festival offering a unique genre based stage system, rarely-seen performances, newly discovered talent, and anticipated reunions.

The 2011 headliners include everything from indie dance darlings Passion Pit to heavy metal gods Slayer, from hip hop legends Public Enemy to punk icons The Damned. This year, FFF reunions include Hot Snakes, who disbanded in 2005 at the height of their popularity, Hum, who have not been consistently active as a recording or touring group since 2000, and Glenn Danzig playing Misfits songs for the first time in years with original Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein. More bands are planned to be added to the full FFF line up in Aug/Sep.

When asked about this year's event, Graham Williams, FFF Founder had this to say: “It’s been so hard to keep the lid on everything we have been working on, there are so many exciting bands and acts this year, and so many more to come.” He added “This is clearly the best bill we have ever put together, and I can’t wait to watch it all happen in November.”

Weekend passes are on sale now, including PIP (Pretty Important People) passes. Single day passes, band set times, student discounts and more will be coming in September. Stay tuned for plenty of opportunities to win tickets in the member’s area at funfunfunfest.com, during Fun Fun Fun Fest’s infamous and annual Scavenger Hunt, the newly added Fun Fun Fun Olympics, and on Twitter/Facebook outlets. 

As always, Fun Fun Fun Fest will be working with Austin’s favorite local food and fashion vendors, dedicated to delivering a true Austin Experience for locals and travelers alike.

‘X’ will no longer be performing at Fun Fun Fun Fest as previously announced, as they are on a new tour. They have been replaced by legendary gothic punk band, The Damned, known for being the first UK punk rock group to release a single, an album, to have a record on the UK music charts and to tour the US.

FUN FUN FUN FEST 2011 CURRENT LINE UP:

ORANGE STAGE

Passion Pit  •  Lykke Li • M83 • Blonde Redhead • GIRLS • HUM • Clap Your Hands Say Yeah • Okkervil River • Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears • Architecture in Helsinki • Ted Leo & The Pharmacists • Heartless Bastards • Tune-Yards • Ra Ra Riot • Tinariwen • Radio Dept • Cold Cave • We Were Promised Jetpacks • Mates of State • The Joy Formidable • Cloud Nothings • The Boxer Rebellion • Asobi Seksu • Keep Shelly In Athens • Le Butcherettes • Jim Ward (Sparta/At The Drive-In) • Joe Lally (Fugazi) • Future Islands • Crooks • Lemuria • TV Torso • Manejo Beto 

BLACK STAGE

Slayer • Danzig Legacy (Danzig/Samhain/Danzig & Doyle Perform Misfits) • The Damned • Hot Snakes • Murder City Devils • Kid Dynamite• Boris • Cave In • Negative Approach • D-Generation • Eyehategod • Russian Circles • Thee Oh Sees • Zero Boys • Paint It Black  • Trash Talk • Youth Brigade • No Bunny • Davilla 666 • Bane • Earth Crisis • Graveyard • Doomriders • Ceremony • From Ashes to Rise • World Inferno/Friendship Society • Total Control (Member of Eddie Current Suppression Ring) • Death Grips • Touche Amore • Defeater • Mind Spiders • OBN III • Shapes Have Fangs • Schmillion • Thieves

BLUE STAGE

Public Enemy • Major Lazer • Odd Future (OFWGKTA) • Diplo • Flying Lotus • Neon Indian • Four Tet • Spank Rock • Dan Deacon • Cecil Otter & Swiss Andy present: WUGAZI • Childish Gambino • Budos Band • Rakim • Del The Funky Homosapien • Big Freedia • YACHT • Baths • MNDR • Austra • Dengue Fever • Black Milk • DJ Franki Chan • Ocote Soul Sounds • Auto Body • Bird Peterson • Brandt Brauer Fricke • Picture Plane • T-Bird and The Breaks • Cecil Otter (Doomtree) • G-side • Speak • Purity Ring • DJ Car Stereo (Wars) • B.L.A.C.K.I.E. • Fat Tony

YELLOW STAGE

Henry Rollins • Reggie Watts • Brian Posehn • Upright Citizens Brigade • Turquoise Jeep • Donald Glover • Ali Wong • Anarchy Championship Wrestling • Neal Brennan (Co-creator of Chappelle Show/Half Baked) • Best Fwends • Matt Bearden • Brody Stevens • Captured By Robots • Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser Yo-Yo Extravaganza • Whamcity Comedy Set • Louis Katz • Chris Trew • Veggie Hot Dog Eating Contest • JT Habersaat + the Altercation Punk Comedy Tour 

…With more announcements to come in August and September.

Fun Fun Fun Fest encourages you to travel smart by biking, walking or carpooling to the festival grounds, as parking will be limited and not permitted in surrounding neighborhood areas. Parking options and more can be found at funfunfunfest.com.

Go to www.funfunfunfest.com for updates and to purchase tickets. You can follow the fest on Twitter @funfunfunfest for up-to-the-minute news, ticket giveaways, or you can become a Fun Fun Fun Homie on Facebook @ facebook.com/funfunfunfest

Fun Fun Fun Fest would like to thank you to all of the partners who help make the festival possible, includingHeineken Light, Stanley-PMI and many more.

ABOUT FUN FUN FUN FEST

Fun Fun Fun Fest booked its first set of acts in 2006 in downtown Austin, leading with the likes of Spoon and The Circle Jerks… setting the tone for what would grow to be the darling of independent music festivals for music lovers and music makers in the United States for years to come. 

Now in its sixth year, Fun Fun Fun Fest is an independent genre based festival, known as one of the most relaxed, creative, and pioneering festivals in music today. Fun Fun Fun Fest is a fest that is custom booked for the most passionate underground and progressive musicians, comedians and fans around the world.