Spitting Out Teeth

2009-01-04T12:10:00.002-05:00

SOLAH "ETERNAL HUMM": NEARING COMPLETION

After nearly two years in the making, I'm pleased to announce that final recording and editing of the first Solah full-length "Eternal Humm" has commenced. The album is now in Casey-Rae Hunter's talented hands for final mastering.

I'm very happy with the album, which should appeal to fans of doom, dark ambient, free improv, drone, psych, harsh noise (look for a guest appearance by A Snake in the Garden) and other forms of dark experimental music. While it's very eclectic in its style, the album as a whole maintains a unique & consistent aesthetic. Expect a physical release on Aether Everywhere sometime in early spring, along with a CD release show somewhere in Burlington.

2008-11-24T18:10:00.003-05:00

AETHER EVERYWHERE PRESENTS: A KRANKY LABEL SHOWCASE

Come join us for a great night of indie & experimental music as Kranky Records recording artists, Tick Tick and Aether Everywhere join forces for the first time!

-------------------------------------------------------------

Aether Everywhere presents:

A Kranky Label Showcase featuring:

To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie
(http://www.kranky.net/artists/tkapb.html)

Boduf Songs
(http://www.kranky.net/artists/bodufsongs.html)

Ben Vida (Bird Show) & Greg Davis
(http://www.kranky.net/artists/birdshow.html)
(http://www.kranky.net/artists/davisg.html)

Saturday, November 29th 2008
8pm
$8

at The Bakery
(near n. winooski & archibald in the old north end)
Burlington VT

"Kranky Records, based in Chicago, Illinois, has been one of the leading providers of experimental music contributions in the United States since late 1993 (with the release of Labradford's Prazision LP), and ever since, it has united listeners with a community of artists committed to pursuing the ever-evolving left-field musical landscape— far beyond the structural limits of indie rock. Its alumni includes Low, Roy Montgomery, and Montreal's Godspeed You! Black Emperor, while its impressive current roster features challenging forward-thinkers such as Keith Fullerton Whitman, Lichens, Tim Hecker, Benoit Pioulard, Charalambides, Growing, Valet, White Rainbow and numerous other artists and collectives worth discovering" (from Panpot.ca)

-------------------------------------------------

BE THERE!

2008-10-11T11:53:00.003-04:00

WHY I STOPPED MAKING EXPERIMENTAL FILMS

I received this e-mail today concerning my recent posting on Bruce Conner's "Looking For Mushrooms"--

I am writing on behalf of Jean Conner, wife of the late Bruce Conner
and rights holder to all of his art and films. I have just viewed
your blog with Bruce Conner's LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS available for
download, which must be removed immediately.

I understand this was posted as an homage and an effort to share his
work, however, Bruce Conner was strictly opposed to ever having his
work on the internet. He felt It destroyed his aesthetics, the
image quality, and the experience of the work itself. This is not an
appropriate way to revere Bruce Conner. Due to this clear violation
of copyright, this is an order to cease and desist. If this is not
addressed immediately, the Conner Family will pursue further action to
have this removed. I have informed the Kohn Gallery of the intent
for illegal duplication of the DVD which they have produced of
CROSSROADS and LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS.

Please remove all contents of this page and any reference to this
material.

Regards,

Michelle Silva, on behalf of Jean Conner
The Conner Family Trust

My first response, as with any request I've received from an artist or representative, was to remove the offending material immediately as requested. In the past I've had no issues with the methods used in bringing the objection to my attention, but the threatening tone of this one along with some idiotic reasoning just made me need to address this.

This is a perfect example of why experimental film is now a dead genre. The egos, greed and uber-formalism of people like Conner, Brakhage and others of their generation resulted in comments like this:

Bruce Conner was strictly opposed to ever having his work on the internet. He felt It destroyed his aesthetics, the image quality, and the experience of the work itself.

Bullshit. You can't experience art in a vacuum, and these idiots destroyed any possibility of future audiences appreciating their work. First it was "oh, my films are meant to be watched on film only, never video". Well, guess what--Kodak isn't even going to be making film stock to make prints pretty soon. Then some gallery throws a bunch of money and faux-prestige their way, and suddenly it's ok to show your work on video. As long as you can charge $40 a copy for two short films.

Oh and, hate to break it to you, but soon EVERYTHING WILL BE DIGITAL AND ON COMPUTERS. Film is dead, video is on its way out. Deal with it, evolve, or the works of people like Bruce Conner will be forgotten.

It's this neophobia and unwillingness to embrace future technologies that killed experimental film as a viable art form and there's no reason for it. Art is about sharing, growing, trying new things (it is called "experimental" film after all....) and attitudes like this are what stiffle and kill creativity and what will make works like "Looking For Mushrooms" eventually obsolete except to the elitists. It's a damn shame.

2008-08-29T08:37:00.003-04:00

VON COSEL/SOLAH/GROVEL - SATURDAY SEPT 20TH

Yours truly will be performing in two of my musical projects, Von Cosel and Solah, on Saturday, September 20th at the Radio Bean in Burlington. This will be the second and final performace of the Von Cosel "Songs For Elena" concept EP. Also sharing the bill will be Grovel, a new side-project by Matt Mayer of A Snake In the Garden.

The show starts at midnight and there is no cover. Hope to see you there!

2008-08-04T19:39:00.002-04:00

SPITTING OUT TEETH RADIO SHOW - RECENT PLAYLISTS

I haven't been updating the playlists for my radio show very often lately, so here are the last seven shows.

EPISODE 15: 05/24/08

Sea of Bones, "Chapter Four" (from "The Harvest")
Atrax Morgue, "Evisceration" (from "Sickness Report")
Damaar, "Ode To Blasphemhy" (from "Triumph Through Spears of Sacrifice")
Faryus, "Lucid Dream" (from "Lucid Dreams")
Sachiko, "Dmu-Dbud Kam-Po So-Zan" (from "Kunado")
Monos, "Moon Environment" (from "Nightfall Sunshine")

EPISODE 16: 05/31/08

Ascend, "Ample Fire Within" (from "Ample Fire Within")
SPK, "Kaltbruchig Acideath" (from "Information Overload Unit")
Terje Isungset, "Contemplation" (from "Ice Concerts")
Robedoor & Pocahaunted, "Spectral Outpost" (from "Hunted Gathering")
Stefano Pilia, "Untitled" (from "The Suncrows Fall And Tree")
Lustmord, "Dark Companion" (from "The Place Where the Black Stars Hang")

EPISODE 17: 06/07/08

Grails, "Clean Living" (from "Take Refuge in Clean Living")
Stravm Terror, "Human Afflictions" (from "Pariah Demise")
Markus Guentner, "Chrom" (from "Regensburg Remix")
Cloama, "Tuhkajumala" (from "Neuroscan Organization")
Oren Ambarchi, "Highway of Diamonds" (from "Destinationless Desire")
Blacksand, "U1195" (from "Barn")
Slow Listener, "Polarity Magnetics" (from "Snow Falling From a Blue Clear Sky")

EPISODE 18: 06/14/08

Pentemple, "Pazuzu II" (from "Presents")
The Body, "Final Words" (from "The Body")
Nadja, "Sandskin" (from "Bodycage")
Martin Hannett, "Lift Recording I & II" (from "Martin Hannett Personal Mixes")
Sujo, "Observer" (from "Sujo")

EPISODE 19: 06/21/08

David Jackman, "Edge of Nothing", "Povera 1", "Povera 2" (from "Compilation")
David Jackman, "Untitled A", "Untitled B" (from "Eisen")
David Jackman, "Ember Hollow", "Dawn Plaza" (from "Ember Hollow/Dawn Plaza")
David Jackman, "Flag of Surrender", "Fracture" (from "Flag of Surrender")
David Jackman, "Flak", "Wietzendorf" (from "Flak")
David Jackman, "Laus A", "Laus B", (from "Laus)
David Jackman, "Machine Gun (A)", "Machine Gun (B)" (from "Machine Guns")

EPISODE 20: 07/19/08

Brian Eno, "The Secret Place" (from "Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks")
Lustmord, "Of Eons" (from "Other")
NON, "The Underground Stream" (from "Children of the Black Sun")
Mort Art, "Sewage Dreams" (from "Green Death")
The Caretaker, "On the Edge of Breakdown" (from "A Stairway to the Stars")
Wolfskin feat. Objekt4, "Bleeding Suns" (from "The Hidden Fortress: A Revisitation")
Nordvargr, "Stripped Of All But My Loyalty I Serve" (from "Pyrrhula")
Mrtyu, "Pyre" (from "Blood Tantra")
Koeff, "I Can Hear You" (from "Performance Anthology")
Ophir, "Ar-Si-Za 5" (from "Eiserne Ernte: Werkschau II")
Black Seas of Infinity, "Porta Vox Umbra" (from "AMRITA - The Quintessence")
Northaunt, "Lost Days" (from "Barren Land")
Zdzis Beks, "Namtilliak" (from "Sub Figura")
Deathprod, "Nebulizer" (from "6-Track")
Dead City Rituals, "III" (from "I-VI")
David Lynch & Jocelyn Montgomery, "Battle and Aftermath" (from "Lux Vivens")
Jeff Greinke, "Crevice" (from "Cities in Fog")

EPISODE 21: 07/26/08

Nanohex, "Alpha Decay" (from "Compilation")
Propergol, "La Vie en Rose" (from "Renegade")
The Skull Defekts, "Drone Drug" (from "Drone Drug")
Black Seas of Infinity, "Bornless, I Have Become" (from "The Wordless Aeon...")
Lawrence English, "Lone By Power Station" (from "Kiri No Oto")
AEP, "II" (from "Noir Voyage Ostrue de Rencontres Difformes")

EPISODE 22: 08/02/08

P.Children, "Altercation" (from "P.Children 4")
Ahtapkhea, "Kohbon Clopepa" (from "Basa 211")
Odal, "W.Tax Is Not a Psychokiller" (from "Against Humanity")
Whitehouse, "Boston Strangler" (from "Psychopathia Sexualis")
Ramleh, "Prossneck" (from "The Hand of Glory")
Illusion of Safety, "Theme from Belfast Street Riot" (from "In 70 Countries")
Subhuman, "Untitled" (from "Untitled II")
Droin, "Marching East" (from "Time to Reconsider")
Hunok, "End of the Great Migration" (from "Gesta Hungarorum")
Musterion, "Tannhauser Gate" (from "The Black Lodge")
Symbiosis, "The Coldness Inside" (from "Passages")
Necrophorous, "Lost Land Part 2" (from "Drifting in Motion")

2008-07-10T22:02:00.004-04:00

AETHER EVERYWHERE LAUNCH PARTY - THIS SATURDAY

I'll be playing a solo Von Cosel set, performing in the live debut of Solah with JB & participating in the le duo ensemble....a busy night of music making for yours truly. Come out and support me, Burlington experimental music & Aether Everywhere!

2008-07-09T22:39:00.003-04:00

DYLAN - THE DUETS

"Deportee" (with Joan Baez, 1976)

"If Not For You" (with George Harrison duet)

"Dark Eyes" (with Patti Smith)

"Girl From the North Country" (with Johnny Cash)

"Pancho and Lefty" (with Willie Nelson)

"Street Rock" (with Kurtis Blow)

"My Back Pages" (with freakin' everybody)

2008-06-16T23:29:00.004-04:00

RYAN TRECARTIN

Apparently the video art war is finished & the formalists have lost to the the Pipilotti Rists of the world, so
we have a lot of deeply saturated, poorly lit versions of this to look forward to--

http://www.ubu.com/film/trecartin_family.html

Yet a further bastardization of Warhol by the Animal Collective generation.

2008-06-12T21:29:00.003-04:00

THE DEATH OF VERMONT MUSIC BLOGS?

You may have noticed that this site has crawled to a near-comatose state & The Le Duo blog has been all but pronounced dead. Highgate is a rotting corpse at this point.

I really have nothing to blame but the wonderful Aether Everywhere site. While I didn't develop it, I am responsible for nearly 1/3 of the total site lifetime posts and probably started half of the threads, so I feel pretty close to it. More importantly, all of my friends in the local music scene post there, so it definitely feels like more of a community discourse, rather than here where I'm just preaching to you in a monologue.

So is Spitting Out Teeth dead? Well, in the form that you knew it before, yes. I probably won't be updating the site regularly, maybe just to cross-post my blog entries from Aether Everywhere.

But who knows, maybe I'll reimagine this site a bit. For now, I might just dedicate it to listing playlists and podcasts from the Spitting Out Teeth Radio show on The Radiator (every Saturday from 7-8pm; tune in!). I've also thought about transitioning it into an album download site a la Blood is Truth or Deleted Scenes, Forgotten Dreams. Or maybe even go back to my first love & just offer direct downloads of art-house & experimental cinema.

The possibilities are endless, and I could really use your help in deciding what to do. If you have an opinion, feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me at spittingoutteeth@gmail.com if you don't want it made public. The decision is yours people (well, it's really mine, but obviously I'll take your opinion into consideration).

Thanks again for your loyal readership over the past couple of years. Help determine the future of Spitting Out Teeth!

2008-06-07T15:33:00.002-04:00

EXPERIMENTAL CAT MUSICIAN

Awesome....I think I might have to recruit my cats to make some music.

2008-05-22T22:02:00.002-04:00

VOICE CRACK

Lots o' downloads here....

http://experimentaletc.blogspot.com/2008/05/voice-crack.html

2008-05-12T23:25:00.002-04:00

FA-FA-FA-FA-FA-FA-FA-FA-FUNKY

NO DEE-DEE, NO!

Don't do drugs kids.

2008-05-06T22:32:00.002-04:00

AETHER EVERWHERE

Superblog. Record Label. Your New Best Friend.

http://www.aethereverywhere.com/

2008-05-03T15:00:00.004-04:00

SYMPHONIES OF GRASS

It's one of those cloudy, quiet Saturday afternoons that feels more like a Sunday. I'm just lounging around the house, killing time before my radio show tonight. I'm in one of those frazzled mindsets where I can't decide what I want to do. I start watching a movie, then discover I don't have the attention span to watch it & I turn it off. Pick up my guitar, play a couple riffs, think about hooking up my gear to do some recording, but don't have the initiative. Oh well, I deserve a day to be lazy.

Just got in from outside; it's a bit cold & dismal, but I kind of like days like that. Sat on my porch, smoked a cigar, watched the birds & squirrels chase each other around in the woods. No thoughts in my head; just enjoying the cool air & the free, wonderful ambient sounds of nature. Really makes me want to buy a nice field recorder; maybe I can do a solo project for Tanner and Josh's new label.

Now, now; don't get too ambitious. It's a Sunday-like Saturday; just kick back and enjoy it.

2008-04-22T21:00:00.003-04:00

MEGAFAUN - GREG DAVIS -OAK @ MONKEY HOUSE 5.2.08

Greg Davis has organized a show at the Monkey House on Friday, May 2nd featuring Megafaun (whom you'll remember from the Akron/Family show at Metronome), Oak and a set by Greg himself. I will definitely be there and you should too.

Oh, and while you're at it, contact Greg about purchasing a copy of the Eleh/Sun Circle split (180g vinyl 12" from Important Records). It's fantastic and it won't be around much longer, so get it now.

2008-04-18T01:26:00.004-04:00

HELP ME WITH AN EGO DRIVEN GOOGLE BOMB

In a fit of boredom this evening, I decided to perform the most pathetically insecure & post-modern of narcissistic acts: I Googled my own name.

Ok, so maybe this isn't the first time I've done this...and every time, I get a page full of Jay Blanchard, Senator of Arizona (like I couldn't do that job...) and some geek who apparently posts a lot on a site called "evolt". Oh yeah,and just recently, I've even been upstaged by a registered sex offender in Florida who shares my date de naissance...

(Do I sense a family resemblance....?
Uhhhh....no. No I do not.)

So, I plead with you....

I'm not that bad of a guy. Sure, I'm a pretty lousy DJ and piss-poor blogger. But I'm certainly not a sex offender, or worse, an Arizona politician ((shudder)). So help me Google bomb my name into the Google top ten. Just post a comment that includes my name. Jay Blanchard. Jay Blanchard. Musician, gentleman, scholar, non-sexual offender, anti-politician Jay Blanchard.

We shall prevail. :)

(EDIT: Just realized after posting that, with the help of my sketchy, potentially currently-incarcerated Florida name-brother, I've now forever solidly linked the terms "jay blanchard" and "sex offender" on the internet. I...am...the stupid....)

2008-04-13T10:20:00.002-04:00

SPITTING OUT TEETH RADIO SHOW - EPISODE 10 - 04.12.08

Wolf Eyes, "Time of Clearing" (from the album "Time of Clearing")
Univers Zero, "Jack the Ripper" (from the album "Heresie")
Oxyd Meets Sumad, "Land of Pain" (from the album "Mysterious Places of Dead Souls")
Exotoendo, "Inner Picture I" (from the album "Endorcism Process")
Andrew Chalk, "Untitled III" (from the album "Harvest")
7 From Life, "Withdrwl" (from the album "Coral Assault")
Nadja, "Skin Turns to Glass" (from the album "Skin Turns to Glass")

Background music: Birchville Cat Motel, "Seventh Ruined Hex"

DOWNLOAD HERE

2008-04-09T18:33:00.002-04:00

THE TRANSITION FROM A GLOOMY, DOOMY WINTER...

The weather is starting to get nice & I'm getting in a gradually more upbeat mood. Don't expecting Spitting Out Teeth radio to go all twee pop or anything over the summer, but I do have to warn you that it may be hard to keep up the oppressive doom on the nice summer days. I've been searching for a nice middle ground, and I think I found it in the Univers Zero's classic "Heresie". Still dark and creepy, but with a campy "Mahler meets the Ringling Bros." vibe. If that doesn't sum up VT spring mud season, I don't know what does.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

2008-04-02T22:20:00.005-04:00

YES, I'M NEGLECTING THIS BLOG

Ok, yes, I'll admit it--the Spitting Out Teeth blog has not been my top priority lately. But I think I have some good excuses:

1) I'm getting married August 16th. I never had any idea how much work was involved in planning a wedding....
2) I'm trying to finish a full-length album. Solah. Eternal Humm. Coming soon.
3) I'm just coming back to reality after a long, severe seasonal depression. Boo hoo emo crap.
4) I have an awesome new radio show. On 105.9 The Radiator. The name sake of this blog. Tune in.

Otherwise, I'm just lazy. I haven't seen many shows lately & my radio show has been the best outlet to express my current musical interests. So.....what am I saying? Am I pulling a "Tanner"? Or am I playing Web Catholic performing a virtual guilt-catalyzed confession? Or am I just filling space and wasting bandwidth?

A little of all of them I guess. But I feel guilty obviously, considering I'm writing this post. So I intend to try to make this blog a priority again, so expect some interesting, well-considered posts over the next few months. Well, better than this one at least...

2008-03-26T19:55:00.003-04:00

BIG DOG

Ok, maybe this is just the absolute proof that I'm a complete geek for anything new & techy....but everyone else I have shown this to thinks it's cool as well. DARPA is currently working in collaboration with Boston Dynamics to develop a robotic "pack mule". Wow, big deal, right? It gets better.

The robot, nicknamed "Big Dog" uses a series of gyros (think Segway) to help it maintain its balance in any type of environment. It reacts to stimuli in the same any animal would--action & reaction--and as a result, it constitutes by far the most organic robotics that I have ever seen.

Keep in mind this is genuine, unaltered video--not a 3D generation. Check it out:

Cool, huh? For some reason, it really reminds me of the ED-209 from Robocop, especially the scene in Robocop 2 (I think...) where it gets blown apart and only the legs are left walking around.

Speaking of Robocop, there's this thing too...

It's an amazing age in which we live.

2008-03-22T17:15:00.002-04:00

SPITTING OUT TEETH RADIO TONIGHT...

Sorry for the late notice on this one, but if you tune in to 105.9 The Radiator tonight at 7pm you can catch a special installment of Spitting Out Teeth Radio called "Piles of Dirt: The Sounds of David Lynch". The show will feature dark & doomy tracks from a couple of Lynch's recent films, as well as the entire soundtrack for his early masterpiece "Eraserhead"....enjoy!

2008-03-21T18:37:00.003-04:00

THE CINEMA OF DOOM

As anyone who reads this blog somewhat regularly knows, my music tastes tend to gravitate towards the "doomy"--doom metal, dark ambient, harsh noise, Schubert, etc. I'm not sure what speaks to me so much in melancholy music (maybe close to 30 years of long VT winters?), but I've always been a sucker for minor chords, droning bass & dark lyrical content.

However, music is not the only art form where doom appeals to me--I've always liked visual artists like Francis Bacon, Robert Motherwell, Picasso's blue period, etc. But most of all, I like really dark cinema.

With the help of my friends over at the Doom Forever, Forever Doomed forums, I've created a list of some of the best in "Doom Cinema". The criteria for inclusion on the list is as follows: heavily atmosphere, dark content, sparse imagery, and it MUST be in black and white. Even with such severe limitations, we were able to generate quite a list--here it is:

"Eraserhead"/"The Amputee"/"Lumiere" (David Lynch)
"Begotten" (E. Elias Merhige)
"Decasia" (Bill Morrison)
"Tetsuo: The Iron Man" (Shinya Tsukamoto)
"Shame"/"Hour of the Wolf"/"The Seventh Seal"/”The Virgin Spring” (Ingmar Bergman)
"Damnation"/”Satantango”/”Werkmeister Harmonies” (Bela Tarr)
"Andrei Rublev" (Andrei Tarkovsky)
“Vampyr”/"Ordet"/"The Passion of Joan of Arc" (Carl T. Dreyer)
"Nosferatu"/”Faust” (F.W. Murnau)
"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (Robert Wiene)
"L'Eclisse" (Michaelangelo Antonioni)
“The Exterminating Angel”/"Un Chien Andalou (Luis Bunuel)
"Meshes of the Afternoon" (Maya Deren)
"Anticipation of the Night"/"Desistfilm" (Stan Brakhage)
"Stranger Than Paradise" (Jim Jarmusch)
"Man Bites Dog" (Remy Belvaux)
"Freaks" (Tod Browning)
"Blood of the Poet" (Jean Cocteau)
"Tales from the Gimli Hospital" (Guy Madden)
“Le Dernier Combat” (Luc Besson)
“Night Of The Eagle (Sydney Hayers)
“Night Of The Demon (Jacques Tourneur)
“Whistle And Ill Come To You (Jonathan Miller)
“I am Cuba” (Mikhail Kalatazov)
“Mother and Son” (Aleksandr Sokurov)
“Europa” (Lars Von Trier)
“Tokyo Story”/”Late Spring” (Yasujiro Ozu)
“47 Ronin”/”Street of Shame” (Kenji Mizoguchi)
“Ikiru/Seven Samurai”/“Throne of Blood” (Akira Kurosawa)
“The Addiction” (Abel Ferrara)
“Titticut Follies” (Frederick Wiseman)
“Haxan” (Benjamin Christensen)
“La Jetée” (Chris Marker)
“The Devil Bat” (Jean Yarbrough)
“Fires on the Plain” (Kon Ichikawa)
"Nadja" (Michael Almereyda)
“Onibaba” (Kaneto Shindo)
“The American Astronaut” (Cory McAbee)
“Diary of a Country Priest” (Robert Bresson)
“The Cremator” (Juraj Herz)
“Repulsion” (Roman Polanski)
“Night of the Hunter” (Charles Laughton)
“M” (Fritz Lang)
"Woman Of The Dunes" (Hiroshi Teshigahara)
"The Red Badge of Courage" (John Huston)
“Ashes and Diamonds”/"Kanal" (Andrej Wajda)
“Alexander Nevsky” (Eisenstein)
"Pandora's Box" (G.W. Pabst)
“Carnival of Souls” (Herk Harvey)
“The State of Things” (Wim Wenders)
“Harakiri” (Masaki Kobayashi)
“Sword of Doom” (Kihachi Okamoto)
“The Bicycle Thieves” (Roberto Rosselini)
“Ugetsu”/Sansho The Bailiff” (Kenji Mizoguchi)
“Pig” (Rozz Williams)
“Night of the Living Dead” (George A. Romero)
“Hiroshima, Mon Amour” (Alain Renais)
“The Wages of Fear” (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
“The Gospel According to St. Matthew” (Pier Paolo Passolini)
“Suture” (Scott McGhee & David Siegel)
“Pi” (Darren Aronofsky)
“Vincent”/”Frankenweenie”/”Ed Wood” (Tim Burton)

All great films too! And not a surprise the Ingmar Bergman seems to be the reigning king of cinematic doom. Check out a few that you haven't seen before spring rolls around and everything is all bright & technicolor cheerful again :)

2008-03-16T18:05:00.001-04:00

SOT RADIO SHOW - 3.15.08

Burning Witch, "Sacred Predictions" (from the album "Crippled Lucifer")
Akitsa, "Haine et Vengeance" (from the album "Goetie")
Avsolutized, "My Veins Are Open" (from the album "Den Svarta Vendans Genealogi")
I Shalt Become, "In The Falling Snow" (from the album "In The Falling Snow"
Nekrasov, "Freedom From Self Joy" (from the album "Into the No-Mans Sphere of Ancient Days")
Kammarheit, "The Poignant" (from the album "Asleep and Well Hidden")
Half Makeshift, "The First and Second Passing" (from the album "Final")

DOWNLOAD HERE

2008-03-16T10:32:00.002-04:00

COSMOS

Enjoying a nice mellow Sunday morning here at home....sipping a latte, working on the new Solah blog & listening to a copy of Murcof's "Cosmos" that Pure Pop scored for me on 45rpm vinyl. JB is making breakfast sandwiches (VT eggs & sausage; Myers' bagels....drool) and we're going to watch a cheesy action flick or comedy. Perfect kinda day.

What's your favorite thing to do on a lazy Sunday?

2008-03-11T19:44:00.002-04:00

DAVY LAUTERBACH

A co-worker of mine turned me on to this article about Davy Lauterbach, a former artist for "The Simpsons" who now paints photo-realistic Olan Mills style portraits of children. With, um, mental challenges. Apparently they're becoming incredibly popular amongst the Hollywood crowd (Bill Murray and Luke Wilson both own one).

I have to admit that they're fairly intriguing. I don't usually care for photo-realism, but the semi-surreal quality make them somehow cute, compassionate, offensive and revolting at the same time.

2008-03-09T16:48:00.005-04:00

INTRODUCING THE SOLAH WEBSITE....

As most of you know (and if not, I haven't been hyping it enough), JB and I started an experimental metal/ambient/noise collective called Solah. We've released one ep and we're currently working on our first full-length album, "Eternal Humm".

Short of actually doing some live shows (which I promise we will be doing soon), I figured the best way to promote the group would be to set up a band webpage. So I did...

Check out the Solah site at SOLAHTHEBAND.BLOGSPOT.COM

Enjoy!

2008-03-09T11:33:00.002-04:00

THE MORNING AFTER....

Just wanted to send out a quick thank you to all of you who came to see the le duo make some crazy cosmic jazz tones last night. It was a lot of fun (despite hauling gear through the slushy muck that was Burlington) and I'm looking forward to playing more shows once spring rolls around...

Also, a big thank you to Toby, Sara-Paule, Chris, Matt and Emily for joining us in the le duo jam, and for what were probably the best Oak and A Snake in the Garden performances I have ever seen. Which is saying a lot, as I've seen both acts at least a half-dozen times each in the past year.

Biggest thanks goes out to JB for organizing everything and to the Radio Bean for being one of the few venues left in this area where we could actually play this kind of music live and not be served with a restraining order afterwards.

2008-03-07T21:40:00.004-05:00

THE LE DUO/OAK/A SNAKE IN THE GARDEN - TOMORROW/MIDNIGHT/RADIOBEAN

Yours truly will have the honor of performing as 1/6th of the le duo; hope to see you there!

2008-03-04T18:55:00.001-05:00

REJECTED

2008-03-02T22:07:00.003-05:00

HMMM....

Not a single comment in the past fifteen posts...might be about time to abandon this blog.

2008-03-01T16:46:00.000-05:00

CRASH WORSHIP

2008-03-01T09:24:00.003-05:00

THE VIDEO WORKS OF SAM-TAYLOR WOOD

I first encountered Sam-Taylor Wood's installation video work at an exhibit at the Hirshhorn Gallery in 1999. Along with Bill Viola, her work was a huge influence on my decision to do video installation art during my college years.

While they're not quite as powerful outside of their intended context, Taylor-Wood's videos still hold up very well on their own. Ubuweb has posted ten of them on their site; check them out HERE.

2008-02-28T15:22:00.002-05:00

GOOD WILL FU@%ING

I think everybody and their grandmother's dentist have seen these by now, but if not, here's Sarah Silverman's "I'm Fu@%ing Matt Damon" video:

And Jimmy Kimmel's even better response video:

Tanner will soon be posting his personal video, "I'm Fu@%ing Oldham McCuin" will be out shortly.

2008-02-27T22:24:00.003-05:00

NEW TOY...

Yes, a discontinued Boss HM-2 "Heavy Metal" pedal, the choice stompbox for dirtbag trash-metal wannabees, harsh noise musicians....and now me!

As far as I can tell, the settings are: crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, DESTROYYYY

2008-02-17T22:54:00.002-05:00

THE WORLD'S GREATEST MUSIC COLLECTION

Anyone have three million dollars they can loan me? Up for auction on eBay right now is the largest music collection I have ever seen--three million records and 300,000 CDs.

Check It Out.

2008-02-17T12:08:00.003-05:00

OK, HERE IT IS...

Unless you know me personally, DO NOT e-mail me or post comments asking me to re-upload albums, films, etc. that are no longer available. I won't do it. Sorry to rant, but I feel the need to post this as I'm getting a ridiculous number of requests, especially for "Lost Book Found". If you want the movie, have someone send you an invite to join Karagarga or even better, go to the Video Data Bank and BUY a copy for $30; it's well worth it.

That is all.

2008-02-15T16:38:00.003-05:00

JUST IN...ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT SHOW!

The mighty Oak will be performing tomorrow night at UVM's Slade Hall along with Gondwanalande and Zach Cooper. The show is from 8pm-11pm and as far as I can tell...it's free!

An evening of exmperimental music featuring Burlington's best:

Gondwanalande: www.myspace.com/gondewanalande
experimental rock

Oak: www.myspace.com/oaksounds
dronal ambassadors of the nu age

Zach Cooper
10 sting tink-toy samurai

2008-02-15T16:26:00.002-05:00

BAD FLIRT @ 242 MAIN - SATURDAY NIGHT

Haven't solidified your Saturday night plans yet? Then stop by Vermont's premiere venue for hardcore to see Bad Flirt perform at 7pm.

They just finished work on their new record with producer Howard Bilerman ( Arcade Fire , Wolf Parade, Godspeed You Black Emperor)

Davey Von Bohlen (from Capn Jazz & The Promise Ring) sings a duet on the album.

The band has toured and played shows with Paramore, The Kills, Lightning Bolt, The Thermals, The Slip, Rogue Wave, The Unicorns, The Grates, The Life & Times, These Arms Are Snakes, VHS or BETA, One Line Drawing...

www.myspace.com/badflirt
www.badflirt.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kpuYm7drRI

Cover is $7 and four other bands are scheduled to play.

2008-02-15T09:50:00.002-05:00

SPITTING OUT TEETH RADIO TOMORROW - TRIBUTE TO TONY IOMMI

A change of plans...instead of the lineup of new, cutting-edge avant-garde metal I had planned for tomorrow night, we'll instead take a trip back in time to the guys who started it all--Black Sabbath!

Tuesday is guitarist Tony Iommi's 60th birthday, so we'll be celebrating early by listening to some of his greatest riffs in classic Sabbath tunes of the Ozzy era. Tune in at 7pm tomorrow night to let the Granddaddies of Doom take you on the ultimate sonic downer trip!

2008-02-14T19:01:00.003-05:00

SPITTING OUT (BABY) TEETH

Yes indeed, that is your's truly circa 1985; obviously Ralph Macchio's blistering performance in "The Karate Kid" had quite the influence on me. It was just the start of a prosperous career of kicking ass and taking names.

Feeling a bit nostalgic as the winter keeps dragging on. I used to enjoy this season when I was a kid, with the associated sledding and snowmen and ice hockey games. Seems the older I get, however, the worse the season gets for me. Maybe I'm just especially dismal right not because I have a nasty cold, my car is all smashed up from a recent accident & my job really sucks right now. Regardless, I have no ambition to leave the house or do anything creative lately & it's really starting to get to me. I can't wait for sunshine & green grass & sitting out front of the Radio Bean on a 70 degree day with a glass of peppermint iced tea...

I know I haven't done a write-up on the Spice Girls concert yet, but I will try to get one out soon. It was a really bizarre experience, before, during and after the show & the tale should be told. Otherwise, tune in Saturday night at 7pm to 105.9 FM The Radiator for the next installment of the Spitting Out Teeth radio hour. This week I'm going to feature some newer and more obscure artists, so check it out.

That's it for now; going to take some NyQuil, watch a few episodes from season two of Criminal Minds and get to bed early. Yes, it is a non-stop thrill ride, this life I lead... :)

2008-02-08T18:39:00.000-05:00

NO RADIO SHOW THIS WEEK

Spitting Out Teeth Radio on 105.9 WOMM-LP The Radiator will be on hiatus this weekend due to my trip to New Jersey to see The Spice Girls live at the Prudential Center (no, I'm not kidding...I will be sure to post a review). I'll be ready with a great new show next Saturday however, so please tune in at 7pm!

2008-02-08T18:20:00.000-05:00

WITCH - "PARALYZED"

The follow-up to Witch's wonderful eponymous debut is due to be released on CD & vinyl March 18th on Teepee Records. The name of the album is "Paralyzed" and the questionable cover art is above (WTF is up with that typeface?)

I'm also not sure if I'm sold on the music either, judging from the first track posted on Teepee called "Eye". It has a good beat and is somewhat radio-friendly...but doesn't have the same sludgey, Sabbath-y charm the first album did that appealed to me so much. Oh well, it's only one song; maybe the rest of the album will impress. And you gotta love that Teepee referred to them as a "Vermont based band"!

DOWNLOAD "EYE"

2008-02-03T23:14:00.000-05:00

SPITTING OUT TEETH RADIO SHOW #2

Another installment of classic black metal, droney post-metal & the smothering fog of heavy ambient tones...here's the playlist from Saturday night, along with a link to download all of the tracks.

1) Sunn O))), "Hell-O)))-Ween" (from White 2)
2) Darkthrone, "A Blaze In the Northern Sky" (from A Blaze In the Northern Sky)
3) Burzum, "Erblicket Die Tochter Des Firm" (from Filosofem)
4) Gnaw Their Tongues, "Destroying Is Creating" from (Reeking, Pained and Shuddering)
5) Wolf Eyes, "Leper War" from (Human Animal)
6) The Lotus Eaters, "Untitled" from (Wormwulv)

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS DOWNLOAD LINK

If you like it, buy it, blah blah blah.....tune in next Saturday night for more heavy tones!

2008-02-03T22:05:00.000-05:00

THE NY GIANTS WON THE SUPER BOWL

Who f*@&ing cares?

2008-02-03T17:31:00.000-05:00

SCORE!

I'm having pretty good luck at record shops lately. First, while on a trip to Charlotte, NC last week, I picked up a brand new copy of Burial Chamber Trio's first LP. Today I had an even bigger score...

A gem-mint promo copy of Lou Reed's (in)famous harsh noise masterpiece, "Metal Machine Music" on vinyl for only $12! This album is ridiculously hard-to-find and the copies I could find online were going anywhere from $75-300.

I'd love to just keep the album for my own personal enjoyment, but I could buy my cats a lot of Friskies with that kind of money, so I'm probably going to put it up on eBay.

2008-02-01T18:06:00.000-05:00

MY GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDPA FED DINOSAURS

Earlier this week I was in Charlotte, NC for a business trip. While in the office, one of my co-workers handed me a thin, hardcover children's book and began to tell me a story about its history.

Apparently my co-worker's son is a big fan of dinosaurs and wants to become a paleontologist when he grows up. Their fundamentalist Christian neighbor found out about this and gave my co-workers son this book:

It seemed like a pretty thoughtful gift for a budding young scientific mind. At least that's what my co-worker thought until he opened the book....

Part of the "Wonders of Creation" book series, "The Fossil Book" is a Creationist explanation of where dinosaur fossils come from. While it might seem damn well impossible to reconcile dinosaur fossils with the idea that all life started 5,000 years ago, this book tries to take the biggest leap of reason I've ever seen to do it.

Check out this chart (click to enlarge):

Wow. You'd think the sane way for Christians to deal with the dinosaur issue would be to simply say that the Creation theory was developed at a primitive time in human history, and that God created Evolution which we're only now finding out about. It's at least believable, reinforces the idea of an all-knowing creator, doesn't go against the major tenets of the faith and (most importantly) doesn't make the religion look like a bunch of moronic hillbillies who can't see reality.

Conveniently, there is no mention of that pesky "carbon dating" thing in the book....

Oh, and I saved my favorite picture for last....a man feeding hay to a baby brachiosaurus!

I laugh to keep from crying. Remember, there are enough braindead Jesus Freaks out there to elect a president who actually believes in this crap. This country is absolutely screwed.

2008-01-30T19:56:00.000-05:00

BLACK SABBATH - "N.I.B." LIVE 1970

Perfection.

2008-01-27T12:17:00.000-05:00

SPITTING OUT TEETH RADIO - EPISODE 1

Thanks to everyone who tuned in to 105.9 The Radiator last night at 7pm to listen to the first installment of Spitting Out Teeth Radio. Below is a link to download all of the songs that were played on last night's show. Here's the setlist:

1) Sunn O))) & Boris, "Etna" (from Altar)
2) Skullflower, "Can You Feel It?" (from IIIrd Gatekeeper)
3) Disembowelment, "Excoriate" (from Transcendence Into the Peripheral)
4) Deathspell Omega, "Sola Fide I" (from Si Monumentum Requiris Circumspice)
5) Wolves In the Throne Room, "Vastness & Sorrow" (from Two Hunters)
6) Mayhem, "Freezing Moon" (from De Mysteriis De Sathanas)
7) Death Ambient, "Demon Within" (from Synaesthesia)
8) Bohren & Der Club of Gore, "Midnight Black Earth" (from Black Earth)

DOWNLOAD

If you heard something you really liked, go buy the album!

2008-01-26T10:19:00.000-05:00

SPITTING OUT TEETH RADIO: TONIGHT 7-8 PM 105.9 THE RADIATOR

(Please excuse the half-assed poster design; only had 15mins. to make up a graphic...)

Tonight is the premiere broadcast of the Spitting Out Teeth radio show, broadcast to the greater Burlington area on 105.9 WOMM-LP The Radiator. The show will feature avant and extreme metal, as well as heavy ambient music; expect everything from classic Norweigian BM to Southern Lord style doom drone to abstract noise and lush ambient tones. If you're by a radio tonight between 7-8, please tune in!

I will be posting the playlist and a download of the tracks played on the show tomorrow.

2008-01-25T19:28:00.001-05:00

FURTHER PROOF (AS IF YOU NEEDED IT) THAT VINCENT GALLO IS AN ARROGANT PRICK

I was doing my daily rounds of music forum browsing, and I happened upon an interesting post at the Travis Bean guitars forum. The thread was started by someone named "Vincent Gallo", who I assumed was just a fan of the filmmaker/musician/egomaniac. Turned out it was actually Vincent himself.

Gallo was looking for a coveted Travis Bean wedge, an extremely rare guitar that he was offering up to $15,000 for. I still had my doubts that this was actually Vincent, until I saw on his website that under his "wanted" list were Travis Bean guitars.

Somehow, Gallo's mere presence and unfailing arrogance resulted in the thread going from a simple "item wanted request" to a complete flamewar of Gallo vs. the world. While I'd say the forum community got in the quantity of the zingers, Gallo definitely scored some quality hits, such as this gem towards the bottom:

Yes a very diverse group here on the forum. From rich handsome famous well hung talented movie stars to Boulderbean. A broad spectrum indeed

Ah yes, always a model example of class, dignity and modesty that Mr. Gallo...

2008-01-19T11:56:00.000-05:00

REAL-LIFE "METALOCALYPSE"

I think I may have found the inspiration for the show....check out this hilarious drunken interview with Fenriz from Darkthrone. Proof that black metal isn't always corpse paint & solemn stares.

"If you remember, Elvis Presley had on his belt bucket here letters T.C.B.-- That means...Taking...Care...of Business"

2008-01-18T10:42:00.000-05:00

SUNN O))) @ DOMINO FESTIVAL 2006

Here's a nicely done interview/performance video on Sunn O))), performing at a Moog festival in Brussels with Boris and Julian Cope.

2008-01-17T17:45:00.000-05:00

WHY I LOVE THIS AGE IN WHICH WE LIVE

A bit of backstory on this video...there are two things you should know about before watching this:

1) CES - Consumer Electronics Show, one of the largest tradeshows in the world, which showcases the most up and coming consumer electronics in the world. Large companies such as Sony, Toshiba, Motorola, and thousands of others spend 10's & 100's of thousands of dollars for a modest-sized exhibit both for just a couple days.

2) TV B Gone - A simple, cheap (less than $20) plastic device that has one simple, cheap purpose: to turn off a TV set. Not just a particular TV set but any and all TV sets known to man that has remote control capability. It simply scans through all possible remote codes (which you're well aware of if you've ever programmed a universal remotes) until it finds the right one & then turns off the TV.

So....with that knowledge in place, the video speaks for itself. A couple tricksters from the online gadget website Gizmodo armed themselves with a few TV B Gones and wreaked havoc on the showroom floor. And apparently, a lot of people are now pissed off...

Here's the big question I'll pose to you for the comment board: Was this a) a simple, funny geek joke b) a righteous political act of anti-corporate sabotage c) sheer vandalism that should be treated (as many have suggested) like graffiti "tagging". Or maybe a mix of all three? Discuss amongst yourselves...

2008-01-16T23:06:00.001-05:00

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM - VASTNESS AND SORROW (LIVE)

2008-01-16T22:30:00.000-05:00

NEKO CASE ON AQUA TEEN

Go Carl, you dog!

According to Pitchfork, songstress Neko Case has been rendered in cartoon form for an upcoming episode of my favorite cartoon sitcom about fast food, Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Neko will play, not surprisingly, a siren.

Neko will be also be appearing (this time in her corporeal form) at Higher Ground next Sunday. Amazingly (or sadly), tickets are still available, so definitely pick one up--it should be an incredible night of music.

2008-01-13T15:40:00.000-05:00

CURRENT SONIC PLEASURES

Amocoma - Go To Hell

San Francisco ambient black metal, available only on a damn near impossible to find CD-R. One of the creepiest albums I've ever listened to.

Moss - Cthonic Rites

Brutal doom; reminds me a lot of Grimrobe-era Sunn O))), when they kept things simple and heavy as a November fog.
Download Via Megaupload

Nordvargr - Awaken

Heavy, compressive ambient, like a thunderstorm locked inside of a silo. Turn up the bass loud and feel your bones turn to gelatin.

Wold - Screech Owl

Harsh noise meets black metal....and then rips your face off. Don't let the children's book cover art fool you--this is the soundtrack to Hell.
Download via Rapidshare

KTL - KTL 3

The third installment of Stephen O'Malley's side project (well, one of them...). The whole album clocks in at under 18 minutes, but it's a beautiful 18 minutes.
Download PW=bloodistruth

Gnaw Their Tongues - ...Spasming and Howling, Bowels Loosening and Bladders Emptying, Vomiting Helplessly....

Heavy ambient, not even close to as disturbing as the album title implies.

Spektr - The Near-Death Experience

It's like being executed in an electric chair while listening to ambient metal on an iPod. I'm usually turned off by screechy, high-treble music but this album is interesting enough that I can look past it.

Elegi - Sistereis

It's like the Unicorn Chaser album after all the aforementioned brutality. Soft, haunting compositions of minimalist droning strings. Gorgeous music for a road trip.

(NOTE: The albums available for download were uploaded by other websites. Please do not e-mail me asking me to re-up albums, because the only albums I upload are Solah and other local bands)

2008-01-09T20:40:00.002-05:00

BRUCE CONNER & TERRY RILEY - "LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS"

sorry all--due to greedy, misguided individuals, this post has been removed.

2008-01-08T20:00:00.000-05:00

MISTER LONELY

Harmony Korine's first new film since "Julien Donkey-Boy" (one of my personal favs) should be hitting theaters this spring. It is called "Mister Lonely", and in Korine's usual misfit-kitsch fetish fashion, it will tell a story of a lonely Michael Jackson impersonator who finds happiness in a European commune of American pop-culture impersonators.

Not surprisingly, a film featuring lookalikes of M.J., Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Charlie Chaplin, etc. is shaping up to be a big hit in the American pop-culture obsessed nation of Japan. So, it wasn't a surprise that I was able to find a copy of the trailer on a Japanese site for the film. Check it out HERE.

Surprisingly, the film has been receiving a warm reception at early screenings, and a lot of online critics (Korine fans or not) have been praising the film's humanism and originality. Oh yeah, and Werner Herzog is in it--isn't that justification enough to buy a ticket?

2008-01-03T10:49:00.001-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM SPITTING OUT TEETH!

So the hectic holiday season is finally over. Despite the usual headaches caused by long lines at stores, delayed packages, trying to visit dozens of family members in one afternoon, etc. it was a damn nice holiday.

My New Year's resolution? Try to post more on this blog! I've been pretty bad about it lately, but I've been pretty busy. Here's what I've been up to over the past couple of weeks:

Enjoying a 17-day break from work
Fighting a nasty cold that still hasn't gone away.
Filming the first Grace Potter & The Nocturnals show at Higher Ground.
Recording tracks for the first Solah full-length album.
Preparing playlists for my post-metal/heavy ambient radio show on 105.9 The Radiator.

So, yeah, that's my list of excuses. I don't have anything to exciting to report, so instead here's an album download link. It's for two unreleased demos and two official studio albums by one of my favorite bands of last year, Wolves in the Throne Room. I would recommend downloading the demos and buying the studio albums, but it's up to you. Either way, enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS BLACK METAL UNDERGROUND'S WITR PAGE

2007-12-27T17:58:00.001-05:00

SOLAH - "DIVOT"

Here's a sneak preview of the Solah full-length coming out in '08, the first track, "Divot". I feel it's quite an evolution from the Darkcar EP; hopefully it's our ticket to a sweet record deal with Southern Lord! :)

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS MEGAUPLOAD DOWNLOAD LINK

Enjoy!

EDIT: Just noticed that when you load the song into iTunes, the artist/album info come out wrong (it took my MacBook user settings). It should be "Solah" and "Upcoming Solah LP" respectively. Sorry, no name for the full length yet!

2007-12-25T00:36:00.000-05:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM SPITTING OUT TEETH!

And, of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without a greeting from The Duke and The Buk---

Have a great holiday season everyone--may it be filled with health, happiness & love.

2007-12-23T15:42:00.000-05:00

KITTIES!

Jaime showed me these videos last night and they were just too damn cute (1st one) or funny (2nd one) not to post.

Talking Kitties:

Talking Kitties - Translated:

2007-12-21T14:28:00.001-05:00

SPITTING OUT TEETH COMPUTER GEEK TIP O' THE WEEK

I woke up this morning and, as is my usual routine, I turned on the ol' trusty Power Mac G4 tower and went online. I tried to type a search into Google and it came out looking like this--

tannermccuinsexgodnudepics

Ok, so maybe that wasn't really what I was searching for (or was it....) but note the lack of spaces. I was still using the same keyboard that came with my G4 in 2002, so i figured that it must have finally died.

I went to Small Dog and picked up one of the fancy new Apple keyboards (the ultra-flat, MacBook style ones) and brought it home. I plugged it into the G4 and tried another Google search--

jbledouxasslesschapshighresolution

Dammit! What the hell is going on here? I unplugged the keyboard and tried it on my MacBook--works fine. Restarted the G4, tried again....nothing. I did a Google search and found one temporary workaround--Shift + the space key worked. But that was a major pain in the ass and obviously not a permanent solution.

I desperately tried a variety of Google searches until I happened across this promising sounding one--

"A few weeks ago space bar on keyboard stopped working unless I use shift key. Tried new keyboard same problem."

Now we're getting somewhere--someone with the same problem! After a bunch of useless comments, the final suggestion on the page was the winner--

"Open the Speech pane of System Preferences and check whether either the speech key or the listening key has become set to that keystroke; if so, change the setting."

Sure enough, as soon as I opened up Speech (which I never use), the space bar was indeed selected as the listening key. I changed it to F19 (god knows I'll never use that one for anything else) and tried another search--

Casey Rea-Hunter .jpg banana hammock

Success! Just thought I'd pass this one along just in case any of you Mac users ever run into the same issue.

2007-12-18T21:23:00.001-05:00

I'M NOT THERE....AT ALL

So I finally saw Todd Haynes Dylan meta-biopic "I'm Not There" tonight and, to quote Dylan scholar Greil Marcus' review of the "Self Portrait" album, "What is this shit?" While I dig the concept of having multiple actors playing a single character, it just doesn't work here. Ok, so no one is called Bob Dylan, but they're all doing bad impersonations? And the references are either way too esoteric to be comprehensible to a non-Dylan fanatic, or just too out of context to appeal to a true Dylan aficionado . To top it all off, the badly acted fake interviews and phony album covers made it seem like a "Bob Roberts" that takes itself to seriously.

Maybe it was a metaphorical allusion to Dylan's elusiveness, the odd blending of fact and fiction, but if so it just makes out Dylan to be an illogical schizophrenic, not an extremely talented artist who (despite his aloofness and trickery with the press) was really not all that hard to "get". Haynes instead prefers to to further the myth of the enigmatic shape-shifter, but inserts too much fact & "Dylan-the-man" moments (marriage, divorce, etc.) to make this a purely fictional film. Instead, it's a mess of ideas resulting from what were probably misguided conceptions on the part of a filmmaker who obviously doesn't understand his subject.

I had high hopes for this film, and I was initially intrigued by Haynes meta-bio concept, but he blew it. I have a high threshold for pretentious, contrived art-house fare, but even I have my limits. While I have to give Haynes credit for absolutely nailing the look of "Don't Look Back" (and even Fellini's "8 1/2"), clever aesthetics alone can't carry this bloated dead manatee of project.

So, between this piece of trash & Anton Corbijn's disappointing Ian Curtis film "Control", my most awaited music biopics of the year turned out to be flops. Guess I'll be sticking to the rock documentaries from now on.

2007-12-17T19:18:00.000-05:00

SPITTING OUT TEETH OBLIGATORY BI-MONTHLY LIVEJOURNAL-ESQUE POST

As many of you may have noticed, I've been pretty half-assed with the posts on here lately. A YouTube video here, a link there...pretty shameful stuff. The easy answer would be to say that it's the end of the year, I posted my "Best of 2007" list early (a bit too early maybe) and that because of the upcoming holidays, there really isn't much news to report. The honest answer, however, is that I've been completely lazy and unmotivated.

Ok, that isn't completely true. Here's what I've been up to lately:

Going to work everyday at my increasingly irritating day job
Working on getting my own post-metal/dark ambient radio show on WOMM 105.9 The Radiator
Watching every Fassbinder movie I can get my hands on (read: Netflix or download)
Drinking copious amounts of red wine (I have some great recommendations for the next wine reviews post)
Putting myself even further into massive credit card debt buying holiday gifts for my loved ones.

Seems fairly productive. But here's what I haven't been doing:

Updating this damned blog
Working on the Solah LP and/or The LeDuo EP
Editing my cousin's wedding video
Leaving the house and spending time with my friends

I don't know if I'm in an early winter depression or what, but I've been a big fat sack of worthless for a couple weeks now. I'm hoping that my upcoming 17 day (!!!) break from work will help remedy all of the aforementioned issues. In fact, as a further motivator, if I don't have at least one new Solah track posted on this site by January 7th, I give you full right to spit on me when you see me in public. Not just a lame dry lipped spit or one of those snake-like spits with the glands under your tongue (what is that called? in school I think we referred to it as "yanging"). I'm talking full-out, throat-clearing loogie. Right in my face.

So, yeah, that's it. If anyone else has an early-winter rant, feel free to post a comment below.

2007-12-16T20:58:00.000-05:00

SUNN O))) & BORIS - "The Sinking Belle" (Live @ London Forum)

2007-12-13T23:25:00.000-05:00

CINDY & BERT - DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE

Ozzy is rolling over in his grave. Oh wait....

2007-12-12T22:37:00.001-05:00

EARLY CHRISTMAS DAY

Yes it finally arrived--my Radiohead "In Rainbows" discbox. Just finished listening to the full album on 45rpm 180g vinyl and it was like hearing it again for the first time. Absolutely stunning and worth every overpriced penny.

I also got my first real Christmas present of the year today! Tanner got me the Criterion Collection special edition of Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries", one of my favorite films of all time. Only goes to show that as incredible as Tanner is as a blogger, designer, puppy dad & sex machine, he's an even better friend--thanks again man!

I was going to take a picture of me with my gift, but sadly realized that no matter how clever my photographic treatment, it could only pale in comparison to Tanner's reaction spread to the Schubert CD I got him last year. So you'll just have to use your imagination about my degree of excitement. Let's just say the DVD case is already sticky and smells vaguely of bleach.

2007-12-10T19:41:00.000-05:00

HIGHER GROUND -- NICE START TO '08

First Rob Zombie, now the announcement that Neko Case and The Mars Volta will be playing shows at the premiere local venue for music. Keep it up Higher Ground!

2007-12-08T22:42:00.000-05:00

THANK YOU KRIYA!

Tonight's experimental music show at Kriya was a huge success. Special thanks to Greg Davis and Toby Aronson for organizing the event & for inviting me to play with them. Thank you also to Duane Pitre for treating us to one of of the best performances of the year.

As many of you know, tonight's show was the last ever at Kriya Studio. Julia & Ian are pursuing new endeavors after a year of service running the Burlington area's premiere venue for experimental music and cinema. The closing of Kriya is a huge loss for the Burlington avant-garde art scene, but we all have been blessed with some great memories from great shows, some of which have been captured on photographs and video.

Here is where you come in--Julia would like to compile images from past Kriya performances in the hope of compiling them into a documentary about the studio. So if you have any digital photos or video tape that you would like to share, please contact me at spittingoutteeth@gmail.com and I can get the materials off to Julia.

Thanks again to all of tonight's performers for a wonderful night of music & a big thanks to Kriya for their huge contribution to the local art community!

2007-12-08T08:51:00.000-05:00

REMINDER -- EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC SHOW @ KRIYA TONIGHT!

Tonight. 7:30. Kriya. Duane Pitre. Christian Wolff. James Tenney. Greg Davis. Hell, even me.

Be there or be somewhere else that isn't even a fraction as sonically enlightening.

2007-12-07T09:35:00.000-05:00

BAZANTAR

Check out this amazing drone bass called the Bazantar. Get me one, Santa!

2007-12-03T18:17:00.000-05:00

SPITTING OUT TEETH'S WINE PICK OF THE SEASON - MONASTRELL

It's winter time again, so I'm putting aside the 6-packs (who am I kidding...12-packs) and reaching for the wine rack these days. While 2004 was all about Oregon Pinot Noirs, 2005 Garnachas & Malbecs and 2006 was Owen Roe Rhone blends, 2007 is all about the Monastrell for yours truly.

A Spanish pseudonym for the French Mourvedre, this year's crop of Monastrell is amazingly complex and fruity, ready to drink now & probably amazing in a couple years time. And since they are only just being discovered, you can get a really good bottle on the cheap--anywhere from $7-$12.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Vinos Sin Ley's "G Series"

Vinos Sin Ley has produced five grades of Monastrell this year, from the economy G1 (at $7.99, still an amazing bottle of wine) up to the G5 premium ($12.99). I have only been able to find G1-G3, and the latter was one of my favorite bottles of the year. Look for them at Healthy Living Market.

Castano

I had this one the other night while having dinner at my friend Travis' house. A great Monastrell, easily on par with the G3. Paired with venison tenderloins in a pecan rub with hand-cut sweet potato fries, it was like angels were having sex in mouth. Yes, that's a good thing.

Barahonda

A bit more acidic and tannin-heavy straight out of the bottle, I suggest decanting and letting it breathe for at least an hour. The wait is well worth it--bold fruits, with a nice berry aftertaste.

Trust me--stock up these now. It's only a matter of months before there's a glowing review in USA Today (or a pretentious movie staring Paul Giamatti) and the market gets flooded with overpriced, poor quality Monastrell and the good bottles go for $20+ plus.

2007-11-30T19:33:00.001-05:00

SPITTING OUT TEETH DOWNLOAD - DYLAN: RARITIES

A couple months ago, Columbia starting a huge marketing campaign to promote the upcoming release of (yet another) Bob Dylan boxset. With the definitive name "DYLAN", it seemed to promise to be the ultimate collector collection, a rosetta stone of unearthed new jems and re-imaginings of classic works.

Unfortunately, all of the hype was just that--hype. A completely unoriginal collection of the usual Dylan "greatest hits" fare (every track had been on at least one previous Dylan compilation), it was obvious from a quick look at the tracklisting that this collection was a complete waste of time. Not a single new track, or even an imaginative re-evaluation to choose some new, completely deserved tracks to define the man's cannon.

Bob Dylan has written thousands of songs in the 40+ years he has been a recording artist, many of which may never see the light of day or can only be found in expensive, obscure bootlegs. However, he has also written and recorded dozens (if not hundreds) of masterpieces that never seem to make the greatest hits collections and are unknown to only to Dylan completists.

I have compiled 33 such songs, all of which I consider to be among Dylan's best works. Some were overshadowed by more popular masterpieces on classic albums, some were diamonds in the rough (good songs on bad albums), and some were recently uncovered outtakes that somehow didn't make it to record (Dylan is notorious for leaving some of his best songs on the cutting room floor). However--not a single track included is from a bootleg. They are all from official releases, so if you like them, I highly encourage you to buy the albums.

Here's the tracklisting:

1) "House Carpenter" (from "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1"): One of Dylan's many interpretations of traditional folk songs, "House Carpenter" features passionate vocals and some great "It's Alright Ma" style acoustic guitar playing.

2) "Isis (Live)" (from "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 5": Dylan is famous for his ability to reinvent his own songs, and the electric reworking of "Isis" (originally on "Desire") is one his most successful transformations. This is a really rocking song from the incredibly energetic Rolling Thunder Revue tour.

3) "Percy's Song" (from "Biograph"): This is supposedly an autobiographical song about a friend of Dylan's who was convicted of manslaughter after causing a car accident. A mournful wail of a song, an elegy for a friend not dead but lost. A deceptively simple song, but try singing it--not easy.

4) "Tears of Rage" (from "The Basement Tapes"): One of the greatest successes of the drunken rehab session know as The Basement Tapes, this never-meant-to-be-released track is a cryptic song about a father wronged by his daughter (or a citizen wronged by his/her country? A musician wronged by his fans? Who knows). Absolutely gorgeous song.

5) "Moonshiner" (from "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1"): Whenever someone tells me they think Bob Dylan has a terrible voice, the play this song for them and they usually change their mind. A radical re-working of an Irish drinking song, Dylan turns it into an elegy of the drunkard that would make even Charles Bukowski weep.

6) "Black Crow Blues" (from "Another Side of Bob Dylan"): This song was one of Dylan's early attempts to throw off the confining label of "protest singer" and start exploring a more obscure type of poetry in his lyrics, one which took a symbolist approach of valuing the sound of a word as much as (or more than) its meaning. It's also an experimental departure from the traditional folk/blues guitar styles he was used.

7) "Tell Me Momma" (from "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4"): The only song performed during the infamous 1966 tour that never appeared on an official studio release. Used to start off the electric portion of most shows, this rocking methedrine-blues tune is one of my favorites.

8) "Mama, You Been On My Mind" (from "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 2)": One of Joan Baez' favorites (she often performed it duet with Dylan), this is a simple but elegant love song.

9) "Dear Landlord" (from "New Morning"): Supposedly written about Dylan's breakup with long-time manager Albert Grossman, the song takes on a greater meaning as an anthem about the little man demanding respect from the person who has control over his life. The final line is pure redemption.

10) "Abandoned Love" (from "Biograph"): Originally written for the "Desire" album, this cryptic breakup song is contains some of Dylan's finest lyrics. The bootleg of his solitary live performance of this song is even more powerful and can be found easily on P2P sites.

11) "She's Your Lover Now" (from "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 2"): An outtake from the "Blonde on Blonde" sessions, this is one of many versions of the song that start of strong and fall apart at the end (possibly explaining why a version never found its way onto Dylan's greatest album). My guess is that this song is probably about Edie Sedgwick.

12) "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window" (from "Biograph"): Probably better known from Jimi Hendrix's interpretation, this is yet another great "Blonde on Blonde" outtake. And another song that I suspect is about Edie/Andy Warhol.

13) "Santa-Fe" (from "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 2"): An outtake from "The Basement Tapes", this song gives a good insight into Dylan's songwriting style--come up with a melody and lyrical sound, then develop the actual lyrics after.

14) "Nobody 'Cept You" (from "The Bootleg Series, Vol.2"): An outtake from the "Planet Waves" sessions, this has always been one of those songs that, to quote Ron Burgundy, "cuts to the core of me". A simple song about being in a place you hate just to be with the one you love.

15) "This Wheel's On Fire" (from "The Basement Tapes"): Another masterpiece from "The Basement Tapes", this song borrows a classic line from Rimbaud to create a damning song about being scorned.

16) "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" (from "Self Portrait"): The album "Self Portrait" is often looked at as blemish of Dylan's early recording career, but I absolutely love this album (at least it started to get a bit of a re-evaluation after Wes Anderson used "Wigwam" in "The Royal Tennenbaums"). This beauty cover of a country tune by The Davis Sisters is one of the album's highlights, with Dylan's crooning voice in top form.

17) "Up To Me" (from "Biograph"): An outtake from "Blood on the Tracks", written during the breakdown of his marriage, this song was the true jem of the "Biograph" set for me. Just listen to Dylan's voice starting to crack as he sings the line "If we never meet again/baby remember me". Great, great song.

18) "I Wanna Be Your Lover" (from "Biograph"): Yet another "Blonde on Blonde" outtake (it should have been a triple album), this rocking amphetamine-fueled jam always makes me want to get up and shake my money maker.

19) "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" (from "Street Legal"): One of the few songs worth listening to from this mediocre album, "Senor" is nonetheless a great work, a cryptic and atmospheric song about confusion, fear and love lost.

20) "Blind Willie McTell" (from "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 3"): Remember how I mentioned that Dylan often leaves his best works off of albums? This song is the definitive example. An outtake from "Infidels", this nostalgic elegy for times past is better than the all of the songs on that album put together. One of the best Dylan has ever written.

21) "One More Cup of Coffee" (from "Desire"): This beautiful gypsy love song is one of Dylan's most unique works. One of Jack White's favorite songs; check out the great live version by The White Stripes.

22) "John Brown" (from "Unplugged"): Originally written by Dylan in 1963, this song didn't really get its due until this performance 30 years later, during the Persian Gulf war. Easily Dylan's best anti-war song, and probably the best one ever written. Brutal and heartbreaking.

23) "Man In The Long Black Coat" (from "Oh Mercy"): Foreshadowing Dylan's career renaissance with "Time Out of Mind", this creepy dirge from the Daniel Lanois produced "Oh Mercy" is a gem. Key lyric: "There are no mistakes in life, some people say/It is true sometimes, you can see it that way/That people don't live or die, people just float/She gave her heart to the man in the long black coat"

24) "Gates of Eden (Live)" (from "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6): One of Dylan's first great symbolist successes, this song from "Bringing It All Back Home" tends to get overlooked in the midst of the other great songs on the album, which is a shame because it can really stand its own.

25) "Workingman's Blues" (from "Modern Times"): How can you not love a song that includes the lyric "the buying power of the proletariat is down"? This tune sounds like it was dug out of a time capsule, and does Springsteen-esque middle-America blue-collar nostalgia better than the Boss could ever dream of doing it.

26) "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" (from "Blood on the Tracks"): This song should have been made into a movie; the lyrics read like a script synopsis for greatest western never made. Dylan's ability as a storyteller are often overlooked in favor of his more esoteric lyrics, but this song (along with pretty much everything on "Desire") proves his talents as a narrative songwriter.

27) "Dirge" (from "Planet Waves"): The deepest, darkest anti-love song ever written and possibly the greatest song to listen to after a bad breakup. Check out this for an opening lyric: "I hate myself for loving you/And the weakness that it showed/You were just a painted face/On a trip down Suicide Row" Jeez...and it even sounds like a funeral dirge too.

28) "Sign On the Window" (from "New Morning"): I was tempted to put the entire "New Morning" album on this list, seeing as it is dreadfully overlooked. "Sign On The Window" plays out like Dylan sitting at a piano, coming to terms with his chaotic past & accepting the beauty of a quiet life in the country as a family man. Unfortunately for Bob, this idyllic pastoral life didn't last too long.

29) "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" (from "The Times They Are A'Changing"): This heartbreaking true story of a maid beaten to death by a drunken socialite is one of Dylan's most successful "protest songs". Sad and poignant.

30) "Dark Eyes" (from "Empire Burlesque"): Quite honestly the only song listening to on this trainwreck of an album, it is neverless a Dylan masterpiece. Bizarre song structure and how can you deny a lyric like "I live in another world/Where life death are memorized/Where the Earth is strung with lover's pearls/And all I see are dark eyes"

31) "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" (from "Nashville Skyline"): Dylan's country-western album is often overlooked (besides the overplayed "Lay Lady Lay"), and it's really a shame because there are some great songs on it. Dylan's voice on this track is absolute perfection.

32) "Corrina, Corrina" (from "The Freewheelin'"): A nice, soft track to close out the playlist. Simple, pretty and timeless, just like Dylan's best work.

Here's the download link (just a warning: it's 200MB+ so be prepared for a long download if you're on a slow connection):

DOWNLOAD SPITTING OUT TEETH'S DYLAN RARITIES COLLECTION

Enjoy!

2007-11-29T22:45:00.000-05:00

BUKOWSKI THE...NAZI?

Apparently that's what his former landlord is calling him, in an attempt to prevent Buk's former LA home from being declared a city landmark. Uncouth drunkard? Certainly. Wife beater? Quite probably. Great writer of prose and poetry? Definitely. National Socialist? I highly fucking doubt it.

While I have read a few Bukowski quotes that came close to anti-Semitic, they always seemed to be presented as nothing more than just tasteless jokes a la Don Rickles or simply attempts to provoke some negative attention based on his German heritage. If he had to be classified politically, I'd say Bukowski was a hell of a lot closer to a nihilist than a Nazi.

Read the article at CNN.com here

2007-11-28T17:52:00.000-05:00

GREAT SHOW @ KRIYA STUDIO - NEXT SATURDAY 12/8!!!

Greg Davis, Toby Aronson (Oak) and TickTick have scheduled yet another wonderful
experimental music show in Burlington, and this one is definitely a not-to-miss
event.  There's even a possibility that your's truly may be joining in on the
performance...

Here's the press release:

we are pleased to have duane pitre coming to burlington to present his chamber
ensemble piece 'The Ensemble Chord in Eb with a Minor 7th and a Pump Organ Base".
we will also be performing pieces by christian
wolff and james tenney. it should be a great night of music.

An Evening of Experimental Music:

Duane Pitre "The Ensemble Chord in Eb with a Minor 7th and a Pump
Organ Base"
Christian Wolff "Stones" (1969)
James Tenney "Swell Piece No. 2 (for Pauline Oliveros)" (1971)

kriya studio
333 n. winooski
burlington, vt
saturday, december 8th, 2007
7:30 p.m.
$7

Duane Pitre (with Ensemble)

The ensemble will consist Duane Pitre, Craig Colorusso, Greg Davis,
and UVM students, playing violin, cello, contra bass, oboe, alto
saxaphone, bowed guitars, electric tone generator, and organ.

"The Ensemble Chord in Eb with a Minor 7th and a Pump Organ Base" This
composition varies from the traditional sort as it is rule-based with
the score consisting of a set tonic, set pitch classes, playing
methods, technique restrictions, and spontaneous conduction. The score
is a structure for the performing ensemble to improvise onóorder
spawning chaos producing order that is different on each occasion of a
performance or recording. Ensemble Drones is discipline and freedom,
both within each other, the first major focus of the work. Variance is
the second major focus of the composition; with instrumentation,
ensemble performers, tonic, pitch classes, and the physical space
varying from performance to performance, the results can never be the
same. One way to view Ensemble Drones is like a compositional "body,"
as in the composition taking human form. The score is the skeletal
structure that gives the "body" its general shape and feel. The pump
organ, for instance, could serve as the circulatory system, the bass
clarinet as the muscles, cello and saxophones as the internal organs,
the electrically generated tones as the nervous system, guitars as the
flesh, viola as the skin, violin as strands of hair, and the
the listener acts as the eyes. Not in the sense of vision,
though each listener will "view" the same compositional body differently, and, in
return, the body will view itself differently with each new set of
eyes. This helps to analogize the last major focus of the Ensemble
Drones score/composition, which is perception.

http://importantrecords.com/sounds/154_pilotram_1.mp3
http://importantrecords.com/sounds/154_pilotram_2.mp3
http://www.myspace.com/duanepitre
http://www.duanepitre.com

Christian Wolff

Wolff was born in Nice in France of German parentage. His family moved
to the United States in 1941, and he became an American citizen in
1946. He studied classics at Harvard University (he is a specialist in
the work of Euripides) and upon graduating took up a teaching post
there which he kept until 1970 when he began to teach classics,
comparative literature, and music at Dartmouth College until his
retirement in 1999. His early work includes a lot of silence and was
based initially on complicated rhythmic schema, and later on a system
of aural cues. Wolff innovated unique notational methods in his early
scores and found creative ways of dealing with improvisation within
his written music. Later pieces also often give a degree of freedom to
the performers such as the sequence of pieces entitled Exercises
(1973-). Some works, such as Changing the System (1973), Braverman
Music (1978, after Harry Braverman), and the series of pieces entitled
Peace March (1983-2005) have an explicit political dimension
responding to contemporary world events and broader political ideals.
At the age of sixteen Wolff was sent by his piano teacher Grete Sultan
for lessons in composition with the composer John Cage and quickly
became a close associate of Cage and his artistic circle which
included composers Earle Brown and Morton Feldman, pianist David
Tudor, and dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham. During the 1960s
he developed associations with the composers Frederic Rzewski and
Cornelius Cardew who spurred each other on in their respective
explorations of experimental composition techniques and musical
improvisation, and then from the early 1970s in their respective
attempts to engage with political matters in their music. For Wolff
this often involved the use of music and texts associated with protest
and political movements such as the Wobblies. Wolff recently said of
his work that it is motivated by his desire, "To turn the making of
music into a collaborative and transforming activity (performer into
composer into listener into composer into performer, etc.), the
cooperative character of the activity to the exact source of the
music. To stir up, through the production of the music, a sense of
social conditions in which we live and of how these might be changed."

James Tenney

Tenney was born in Silver City, New Mexico, and grew up in Arizona and
Colorado. He attended the University of Denver, the Juilliard School
of Music, Bennington College (B.A., 1958) and the University of
Illinois (M.A., 1961). He studied piano with Eduard Steuermann and
composition with Chou Wen-chung, Lionel Nowak, Paul Boepple, Henry
Brant, Carl Ruggles, Kenneth Gaburo, Lejaren Hiller, John Cage, Harry
Partch, and Edgard VarËse. He also studied information theory under
Lejaren Hiller, and composed stochastic early computer music before
turning almost completely to writing for instruments with the
occasional tape delay, often using just intonation and alternative
tunings. Tenney's notable students include John Luther Adams, Larry
Polansky, and Peter Garland. He performed with John Cage, as well as
with the ensembles of Harry Partch, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass.
Tenney's work deals simply and artfully with perception (For Ann
(rising), see Shepard tone), just intonation (Clang, see gestalt),
stochastic elements (Music for Player Piano), information theory
(Ergodos, see Ergodic theory), and with what he calls 'swell' (Koan:
Having Never Written A Note For Percussion for John Bergamo), which is
basically arch form. His pieces are most often tributes and subtitled
as such. Tenney wrote the seminal Meta (+) Hodos (one of, if not the,
earliest applications of gestalt theory and cognitive science to
music), the later Hierarchical temporal gestalt perception in music :
a metric space model with Larry Polansky, and other works. Nearly a
quarter of a 657-page volume of the academic journal Perspectives of
New Music was devoted to Tenney's music (Polansky and Rosenboom 1987).

Tenney also wrote the in-depth liner notes to Wergo's edition of
Conlon Nancarrow's Studies for Player Piano. (Nancarrow, as a favor,
punched the roll for Tenney's Spectral Canon for Conlon Nancarrow). He
taught at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, the California
Institute of the Arts, the University of California, and York
University in Toronto. He died on 24 August 2006 of lung cancer in
Valencia, California.

BE THERE!!!!!

2007-11-26T20:59:00.000-05:00

MORE HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS FROM YOUR FRIENDS @ SPITTING OUT TEETH

I can't think of a single person that I know who wouldn't want either a knitted boob or dink this holiday season...click HERE for more info. Or if you were sold at "dink" or "boob", just order them here.

2007-11-24T11:02:00.000-05:00

ROB ZOMBIE @ HIGHER GROUND - 1.13.07

Former White Zombie frontman turned solo act/horror film director Rob Zombie will be performing at Higher Ground on January 13th. Admission is $35.

Be there, or else everyone will think you're an astrocreep.

Sorry. Had to do it.

2007-11-23T20:26:00.000-05:00

AMAZON LISTS--NEED YOUR HELP!

I've created a couple of Amazon "Listmania" lists and could use some help expanding them a bit. If you have any ideas on what to add to either of the following list, please let me know.

Thanks!

2007-11-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS

My friend Craig, a very talented local artist, is having a big sale over at his Cafe Press store. Great opportunity to pick up some unique stocking stuffers and support local business!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

Looking for something not-so-special for that special someone?
Like buying pointless stuff?
Need a new conversation piece?

Well, look no further!

From now until November 28th, you†can get $15 off official
Stender Inc Merch order when†you order $50 or more!

Use the coupon code below and start shopping today!

NEW MERCH!
"Morgana", the lovable witch doctor is back!
Mountain Dew didn't want her, but you do!
Look for new designs and new logo under
the "Morgana" section of the website.
(link following coupon below)

Friends & Family of Stender inc
Get $15 off $50*

Start shopping at Stender inc,
http://www.cafepress.com/Stender_Inc

2007-11-19T21:03:00.000-05:00

NO MUSIC DAY - NOVEMBER 21ST

Yeah, this is so not going to happen for me...

It's also really unspecific. What do they consider "music"? Just commercially produced works? Do the natural rhythms of nature count as music? Or is this just an exercise in futility, to make us aware that music is a ubiquitous force in our lives that is constantly by our sides, a not-so-silent stalker who we refuse to press charges against.

Whatever. It's more likely that I'll give up breathing on the 21st than not listen to music all day. You'll have to pry my iPod out of my cold, dead hands you crazy hippie ideologues!

2007-11-14T13:01:00.000-05:00

MOCHIKA

Just found this Mochika analog sequencer synth online...I'm thinking this just might end up on my Christmas list :)

Here's a nice documentary about the maker...too bad I can't understand it because it's in Portuguese. Oh wait, here's the translation.

2007-11-13T19:46:00.001-05:00

FAUST ARP

From the recent Radiohead webcast...the live performance of the beautiful "Faust Arp" from Radiohead's new album "In Rainbows".

2007-11-10T12:41:00.000-05:00

NORMAN MAILER, R.I.P.

Norman Mailer Fights Rip Torn

Posted Jan 19, 2007

Rip Torn hits Norman Mailer on the head with a hammer during a fight on the set of the 1970 film Maidstone.

2007-11-08T10:03:00.000-05:00

TOP ALBUMS OF 2007

Ok folks, here it is--Spitting Out Teeth's Top Albums of 2007 list. It was a good year for music & I found it impossible to limit my list to a top 10, so instead you get my favorite 15. As an added bonus, there's a list of my favorite reissues & great albums from late 2006 that I didn't get turned on to until 2007.

Each album has a brief description of why I think it's friggin' awesome, as well as a letter grade to rate its degree of supreme sonic coolness.

Enough blabbing--here's the list:

#15 - White Stripes, “Icky Thump”

The White Stripes get back to what they do best—guitar & drum nostalgia rock. Sure, this was probably the most hyped album of the year (how many impromptu city-bus concerts can one band do?), but as usual the Stripes put out content to back it up. The sounds on this album really spanned the globe, from the Middle Eastern snake-charmer Clavioline sounds on the title track to the punk Spanish mariachi tones on their cover of “Conquest” to the Scottish bagpipes on “St. Andrew”. Maybe not a masterpiece (when will they translate the energy and rawness of their live shows to an album?) but a rocking good trip around the world in 48 minutes. B-

#14 - Earth, “Hibernaculum”

One of the great side effects of the recent popularity of post-metal acts like Sunn O))) and Boris is underrated innovators of the genre like Dylan Carlsson’s Earth are getting a critical reappraisal. “Hibernaculum” is an understated meshing of slow drone riffs with a touch of country-western twang. Great album to zone out & read to. B

#13 - Nadja, “Touched”

Whereas last year’s Spitting Out Teeth Top Albums list was the unofficial “Year of Twee”, this year took a dramatic turn to become “The Year of Post-Metal”. While Nadja doesn’t have the same name recognition as Southern Lord heavy-hitters like Sunn O))) or Boris, they managed to fly under the radar and release one of the heaviest and creepiest albums of the year. Imagine Black Sabbath-meets-My Bloody Valentine and you’ll start to get an idea of what this album sounds like. Deep and slow detuned guitar riffs with layer after layer of synth fuzz piled on top. And believe it or not, there actually are drums and vocals hiding somewhere behind the fog. B

#12 - Animal Collective, “Strawberry Jam”

What do you do when you’re a band who has already conquered avant-garde noise rock and successfully made the transition to experimental rock band? Well, release your most bizarre yet accessible album, obviously. Possibly the Collective’s most coherent and clean production, this is obviously a band that feels comfortable enough with their weirdness that they don’t need to cover up their bizarre lyrics and circuit-bent tones with layers of ambient wash anymore. Surprisingly, the very divergent side projects of the members (compare Avey’s “Pullhair Rubeye” to Panda’s “Person Pitch”) has obviously helped their collaborative work instead of hinder it. B

#11 - Mammatus, “The Coast Explodes”

Prog metal? Stoner rock? Heavy Psych jam? How the hell do you classify this album? I guess it really doesn’t matter—whatever it is, it’s just really good. “The Coast Explodes” is a powerful continuation to Mammatus’ eponymous debut the first track is actually Part Three of the “Dragon of the Deep” cycle that closed out the first album), maintaining the Sabbath-esque riffs and spacey phased-wah atmospherics, but it goes one step further in terms of production values, virtuosity and composition. Definitely a band that is high on my list for live shows I’d like to see. B+

#10 - Dungen, “Tio Bitar”

I doubt many will agree with me, but I actually prefer Dungen’s sophomore effort to their debut “Ta Det Lungen ????”. It’s darker, harder and the drum work is absolutely insane. Still not too keen on the vocals—maybe these guys will do an all-instrumental album next? B+

#9 - Deerhunter, “Cryptograms”

I guess this is what you would call “post-shoegaze”(?). While this album was quite over-hyped (especially by Pitchfork and its minions) it’s still a strong work, bouncing (literally) back and forth from experimental drone-scapes (“Intro”, “White Ink”, “Providence”, “Red Ink”) to Joy Division-meets-Marilyn Manson goth rock (“Cryptograms”, “Lake Somerset”) to electro-dance numbers (“Octet) to psychedelic twee rock (“Spring Hall Convert”, “Hazel St.”). A bizarre and eclectic album, to say the least. B+

#8 - Akron/Family, “Love Is Simple”

This album has really grown on me. Upon my initial listens, the hippie drum-circle chants and “love everyone” lyrics really drove me nuts. It took a great live show to make me realize what these guys are truly best at—all out, early Dead-esque rock jams. There is some incredible song crafting on this album, from the multi-part jam rock to hip hop symphony of “Ed is a Portal” to the ethereally delicate yet pulverizing “Phenomena”. Don’t make the mistake I did let the hippie playfulness overshadow the rock & roll—play this fucker loud. B+

#7 - Feist, “The Reminder”

Possibly the greatest collection of individual songs on this list, Feist really came into her own on “The Reminder”. A bit of distance from Broken Social Scene has really allowed her to find her own unique voice, and what a voice it is. Despite having sustained permanent vocal chord damage from singing in a punk group in her early days, Feist has a beautiful, husky-yet-feminine style that can melt anyone. Beyond just being another pretty voice & face, she’s also a hell of an instrumentalist as well, playing everything from guitar to piano to electronic loops and featuring on of the best back-up bands in rock. Having seen her on tour, she definitely is an artist who is both completely on top of her game & having a hell of a time being there. Expect the follow-up album to be amazing. B+

#6 - Caribou, “Andorra”

Psychedelic and danceable, this is the album that I always knew Caribou could make. They're a shamefully underrated band and hopefully this time-machine of an album will help do something to change that. A-

#5 - Wolves In the Throne Room, “Two Hunters”

Dark ambient plays hand-in-hand with the darkest of black metal. Nostalgic yet progressive, sophomore release “Two Hunters” not only met the high expectations created by WITT debut “Diadem of 12 Stars” but boldly exceeded them. A-

#4 - KTL, “KTL 2”

While I was a bit disappointed by the only Sunn O))) release of 2007 (“Oracle”), I was blown away by another of Stephen O’Malley’s musical side projects, KTL. The group’s second offering (there are now three) is a dark and haunting ambient work, punctuated by jackhammer arpeggiated synth riffs and O’Malley’s trademark punishing fuzz tones. Far and away my choice for “Best Album to Listen to While Trapped in a Cave & Going Slowly Insane”. A-

#3 - Panda Bear, “Person Pitch”

What can be said about this album that hasn’t been said already….well, nothing I guess. Panda’s third (?) solo LP is a post-Beach Boys symphonic rock masterpiece, and pretty impressive when you realize it’s just “two Dr. Samples and a microphone” (sing in Beck voice). Deceptively pure and simple on first listen, “Person Pitch” is actually a very complex production. Do it justice and listen to it on headphones or, even better, loud and on vinyl over a good set of speakers. A

#2 - Of Montreal, “Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?”

The deserved backlash again electro-pop dance music is probably going to keep Kevin Barnes’ masterpiece off of a lot of the year-end best albums lists and that is a shame. Despite some of the most danceable pop beats to come out since Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall” (these guys even got ME shaking my ass at Pitchfork this year), this is actually an incredibly dark and introspective albums, written by Barnes at an incredibly difficult period in his life (lyrics like “I spent the winter on the verge of a total breakdown while living in Norway/I felt the darkness of the Black Metal bands” is not your usual dance pop couplet). But despite the wrist-cutting lyrics about anti-depressants and doomed relationships, “Hissing Fauna” remains perky and fun with unique instrumentation and perfect production. A

#1 - Radiohead, “In Rainbows”

Innovative marketing techniques and music industry revolution aside, Radiohead put out an incredibly mature and complex work with “In Rainbows”. While not a masterpiece on the level of “Ok Computer” or “Kid A”, “In Rainbows” still contains some of Radiohead’s most finely crafted songs in years. It also shows a new-found confidence amongst the band members: after two albums of multi-layered sounds hiding half-assed song crafting efforts, “In Rainbows” takes a bare-bones production approach that lets Thom’s voice take center stage while bringing individual instrumental contributions to the top of the mix as well (I can’t remember the last time I could clearly pick out Phil’s drumming or Ed’s guitar solos—maybe “Pablo Honey”?). No more hiding beyond a wall of echo, effects and Johnny’s weird noises for Radiohead—this is an in-your-face rock album.

The most amazing thing about this album is probably the degree of development and evolution that these songs underwent. For fans who were first introduced to “Nude” during the OK Computer tour, the song made some dramatic changes in composition over the past decade, yet still maintains the beauty and elegance that made it unique. “Reckoner” underwent a complete transformation, but not in the usual “destroy a good song for the hell of it” way Radiohead usually does (“Motion Picture Soundtrack” anyone?)—instead they made it substantially better.

There seems to be a toss-off approach to music making lately, a desire to put quantity, genre-bending and fast-tracked musical evolution ahead of spending time actually crafting material. Fast food musicians everywhere should take note of Radiohead’s devotion and ability to pare down their songs to perfection. And it’s just a lush and pretty album, which there just aren’t enough of these days. A

REISSUES & NEAR-MISSES

Neil Young, “Live at Massey Hall”

It’s a shame that it took so long for this near-perfect album to be released, and an even greater shame that it’s not available on vinyl. Spend a few extra bucks & get the CD/DVD edition, as the documentary of the show is pretty unique. A+

Joy Division, “Closer” and “Unknown Pleasures” vinyl reissues

I haven’t been able to stop listening to these. As Herb astutely put it, as a result of the beautiful remastering job, its like listening to the albums again for the first time. If only they would re-release “Substance”…or even better, the single 45s. A+

The Stooges, “Fun House” vinyl reissue

Beautiful remastering of my favorite Stooges album; the raw energy of this album has never been clearer. I dare you to try to sit still while listening to “Down On the Street”. A

T-Rex, “Electric Warrior” vinyl reissue

One of the most perfect rock albums ever made, and certainly in my Glam Rock top three (along with Lou Reed’s “Transformer” and Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust). A

Witch, “Witch” (2006)

There are a lot of bands trying to resurrect the classic Sabbath sound recently, but no one pulls it off quite as well as Witch. Killer riffs, dark & kitchy lyrics and J. Mascis on the skins—how can you go wrong? A-

Miles Davis, “The Complete ‘On the Corner’ Sessions”

Columbia once again goes to the vault in an attempt to milk Miles Davis’ peak output. At least they’re doing a respectable job with it though. On the heels of the brilliant “Complete ‘Bitches Brew’” and “Complete ‘In a Silent Way’” sets come the full studio recordings of one of Davis’ most underrated works, the funky “On the Corner”. A-

Sunn O))) and Boris, “Altar” (2006)

I’ve written quite a bit about this album already, but I can’t stop gushing. Simply a masterpiece. A+

2007-11-07T19:32:00.000-05:00

NOISE SHOW @ KRIYA TOMORROW

Hi all, I'm currently blogging from my hotel room in Charlotte, NC (I'm on a business trip) and I wanted to let you know about a great show tomorrow night at Kriya Studio. Here's the e-mail from Burlington's own noise guru, Matt (aka A Snake In the Garden), who will also be doing a set:

tomorrow at KRIYA @ 7:30pm. ID M THEFT ABLE (www.kraag.org/id)
rocking some vocal noises and bearded performance art, NOZAL CUBE
(myspace.com/nozalcube) all the way from France doing some schizo tape
noise, the mighty OAK, and myself doing a short opener set. should be
a great time.

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If you haven't attended a noise show in town, I strongly recommend going. In my opinion, Noise is the most innovative genre of music around right now. Seeing a Noise show feels like being at one of the first free-jazz concerts or punk shows or Dada happenings--it's about as avant-garde and challenging as it gets. Noise is as much a physical and intellectual experience as a sonic one, almost like a blending of black metal and classical symphony. If that isn't enough to sell you on going, then you probably shouldn't.

Barring any flight delays tomorrow night, I'll see you there!

2007-11-05T21:25:00.000-05:00

I HAVE A NEW TOY...

I recently told a friend of mine that I was playing around with oscillator pedals for my Solah project, and he told me that his father was an electrical engineer and may have something for me. This weekend, he cleaned out his garage and found this lil' guy for me--

What is it you ask? It's a beast of an industrial oscillator, capable of creating sustained analogue sinewave test tones ranging from 50Hz to 15kHz. The knob at bottom center acts as a basic pitch control to let you warp the straight tone on the fly a bit. Best of all, it has a standard 1/4" output on the side.

I hooked it up to my Effector 13 Synth Mangler and Elecro Harmonix Octave Multiplexer and got some cool sounds out of it--

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS MP3 DOWNLOAD LINK (4MB)

The first few seconds is the oscillator only, switching through the different frequencies. The rest is me turning on the FX and messing around with the dials. Next time I'm going to throw some delay into the mix.

I see myself using this quite a bit for the Solah LP; lots o' fun...

2007-11-04T15:23:00.000-05:00

TOP ALBUMS OF 2007 LIST...COMING SOON

Just finished typing up my post for my top 15 new releases of 2007, with a special section for reissues and some late 2006 releases that didn't make last year's list. Should I post it now to beat the rush of "end-of-year" postings in December, or should I wait?

In other news, thanks to all who have given feedback on the Solah release. It's nice to get back to writing, playing & performing again, and it's great to do it in a community full of great musicians and knowledgeable music lovers.

As for other's people's music, I saw Oak, Missy Bly & The Cush at the Monkey House on Thursday night. It was my first time seeing either of the latter two (I know...shame on me) and they were both great. And Oak was brilliant as usual, with a gorgeous soft acoustic intro leading into harsh noise (in a good way) and closing out with some amazing full-group percussion.

Made a trip to Pure Pop today and picked up some great new vinyl--Karen Dalton's "In My Own Time", Leonard Cohen's "Songs of Leonard Cohen", Animal Collective's "Strawberry Jam" and (an album I've been looking for on wax forever) Lou Reed's "Transformer". Looks like I have a nice relaxing evening of drinking tea, cleaning the house & listening to records ahead of me. Oh yeah, and watching free movies online from Netflix---I upgraded to OS X Panther and installed Windows XP on my MacBook. I'll be watching "Lilya 4-Ever" tonight.

2007-11-01T20:26:00.000-04:00

CRYSTAL VIBRATIONS

A great new local blog where you can download all kinds of wonderful esoteric music you've never even heard of before, made by guys who are ten times cooler than you'll ever be. And twenty times cooler than I'll ever be. Check it out--

CRYSTAL VIBRATIONS

2007-10-30T22:29:00.000-04:00

SOLAH - DARKCAR [EP] FREE DOWNLOAD!!!

As promised, Halloween brings the release date for the first Solah ep, a post-metal/noise collaboration between JB LeDoux and yours truly. It was truly a learning experience for me, especially the recording and mixing process which I'm completely new to.

Live Solah concerts to be following shortly, including a CD release party next month. Look for a full-length Solah LP to come in early 2008.

For best results, play loud while driving around in a thunderstorm.

DOWNLOAD SOLAH "DARKCAR [EP]" (35MB,INCLUDES iTUNES COVER ART)

2007-10-27T18:18:00.000-04:00

SATAN RIDES THE MEDIA

A great documentary on Norwegian Black Metal, focusing on the antics of Mayhem & Burzum. Those crazy kids with their loud music and church burnings and murders!

PART I

PART II

PART III

PART IV

PART V

PART VI

2007-10-24T23:00:00.001-04:00

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM - "TWO HUNTERS"

Just when I thought I would release my 2007 Top 10 Albums list, figuring I wouldn't find a new favorite, I pick up the new Wolves In the Throne Room...and fall in love with it. What an amazing album--it runs the spectrum from classic Black Metal to post-metal to experimental ambient and back again...such a diverse & masterful album. Very highly recommended.

2007-10-22T00:04:00.000-04:00

GO SOX!!!

The Boston Red Sox just won the 2007 A.L. pennant---hells yeah! What a comeback; down 3-1 & won three straight to take it. That effort deserves a replay of the Papelbon Jig!

2007-10-21T19:06:00.000-04:00

NEW VERMONT BLOG - "PERSONA NON GRATA"

My good buddy Travis has just started a new local politics & culture blog called "Persona Non Grata" and you can check it out here--

PERSONA NON GRATA

Travis is a former award-winning Vermont journalist currently residing in Bristol, and he is one of the brightest and funniest guys I know. With his quick wit & journalistic experience, expect his posts (though sporadic, since he has a busy job & a baby daughter) to be well-written, well thought out highlights on the weekly Vermont blogroll. Definitely be sure to link to Persona Non Grata from your sites.

Currently he has two posts up, one about VT localvore culture (a subject he plans to make a regular theme; he's an amazing chef as well, so hopefully we might get some recipes) and another about everyone's favorite neo-con bitch hag, Anne Coulter. Enjoy!

2007-10-21T19:01:00.000-04:00

SO YOU THINK YOU'RE AN ARTIST, HUH?

Here's a really cool left brain/right brain test that a co-worker of mine sent me the other day. Watch the ballerina spin & find out if you're a daydreaming artist type or a milquetoast shirt-and-tie accountant. Unfortunately, according to this test, I fall firmly into the latter category.....

RIGHT BRAIN/LEFT BRAIN TESTER

2007-10-21T18:54:00.000-04:00

SUNN O))) & BORIS' "ALTAR" REVIEW

As many of you now know, Sunn O))) and Boris' "Altar" is one of my favorite albums of the new millennium. A lot has been written about this album, but surprisingly the best review I have found so far is from a post on a music forum called "Encyclopaedia Metallum".

Click on this link and scroll down to the second review by Bertliak entitled "No Beauty Without Danger". A must-read for any fan of this album.

2007-10-18T21:10:00.000-04:00

MUSICAL GENRES OF THE FUTURE (OR: POST-MODERNISM RUN AMOK)

Remember the good old days when they had just “church music” or “devil’s music” to choose from? Then it was “classical” and “folk tunes”. Then “classical”, “jazz” and “rock”. Then there was “bebob”, “cool jazz”, “free-jazz”, “jazz fusion”, “funk”, “disco”, “heavy metal”, “punk”, “post-punk”, “post-rock”, “death metal”, “black metal”, etc. etc. etc. It’s hard to put out an album these days without spending a week trying to classify exactly what the hell it is.

If the last few years have been any indication of what is to come in the music world, we should see new genres reproducing like rabbits by 2010. In section below, I play the role of the music blogger Nostradamus and predict the musical crossovers that are coming up on the horizon.

Post-Post Rock
Step one—turn on the drum machine to 3 bpm. Step two: lean guitar against amplifier to produce sustained feedback note. Step three: hit record; take two hour lunch break. Step four: Come back to studio, hit “stop” button, burn CD & send to record label.

ProgHall
Psych rock meets the reggae-tinged stylings of Dance Hall music. Taste the rainbow when King Crimson mixes it up with Yellowman.

Doom Twee
Have your mind blown to the sound of stacks of tube amplifiers blasting the oscillated fuzz of a downtouned bass alongside nasally, effeminate lyrics about anoraks and puppy love. Also know as SunnC86))))

New-Country Electro-Pop
Collaboration between Toby Keith and Kevin Barnes of “Of Montreal” out next Spring entitled “Don’t Tread on My Synaptic Unicorn Sediments”. Look for lots of southern drawl, lap steel, xenophobic lyrics & tons of phat Moog Rogue basslines.

Ambient Free-Jazz
Imagine an Albert Ayler solo slowed down it 1/50^th speed…with enough reverb and synth pads to knock out a full-grown elephant on speed.

Krautska
Imagine Faust meets Reel Big Fish. And then shoot yourself in the face.

Croon Metal
Step aside Atilla-- Harry Connick Jr. is taking over the reigns as the frontman of Mayhem for some Black Pack action.

So.....what are your predictions for future genres?

2007-10-17T22:12:00.000-04:00

THE REAL "NEST MATERIAL"

2007-10-16T12:38:00.000-04:00

TEN ALBUMS TO LISTEN TO...ON VINYL

Recently I’ve made the jump from being a part-time vinyl listener to becoming an all-out convert. I’ve sold CD copies of many albums and bought the LPs instead and, with the exception of albums that have little to no chance of a vinyl release, I’ve pretty much stopped buying CDs. I won’t get into detail why, because I’ve already done that on another post.

While nearly every album sounds better on vinyl (to my ears at least), certain albums just sound infinitely better on wax than their digital counterparts. I usually find that music that relies heavily on ambience, nostalgia or a dedicated low-end are especially well-suited, so I made a list of some of my “must-have-on-vinyl” favorites.

(NOTE: I’ve kept off the obvious classics, such as Hank Williams or Louis Armstrong in order to focus on more modern or lesser-known works. Just know that if I were including them, they’d be pretty damn high in the list—play Satchmo’s version of “Stardust” and I’m easier than a drunk girl on prom night)

Karen Dalton, “In My Own Time”

Karen Dalton has only recently received a long-overdue re-evaluation by music critics and fans. Once described by “my favorite singer”, Dalton has a voice that sounds like a throaty, froggy cross between Janis Joplin and Billie Holliday, a voice that sounds older and craggier than its years betray. It is nearly impossible to reconcile with the sepia-toned portrait of a beautiful young woman pictured on the album cover

Not only are Dalton’s timelessly ancient vocals perfect for the warm crackle of a vinyl album, but the crystal-clean production of the bluesy, soulful instrumental arrangements sound amazing as well. Put the needle down on Katie Cruel and transport yourself back in time to the sound of gypsy fiddle and Dock Boggs-esque banjo plucking.

Bonnie Prince Billy, “Greatest Palace Music”

Will Oldham just seems to have one of those voices that lends itself to analog, producing timeless, complex and gently masculine tones that can melt both women & men like a candle with an extra-long wick.

“Greatest Palace Music” is one of my favorite Oldham albums, and I love how the reverb on Oldham’s vocals, the twangy guitars and the bassy piano blend into a virtual Sunday morning snuggle in a warm bed when played on vinyl.

Low, “Trust”

Low seems to be the only band that made it out of the “slowcore” movement of the late 90s/early 00’s (remember Bedhead anyone?). While they seem to be getting a lot of attention for their recent sonic evolution “Drums and Guns”, I’m still a fan of Low’s older, more dreamy work. While my favorite Low album is probably 2001’s “Things We Lost In the Fire”, I prefer the thick ambience of the follow-up album “Trust” for vinyl playback. The atmospherics are so foggy and dense that by the end of the first track “Amazing Grace” you already feel like you’re drowning at sea.

Sparklehorse, “It’s a Wonderful Life”

I pretty sure that if it was up to Mark Linkous, Sparklehorse would probably not release their albums on anything except vinyl. Hell, maybe even acetates or cylinder tubes would be more appropriate. The warm pops and crackles of an old vinyl record are so important to Sparklehorse’s sound that they even included them on the recording of “Babies On the Sun”. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is Linkous’ masterpiece, a clever blending of pop rock and lo-fi nostalgia that guarantees to both creep you out & get your foot tapping.

Beach House, "Beach House”

I’m not even sure why they bothered to release this album on CD—it almost seems like it was written and recorded specifically for a 180 gram platter. There is something majestic about how the lo-fi drum loops, fat synth tones, spacey slide guitar, halcyon vocals (all covered with enough reverb to kill a horse) come together to make the musical equivalent of a handful of Percocet. Such an underrated album; shame on those of you who missed them at Higher Ground last month.

Tom Waits, “Blood Money”

Ok, I guess any Tom Waits album could have made this list, and there are certainly a lot of better albums than Blood Money (“Small Change”, “Mule Variations”, “Rain Dogs”, “Bone Machine”, etc). However, “Blood Money” is still my top choice for vinyl Waits if only for a single track—“Coney Island Baby”. The song sounds like it could have been recorded as a drunken outtake from a turn-of-the-century Tin Pan Alley recording session. It’s about as haunting and beautiful as music can possibly get, and listening to it on vinyl can be absolutely paralyzing.

Bob Dylan, “New Morning”

“New Morning” is probably the most criminally overlooked Dylan album (a couple of years ago I would have said “Self Portrait,” but Wes Anderson took care of that by including “Wigwam” in “The Royal Tennenbaums”). “New Morning” is the culmination of Dylan’s attempts to truly “bring it all back home”, creating a country-tinged pastoral nostalgia that turns its back on the urban, amphetamine blues of his late sixties period.

No matter where I am, I can drop the needle on “New Morning” and immediately feel like I am sitting on the porch of a cabin deep in the woods on a cool, drizzly fall day, draped in corduroy and sipping a cup of coffee, limbs humming with a warming sense of peace and contentment. Whether it’s the warm, buzzing bass & organ tones, the intimate parlor piano tones, or the crisp pedal steel, there is something about this album that soothes the savage beast and absolutely begs for the physical ambience of vinyl.

Cat Power, “Moon Pix”

Sure, “The Greatest” is a fantastic album, but I’m still a fan of old school Chan Marshall. “Moon Pix” finds her at her most raw yet most elegant, combining melancholy & droney indie ballads (“No Sense”) with imaginative covers of covers (her version of Bob Dylan’s version of the Irish pub favorite “Moonshiner”) and even a bit of experimental rap-rock (“American Flag”). This is just far too intimate and dense of an album for passive listening—grab a cup of tea, put “Moon Pix” on the turntable and zone out on the couch for a half an hour. Then get up, flip the disc & do it again.

Sunn O))) & Boris, “Altar”

I will go out on the proverbial limb and say that “Altar” is, so far, my favorite album of the 21^st century. The equivalent of a drone metal supergroup, “Altar” finds the drone lords of the East (Sunn o))) and West (Boris) coming together for the first time for a full-out collaboration, along with guest appearances by Dylan Carlsson (Earth), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden) and beautiful vocals by Jesse Sykes.

“Altar” has all the makings for a great vinyl release—heaving, fat Moog Rogue basslines, thick atmospherics, growling electronics and heavy guitar fuzz. Southern Lord records must have recognized that and in turn went all out for the record: a 3 x 180g set with full artwork and a poster that weighs over four pounds. Guess it’s not just the metal that’s heavy…

The set is fairly limited and a bit pricey (around $30) but it’s worth every penny if you can find one.

Anthology of American Folk Music

Ok, this one is kind of unfair…the set (compiled by the great Harry Smith) was originally released in 1952 on vinyl and is damn near impossible to find (and ridiculously expensive if you do). It was re-released on CD in 1997 as a beautiful six-disc box set with a 96-page booklet. The sixth disc is an enhanced CD that contains photos, interviews and (my personal favorite) Harry Smith’s early experiments in abstract animation.

Sounds pretty great, huh? Not good enough. For some reason, they never bothered to re-release the set of vinyl. And this music is just begging to be played on a turntable—it filled with haunting vocals, crackling recordings, twangy banjos and thousands of subsonic howls from the ghosts of America’s musical past. The fact that I have lived 28 years without having heard Dock Boggs’ “Sugar Baby” coming through a diamond-tipped needle at 33 1/3 is an abomination.

One piece of good news--a recent addition to the set (Vol. 4) has been released, and it IS available on vinyl. Let's hope the sales are high enough. to encourage them to press the main set.

2007-10-13T14:54:00.000-04:00

THE JOY DIVISION DUMP

It has been a big year for Joy Division...

Rhino has re-released all of the band's studio albums on vinyl. They sound great and are available at Pure Pop.
Want to design your own Joy Division mixtape album cover? Download the official typefaces from Peter Saville's website.
A couple of JD/Ian Curtis themed films are coming out soon. First, a documentary directed by Grant Gee ("Meeting People is Easy") called simply "Joy Division" and then a Curtis biopic called "Control", directed by the band's former music video director Anton Corbijn. It is based on the book "Touching From a Distance", written by Curtis' wife Deborah.
There is a fantastic article from 2005 about Joy Division at the wonderful k-punk blog called "Nihil Rebound". You can find it HERE, about halfway down the page. It's pretty long, but well worth the time.

And for the uninitiated, check out Joy Division: Under Review and 24 Hour Party People.