Monthly Archives: July 2013

“I’ve always loved the glamour and decadence of lying on my bedroom floor listening to records, and definitely prefer the rich texture of vinyl to the sterile feel of a lot of modern production.”

“There’s something really magical about the character of music which hasn’t been fully quantified, for instance; I’ve always liked to think that the most effective part of the build up to the chorus of one of my favourite records, Bowie’s “Life on Mars,” is the way in which the tempo slows ever so slightly right at the very last moment—it’s a little bit like reaching the top of a roller coaster, and, since you know full well that you are about to rocket downwards, your emotions are heightened even further by the tantalising suspense created as the car slows down just before the drop.

Modern music production can sometimes lack the depth of emotion that a record is able to capture, in fact, I often make a point of saluting the past by putting record static back onto my electronic music.

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Craig Leon is best known as a record producer. Amongst other achievements he oversaw three of the most auspicious LPs in the first wave of US punk, the first albums from Suicide, Blondie, and the Ramones. The enduring success of these documents is enough to ensure him something much more than just album-credit footnote status, but he’s also a musician, and in the ‘80s he released a few records. Superior Viaduct’s outstanding vinyl reissue of his 1981 debut Nommos finds Leon in command of a highly developed experimental approach that was decades ahead of its time.

Craig Leon has a ton of producer credits on his resume, and there’s a whole lot of interesting music residing in that number, including work for such worthy names as Willie “Loco” Alexander, DMZ, The Go-Betweens, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, and The Fall. But where these name-checks basically point to the breadth of his abilities as a coordinator/guide, after consideration three of the biggest (and earliest) entries in his production bag actually serve as the indicator of his advisory talents.

Blondie (co-produced with Richard Gottehrer), Ramones, and Suicide (co-produced with Marty Thau) find Leon at the helm of three disparate streams of punk’s early potential. In the first case, there’s the swankness of unabashed pop accessibility. In the second comes the stripped-down brilliance of the music’s core. And in the third lies the rewards of the outer fringe.

That Leon was able to understand, and at a very early stage, that it was all coming from one vital regenerative impulse is testimony to his acumen (he also produced the early recordings of Richard Hell & the Voidoids), and that he was such a staunch advocate of the Ramones as something much more than just an oddball neighborhood band (according to Tommy Ramone he was instrumental in their getting signed to Sire) makes him quite a crucial figure in punk’s whole development.

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“It wasn’t until about six years ago that I became interested in vinyl. My family always had two record players in the basement, but neither one of them had functioning needles; so, I usually just fooled around with them, pretending to be a DJ.”

“My parents’ records sat there collecting dust, eclipsed by the new era of the cassette tape, soon to become the compact disc. Even back then, I couldn’t keep up with the changing formats; my friends were all getting these new things called CDs and I was still buying my Backstreet Boys albums on cassette, and damn proud of it. But, I eventually caught up and started collecting CDs, and at the next blink of an eye Mp3’s became the new thing; yet I continued to purchase CDs for something more tangible, something that involved a piece of paper with lyrics and photos, that I could unwrap like a gift.

Now, in an era where music has been significantly devalued, where listeners can acquire a whole discography at the click of a button, free of charge, while the artist watches his or her fan base rapidly grow while still living at home, I see why vinyl has made a comeback. Not only that, but after decades of hearing music in digital format, it’s no surprise that a record has acquired such a superior status in terms of sound. It is so much more tactile, and natural sounding, than a compact disk, and especially an Mp3. When I hold a record, I feel like I am holding a part of somebody’s soul, and when I listen to it, I am brought to a different place, as if I were there with the artist when he or she was writing the song.

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The A-side of “Me & You & Jackie Mittoo” b/w “Sunset Arcade” finds indie cornerstone Superchunk continuing to explore the increasingly classique strain of pop-rock that’s marked their late-period work, and the flip is a fine extension of the band’s mid-‘90s thrust. They will be releasing their tenth proper LP next month, and if the sound of this 7-inch is an accurate foreshadowing of what’s in store, then I Hate Music will retain the band’s typically high standard of quality.

For a band whose appeal for well over two decades has been based upon a rather direct and non-sophisto approach to indie rocking, Superchunk’s existence holds a high number of equally rewarding facets. For starters, as the flagship band on one of the great imprints to rise (and persevere) out of the whole ‘90s indie shebang, Superchunk prospered on Merge Records through a combination of smarts and tenacity while a heap of ‘90s acts unfortunately floundered after jumping into the major label ring.

Another major aspect of the group’s personality directly relates to their doggedness in serving one of the most important functions of a highly talented yet light on the frills rock band, specifically getting out on the road and playing a heap of live shows. Throughout the ‘90s Superchunk seemed to be constantly on tour, headlining clubs, opening larger dates for bigger names and even signing on for the second stage of that Alternative Rock über-festival Lollapalooza.

Then there are the albums to consider, nine to be exact, seven of them appearing during the ‘90s and directly feeding into the intensity of Superchunk’s touring schedule during the era. And that tally of nine LPs leaves out the group’s three Clambakes volumes, a series that includes a collection of acoustic in-stores, a ’99 live set from long-serving hometown nightspot Cat’s Cradle and a performance score for Teinosuke Kinugasa’s 1926 silent film A Page of Madness.

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“My first memory of vinyl, which I guess is similar for most people my age, was listening to my parents’ and grandparents’ records.”

“My dad has really a good collection which includes some classic records by The Rolling Stones and Bowie from when he was growing up. My grandparents have some great older stuff—I particular remember playing air drums to Cozy Powell’s “Dance with the Devil” as a kid!

Vinyl always seemed a whole different world to me, being someone who grew up with cassette tapes and CDs. It seemed so much more effort putting a record on! It’s only later that I’ve really understood why people love them so much. A lot of this is probably linked to making my own music.

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