What you want with a cackling hen? - New NP thread

[fishjim]

continued from here

I first came across Skip James, along with all the pre-war blues musicians and singers I dig, from the incomparably brilliant mp3 blog, Honey, Where You Been So Long, which I must have linked here about 17 times now.

We should have a thread for pre-war blues. I made some great mixes once. Did I ever post those here?

I haven't seen them - will definitely listen if you upload.

The Fahey connection with Skip James reminded me that I keep meaning to upload this PDF of John Fahey's master's thesis in folk musicology at UCLA in the late 60s. It's on the early blues artist Charley Patton, and was published by Studio Vista in 1970. It's impossible to find, and when you do find it, it's overpriced, or part of a box set. So when I finally shelled out for a copy a few years ago, I made sure to scan it. Now I distribute it for free!

CHARLEY PATTON

If you've got access to a decent printer, it's worth printing out and punching some holes in it before reading. I find myself coming back to it a lot. It's one of the few places where Fahey shows that he can actually write & think lucidly if he chooses to. He just usually chooses to be insane.

The only point where he veers into the Other Fahey is near the end, when he analyzes some of Patton's lyrics.

"Banty Rooster Blues"

I'm going to buy me a banty, put him in my back door. (twice)
Lord, he see a stranger coming, he'll flop his wings and crow.

What you want with a rooster, he won't crow 'fore day? (twice)
What you want with a man when he won't do nothing he say?

What you want with a hen won't cackle when she lay?
What you want with a woman when she won't do nothing I say?

These stanzas all deal with chickens. But whereas the first stanza is simply a statement of intention, the second two compare the disappointing actions of roosters and hens with the failures of men and women. The singer goes on to ask 'what good are any of them?'.

- John Fahey, CHARLEY PATTON (1970) - p. 61

[Antero]

Charley Patton is fantastic.

[narlus]

Elder


the new stoner band to benchmark against.

[coldforge]

Come on, dude. Don't front. They're fine enough but they're very middle of the pack.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

feelin' that way about every stoner band, recently

[Nick Ink]

continued from here

I first came across Skip James, along with all the pre-war blues musicians and singers I dig, from the incomparably brilliant mp3 blog, Honey, Where You Been So Long, which I must have linked here about 17 times now.

We should have a thread for pre-war blues. I made some great mixes once. Did I ever post those here?

I haven't seen them - will definitely listen if you upload.

They're over here jim.

[narlus]

Come on, dude. Don't front. They're fine enough but they're very middle of the pack.

i think DRR is fucking amazing. their 1st one was ok, but this one is way way better.

[coldforge]

i dunno. It sounds very enjoyable and completely by-the-numbers to me. I don't get this talk of them having found their own sound; this record seems mostly composed of enjoyable and unmemorable riffs with enjoyable and unmemorable soloing over it.

[fishjim]

What is the sound of a good stoner band? Honest question. You'd think I'd know a bunch, but the only contemporary stoner band in my rotation is probably the Donkeys.

[narlus]

i would say the wellspring is Sabbath, with bands like Sleep, Electric Wizard, Orange Goblin, etc all being pretty prominent purveyors of that particular niche.

coldforge, i agree completely that Elder is not staking out any new ground but i still enjoy the hell out of the record. same w/ Real Estate. i think their new LP is fantastic, but it's not like it's revolutionary in any way. and i'm ok w/ that.

[coldforge]

My main criterion for that sort of music is riff quality; and I think the best bands, maybe while operating entirely within the same genre constraints, write riffs that are as enjoyable as the Elder but much more distinctive and memorable. I'm thinking of groups like Yob, Middian, and Zebulon Pike (the last of which goes a bit farther out in terms of format but has a similar guitar style). Similarly, Buried at Sea and early Pelican.

[fishjim]

I should check out some of these. Love the band name Buried at Sea.

The Donkeys are all about riffs, too. I wonder if there's some kind of Grateful Dead / Black Sabbath polarity in stoner rock?

OT: The Billy Childish & Holly Golightly collab In Blood wasn't nearly as good as I'd hoped. So I've moved on the Vermin Poets, which is fucking rad. I may play this all day.

[Nick Ink]

Have One On Me

Within 20 seconds of the first track, my 8 year-old said, "Is this Joanna Newsom?"

 

[davy]

I'm giving being a Royksopp fan a go.

[justinh]

I should check out some of these. Love the band name Buried at Sea.

The Donkeys are all about riffs, too. I wonder if there's some kind of Grateful Dead / Black Sabbath polarity in stoner rock?

Black Mountain kind of threads the needle.  But generally things that are considered "stoner rock" are much more Sabbath than the Dead.

I saw Buried at Sea open for Bongzilla in a small and fairly shitty bar in Madison long ago.  They kept a "creaking boat" sample going throughout their entire set. 

[Killdozersnakeboy]

OT: The Billy Childish & Holly Golightly collab In Blood wasn't nearly as good as I'd hoped.

I found it a bit of a grower. Upside Mine is one of my favourite songs by either artist.

[justinh]

in a grind mood

[narlus]

My main criterion for that sort of music is riff quality; and I think the best bands, maybe while operating entirely within the same genre constraints, write riffs that are as enjoyable as the Elder but much more distinctive and memorable. I'm thinking of groups like Yob, Middian, and Zebulon Pike (the last of which goes a bit farther out in terms of format but has a similar guitar style). Similarly, Buried at Sea and early Pelican.

i'm gonna go see Elder play tonight.

 

[Killdozersnakeboy]

Demdike Stare - Tryptych

I've been meaning to check them out for ages. They've been mentioned a lot in discussions about Andy Stott's 2011 releases which I played the hell out of. So I bought the download from Boomkat last night. If I'd heard this earlier I can safely say it would've been near the top of my year end list. Amazing stuff. "Library Of Solomon Book 2" in particular is a wonderful track.

edit: Tryptych is 3 of their albums in one package with a few bonus tracks. £12.99 for 160 mins. FLAC. Great deal.

[Nick Ink]

Tryptych is 3 of their albums in one package with a few bonus tracks. £12.99 for 160 mins. FLAC. Great deal.

   They're brilliant! I think 'Voices Of Dust' is my favourite of those 3 albums. They started out as Pendle Coven (more straight ahead dub-tech-house stuff) and then put out 'Symbiosis' befor the 3 albums that make up 'Tryptych'. It's okay, but not quite as good as what they went on to do. One of the duo also put out an interesting solo EP on Andy Stott's Modern Love label last year that is worth following up on ('Facets' by Miles). Just as a tangent to that tangent, the founder of Moden Love, Claro Intelecto's Mark Stewart released one of my favourite techno/electro albums of all time in 2004 with his 'Neurofibro', a record that still means a lot to me, but may or may not be up your alley. Thinking about it, his four 'Warehouse Sessions' EPs are of more likely interest, and a more obvious pre-cirsor to Andy Stott's recent stuff. 

One other related thing is 14 Tracks' recent 'Knackered House' mix which I have yet to check out properly myself, but is supposed to be a selection of tracks relevant to Andy Stott's sound and features something from the Pinch & Shackleton album as well as a group I keep meaning to check out, Ekoplekz - do you know them?

But back to Demdike Stare - they have just started on a new set of releases called 'Elemental'. I'm not sure if it's as good as 'Tryptych' yet, but I am digging it. My favourite track here is called Mnemosyne. I mentioned it in the last NP thread:



Parts 1 & 2 - 'Chrysanthe' and 'Violetta' - are out (I'm afraid the £35 quadruple gatefold book-style vinyl release seems to have sold out) and there are a further two parts planned - 'Rose' and 'Iris' - (each of which would have fit snugly in the aforementioned quadruple gatefold book-style vinyl outer).

There. Look what you made me do.

[Killdozersnakeboy]

Awesome. Thanks Nick. I'm downloading the Knackered House mix as I type. I need to get in the habit of doing a vinyl order from Boomkat every payday maybe. I pretty much only listen to records and Melbourne doesn't have even one store that specialises in house/tech/dubstep etc etc which seems utterly ridiculous. I did manage to get Stott's "We Stay Together" which amazes by being even better than "Passed Me By".

I've heard a couple of Ekoplekz tracks. They were quite interesting. Kick and bass were almost non-existent but I'll certainly pick some up if I come across it. The Demdike Stare stuff has been a revelation. I remember a a review describing "Passed Me By" almost as a techno Sunn O))). Demdike Stare certainly go further and actually live up to that bizarre but wonderful idea.

[Trousers and Pat]

Just as a tangent to that tangent, the founder of Moden Love, Claro Intelecto's Mark Stewart released one of my favourite techno/electro albums of all time in 2004 with his 'Neurofibro', a record that still means a lot to me, but may or may not be up your alley.

Fun Fact! I was way into the bizarre dub/electro stewart did with adrian sherwood and maffia in the 80s but I never really followed what he was up to after that. Now I Know.

[Nick Ink]

Just as a tangent to that tangent, the founder of Moden Love, Claro Intelecto's Mark Stewart released one of my favourite techno/electro albums of all time in 2004 with his 'Neurofibro', a record that still means a lot to me, but may or may not be up your alley.

Fun Fact! I was way into the bizarre dub/electro stewart did with adrian sherwood and maffia in the 80s but I never really followed what he was up to after that. Now I Know.

Is that the same Mark Stewart? It doesn't seem to be from his website bio? I was pretty sure they were different people.

[Chet]

i'm guessing one of you is talking about the guy from the pop group and one of you is talking about this guy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Stewart_%28guitarist%29

[Trousers and Pat]

Mark Stewart from the pop Group with Paul McCartney from Wings is a collaboration I would like to hear though