"I make the guitar say what I say", R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Mark Quinn

Lately I'm kind of blindly feeling my way to new records. I've been getting the itch and then finding the sounds to scratch it. I'm very rarely going with what I know these days, or maybe I'm just flushing out and combing over all the odds and ends of my favorite genres. What ever it is, I'm pushing for fresh musical experiences, and I have this blog and you all to thank for that. 

So here we go- about a month ago I stumbled across, a style of Blues that hails from North Mississippi Juke Joints that consists of a certain feel rather then style(if that makes any sense at all). Stylistically one of the clinchers for me is the element of the electric slide guitar and a heavy boots on the stairs style bass drum. Perfect example here:

R.L. Burnside's Rollin' & Tumblin'

*Burnside went to prison in 1959 for killing a man at a Dice game, here's what he had to say about it:

"I didn't mean to kill nobody ... I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head. Him dying was between him and the Lord."

here is another: 

See My Jumper Hanging on the Line

caution! if you go Album hunting, the later releases have some hip hop remixes on them which fucking suck.

Another real special guy is Junior Kimborough, apparently his tombstone reads, "the beginning and end of all music."

I Cried Last Night:

 













careful this hole just keeps getting deeper >>>>>>>>>>

Meet Me in the City

Well I Done Got Old

I Gotta Try you Girl

(Instrumental) Most Things Haven't Worked Out

what are you doing for the next 10 minutes... and if you don't have 10 minutes then wait until you do this needs one of those patient listens, it's subtle and you'll miss it if you are in a rush

Lord, Have Mercy on Me

Alright now that I got that out of my system and into yours I guess I will just keep going with Mississippi and Blues and this is moving to a more traditional sound but this is magic:

Mississippi Fred Mcdowell, Baby Please Don't Go

and, Fred Mcdowell's Blues

this is where I sign off for the night but since I'm up this week I think I will be posting a few more, so much pressure. Last thing, I am voting for this image to be the one for our page. It is from English Artist Mark Quinn and it is his self portrait cast in his own blood. It's his frozen blood, and it's on display in a specially designed freezer, but despite their best attempts at keeping it intact it's melting or bleeding depending on which way you look at it. I am worthless at changing our photo so if you chaps and gal agree, someone will have to help me with that.

*

The Animals and Dusty

House of the Rising Sun is one of the best songs ever written (and check out Hilton Valentine's sweet Gretsch). If you don't love this song something is wrong with you...missing. I have only met one person who did not like it and I still don't believe it. It was originally an English ballad written from a woman's perspective.The Animals version is the one that I (and most of us) are most familiar. I am currently working on my own arrangement of it and learning it on electric guitar. Also, you should own one Animals album on vinyl. You will never regret it.

One of my prized LPs is this shitty, Korean bootleg of The Best of the Animals. It came from the Korean record store in which my mom was working when she and my dad met and fell in love (at first sight) in 1968.

I

I am always listening to Dusty Springfield. I am currently deprived of a vocal teacher but this song is teaching me a lot. I can't get enough of it. You should own Dusty in Memphis. Vinyl is not enough in this case because the CD/download versions of it have additional tracks (Hi De Ho/That Old Sweet Roll and Willie and Laura Mae Jones) that are just excellent. This album is in my top 10 of all time.

And there you have it. As far as other people's music, these two songs have held all of my creative/musical attention lately and there hasn't been room for anything else. As a fun side-note update on the Bozman Household: Adrian and I are getting tattooed by Stefan Johnsson ( http://stefanjohnsson.blogspot.com/ ) next week. Adrian bought me an awesome mic and personal PA for Christmas and I paid off my Tiny Terror amplifier and brought it home.

Isn't it cute? It is tiny and loud, just like me! If you are nice to me, I will let you rock out when you come to visit us. Sooo y'all should come visit.

xo

Pandit Pran Nath, Pedro The Lion, Dune Messiah

Amigos,

I've really enjoyed hearing new music through this blog and admittedly, it's probably the only place I've been digesting new music recently.  To the blog's credit, I'm way into The Budos Band which are actually from my neck of the woods.  I recently purchased a new video camera and have been shooting stuff around the gym. My last piece used "Chicago Falcon" as the background music. Classy!


CrossFit South Brooklyn Collected Training V:1 (Music: The Budos Band "Chicago Falcon")

The Gyuto Monks have also been a regular feature of my life. I probably listened to that youtube clip in its entirety over 20 times, no joke. Otherwise, everything has been really great.

The next musician will be familiar to AB, we saw one of his students, La Monte Young play at The Dream House in NY last year. It was sort of an unexpected and awesome experience.  Pandit Pran Nath's music style is an uncompromising adherence to the "alap" section of traditional Hindu Ragas. Basically, the really non-melodic, trance inducing and ethereal part of the song.  I couldn't find the quote verbatim, but he's been noted as saying that an entire lifetime was insufficient to do a full alap justice.  BOSS.

It's been cold, wet and very grey in New York recently which puts me in the mood to listen to some bleak and emotionally charged music. I recently have been playing a little Pedro the Lion and getting back into David Bazan in general. Kind of different for the theme of this blog perhaps, but my contribution none the less.

I saw him in PA perhaps 6 years ago and something he did at shows was ask the audience if they had any questions between some of the songs. While that might sound kind of weird and hokey, it actually led to an interesting dialog between artist and audience. He talked a little about his father being a priest and how that led to a lot of inner turmoil about religion and values as he was growing up which your really bleed into his lyrics.

 

 

Finally, a while back Ross mentioned reading "Dune" By Frank Herbert, a book I really enjoyed. I recently picked up the second book in the series, "Dune Messiah" which was equally good in my opinion and builds more depth into the characters and mythos of the first book. It picks up years after the first novel left off and has a lot to do with the weight of becoming god-like leader of a holy war.  If you've got some time and want to leave earth for a bit I recommend them both.  Also- does anyone else see the parallels between Fremen and the Weedians? Nomadic and mysterious sand people obsessed with a drug? The weedians even appear to be wearing stillsuits, perhaps to get baked moreso than retain moisture.. but still. Anyone?

 

 

 

What's in a Name?

Hello my friends!

I hope the new year finds you well. With the exception of Dan, whom I have seen in person recently, it's been radio silence from the rest of you. Everything OK? New Years resolution to permanently turn off the computer? Nothing worth listening to since the Mayan apocalypse?

All kidding aside, let's discuss something serious.

It's been said that there are two types of people in the world; those that enjoy bands with the word "BONG" in their moniker and those that don't. I think you all know where I stand, staunchly, on this issue. Although I wouldn't have the foggiest (haziest?) idea of how to actually use a bong, it seems to be as good a litmus as any for determining weather a group of rockers is worth their salt.

Most groups of this nature have the following in common:
They are heavy.
They play kinda loose. Kris observed a lot of them actually swing.
They usually aren't too fussed about vocals (or don't have them at all)

Let's explore, shall we?

First up, the mighty BONGRIPPER.

Pros:
-Brutal Tone.
-Way More Brutal Tone Live (Seriously. They were mammoth. Second only to YOB)
-No Vocals
-Some of the best shirts I've seen. Maybe David will post a pic of his if you ask nicely.
-Clean cut looking nice-guys that stuck out at last year's roadburn

Cons:
???

Here's the absolutely crushing REEFER SUTHERLAND. One of my all time favs. You may play the opening riff/growl on repeat at my viking funeral.




Next up from Poland BELZEBONG

Pros:
-Super Heavy, but almost...fun? for lack of a better term.
-A zesty dose of occultism/satanism
-Swing like crazy.
-Bonus points for creative use of the word of the day

Cons:
-have only released 4 tracks to date...

Ever wonder what the sound of an amp melting/catching on fire sounds like? Wonder no more with BONG THROWER. Soooo fuzzy. If you don't throw the requested $5 at these guys for this album I don't know if we can be friends.





Ok, we've had some fun. Let's get a bit more serious back in the good ol' US of A with BONGZILLA

Pros:
-Very Dirty
-A little more upbeat (at times) and, dare I say, nuanced than some of the others?
-Do a mean cover of Muddy's Champagne and Reefer.
-Crack me up every single time with this talk box/vocoder line

Cons
-They do have vocals. But homie sound like a demon, so it's ok.
-probably overstay their welcome more than any band on this list, in my opinion

...but listen to the riffage on this opening track AMERIJUANICAN. The drums are pretty sweet on this track too:




Finally, let's pay a little tribute to those crazy brits that cut right to the chase. Gentlemen (and Darling Wife), I present to you BONG.

Pros:
-Easily the spaciest of the bunch. Mysterious even.
-Basically they only play heavy raggas. Actually, there's no basically about it.
-Kim met them at Roadburn. Ask her.
-Seem to be super serious about what they do. Or as serious as one can get with a name like BONG.
-Look at that logo! It spells BONG! Look again!

Cons
-They don't jam in my living room every night

I love Bong. Enough said. I recommend "Beyond Ancient Space" or "Mana-Yood-Sushai" but they are hard to find these days. Their "Live at Roadburn" is killer too.

GILGAMESH LIVES!

Yours Truly,
-APB

Feed Your Eyeholes: Arik Roper

I'm just gonna squeak one in here...stuff on my mind...

Let's diversify. In addition to the the full spectrum frequency, fatty aural journey let us not forget the ocular joy of a well themed and executed album cover (revisit your delight when you really took a moment to see exactly what the hell was happening on that Megasus cover).

There is a direct relationship between the quality (of a majority) of the music of a genre and the quality of art on the majority of the albums (of given genre). One day ima work out the f(x) for it. Bottom line...there is some pretty amazing art happening in the heavy music genre.

Arik Roper is the man.  http://www.arikroper.com/art/illustration/

He is like N.C. Wyeth meets Frazetta and Vallejo. His sense of psychedelia is not standard 60's, hippie, drug graphic. It's ghosts of images second guessing your eyes in beautifully designed and articulated lines that make you wish you were on drugs.

He is also a sentimental favorite of mine because he did the cover art for both Dopesmoker albums as well as a beautifully illustrated book about fungi that Adrian gave me (because he knows and loves me well :).

Most recently, I ordered this rockin' limited edition black light poster for the Bozman household. Future plans include possibly commissioning him to do a 3' x 6' painting of "Moonage Daydream" with Adrian and I as the main characters. Check. Him. Out.


PPS

APB here. Found this gem along the same lines. It was too good to keep to myself, but not enough for its own post.

ORCHID

Mulatu Astatke / Getatchew Mekurya

 

Hey All,

I just wanted to squeak in here between Boss' interim post and Martin's upcoming post to throw up a response of sorts to Boss' awesome Budos Band tracks.  I figure that most, if not all, of you are familiar with Mulatu Astatke but on the off chance that some folks have missed I'll provide a taste. 

I feel that the Budos Band has taken a lot of their sounds and even some of their lines straight from Mulatu, not that I think this is at all a bad thing.  There should be more of this stuff around but there isn't that much.  Mulatu Astatke is an Ethiopian bandleader and composer operating in a pretty unique afro-groove-jazz with a lot of snaky, minor key horns and psychy electric piano.

Check out Yekatit

This selection comes from the excellent Ethiopiques series, an expansive series of compilations focusing on Ethiopian music.  Very few of these titles are available on vinyl but selections from this album have been released on a French vinyl pressing as "Ethio Jazz" with the cover image shown below.  It is a fantastic comp and I highly recommend it.  He also has put a couple of records out in the last few years that I have not yet checked out.  Maybe someone else can comment on those.

For an additional Ethiopian treat I present one of Mulatu's biggest influences and probably the real founding father of modern Ethiopian music, Getatchew Mekurya.  From what I understand he exerted an overwhelming and formative influence on the Ethiopian music scene in the mid 20th century as a pioneering and unique sax player, a composer and especially for his updating of traditional Ethiopian tunes in a more jazz-inflected mode.  He has also recently recorded an album with the great Dutch punk band, The Ex.

Check Getatchew Mekurya's arrangement of this traditional Ethiopian song, Almaz Yeharerwa

This track is also from the Ethiopiques series.  From the comp highlighting Mr. Mekurya.

Have fun.

Budos Band / BrownOut

Hello again, Friends!

RKN is feeling a bit of a time-crunch these days (no-doubt some sort of coconut related crisis), so we're going to pick him up in the rotation next time. Until then, I've got a few more for everyone.

Kris' Charles Bradley post led me down a Daptone-inspired wormhole of new-soul. Some of the members of Mr. Bradley's backing-band are involved with The Budos Band. Where to start with these guys? Afro-funk with a strong South American influence all stewed in the melting pot of the greater New York area. David, these dudes are practically in the apartment next to you. And they fucking rule.

This is the kind of band I always thought (wished) my old funk band would morph into if we were to stick with it (and if we weren't, y'know, 17 year old hacks...); cool arrangements, an obviously huge list of influences, totally unwaveringly dissonant at times and straight up beautiful at others. Groovy as hell all the time. These dudes rule.

While their first album is great, their 3rd album (creatively named Budos Band III. I'm positive this is an ACID KING reference) really shows some range and some risk. And a Cobra on the cover. Check out two of my favorite moody selections from III:


Nature's Wrath:

And Here we have Black Venom. The rhythm section vamp on this is soooooo killer.

In the same vein we've got Brownout. I first heard about these guys about 5 years ago. A BBoy (is that term still Kosher, Goldman?) that was training at SFCF brought some of it in while he was training. I was hooked. Definitely more latin-influenced with strong elements of funk, and psychedelic rock. It is safe to say they are not afraid to lay down a solid montuno. They also have three albums. My fav is Agulias and Cobras.

Here's two for you. First up is Con El Cuete:

Also check out Framed By Death.

Anyway, that's what's been occupying my earholes lately. That and the crushing JUDJUDs-into-hammer-on-descending-line of YOB's "Burning The Altar". Nonstop.

Keep it really real,
-APB

PS NEWS: Tweak Bird has a new one out. It hasn't arrived in my mail-box yet, so I'll let you know when I know. Also, Rush was just recently inducted into the Rock N Roll hall of Fame alongside Public Enemy. Just FYI.