Reviews – Part Chimp * Graustark * Forgotten Guitars of Mozambique * Kristin Hersh * Derek Bailey * Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends * Townes Van Zandt

Part Chimp – Cup – Monitor Records
Rating:

The new collection of Part Chip’s singles and rarities is just the kind of fix we need between albums here in the states. If you grabbed a copy of “I am Come” last year, you already now know that Part Chimp are the kind of band that climb into the ring with no other intention but to simply hit you hard with everything they’ve got for as long as they can until you are nothing more than a withering mass of flesh and blood on the floor. The first track “Bring Back the Sound” is a of chaotic driving swirl of noise and energy with the drums, bass and the vocals trying to push it as far as they can as the uncontrollable guitars race off the cliff or self-immolation. And by they way, is it me, or does “Crash The Octave” evoke Live Skull at their most noisy and powerful. The bass is fat and distorted, the drums sound like machinery, and the guitars cascade with noise as the vocals try desperately to be heard above the din. I’m just glad someone is still making music for heavy industrial equipment. The album goes on and on like this, so to continue track-by-track would be redundant. What you simply need to know that by missing out on Part Chimp you are missing one of the biggest, heaviest, and unstoppable forces in music today and being a singles collection, this may be the best place to start getting back to your inner chimp.

Links:
Monitor Records
Part Chimp

Graustark –
Live 2.10.07 Demonstrations Field Recordings
- Hidden Depth
Rating:

Oh fuck! I hate Graustark! You know why? Because it’s another Will Freed band. You know what that means? He and Bill Lambert will hit the ground running, play some amazing mind bending music, trudge up that mountain dragging you along, and, just when you think they are going to reach the peak of their infinite-potential, Freed will cut the rope and disband the group. Frikkin drives me crazy!!! You hear Crazy!!!!

Well, for the time being, here is this latest soon-to-implode brilliance where Freed has the balls to play in a guitar/drum Texas Psych Duo! The drummer here (Lambert) is one of the best and most original drummers in Houston and I’ve never heard a band that takes as much advantage of what he can so with the kit that this band. So, yes, I’m happy to report that they deliver in spades all the brain melting awesomeness that the Texas Psych genre promises. The first track alone is just…well fuck.. from the get-go, I tells ya! Freed’s guitar lays down this loop, Lambert’s drums sneak in on you, and it’s like watching one of those old film of Jackson Pollock at work. The rest of the album pretty much is just as great though admittedly some take a bit longer to gel, but once they do – LORDY!

It’s not easy for rockers to improvise and make it work but these fuckers know how to do it. So check them out while you can fuckers because, if history’s any guide, this band’s carcass soon will be found next to a shotgun with a note of Haiku reading

We are out of here.
We rocked – possibly too much.
You Missed out, Pussy!

Links:
http://www.myspace.com/graustark

Various -Forgotten Guitars of Mozambique 1955 ’56 ’57 Hidden Depth – SWP Records
Rating:

Stumbling upon Feliciano Gomes’ Wukati Lakukawa Hinenge is one of those moments any person who loves music just adores. It’s familiar guitar riffing coupled with Gomes’ exotic, clever, and playful vocals is just simply one of those things that demand your attention. I just love how he establishes this amazing slithering groove with just vocals, a simple riff, and a knock out melody. I can only equate it to the first time my ears confronted Tom Ze’. You want to know why I stopped listening to pop radio? This is it right here. I can pop on The Buzz for a year and never hear anything that approaches the pop literacy of this one song.

The rest of the album is pretty great too. I get a kick out of Aurelio Kowano & Alberto Funali whose guitars you’d swear were channeling mariachis. Then when they play this crazy “horn” – what ever the fuck they are doing – oh, it’s just incredible. You simply have to hear this to believe how nutters it is. And I don’t mean nutters in a condescending way but I mean that as in just pure unleashed joyfulness of it all. Really I’m just glad that SWP has reissued this series.

This series, by the way, is a series of recording done by Hugh Tracey who is an African equivalent to our Alan Lomax and Harry Smith. His International Library of African Music is still around today and you should follow the link below and check out what they do and read Tracey’s profile – simply brilliant. It’s simply incredible that this music like this is still largely unknown these days given it’s power. Mercifully, there have always always people like Tracey who see the high art in the common and, because of their diligence, we are all the better for it.

Links:
SWP Records
International Library of African Music

Kristin Hersh -Learn To Sing Like A Star – Yep Rock
Rating:

For the last few years Kristin Hersh has been making some great and criminally under-appreciated rock (and I mean R-O-C-K!!!) albums with 50 Foot Wave – a band that plays music like a young boxer ready to show his stuff to the world no matter how big the opponent.

With “Learn to Sing…” Hersh doesn’t have the kinetic energy of that configuration but I don’t think that is really the point as she doesn’t seem to be trying to prove anything. This is a much more intimate a recording with just her and her guitar accompanied by drums and strings. Call it a demo for her fans: it’s a slight work but there are some great songs in here. “Vertigo” for example is just lovely. Hersh’s guitar picking waltzes around the melody while the vocals and strings circle around. It’s great stuff and surely benefits from the intimacy. “Winter” has a wonderful undertow of urgency just under the waves of pounding drums and swirl of guitars and strings that Hersh’s vocals manage to keep in check which shows just how heavy you can be without having to resort to a 100 watt Marshall cranked at 11. It’s some smart and sharp songwriting and arranging which is why Hersh has been and still is such an admirable artist.

Links:
throwingmusic.com
Yep Roc Records

Derek Bailey – Improvisation – Apostrophe
Rating:

Well, here’s one that defies description. This is total guitar geek shit and if you don’t want to hear a guy pluck, ring, and twiddle around a guitar neck, part of me seriously would love to trick you into sitting down with this album. For me the reason I love this record is just the way Bailey plays the guitar here is so conversational. To me, listening to this is like someone telling a really good story and my just sitting back and taking it in. I know that’s I should be giving some geeky post-modern interpretation here where I grab the Thesaurus and go for it but to me this is just an album that says put on the headphones, turn off the TV, and listen (yes, it really does sound better on headphones). I’ll leave it at that. If this video footage of Bailey on guitar (mind you the sound quality is crap) leaves you wanting more then this is your bag. Otherwise, just be glad Mike Gunn and Mourbebong are long gone otherwise I’d make you “partake” and try to make you listen again.

Links:
Derek Bailey on Wikipedia

Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends- S/T – Sundazed Records
Rating:

Oh fuck I love this album. It’s totally trashy. The Late Lord Sutch was an amusing fellow (see the link below) but he was a terrible singer and his lyrics weren’t far behind. Despite this, you know what? This is a great album. Well fuck! If you had Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Noel Redding, Jeff Beck, and Nicky Hopkins as your studio band in 1969 you’d fucking kick ass too. Really, it’s like Led Zeppelin had a train wreck with Garage Rock! It’s like the fun of a high school party at where everyone is under age and everyone (including you) are too stupid to know any better.

“Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends” is one of those albums that if you’ve known me over the years you’ve likely heard me mention it as some long lost vital artifact. In fact, this album was part of Clinton Heider’s older brother’s 60s albums – a small stack of LPs but somehow one of the most memorable. I loved that album and I later ran into a copy which I purchased for my own but that was quickly lost. I’d long given up on finding the album when I noticed that it had been re-issued thanks to an Ugly Things magazine review. Thankfully Sundazed (love that label) has done a loving LP reissue and, if Ugly Things is to be believed (and I think they are), this is the only version you want to purchase.* Anyhow, that led to my hassling the Sound Ex guys to order it for me and now sitting in front of me is this album – just as stupid, just as trashy, and just as fun as I remember it. Rock and Roll thy name is Sutch.

* Ugly Things suggests that the CD re-issue is a somewhat shoddily put together project when compared to the LP and attributes the difference to Sundazed giving a shit about quality.

Links:
Lord Sutch Wikipedia article
Sundazed Records
Ugly Things

Townes Van Zandt – Rear View Mirror – Sundown Records

My first interaction with Townes Van Zandt was listening to one of his 70s studio albums. That was somewhat of a turn-off for me for quite a long time but, as a result of two unrelated discussion with Eat Grapes and Suzy that somehow curved towards TWZ in the same week, I recently went ahead, and gave him a second shot.

The first thing I sampled on E-music was, sure enough, some overproduced 70s album but then I caught 30 seconds of this album and went ahead and downloaded the whole album and to my surprise I’ve been spinning this gem all week. Much like John Cale’s brilliant Fragments of a Rainy Season the performance here is an intimate one that shakes off the baroque production that clutters many a 70s album and lets the songs and the performer shine. Really, I can think of no better introduction to Van Zandt than this performance. [OK one small complaint people in the audience saying things like "Awwright!" when they recognize their favorite song - uhhh no.]

Just take White Freight Line Blues the guitar, violin, and Van Zandt’s vocal performance are limber, playful, and simply joyful. When he sings the high note on “Well there’s bad news from Houston half my friends are dyyyyyyying.” I….Oh man, fuck this..I gotta get me a Lone Star and do me some stoop sittin’!

Links:
Townes Van Zandt Central

Postscript: Shit I was going to review the Eat Grapes CD but I left it at work. It’s pretty cool and surprisingly focuses more on the tape collages than the folk singing which is unexpected but kind of cool. I’m just just got the new Andrew Bird and it’s pretty nice but I’ve not had enough time to really sit down with it to write a review but it’s pretty nice so far. So I figure that’s enough for now.

David Thomas (Pere Ubu): So good my head is going to explode!

Dave Thomas (Wendy’s): Pretty tasty.

Dave Thomas (SCTV): Oh My fucking God! What happened to these guys!
*Reserved for bands that at one time were great.

Celine Dion: Hey, more power to the artist and the fans but leave us out of it.

Nickelback Dude: So bad that I’m only reserving it for the worst of the worst; I mean, come on, we’re talking sucking worse than Celine Dion.

Generally speaking you won’t see me reviewing many things that deserve “Celine Dion” or “Nickelback Dude” status as I’d rather review stuff I like and want you to hear. Lastly, I ain’t going to link to any particular record store as we’d rather you support your own local independent record store.