What an incredible approach to the acoustic guitar.
Rodd Keith
My most recent musical nirvana. Rodd Keith was a song-poet in the late 60′s who effortlessly channeled multi-genre melodies and had songwriting chops that would have made Scott Walker or Joe Meek blush. Rodd Keith seemed to single-handedly and simultaneously embrace and shirk the notoriously gritty and sleazy connotations of the song-poem business long known as song sharking where people would respond to want ads in the back of newspapers requesting you send in your poem to be set to music. Once your music was sent in they often sent letters asking for more money to cut the 45 and usually implied that there were labels interesting in releasing it. What made Rodd Keith stand out was his ability to take the lyrics sent in and create surreal songs that transcended the pastiches found throughout the late 60′s and early 70′s L.A. music scene. His conservative upbringing and subsequent move to L.A. where he fell into the rougher aspects of the music scene doing psychedelic and amphetamine drugs eventually leading to his increasingly alluring yet bizarre musical output til the end with his mysterious death after jumping off a freeway overpass in the early 70s in L.A.
With his output being so diverse it’s hard to say where the best place to start is. Try these songs for a first taste:
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The chamberlain (early mellotron found on a lot of his recordings) solo in this song is so effortlessly cool. Not to mention how Keith is able to transform the bizarre lyrics into the no sleep for a week half drunk crooned masterpiece it is.
Rodd Keith – Ecstasy To Frenzy
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A musical menagerie of everything L.A. late 60′s, but done so much better. Love the chopped up self-backup vocals Keith employs on the song.
Rodd Keith – First Comes the Rain
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Another smoggy psychedelic morning in L.A.
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I feel way cooler than I actually am driving around to this song. Not sure who it is that lends the female vocals to this track, but they work so well.
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Pretty John Maus-y. A cheesier/dirtier Serge Ganisbergesque (if that’s possible?) tune.
Both of the compilations of his output are worth purchasing. Click to buy Ecstacy to Frenzy and I Died Today
SLEEP ∞ OVER / Velvet Davenport
Been entirely too busy this week, but have a lot of new write-ups and a mix in the midst. In the meantime go checkout these several great new tracks by SLEEP ∞ OVER on their myspace page. Love their dark melodies.
Thanks again to Nate from Pure Ecstasy for bringing SLEEP ∞ OVER to my attention with the rad mix he put together for us a few weeks ago. I have to say that of any recent artist that has caught my ear I find myself going back to his tape more than anything else.
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Also just a reminder again that that rad Velvet Davenport/Ariel Pink/Gary War single will be released soon, and you can pre-order it now. Still pretty amazed at that those three forces aligning to cut a 45 …would be an incredible tour if they hit the road together.
Velvet Davenport ft. Ariel Pink and Gary War – Get Out
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I’ve also been going back to these Velvet Davenport videos from a little bit back:
Kevin Barker: The Naturalismo Interview
Kevin Barker, the man behind Currituck Co. and prolific collaborator to boot, has just released You And Me on Gnomonsong. With the record’s release — and this week’s NYC debut of The Family Jams — I thought I’d check in with Kevin to see what’s happening in his world.
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Naturalismo: Though You and Me is your first release to bear your name, you have produced a wide body of work under the Currituck Co. banner. What inspired the change?
Kevin Barker: I wanted to start with a clean slate, if that’s possible, which it isn’t. The thing about doing a solo project with a band name is that in some ways it can be a buffer between the artist and the music, like a way of distancing yourself from whatever bad things people might say about it, and a way of trying to sever any link between yourself as a persona and yourself as a musician. I started to feel like that was in some ways disingenuous for me, like it somehow spoke to a way in which I was being dishonest with myself in the music I was making. Like I was trying to be someone who I was not. So with this record I tried to make a record that is more honest and personal, hence using my name, my photograph on the cover, and my wife on the back cover.
N: Aside from your solo work, you’ve also been an accompanist for Vetiver, Vashti Bunyan, and more. How have your collaborations influenced your own songwriting over the years?
KB: I would not say that those experiences have influenced my songwriting, but they have certainly influenced my guitar playing. It’s funny, I feel like some writing about my record docks me points because they say the record sounds like Vetiver. Well duh, I play on the Vetiver records as does Otto Hauser, and Thom Monahan produced all those records. Excuse us if our sound is recognizable. All snarky bitchiness aside, I’m extremely proud of working with all the people I’ve worked with over the years and they definitely do inspire me to pursue my own path in songwriting. If not for them I probably wouldn’t have decided to record this record at all.
N: Your documentary film, The Family Jams, is currently being screened at various theatres and festivals across the country. Though the film speaks for itself, what are your fondest memories of this tour? What made this tour so special for you?
KB: It’s funny the way photographs and video in many ways structure the way we remember things. After spending countless hours with the footage it’s hard for me to remember a whole lot outside of what I filmed, especially since I was holding the camera so the footage is all more or less from my point of view. Among my favorite moments is when we were singing “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac in a hotel room in LA. It’s currently in the cut and hopefully we will be able to keep it, pending clearance of the publishing rights for the song.
N: In the early to mid-2000’s, it seemed as if young, acoustic-minded musicians were releasing incredible albums every week. What generational factors fostered the apparent prevalence of musicians creating folk-influenced music at that time? Why did it resonate?
KB: Jeeez, I have no idea. I mean for me, I got into that stuff and started playing fingerstyle guitar a bit before that, when I was in college in the late 90s. At that point I didn’t know anyone else who was doing fingerstyle guitar. In Chicago, where I was, I saw David Grubbs and heard Gastr Del Sol records but that was about as much as I knew of contemporary fingerstyle guitarists at that time when I released my first couple Currituck Co 7″s and CD on Teenbeat. I was inspired by records I would dig out of the record library at WHPK, where I was a DJ. There I found Linda Perhacs, Tim Buckley, Fred Neil, Trader Horne, Bert Jansch…countless amazing things. I have no idea what precipitated the subsequent renaissance. Though I do have a theory that folk revivals happen ever 40 years. There was a big one in the 1920′s with the advent of electrical recording, then a big one in the 1960′s obviously, and so we were due for one in the 00′s.
N: As someone who fell in love with folk at an early age, can you describe what about the music originally drew you to it? Who were your earliest influences?
KB: I dunno, man. I guess like everyone my early influences were Fahey, Nick Drake, as well as records like Patty Waters Sings, Fred Neil S/T, Bridget St John’s first couple…Bert Jansch “Lucky Thurteen”…I was also pretty into Simon Joyner records when I was first starting to play folky music, and Amps For Christ.
N: In your collaborations, you’ve played a variety of instruments in many different musical contexts. Which instrument one are you most drawn to today? Do different instruments evoke different emotions or different sensations in you?
KB: I mostly play electric guitar these days, not sure why. I got tired of retuning all the time from open tunings, so this whole record of mine is in standard tuning. I don’t play banjo that often.
I’m definitely most comfortable on guitar, be it acoustic or electric. I wouldn’t say for me a particular instrument evokes a particular sensation – each instrument can be made to express a really wide variety of emotions. Someone with a mastery of banjo (not me) can express similar emotions on that instrument that someone with a mastery of guitar (also not me) can express on that instrument. In many ways it’s those people who are most worth listening to! (cf. Billy Faier’s banjo record on Takoma, Sandy Bull – these guys did stuff with the banjo that goes far beyond what people think of for the instrument in terms of expressiveness, in my opinion.)
N: What’s on the horizon for you? What are you working on next?
KB: Well, I’m working on screenplays right now, trying to get a film made. It’s an uphill climb in this independent film environment, but hopefully I’ll be able to get a project off the ground. I’m trying to focus a lot of energy on making a narrative feature film, though I’m also trying to get my record out there as much as possible and play outside of NYC if I get the opportunity. I’m going to do a few dates opening for Joanna Newsom on her upcoming tour, which is exciting. Other than that, just trying to work hard and hoping that it will pay off sometime.
[ Listen to some of Kevin's new tracks here ]
Pill Wonder – Wishing Whale
Favorite music video I’ve seen in awhile; rad use of mirroring and overlapping with 7o’s film clips. I’m increasingly anxious for his upcoming full length Jungle/Surf that is coming out on Feb 28th on underwater peoples. His most recent single has such a great synth tone:
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Also loving this new video by Golden Triangle making the rounds today. Has such a great early 90′s feel. Seems like they’re doing it a bit different than Dum Dum Girls/Best Coast who seem to have more of a Darling Buds/Black Tambourine vibe. WordPress won’t let me embed it for some reason but go check it out by clicking here.
Speaking of Black Tambourine, Slumberland Recs is set to release an anthology of their music in late March. They’ve just released a promo video for it that features some great recently discovered footage of the band.
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Live in SF: Harlem, Best Coast, the Sandwitches & Young Prisms | Presented by Gorilla vs. Bear
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Love this new Harlem track, makes me a little nostalgic for those Guitar Romantic days or even some L.A.M.F.
Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers – It’s Not Enough
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Kind of hear echos of Thunders throughout a lot of music in San Francisco right now actually. Always looking for an excuse to post this song, one of my favorites.
While you’re waiting for that rad line-up go check out the awesome new San Francisco based music compilation In A Cloud- New Sounds from San Francisco featuring music from many artists such as the Sandwitches, Sonny and the Sunsets and Dylan Shearer all who have coincidentally released incredible albums in the last few months-well, save for Dylan Shearer who will hopefully release a full-length album sometime this year. I’ll have to admit that of any of the artists on this comp, I’m probably most psyched about Sonny and the Sunsets material that finds them crafting some of the catchiest hooks in the Bay Area. Check out the track they have on the comp below and two tracks from their upcoming cd-release of Tomorrow is Alright. Excited that Tomorrow is Alright will finally see a bigger release and hopefully get the larger recognition it deserves. The more I listen to it, the more I realize that it’s one of the stronger releases from a San Francisco based band in awhile.
Sonny and the Sunsets – Too Young To Burn (from Tomorrow is Alright)
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Sonny and the Sunsets – Heart of Sadness (from In a Cloud)
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Sonny and the Sunsets – Chapters (from Tomorrow is Alright)
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They kind of have a similar feel to this 1970 Beach Boys track:
Beach Boys - H.E.L.P. is on the way
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If radio hadn’t died a slow death, I could totally imagine these tracks being put on repeat on it all summer long.
Click here to go pre-order Tomorrow is Alright and click here to order In A Cloud- New Sounds from San Francisco. Sonny and the Sunsets are also playing at Cafe Dunord on Feb. 26th.
Apparent Motion
Apparent Motion
Saturday 20-February & Sunday 21-February
Victoria Theatre
2961 16th Street (near Mission St.), San Francisco
Tickets:
Individual program admission: $10 general / $5 Cinematheque members
Series pass (good for all screenings): $35 general / $15 Cinematheque members
Advanced tickets available at: www.sfcinema.org
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Apparent Motion celebrates the art of live image projection—the cinematic exhibition apparatus exposed as a primal light and sound machine, an invention without a future, ripe for rediscovery. Working with modified or distressed film projectors as if they were musical instruments or with live manipulation (even mutilation) of projected film (or even directly with the exalted beam of light itself), the artists presented over this weekend fuse image and sound into profound site-specific (yet cinematic) experiences—dazzling light works suggesting a paradoxically concrete form of sound/image synesthesia.
Program I
SAT 20 FEB 3:00PM
Sandra Gibson, Luis Recoder & Adam Sonderberg
CinePimps
Abject Leader
Program II
SAT 20 FEB 8:00PM
Bruce McClure
Paul Clipson & Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
Karl Lemieux & Hyena Hive
Program III
SUN 21 FEB 1:00PM
Karl Lemieux & Hyena Hive
Keith Evans
Sandra Gibson, Luis Recoder & Adam Sonderberg
Program IV
SUN 21 FEB 6:00PM
Abject Leader
(Sally Golding & Joel Stern)
Kerry Laitala & Michael Proft
Bruce McClure
via Root Strata
On Going to a Jack Rose Show
In December 2007, I got the opportunity to see Jack Rose perform for the first time. He was going to be playing a free show with Donald Miller at the Live Oak Friends Meeting House in Houston at 5:15 PM. The time was picked so that the show would coincide with the sunset. It was a mild day. I would even say it was comfortably warm.
I spent the day at home and out back, and as the afternoon rolled around a couple of friends of mine came over and we drove out to the show. After a while we arrive at the place: a Quaker meeting house, a church. We walked around outside, talking to one another, took a look inside, bought a few of Jack’s records. He had just released his self-titled album of slide guitar. We eventually took a seat in the church pews as more people started to show up.
I think Donald Miller played first, and he put on an amazing show. He set up multiple ebows (electric bows) on multiple guitars and proceeded to place circular rings on different surfaces of the guitar bodies, finely adjusting them, as layers of deeply resonating harmonies and chord emerged. The likes of which I had never heard before. This went on for time untold until he picked up one of the guitars and started playing it with his fingers. At some point he finished his set and everyone applauded.
We milled about during the in-between, stepping outside into the warm evening, talking together quietly, smiling, and returning to our seats.
Now, before I continue, I feel that I should mention a few things about Jack Rose’s guitar playing.
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“Cathedral Et Chartres (Live 11/13/04)” from I Do Play Rock And Roll
He is very clean. Always. In fact, he is as clean live as he is on any recording. Also, his playing is very expressive, and in this respect he is rivaled by few, if any, other solo guitar players. Lastly, when one listens to solo guitar being played live (rather than in a recording), there is so much more to be heard within every chord, within every single note. The harmonics ring in a million shining pieces. Unbounded. Impossible to explain.
So, Jack Rose begins his set. His guitar playing fills the room. I think he was mic’d, but he probably didn’t need to be, so loud and clear is his playing. My eyes close, and I begin to feel a powerfully transcendent feeling.
A feeling of the universal and the individual. Visions of homelands, and pasts.
This went on for a long time and it felt really good. Eventually, with my eyes still closed, my head tilted upwards, and my face in what could only have been an expression of complete transcendental joy, I recall (to my complete surprise) that I am in the room and that I am listening to Jack Rose. And so, I opened my eyes. Jack is there in the middle of the room playing the guitar, and all around in the church pews are people with their eyes closed, heads tilted back, expressions of transcendental joy on their faces.
I close my eyes.
My friend later told me that he cried. He said that he didn’t know something like that existed. An interesting sentiment considering he already had Jack’s records and liked them.
It’s very fitting that the show was held in a church. It was a religious experience. An ecstasy. Jack Rose’s guitar playing could do that to a room full of people.
At some point near the end of the set Jack went into “Dark Was the Night”. Wow. What a… a thing. It was beyond song. It was the song of songs.
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“Dark Was The Night” from Jack Rose (2007)
And so… that was a lot of fun.
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“Teoc” from Dr. Ragtime (2002)
Jack’s last record, Luck in the Valley, will be out in two Tuesday’s (February 23rd) on Thrill Jockey . You can pre-order it on LP or CD here.
Darius – Hello Stranger
This 45 has been on constant rotation this week. Darius will definitely bring your Friday night to the next level. There’s something bizarrely intriguing about this track and Darius himself as nothing else he released sounded quite like it (until 2002 with the release of his lost 1970 album Darius II (download it), that showcased his talents much better than his full length). Hello Stranger was released as a single a year after after he released his full-length self-titled album in 1968. Darius II is a bit bluesier/psych than this single and has some great flourishes of Arthur Lee/Scott Walker.
download the single:
Memoryhouse – Lately
flows well into this incredible Joe Meek leaning teaser track from the upcoming Twin Sister EP:
This follows nicely:
Reminder: Mountain Man Tonight in SF (2/9)
Just wanted to remind everyone of Mountain Man’s show tonight at the Hemlock in San Francisco. My expectations were actually set pretty high for them when I caught them at Zoo Books this past weekend over in Oakland. Needless to say these girls were nothing short of spectacular live, harnessing some of the best raw harmonizing/attention silencing presence I’ve seen since I first caught Joanna Newsom hopping around stage singing solo in ’04. As excited as I am to see them again tonight at the Hemlock I really hope the next time they come back to the West coast they’ll be able to stop by the Henry Miller Library; I can’t imagine a more apt setting for their music than in a redwood encircled grove off the coast of Highway 1.