Igorrr - Cheval

Gautier Serre is a pretty normal looking dude. His band Igorrr is anything but. Originally a solo project, the world’s only baroque breakcore death metal band released Savage Sinusoid in 2017. With their wild shows, over-the-top costumes and bizarre blend of influences, it’s easy to see why Igorrr attracted attention. But behind the scenes, something else was going on.
Gautier Serre has a neurological condition called synesthesia. He explains it as:  “There is a connection in the mind which connects the feeling you have when you hear a sound with the feeling you have when you see a colour…Basically, I see colours when I hear sounds. The music I can see in my head, it’s also a painting. I can use a whole palette of colours. So it became a tool I use in Igorrr. When I jam with musicians, I can choose them because they have a specific colour when they play. For instance, my classical guitarist (Nils Cheville) has a very specific colour. It’s a kind of green-brown.  It is a very cool thing. I was not even aware of it until about five years ago. I thought everyone was like that.”
Like many people, Serre was unaware of his synesthesia until much later in life. He does not say he ‘suffers’ from the condition as it is “not something to suffer from.” It might help explain Igorrr’s peculiar approach to…well…everything. But regular instrumentation is one thing. Where Serre’s synesthesia really comes out is in Igorrr’s weirder sonic experiments. Serre is known for going outside the realm of traditional instruments in his search for a brand new sound. As seen in a recent video, he has used Hoover vacuums, inside-out propane tanks, cookie tins and even a chicken pecking corn off a piano to make music before.
“Human beings created the piano, the guitar, to control a sound. Anything I see around me is a potential instrument. A big metal trailer? I’m gonna tap on it to see how it reacts.”  Out of all these, Serre says his favourite improvised sound was from a piece of metal scaffolding. “I didn’t think of it at first, since the shape isn’t very attractive, but I bashed some scaffolding with a drumstick and it sounds like a piano string. Actually, it makes the same colour to me as a piano. A clear grey mixed with blue…just not as intense.”
It’s not all fun with toolboxes. Spirituality and Distortion also features a blend of breakcore and brutal death metal. Breakcore, described by Serre as “the craziest parts of jungle, breakbeats and German bass,” or a “brain explosion”, will be the hardest thing for most metalheads to accept. This doesn’t bother Serre, who started off as an electronic musician in the first place. “I think my favourite thing on (the new record) is ‘Very Noise’,” he says, “I did it for fun. It’s mostly electronic, it wasn’t even supposed to be a track before. It was just research. I was just looking for new sounds, how to calculate them, how to use them in a new way. It was extremely funny. But I found an interesting loop by mistake. Next thing I know, I’m whistling the drum part in my car! Ha!”
As far as death metal goes, Serre finally managed to snag his longtime hero, Cannibal Corpse’s George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, for the new song “Parpaing”. When asked about it, Serre gets visibly excited. “That guy, he’s like the final boss of death metal. Seriously. My hero. We were writing the song and I was saying “Damn, this is pretty brutal. Who could do vocals for this and do it justice?” I only had one guy in mind…I was just surprised by how easy it was. We sent out an email and a couple of days later he replied and said ‘Yeah, let’s do it!”
Igorrr are no strangers to death metal cameos (Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation featured on several tracks from Savage Sinusoid) but George Fisher is a much bigger fish(er) to snag. Overall, the reaction to Igorrr has been beyond Gautier Serre’s wildest dreams. “This is not a commercial band,” he reminds us, “I never intended it to be. I had high wishes and no expectations. It was just my thing.”  From: https://metalinjection.net/interviews/how-synesthesia-helped-igorrr-write-their-weirdest-album-yet

Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories - Live on Austin City Limits

If someone brings up Lisa Loeb, you will likely bring up her 1994 smash “Stay (I Missed You).” She seemingly came out of nowhere, with no record label to her name, to have a hit song off of the Reality Bites soundtrack. Many probably don’t know that Loeb had been working tirelessly to craft her skills in the industry and shape a sound all her own. In a time period of rising female singer/songwriters like Ani Difranco and Sarah McLachlan, Lisa wanted to stand out.
“I didn’t want to be too reactive after the success of ‘Stay,’ but I also didn’t just want to be pushed into the ‘acoustic’ corner. I didn’t want to be seen as a folk artist at all. My music sounded like a band and I felt like the lead singer of my band; just like some of my favorite male music artists like David Bowie or Elvis Costello. However, during that period, if a female artist went by just her name, most people assumed you were a folk artist. That’s why I wanted to make sure my band name was included on everything and why I wanted to be seen and heard playing guitar. I realized early on that if you want people to know something about you, you have to show them.”
While promoting her single “Stay,” she would join Juan Patino in the studio to record new songs along with staples from her Liz and Lisa and Purple Tape days. What came out of the process would be a joyous blend of pensive indie-rock and a sweetness that only Loeb can provide. It’s a subtle sweetness, never overpowering but welcoming.
First, let’s discuss the re-recordings of older songs in Loeb’s catalog. The album opens on the slightly more folk driven “It’s Over.” Loeb takes you through the depths of turmoil and emotional destruction that have welled up through the end of a relationship. What she’s afraid of is him rising her to some impossible level, “Too many things held precious/ Too many things held dear;/ That’s what I hate/ And that’s what I fear.”
The duality of wanting to keep the relationship alive yet just barely holding on to the foundation can be heard in the lines, “From the outside/ To the inside/ I couldn’t tell you how it really was/ There has to be more on one hand/ Keep your head above water on the other, the other.” The final lines point to the death of this relationship, setting her free. Compared to the acoustic Purple Tape demo, adding electric guitars helped cut the singer/songwriter sound of the prior version.
A fantastic evolution comes from “Snow Day.” She opts for a more finger-style guitar intro that completely evokes the falling of snow. The electric guitars add brightness and warmth to the song. Lisa dives into the themes of loneliness and depression on the track. She continually calls back to someone being her medicine to this solemn mood. The depths of this sadness are fully displayed in the lines, “It’s a sinking feeling/ Pulls me through the seat of chairs/ When will you come rescue me/ Find solace, and then take me there?” There is an interesting juxtaposition of the upbeat sound of the music against the soft sadness of her lines. Because of this, the song feels like a mantra to keep moving forward as some days it's just “It’s a long ride.”
“Do You Sleep?” keeps the absolutely beautiful fade in guitar loop at the song's beginning. It maintains this dream-like feeling as you open up into this indie rock-driven world. The themes of love lost continue through Loeb’s questioning of how he’s managing since she’s gone, “Do you eat sleep do you breathe me anymore?/ Do you sleep do you count sheep anymore?/ Do you sleep anymore?/ Do you take plight on my tongue like lead?/ Do you fall gracefully into bed anymore?” Lisa is at her breaking point. She’s more than ready to cut ties and end this with this closed-off man. The song ends how it opens, now fading out on the loop. It’s like waking from this dream.
One of the best transformations is on “Hurricane.” The song absolutely blooms through the orchestral string section. She takes a more poetic license at the tale of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This woman that appears to be a safe place will only destroy you in the end. By the song’s bridge, we go from warnings of this woman to meeting her, “‘I’ve compassion for strangers/ An affinity for danger/ Won’t you be my sacrifice?’/ ‘I’m a lightheaded wonder,’ She said.” Loeb sees through this. The song ends on this sort of crumbling mix of guitars that seem to mirror the passing of this hurricane of a woman.
One of the oldest tracks to make the album is “Garden of Delights,” which can be traced back to her Liz and Lisa days. We continue the themes of love in friction. It appears despite their tense moments, she still gets the butterflies around him, “You see my face/ You hate my words/ I hate you too/ You see my heart/ It likes the feeling/ That it gets when I’m with you.” She even alludes to a sense of martyrdom with a comparison to Jesus. In the end, even though they clash, she still sees a paradise here with him.  From: https://medium.com/the-riff/tails-by-lisa-loeb-album-review-d07c3318acd5 

iNFiNiEN - Mannequin Parade

Philadelphia-born iNFiNiEN combines eclectic musical personalities into a visionary, unified force. Far from the typical rock band, they explore new territories of sound by using exotic scales, chords, and rhythms. Using rock, jazz, soul, world, and classical influences, the quartet plays intricately composed songs with flights of fiery and explosive improvisation, driving polyrhythmic grooves, and socially insightful song lyrics. With three albums under their belt the band has found its niche as something truly unique within the international progressive scenes.  The quartet's third record, "Light at the Endless Tunnel" (2016), is a pinnacle of the band's sound and approach to composition and takes cues from all over the music world. Full of beautiful engulfing soundscapes, Old World melodic lyricism, heavy metal riffs, explosive improvisation, futuristic synth textures, Movie Score level grandeur, and socially conscious lyrics. One can expect to hear in any given piece a vast array of influences and styles presented in an evocative presentation. Their compositions borrow just as much from romantic composers like Debussy and Faure as from contemporary artists like Bjork, Tori Amos and Radiohead, world music such as Indian Carnatic music, West African, Middle Eastern and Latin, and even adventurous fusion like Mahavishnu Orchestra, Secret Chiefs 3, John Coltrane and John Zorn. An entity unto itself, iNFiNiEN stirs listeners through a singular and moving musical adventure.  From: https://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=10323

The Doobie Brothers - Nobody

For the Doobie Brothers, the last day of April 1971 is where it officially all began. That's the date when bandleader Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons, John Hartman and Dave Shogren released the group's very first album. An extension of the San Jose outfit's popularity with Bay Area bikers, the Doobies weren't exactly studio-ready. "When we did the first album we'd never really been together as a group at all," Simmons admitted to Sounds in 1972. "We were all old friends and we just got high in the studios -- we hadn't planned on making an album at all, but the demos came out so good that we decided to send them into Warner Bros. And they liked them."
Listening back to the album now, and that classic Doobie Brothers sound jumps right out of the grooves from the opening strains of "Nobody," which was the lead single from the LP. Uptempo acoustic guitars and soaring vocal melodies drive the tune, highlighted by a Patrick Simmons guitar solo. The only thing the Doobies Brothers seemed to be lacking in 1971 was listeners beyond the Bay Area, with the album and single both failing to chart. Definitely disappointed, Johnston and company were ready to get back on the horse with no real major changes to the process. "We still do everything pretty much the same way as far as writing goes," Johnston told Songfacts on the band's approach to album number two. "We've never been a concept band. Everything is based on songs - whatever songs you come up with are the songs that get recorded. It's usually Pat and I that do the writing, unless we do a cover tune.
"Nobody ever said to me specifically, 'I want a hit, write one,' Johnston added. "This was back in the days when a record company would - and I'm speaking of Warners in particular, but I imagine it was the same in a few other companies - would hang onto you for a while. Today, the first time out of the box, if you don't have a hit, you're gone. And if you have a hit and don't follow it with another hit, you're gone. And those days, you could have a whole album that stiffed - which we did, the first one we did stiffed and we didn't have anything happen until the second album. And that was 'Listen To The Music.'"
The biggest change between the first and second Doobie Brothers albums was the departure of original bassist Dave Shogren, who'd be replaced by a former bandmate of Patrick Simmons, Tiran Porter. "'Listen to the Music' was the song that got everything going," Johnston stressed. "But Warners believed in the band, and they believed that we would eventually come up with something that would happen, and stuck behind us, gave us some money to make the records. And consequently it all paid off."  From: https://www.rhino.com/article/april-1971-the-doobie-brothers-debut-with-the-doobie-brothers

Citay - Careful With That Hat

Citay makes a joyous return on Dream Get Together, the San Francisco cosmic wanderers’ expansive third album. Many of the touchstones from Citay’s previous work remain intact – flourishes of Led Zeppelin, Eno/Fripp, Thin Lizzy, Pink Floyd, Popul Vuh and ELO can be heard throughout – but a newfound swagger pushes Dream Get Together way over the top. Seldom has there been a more obvious choice for an album-opener than “Careful With That Hat,” a song propelled by a deep groove and swing that practically begs the listener to stand up and air-drum wildly. The vocals soar, the lead guitars catch fire and the mammoth solo (courtesy of guitarist Josh Pollock) builds to an ecstatic explosion. This is the shot across the bow. Citay have arrived on Dream Get Together.Led by songwriter Ezra Feinberg, Citay has made a career out of studio exploration, recalling a time when studio excess was the norm. Producer Tim Green, of the Fucking Champs, is no stranger to sonic indulgence, and together Feinberg and Green have woven together a musical tapestry that is both heavy and sweet. In Citay, the metal leanings of Green’s band are replaced by an altogether different brand of fantasy rock. Dream Get Together has an embroidered and epic beauty that flies over the ocean while snuggling up to the ears. Joining Feinberg in Citay is drummer Warren Huegel, whose rhythmic sensibilities are best exemplified not only by his thunderous beats, but also his percussion decorations that lift the Citay sound from the ground up. Flanking Feinberg’s acoustic six string live are the electric guitars of Sean Smith and Josh Pollock. Bassist Diego Gonzalez holds it all together throughout. Feinberg shares vocal duties on Dream Get Together with Tahlia Harbour and Meryl Press, whose sweet, soaring voices play the perfect foil to the bombast. One of many highlights of Dream Get Together is “Mirror Kisses,” a song Feinberg wrote specifically for guest vocalist Merrill Garbus (of Tune-Yards) to sing in three-part harmony with Harbour and Press of Citay. With the soaring Ebow guitars and vocal harmonies, “Mirror Kisses” is Citay at its most lush and melodic. In contrast, “Hunter” is Citay at its most excessive – a triumphant instrumental anthem that somehow bridges the gap between Klaus Schulze and The Scorpions. With a spaced-out synth solo by Joel Robinow of Howlin’ Rain, “Hunter” is a majestic ride. Dream Get Together closes with a gorgeous rendition of Galaxie 500’s “Tugboat,” in which Citay replaces the reverb-y electric guitars with clean acoustic strumming and Fripp-ed out sonics, preserving the beauty of the original while making the song their own.  From: https://deadoceans.com/artists/citay/

PerKelt - Morana

PerKelt is a Pagan Speed Folk band based in London, UK. Their poetry and strong message of freedom and joy merges together with crazily fast, powerful rhythms and joyful melodies. The music of PerKelt blends together the upbeat “engine” of drums and guitars, their trademark unrivalled duels of fiddle and recorders, haunting pagan vocals and the deep tribal vibes of didgeridoo. Somewhat elusively beyond the usual physical limits, PerKelt reaches deep inside our soul and make us dance, laugh and love.
Each member of the band has a long musical history in their country of origin. Paya Lehane, a prodigy recorder player from the Czech Republic, started performing when she was 4 years old; Stepan Honc won the Czech national classical guitar competition Guitarreando in 2002; Duncan Menzies, the crazy hobbit from Scotland, is a shiny example of the famous Scottish fiddling style; Kaya La Bonte-Hurst is born of the London underground music scene; and Ruben Yon’Ton, a sound healer from Mexico, wraps the sound with his didgeridoo.
They met in the mystical underworld of London, and touring the world they invite their audience to enjoy their free spirit, joy of life and love for music. Drawing inspiration from paganism of all kinds, their songs often tell stories from the realm of magic, nature and the beautiful human hearts. Often praised for the energetic authenticity of their performance and the spiritual depth of the journey they take their audience on, PerKelt once made a promise to never stop playing together. A promise to a young child who came to them with tears in her eyes and a big smile on her face.
Keeping up to their promise PerKelt have released four critically acclaimed albums, received various awards from the music industry, performed hundreds of shows all over Europe, and thanks to the magic of the internet gathered countless dedicated fans all across the big mummy Earth.  From: https://www.folkandhoney.co.uk/scotland/perkelt-a698/

The Byrds - Live at The Big T.N.T. Show 1965

The Big T.N.T. Show is a 1965 concert film featuring performances by numerous popular rock and roll and R&B musicians from the United States and the United Kingdom. A sequel to the T.A.M.I. Show (1964), the film was directed by Larry Peerce and produced by Phil Spector. It was distributed by American International Pictures.
The film was shot before a live audience at the Moulin Rouge club at 6230 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles on November 29 and November 30, 1965. The Big T.N.T. Show was aimed at the teenage demographic and featured 3,000 teenagers in the audience. "T.N.T." was an acronym for Tune 'n' Talent. The film was a follow-up to the T.A.M.I. Show, which was released a year prior. "T.A.M.I." was an acronym for "Teenage Awards Music International." The concert was shot on videotape and transferred to 35-millimeter film. Director Larry Peerce used four television cameras to record the performances. Record producer Phil Spector was the producer and musical director. According to executive producer Henry G. Saperstein, 140 minutes of footage was shot, but the film was cut down to 90 minutes for the theatrical release. Each of the acts performed their set three times.
Its pre-release title was This Could Be the Night—The Big T.N.T Show. The film's theme song, "This Could Be the Night", was written by Harry Nilsson, produced by Phil Spector, and performed by the Modern Folk Quartet. During the opening sequence of audience shots, Ron Mael and Russell Mael, who would later form the band Sparks can be seen at 4:44 and Sky Saxon, singer and frontman for The Seeds can be seen at 5:21. Frank Zappa appears very briefly in the movie at 6:30 as an audience member and can also be seen in the movie's trailer. Marilyn McCoo of the Fifth Dimension also appears as one of the backing singers during Ray Charles' performance.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_T.N.T._Show

Dust Moth - Corrections

I first discovered Dust Moth when producer (former band member / keyboardist at the time / former Minus the Bear / amazing producer and engineer), Matt Bayles shared their “Selector” video on social media. Anyone that knows me or has ever read anything I have ever written on this site, knows that if you can make some decent heavy music with dreamy vocals, I will love that band forever. Well, luckily for me Dust Moth doesn’t just make remotely decent music. They actually make insanely great music. To this day “Selector” and the rest of their debut EP, Dragon Mouth is easily one of my favorite releases in the last five years. When I found out the band was on tour with Kayo Dot last summer, and that they would be making a stop in SLC I was all about it. I was super surprised when only four band members took the stage instead of the six members featured on Dragon Mouth. But let me tell you this, the paired down line up was not lacking. When Dust Moth took the stage as quartet, they absolutely blew me away. Their set that night also featured several songs that I hadn’t heard before and I couldn’t wait to get a recording of the new stuff. I was excited as that day finally arrived when Dust Moth dropped their first LP, Scale a couple of months ago. All the anticipation I had to get my hands on this record paid off. Everything I wanted from Scale, I got. Heavy-doomed-gazy-progeessivness with dreamy yet powerful vocals on top. Serious musical perfection! As I do with every band I get obsessed with I have to know more about their writing process and what makes them tick as a band. So here’s a break down from Dust moth vocalist keyboardist Irene Barber (XVIII Eyes, Erik Blood) and guitarist Ryan Frederiksen (These Arms Are Snakes, Narrows, Undertow). We touch on how they function as four piece band, the writing process for Scale, and what the future has in store for the Dust Moth.

Dust Moth went from six members down to three (temporarily) and now back up to four. Why the mass exodus of band members? Were they not able to tour / commit fully to the band?

Irene: It wasn’t so much of a mass exodus as it was a slow transformation. The band just evolved into what works, but yes, some of it had to do with busy schedules / availability.

So was Scale recorded with Justin Rodda on drums? He has since been replaced with Jim Acquavella. What was the reason for Rodda’s departure and how did Acquavella come to be in the band?

Irene: Yes, Justin came in to record with us when we lost our original drummer. He did an amazing job. Jim is our permanent guy now though. Steve and Jim have known each other for a long while – they played in a band called Bronze Fawn together, which happened to be one of my favorite Seattle acts. That’s how I met Jim, playing out and about when Bronze Fawn were still together. It’s super cool to be playing with him now, years later. I feel like with past records the songs would always really start to take shape after playing them on tour night after night.

I was at your SLC show last summer where you opened up for Kayo Dot and you all expressed your excitement for the new material and how the simplified band lineup was really helping the new songs form. Do you feel like that mini tour was really essential to how the songs on Scale were formed?

Ryan: In a way, yeah. I feel like with past records the songs would always really start to take shape after playing them on tour night after night. It was just becoming familiar with each song and getting comfortable actually playing the song. So we had planned on recording after that tour for that exact reason. We had demoed a lot for Scale and the songs would each change with each demo of the song as we were able to hear what works as a whole rather than just our individual parts. It’s so easy to just get caught up in your own playing before recording that I think songs sometimes suffer as a result of that.

In a previous interview Ryan had talked about their being more space for the three of you to insert yourself into the songs. Is that the main difference between the writing process from Dragon Mouth and Scale the extra space?

Ryan: Nah. While that’s a big part of it, it was also the fact that there were essentially only 3 of us writing Scale. Also, Steve wasn’t in the band when we recorded Dragon Mouth and his playing style is vastly different from both JC and Jacob’s(JC was our original bass player and Jacob filled in for JC when he couldn’t be there and then took over for a bit when JC moved to the Bay Area). Having the extra space was more of an added bonus. It wasn’t necessary as we were used to writing as a 6-piece but to not have to analyze everyone else’s parts to make sure notes aren’t rubbing and ultimately fitting together is pretty liberating. Scale, to me, ended up being about forward movement, reaching outward in unknown spaces, and the patterns and repetition involved in that.

Is there an overall theme or vibe either musically or lyrically that Scale represents?

Irene: We didn’t set out to write with an overall concept in mind, but the record ended up having some overarching themes. Scale, to me, ended up being about forward movement, reaching outward in unknown spaces, and the patterns and repetition involved in that. I think this is in line with what is happening musically on the record, and it’s sprinkled throughout lyrically as well.

Having not seen the physical artwork for Scale yet I really feel like the album cover matches the vibe of the albums music perfectly. I read that Irene was in charge of the artwork. Any particular inspiration behind the albums visual representation?

Irene: I kinda feel the same way. How did that happen? Ha! The artwork started with a piece by Dwight Jonsson, a painter here in Seattle. I was flipping through some of his paintings and when I saw the colors and textures in this one, I felt like it matched our vibe really well. I sliced and diced it to give the artwork a cavernous, kaleidoscope look to further try and capture the feel of the record.

In the press release for the new album Brian Cook (These Arms Are Snakes, Botch, SUMAC, Russian Circles) name drops some pretty incredible acts including Led Zeppelin, Jawbox, Doves, and Chelsea Wolfe after hearing the album and re-reading his write up I think that combo of sounds / bands actually does a really good job describing Dust Moth’s sound. Do you agree with this combo? Any that you would add or subtract?

Irene: It’s hard describing your own sound, you know? All I can say is, his list is scary accurate as far as the range of acts that influence us.

Ryan: I think Brian is very astute when it comes to describing bands. It also helps that we sat in a van for years together listening to all those band’s records. Haha. Seriously though Brian understands where we’re coming from and what we’re trying to achieve so I think we knew he’d flatter us a bit when he wrote that. Haha. But yeah, I really do think he nailed us down pretty good.

After having so many band members and now simplifying the lineup do you envision Dust Moth adding any additional members again? I thought the live show functioned amazingly as a four piece.

Irene: That’s great to hear, thank you! It feels really good being a four piece. We’re interested in growing/adding to the sound going forward, but we’re hoping to do it without adding additional members. Just additional synths ;).

Ryan: Yes thank you very much! That is fantastic to hear. We lose a little bit sonically as far as more musicians but I think we gain clarity with less going on and we obviously get to move around a little bit more on stage. Haha. That certainly helps.

From: https://beardedgentlemenmusic.com/2016/09/13/interview-with-dust-moth/

Trimdon Grange Explosion - Christians' Silver Hell

Trimdon Grange Explosion are a psych folk ensemble from North-East London Comprising Alison Cotton (viola/vocals), Ben Phillipson (guitar/vocals), Mark Nicholas (bass) and Karl Sabino (drums), the quartet formed in the aftermath of the split of acclaimed folk-rock outfit The Eighteenth Day of May of whom all four were members. The self-produced recordings of Trimdon Grange Explosion's eponymous set took place in various North London locations. The nine tracks (plus one bonus track on the download) range from original compositions to acid-tinged group instrumentals to songs from the folk tradition, arranged for electric instruments. Trimdon Grange Explosion is a grand continuation of its previous incarnation's psychedelic fusion of the modal rock of The Velvet Underground – among others – with their own English traditional music roots. Evidently, there was unfinished business.
“Has Acid Folk ever sounded so mesmerizing and as incendiary as this...Open tuned guitars chime out hypnotic raga model notes against Viola and rolling drums to create a droning wall of Spector like sound .” -Optical Sounds  From: https://trimdongrangeexplosion.bandcamp.com/album/trimdon-grange-explosion   

A.L. Lloyd wrote in his book Come All Ye Bold Miners on The Trimdon Grange Explosion: As sung (one verse only) by R. Sewell of Newcastle (June 1951). Remainder of text from J. Jefferson, Trimdon Grange, County Durham. From a ballad by Thomas Armstrong, who prescribed for it the tune Go and Leave Me If You Wish It, now it is usually heard attached to the come-all-ye type tune given here. The explosion occurred on 16 February 1882. Seventy-four miners were lost (six of them died in the neighbouring East Hetton colliery due to afterdamp seeping through from Trimdon).

Martin Carthy sang Trimdon Grange on his 1974 album Sweet Wivelsfield. This track was included in 2003 as The Trimdon Grange Explosion on his anthology The Definitive Collection. Carthy sang this song at least twice in John Peel BBC Radio sessions.

Martin Carthy commented in the first album’s sleeve notes: On 16 February 1882 there was an explosion of either firedamp or coaldust at the Trimdon Grange colliery in South County Durham (which is still remembered to this day) in which seventy-four were killed. The usual fund-raising procedures—all unofficial of course—went into action, and one of them was the writing and selling on the streets of this song. The tune is the Victorian parlour ballad Go and Leave Me If You Wish It to which Tommy Armstrong wrote these words. The tune was also used by Evangelists as a hymn tune both here and in America where it is also known in the guise of Columbus Stockade. I thank Bob Davenport for teaching me the song.

Maddy Prior sang Trimdon Grange Explosion in 2008 on her Park Records CD Seven for Old England. She noted: Tommy Armstrong (1848-1920) was born in County Durham at the height of the expansion of the mining industry, and lived most of his life in Stanley which was ringed round with pits and drift mines and was described as ‘like the Klondyke’. During his life the area was transformed from a rural landscape to a major urban complex. He documented these changes and all the life around him was celebrated in his songs, and he became known as the ‘Pitman Poet’. He would get his verses printed up and sell them around the pubs for a penny, and the money, in many cases went to the victims of tragedies, or else to pay for his beer (he had fourteen children).

From: https://mainlynorfolk.info/louis.killen/songs/trimdongrange.html

Shocking Blue - Send Me A Postcard

I remember as a teen being fascinated with the so-called British Invasion bands - Cream, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Animals - and, of course, the quality American groups like Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Doors. So when a song called “Venus” arrived on the U.S. charts in 1969, peaking quickly at No. 1 and selling millions of copies worldwide, I took little notice. The hit was over-played on the radio, plus there was so much other great stuff out there. The female vocalist was good, for sure, but the song was mellow, a plain-vanilla studio recording. The band was from the Netherlands, and, in America, relatively unknown other than for “Venus." I had always thought of them as one-hit wonders.
Not long ago, I was trolling through old YouTube performances of bands from the sixties, as I’m apt to do when I can’t sleep. In addition to my main beat at Forbes covering adventure, I write about classic rock. Truly live performances are hard to find on the channel because, back then, most videos were lip-synced, some horribly, to studio versions of the songs. When I came across “Venus,” though, one performance was stone-cold live, in 1970, in France. I was blown away by the band’s chops, especially vocalist Mariska Veres. Raw on stage, the charismatic woman sounded like a European equivalent of Airplane’s great Grace Slick.
When I googled Mariska, a bunch of references came up, but mostly to actress Mariska Hargitay, detective Olivia Benson on the long-running television series, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” I continued to scroll down, eventually finding Veres. What an interesting person she was. My immediate thought was to track her down for an interview, but found sadly that she had passed in 2006. Of the Shocking Blue band members, in fact, only one is still alive - Robbie van Leeuwen, the lead guitarist and principal songwriter who had penned, “Venus,” and, as he admitted later, made him wealthy. But van Leeuwen is extremely media shy, and grants few interviews these days.
Veres, on stage, sang powerfully to where, like Slick, you couldn’t take your eyes off of her. She was also beautiful, like Slick. But in real life, unlike the wild-child Slick, Veres said in interviews that she was like, “Holy Mary.” Additionally, she spoke only Dutch, and, as such, had to memorize Shocking Blue's songs in English. A tidbit: In “Venus,” the opening lyric was misspelled on the song sheet. It was supposed to read, “A goddess on a mountain top." Veres sang it as it was typed, which was, “A godness on a mountain top.” Van Leeuwen later admitted that the gaffe was his fault. When Bananarama butchered the tune in 1986, the lyric was corrected.
In short, Shocking Blue was way more than “Venus.” Gems virtually unknown in America like, “Send Me A Postcard” (my personal favorite), “Never Marry A Railroad Man,” "Daemon Lover" and “Love Buzz,” (later covered by Nirvana, the raucous version of which did not impress van Leeuwen), will get your attention.  From: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2024/02/15/shocking-blue-more-than-venus-check-them-out-you-may-be-shocked/

Magic Bus - Mystical Mountain

Magic Bus have pretty strongly established their style in the two albums preceding new release Phillip the Egg, and they don't really deviate from it here - again, it's an intoxicated bland of Canterbury-esque whimsy (drawing largely on the warm humour of Caravan and the mystical interests of Gong) with West Coast hippy sensibilities, as well as tight jamming in the instrumental sections reminiscent of the overlap between Ozric Tentacles and You-era Gong. If that sounds like the sort of thing you'd enjoy, then you're in luck, because that's exactly what hatches out of this egg. If you've heard Magic Bus's preceding albums, you pretty much already know what to expect here and whether or not you'll like it.

Magic Bus remind me of Gong more than any other band minus the silliness. Kind of a Psychedelic, Folky style with some Canterbury flavours thrown in. I'm going to call Phillip the Egg their best although the one before it is right there too. A six piece band with vocals and maybe the funniest title for an album that I've seen in a while. Released in 2017 we get plenty of analog keyboards, really good guitar in many styles, upfront bass, drums and flute. The flute and sound bring The Smell of Incense to mind as well. But is there mellotron on here? I thought I heard it on two songs but none is credited unlike that Norwegian band I just mentioned who like to swim in it.
Top three tracks include the opener "Mystical Mountain" and for 3 1/2 minutes we get a very Canterbury-like sound here especially the vocals. He reminds me of Richard Sinclair in his vocal style. After 3 1/2 minutes it turns experimental somewhat and Psychedelic. Check out the guitar 8 minutes in! "Trail To Canaa" is a Psychedelic/Folk styled tune with strummed and picked guitar, flute and organ. It's Tull-like 2 minutes in as they amp it up with flute. I like the multi-vocal melodies and determined sound that follows 3 minutes in. Organ is in along with the bass, guitar and drums. The guitar lights it up around the 4 minute mark. Last top three is "Kepler 22B" and this is where I thought I heard mellotron before 4 minutes. I know there's flute there. The guitar that follows is a highlight for me. I like the heaviness on this one. A really strong album when it comes to the style they play in these modern times.  

From:  https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=54516

K's Choice - Loreley Festival 1997

K's Choice - Loreley Festival 1997 - Part 1 

K's Choice - Loreley Festival 1997 - Part 2

She strides into the room, her wild, bleached mane damp from a long day of interviews and rehearsal. He follows close behind with a casual gait and cool, unaffected manner. Lounging in the bar of the Troubadour on a sultry Los Angeles afternoon, modern rock band K’s Choice oozes quintessential rock star quality. But over apple juice and insightful reflections, siblings Sarah and Gert Bettens seem grounded by the Belgian comfort that they are quick to remember and eager to discuss.
"A lot of the things that I wrote about in this record are inspired by, or just triggered by, melancholy and missing home,"lead singer Sarah reveals. "It’s a very strange way of living, always being away from home – the same nine people on a tour bus coming home for, like, one week and then going on the road for two months." This nostalgic feeling drives their emotional songwriting, culminating in their third and latest album, "Cocoon Crash." The Bettens lead the band, which includes guitarist Jan Van Sichem Jr., drummer Bart Van Der Zeeuw and bass guitarist Eric Grossman. Last week, K’s Choice kicked off their American club tour after a 10-day stint with the Lilith Fair tour. Beginning in San Francisco, they stopped next at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on Tuesday, dispensing their version of what Americans have coined "alternative rock."
"Alternative music means something else in Belgium than it means here, and I haven’t figured out yet exactly what it means," Sarah admits. The two explain that "alternative" music in their country remains faithful to its name; a "really original" and "really experimental" form that doesn’t necessarily apply to their style. "I don’t think we’re an experimental band," Sarah says. "It’s pretty straightforward songwriting – emotional, acoustic guitar, about things about ourselves. But here, I’m not really sure what it means. A lot of things that are ‘alternative’ seem really mainstream to me." But she adds, "We’re not just the pop band who has one song, and that’s it. I think we take our lyrics very seriously, and we really try to make something that, although it doesn’t sound experimental,we really try to make something very genuine."
Their musical philosophy imbues every aspect of their songwriting in "Cocoon Crash," from the friendship-inspired ballad, "Winners," to the self-affirming "Believe." Their key distinction from the oxymoronic "mainstream alternative" scene is their unabashed willingness to be positive. "We wrote a song about that," Gert says. "It’s called, ‘Too Many Happy Faces.’ It’s the quote of a singer in a Belgian band that told friends of ours after a show that he liked it, but he thought there were too many happy faces … It is kind of cool to be negative. We want to emphasize that it doesn’t need to be that way."
Their thought-provoking lyrics fused with an edgy, electric sound was what attracted Alanis Morisette when she stumbled upon the relative unknowns at a music festival in Germany in 1996. Morisette invited the band to join her American tour. Their break coincided with the growing popularity of their single, "Not An Addict," which ultimately became their biggest hit. While the song’s success propelled them to American notoriety, pressure to deliver another hit plagued K’s Choice when recording "Cocoon Crash." "The record company kept telling me, ‘We don’t have the new "Not An Addict" yet,’" Sarah said. "There’s nothing that stimulates you less than people who tell you stuff like that … but while we were working, we were just trying to make the best record we could make.
You can’t do anything more than that." The result is an album with a greater intensity than their 1995 sophomore release "Paradise in Me," said Sarah. She attributes this new level of quality to the band’s growing closeness through the years. "Cocoon Crash" is also characterized by a wide range of musical genres, from folk to rock. "To both of us, an interesting thing on our albums is a lot of dynamics in the lyrics (but) especially in the music," Gert says. "We try to do that live too. That surprise element is always interesting."
The dynamics of their live act was evident in Tuesday’s show at the Troubadour with a variety of songs that pleasantly jerked the mood of the evening from smooth ballads to jolting rhythms. Sarah shifted from song to song with a rasped intensity that the unaccustomed ear could have mistaken for hoarseness. But fans knew it was distinctively Sarah. While K’s Choice entertained with a high energy that infected the eager crowd, their performance left die-hard devotees uninspired. The band’s slow start dragged for the first handful of numbers but managed to gain momentum once they unleashed "Not An
Addict." With their growing popularity in the United States, K’s Choice seems far removed from their much-missed home. But their pensive lyrics act as an ongoing reminder of their true priorities, much like the Celtic cross tattooed on Sarah’s forearm. "I wanted something that, for me, meant that I’ll always believe in something," Sarah explains. "But I didn’t want specifically a Christian cross because I really don’t know what I’m going to believe in 50 years. But I know, for me, it means that life will always have a deeper meaning, and there’s a universal truth, whatever it is."  From: https://dailybruin.com/1998/08/02/making-the-right-choice

Simon & Garfunkel - NCRV TV Holland 1966

 Simon & Garfunkel - NCRV TV Holland 1966 - Part 1

 

 Simon & Garfunkel - NCRV TV Holland 1966 - Part 2

 

 In 1966 Simon & Garfunkel had a TV special for Dutch TV (NCRV station) in a music program called ‘Twien’. It was broadcasted for the first time on August 12th 1966. Mostly shows were recorded in Hilversum (where all TV stations and their studios were located) but not this one. This live performance was recorded in Haarlem, in the De Waag theater. Possibly in June of the same year. Recently a very nice book was published called ‘Pop TV 1960-1975’ by Richard Groothuizen. This book gives an overview of all Dutch TV shows, dedicated to pop music. It’s an account, almost day-by-day, with all artists that played in these shows. The book also mentions the Simon & Garfunkel performance. But was this performance planned? No. The story goes that CBS Holland wanted Bob Dylan in this special. But as we all know Dylan had changed from acoustic to electric performances and the show producers wanted an acoustic show. CBS thought it more wise to give Simon & Garfunkel the show.  From: https://paulsimontimeitwas.com/2010/04/19/simon-garfunkel-in-twien-1966-holland/

In 1966 Simon Garfunkel did their first European tour. Besides Scandanavia, they visited at least England and The Netherlands.  Here they recorded the now infamous Twien TV Show. They also performed in Haarlem, De Waag, on June 29, where they were interviewed by Dutch newspaper ‘Het Vrije Volk’. Here’s a translation:

Het Vrije Volk, Thursday 30 June 1966

Two 24 year old boys stopped by in The Netherlands for a short while, together with their girlfriends. Since last December (and that really is just 7 months ago) they sold 5 million records. Simon & Garfunkel yesterday recorded, in Studio Irene in Bussum, a TV Special for NCRV TV, which will be broadcasted on August 10). In the evening in De Waag in Haarlem, where Cobi Schrijer has a place of pilgrimage for every folksinger who visits our country, Reina starts knitting while Paul Simon’s girlfriend is reading a leaflet of a Soda Pop company.
Paul Simon, a small dark little man with a Caesar-like haircut in a burgundy red sweater starts to talk. ‘We sing folksongs from the city. That’s the future and where all the problems are now. The rural blues is not appealing to the people so much anymore. Art Garfunkel and I are already singing since we were 15. Art never cared so much to be in show business. This is our first large tour together, because his still studying mathematics at NYU.
The first hit of Simon & Garfunkel was The Sound of Silence in September 1965. Which was quickly followed up by ‘Homeward Bound’ and ‘I am a rock’, written by Paul Simon. Do they still agree with the content of  their lyrics? Paul Simon: ‘Yes. Even though I have had many requests, I wrote for myself, because the lyrics talk about problems that have my interpretation.’ A couple of moments later Simon & Garfunkel are on the very small stage of De Waag and sing ‘I am a rock’ and ‘Homeward Bound’.

From: https://paulsimontimeitwas.com/2012/11/25/1966-simon-garfunkel-in-holland/

 

Nickel Creek - Live on Austin City Limits

 Nickel Creek - Live on Austin City Limits - Part 1

 

 Nickel Creek - Live on Austin City Limits - Part 2

 

Though rooted in bluegrass, Nickel Creek built a reputation as one of the most adventurous and eclectic groups in progressive acoustic music. Comprised of siblings Sean (guitar) and Sara Watkins (fiddle) and mandolinist Chris Thile, the trio first made a name for themselves as teenagers, blazing their way through the festival circuit before being picked up by the Sugar Hill label. Their Alison Krauss-produced 2000 debut revealed a youthful and forward-thinking group whose virtuosic playing and three-part harmonies touched on everything from jazz to alternative music. During their initial run, they continued to move away from bluegrass' core and were rewarded with crossover success, a Grammy Award, and plenty of critical praise. After going on hiatus in the late 2000s, each member continued to flourish with projects like Punch Brothers, Fiction Family, I'm with Her, and various solo albums. A 2014 reunion yielded a new Nickel Creek album, A Dotted Line, and although Thile and the Watkins siblings continued to pursue their own endeavors, the trio maintained a sporadic performing schedule together heading into the 2020s. In March 2023, following a nine-year gap, Nickel Creek released their fifth album, Celebrants.
In 1989, Sean Watkins and Chris Thile were both students of the same music instructor. Along with Sean's younger sister Sara, the trio first began performing together as preteens in their native San Diego. They got their start while watching the band Bluegrass Etc., which put on weekly performances in a pizza parlor. A local bluegrass promoter liked the idea of such a young string band, and thus Nickel Creek were formed, with Thile's father Scott joining them on bass.
 Nickel Creek were regulars on the festival circuit through most of the '90s, and during that time, Thile recorded two solo albums, 1994's Leading Off... and 1997's Stealing Second. In 1998, with help from Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek landed a record deal with the roots music label Sugar Hill. Krauss produced their self-titled debut album, which was released in 2000; with the kids apparently all right, Scott subsequently retired from the band. Though it was decidedly a bluegrass record, Nickel Creek boasted elements of classical, jazz, and rock & roll, both classic and alternative; naturally, the influence of progressive bluegrass figures like Krauss, Edgar Meyer, and Béla Fleck was also apparent. Perhaps aided by the success of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which brought traditional roots music to a whole new collegiate audience, Nickel Creek became a slow-building hit; by early 2002, it had gone gold, climbed into the country Top 20, and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. Meanwhile, Sean released his solo debut, Let It Fall, in 2001, and Thile followed suit with Not All Who Wander Are Lost.
Nickel Creek released their sophomore set, This Side, in 2002; it debuted in the Top 20 of the pop charts and went all the way to number two on the country listings. Even more eclectic than its predecessor, the Krauss-produced album turned indie rock fans' heads with a cover of Pavement's "Spit on a Stranger." This Side won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album in early 2003, after which Sean issued his second solo album, 26 Miles. In 2005, the group worked with producers Tony Berg and Eric Valentine (the latter had worked with Smash Mouth and Queens of the Stone Age) to produce Why Should the Fire Die?, a dark and introspective collection of new material that found the trio steering even further away from their bluegrass beginnings.
In mid-2006, Nickel Creek announced they would be taking an indefinite hiatus following a scheduled tour the next year so the band members could concentrate on solo work. Thile eventually formed Punch Brothers, releasing a debut album, Punch, on Nonesuch in 2009. Sara Watkins also released an album on Nonesuch in 2009, the self-titled Sara Watkins, which was produced by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame. Sean Watkins, who had formed Fiction Family with Jon Foreman (of Switchfoot), also released an album in 2009, the duo's self-titled Fiction Family from the ATO label. Meanwhile, siblings Sara and Sean continued to host a monthly revue called The Watkins Family Hour at Hollywood's Largo club, playing free-form and impromptu sets with a wide array of musicians who might be in town for the evening, including names like Gabe Witcher, Benmont Tench, Greg Leisz, Jon Brion, Jackson Browne, Glen Phillips, Mark O'Connor, Ethan Johns, Matt Chamberlain, Tim O'Brien, and Tom Brosseau.
Nickel Creek's hiatus extended into the first half of the 2010s, with the members continuing to record their own projects. Thile in particular was quite prolific; his work during this period included two further Punch Brothers albums, The Goat Rodeo Sessions -- a collaboration with classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma -- and even a classical album of his own, Bach Sonatas & Partitas transcribed for mandolin. For her part, Sara Watkins released a sophomore effort, 2012's Sun Midnight Sun, and Sean Watkins released a second Fiction Family album, Fiction Family Reunion, in 2013.
Ending their hiatus, Nickel Creek reunited in early 2014 to celebrate their 25th anniversary as a band. Their first album in nine years, A Dotted Line, appeared on Nonesuch in April of that year and was supported by an extensive tour. After this the band members again focused on their own endeavors, while still performing occasionally as Nickel Creek. Sara Watkins formed the trio I'm with Her with fellow songwriters Aoife O'Donovan and Sara Jarosz and also recorded an album with her brother as part of their Watkins Family Hour project. Sean Watkins released his fifth solo album, What to Fear, in 2016 and later that year Thile took over as host of the long-tenured radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion from its creator Garrison Keillor. Later rebranded as Live from Here, the show featured Nickel Creek a handful of times before its eventual cancellation during the 2020 global pandemic.
During the quarantine period, the group dug into their archives and in 2021 released their first concert album, Live from the Fox Theater, recorded in Oakland, California on May 19, 2014. After playing a series of Nickel Creek livestreams earlier in the year, both Thile and Sara Watkins returned to their own work releasing the respective solo albums Laysongs and Under the Pepper Tree. By 2023, however, the group had readied a new studio album, their first since 2014. Featuring the core trio augmented by double bassist Mike Elizondo, the lengthy 18-track Celebrants was as complex and daring as anything in the group's catalog.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nickel-creek-mn0000399733#biography  

The Band - King Harvest

Greil Marcus
: You take a song like King Harvest (Has Surely Come). Is that a blues song? There’s a lot of blues in it, but it’s not a blues song. Is it a country song? Absolutely not. There’s a progression in there, a ‘sweep’ that country music doesn’t have. And yet there is an anxiousness, a nervousness, a sense of being alone in the singing - it’s pure country music. Is it rock & roll? Sure, it’s rock & roll. And you could go on from there… but what you don’t want to do with that song, you don’t want to take it apart, you know, separate it into its constituent elements. You want to go with it. You want that song to take you somewhere you haven’t been. Or if you know the song, you want it to take you where it took you before. You want to get lost in that song. And when you’re lost in that song you’re floating through a whole vast American story.

Levon Helm
: Some of the lyrics came out of a discussion we had one night about the times we’d seen and all had in common. It was an expression of feeling that came from five people. The group wanted to do one song that took in everything we could muster about life at that moment in time. It was the last thing we cut in California, and it was that magical feeling of ‘King Harvest’ that pulled us through. It was like, there, that’s The Band.

I remember gazing from a freezing cold Oxford Street into the windows of the HMV record store in London. The three Christmas displays in late 1969 were Abbey Road, Let It Bleed… and The Band. Not a bad year, then. The cover touched something in my imagination. A sense of longing. And I hadn’t even heard it. The first track I heard? Easy. It was King Harvest on late night BBC television, accompanied by a weird black and white 1920’s cartoon. I couldn’t believe the oddness of the sound. The great spaces in the music. The yearning keening voices; the odd stumbling arrangements. The dead slap of the drums. It was like nothing I’d heard before. Maybe it was better than anything I’ve heard since. Later - too many weeks later - I listened through the album with a sense of disbelief. It encompassed an America of the dreams. It rooted music after the dweebling sounds of Pink Floyd and the pretensions of early King Crimson. The up-and-coming Chicago seemed merely workmanlike. Half my record collection seemed as dull and well meaning as Chicago Transit Authority. The Stones were raw and tough, but oddly hairless - oddly chinless even. The Beatles were producing sublime sounds, but it was St. Petersburg 1917. On the West Coast all was mellow. But some British musicians felt that Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead had traded musical competence away for the sake of originality. They were into Alvin Lee and how fast you could play. Bob Dylan was meandering through the backwaters of his roots on Nashville Skyline. The Band had it all - rawness, competence, sublimity, experience, originality and roots.

William Bender: 
King Harvest is touched with a double vision. It’s marked by an ironic interplay between the rich yet somehow threatening sound of nature and the querelous, grasshopperish whine of the farmer… Then comes the refrain, with Danko and Robertson on guitars creating a controlled hush that is just the right rustling background.

Levon plays his ultimate drum part, where the cymbals whisper like the wind through the rice, where the hard slap of the drums shove home the farmer’s plight. Robbie Robertson isolates the bass and drum on the Classic Albums video. For him the rhythm section is the whole basis of the song. Rob Bowman says that the ending of King Harvest might be Robbie’s finest moment as a guitarist, in a style Andy Gill later described as ‘death-by-a-thousand-delicate-cuts’ and Bowman goes on to quote Robertson:

Robbie Robertson: 
This was a new way of dealing with the guitar for me, this very subtle playing, leaving out a lot of stuff and just waiting till the last second and playing the thing in just the nick of time. It was an approach to playing where it’s so delicate. It’s just the opposite of the ‘in your face’ guitar playing that I used to do. This was the kind of thing that was slippery. It was like you have to hold your breath while you’re playing these solos. You can’t breathe or you’ll throw yourself off. I felt emotionally completely different about the instrument.

To me, the instruments all assume distinct personalities, reflecting and commenting on the lyrics. There’s the guitar, picking, plucky, strutting and wirey, creating an argumentative extra line. Then there’s the bass, dogged, persistent. These are the farmer. The extended notes of Garth’s organ are a contrast, with the irresistible sweep of history resonating through them. Then the drums, the inexorable thump of the seasons changing, the rustle of the wind. Robbie said he’d been immersed in the novels of John Steinbeck. Ralph Gleason picked up on The Grapes of Wrath - the John Ford movie rather than the original John Steinbeck book - when he reviewed the album for Rolling Stone. We’re right in that territory - the line between independent sharecropper, the grandson of Virgil Kane, and industrial unionised worker was thin and getting rapidly thinner when Steinbeck researched the trek of the landless Okies from the dried-up homesteads of the dust bowls of Oklahoma to the wage-slavery of fruit picking in California in the 1930’s. When the story is recalled, the pejorative ‘Okies’ for Oklahomans is always remembered, because the central Joad family were Okies. If you look back to the Steinbeck book, you’ll find that the other group of farmers ruined by the dust bowl were the ‘Arkies’ from Levon’s home state of Arkansas.
What had happened was this. When settlers arrived in the former Indian Territory, which became Oklahoma, in the 1880s and 1890s, the region was enjoying a short, unusually wetter spell which supported farming, and which persisted until the late 1920s. The drought of the late 20s / early 30s was not so much something abnormal, but simply a return to the naturally arid climate of the area. The same happened in the west of Arkansas. With the top vegetation stripped by intensive farming, the whole area became literally a bowl of fine dust. The banks foreclosed on the poverty-stricken farmers. They were starving and dispossessed. They loaded up their few possessions on battered Model-T Fords and trekked west to California where they could earn subsistence wages in the burgeoning fruit plantations. They became white slaves.
But on the surface King Harvest takes place further south than Steinbeck’s Oklahoma. It never mentions the dust bowl specifically for that matter. If they’re listening to the rice when the wind blows across the water, they’re probably back down in the Mississippi Delta of Louisiana as in Cripple Creek (and most of Robertson’s Storyville solo album.) I’m sure people can tell me where else rice is grown, but that’s the primary image. Robbie Robertson has a knack for combining disparate images and getting resonance from both of them.

From: https://theband.hiof.no/articles/king_harvest_viney.html

Takako Minekawa - Plash

When I reviewed Takako Minekawa's last full-length, Cloudy Cloud Calculator, I lazily referred to her as a "female Cornelius." Seeing how I was under a tight deadline at the time, this comparison adequately conveyed to the Pitchfork audience that Minekawa was all about classic pop, and that she had the multi-instrumental and arrangement chops to realize her syrupy-sweet musical dreams. Imagine my surprise when I read in Giant Robot that Minekawa is not only going steady with Cornelius, but that she would be writing and recording with him for her next record. Man, I love being right, especially when I don't have to work hard to do it.
And so it seems, with her new beau at her side, the already talented Minekawa can't be stopped. This record easily surpasses everything else she's done, with newfound production sophistication and better songs to boot. Gone are those grating moments of excessive twee; instead, our ears are treated to extended passages of warm musical bliss, where modern technology is gracefully deployed in the service of the pop song.
See, this is where Minekawa and her Japanese ilk have a real leg up on the American indie pop crowd: Elephant 6'ers know a thing or two about melody, but their deep block on all post-Kraftwerk musical developments continues to disappoint. Those neo-hippies can be as narrow-minded as your average beer-swilling mullethead: "Where are the fucking guitars?" is always the dismal refrain. Artists like Minekawa and Cornelius realize that a drum machine, when used correctly, has more soul than Ringo Starr and Charlie Watts combined. It's the ideas that matter, not the alleged "purity" of the delivery. And Takako Minekawa has musical ideas to burn.
The fuel on Fun9 (pronounced "funk," mysteriously) is provided by a breadth of influences that somehow blend into a singular sound. The opener, "Gently Waves," showcases Minekawa's dreamy voice, multi-tracked into a five-part Wilsonian symphony. "Plash" (one of the four Cornelius collaborations) effectively combines a Brazilian acoustic guitar shuffle with choppy beats. And "Fantastic Voyage" is one of three tracks featuring the sampling artistry of DJ Me DJ You, featuring a great vocal riff shamelessly lifted from Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side."
Though all the melodies on Fun9 are strong, a few songs prominently feature a more complex electronic ambiance. "Flash" (also featuring contributions from Cornelius) shows that Minekawa listened carefully to Oval's deconstruction of "International Velvet" on her remix album: the distorted, distant sound of her vocal transmission undercuts the loping Hawaiian feel of the background music to sublime effect. And "Fancy Work Funk" features a trance-inducing Moog pattern that would do the German electronic crowd proud. With or without her main squeeze, Minekawa has got vision.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5301-fun9/

Meat Puppets - Scum

The Phoenix, Arizona trio Meat Puppets made a career out of defying expectations. The two Kirkwood brothers, Curt (guitar/vocals) and Cris (bass/vocals), along with drummer Derrick Bostrom, made their debut with In a Car, a locally released 7-inch — five songs in five minutes — of shrieking thrash-punk and unrealized avant-guitar ambitions. The Puppets’ first album (a full-length disc that spins at 45 rpm) similarly mixes intriguing instrumental experimentation and a bit of restrained country into sloppy blurs of noisy punk.
Meat Puppets II marked the first of many shifts — into radical country-punk. The album offers a startlingly strong set of stylistic contrasts — loud and soft, fast and slow — all supporting moving, poetic lyrics. The songs are melodic and memorable; Curt’s high’n’lonesome singing is made even more effective by its uninhibited shoddiness. One of the best albums ever to blend Joe Strummer with Hank Williams, Meat Puppets II avoids cliches of any sort in its brilliant evocation of the wide open world of the Southwest. Make no mistake — this is not a hardcore album with some corny twang, it’s a fully realized work in a unique hybrid style.
Up on the Sun removes the Puppets further from punk, but doesn’t adequately replace the rock’n’roll energy. Curt’s growing mastery of delicate guitar weaves — an Arizona answer to Jerry Garcia, perhaps — provides the Puppets’ new focus; the hoedown coda of “Enchanted Pork Fist” owes as much to modern jazz as cowboy rock. The title track is a lovely, contemplative folk song with an airy vocal and a skipping guitar riff that repeats throughout. In a lighter moment, Curt and Cris whistle their way through “Maiden’s Milk”; waxing serious, “Creator” offers a poetic contemplation on god and nature. The Puppets sound far more involved and enthused on the superior six-track Out My Way, again quite unlike anything in their prior repertoire. An utterly crazed raveup of “Good Golly Miss Molly” merely caps off a diverse collection of occasionally funky, occasionally psychedelic, occasionally countryfied rock tunes.
Mirage harks back to the sonic translucence of Up on the Sun, forcing Bostrom’s muscular drumming to find a way to maintain its reserve while kicking up a subtle storm. Curt’s intricate finger-picking and plectrum work leads the relaxed stroll on “Mirage,” “Leaves,” “Get on Down” and “I Am a Machine.” The bluegrass-styled “Confusion Fog” shows a different side of the Pups, as does the rocking “Liquefied,” an incongruous souvenir of the band’s early sound with acid-trip lyrics and distorted rhythm guitar. The only discordant ingredient on this technically accomplished record is Curt’s uncertain, often cringeably tuneless singing.
As legend has it, the genesis of Huevos began with a magazine interview in which Curt announced his adoration of ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons. Gibbons’ reply sent Kirkwood into a writing frenzy, and the album — which begins with the Top soundalike “Paradise” — was recorded in one marathon 72-hour stretch. The mildly commercialized sound (rhythm guitar, sweet melodies and a thick Les Paul tone) led hardline fans to call it a sellout, but that’s hardly the case. In this generally upbeat outing, the only discouraging words can be heard in “Dry Rain” and the self-deprecating “I Can’t Be Counted On.” Otherwise, Curt celebrates “Fruit,” “Sexy Music” and even “Bad Love.” Except for the out-there-with-the-cacti vocals, Huevos is quite fine.
Saving most of his liquid lead runs for showy instrumental passages, Curt again plays a lot of rhythm guitar on Monsters, a heavier, more tradition-minded rock album than usual. Beyond “Attacked by Monsters,” however, the colorless and repetitive songs aren’t very appealing, and the sound — which alternates between the band’s late-’80s clarity and a murky sonic swamp — doesn’t do much for them. (Ironically, the vocals here are fairly presentable.) Not among the Puppets’ best. Their eccentricities notwithstanding, the Meat Puppets were arguably the most major-label-ready act on the SST roster when they signed to the London label. The generously endowed No Strings Attached recapitulates the Meat Puppets’ career to date with two dozen chronological selections, from the 1981 EP debut through Monsters.
Forbidden Places is an unfortunate big-league debut, a surprising misreading of the group’s strengths — the earthy introspection underscoring even their most twisted songwriting; their fluid power-trio drive — by producer Pete Anderson. Best known for the downhome cool of his work with Dwight Yoakam, Anderson focuses too much on the backporch promise of Curt’s acid-cowboy whine and sands down the band’s rowdy charm to an over-fine crust. There’s a heavy streak of trippy paranoia in Curt’s lyrics — like the attack of the “little red tongues” and “fat ripe rats” in “Open Wide” — but the guitar twang is too clean, the distortion too polite to suggest menace or fear.
Forbidden Places is actually a double bummer, a so-so record that arrived just as grunge-mania broke wide open. A new generation of ruffian bands, many of them raised on the Puppets’ SST classics, raced past them into the charts. Then, in late ’93, Kurt Cobain invited the Kirkwoods to join him on camera for three Puppets songs (all from the Pups’ second LP) performed during Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged appearance. It was an impressive gesture of artistic respect and punk-rock fraternity which did wonders for the Meat Puppets’ mainstream profile. “Oh, Me,” “Plateau” and “Lake of Fire” became highlights of Nirvana’s resulting acoustic album, particularly “Lake of Fire,” which Cobain sings with a vivid, desperate ache in his voice that now sounds eerily prophetic.
Cobain also lent his name to Too High to Die, contributing a celebrity quote (“I owe so much to them”) stickered on the cover. More importantly, Too High to Die benefits from the surprisingly commercial touch of the Butthole Surfers’ Paul Leary, who co-produced it. Without muting the prairie pothead quality of the band’s sound or Curt Kirkwood’s free-associative imagery, Leary and the Puppets establish a warm, cohesive feel even between strange bedfellows like “Never to Be Found” (tangled hyper-strum), “We Don’t Exist” (hooky speed pop) and “Severed Goddess Hand” (an almost R.E.M.-ish hymn, despite the weirdo title). “Backwater” actually became a hit, a post-modern take on ’70s Dixie rock (its coltish kick bears a disarming resemblance to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama”) with a feisty guitar sound that belies the blood and ennui in the lyrics.
No Joke! is made of even darker stuff, a mixed litany of comic bad-trip metaphors and outright nihilism produced by Leary and the Puppets with grim potency. (In the case of “Head,” all it takes is piano, cello and tense electric jangle.) There’s a brutish, heavy metal quality to the guitar fuzz deployed on most of the songs: the gambit practically dares you to hang in there for the good hooks carried by the Kirkwoods’ distinctive vocal drone. That may have accounted for the record’s dim chart showing, and the Puppets’ return to cult status on their way to dissolution.  From: https://trouserpress.com/reviews/meat-puppets/