Echos de la Cité #5 :

Rencontre avec ALINE quelques heures avant son concert à MJC L’Escale à Aubagne

Premier album Regarde le ciel disponible depuis l’hiver dernier

Merci à elle..

.. ainsi qu’aux groupes/acteurs, camarades de radiolab et au peu de personnes qui ont suivis ces émissions
c’est la dernière des échos de la cité (saison#1) : en espérant que cette liste non exhaustive vous aura donné un bel aperçu de ce que la ville peut offrir en matière de culture
en cette année capitale, il faut avoir confiance en celles et ceux qui font de la ville ce qu’elle est : un lieu unique et fantasmé

It was surprising, daring even when my school announced it was having a school disco. We had never had one of those before. As far as I remember, we didn’t again afterwards. I didn’t really have very many clothes that even loosely came under the banner of fashionable, but I did what I could. Sports and recreation were very much the order of the day, and I went with (Cheap versions of) many well know sportswear manufacturers of the time. I also didn’t really drink, but my friend Martin managed to procure some cheap larger, which we hid in nearby bushes (alongside everyone else’s illicit booze) and we went into the sports hall to find it had been magically transformed into, well, a slightly darker sports hall.

I was an extremely shy teenager, especially with matters of the opposite sex. I’d had half a mind to invite this girl, lets call her Kirsty (mainly because that was her name) and I even made a point of playing chess with her (don’t ask) and sitting next to her in History. But I didn’t – instead I left it till the evening, thinking this was a more opportune moment to approach her, maybe for a….dance even. Instead, the rebellious Vicar’s son punched a geeky boy who was no way going to hit him back, the teachers found everyone’s alcohol stash and poured it away, one girl in my class was sick in the middle of the basketball court/dancefloor, and I lost the bottle to do anything. Didn’t seem like the place.

Coming out of Cork in Ireland are the Vincent(s), who, if their publicity is to believed, came (and I quote) From ‘the bloodied resting place of our mother Daphne (suspected murder), came our father (Vincent), who in keeping with the tradition of the most famous girl band in the world, The Shaggs, locked us in a basement and beat us until we wrote some songs. Our songs portray our bleak outlook on life following the harrowing experiences of our adolescence at the hand of our (alleged) father……’

Asked her to dance is their debut single recently out on the FIFA label. Nirvana like in its simple approach and grungey vocal, it tells a similar story to my own – asking a girl to a dance, to which she says no’. It’s got these delicious little moments of silence, which punctuate what is a great Indie Rock song, full of engaging hooks and a chorus that ruffles your hair, and lets you jump aboard for the ride. Given everything else,  The Vincent(s) aren’t going to stay unsuccessful on the dance floor for very long. Well, certainly not as long as me anyway….

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Me posing horribly in an amazing shirt that shows just how far we’ve come in Canada-Brazil relations…since I went to Brazil.

Hey all!

Soooo…I was totally out of the loop for a month and a half or so there due to finding myself in South America.  I kinda wish I had something exciting to say…like I was kidnapped and flown down as collateral in some kind of crazy gang turf war, but instead I was attending a furry convention in a rain forest.

…oh, shit, that does sound pretty exciting!  Here’s a snail I saw.

Broken record time: I want to get back into the swing of things here, you know, the whole ‘music’ blog thing.  I am thinking of making it a two to three times a week thing, even if I’m writing about random shit on my mond…that’s cool, right?

Musically I have quite a bit coming up: I’m recording my first live podcast and helping run an open mic in early March, and hitting up Canadian Music Week at the end of March, so I should have SOMETHING to talk about.

I may try to do the whole album review thing as well, though I worry I’m FAR too positive.  I mean, I love listening to the Shaggs…who the hell am I?

So…yah…down the pipe, stuff comes…says Yoda Roo.

As for the Graveyard Shift, we are still in the process of establishing ourselves on the regular roster. First we’ll need to do a test show, so we are just waiting to hear when we can go ahead and present that.

But for now, enjoy all hallows’ evening with one of our favorite bands:

Groovy!

The Children of Sunshine – circa 1971

Rare gem. Though the album cover says Dandelions – they are actually called The Children of Sunshine.

No, you can’t write a paper on Edgar Allan Poe.

The perils of working with a small press.

Relationship advice from H.P. Lovecraft.

50 Shades of Grey: The dirtiest parts. Not really all that dirty, but whaddya want from a book that originated as Twilight fan fiction?

Innumerable documents recording atrocities committed by British officials during the final days of empire were secretly destroyed in order to keep them out of the hands of post-colonial governments.

These songbirds make the Shaggs sound like the Supremes.

Gandalf’s beard has deeper roots than you might realize.

Despite being forced into it, the girls claim to have enjoyed their musical slavery. The next few years consisted of a few hours of schoolwork from a mail-order company, morning music practice, afternoon music practice and gymnastics.  In 1969 they released their only studio album, “Philosophy of The World,” which garnered no attention whatsoever.  In fact, the record’s producer ran away with 900 of the 1000 pressed copies – apparently later claiming: “Shock therapy and all the Prozac in the world would never stop the haunting sounds of these banshees.”

After their father died in 1975 the girls escaped their six stringed shackles and moved on with their lives. But in 1980 their album was discovered at a Boston radio station and they became moderately famous and admired for their “innovation”. Here were three teens playing instruments we’ve heard countless times, but this time with none of the familiar signposts – none of the standard rhythms or chord progressions we’ve come to recognize and expect.  In fact, the band is primarily notable today for their perceived ineptitude at playing conventional rock music having been described by Rolling Stone for “…sounding like lobotomized Trapp Family singers.”   They are considered groundbreakers in the field of outsider music. Kurt Cobain and Frank Zappa have cited “Philosophy of The World” as a major influence, with Zappa claiming the band are “better than The Beatles.”  Hmmm … not so sure about that one, What do you think?!

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of seeing the new Off-Broadway show, The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, at Playwrights Horizon. The staging , story, cast, music… left me speechless. Plus getting to see my friend, Kevin Cahoon strut his stuff is always a blast.

So if you’re in New York anytime between now and July 3rd you MUST go see The Shaggs!!! Truly one of the greatest pieces of new theatre I’ve seen in years!

~cc

To celebrate this most spooky of seasons, and of course the upcoming Rogue Halloween Hoedown, here is the ultimate guide to soundtracking your Halloween, and not a Ray Parker Jr in sight!

13. Gravediggaz – Diary Of A Madman

There just isn’t enough horrorcore in this world. Gravediggaz’ 1994 album 6 Feet Deep bridged the cartoon De La-splatter of early ’90s old skool with the grit’n'fear of gangsta rap, creating a world of paranorma-fuelled crime and violence. In many ways, this horror-movie bent allowed the group to exploit OTT levels of gruesomeness compared to other rap albums from the era.

12. Peste Noire – Spleen

The metalheads out there may also know La Sale Famine De Valfunde (for that is his name) from dreamy metalgaze outfit Alcest. Peste Noire is anything but dreamy, unless your dreams regularly involve being chased through a pentagram-lit cornfield by some fucked up old witch, in which case I am concerned for you.

11. Hot Blood – Baby Frankenstein

Respite from Peste Noire, – a terrifically cheesy disco number to get your blood boiling.

10. Aural Exciters – Spooks In Space

“Mama said there’d be days like these, but she never told me about…” this classic from the super-cool era of mutant disco. Reminds me of that kids’ TV show with the skeletons.

9. Stanley Holloway – With ‘er ‘Ead Tucked Underneath ‘er Arm

A surprisingly haunting little ditty from the dark days of the ’30s. Entertainer Stanley Holloway recounts this creepy tale of a nogginless Anne Boleyn come back to haunt those who did her wrong.

8. The Shaggs – It’s Halloween

A terrifying, caterwauling noise, indeed. But while this young girl trio could barely hold a note, let alone play in time with one another, they still somehow managed to find their ways into the hearts of ooh.. at least 50 outsider music geeks around the world. And yeah, it’s not like playing everything completely out of tune did Captain Beefheart any harm.

NB: we won’t be playing this at Rogue.

7. Desmond Dekker – Dracula

A cautionary tale from the king of ska. “Not being Dracula” should be an integral deal breaker in every pre-nup.

6. The Sounds from the Well to Hell

Story goes this diabolical hubbub came from a Siberian borehole that was drilled so deeply it purportedly managed to break into some sort of Boschean afterlife dimension. Once the paroxysms and giddy “I told you so” faces from the hard-line US Christian contingent had died down, it turned out to be one of the best hoaxes ever. Try telling that to whoever posted this video.

5. The Skatalites – Skalloween

It seems that the vintage ska brigade were as fond of supernatural japery as they were bad puns. But who can resist a pun, let alone this classic piece of horn-driven madness? Had to be done really.

4. Scientist – Blood On His Lips

More vampire-related ghastliness from Jamaica, courtesy of dub-fiddler and King Tubby protege, Scientist. Scientist has always been a keen conceptualist, with albums celebrating heavyweight boxing, the World Cup, space invaders and the wild west. On Scientist Rids The World Of The Evil Curse Of The Vampires, he litters his creations with echo-laden horror movie screams and growls.

Scientist releases “Scientist Launches Dubstep Into Outer Space” on Tectonic in November.

3. Electric Wizard – I, The Witchfinder

Steeped in smoke and Suspiria, Electric Wizard’s impossibly-sludgy sound is at once crushing and terrifying. Turn this one up when the doorknockers come round and they’ll think they’ve woken Yog-Sothoth.

2. The Sonics – The Witch

Sixties proto-punks The Sonics certainly know which side of the pumpkin pie their toast is buttered on. (Whaaaat?!- ed.)

1. Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band – Look Out There’s A Monster Coming

Completely ridiculous. But then, that’s Halloween for you.

words by Charlie Frame

Rogue’s Halloween Hoedown featuring Aghast, Trailer Trash Orchestra, Arc Generator & Richy Spitz is on Saturday 30th October at Club 85, Hitchin.

Ok so first, what about The Runaways. Now, it really paid to get into the Runaways in the early/mid ’90s like I did, because you could always find countless $3.99 Runaways CDs in used record store bins. I think the government subsidized their mass reprint (to help stimulate the economy). The great thing was that all of them were slight variations of each other. Like, one would be a Japan-only collection of 12 songs, and you had never seen it before, but 10 of them were on that other Runaways collection you bought the day before. By statute, all Runaways albums contain “Cherry Bomb”, just in case you hadn’t already heard it 3 bajillion and 1 times before. But (at the risk of expelling myself from civil society) I would actually have to say my favorite Runaways song of all time is “Takeover”, Joan Jett’s Cold War Jeremiad that I still think was remarkably insightful and prescient:

I think the Russians got a weather machine
I think they’re planning a takeover scheme
Doin’ a good job on our countryside
They want to be our friends, but it’s an obvious lie

They buried New York and they drowned L.A.
Sometimes I wonder if I’ll see the next day
I know the Russian’s are behind this shit
No ones goin’ to know it until it’s too late

Takeover they’re taking over
How long till they get everyone
Takeover they’re taking over
How can we be so dumb

Now at this point, with apologies to Courtney Love and L7 and 4 Non Blondes and all that crappy ’90s stuff, if you ask me it only makes sense to proceed directly to The Donnas. The Donnas are like a prettier, more spoiled/polished version of the Runaways except they didn’t break up, they seem to still be around well into their budding yuppie cougar years, which is a shame, cuz they seem to just keep getting more boring as they grow up. Which is why it’s hard to believe that at one point they were this awesome:

Back to the ex-Runaways, rumor has it one of them went on to be in the Bangles. Below is them trying to play a Big Star song, raising the question: Susanna Hoffs is pretty and all, but why did women in the ’80s think guys wanted their hair to be so big that it dwarfed their bodies and made their bodies look smaller and less curvy by comparison? Was everyone in the ’80s under the mistaken impression that guys were more interested in womens’ hair than in their bodies? Or was that (implausible as it sounds) actually the case in the ’80s? Were all guys just gay in the ’80s? Anyway:

Can you mention the Bangles without simultaneously speaking of the Go-Gos? I suppose you can, but it’s awfully hard. So here are the Go-Gos. I never got into them as much as other girl groups (I’m not even sure if the problem is that they had too many lesbians, or too few? Seriously, what is optimal for a girl group – it’s hard to say?). But I do think they were pretty good in their day, indeed supposedly the following is one of the greatest pop songs ever written. And I have to admit, it’s pretty good:

The Shaggs, of course, were not. But if you’re a hipster who needs a girl group whose music to ironically pretend to like, there ain’t none better:

Continuing, here’s a clip of Mel Blanc on The Tonight Show:

Wait, what’s that doing here? Sorry, seems to be some sort of clerical error. But wasn’t that awesome?

The Pandoras seem like they should have been bigger:

Last but not least, to my great shame I have only recently begun to appreciate how much of it all goes back to the Shangri-Las:

Are the Shangri-Las given enough credit nowadays? I’m honestly not sure. But they were some group of girls weren’t they?

A commenter recently suggested that I was making pale, interesting indie chicks something of a theme on this website, so I would like to bring that to a mental finale with post. When Mrs. Toad and I were in Portland were the beneficiaries of the most fantastic hospitality of Matt from Bladen County Records. Amongst all the amazing things he did for me was to pass on a couple of DVDs worth of things he thought I should listen to, including this gem of genuine mentalism.

To cut and paste directly from their Wikipedia entry:

The conceptual beginning of The Shaggs came from Austin Wiggin, Jr.’s mother. During Austin’s youth she had predicted during a palmreading that he would marry a strawberry blonde woman, that he would have two sons after she had died, and that his daughters would form a popular music group.

Given the first couple of predictions came true, apparently in about 1968 he forcibly set about making the last one come true. In fact it sounds perilously close to suggesting that he chained them up in the basement until such time as they wrote enough songs for an album. The results are, erm, well… The results. They’re interesting, that’s for sure. One more quote from Wiki:

Reportedly, during the recording sessions the band would occasionally stop playing, claiming one of them had made a mistake and that they needed to start over, leaving the sound engineers to wonder how the girls could tell when a mistake had been made.

Or, better:

Upon closer examination, The Shaggs seem to have a consistent (but highly idiosyncratic) approach to melody, harmony, and rhythm. The songs use highly irregular verse structures, which are emphasized by the melodic structures, which typically accord one note per syllable: the guitar accompaniment attempts to reproduce this pattern as well. Most of the Shaggs material is made up of eighth- and quarter-notes.

Which is an amazing way of rationalising the fact that they have not the tiniest, most miniscule sliver of musical aptitude whatsoever. You could stamp on a guitar, tie it to an octopus and push it down the stairs and it would have more rhythmic structure than this.

It’s erm… well, just listen. And never mention pale, interesting indie chicks to me again.

The Shaggs – Philosophy of the World

Website | Buy the album (no, seriously)

Sometimes I’ll be wandering through a record store and I’ll see a CD reissue of something I have on vinyl and wonder why anyone bothered.

One such disc was Philosophy of the World, by the Shaggs (1980). For some reason, Rounder Records decided that the inept stumbling of three New Hampshire “sisters” (I dunno about the gender – check out the album cover picture) was worth releasing on vinyl. I guess someone at Rounder had a sense of humor. The title cut is bad, but in some ways interesting. The rest of the album is… um… different. Try My Pal Foot Foot.

Then there’s Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed (1975). It was originally released as a double album with one cut (note I didn’t say “song”) on each side, each cut exactly 16:01 long, and with a lock groove on the end of side 4, so the last few seconds can go on forever. Here’s a very representative 46 second sample from side 1. I’ve listened to it all the way through, so you don’t have to.

Clearly, drugs were involved, as the excellent liner notes make obvious. I don’t write record reviews, because you can listen to the music and make your own decisions (and because I’ve bought tons of crap recommended by critics who write better than the artists they review can play), but if you want to know more (like “Why?”) you might find this 25th anniversary retrospective interesting.

As always, these songs are digitized from the vinyl, not ripped from CDs. The sound quality reflects that. The fact that the music is annoying is totally the fault of the artists involved.

Apparently, Gyroscope is labelled as post-rock but their music is diverse enough to make them break away from any pigeonhole. The band’s overall sound is consistent throughout yet pieces and sections contrast vividly. Thinking of influences might not be the best way to describe the band’s music. Thanks to circumstances, kept thinking of Francis Dhomont, The Shaggs, Jack DeJohnette, Mogwai, Return to Forever, and Van Morrison. Please don’t ask why! Still, the band’s music was open enough to allow for cerebral wandering despite the fact that the sheer acoustic presence of the group made the show into an immersive experience.

Compare as you will. The show was fun.

Obviously, they have MP3 excerpts on their site. Here’s one: Yinque s’une patte. Yet, the band’s performance was quite a bit better than those excerpts.

Of course, The Shaggs are unavoidable. Here’s a page about their
Philosophy of the World (PotW) album.
Two tracks from that album:

My Pal Foot Foot (MP3)
Who Are Parents (MP3)

Also, three DailySonic segments on outsider music. Segment 1 (August 8, 2k5), Segment 2 (August 10, 2k5), Segment 3 (August 12, 2k5).

Those may all be influential. It’s hard not to rethink your idea of music when you listen to any of these. It’s not just about being “the worst music ever played,” as some of these excerpts are claimed to be. It’s about music outside of what people tend to consider “normal” or “acceptable” as music.