Any music with any vague connection or reference to The Beatles—I need to turn over that rock. So, it was with some interest when I first caught word of Fistful of Mercy, a project that includes Joseph Arthur, Ben Harper and Dhani Harrison, son of Beatle George.
If anything, the collaboration veers toward Turin Breaks territory with its strummed acoustic guitars and harmonic interplay—and it’s quite pleasing indeed with Dhani’s high parts in the harmonies touching on something very familiar and ‘Harrison-esque.’
Fistful of Mercy will release their debut album ‘As I Call You Down’ on October 5th on Harrison’s own Hot Records. Pre-orders for the album are currently available at the band’s online store. The first 300 pre-orders will come with a signed poster from the band.
Limited edition vinyl will be available in stores a week early starting September 28th.
Fistful of Mercy plays the Sixth & I Synagogue on November 16.
“Some may say it’s a dying breed, or a dying business, but I still love the ritual of going to record stores or junk sales and buying vinyl. I love the warmth of the analog, the size, the artwork, and I love the experience of having to get out of the house and shop spontaneously.
The first records I got as a kid were records that my babysitters were playing. I would read the lyrics, stare at the artwork, and dream of a better life and other places than my tiny apartment in Queens, New York. Music gave me the confidence to not feel alone and like a total freak in a suburban middle class mainstream world. It is my favorite format to hear music.
Just when I get tired of schlepping my record collection around in apartments in New York or storage spaces, I have that night when I hook up the turn table, plug in, and once again clearly see the sonic difference.
I dig the idea of having an iPod when I’m in the gym or sitting in the van or airplane. My favorite program on there is “shuffle” because it feels like one of my friends or somebody came into my house at a drunken party and started playing my records, picking their own choices, and making me hear my collection in a different way. Nonetheless, looking at an album cover on a tiny MP3 player really does not turn me on, even though for my own records the little image makes my nose look smaller.
I always release all of my records on vinyl and sell them at the live shows. Me and the band love playing in stores & as many mom and pop shops as we can in this country. Traditionally, on release day, I play one of my favorite shops, Vintage Vinyl in New Jersey. There are many of these cats still out there. They are the real lovers, passionistas, and outlaws.
The idea of going into a store looking for one thing, and maybe something else catches your eye—a person to fall in love with, become friends, start a band, or buy a record you weren’t planning to. As a kid we went to record shops and some of the cool folks behind the counters would suggest things to buy. Sometimes these were life changing records. We would travel hours on trains and busses to find a certain shop or record. When we found what we needed it made all the difference.
I’m an advocate of showing up and being in person. I’m not religious, but I believe in people and life. Going to live shows, bookstores, movies, and record stores are all part of the experience. To sit at home on one’s couch and be told by shopping networks, “if you like this, you’ll like that, etc. etc. etc.” seems very big brother.
Favorite things to listen to include: Bad Brains “Pay to Cum” 7 inch, anything by The Kills, The Hold Steady “Boys and Girls in America,” Lucinda Williams “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road,” Elton John “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (double album with gatefold and lyrics), Chuck Berry “The Great 28,” Suicide’s debut album, Wilco “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” on 180 gram vinyl, Sam Cooke “Nightbeat,” The Dickies “Dawn of the Dickies,” and Bob Dylan “Blonde on Blonde.” —Jesse Malin
Jesse Malin & The St. Marks Social play DC9, this Sunday (9/12) with Moneybrother.
Although one anonymous commenter all but pleaded for the Music Monday Kanye Obsession to end, there are more tweets and more responses left to trudge through. C’mon, you know you want to read a very obvious reference to a played-out joke from the first season of Saturday Night Live. Here, then, is Music Monday’s tweet-by-tweet response to Kanye’s Twitter meltdown, part the second.
K: It feels like the movie Heat when you wanted Deniro to make it… You want the bad guy to make it. A: I thought you were the misunderstood good guy? K: These tweets have no manager, no publicist , no grammar checking… this is raw A: And yet, you broke out the serial comma (sort of) for this one. K: Humanity and Empathy are 2 of the 4 principles at facebook. Those were the 2 principles I was missing on that evening A: Did Justin Timberlake tell you that? Just because he’s in the Facebook movie doesn’t mean you should listen to him. K: Why are there so many tweets? Well this isn’t a simple subject. There are layers to this beyond me running on stage. A: THERE ARE SO MANY. K: You’ve got the top layer… Kanye’s rude! A: Yup. K: If I speak in 3rd person it’s because I’m quoting people sometimes I forget to put the quotations you know my grammar.. #ITSAPROCESS A: How did you get your hair SO blonde? #ITSAPROCESS K: You’ve got a layer of order… this is how things are spose to go this is how it’s always been etc. A: Ugh I don’t even know. K: You’ve got a layer of… What is reality? You really want this guy to die over an award show???!! wooooooow ….. A: No, no one sane really wants that. Geez. K: You’ve got the Media play… Who benefitted off of the moment? A: YES KANYE, WHO DID BENEFIT? K: MTV? JAY LENO? BEYONCE? ALL FORMS OF MEDIA? TAYLOR? KANYE WEST? Who gained? Who lost? A: I’m pretty sure the print newspaper industry is still dying, but other than that, yeah, you’ve hit on most of the major profiteers, including yourself. K: Walk with me people… let’s break this down for real now. I might get in trouble again lol? A: lol indeed. Funny that you’re doing this just as you’re releasing all kinds of new music that is for sale. K: WHO BENEFITED FOR REAL PEOPLE???!!!!!!!! A: Ooh ooh I know pick me! YOU DID! K: A year later where do we stand? A: Um…you’re still talking about it, and everyone else has moved on. K: There’s a layer of… hey Kanye said what I was thinking A: You’re a regular Id, Kanye. K: There’s a layer of… Entertainment… we are entertainers and this is only TV… not the War A: Correct. K: Why was it made into such a race issue. Taylor loves rap music… I love country music. A: Those are genres, love, not races. K: TAYLOR LOVES RAP MUSIC… I LOVE COUNTRY MUSIC A: AND NOW THE NEWS FOR THE HARD OF HEARING… K: When I right songs like Heartless I always say “is this melody good enough to be a country song or a broadway song?” A: “The answer is usually ‘heck no’ but I have to put out a song a week, so I go ahead and record it anyway…” K: I’ve hurt, I’ve bled, I’ve learned. I only want to do good. I am passionate I am human I am real. I wish I could meet every hater A: Come visit me! Seriously, I’ll set it up. Have your people talk to my people. Not even joking. K: I wish I could talk to every hater face to face and change there a opinion of me one conversation at a time. A: You’re more than welcome to try, but know that some people are actually entitled to dislike people, even after speaking to them. K: I wish they all knew how much I really cared about music and pop culture and art and peoples feelings. A: And making money. K: I wish they could accept that I’ve grown and only want to do good for the world. I want to help as many people as I can. A: Good. Quit talking and go go gadget do-gooder. K: I want to help starting with the music and ending with the smile. A: Man, musicians always say that their music is going to do good for the world. Has that ever happened? That is some mystical stuff, right there. K: I want to win there hearts back so I can continue to bring my take on culture to the masses with a clean opinion. A: Your take on culture is too expensive for the masses, boo, nothing to do with hearts. K: It starts with this… A: I’m on the edge of my seat. K: I’m sorry Taylor. A: Wait, really? You just apologized again? I thought for sure you were going to announce the foundation of some philanthropic organization devoted to teaching etiquette or something. Get over yourself. We all have. Except for me, obviously, because I’m rising to your bait, but SERIOUSLY this whole diatribe is too tacky to ignore.
Cellist (and friend of this blog) Gordon Withers takes to the stage tomorrow evening at Velvet Lounge as opener for All Tiny Creatures. As such, we thought it an opportune time for a chat. About vinyl. —Ed.
The recent vinyl renaissance has coincided nicely with my desire to finally record solo rock cello albums. Since my first album (Jawbox On Cello) was a benefit, it didn’t really make financial sense to put it out on vinyl. However, it was something I really wanted to do for my second (s/t) album.
Ever since I was a kid, I loved vinyl. I had a Fisher Price turntable on which I would play (or ruin) my mom’s old Beatles albums. I also loved my dad’s collection of classical vinyl. Apparently he had belonged to whatever the 60’s classical version of Columbia House was at that point, and had amassed an enormous collection from always having forgotten to send the little postcards back in time. At any rate, I grew up loving the sound of both old classical and rock albums – so rich, full, textured, crackly… so much character.
Fast forward (reset the needle?) to today. Much has been made recently about the resurgence of vinyl vis-a-vis the decline of other tangible musical products. At this point pretty much everyone agrees (finally!) that vinyl sounds better than CD’s. But in the past couple of years, vinyl has come to fill emotional needs too. Playing a record is far more of a conscious act than listening to music on CD’s or iTunes. LPs can be miniature works of art – or conversation starters. As the founder of BandCamp pointed out when launching their vinyl-only BCWax label, books and records are a physical manifestation of a person’s taste – a visitor can easily peruse someone’s physical collections of music and literature, but that is not so easily done on a computer or Kindle.
In producing a vinyl version of my new s/t album, I wanted a product somewhere in-between the expensive, collector packages that many artists are doing these days, and a low-end “vinyl version of the album”. My research took me to Gotta Groove Records, the only new vinyl press to open in the US in years (and in Cleveland no less!). I fell in love with their backstory, but ultimately chose to hire them based on their commitment to quality. They don’t skimp on the gram-weight for their basic records, and they’ll also handle all of the printing, packaging, labels, etc. in-house. I had my good friend Dave Gonzalez design an amazing cover that looked best on the 12×12 vinyl package. I set up a BandCamp site to handle the distribution and download codes. Finally, I was lucky enough to get an early invite code to Kickstarter at this time last year, and set about financing the pressing of the vinyl via pledges and pre-orders.
An aside: BandCamp and Kickstarter have come to represent the gold-standard of independent music financing and distribution in the new decade. Their sites are so intuitive, well-designed, and infused with so much genuine love for art and music. If you are not familiar with them, it’s worth spending the time to check them out. You’ll discover so many amazing projects and artists within the first few minutes.
But back to the vinyl release. I tried to make the vinyl version “special”, without being ridiculous. Many of the collectors’ editions coming out these days I consider little more than price-gouging of hardcore fans. I priced my vinyl release at $10 (in retrospect, $12 would have been better), and included 2 download codes, handled through BandCamp: one for the album itself, and one for 2 bonus tracks (only available with the vinyl purchase). I went with standard black vinyl, standard labels, and regular sleeves to keep costs low. But I took a lot of care with the music itself. Anytime you record in J Robbins’s Magpie Cage studio, you know you’ll get an incredible-sounding end product. But we made sure to mix the album with an eye toward the vinyl version. Additionally, I had two masters made – one for the digital/CD release, and another for the vinyl. The latter had less compression, and was EQ’d to take advantage of the vinyl medium’s strengths. To me, listening to the album on vinyl, it sounds like a whole different record. The first time I heard it, it was like a revelation.
I am definitely planning on doing all future releases on vinyl, whenever possible. I recommend it to others, too – if you have enough fans to support a Kickstarter project, you can pretty much do anything you want. And it may just be the Project Manager in me, but I really enjoyed the whole process. It’s definitely a lot more intense and time-consuming than sending off a master to DiscMakers, but it’s a lot more fun. I loved getting test pressings in the mail, approving label designs, and building the finished product when it finally arrived. Having a vinyl release, even one done totally independently, feels like a culmination of some kind – my music has finally arrived.
I’ll have a few copies for sale at Wednesday’s show, opening for All Tiny Creatures. I may not do a re-press, so get it while you can!
Ahead of tonight’s Mercury Music Prize announcement, we’ve got a new version of Paul Weller’s current single ‘Fast Car / Slow Traffic’ featuring Devlin, a grime lyricist hailing from Dagenham, Essex.
Due to the over abundance of Twitter material with which we have to work this week, we’re splitting our Music Monday recap into two parts.
Kanye. The gift that keeps on giving. —Ed.
So, I hate to do this, because I was in the kind of good mood that only happens when you’ve spent an hour in a Sirius-equipped Zipcar listening toLittle Steven’s Underground Garage, but I’m going to write about Kanye again this week. Consider it a “back by popular demand” thing, except that “popular demand” in this case means that two people asked me if I was going to write about Kanye again this week. So: I’m going to write about Kanye again this week. (Maybe if I repeat that exact phrase three times Kanye himself will appear in my living room and turn into a sandsnake…)
If you follow His Kanye-sty on Twitter, you know that he had something of a meltdown on Saturday morning. Between 8:55 am and 10:38 am, 72 tweets, all addressing the infamous “Imma let you finish, but…” incident, streamed onto Kanye’s Twitter feed. Here, I will respond to them, tweet by tweet, like Liz did with the Stones, except that I never entirely understood how “Guyville” was a song-by-song response to “Main St.” even after listening to them track by track so if someone can explain it to me that’d be great. AT ANY RATE, here goes. Kanye first, then me.
K: Man I love Twitter… I’ve always been at the mercy of the press but no more… The media tried to demonize me A: I love Twitter too! We have so much in common!!! K: They wanted yall to believe I was a monster in real life so you guys wouldn’t listen or buy my music anymore A: ME TOO…wait. No. I thought we were talking about how much we love Twitter? K: I feel like they were waiting for the opportunity to go in all the way on me and when it came they beat me to a pulp A: That phrase “beat me to a pulp”—we use it so often, but when you think about it, it’s incredibly gory. Hmmm. K: Even now a lot of articles start there first 2 paragraphs about how much of an asshole I am A: Oh hey! I wrote one of those! K: Happy B day to sister B … I gotta dope ass gift for you. A: Huh? K: I accept the idea (ideal) that perception is reality A: So…when you stick a spoon in a glass of clear water, and the spoon appears to be broken and disjointed, because you perceive it as such, the spoon is really broken and disjointed? I was a philosophy major, punk, do you really want to get me started on metaphysics? Because I will Descartes the everliving poop out of you. K: When I say perception is reality I mean whatever you think is the truth… is your truth A: Oh yeah, and I concentrated on contemporary moral and ethical theory. I’m not even going to touch this one. K: Some people’s truth is Kanye is racist… It’s not my truth but I do believe it’s my Karma…. walk with me… A: How great would it be if “walk with me” were a Twin Peaks reference here? K: Even though the NBC telethon was widely praised yall didn’t think they was just gone let me get away with that did yall???!!! A: Generally, I use “get away with that” in sentences where “that” refers to something negative. And no, I generally prefer when people exhibit a pattern of consistently good behavior, rather than vacillate unpredictably between good and bad. That unpredictable thing? That’s kind of a classic abuser tactic. Also popular with dictators. Not that you’re an abuser or a dictator, Kanye, just that the pattern is really what counts, rather than the actions taken singularly. K: With the help of strong will, a lack of impathy, a lil alcohol and extremely distasteful & bad timing … I became George Bush over night A: Is that, like, a Teen Wolf kind of transformation thing? Or is it more like Animorphs? K: How deep is the scar… I bled hard.. cancelled tour with the number one pop star in the world … closed the doors of my clothing office A: Wow. Your life must be awfully hard. Your clothing office? This is some serious place-of-privilege complaining, here. K: Had to let employees go… for the first time I felt the impact of my brash actions … I felt the recession from an ownership side A: I thought you had to close things because everyone magically started thinking you were an asshole. It was the recession? Bummer, dude. K: People booed when I would go to concerts and the performer mentioned my name. A: That’s because of the recession, too, right? K: Remember in Anchor Man when Ron Burgandy cursed on air and the entire city turned on him? But this wasn’t a joke. This was & is my real life A: Never saw it, never will, sorry. But if something from a Will Ferrell movie was and is my real life, I’d be pretty bummed. K: There are people who don’t dislike me… they absolutely hate me! A: I once read a book (I wish I could remember the name) where the mom character told the son character that he shouldn’t say “hate” because it was a very strong word, and he said “well, I dislike so-and-so so much that I wish they would get run over by a truck.” Just thought that phrasing might be useful for you here. K: I was chilling with this white girl having a conversation and she cut me off and said… Hold up… I thought you didn’t like us?! A: The snark machine is out of order, now you have to pay a quarter. K: That’s when you realize perception is reality. I’ve been straying from this subject on twitter but I have to give it to you guys raw now. A: Please do. Sarcasm is not a perpetual motion machine. K: If you google Asshole my face may very well pop up 2 pages into the search. A: I mostly get card games. Unless you’re talking about Google image search? In which case: Safe Search On, friends. And even then, no Kanye. I can’t believe I just actually did that, by the way. K: Some people say… Why worry about “the haters?” This is bigger that just the concept of haters. A: Like, the Platonic Idealof haters? K: I have a mission in life to bring truth and beauty through my music and the visuals that anchor around it A: Yes. Like all those visuals on your two blogs of expensive things to buy. K: The media has successfully diminished the “receptive” audience of (3rd person)… KANYE WEST A: Now you’re just talking like a grad student. K: …taking a 15 second blip the mdeia have successfully painted the image of the “ANGRY BLACK MAN’ The King Kong theory. A: Ok, all joking aside—it is important to consider the role the Angry Black Man trope has played in media reaction to Kanye’s outburst. I’d like to see more work on this. K: I’m the guy who at one point could perform the Justin Timberlake on stage and everyone would be sooo happy that I was there A: Well, maybe not everyone. K: People tweeted that they wish I was dead… No listen. They wanted me to die people. I carry that. I smile and take pictures through that A: And thank goodness you power through these hard times. Whatever would I do without your smiling face showing up in my photo vendors’ emails every morning? K: I wear my scars… It’s almost like I have to where a suit to juxtapose my image and I won’t lie… IT WORKS! A: I … don’t think I know what this means. K: I wrote a song for Taylor Swift that’s so beautiful and I want her to have it. If she won’t take it then I’ll perform it for her A: Hey, last person I wronged: I knitted you this sweater that’s so beautiful and I want you to have it. If you won’t take it then I’ll wear it for you. But only out of the goodness of my heart. I’d never wear it, otherwise. It’s for you. K: She had nothing to do with my issues with award shows. She had no idea what hit her. She’s justa lil girl with dreams like the rest of us. A: She also has some teardrops on her guitar and killer extensions. K: She deserves the apology more than anyone. Thank you Biz Stone and Evan Williams for creating a platform where we can communicate directly A: Twitter really, truly is the best way to communicate directly with anyone. And I’m sure you and Taylor Swift were exactly what its creators had in mind when they made it. I’m just glad you’ve finally wised up and realized that, so that you can help Twitter fulfill its true and good purpose. It’s like you’ve pulled Excalibur from the stone. K: We’re both artist and the media and managers are trying to get between us. Everyone wants to capitalize off this is some way A: NO. People want to make money off of some drama between pop stars? Kanye…you couldn’t possibly want to be making money off of this…could you??? K: I’m ready to get out of my own way. The ego is overdone… it’s like hoodies A: Well this one just makes fun of itself, now doesn’t it? K: I know there are family members friends and fans that have literally fought for me. A: I really wish this were a case of misusing the word “literally,” but I’m sure that there really are people who have gotten into literal fights about Kanye and this makes me sad. K: There are people who have named there kids after me… can you imagine that next day in school. Even though I don’t have kids… A: NameVoyager, which we’ve previously established is one of my favorite internet toys, actually backs up this claim. In 2004 and 2005, there were a few hundred instances of the name “Kanye,” and there really weren’t in any other year. But something tells me 4-year-olds aren’t paying rapt attention to the Grammys… K: I am responsible for those who love and represent me and what they have to deal with on a day to day defending “The American Psycho” A: I defend that movie all the time! It’s one of my favori…oh, we’re still talking about you, I guess. K: I watched Justin Timberlake at the Grammies loose every televised award including album of the year which the Dixie Chicks won A: I’m sure that’s entirely your fault. Also, do you really want to have to start apologizing to the Dixie Chicks now? Those ladies are effin’ hard, man…they took on George W. and they will definitely take on you. And now I have A-Ha stuck in my head. THANKS KANYE. K: I would have ran on stage for Justin that night because Sexy Back (in my mind) was that important… that impactful to our culture A: Wait, so what you’re saying is…that running on stage thing…you’d do it…again? K: It’s not about race America. No one in our position ever stands up and says anything anymore. A: Some of my best friends are white, too, Kanye! K: I have given my awards to other groups multiple times on national TV… They never showed that this past year during the massacre of Kanye A: I don’t think you can massacre just one person, although if that person’s ego is as big as Kanye’s, I suppose it’s possible to make an exception. K: Who’s seen the play Wicked? I’ve seen it 4 times! Other than loving the music acting and costumes… it’s my story!!! A: Oooh, ooh, I have! I don’t remember there being any hip hop artists in it though. Or maybe I’m just thinking of the book? K: The Wicked witch of the west basically is so convicted to tell her’ truth when she does it she is outcasted by society and turned WICKED A: Yes, I’m pretty sure you’ve hit upon the moral of that story. It has nothing to do with friendship and humility and sacrifice. K: With new found humility … who am I to run on stage? I would never ever again in a million years do that. Sorry to let you down. A: I thought you just said you’d do it for Justin? And why not acting like a gigantic asshat let anyone down? K: It is distasteful to cut people off as a general rule. What’s the point of dressing tastefully if I’m going to act the complete opposite? A: Just…wow. Also, is it not distasteful to clog up innocent people’s Twitter feeds with your deepest thoughts on Saturday morning? I have some very important fake PR tweets coming in right now… K: Yes I was that guy. A 32 year old child. A: Oh man, like Geoffrey the Giraffe? I LOVE that guy! K: When I woke up from the crazy nightmare I looked in the mirror and said GROW UP KANYE … I take the responsibility for my actions A: How much time, on average, would you say you spend looking in mirrors, sir? K: I am not a bad person. Even in that moment I was only trying to do good but people don’t always need my help. A: I’m sure you’re not a bad person, but I don’t think the problem here was that Beyonce didn’t need your help. I think the problem is that you were not even a little bit helping. K: Beyonce didn’t need that. MTV didn’t need that and Taylor and her family friends and fans definitely didn’t want or need that. A: Nope, they didn’t. But all of them have dealt with it and moved on. You haven’t. K: These aren’t regular tweets… this is stream of consciousness … I want you guys to know and feel where my head is at… A: Funny…they’re coming into my Twitter feed just like regular tweets do. EXCEPT THAT THEY’RE NOT STOPPING AND I HAVE NO INTEREST IN READING THEM. (Actually, I stopped following Kanye on Twitter a long time ago for this very reason. There’s some dramatic license at work here.)
(We’ll pick up with the rest of the Twitter tirade tomorrow.)
My #musicmonday pick: For my brother Mark, who’s starting his first day of work after a few months of luxurious funemployment today, “Welcome to the Working Week,” by Elvis Costello.
“I’ve been lucky enough to record two Ardent sessions (one solo, and one with Two Way Radio) in studio A, record most of an album in studio C, as well as hang out there on several occasions in my now long and illustrious music “career.”
I honestly tell you that I’ve never been in a more professional environment – even when producing a simple live recording for a podcast, the folks at Ardent go all-out. And it’s almost uncomfortable for me on some level, because I’m so used to recording in less than ideal spaces that don’t come with tech support, or an overflowing gear and supply closet. Tidy, perfect-sounding rooms that come with so many perks are a rare luxury.
Unfortunately, the thing that sticks out most in my mind about doing the solo Ardent session – aside from being lucky enough to talk Tim Regan (of Snowglobe) into sitting in with me, and that Klaus Voormann was there for some reason – is how dreadfully, painfully sick I was.
Looking back now, I’m honestly not sure why I didn’t try to postpone, as I could barely talk, much less sing on key. It just never occurred to me to try and reschedule. So, with a fever over 101, a ragged voice and a borrowed acoustic guitar, the show went on.
It actually didn’t turn out so bad. I drank lots of tea with honey and barely spoke for two hours before the gig, saving it up for when the red light came on. (That’s fancy recordist talk for when the show started. And truthfully, I don’t even think there was a red “we’re recording now” indicator light. If there was, I was too sick to remember.)
I did my thing, Tim and Jason Pulley (my new bandmate in the Near Reaches) got up and did theirs in support, and I went home and collapsed. I still cringe a little when I hear the shape of my voice on the playback (more pretentious recordist speak), but perhaps you, the average and likely unfamiliar-with-how-my-voice-should-sound-listener can be more forgiving. I truly hope so.
P.S. – when I say “average” listener, I am by no means implying that I am somehow “above-average” by being able to decipher the musical imperfections of my own voice, I was simply suggesting that casual listener might not even notice or care to make such nit-picky observations. Except, now I’ve pointed them out. Gosh, I’m a dick.” —J.D. Reager
Enter to win J.D. Reager’s LP “The Repechage” by simply leaving a comment, your name, and a contact email address in the comments to this post. We’ll choose one winner each Friday for that week’s giveaway which ALSO includes the entire Ardent Music catalog. (That’s just 2 artists at this point, but hey, who’s counting?)
To hear more great Ardent Sessions please visit Ardent Presents.
We’ve got a pair of tickets for tomorrow night’s garage rock throwdown at the Black Cat in exchange for your request for them in the comments to this post (with a contact email address!)—and we’ve got The Blackberry Belles’ Tony Ferrari on why you should put down that Nuggets box set and see it all happen live:
On Friday, September 3rd, my band, The Blackberry Belles, has the pleasure of sharing the Black Cat Mainstage with two amazing garage rock outfits, Mondo Topless and The Electric Mess. If you enjoy psychedelic garage punk infused with primitive R&B this is the bill for you.
Opening the show are The Electric Mess from New York City. I have come to believe that Esther Crow’s time travel experiments in a dank makeshift basement laboratory in mid 1960’s Brooklyn are paying off in dividends. Beyond inspired, The Electric Mess are the embodiment of 1960’s psychedelic rock’n’roll lunacy. Check out the video for their single “You’ve Become a Witch” and be prepared to lose your mind.
Headlining from Philadelphia are Mondo Topless. These guys are in my opinion The Real Deal when it comes to keeping the torch lit for the artists found in the Nuggets collection. This is garage punk at its grimiest. Their stage show is a frenzied, beer fueled onslaught of R&B madness with a sight to behold and a sound to shake your very core. They just put out their 5th record “Freaking Out” on Get Hip Recordings.
My band, The Blackberry Belles will take to the stage in the middle of the night’s line up with hopes of mesmerizing the crowd with our brand of primordial rock’n’roll. We’re currently working on proper recordings,and we have a rough mix of “Listen Baby” here for your enjoyment. We hope to see you there and we promise to raise a commotion.
Friday, September 3rd, Black Cat Mainstage, 9:00pm $10.00 all ages
“My very first recollection of being familiar with any music at all was when I was three and still in Edinburgh. My sister and my visiting cousin would get up early in the morning and rather than stick on cartoons, we whipped out a gatefold copy of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds and scare ourselves silly. It sounds pretty cheesy to anyone I play it to now but I just remember the soaring synths, guitars, harpsichords and Richard Burton’s voice commanding the imagery and storyline perfectly. It had such darkness and foreboding to it which explains a lot of the “depressing” stuff my sister says I listen to nowadays. It was the artwork that had almost as much of an effect as the music; a big square book that fit in the sleeve along with one of the discs, full of terrifying illustrations of major events in the story; huge Martian tripods destroying buildings, boats and people with the heat ray, the red weed creeping and engulfing the landscape and the final picture of ravens picking apart the Martian’s innards. I love it to this day and still play the same copy I did when I was three.
I remember flicking through my parents vinyl collection to find Led Zeppelin II, Alison Moyet, Phil Collins and a Eurythmics greatest hits which had everything on there and must have been my first exposure to those iconic eighties synth sounds that are once again ubiquitous in pop music today. They also got the occasional 7” single, one of which was The Proclaimers’ ‘Letter from America’ and something nobody seems to have heard of although I understand was popular at the time, the Brazilian flavoured ‘Lambada’ by Kaoma. Those were my final recollections of vinyl when the nineties brought with it audio cassette, then (a little late in my household) compact disc. In spite of vinyl’s resurgence through the 2000’s, I didn’t take to it at the same time as everyone else. For me, it was actually completely by accident.
I asked my aunt one Christmas for the Millionaire album, ‘Paradisiac.’ Although to her I referred to it as their LP, by which I meant ‘album’ of course, on CD obviously, but being of her generation she thought LP meant gramophone record so went ahead and got me just that!
Initially disappointed, I had every opportunity to return it… but I didn’t. I thought it was so cool; how big it was by comparison to a jewel cased CD which meant the artwork was extra detailed along with the big typeface for the track listing and credits. I retrieved a really nice 70’s turntable from my parent’s attic and after getting appropriate pre amps and connectors to bring it up to date, it worked perfectly. So I stuck on my new Millionaire LP. I was far more enthralled with the idea that I was playing vinyl than I was with the music that was on it! I loved it. Where there were once small plastic discs encased in larger square plastic containers there was now cardboard stained with ink and at least one big, black, glossy disc inside which had the music physically worked into grooves. And following years of ease, skipping songs on iTunes after you’ve heard a verse and chorus, playing vinyl is more of an event and there’s incentive to listen to it end to end because otherwise you have to get off you’re arse, lift the needle, flip the disc… but that’s a good thing. And a vinyl record just feels like more of a ‘possession’ than a CD and especially more so than a download, of which there is nothing for you to leaf through or look at or even just hold in your hands.
Since then I’ve been getting on eBay for original scratchy copies of Queen’s ‘A Night at the Opera’ and ‘Low’ by David Bowie along with a few others. However my favourite purchases have been anything I could get hold of by Boards of Canada; my favourite artist bar none. They are utterly penetrating and almost ethereal but in a way that no one else can come close to reproducing. Massive swelling landscapes of synths, beats and the sounds of anything ranging from giggling children, to audio extracts from ancient nature documentaries. BoC are big fans of composing with anything and everything analogue even by way of feeding loops and synths through an old cassette deck or reel to reel so that they wow and flutter. Hearing all of that on vinyl is just… profound. I managed to get hold of a copy of ‘A Beautiful Place Out In the Country’ EP (my desert island disc) which comes in sky blue vinyl. When the title track rolls on I can’t possibly describe how good it sounds; you have to hear it for yourself.
Their vinyl albums are quite elusive under £50, but I live in hope of finding them cheaper!“ —Andy Gill
Find TAPE at Myspace the ‘Let’s Not And Say We Did’ EP will be on Spotify, iTunes etc., and available for free download from Monday September 13th!
Fistful of Mercy – Fistful of Mercy (Mp3)
