Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Angel Olsen - Live KEXP 2017-02-18 (concert)

More KEXP goodness, this time with Angel Olsen, recorded nearly a year ago in support of her excellent 2016 LP "My Woman". 

This four song set doesn't feature "Shut Up Kiss Me" or "Sister", my two favorite songs from "My Woman", but does feature the next best three songs from the LP ("Intern", "Woman", and "Never Be Mine") as well as a great cover of "Total Control" by The Motels

I've since updated my LP review to reflect this, but this KEXP concert clip is where I realized that the backup singer in the Colbert video that I raved about to all of my friends is actually Heather McEntire, the lead singer for Mount Moriah (on the right-hand side of the image above).  I've already covered how great Heather is in my review of their eponymous LP, so on the one hand, I'm disappointed that I didn't recognize her, even in the whole The Crickets / rockabilly outfit, and on the other hand I'm glad I noticed her sound and thought "wow, she should have her own band!" Fortunately Mount Moriah is still active and this is just another example of their members being involved in different projects (cf. Jenks Miller and Horseback). 

This is at least the second time Olsen has been on KEXP, but the 2014 appearance was in support of the "Burn Your Fire for No Witness" LP, which although not bad is not the masterpiece that "My Woman" is. 




Bonus link: The Motels - "Total Control"

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye" (spotlight)

Driving last night I heard "Lazy Eye" on the radio, and that reminded me that I've been meaning to do this: I hereby declare The Smashing Pumpkins redundant, and in the future we need only the Silversun Pickups.

When I first head "Lazy Eye" some 11 (!) years ago I (and everyone else) thought Brian Aubert's voice was similar to Billy Corgan's, and that their overall sound mines the same territory as The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, and MBV.  So why are TSPs now redundant?

First, although I was never a huge fan of TSPs, their early work (e.g., from 1993's "Siamese Dream") nicely captures the sound of the early 90s / post-college and all the associated nostalgia.  I enjoyed the singles from each successive LP less and less, but did not let their decreasing relevancy diminish my enjoyment of "Disarm", "Today", etc.

Then when Danette and I got together she made it clear in no uncertain terms that she did not like Billy Corgan.  On the other hand, Danette's a hater and dislikes a lot of good music, so I remained unconvinced and having never seen Corgan in an interview, I had a protective veil of ignorance.  Recently, in the autobiography "Girl in a Band",  I discovered that Kim Gordon's assessment of Billy Corgan matches Danette's.  This is when I started to think maybe Danette was right... 

The final straw is when I recently saw a screen grab of Billy Corgan on Info Wars, talking about chemtrails or something.  That convinced me that 1) he actually was batshit crazy, and 2) Danette was definitely right.

Can you reject creepy Corgan and still enjoy "Today"?  I'm not sure, but in the mean time we can enjoy the Silversun Pickups, who still "sound like college" to me.  They've had a steady stream of moderately successful singles, but "Lazy Eye" from their 2006 debut LP "Carnavas" is probably still their biggest hit.  And we can probably just retire Billy et al.

Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye", live from Sun Liquor (from which their name derives), live on Fearless Music (2010-06)

Bonus Sonic Youth reference:  From the official video, Nikki Monninger (top) looks like a brunette Kim Gordon (bottom).  



2018-02-15 edit: I came across this today...

Sunday, December 24, 2017

AC/DC - "Jailbreak" (forgotten song)

Malcolm Young, a founding member of the seminal blues/hard-rock/heavy metal band AC/DC, died recently, just over three years after he retired from the band because of his dementia diagnosis.  Although he was "just" a rhythm guitarist, Malcolm co-wrote, with his brother Angus, the music for all AC/DC songs.  Considering all the memorable riffs AC/DC has produced over 40+ years, that's quite an impressive feat.

So which one should I choose to mark Malcom's passing?  It's actually pretty difficult.  I remember "Back in Black", with its many hit singles, when it was a new release in 1980, coinciding with my budding awareness of music.  After that, Bill Glidden got a lot of their early catalog (e.g., "Highway to Hell", "Powerage").  I also have some pretty enjoyable memories of "For Those About to Rock We Salute You" at Robert Gordick's house. 

Instead of the many great songs from those LPs, I will choose "Jailbreak", which first appeared on Australian version of their 1976 LP "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", but not on the US version of that LP which did not come out until 1981, a full year after the death of Bon Scott and Brian Johnson replacing him for the seminal "Back in Black".  The song "Jailbreak" wasn't released in the US until the 1984 EP "'74 Jailbreak". 

Confused yet?  Well the discography of AC/DC is filled with all kinds of anomalies, mostly arising from different versions of their LPs for Australia, Europe, and the US.  And a 1976 song, not released in the US until 1984, on an EP that suggests 1974, perfectly captures the disorder of their early catalog  -- which includes two essentially different LPs with the same title!   

So why does AC/DC continue to have such appeal?  Danette and I talk about this occasionally.  First, the songs are heavy and feature memorable riffs, but the blues origins are clearly maintained.  The lyrics, especially those of Bon Scott, are funny even when they're sophomoric.  We often wonder if we first heard songs like "Big Balls" today (instead of 35+ years ago) if we'd still find them funny, but I suspect we would.  We recently decided that a deciding factor in their appeal is they are, to the best that we could remember, one of the least misogynistic hard rock bands.  Sure, there are a lot of songs about women and sex, but we can't recall any that are especially mean-spirited or degrading.  Perhaps that's why we have all-female tribute bands, like Hell's Belles

Officially, AC/DC continues, but with death of founding member Malcolm, the voluntary retirement of long-time bassist Cliff Williams,  the involuntary retirement of Brian Johnson, and long-time drummer Phil Rudd landing in jail because of living out the story line of "Dirty Deeds...", well I'm not sure it's still really AC/DC.

There's a 1976 video for "Jailbreak", which features Malcolm in the opening sequence (in a guard's outfit).  A video is pretty rare for 1976, so I suppose we should forgive them for not figuring out how to get all five band members in frame at once.

AC/DC - "Jailbreak"