Friday, September 9, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Venus Bogardus
Music and not religion is now opium for the masses.
During today's dissertation we will cover the differing motivational factors between so called "punk rock music" in the United Kingdom and the United States. The political climate and the American state of mind is now closer to that of the U.K. in the mid- 1970's than ever before. That period of "England screaming" was the cultural fallout of a nation in a state of flux. And it most certainly left its mark on subsequent generations of American musicians.
Punk rock in the U.K. was all piss and vinegar, the product of angry white youth who had no plans to accept the inevitable without kicking someone in the bullocks. The Sex Pistols at first appearance were seemingly capable of unspeakable acts of depravity and violence. Johnny Rotten and company seemed willing to push the limits of propriety, even if they were destined (with the exception of Sid) for middle age conformity like the rest of us. At the other end of the spectrum, The Clash were a study in controlled anger, but unlike the Pistols, they directed their spite (and spit) into the music rather than onto the audience.
Elvis Costello was and is a pissed off little prick, who got punched in the mouth by Bonnie Bramlett for calling Ray Charles a nigger. Thus learning the hard lesson of what most Americans view as socially unacceptable behavior. Eventually Costello and so many other musicians would use their anger like taunt barbed wire to maintain a buffer between themselves and music journalists.
This wasn't the case stateside, our punk rockers didn't seem to be mad at anyone. The Ramones were goofy, their songs were straight up looney tunes. The Heartbreakers were sloppy and if they were angry it was only because they had no more drugs. The other New York bands (Talking Heads, Blondie, Television) were so cool that they disdained anger or pretty much any kind of emotion. Intensity was not the American way, cool detachment was more our style.
The second wave punk bands from SoCal (Black Flag, Bad Religion etc) tried so hard to capture that "I'm so fucking fed-up rage of British punk bands." They were reactionaries, their angry message was based on their belief that the status quo was eroding away. (which it was) The hardcore Southland punks while preaching non-conformity wore their ideals & beliefs like a uniform. Southern California took up the banner of dissatisfaction and carried on with it long after it was no longer fashionable.
"Blueprint for an arthouse dance craze"
"But!... Professor... what the fuck does this have to do with Venus Bogardus?"
"Put your hand down you inquisitive little bastard."...
"The answer is simple... it has nothing and everything to do with them."...
"Venus Bogardus is the purgative impetus that will flush us free of complacency"
"Now shut the fuck up! and let me continue."
It's easy to get lazy without someone around to point out that we don't have much going on here. Isn't that the driving force behind both marriage and music?, the need to get something going. The music scenes in Albuquerque & Santa Fe (such as they are) have constantly renewed themselves through the influx of ideas and talent from outside the state. So, who better than a Brit and a Texan to set us straight when it comes to no wave, post punk music and literature.
James Reich is a British ex-patriot..I apologize, he may well be a patriot, but for the moment he lives in Santa Fe. James along with Hannah Levbarg (who hails from Texas) have been together since 2002, they started up as Venus Bogardus ( 2005) in Bath, England. Beside being the name of a character in an Ann Bannon novel, Venus Bogardus is also an experimental collaboration between two acclaimed writers and musicians who are causing ripples of excitement across the small pond that is New Mexico.
"Minarets of the occupation - Lost journals of the destination"
I could tell you that they sound like early Killing Joke or mid-period Killing Joke. I could even say that they remind me of The Velvet Undergroud, Wire, The Gang of Four or Sonic Youth. You, however won't really know until you listen for yourself. Venus Bogardus revolves around James (guitar & vocals) and Hannah (bass and vocals.) Luke Carr a native of Baltimore learned to play drums so he could join the band as did Annie Gardiner, their original drummer in the U.K. Drummer Obaro Evuarherhe came over with James & Hannah from England, but has since returned to continue his studies. David Wayne, a jazz drummer joined the band for a few shows this summer. For now, James & Hannah are planning to use a drum machine, which means, they'll never have to say goodbye to another drummer.
The impending release of James's first novel "I, Judas" has drawn plenty of attention their way. We all have Judas in our genetic makeup, the betrayal, the remorse and the suicide. "I, Judas" seems to examine the thought process behind suicide, the final moments when a point is reached and there is no turning back. Having not yet read the book (I've ordered a copy from Amazon, you should do the same) I can't really say much more about it.
Suicide is entrenched in our mindset, as James explained on Facebook: It's the American West ideology of "saving the last bullet for yourself" It's Ernest Hemingway having failed to drink himself to death, finally blowing his brains out. It's Hunter Thompson killing himself because all the drugs & debauchery in the world couldn't do it for him. It's Jim Jones blathering on with his sick twisted mumbo jumbo as the believers lined up to drink the potion. It's George Armstrong Custer standing atop a hill looking down on a swarm of men intent on putting his light out. It's the American way and it haunts us in every way possible.
"Through the mist she gazed at the street, 86 floors below. Then she jumped."
For "The End of Being" (a literary blog based in Albuquerque), James Reich recently wrote about the very public suicide of Evelyn McHale. A young New York woman, who dove off the Empire State building in 1947. Her fashionably attired body crushed a UN limo below, a scene that Robert Wiles photographed. The resulting photo was published in Life magazine, and Evelyn was forever immortalized in the throes of her final act of defiance.
As part of an ad campaign for Neiman Marcus, Giorgio Armani and Norma Jean Roy recreated the scene with Drew Barrymore mimicking the part of Evelyn McHale. It's a fine line to walk for all involved as James Reich explains "The allusion to Wiles' 1947 photograph intends something more and exploits something darker" to James it's quite obvious "The image evokes the so-called jumpers from the towers of the World Trade Center."
James goes on to say. "I believe that this is deliberate and perverse" It's an attempt to make light or exploit a very dark moment in our history, one that ten years after, we're still in the process of grieving over. Reich describes Norma Jean Roy's visual details surrounding Ms. Barrymore as "an image from the lipstick index" it's a smearing of lines, not for art's sake but simply for ad revenue "an image of luxury in the shade of annihilation." Both Giorgio and Norma Jean may well burn in hell for this, as for Drew Barrymore, I think the overall effect would've been better if they had actually dropped her off the Empire State Building.
James Reich is tuned in to the American thought process, his political writings show just how well he gets us. Yet at times you get the feeling that James and Hannah play along to get along, be nice, don't piss off the natives. James explains in the accompanying radio interview that Venus Bogardus, doesn't really belong to any one place, they are transient. Which means that they'll leave us someday and those of us who are anchored to this land of enchantment will miss them dearly.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Dirt City Graphic
What!.... you've never seen a unicorn before?
I lost my flash drive, or more likely it got tossed into the trash by my four year old niece. She has a habit of doing that, we've lost flash drives before along with cordless phones, countless spoons, forks, butter knives etc. I questioned her about it, but she just yelled "I didn't do it" and covered her face with her hands, just like her damned mother.
When I first started blogging, I would type out my articles directly onto the blog as new posts. It worked fine on Blogger, but when I switched over to Webs.Com I learned a hard lesson. I started working on a story for my now abandoned blog "Argonauts and 40 Niners" (which ironically was about abandoned places.)
I hammered out hundreds of words, downloaded pictures, edited, rewrote and spell checked. Then to my horror, when I went to publish, a message popped up telling me that I had timed out and all that hard work vanished into thin air. To this day I fucking hate Webs.Com. Lesson learned: type out articles on Word Pad first, store on desktop or in documents and then transfer copy to flash drive.
Almost everything I had written for Dirt City Chronicles over the last six months was on that portable drive. Thankfully, I have copies stored in my documents file, albeit rough drafts that in some cases barely resemble the finished work. That drive was my buddy in fact, every morning upon leaving the house, I would pat my pocket to make sure it was there.
It was a 1 GB Geek Squad drive that I purchased at Best Buy as a two pack. It was beat to hell, the lettering had rubbed off, I had bent the USB input jack a few times and it was dirty. I probably have at least 50 flash drives at home, so it seems stupid to feel sentimental over this one, but I do.
I had one story saved that I was working on for Fear of Agraphia, my dagwood sandwich blog. It wasn't backed up, although I found a rough draft in the recycle bin of my work computer (don't tell my boss, but my job affords me time to write) I reconstructed the story, actually improving on the original final draft, so it worked out ok.
I have a brand new flash drive, it's a SanDisk 2 GB, I hated it at first but it's starting to grow on me. It's the first thing that goes into my pockets in the morning, I never leave home without it.
I didn't talk much about music on this post, so here's some more tracks from Santa Fe bands.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
That Dirt City Sound Episode 18
An eclectic mix of music from the city that is different... Santa Fe! I put together an episode just like this that featured the music of Las Cruces. I got one episode, there really wasn't enough quality music for two. The Santa Fe project could easily take four episodes, but I'll stop at two for now. The depth and quality of the Santa Fe music scene (past & present) is amazing. Keep in mind that I stayed clear of anything remotely Americana. I also avoided posting anything by Zach Condon & Beirut, Alaska in Winter or Felonious Groove Foundation (my bad) Thus leaving the door open for another pair of episodes at a later date.
Friday, August 26, 2011
The Dirty Novels- Pack up their Pistols
Pablo Novelas, (Paul Snyder) lead singer, guitarist for The Dirty Novels, the libertines of the local scene, is ditching the Dirt City for Philly (?) He's gonna play in an R&B/Soul garage band. I hope they wear 70's style afro wigs, that would be cool. The Dirty Novels brought style, class and some retro, boozy, "this is what the Stones would sound like if they had been Mods" rock & roll to this old town. The Dirty Novels will always rank as one of the very best local bands, their catalog of albums (they never recorded a bad one) is testament to their talent. Good Luck Pablo.
Zagadka
"So fill your pockets, lace your shoes, but keep your feet tied to the ground"
Grants, unlike other New Mexico cities has no distinguishing quirks to set it apart. Gallup has the Navajo Nation, Farmington has Mormons, Bernalillo has corruption and ignorance, Los Lunas has corruption and ignorance, Belen has corruption and rodeo livestock. Grants has nothing, with no uranium mining left, the interstate is its saving grace
Interstate towns in New Mexico tend to be a little different from the rest of the state. Just the fact that thousands of people pass by daily changes a town's character. Through osmosis these towns become mainstream and less provincial. For travelers along these mother roads they epitomize everything that is stereotypically American.
"My calloused fingers, pay their dues, by plucking strings to make sound"
Zagadka* hails from Grants, lead singer, guitarist Adam Abeyta, drummer Jameson Ray and bass player Matt Garcia formed the band in 2003. All three were chums at Grants Hs. (Go Pirates!) After graduation they all enrolled at UNM. Thus, Zagadka continued to rock in the bright lights and big city of Albuquerque (where they're now based). *Zagadka is Polish for enigma, puzzle or riddle
Funny how with all these genre tags and labels, nothing ever seems to fit quite right. That doesn't stop music fans, writers or me from categorizing bands. Zagadka is alternative, post hardcore, new metal, emocore... they're a fucking blender mix of styles. This band is the floppy eared American mutt that you can love to death. Small town guys, steeped in tradition with big heads full of big time dreams.
"If Minus the Bear met up with Portugal the Man would he eat him?"
The men of Zagadka kept up with their college classes, while playing regularly at local venues. They've opened for and played with a who's who of post hardcore/ emo bands including Lydia, Head Automatica, As Tall As Lions, The Dear Hunter, Tera Melos etc. They also toured during the summer of 2011 with Sputniq. Playing a variety of clubs, house parties and parking lots across the western states.
For part-timers the band is extremely competent. Musically they play a mash-up of melodic alternative metal and post hardcore. Adam Abeyta (I assume he's the primary songwriter) is an earnest bard, but the lyrics border on the obtuse and are at times almost nonsensical. It strikes me as the work of young man who has not yet fully experienced the world.
"We smell a finish in the near future"
In 2010, the band took a short hiatus while Jameson Ray recovered from a serious hand injury. Once back in action they focused on finishing up their debut album "Wells." (which was finally released this year) Four tracks and lyrics are posted on their otherwise abandoned MySpace Music page. The album is the basis for higher expectations, the songs I've heard are nicely produced, well crafted and energetically infectious.
For a young band they've done very well, and if this is as far as they get... they've still gone further than most. It seems that with school back in session, they've now returned to the classroom. The band's activity has subsequently dropped off. Their most recent appearance was a Duke City club date in June. An optimistic entry on their Facebook wall declares them "Still Alive" so we probably haven't heard the last from the Zags.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Do the Math: Kidcrash
In this age of genres and sub genres Math rock has got to be my favorite. At its core this genre is nothing more than an updated version of the same music Frank Zappa and the prog rockers of the 1970's were playing. Kidcrash certainly incorporate elements of Zappa's music into their own. They also follow the same noisy path as At The Drive In/The Mars Volta/Sparta to whom they compare favorably.
Math rock is a guitar & drum based style that flows along a complex jazz like groove. The drums are more prominent in this style, with the interplay between the drummer and guitarists the foundation of the sound. It's the stylistic difference between it and other styles, vocals and lyrics are just a small part of the mix. Unlike, Shoegaze or Emo-Screamo which tend to showcase the singers with the band doing little more than laying down a backing track.
Math rock is today's thinking man's rock music, which was the role of musicians like Frank Zappa, King Crimson, Gentle Giant etc. in their day. It's defined by hard rock instrumentation, complex stop and go rhythmic changes, with the instrumental interplay carrying the melody rather than the vocals. The most devoted Math Rock bands don't even bother with a singer, preferring the instrumental approach.
The genre's name comes from the (mathematical) complexity of the music, its asymmetrical time signatures and syncopated meters. Or, you can believe Matt Sweeney, singer for math rock pioneers Chavez. He claims that a friend of his would bust out a calculator and start calculating just how good he thought their music was... as a way of making fun of them.
Complicated like algebra and mind boggling like trigonometry, but you don't need a calculator to know how good Kidcrash is. They are an experimental post hardcore / emo / screamo / math rock / mathcore band..(say that three times and Cedric Bixler-Zavala will magically appear) Kidcrash started out in Santa Fe in 2000 (they're now based in Portland) Over the years they've maintained the same line-up. (Alex Gaziano, John Gee, Kevin Brouse & Buster Ross) This stability shows in their music, they are fucking tight, both in the studio and on the stage.
Alex is also known for having recorded an ep with Zach Condon "Small Time American Bats" shortly before Kidcrash was formed. A recording that didn't offer any clues as to the direction both would take. Much has been said about the band's change in "sound" after the "New Ruins" album in 2004. Which was more a result of their label Lujo Records screwing them over than any artistic differences. The dispute over I-Tune sales forced the band to ask fans not to buy the mp3 tracks, but rather download the entire album from their website. To this day all of the band's music is available for download either for free or for a donation... by all means please donate.
Kidcrash went from emocore to math rock, the band's subsequent releases Jokes (2007) and Snacks (2009) showed the band evolving into a cohesive and mature unit. It gets harder to pull off the whole Emo thing as you get older, what with beer guts sagging over skinny jeans, porn star mustaches and full beards. Plus, no matter what anybody thinks Chuck Taylors look stupid on men pushing 35 (I'm looking at you Jim Ward) With this in mind, Kidcrash have grown up, they've put their sad eyed ways behind them, even if their fans haven't.
this ain't your typical pretty boy emo band
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