Wand - Passage of the Dream

 #Wand #psychedelic rock #shoegaze #stoner rock #noise rock #garage rock #animated music video

On their third album, Los Angeles’ Wand gracefully sidestep the potential pitfalls of psychedelic songwriting—meandering guitars, rambling lyrics, directionless tracks. They ground the blurry, bizarre visions established on their previous efforts, Ganglion Reef and Golem, in colorful imagery, so that the faces of the monsters they’ve written about on past records come into full focus.
While the shadow of Wand’s mentor Ty Segall still hovers over Wand’s blown-out garage sound, the band’s own flickering light is beginning to shine through more often. They have added some progressive folk rock to the mix, fondly recalling unique and memorable records like Mellow Candle’s Swaddling Songs and Comus’ classic First Utterance without sounding like a carbon copy. Cory Hanson’s voice shimmers  against the acoustic palette of songs like the beautiful closer "Morning Rainbow", the song that also contains 1000 Days’ key lyrical thesis: "We will see this world together in its terror."
Paralysis, paranoia, disappearance, erasure, pure fear, and curdling dreams are all themes that reappear in Hanson’s lyrics for 1000 Days; even the titular song, a concise bit of folky garage pop with a sunny-sweet choral melody, seems like it might be a love song at first but quickly turns into the nightmare of relationship stasis, depression, and ennui ("I don’t need a thing ‘cause I’ve had every dream"). The mingling of beautiful, honeyed melodies with dark, bleak lyrical content is nothing new, but Wand do it especially well, and they have a precision in their songwriting that keeps their music from spinning off into glazed burnout territory.
Though one worries that with such a prolific release schedule that Wand will run out of ideas, 1000 Days is a heartening record, a record that sees a young band picking up steam, playing with their influences more deftly than on their prior LPs, and bringing a thoughtful approach to old and well-traveled sounds. There’s enough interesting moments on 1000 Days to hold onto these songs, go back to them, and explore within them. That’s more than many of their cohorts within the cluttered and long-trendy field of psychedelic garage—there are hundreds of disposable tape-label bands with little to say out there, and it’s wearying to search through all that crud for the occasional gem, which does exist—have to offer.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20995-1000-days/

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Hit 'Em Up Style

 #Carolina Chocolate Drops #folk #Americana #African-American folk #old-time string band #traditional #music video

From their beginnings in 2005, the Carolina Chocolate Drops revived the almost-forgotten Black string-band tradition and introduced this music to millions of fans across the world. The original band members — Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons and Justin Robinson — learned their core repertoire straight from the source, an African American fiddler, Joe Thompson, then 85 years old, of Mebane, North Carolina. The Carolina Chocolate Drops’ success proved that the old-time, fiddle-and banjo-based music they had so scrupulously researched and passionately performed could be a living, breathing, ever-evolving sound. The Drops’ 2010 Nonesuch debut, “Genuine Negro Jig”, garnered a Best Traditional Folk Album Grammy. Starting with material culled from the Piedmont region of the Carolinas, they sought to reinterpret this work, not merely recreate it, highlighting the central role African Americans played in shaping our nation’s popular music from its beginnings more than a century ago. The virtuosic trio’s approach was provocative and revelatory. Their concerts, The New York Times declared, were “an end-to-end display of excellence. They dip into styles of Southern Black music from the 1920s and ’30s — string-band music, jug-band music, fife and drum, early jazz — and beam their curiosity outward. They make short work of their instructive mission and spend their energy on things that require it: flatfoot dancing, jug playing, shouting.”
The Carolina Chocolate Drops roster fluctuated over time, and Rhiannon, Dom, and Justin have gone their separate ways. Each member has gone on to pursue impressive and meaningful careers maintaining the spirit of The Carolina Chocolate Drops. Rhiannon Giddens has released solo albums and has worked on collaborative projects such as “Our Native Daughters” and releases with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi. In 2017, she received a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. Dom Flemons continues to perform and is known as “The American Songster” because of his breadth of knowledge of American music. In 2012 Music Maker released the album “Buffalo Junction” with Dom Flemons and artist Boo Hanks. Justin Robinson, in addition to recording and performing solo, is a food historian and botanist. In all of his work, Justin explores African American history in the South and aims to connect people to their culture.  From: https://musicmaker.org/artist/carolina-chocolate-drops/

Art of Bleeding - All Things Nice

 #Art of Bleeding #avant-garde #experimental #performance art #multimedia #culture jamming #animated music video

Art of Bleeding was a Los Angeles-based multi-media performance troupe providing darkly comic, faux-educational programs in first-aid and safety at clubs, galleries and art events. Staging shows from an actual ambulance, The Art of Bleeding creates what their press release refers to as a "paramedical funhouse" wherein puppets and costumed characters interact with a crew of nurses wearing medical-themed fetish gear. Events are hosted by costumed characters reminiscent of children's programming including the company's "beloved mascot," Abram the Safety Ape and RT, the Robot Teacher. In their performances and web videos, the group promotes an ill-defined and intentionally cryptic metaphysical doctrine that they call "True Safety Consciousness." The group's ambulance also functions as a mobile recording studio for their Gory Details Project, in which true-life tales of medical trauma are gathered from passersby to be shared in an online library of movies and mp3s. Some of these stories are also re-enacted within the framework of what would appear to be a tragically misguided children's show, the "Gory Details" web series.
In addition to live shows, videos, recordings, and paramedical-themed music, The Art of Bleeding has also choreographed public performances of bandaged and crutch-enabled dancers, created grisly anatomical walk-through installations, and staged a parking-lot display of smoldering, freshly wrecked cars peopled with bloodied actors sharing their cautionary tales. The troupe was founded by Al Ridenour, former leader of the Los Angeles branch of the Cacophony Society. When asked about the nature of his group, Ridenour has said, "Think of Art of Bleeding as a sort of public outreach multi-media brainwashing course in emergency medicine, and you'll have a good handle on it. At least better than me..."  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_Bleeding

Mother's Finest - Truth'll Set You Free

 #Mother's Finest #funk rock #hard rock #R&B #funk metal #soul #1970s

Lemmy named his band Bastard before he decided on Motörhead. Lars Ulrich thought Thunderfuck was the way to go, before taking the name of his friend’s fanzine titled Metallica. And as Joyce ‘Baby Jean’ Kennedy recalls, the greatest of all funk rock bands once considered calling themselves The Motherfuckers. “We wanted to say that,” she says, laughing, “but we couldn’t have gotten away with it. So we just took the ‘MF’ and became Mother’s Finest.”
With a multi-racial line-up and a sound described as ‘Sly And The Family Stone-meets-Led Zeppelin’ – a combustible mix of soul power and hard-rock muscle – Mother’s Finest emerged in the early 70s as a band on a mission. As Kennedy puts it: “We wanted to make music that anybody could enjoy. We wanted to entertain and to be provocative, to give people food for thought. It was soulful, spiritual rock’n’roll, sexy and heavy with guitar. We were encompassing all of those things.”
There were multi-racial groups and black rock stars before them – Sly And The Family Stone and Jimi Hendrix being the most significant. But “our band was predominately black”, Kennedy says. In the definitive Mother’s Finest line-up, fronted by Kennedy and her husband Glenn ‘Doc’ Murdock, and featuring Jerry ‘Wyzard’ Seay on bass and Mike Keck on keyboards, the white members were drummer Barry ‘B.B. Queen’ Borden and guitarist Gary Moore, whose nickname ‘Moses Mo’, would distinguish him from the Irish guitar hero. It was with this line-up that the band made their reputation as a fearsome live act, and reached a creative peak between ’76 and ’77 with two albums produced by Tom Werman, who was then working with Ted Nugent and Cheap Trick.
But for Mother’s Finest the big breakthrough never came. Which, Kennedy says, was a mystery to Werman. “Tom always wondered why this was one band he produced where it never happened on a huge level.” She says that from the band’s perspective, with a mixture of pride and fatalism: “We had all the things that would make it work, but for some reason the spheres didn’t see it that way.” As she looks back on the glory days of a band she still leads, alongside Doc and Moses Mo – a band whose influence has carried over the decades in the music of Prince, Living Colour, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lenny Kravitz, Dan Reed Network and more – she accepts that what made Mother’s Finest unique was also what made them a hard sell in what was a less enlightened era. “The band was multi-racial, and that was rare,” she says. “Especially doing rock music with two people of colour out front. It was a beautiful thing. But back then nobody really knew how to make it work within the bureaucracy of the music industry. I just think that this band was a little bit before its time.”  From: https://www.loudersound.com/features/mothers-finest-we-were-paving-the-way-for-things-to-happen-in-music-but-we-didnt-know-it

Mother's Finest is a funk rock band founded in Atlanta, Georgia by the singer couple Joyce Kennedy and Glenn Murdock in the early seventies. Mother's Finest was one of the "first real rock bands with both black and white members". Their music was a blend of funky rhythm, heavy guitars and expressive rock singing. Their debut album Mother's Finest from 1976 today is a rare collector's piece and contains the ironic song "Niggizz Can't Sang Rock & Roll" (they were criticized for it by an important reverend and had to suspend it from their live concerts). In 1978 they were guests on the German broadcast "Rockpalast" and with one concert (recently reedited in Europe as the DVD Mother's Finest - At Rockpalast) they gathered cult status in Europe which lasts until today. In the late seventies they produced more soul-oriented albums and at the beginning of the eighties some heavy rock on the album “Iron Age”. In the nineties they were back with "Black radio won't play this record", a funk metal album, and their last CD was "Meta-funk'n-physical" from 2004 which is more hip hop and electronic beats oriented.  From: https://www.last.fm/music/Mother%27s+Finest/+wiki

The Zombies - I’ll Call You Mine

 #The Zombies #Rod Argent #Colin Blunstone #psychedelic rock #blues rock #pop rock #baroque pop #psychedelic pop #classic rock #British invasion #1960s

Q: Where did the name, The Zombies, come from?

Rod Argent: We got together in 1961, at the very beginning of the English band scene. That was even a year before the Beatles. We didn't know what to call ourselves. For the first month or so, we were called the Sundowners. But I think that may well have been a western film in the same way as the Searchers' name was from a John Wayne movie. We were also the Mustangs for a couple of weeks, but never went out on a gig with that name.  One day, our bass player at the time, who was the only one initially who left the band before we were professional, said, "What about The Zombies?" This was in the days before any of the crop of zombie films, like "Return Of The Living Dead." Now I just about knew what a zombie was. It had something to do with Haiti, and some sort of voodoo, unsavory sorts of things. Colin Blunstone didn't even know that. He hated the name! But I loved it. If we were lucky enough to get any recognition later, then very soon the name itself would be unimportant. It would just become whomever the members of the band were. A year after the Beatles were named, no one that I know thought about insects or even the play on words. They just thought about John, Paul, George and Ringo. That proved to be the case with us. When we were in the studio once, I was wandering around and heard the sound of Miles Davis coming from a record player in someone's dressing room. I knocked on the door. It opened, and there was Manfred Man. I asked if that was Miles playing, and he said, "Yeah, yeah." Then he looked at me and asked, "You're Rod Argent, aren't you?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "Man, I love your record, but you have to change that band name." But we never did [laughs].

Q: How did you meet Colin Blunstone?

Argent: The day we had our first rehearsal was the first day I met Colin. He was a friend of the bass player, who was a friend of mine. Originally, I was supposed to be lead singer, and not play piano at all. We had a little jam, and thought it was all going pretty well. Then we had a coffee break. I wandered over to an old, beaten-up piano, and started playing some Stingers records I'd heard. Colin came running over and said, "That sounds fantastic. You've got a great playing ability. Why don't you sing AND play piano?" I thought that would be too much, to sing lead vocals and play piano, so I said, "No." Twenty minutes later, we had another break. Colin sat down and started strumming a guitar, because he was going to play second guitar, rhythm. He started singing a Ricky Nelson song. It sounded absolutely lovely! I said, "My God, I had no idea you could sing like that. I'll tell you what. - you be lead singer, and I'll play piano." And that's how we started. It was Easter of 1961.

From: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2020/06/08/how-did-the-1960s-band-the-zombies-come-up-with-their-strange-name/?sh=4af7dfa63d4e

Rasputina - Cross Walk

 

 

#Rasputina #alternative/indie rock #cello rock #chamber rock #gothic rock #dark cabaret

Pioneers in the use of cello as the sole instrument within a rock band, Rasputina has been inspiring young string players to commit a number of musical sins since 1996. The group's concept was written as a manifesto, and manifested accordingly by directress Melora Creager as a wily subterfuge for a plot to open audiences to adventure. The funny, the sad, the heavy, the tender - it can all exist together. Employing elaborate costuming spanning a number of historical periods, Rasputina brings marginalized historical female figures and stories to light in the pop form, using archetypal characters such as Indian princesses, Hawaiian handmaidens and Medieval queens. Melora last performed in Europe with Nirvana, on their final tour in 1994. Over the years, Rasputina has performed/recorded with Marilyn Manson, Porno For Pyros, Cheap Trick, Goo Goo Dolls and many others. Hardened road-dogs, and with more than 7 albums under their belt, Rasputina continues to amaze and amuse.

MELORA CREAGER - voice, cello, banjo - Kansas born and raised, she moved to NYC in the 1980’s. Melora received classical music training as a child, but her performance career began with rock bands and East Village drag/performance artists. She founded the alternative/historical cello ensemble Rasputina in 1991 as a way to meet like-minded girls - girls that wanted to rock out on the cello and wear fine costumery. The sound and visual concepts that began in Creager's Rasputina manifestos presaged and influenced movements and trends such as Modern Victorians, Steampunk, freak-folk, corsetry, and crafting. In 19 recordings, and countless public performances, Creager has led a 20 year exploration in cello amplification, recording, and performance.

LUIS MOJICA - piano, beat-boxing - Luis uses the piano to cast wild narrative spells. His eyes are that of an androgynous monk with rainbow tentacles. Luis loops words, chants, and sounds through a loop pedal AKA beatboxing, ‘Beat-Boxing Baroque’. Luis brings his musical madness to Rasputina today.

CARPELLA PARVO - cello, voice - Cello-fingers in flight and with the voice of a bird, Carpella is from another country, but keeps it a secret which one. She played on Rasputina's debut album, Thanks for the Ether (1996), then succumbed to the very condition from which she takes her name - carpal tunnel syndrome. Having healed over 20 years, Carpella jubilantly returns to Rasputina in the 21st century. From: https://first-avenue.com/performer/rasputina/

The Dirty Soul Revival - Can't Hurt Me Anymore

 #The Dirty Soul Revival #blues rock #hard rock #Southern rock #heavy blues rock #funk rock

Abraham Anderson, a.k.a. “Abraham Drinkin’,” tried writing songs since he was 20 years old and first picked up an acoustic guitar, but he could never seem to force the words out the way he wanted. Almost three years ago, they came tumbling out on their own, the frontman for The Dirty Soul Revival told The Daily Times this week. “I think I was trying too hard to write in this vein or that vein, but I was driving home from work one day about 2 and a half years ago, and this song just popped in my head, and it just kind of wrote itself,” he said. “It was about my wife, and ever since then, I don’t really try. Sometimes I’ll come up with an idea for a phrase I like if I’m listening to Charlie Patton or really old blues, and because I played banjo up until a few years ago and listened to a lot of old bluegrass, sometimes some ideas come out of that. I love old country, too — Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash — and the Allman Brothers, which is one of my favorite bands ever, so there’s a lot of variety. A lot of it is raunchy blues-rock, but there’s some funk, some country and some straight-up rock ‘n’ roll in there, too.”
Born and raised in Cushing, Oklahoma, Anderson started out playing banjo. He didn’t set out to pursue a career in music, but he wanted to play more bluegrass, and he wanted to get out of Oklahoma, which he describes as “ungodly hot in the summer,” and some friends suggested North Carolina. He headed east, destined for Raleigh, but when he stopped in Asheville, the temperature was a comfortable 70 degrees. “I just kind of fell in love with it; it’s beautiful, and I said, ‘I’m moving here,’” he said. “I’d never been east of Nashville, but I’ve always been fascinated by music from the South in general.”
That was in 2009; his wife, Jennifer “Trixie Laroux” Anderson, came with him, and with her on drums and him on guitar and growling and howling into the microphone, they began to shape what would become The Dirty Soul Revival into a musical force of nature. Imagine if one member of The Black Keys grew up out back of a rough-hewn juke joint back in the Mississippi pines and the other learned to play stomping barefoot on Smoky Mountain barn floors, and you’ll get an idea of what the band sounds like. It’s a successful romantic and musical partnership, Anderson said, that’s helped the two out-of-towners survive and thrive in the bustling Asheville scene.
“We first started dating about 15 years ago, and when I first met her, she was 14 and absolutely infatuated with the Beatles and Zeppelin and all this great rock from the ’60s and ’70s, and I wasn’t listening to anything like that,” he said. “She’s been into good music her whole life, and that really helps me a lot. It’s hard for me to say what kind of music I like, but I think the common denominator I find in everything I love is, for lack of a better term, soul. Not necessarily soul music, even though I love Otis Redding, but people singing something they believe in — something that’s more than just a song or a radio hit. It’s a part of them, and I just try to do the same thing. I sing and play what I feel, and hopefully some of that gets through. It’s just dirty and honest, and even though I may not technically be the best singer, if you get out there and belt it hard enough like you mean it, people will respond to it.”  From: https://www.thedailytimes.com/entertainment/up-and-coming-asheville-rockers-dirty-soul-revival-set-to-open-for-shooter-jennings/article_a91b755d-bab0-5e4d-b4bf-7282a8ba2213.html