Burn Your Records And Start Over With These
Graffiti
Burn your records and start over with these
by Dr. Avalanche
Okay, okay, the Bruce Springsteen record's been out a week or so and you've heard the new Grateful Dead release until you're numb in the brain. Put the stupid things on the shelf and quit reading Rolling Stone will ya'. I mean, it's only obvious that you're gettin' older by the minute if you have to read corporate pablum to find out what's up culturally. Or do you think you haven't got the time cuz you're too busy keeping your sixties values intact while climbing the ladder to success? Forget it. Dig these sides and remember what it feels like to get that shiver down your spine when something is actually happening on the stereo. Or go back to sleep. I don 't care.
HASIL ADKINS: The Wild Man/Norton Records - The terrifying legend continues, with the Haze stirring up all manner of demons and hot dogs in his neo-hoodoobilly style. Raw, screaming mono with all the flaws and pops left in. Hasil pops most of the instruments himself and all at once on most tracks (no I'm not kidding) never missing a word. The rambling yell and skin crawl guitar will make you get out of your chair and kick the wall. This record proves once and for all that Elvis may have been the first, but he was a total wimp. With stuff like this around at that time, it's no wonder they wanted to kill rock 'n' roll. Hasil is about 50 now and could pry the nails out of Jerry Lee's boots without a grunt. The undisputed King of swamp rock.
ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO: Ancient to the Future Vol. I, Dreaming of the Masters Series / Naked / DWI - After a two-year hiatus, the AEOC return to vinyl with two brand new LPs. My only gripe is that they weren't released in the U.S. Expensive? You bet your Pat Metheny tickets they are, and worth every penny. The first disc, "Ancient to the Future" is a tribute record in grand style. There is only one original cut, which is a two part suite named after the LP title; the rest is a series of covers composed by great Black artists. "Creole Love Call" by Duke Ellington, is the only jazz standard in the bunch. The rest are completely unfamiliar and unorthodox to the jazz idiom: "No Woman No Cry" by Bob Marley, "These Arms of Mine" by Otis Redding, "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix, and "Zombie" by Fela Kuti. All the tunes are played with grace and warmth, and with humor and reverence for the structures of the originals. The improvisations are fiery and to the point. Masters playing masters. As Joseph Jarman says in his liner, "Listen and drink deeply."
"Naked" is a complete set of original compositions/improvisations. Eight diverse and colorful positions, revealing the percussive and subtly melodic shapes the group is capable of bringing to your ears. A ton of instruments, a ton of laughs and tears from a select cache of musicians capable of changing your feelings about color, music and language. Ask for 'em at any cool record store. Make them carry these records or threaten to quit buying your Windham Hill platters there.
AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB: Engine/Frontier Records
Finally a group of fellas that write and play with restrained power. Tense, painful lyrics that reveal things about relationships we may not want to know. I'm serious. Some of this stuff is so private it’s embarrassing to listen to. Forget the superficial alienation of those 70s Jackson Eagles. Throw those records away. AMC play acoustically and electrically with more vision and power than all of those bands put together. Real soft at times, real loud at others, but never a chore to listen to. In fact, if you don't get sucked in by all this terrible beauty, you must be dead. They pull it off live, too, as evidenced by their free acoustic gig at Schoolkids, and you were probably watching the Tigers lose. Pity.
BIG BLACK: Songs About Fucking/ Touch and Go Records - Big Black are Chicago's answer to the sonic boom. Should be called Big Boom. Loud, ugly guitar noise that could scare you. Hope it does. Political in its arrogance, this record is one of the best this year. Steve Albini's guitar playing is positively the most obnoxious roar l've heard in ages. Check out "Colombian Necktie" or "Fish Fry." These guys have big mouths to match their sound, but what the hell, they deliver big. You owe me one for tellin' ya about this one.
JEAN-PAUL BOURELLY: Jungle Cowboy/ JMT - Bourelly is a member of the Steve Coleman coterie of crazies. A guitarist who takes no prisoners. His style is somewhere between Hendrix and James Blood Ulmer, driving, funky and loose. The fluid sound works its way into the jazz groove with a relentless beat and an almost uncanny sense of rhythm. The sidemen, who include Julius Hemphill, burn down house after house with excruciating melodic shifts. The record dances by itself, without ever sounding redundant. The vocal tracks are pure acid drenched soul, not far from the weirder Funkadelics sides. Hell, just go out and buy it. It rocks.
JOHN CARTER: Dance of the Love Ghosts/ Gramavision - The third installment in Carter's trilogy. The bass clarinet is in complete working harmony with all of the instruments around it. The vocal tune and overall feel of the LP is pure African jazz; swinging
(see Records, page 15) RECORDS (from page 8)
and tough. The beauty he pulls out of the horn at first reminds you of Dolphy, but later you realize what an individual stylist this cat is. Melodic improvisation at its best.
DINOSAUR: You're Living All Over Me/SST
Remember when Neil Young was good? Back before Reagan and synthesizers? Screw him, he's old and toothless and forgot how to rock as well as write. Dinosaur are twenty years old and could blow the ass off of Young and Crazy Horse with their amps turned off. Yeah, that's right, they play simple, loud, awe inspiring music thats only real comparison to the earlier dinosaur mentioned is the singer's voice is reminiscent of a guy who a long time ago had vision and integrity. These kids play melodically without compromising power and volume. Everyone should hear this, it's kinda' inspiring, ya know?
DIVINE HORSEMEN: Snakehandler/SST - It may have taken them three LPs but Chris D. and co. have finally done it. This new side shows off the Flesheater roots more than the other records, but with style. Julie Christensens' voice is in its finest ever form. Chris employs no X sidemen here, just the band, with better results. The writing was always great, but the execution suffered a bit. Not here. Out front guitar, throbbing bass and kicking drums pull the listener into a voodoo hoedown feel. Man oh man, I almost forgot, Chris actually sings on this one. And the cover is done by Robert Williams.
EINSTURZENDENEUBATEN: Fuenf Auf Der Nach Oben Richterskala/Relativity Records - The long awaited fifth release by these merchants of peeling trashcans. They cover "Morning Dew" which should make all of you Dead Heads happy. But forget it. Their version bleeds all previous ones by sheer formlessness, if you can buy that. It took me awhile, but now I dig this as much as anything else they've done. The Germans are never satisfied for very long, they change continually, but never sound unfamiliar. This gets me ready to deal with church bells and Sunday morning.
THE EX: Too Many Cowboys/Mordam - For all of you who thought that "London Calling" was correct. This double LP packed with a newspaper and two posters is a steal for the bread. Committed lyrics in a non-preachy manner, sort of like Crass, but these guys can play. Songs that will make you feel guilty and unfeeling. Too bad these guys can't fire up the rest of the rock semi-political crew into more substantial projects. Great words, crazy rock music and lots of confrontation for you to get back on track.
STEVE LACY SEXTET: Momentum/RCA - At last!!! After 30 years and 50 some odd recordings, Lacy makes his major label debut. The Sextet is in incredible form, playing with grace and virtuosity that only they could muster. Lacy and Steve Potts trade lines and styles with their sopranos, lopping and lingering over themes and colors. The rhythm section is mixed out front and continually urges the group forward into intimacy. Someone finally got Bobby Few a nice piano to play, and he pays back the favor with verve and swiftness, while Irene Abei's voice acts as another saxophone on the vocal tracks. Even the uptempo numbers have the warmth of ballads. Here there is a territory rarely encountered; a continually changing view of improvisation carried out in sweeping soft tones making no unnecessary choices in melody. Relationships between players are carried out with a continually respective economy. The choice of structure is left up to the group after the composer's chosen openings have been executed. Lacy has been giving for years a challenging innovative music for everyone's ears, finally someone has taken notice. Pick up this baby, it'll change your life.
OPAL: Happy Nightmare Baby/SST - T Rex, Alice Cooper and beyond. The team of Kendra Smith and Dave Roback conjures thud bass, snakey guitar chords and a couple of cellos into a fat mix of pleasure. The lyrics have a weirdly sexual bent, though being written by a woman, they hold lots of surprises. A dark record in the realm of the Velvets. Weird enough to scare you, fun enough to make you dance. So sell your U2 records and buy this, you won't be sorry.
ASTOR PIAZZOLA & NEW TANGO QUINTET: Tango Zero Hour/American Clave - The authentic article from Argentina, Piazzolla and his band have taken the ancient artform of the tango and turned it into a vehicle for imporvisation. This is the most passionate music you will ever hear. It evokes shades of Mozart, Charlie Parker and Shoenberg, without sounding like any of them. The music is purely ethnic and very complex, as Piazzolla was once a classical composer, but at the urging of the late Morton Feldman, gave up the piano and turned his energy to the traditional bandoneon (that's a big accordian), and to composing in the realm of the tango. Funny thing is, a lot of people in his homeland have taken issue with his music, saying it departs radically from the norm. It does. For one thing, the only percussion instrument is a piano, and the rest of the instrumentation, bass, violin and guitar never stay rooted firmly within the music of the dance. It whirls and turns into something else, something rare, but always returns. The equation given on the back of their record sums it all up: Nuevo Tango = Tango + Tragedia + Comedia + Kilombo (whorehouse).
SCIENTISTS: Human Jukebox/Karbon - Those aussies are back... and just when you thought they'd never record another new tune. The nightmare that the Cramps created is back to scalp you. Seven ditties made in hell, formless plod and grunge for the strong and the young. You old hippies would call the cops on yer kids for listening to this trash. Look, for you '60s types, I’ll define it further; the volume of the MC5 or Blue Cheer and the riffs of the Stooges. It jams and bleeds your shoes. If my daughter brought this home... I’d make her leave and go get me one. Kim Salmon and co. have unleashed the dog and it's comin' after you.
Well, that's it for this time, kiddies. If you're smart you'll start burning your entire record collection right now.