The case of the Vanishing Verger...
Sometimes being human is simply not appropriate... after a good day at the office the Church of England acts quickly to cover up any exuberance ;-)
P
BLACK MEKON iS YR DADDY!
BLACK MEKON @ Facebook // Cold Rice Records
Via their record company---> About Black Mekon:
These two vicious bastards (Black Mekon and his brother Black Mekon) were named after the legendary Black Mekong, illegitimate children of prostitutes visited by missionary preachers, abandoned to fend for themselves on the banks of The Mekong River.
These two vicious bastards (Black Mekon and his brother Black Mekon) were named after the legendary Black Mekong, illegitimate children of prostitutes visited by missionary preachers, abandoned to fend for themselves on the banks of The Mekong River.
Raised in a whorehouse by drunk dockworkers in a town called Christ's Gasoline, they were born with only one arm between them and grew up selling sand to sailors and wrestling vermin and wives for the amusement of the locals. The rest of their upbringing is steeped in myth and told mostly in sea shanties, according to legend they escaped on a raft made of old Cramps and Doo Rag 45s using John Lee Hooker and Pussy Galore vinyl to paddle themselves to more familiar shores.
Somewhere along the line they acquired 3 more arms, a gypsy curse, drumsticks and a guitar, and ran into a fellow bluesman on the lam, Stunt Pussy, who agreed to help them whenever they needed to sing for their supper.
The live show? Blistering in-the-red punk blues, their travelling club (The Tight Pussy) has graced shores all over Europe and the US, 2 successful tours of South America and has designs on planting itself firmly in your lap next.
"We do not sing tales for tales sake, we can only approach this at 300mph with no regard for personal safety or truth. Your party needs us, as every good party does, for insecurity, tightrope-ing and hot lava. Black Mekon is your daddy, baby."
CHAD NORDHOFF :: He Got It!
Maybe not be he's awful damn close. Which may mean nothing to you but stands for all around quality in my book. Like Reed, Nordhoff is as strong a songwriter ( seven of the ten tracks on Good Work, If You Can Get It are self-penned ) as he is a picker. Nordhoff plays and sings with the ease, strength and confidence that set Reed's work apart. Country blues seems to be kind of a dying art these days but don't tell Chad. Nordhoff personifies what I hear in my mind when I think of a classic Memphis sound, his adopted home. Part Blues, part Country, a breath of the gospel, and a soulful hunka burnin' Elvis with a dangerous sense of humor that'll cut you if do him wrong. Chad Nordhoff is a natural and potent performer and it takes his kind of seemingly effortless talent to make you forget his covers of Haggard's Workin' Man Blues and Muddy Water's Just Can't Be Satisfied are in fact covers. Recorded and mixed at Sun Studios in one four hour go 'round, Good Work If You Can Get It represents a man confident in his skills and comfortable in his delivery, and able to throw it down.
I'd betcha ol'Jerry Reed would say "Show 'em, son!"
Mr. Nordhoff is kind enough to let you steal these three unreleased tracks from his Sun Records sessions.
Least you can do is friend him and say Thanks like yr mama taught you.
Chad sez these tracks are:
"Howlin' for my Darlin'" - Willie Dixon mp3
"Train Fare Blues" - Muddy (sort of) mp3
"Walkin' Blues" - Robert Johnson perhaps mp3
Send Chad yr money.
He'll send you a CD.
Chad Nordhoff @ Facebook // ReverbNation
Ponytail have been a group notorious for their energetic live performance, & maybe equally for recordings that fail to capture this intensity. Well, I think "Honey Touches" may serve to dispel some of that. The track, taken from the group's newest LP Do Whatever You Want All The Time, is a tour de force that showcases the group's great songwriting abilities while also tapping into their frenetic playing abilities.
I'll admit I'm not sure I really got this group until recently though. The track sees guitars intertwine in & out of themselves, while quick ADD-laden vocals flow throughout. The video was directed by Bill Benz & Mike Giambra respectively. Make sure to check out Ponytail's Do Whatever You Want, which is available now via the fine folks at We Are Free.
Archbishop Rowan busts a move...
Another advert and although it's a rip-off of the famous original YouTube wedding entrance video still made me laugh! Plus I used to live in E17... and we will get a holy day...
P (h/t Pat Kirby)
Moon Duo have just released their newest full-length Mazes via Sacred Bones and it is a scorcher of post-Spacemen 3 minimalist psych rock. For those of you familiar with Moon Duo I'm sure this came as now surprise, but maybe the fact that to honor the release Sonic Boom (of you guessed it the almighty Spacemen 3 among fantastic projects), Psychic Ills, Gary War, & Purling Hiss have all contributed remixes of tracks off of Mazes.
While above you'll find, or found, a video for Sonic Boom's remix sees slight alterations to the original. Yet upon further listens, separates itself from the original, some more wombly atmosphere here & accent there, all set to some retro vacation footage layered upon itself. Pretty rad, and definitely worth checking out.
After a few listens to her self-released cassette The Glitter End I realized that Diva can actually write some terrific songs! Poking through all the synth squiggles, some unbelievable hypnogogic pink floyd moment, & drum samples appear some great songs.
You can buy the album from Diva's bandcamp or a cassette straight from the artist. Did I mention you can choose your own price for the download?
NUMINA lente is a three-day music + performance festival which aims to explore the speed of perception + the experience of other. Assembling an international array of artists operating outside conventionally accepted or defined genres, these shows will offer New York audiences a unique opportunity to glimpse into unseen worlds.
The series presents a mix of groundbreaking artists, both obscure & established. The highlight show for us here is the friday show featuring longtime collaborators Charlamagne Palestine & Tony Conrad in together again. Some may remember the duo most recent release Aural Symbiotic Mystery, released on Sub Rosa in 2006, which paired Palestine's sweeping piano patterns with Conrad's steady violin playing. The night will also see Bill Orcutt hit the stage, which is a real treat as his recent solo work has left a lot of people scratching their heads at its beauty. I wish I knew about his one sooner as it's sounds great.
Both 3 night passes & single night tickets are still available from the website & of course at the door. Also there's a facebook page for the shows, if you do that sort of thing
Touch Wood, Joy Of Man's Desiring...
Clearly the profits mobile / cellphone companies make are still excessive enough to employ an agency to build this unique gravity driven installation to play J S Bach's Cantata BWV 147 more popularly known as 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring'.
Once more, with feeling?!
PB (h/t The Wedlocks)
The last few nights over here have been rad. MV & EE were in town with Mick Flower (Vibracathedral Orchestra, Flower-Corsano) in tow bringing some positive vibes and getting this spring off to a great start. Last Nights was proud to present the trio along with Spectre Folk, Images, & Jefferson High at Death By Audio (Brooklyn, NY) Friday (4/8) night, and hey what would you know It was a lot of fun and we'd like to thank everyone involved MV & EE, Mick Flower, Pete & Pete from Spectre Folk, Edan at DBA, Jared Jolly for making the rad flyer, & everyone who came out!
Make sure to check the trio out on the rest of their April Flower Tour. Last Nights will also be doing some other rad shows in the future so keep your eyes open.
When Goldie met Prince (Harry)...
Caught the final edition of this excellent three part series fronted by drums n bass artist Goldie which gives a seriously fresh look at music in Britain today. Whilst all the young musicians were linked by sharing various challenges in their lives, the synergy as the band gels together to play their own material with such diverse cultural styles and in front of Prince Harry at Buck House was truly inspiring.
In addition to the band's journey, with realistically forthright criticism at the hands of their mentors, which included producer Guy Chambers (who co-wrote the Robbie Williams anthem 'Angels'), Soweto Kinch, Cerys Matthews and Ms Dynamite-eee, there were some stunning individual performances too. The really engaging aspect was the authenticity of the writing and composition styles ranging from classical music and musical story telling to, frankly, painful autobiographical disclosures.
There are a few days to watch again using the BBC iPlayer, give yourself a treat!
PB
Ethan Daniel Davidson- Ghosts of Mississippi
I posted this track a long time ago but i've been listening to it a bunch lately and thought I should remind you of it. In the song, Davidson, a jewish/native american singer-songwriter, tells the story of traveling to Mississippi in the hope of finding a gig. Ends up at Thompson Grocery / Juke Joint in Bobo, Missisippi.The story presented is backed by a sample from R.L. Burnside. Dig it:
HUSKY BURNETTE in Saint Augustine @ Ann O'Malley's
Got to see Husky Burnette and his drummer Tony Jones play the tiny Ann O'Malley's tavern this week.
Terrific show and the staff at Ann O'Malley's treat musicians right. I encourage all my musician pals to give 'em a holler when they head to FL. Husky plays all out/full on hard blues and I pity the fool that missed the show.
Here's a short video shot by photographer Dan Florez.
Dan's camera mic seems a little janky but you'll get the idea:
LEFT LANE CRUiSER - junkyard speedball kills!
I don't know if Brenn and Joe have been in the tour van gettin' Experienced and listening to old worn out tapes of Skynyrd
and early Nugent, Let It Bleed
-era Stones or maybe even Cursed Diamond by Black Crowes or what, but something has sparked a change...a sonic expansion...a deepening of the thing that is LLC. And i'm loving it. It's heavier, thicker and more soulful than previous work, yet still the utterly righteous, filthy and holy Fat Possum t-shirt rockin', worn down boot stompin' blues of Left Lane Cruiser we know and love. Detroit producer Jim Diamond (The Dirt Bombs, White Stripes, James Leg) buffed the LLC blast to a classic, afferent, and massive arena rock luster while keeping the Indiana dust and diamond grit and road patina intact. Certainly a modicum of credit for that vibe also goes to the addition of the Muscle Shoals organ of James Leg (Black Diamond Heavies
) on four tracks. Brother (and label mate) Leg adds a whole new dimension to the LLC's stomp and pound sound and as a result, Joe's slide work has never been more moving. I'm guessing that's a direct result of playing off of James Leg's Church of Allman keys work. Brenn's always been a thrilling and totally committed drummer, the type of dude who'd pound 'til he kicked if it served the song. But, as with Joe there is an extra deep swing this time out. Not to suggest that LLC lacked any of this previously, they've always been a very tight, sexy wicked dirty blues infected beast, a three headed blues hydra, if you will. Left Lane Cruiser's musical growth and expansion, conjoined with a Hi-er-Fi'd production, and a hard thoughtful attack bring all elements together to cause the stars to align and explode all over Junkyard Speed Ball. GET iT!File Under: Ass Pocket of Feel Good Hit Of The Summer (so far).
Left Lane Cruiser @ Alive Records // Facebook // MySpace // iTunes // Amazon
OLD GRAY MULE in Living Blues Magazine
Cool to see Old Gray Mule get a positive review in Living Blues Magazine!
Listen & snag their disc from CDbaby.
Listen & snag their disc from CDbaby.
Friday April, 8th
$7 :: 8pm
Death By Audio (49 S. 2nd Street)
--------------------------
After kicking off the last Nights blog & organizing Silk Flowers record release party this past February (That long ago already!), I was thinking of who to ask for the next show. As luck would have it one of Last Nights favorites MV & EE were going on tour in the spring, that is it begins today Monday 4/4/11!
Throughout their career MV & EE have released countless albums through the likes of Ecstatic Peace, Time-Lag, not even to mention their own label(s) Child Of Microtones & Heroine Celestial Agriculture. All the while brewing the most own unique take folk & psych-rock out there. They'll be touring around their new LP coming out on Three Lobed/Blatant Obviousness this May. The appropriately titled, Country Stash sees the duo in full band action accompanied by a great cast that includes Mick Flower, Jeremy Earl (of Woods), among others. The album finds them in familiar territory once again, yet this time a little more fermentation has resulted in a great batch of tunes begging to be heard.
They'll be accompanied by Mick Flower on this tour which they've dubbed the April Flower Tour. Mick Flower, who hails from the UK, is a fantastic musician whose work deserves some mentioning in its own right. Readers may be familiar with his work in Vibracathedral Orchestra, or his own solo material as Michael Flower, to name just a few of the projects he's been involved with.
Spectre Folk also graciously agreed to play making this one a dual headliner of sorts. The group, Pete Nolan's (of Magik Markers) solo project, have just released The Blackest Medicine Vol. II on Jeremy Earl's Woodsist records. With a full band in tow (that includes members of Sonic Youth & Tall Firs) Nolan's tunes are more upbeat & melodic than ever. There is definitely a classic country-psych vibe to the while ordeal. I saw them at their 1st record release show the other day & can attest to the live prowess of this group right now. I think that make this show Spectre Folk's Record Release Vol. II. Can't wait
Images will also be playing this evening. The NY duo have been busy recently releasing an ep "The 60's Sound" through Last Nights & have been announced to play the Creepy Teepee Festival at the GASK Museum of Fine Arts, in the Czech Republic (along with Liars, R. Stevie Moore, & Xiu Xiu to name a few). People tend to say stuff like psych-drone & mention something about tribal drumming & layered guitar noise. But really there are some golden pop moments, which will be showcased on their next release due out this fall.
While finally Jefferson High will rounding out the evening. A three piece group that have a driving rock approach wrapped inside some retro doo-wop sheen. The group have recently released an album through their American Buffalo Recordings.
Hopefully we'll be seeing you!
-Last Nights
GUADALUPE PLATA!
I spieled about these guys awhile back and at the time I referred to them as "Creepy Hi-LO-Fi swampy espanafied punkass monster blues." Ain't a damn thing changed. A pal in the UK went ape for them recently ( thx HJ! ) so I thought i'd see what's up. Guadalupe Plata just played SXSW for one thing, where Austin Music Source said:
From: Andalucia, Spain. In 50 words or less: Like the Cramps, only more into Delta blues than Memphis rockabilly, this Spanish group is looking to trash Austin out.
Could share a bill with: Flametrick Subs, Dax Riggs, Gories
Produced by: Former Austinite Mike Mariconda, who’s been working with bands in Spain the past four years.
Sadly, I don't do spanish but their Bandcamp page says (and I know you'll get the jist):
Puede que sea su capacidad para generar sensaciones, algo que cualquiera que haya asistido a uno de sus conciertos habrá experimentado. Es esa mezcla de tensión, hipnosis, obsesión y sexualidad contenida que se te clava hasta el colon. Un collage sonoro construido con parches arañados de la cara pantanosa del Rock & Roll: Hound Dog Taylor, Billy Childish, Captain Beefheart, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins… Aunque no les basta con explotar sus cualidades revisionistas, también ponen de su parte explorando guiños propios de la tierra en la que crecieron (sus letras delatan una tradición).
“Su único pecado es la fidelidad a un género que se quiebra entre guiños de chulería rural y espasmos de blues resacoso”, publicaba la revista Ruta 66 hace casi un año a la espera del lanzamiento de su primer disco largo.
.“Su único pecado es la fidelidad a un género que se quiebra entre guiños de chulería rural y espasmos de blues resacoso”, publicaba la revista Ruta 66 hace casi un año a la espera del lanzamiento de su primer disco largo.
Download The Ep and New LP FREE! @ Bandcamp then friend them @ Facebook // MySpace
A nod of the noggin' to Chris "Wisconsin" Johnson for hipping me to these kids in the first place!
Excepter have reissued, if that's even the right word, a collection of classic tracks from the band titled OD. The album is composed of "early versions" of tracks that appeared on the albums Throne & Alternation (a Last Nights favorite) & has been released today (4/1/11).The lengthiest track in the collection Heart Beat / Rock Stepper showcases some classic Excepter moves. During Heart Beat synths soar throughout the mix, weaving undecipherable vocal snippets throughout. That is until a loose rendition of Rock Stepper begins to make its way around the 11 minute mark. Offering some considerably different lyric content & vocal arrangements. That is exactly what you can expect from OD though, a great glimpse into the always diverse nature of Excepter.
It's very good indeed to hear some positive news for this band after the untimely passing of member Clare Amory. Hopefully time will allow the group to return to live performances in the future. A digital version of the release can be found on the group's Bandcamp site & is released through Excepter Records.
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curated by am 180 collective
Everyone over here at Last Nights is pretty excited to announce that Images will be playing the Creepy Teepee Festival 2011, held at GASK Czech Museum of Fine Arts. We'll be joining the already star studded lineup of Liars, Xiu Xiu, & R. Stevie Moore to include just a few. The festival is still in the process of announcing the lineup so more great acts are sure to follow. We'll have more news to report with time so look out, you can find more info on the Facebook & Last.fm event pages for the Festival.
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