2012 Tunage.

[DISCLAIMER:  This is not a "Best Albums of 2012" list.  Rather a list of my favorite albums of the year.  And it was a lot longer but I've whittled it down substantially.  It was a good year for me.]

Baroness -  Yellow & Green

Baroness became one of my favorite Metal bands when they validated their debut with the beautiful “Blue Album”.  “Yellow & Green” takes the litany of influences to another level, stirring all sorts of ingredients together to make a pretty, if haunting, “metal” album.

Local H -  Hallelujah! I’m a Bum 

Lyrically, musically, and thematically, this is the record Scott Lucas has been itching to make for possibly the entirety of his career.  Hopeful, pessimistic, and very Chicagoan, “I’m A Bum” reaches down into its guts and heart to rip out an outburst of understated political criticism.

Brother Ali -  Mourning In America, Dreaming In Colour

Similar to Local H’s album in many, many ways, Ali returns to the full-length after the all too happy “Us” with a scathing critique of the American political process with one finger always on the button of hope.  Probably the most apt title of the year.

JJ DOOM – Keys To The Kuffs

MF Doom – or whatever he’s calling himself now – collabs with one Jnerio Jarel to present a sound that hearkens back to his Madvillain days with a slight tinge of Electronica to boot.  The bizarre and compelling backstory behind the making of this album, and the themes, is as interesting as the sound it inspired.

El-P – Cancer For Cure 

After yet another five year break between solo records, El-P’s newest album is definitely his most accessible: heavy, catchy, conceptual without being taking it too far.  His production and lyrics are both the stars, with the former tackling complex synth based beats and the latter walking further down the tracks of 21^st Century alienation and paranoia.

P.O.S. – We Don’t Even Live Here

This is the most non-political political album of the last five years.  Though you wouldn’t know it from the reviews, the message is simple: free yourself from a system that doesn’t work for you, doesn’t accept you, or both.  Production and appearances from German techno dudes to Justin Vernon to Ryan Olson keep things very, very interesting.

Aesop Rock – Skelethon 

It took Aesop Rock over a decade to finally trust his chops enough to make an album with all his own beats; the result is the most personalized and soulful record of his career.  His trademark high-concept lyricism is in full effect, but it feels like the imagery and metaphors are pulled straight from the last 5 years of his life.

Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes

Steven Ellison continues his acclaimed, multi-genre discography with a wonderful, mysterious 15 track album grounded in where it came from but still forging ahead without inhibitions of any kind.  The features are spot on with the likes of Thom Yorke and Erykah Badu lending vocals.

Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city

Mainstream Rap music takes a huge step forward this year with Kendrick’s proper debut LP, a concept album about growing up in Compton under the shadow of previous West Coast Hip-Hop and the underbelly that comes with it, both metaphorically and literally.  The final step in Rap music entering the 21^st Century, and growing up.

Swans – The Seer

There’s a reason why this punk/hardcore/??? band’s 2 hour-ish magnum opus has been making list after list of late… it is one bold, massive, go for the throat piece of work that rewards listeners for repeated listens and just simply getting to the end.  This is what happens when rules and limitations go out the window: the results are often stunning and powerful.

Death Grips – The Money Store/No Love Deep Web

A tie for the most anti-corporate band’s two albums of 2012 because, really, they work in conjunction.  Together, “The Money Store” and “No Love Deep Web” form an admirable and poignant story about the limits of control, capitalism, and the record business in the second decade of the 21^st Century.

Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music

I don’t know about everyone else, but for me there was a fear that El-P’s beats would overshadow the veteran Atlanta rapper’s rhymes on the Adult Swim sponsored “R.A.P. Music”.  That didn’t happen.  As it turns out Killer Mike keeps pace with the heavy, heavy production and maybe even surpasses it.  The best album of his career by far.

Grimes – Visions

Clair Boucher – better known as Grimes – is a one woman wrecking crew of ethereal, primal, yet futuristic witch house that will bite at your soul while making you want to dance.  “Visions” takes her looping and overlaying style to a whole new degree: at times there are 4 or 5 Clairs singing in conjunction to form 13 fresh and undistinguishable Electro tracks.

Dan Deacon – America

Nowhere else is it more clear that Dan Deacon studied electo-acoustic and computer music composition than on “America”, an album that encompasses everything Dan Deacon does to its absolute best form.  The hearty, thick analog sounds are here, as are the intricately laced runs of synth scales.  Awesome record.

Purity Ring – Shrines

Another Canadian outfit, this time from the East (Montreal), presents to the world a very, very good debut that sparkles and shimmers even amongst a whole lot of good 2012 Electro albums from seasoned veterans of the genre.  Really hope this 21 and 24 year old stay together and keep making music for years to come.

Black Moth Super Rainbow – Cobra Juicy 

I’ve introduced Black Moth Super Rainbow to as many people as I can.  And for good reason, there’s really nothing out there like them… even in a year so influenced by the sound they’ve pioneered.  “Cobra Juicy” sees the band getting a little less dreamy and trippy and a little more dancey.

The Bad Plus – Made Possible      

Why I still haven’t seen the Twin Cities best modern Jazz trio I do not know; but The Bad Plus are players to be reckoned with, each of these guys get a 10 on skill alone.  Which can often overshadow soul, but “Made Possible” serves up both.  And in spirit of democracy ([laughter]) each member gets a chance to write multiple tracks.

Gary Clark, Jr. – Blak and Blu 

This guy keeps getting anointed as some iteration of “best new artist”, which is a little deceptive: he’s been recording officially since 2004.  And there’s lots of bluesmen out there, few invigorate their brand of tunes with such energy and variety.  At least not lately.  But even calling this album “blues” paints it into a corner it doesn’t sit it for too long at a time.

Robert Glasper Experiement – Black Radio   

“Black Radio” is my biggest surprise of the year.  Previously to it I only had briefly heard Glasper’s name barely in passing.  The ringleader and his amazing band though make modern Jazz as cool as any other type of music the kids may or may not be listening to.  It doesn’t hurt that the album features one of the best (and strangest) Nirvana covers I’ve ever heard.

Polica – Give You The Ghost    

Hype can be a bit of a problem sometimes.  This Minneapolis band began garnering hype for their debut long before its release.  Deserved or not… it’s hard to deny the uniqueness of Polica’s sound.  Ryan Olson’s synths and Chaney’s processed vocals over one hell of a rhythm section is, if anything, just damn entertaining to listen to.

How To Destroy Angels -  An omen_EP

As hard as it is for me to include this album due to it feeling like a short and sweet prelude to some other great piece of work further down the line, it’s still the best thing Reznor and co. have done yet.  And I know this might be hard to read, it’s certainly hard to write… I think I like How To Destroy Angels’ sound better than NIN.  Gods forgive me.

A Place To Bury Strangers – Worship

A Place Bury Strangers suffers from that all too often affliction of lavish praise upon debut, only to have those heaping on the praise forget about you and move onto the next hot new band.  It’s a shame because “Worship” takes everything them made them so dangerous before and adds all kinds of new dynamics and layers.

Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself  

I’ve only gotten into Andrew Bird lately and boy is it overwhelming trying to catch up.  His discography, like his arrangements, is fairly daunting.  But with Andrew Bird – and the band he’s assembled for “Break It Yourself”, including a couple of my favorite MN instrumentalists – the amount of work you put in is far surpassed by what you get out of it.

Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel…    

Fiona Apple remains to this day a curious case of semi-successful independent musicianship.  Not many late 90’s chart toppers are willing to name their newest album using 23 words, or craft the types of songs that appear on “Idler Wheel”.  These are bizarre and quirky tracks, but would you expect or want anything less from her?

Guided By Voices – Let’s Go Eat The Factory

So Guided By Voices released a boatload of music this year: 3 LPs, all featuring 20-ish tracks.  It was a little difficult picking which one.  The other two are good, and GBV is one of those bands whose quality remains very, very consistent.  But “Let’s Go Eat the Factory” saw their return from an almost 10 year hiatus.  And Robert Pollard and co. came back with the hunger of a band in their 20’s.

Matthew Dear – Beams          

Matthew Dear has been making Electronic music for over 10 years, and a lot of it is really good.  But it feels like on “Beams” he finally found his creative sweet spot.  The music is comfortable in its own skin: confident but perhaps a bit shy at the same time.  And this album perhaps has some of the best lyrics of the year.

Blut Aus Nord – 777: Cosmosophy      

This French black metal band (with a German name) ends its “777” trilogy in stunning fashion with an almost ambient take on the genre.  While so many other metal bands, particularly this brand of metal, limit themselves within the confines of what “metal” is, Blut Aus Nord branches out beyond the borders and the results are awe-inspiring, majestic, and very beautiful.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill

It’s hard not to applaud the aspirations – or maybe balls – of a record that opens with a half-hour track of 70’s jam band psychedelica about those very days some 40 years ago.  Normally I’m weary of nostalgia in almost all its forms, but “Psychedelic Pill” brings it in droves and you will find yourself thinking, “Damn I wish it was 1972 right now”.

-SonnyW.

Tom Sawyering the Corps.

-  Last night I made the mistake of beginning to watch the Lance Bangs Pavement documentary “Slow Century”.  A mistake because I should have known it would’ve been too fascinating to turn off, no matter how late the hours got.  If you’ve got the time, here it is:

-  Sage Francis has resurrected the Tumblr Hello There, Racists after an apparent shut down.  I think it’s outrageous to say it isn’t fair to publicly chastise these people, knowing full well that Twitter and Facebook are publicly viewed domains (they’re basically the 21st Century “public square”).  It also serves to remind us of some very important things, two of which: you’re not invisible on the Internet, and if you want to say outrageous shit you’d better damn well be posting anonymously (then again anyone with half a brain can trace an IP address), and yes… racism definitely still exists.  Some of this shit is just disgusting.

-  Very interesting article, that very well might go over your head a little (went over mine at least), on the nature of dark energy.  Is it static or dynamic in its existence.  If it’s dynamic… yeesh, the philosophical implications of such a thing are astronomical; a form of matter whose density and composition and structure changes as it shifts though space time??

While hypothesized dark energy can explain observations of the universe expanding at an accelerating rate, the specific properties of dark energy are still an enigma. Scientists think that dark energy could take one of two forms: a static cosmological constant that is homogenous over time and space, or a dynamical entity whose energy density changes in time and space. By examining data from a variety of experiments, scientists in a new study have developed a model that provides tantalizing hints that dark energy may be dynamic.

The results are still far from conclusive, but the scientists hope that future data might narrow down the models with greater accuracy. They hope that observations by the Planck spacecraft (launched in 2009; first data available in April 2013) and the Euclid spacecraft (launch date is 2019) could help pinpoint the dark energy models that most closely describe our expanding universe.

-  Great piece of street art (graffiti, if you prefer that term; I really could care less what it’s called) from GOIN, who I believe works out of the UK:

-Sonny

July Listening Habits.

Some new releases that have caught my eye, in the midst of finishing up my own music:

Baroness – Yellow & Green

As a fan of this band’s previous work, I had a feeling where Yellow & Green was headed.  Even parts of Blue, the band’s last album (2009), speak in a more ambient or reflective light than with a tear-your-face-off approach.  That is both amplified and extended throughout this album.  In many instances it is downright beautiful: waves of sound that tap into a kinds of genres, mixed beautifully, presented to your ears with care and grace.  That isn’t to say that Yellow & Green gets heavy at times, it does.  The downtunes are still there — however open-tunings are perhaps more prevalent — to rattle your speakers and ear drums.  Impressively so, this is done without loads and loads of overdrive or a subtraction of mids… or any other of the tricks metal bands/producers use to forge a heavier sound.  In fact, the producer John Congleton should get a decent amount of credit here.  For keeping his presence only shaded in the background, yet still flexing his production muscles enough to channel such an expansive, genre-less sound.  This is album that deserves trying, no matter who you are.

A Place To Bury Strangers – Worship

Worship is, by comparison, a much darker and desperate sounding album.  And, unlike Yellow & Green, the band is narrowing down their sound rather than expanding it.  In A Place To Bury Strangers case this works.  Very well.  Previously they had been known as a wall-of-sound, throw everything you got into the pot three-piece, who’s brand of noise was cathartic if not a little bit overwhelming.  It is a breath of fresh air to hear them strip down their sound.  I could be exaggerating a bit however, because of the band’s history: the noises and feedback and ultra-stereo ticks did make their way onto this record.  It’s just that now they’re being used as instruments themselves, rather than layers behind the “real” instruments.  And they cut in and out, they aren’t a constant.  The result is the band’s best sound studio work in their short career, a new path in the direction they were already heading.  Refined and subtle (if that word exists in Noise-Rock), with the power and hunger of their previous records.

Ravi Coltrane – Spirit Fiction

This is Ravi Coltrane’s first record to be released on the famous “Blue Note” label.  It happens to be one of those cases where the history, the elegance, of the record company seemed to inform the work itself.  In a good way.  Spirit Fiction is — as AllMusic put it — Ravi’s most cerebral and avant-garde record of his career.  In the Jazz world, typically those two things counteract one another… let me explain.  The thought that seemed to be poured into every song is immense.  This is smart, sophisticated Jazz that strikes with precision.  Carefully planned and always thinking five steps ahead.  Now, sometimes that sort of thing can lead to an emotion-less, stale type of academic music without soul.  Somehow this doesn’t happen on this album.  The experimentation, the improvisation, the raw emotion through notation, it remains.  Even with all it’s brains, it remains.  Also, kudos to the recording technique.  Ravi recorded each track with two separate backing bands and they mixed them together.  Brilliant.

-Sonny

Dirty Appetites.

-  Even more The Master revelations.  This time in the form of the first full-length trailer:

-  Though it is an interesting read, from a good writer who is clearly educated on the topic(s)at hand, I’m not sure I completely agree with the “choose one and only one” theme of John Patterson’s article at the Guardian’s film tab right now.  The article delves into the greatness of legendary Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, but does so at the expense of Ingmar Bergman.  Thoroughly.  Not only is it subjective to call Bergman’s films “boring”, it’s a little bit unfounded.  Slow, oh absolutely.  But there’s nothing “boring” about a story of two women turning into one another at a remote cabin on the sea.  Something that strange and obtuse can’t be “boring”, can it?  Still, the article is a breath of fresh air when perusing the film sites.  As is digging back into Antonioni’s movies, which were also far from boring.  He is probably most known for his trilogy starting with L’avventura and ending with Eclipse.  I have only seen one of his films, the second in that trilogy titled La Notte.  Not that it’s my fault, finding his movies — especially in a world of “red boxes” (I fucking hate those things) — is nearly impossible.

Don’t let Patterson talk you out of seeing a Bergman film though… he was good too.

-  Also from the Guardian:  Will The Dark Knight Rises Shootings Revive the Debate on ‘Copycat’ Crimes?

“The US reels from another horrific killing spree: at least 12 people shot dead and many more injured at a showing of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. Sickeningly, some in the audience reportedly failed to make their escape because they assumed at first that the disturbance was simply a special effect. And according to multiple reports, the gunman had his hair painted red and described himself to police as “The Joker”. So are we to see a revival of the debate about copycat crimes and the cinema?”

-  Two good pieces on two albums that made their stamp on the musical world at Stereogum today.

The first is about the 1992 Sonic Youth album “Dirty”.  One of — of not the — best Sonic Youth albums.  I had been done before, certainly with the Pixies and back in the day with Velvet Underground and any number of bands in between and prior, but for me this album really helped to dispose of the notion that one needed notation of some kind to play an instrument.  Traditionally, there are three subjects one to playing an instrument: notation, rhythm, and inflection.  I’m talking at it’s most bare-bones.  When you hear “Dirty”, you think, “holy shit I can play guitar with ALL INFLECTION?!?”  Again, not that it hadn’t been done before… but this album really cemented inflection-based guitar playing as viable and artistically relevant ways to play.  This does a few things.  Perhaps it’s most important (and most overlooked) function is to encourage beginners to not quit.  If you just got a guitar and turn on your amp for the first time and all you’re getting is noise in a world devoid of albums like “Dirty”, you probably think you’re doing something wrong and give up.

The other is about Appetite For Destruction, which turned 25 recently.  Love it or hate it (the band or the album), AFD turned the music industry on its head upon its 1987 release.  All throughout the 80′s people were told what was happening, with detail, on the Sunset Strip in L.A. through the lyrics of Rock bands (and their videos).  But something about it was… off.  It wasn’t perhaps that these guys weren’t living what they were singing about – we all know Vince Niel wasn’t full of shit when he wrote and sang Motley Crue lyrics.  At least.  But there was still something artificial, something plastic about everything prior to AFD.  Not only that, but you didn’t even realize it until AFD came out, and you heard the “It’s So Easy” to “Nightrain” one-two punch.  It sort of made everything prior to it — that was suppose to sound “dangerous” — feel like child’s play by comparison.  This shit was L.A. rock & roll for REAL, for good or bad.

-Sonny

Psychedelic Connections.

-  Last Call W/ Carson Daly isn’t nearly as bad a show as everyone probably thinks it is.  It had been a while since I saw an episode — as in, oh probably at least 6 months — but I tuned in last night while lying in bed and it brought to my attention a band I’d never heard of before:

-  KYLESA.  They’re a Georgian based metal band who apply the two-singer approach (uniquely, one male/one female), sludgy, downtuned riffage, and elements of psychedelica.  They’ve been around for some time now; it has been 10 years since their self-titled, debut album.  The band has been through some amount of lineup changes, unfortunately.  But sometimes there are those rare cases where the project trumps the members.  The entity exists independently, and the musicians are the nourishment that help it survive.  They’ve even been through death.  The last LP they put out was a record from 2010 called “Spiral Shadow“.  I’m giving it a go now and it’s excellent.  They sort of mix the hazier, trippier elements of 70′s rock with slow, heavy-hitting metal.  Think Sabbath meets late Pink Floyd, with a little punk aesthetic thrown in for good measure.  Here’s part of their Last Call performance:

-  They reminded me of another band who I was way into for a bit but kinda forgot about: Radio Moscow.  In fact, when I was researching Kylesa tour dates I realized they’re both connected to “Tone Deaf Touring” Co.  Now this band is from Iowa.  This band is the shit.  They aren’t metal.  Their sound floats pretty aimlessly between the Blues and Rock headspaces.  What they do have in common with the former is a psychedelic influence, and they heap in on in spoonfuls.  They don’t skimp.  And the main member of the band — Parker Griggs, he’s a multi-multi-instrumentalist, he also helps produce their stuff, and he draws their album art — is insanely talented.  The last album this band did was last year’s “The Great Escape of Leslie Magnafuzz”.  I know, right?  Lotta fun to listen to.  Here’s the first song off that album:

-Sonny

They Are Missed.

-  Kurt Cobain would have turned 45 today.  Probably still living in Washington, hopefully still making music.  I’m confident that is the case.  It’s amazing how different the industry would likely be now if he were around.  And especially throughout the late 90′s/early 2000′s.  If you listen to “You Know You’re Right”, you will find quite a different shade to Nirvana under the surface.  Upon first listen it sounds like an above average Nirvana song, but bubbling under the surface lies noises running on a loop, fairly progressive drumming, and a surprisingly cleaner gain.  I love that song; and it bums me out to no end because I’m certain that’s the direction they were heading.  Granted, if Kurt were around it’s highly unlikely Nirvana would still be making music.  There’s just no way that could last after they’d been received the way they were.  But that doesn’t mean each member could not still be pursuing music.  Perhaps Kurt would be making solo albums the way Mike Doughty does.  Perhaps he’d be collaborating with any number of people (Danger Mouse?).  Who knows.  But I’m sure it would be something.  Such a waste.  Happy birthday Kurt.

-  Also missing someone I lost 2 years ago today.  Her favorite color was blue… I found this:

-  Mars Rocks Indicate Relatively Recent Quakes, Volcanism.

“With High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) imagery, the research team  examined boulders along a fault system known as Cerberus Fossae, which cuts across a very young (few million years old) lava surface on Mars. By analyzing boulders that toppled from a martian cliff, some of which left trails in the coarse-grained soils, and comparing the patterns of dislodged rocks to such patterns caused by quakes on Earth, the scientists determined the rocks fell because of seismic activity. The martian patterns were not consistent with how boulders would scatter if they were deposited as ice melted, another means by which rocks are dispersed on Mars.”

-  My monthly list of awesome things from the “Around The Net” Whitechapel thread:

• Multiple exposures of takeoffs at Hannover Airport in Germany.  Wow.
• How much would it cost to build the Death Star conversation.
• Advice for musicians from the great Thelonious Monk.
• Abstract Art Generator.

-Sonny

 

Let’s Go Eat the Secret (Nukes).

-  Two albums I’m excited to try out in the next few days:

Guided By Voices – Let’s Go Eat The Factory

I’m a big fan of GBV and this album’s been a long time coming.  It hasn’t gotten the best reviews by critics — 74 on Metacritic – but non-critics (“users”) seem to really enjoy it.  I tend to listen to both, but formulate my own opinion upon listening to the whole thing.  I’m not going to dismiss what someone says just because they’re not a “critic” (which isn’t true, everyone’s a critic), but I’m also not going to treat the critics’ opinions as the Bible of what I should be dabbling in sonically.  I’m liking the fact that most of the original members are on this, as oppose to Robert Pollard and a band of random musicians.  And the fact that the tone of the album is a step backwards from the more “professional” sounding GBV albums is intriguing.  I’m sure it won’t be my favorite Rock record of the past couple years or anything (or of this year), but I’m excited to give it a spin because it’s just getting harder and harder to find GBV’s brand of lo-fi, winding noise we’ve come to know.

DJ Spooky – The Secret Song

I stumbled onto this guy in a very strange way.  I was reading Sun Ra‘s bio on AllMusic (which is bizarre and fascinating) and I looked at his “followers” (essentially, who he influenced) on his overview page and there sat DJ Spooky.  Now, if you were to go Spooky’s AllMusic overview, you will see that he’s been influenced by a whole slew of artists as random as Sun Ra: Sonic Youth, Public Enemy, David Byrne, King Tubby, Grandmaster Flash, Aphex Twin, Afrika Bambaataa.  Anytime any artist has such a wide-ranging net of influences my interest is always piqued.  Plus, now that I’ve added turntables to the list of instruments I play I’m always on the lookout for talent in that sense, because it helps me learn and grow.  The Secret Song is Spooky’s most recent effort, from 2009, but I am interested in a bunch of his other stuff.  Notably, the album Optometry which features his production work and turntablism along side a grab bag of experimental/modern jazz players like Willy Parker.

I’ll be back with opinions next week sometime.

-  (Via Warren Ellis‘ site) Legacy of Nuclear Drilling Site In Colorado Still Lingers.

“In 1969, the government detonated a subterranean nuclear bomb to break loose natural gas deposits from tight sandstone formations more than 8,000 feet below ground on a Colorado mountain. The bomb was twice as powerful as the one that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.

The scheme worked — to an extent. The gas was unlocked by the blast but was deemed too radioactive for commercial use.

Four decades later, energy companies are drilling near the nuclear site as they look to tap Colorado’s lucrative oil and gas reserves. Some local residents say they don’t trust the industry after what happened here and in the Gulf of Mexico during the oil spill. They’re fearful that accidents could pollute the air with radioactive gas if drilling gets much closer.”

-  Conrad’s First Novel and His ‘Personal Record’.

“… But not everyone was convinced about the accuracy of Conrad’s recollections. For many of his biographers Conrad’s attempt at an “accurate” autobiography proved a regrettable failure. What began as a “personal record” of his life turned out to be a document that misled those who were eager to penetrate its secrets. He misremembered the names of ships he sailed with and dates of significant events. Like Oscar Wilde, Conrad enjoyed bending facts and creating myths about himself. He even fabricated whole scenes in order to create a dramatic, vivid style which resembled that of his novels. “

-Sonny

Punk @ the White House.

-  Every time I listen to Wugazi — which, for a while there I was quite frequently — I’m reminded of how great both the moving pieces were.  Still are.  Especially Fugazi.  They were indeed something special.  The Fugazi Live Series: A to Z has just debuted on their website: a hodgepodge of live shows spanning around a decade, from Berlin to DC.  When I see this band perform live, or hear them, I really can relate to the entire experience.  And from the looks of this show, I’m not alone:

I’m not sure if there’s anything more punk — as a commenter points out at the YouTube page — than playing a show in the freezing winter outside the gates of the White House.

And speaking of the DIY business model, here’s this:

-Sonny

The Felt Lips.

Well… my “new” album isn’t done.  But I do have something here to ship out to the world-wide net.  For free.

It’s a 6 track EP built solely out of FELT acapellas and FLAMING LIPS songs.  It was so damn much fun to make, and the hope is that it’s as fun to throw on the stereo.  This is the track list:

1. Protagonist Tripping
2. Fight Test Sonnet
3. One More Reubot
4. We Have The W.A.N.D.
5. The Sound Of You
6. Do You Realize (Chewed Up)??

This is the cover:

Thank you.

-Sonny

Gayngs Affilyated @ First Ave – 3/6.

Wow.  Last night’s Gayngs Affilyated showcase at First Ave. was probably one of the most satisfying concert experiences of my life.  This is probably thanks to the insanely comprehensive selection of bands who performed throughout all three “venues” of THE venue in the Twin Cities.  There’s no way anyone could possibly feel like they didn’t get their money’s worth.

The Record Room provided goers with a party, first and foremost, with the feeling that anything could happen and when it does there will be beer and dancing and loud-ass beats involved.  It was hot and sticky, smelled like sex.  The Doomtree family held down that corner of the building all night, part “Get Cryphy” atmosphere and part makeshift hip-hop basement party.

Over at The Entry, bands like Moonstone Continuum and Radical Cemetery up’ed the weird playing a brand of Minneapolis-based electronica that will surely have reverberations in this scene for years to come.  They paved the way for the kings of that sound, super-group-esque, three drummer, electro band Marijuana Deathsquads.  By the time Har Mar Superstar was set to play no one was moving in or out.  The first time I went over there the room smelled like outside.  There was a sense of freedom and open-space in the Entry, even though if you went in it was easy to get trapped.

The Mainroom’s vibe felt more like a typical night at First Ave. (to be expected), but the content was nothing of the sort.  The main stage genre-mashed all night long, with immensely talented but gracious bands inviting everyone to get closer.  Bands like Alpha Consumer, Megafaun and Leisure Birds. By the time Doomtree hit the main stage for their all-or-nothing set, the momentum had come to a boiling point and they killed it.  Gayngs felt more like a come-down than anything, with their slow moving, intricately pieced together songs that mirror the band itself.

The content was mind-blowing and, like I say, as comprehensive as it could possibly get.  And I’m a big fan of quality, but the flip-side counts for something on top of that: quantity.  This was something you rarely get for 20 dollars.  Three stages, somewhere between 15 to 20 performances, a grand total of 6+ hours of live music… all for 20 bucks.  It’s rare to find such a gig.  I was joking with someone last night about how it felt like a little miniature, indoor music festival.  Minus the sleeping in a tent, not showering, and that lack of intimacy which has come to be a staple of the big boys.

The intimacy here was palpable.  You felt when you walked into a different room or crowd, you were immediately accepted with open arms by the performers, the audience, and the space itself.  Combine that with the genre-spanning lineup and no one with any interest in live music what’s so ever would have felt like they didn’t get their money’s worth.  There was a sense of community too, a strong sense.  I felt proud of my city’s music scene last night, and I’ll make no fucking bones about it.  I’m glad to be from here.

[City Pages photo galleries HERE and HERE; their review HERE.]

-Sonny