Posting > Create > Title: Go
Time and again on this site, the continuity, fluidity and co-inky-dink amazes me. More than once I've found that my planned topic of the week falls neatly and accidentally into a pattern of the week. Right from the very first week when I wrote about Bobby Conn as the Anti-Christ which I didn't even plan as a Halloween dealy. Turns out, the anti-christ was the theme of the week sort of.
It didn't happen this week. The story I had in mind doesn't flow.* However, I am going to force the flow because several items from the past couple of weeks leads me to think about a not so obvious band but a fitting one anyway.
Which brings me to the Horsies of chorse. The Horsies was a short-lived gypsy-afro outfit out of Austin, Texas in the early nineties. They don't sound anything like the Pocket Fishrmen but that's what led me to the Horsies because they feature a mutual member who is now with Pong and also another band that Clay has informed me just wrote a song called churchbus which I can now add to my collection of two songs with the same title as the name of my band which is called Matthew Thurman just boarded the churchbus on the King's Highwayawayayix. Btw both churchbus songs happen to rock - is there a plan at work?
I don't want to talk too much about the Horsies even though they're good and you should listen to their songs...but I do want to talk about the continuity.
Okay people, pay attention, here is a colored flow chart in outline form and with arabic numerals.
1. A little, thankfully a very little, was made here on NAP recently about the mostly imaginary rivalry between the Houston and Austin rock scenes. Two things that seem to upset folks about the Austin scene are ...
a) Austiniacs are so happy, content well-off, and just having fun fun fun, and being white. Austin's just a playland and Austinaggots aren't aware that their righteousness is a front for escapism.
b) Austifreeks are sucked into the biz trying to "make it" and being hip and not being real.
Regarding number "a" the Horsies could be guilty of slackerdom afterall their theme song is all about running wild and free; and includes the line "we don't want to work we just want to have fun" (a theme echoed in song by another Austin band, the great Brown Whornet, and also by Todd Rundgren) but this theme is tempered by other very serious and difficult to understand themes and just plain good musicianship.
Regarding number "b" well the Horsies prove the point that there are a great many musicians in Austin who are not all about the biz but about making their community interesting and fortunately there are plenty of musicians around to make all kinds of weird little projects with a high percentage of them being more interesting than the average band. If you work at something long enough you will fail less. There. Now that you have something good to share go and tell that to your kids.
2. Heidi wrote of the Clarinets and that made me think of the Horsies. The defining instruments of the Horsies might be clarinet and accordion (which also might turn a few people off to checking out these tunes) but for my money it's all about Bill Anderson's noodling guitar work. Bill Anderson is a great under-sung hero but he doesn't go unnoticed by his peers - his resume includes Poison 13, the Meat Purveyors, Hand of Glory, Bigfoot Chester, Daniel Johnston, Neko Case, and Jon Langford to name a few that the Austin Chronicle listed in the link I just gave you.
3. John recently wrote about the long hair. Long Hair is also a tough little Horsies tune about confusing a long haired touch-sensitive dude for a girl...all tonque in cheek I'm sure.
4. Politics and music. Jon Langford once said that music doesn't persuade people politically rather people of similar tastes flock to similar tunes. That may be true for the most part but the Horsies' Noam Chomsky was where I first heard of Noam Chomsky and I robotically went and looked up his stuff after hearing this tune.
So. Check it out.
The Horsies
Long Hair Man.mp3
Noam Chomsky.mp3
and Finally. This ain't the Horsies but it is damn timely to this site! I've got a prize (really I do) for the person who comes up with the most "recent NAP" references pertaining to this song. I can think of three good ones and you have to hit those three at least to win the prize. They're easy really and you've got until my next post to enter. Just leave your guesses on John's last post.
St. John of Gods.mp3
P.S. As will now become "per usual," these mp3's will be available for one week.
*actually I thought of the Horsies theme before John brought out the "horses whine" point in his last comment so I'm still good on the flow.
It didn't happen this week. The story I had in mind doesn't flow.* However, I am going to force the flow because several items from the past couple of weeks leads me to think about a not so obvious band but a fitting one anyway.
Which brings me to the Horsies of chorse. The Horsies was a short-lived gypsy-afro outfit out of Austin, Texas in the early nineties. They don't sound anything like the Pocket Fishrmen but that's what led me to the Horsies because they feature a mutual member who is now with Pong and also another band that Clay has informed me just wrote a song called churchbus which I can now add to my collection of two songs with the same title as the name of my band which is called Matthew Thurman just boarded the churchbus on the King's Highwayawayayix. Btw both churchbus songs happen to rock - is there a plan at work?
I don't want to talk too much about the Horsies even though they're good and you should listen to their songs...but I do want to talk about the continuity.
Okay people, pay attention, here is a colored flow chart in outline form and with arabic numerals.
1. A little, thankfully a very little, was made here on NAP recently about the mostly imaginary rivalry between the Houston and Austin rock scenes. Two things that seem to upset folks about the Austin scene are ...
a) Austiniacs are so happy, content well-off, and just having fun fun fun, and being white. Austin's just a playland and Austinaggots aren't aware that their righteousness is a front for escapism.
b) Austifreeks are sucked into the biz trying to "make it" and being hip and not being real.
Regarding number "a" the Horsies could be guilty of slackerdom afterall their theme song is all about running wild and free; and includes the line "we don't want to work we just want to have fun" (a theme echoed in song by another Austin band, the great Brown Whornet, and also by Todd Rundgren) but this theme is tempered by other very serious and difficult to understand themes and just plain good musicianship.
Regarding number "b" well the Horsies prove the point that there are a great many musicians in Austin who are not all about the biz but about making their community interesting and fortunately there are plenty of musicians around to make all kinds of weird little projects with a high percentage of them being more interesting than the average band. If you work at something long enough you will fail less. There. Now that you have something good to share go and tell that to your kids.
2. Heidi wrote of the Clarinets and that made me think of the Horsies. The defining instruments of the Horsies might be clarinet and accordion (which also might turn a few people off to checking out these tunes) but for my money it's all about Bill Anderson's noodling guitar work. Bill Anderson is a great under-sung hero but he doesn't go unnoticed by his peers - his resume includes Poison 13, the Meat Purveyors, Hand of Glory, Bigfoot Chester, Daniel Johnston, Neko Case, and Jon Langford to name a few that the Austin Chronicle listed in the link I just gave you.
3. John recently wrote about the long hair. Long Hair is also a tough little Horsies tune about confusing a long haired touch-sensitive dude for a girl...all tonque in cheek I'm sure.
4. Politics and music. Jon Langford once said that music doesn't persuade people politically rather people of similar tastes flock to similar tunes. That may be true for the most part but the Horsies' Noam Chomsky was where I first heard of Noam Chomsky and I robotically went and looked up his stuff after hearing this tune.
So. Check it out.
The Horsies
Long Hair Man.mp3
Noam Chomsky.mp3
and Finally. This ain't the Horsies but it is damn timely to this site! I've got a prize (really I do) for the person who comes up with the most "recent NAP" references pertaining to this song. I can think of three good ones and you have to hit those three at least to win the prize. They're easy really and you've got until my next post to enter. Just leave your guesses on John's last post.
St. John of Gods.mp3
P.S. As will now become "per usual," these mp3's will be available for one week.
*actually I thought of the Horsies theme before John brought out the "horses whine" point in his last comment so I'm still good on the flow.
23 Comments:
Indeed...if there's going to be a band named after me, then the songs should rock...have you cats ever done a cover of "Date To Church" by the Replacements? I think it might be right up your alley, Kilian. It's got a really nice potential for audience participation as a sort of gospel choir type experience. Anyway...see, Kilian and I have this sort of unspoken connection...I was hot in the bother for one of his roomates once, but she had a boyfriend who smoked a helluva lotta pot, and desperately wanted to be a "professional sportscaster". Nonetheless, on that fateful night when I left the rock and roll behind...Kilian was right there...in fact, he played first. Tons of people were coming up to me and saying "C'mon Matthew...don't quit the band...the bullshit will blow over, just kiss and make up" and Kilian strode forth and calmly muttered "No, QUIT". I always loved that.
A rivalry has to have two sides. I guarantee you Houston is hardly on the thoughts of people in Austin.
Secondly, I actually like a lot of Austin bands. My issue is people who view it as this oasis of music in an otherwise barren state. Geez, this is Texas which is a pretty vast state [ Ornette Coleman, Buddy Holly, the Flatlanders, and yes even Barry White didn't come out of Austin. ] Sure Austin, NYC, and LA will have more people flock there and thus have more bands per capita and thus a bigger musical community but that doesn't mean that things don't happen elsewhere.
That's always been my beef - people with a grass is always greener view of music instead of makign something.
Oh man. I was reading along, thinking "The Horsies? I HATE that fucking Chomsky song" and then you posted the Chomsky song. How's that for co-inky-dink? So here is a short list--with arabic numerals--of reasons why I hate that song:
1. If you're going appropriate a style--in this case mambo--do it right. Don't sound like some undergraduate in his dorm room trying to keep the noise level low so he doesn't piss off the girls in the room on the other side of the wall.
2. Chomsky is a lame topic for a song. It just screams "serious undergraduate philosopher type." You talk about Chomsky when you're trying to impress other undergraduate philosopher types of the female persuasion. So what I'm saying is that the girls on the other side of the wall must have been pretty hot.
3. What does Chomsky have to do with mambo?
We were all undergrads once Uncle Grumpy. Could we leave the grump in yesterday? Anyway if you're still feeling grumpy why don't you listen to St. John of Gods (linked from post) and imagine I'm singing it to you.
I personally never really got the whole rivalry thing, and that may be mostly due to the fact Ramon brought up: that of Austin not being in it. Who cares about Austin? If bands do well there, great. That's a good thing. If we think we don't get enough due, change it. Hands Up Houston brought an assload of bands here because they cared and they tried. I may not have always been down with the pow-wow, but that's not really relevant either. It's not really that big a deal. Do you guys really want to claim to be the home of Edie Brickell? That's what I thought.
Edie Brickell's from Dallas if I recall correctly. A betterone would be "Do You want to be the home of Christopher Cross" whcih if memeory serves correctly is from Austin.
I got bored living in the city of Enron, Bush and the fattest people in America (depending on the year) so I moved to the city of Arthur Andersen, Rumsfeld and the fattest people in America (depending on the year).
What Austin has going for it that Houston doesn't and VICE VERSA (depending on what kind of inspiration/obstacles you need to thrive), is that the music venues in Austin are all located in a pretty tight area. You could ride your bike from show to show without getting killed by someone... most of the time. (R.I.P. Handsome Joel) The proximity of venues, allows for more exposure even if by default alone.
I haven't had time to check out links and stuff yet Kilian. Since you like the stories of my location, I'll tell you that Alot of villages on the Aleutian Peninsula suffered winds in excess of 130 mph last night. Alot of structural damage etc. We are in the process of organizing an aid shipment of supplies. Also, been busy at the clinic, which is what happens when my only co-worker leaves town. but I'll be back, baby!
I had a dream that I pulled all of my hair out.. Kind of like how hairs on an artichoke just fall away in clumps when tugged. What does that mean?
In Austin you also have a lot of youthful minded people who can somehow manage playing in sixty eight bands at one time.
Damn, that's really something. 130 mph winds. That's worse than a hurricane ain't it?
It's been really really cold here. You know what's nice on a cold Chicago day? The YMCA Steam Room. Now. Try and spare me the gay jokes.
Moods good too with dem Bears going over der by the superbowls. Go Bears.
Oh yeah Matthew I meant to tell you, I'll look into that "Date to Church" song. The Replacements makes me think of Minneapolis. Lots of folks from there around here and so a lot of Replacements fans. It's a really cool town, I mean to get back there more than once this year.
The chief distinguishing characteristic of serious undergraduate philosophy types is large amounds of body hair. From what I could tell back when I was one, that went for the girls too.
I left all that behind, though, and became a Unix Systems Administrator. We are known for our immaculate grooming.
" From what I could tell back when I was one, that went for the girls too."
I thought you meant one years old.
I was an undergraduate philosophy major, and I'm a pretty hairy guy. But until now I didn't know it was actually a correlation. But it adds a data point.
What a co-inky-dink cuz I was briefly a philosophy major and still totally hairy. My first philosophy instructor was a priest. He learned me something especially about St. Thomas Aquinas but I came to think that dogma and "Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods" don't mix.
This one's for Charlie Naked. Here is what playing to nobody and sticking to your guns can get you.
I don't follow. I saw the Boredoms in the early 90s and the place was packed to the gills. You could hardly say they were playing to nobody.
Also, they were awesome.
Well yes Justin - I think the playing to nobody part was when they started doing their thing about a zillion years ago.
Hey thanks Kilian! I could only aspire to those heights seemingly in vain... but damn, I have to agree with that reviewer's assessment in terms of his absolute love of Super AE and Vision Creation Newsun... those two are just powerhouse, and really awesome examples of non-German modern Krautrock...
Well, mentally I am probably only about 12, so I'll split the difference with you.
Kilian,
Why is "recent NAP" in quotation marks? And which song? the long haired song?
EM - "Recent NAP" meaning stuff posted on NAP recently. No not Long Hair Man. The song is called St. John of Gods.
I'm sorry that Austin and Houston are rivals, if they worked together maybe they could create something special. They should build a high speed friendship railroad to connect the two cities. This would enable Austinites to more easily play music in Houston and vice versa. Geographical rivalries are very 1900s anyways. Like how Yale was rivals with Harvard and everybody wore those Yale turtlenecks and Harvard sweaters. I like houston better. They have the Rothko Chapel. Austin does not have the Rothko Chapel.
Chris - dude you are so gonna start an abstract expressionist vs outsider art feud to put the Haskells-Mccoy thing to shame. The Menil-Biscuit Turner Feud to end all feuds.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home