Bitch Magnet - Umber & Star Booty

Bitch Magnet became part of the musical vernacular for a lot of folks writing songs in bands in the 90s who lacked a working knowledge of music theory or the ability to read sheet music. Along the lines of, "Ok let's do that noisy Sonic Youth thing to start and then we'll jump into the Bitch Magnet part. Cool? Cool."

Indeed it was the quietLOUDquietLOUD of Bitch Magnet which hooked a lot of us chomping @ the bit for the better days of Dinosaur or praying for the return of Slint. When Nirvana arrived with Nevermind the formula was a little stale and the once-dedicated quietLOUD contingent was halfway 'round the block to Lo-Fi town and Boredoms noise.

So this return to nostalgia is not so much to reassess my one-time fascination or to kick myself for being so smitten with something so simple (like I frequently do for my slight interest in latter day Die Kreuzen LPs - what the fock was that stuff?). This return is to celebrate a formula perfected. A celebration of its mastery, like Gallagher with a watermelon.

check out baby-faced Dave Grubbs.

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Part of the extended Squirrel Bait family tree, Bitch Magnet was one of two bands that guitarist David Grubbs joined in the wake of his departure. Unlike the other one, Bastro, Grubbs wasn't a charter member of Bitch Magnet, nor was he the leader; that duty fell to bassist/vocalist Sooyoung Park.

Much like Bastro, however, Bitch Magnet played a blistering and intellectual brand of post-hardcore punk, which often drew comparisons to Steve Albini's Big Black; they were also grouped with a more direct Squirrel Bait descendant, Slint, albeit more relentless and somewhat less nuanced. Sooyoung Park founded Bitch Magnet in 1986 while a student at Oberlin College in Ohio, joining with guitarist Jon Fine and drummer Orestes Delatorre (aka Orestes Morfin); despite their Oberlin roots, the trio was actually based in Chapel Hill, NC.

Bitch Magnet signed with the indie label Communion and debuted in 1988 with the Star Booty 12" EP, which was produced by Steve Albini himself and earned the band some notice on the underground rock scene. For the follow-up, 1989's full-length Umber, they added second guitarist David Galt (a later CD issue appended Star Booty as well). Galt's place was taken by David Grubbs later in 1989, and Grubbs toured with the group in between commitments with Bastro. Grubbs appeared on the EP Valmead and on Bitch Magnet's final album, Ben Hur, both issued in 1990. After Bitch Magnet's breakup late that year, all four members went on to other projects: Park formed the acclaimed Seam; Grubbs returned to Bastro, which evolved into the seminal Gastr del Sol; Fine played with Vineland and Don Caballero; and Orestes Morfin resurfaced in Walt Mink.

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Albert Ayler - Love Cry, New York Eye and Ear Control & Vibrations (with Don Cherry)

You can just tell when someone loves what they do. Here be my trio of most loved Albert Ayler records. Let him love on you. Get the love all over you, like lotion. Jazz lotion.

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BIO from http://www.ayler.org: Albert Ayler was born in Cleveland, Ohio on July 13th, 1936. His father, Edward, encouraged an early interest in music and taught Albert to play the alto sax. His musical training continued at the local academy of music and John Adams High School, where he also played the oboe. In 1951, at the age of 15, Albert joined his first group, Lloyd Pearson and his Counts of Rhythm, which led to a job with Little Walter Jacobs. He spent the following two summer vacations on the road with the R&B band. In 1954, Albert graduated high school and went to a local college but in 1956, due to lack of money, he left college and joined the army. His musical education continued, playing in the military band for seven hours a day, then practicing with his fellow musicians. In 1959 he was transferred to France for two years. In 1961 he left the army and after a short time in California, returned to Cleveland. By now Albert was developing his own ‘free jazz’ style, so inevitably there was no work.

In early 1962, he returned to Europe, settling in Sweden. He made his first recordings at a private session and these were not widely released until a few years later. Later in ‘62 he met up with Don Cherry (who was touring with Sonny Rollins), and with whom he would later record four albums. Then in December he saw the Cecil Taylor group in Stockholm and asked if he could join them. He travelled with Taylor to Denmark and made his official debut album, “My Name Is Albert Ayler” in January 1963, with a pick-up group of local musicians.He returned to America, settled in New York and continued to play with Cecil Taylor until the work (and the money) ran out. He then returned to Cleveland for a while (a regular pattern in his life, money was always a problem and he received economic support from his parents, and later from John Coltrane) before moving back to New York. He played at a few jam sessions at Ornette Coleman's house around December 1963.

On January 14th, 1964, Albert married Arlene Benton. In February 1964 there was a recording session organised in New York by the Danish label, Debut Records. This resulted in the "Witches and Devils" LP (aka "Spirits"), and the set of spirituals and other traditional material which was released posthumously. Albert then formed a trio with Gary Peacock on bass and Sunny Murray on drums. As well as a live LP (again released posthumously), this is the unit which produced the universally acknowledged classic jazz album, "Spiritual Unity", which was recorded in July 1964 and released on the new ESP label. Albert`s second LP for ESP was the soundtrack album, "New York Eye And Ear Control", which featured a larger group, including Don Cherry. The Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen then invited Albert to return to Europe. Don Cherry was added to the regular trio and the group made the outstanding record, "Ghosts" (aka "Vibrations", "Mothers and Children") in September 1964. Don Cherry had decided to remain in Europe, so when Albert returned to New York, he asked his brother, Donald, to join his band.With the addition of Donald Ayler, Albert`s music changed yet again, at times sounding like a New Orleans marching band, which gave the regular jazz critics even more problems, wondering whether it was meant to be taken seriously or as a parody.

When ESP issued "Bells", recorded in 1965 and released as a one-sided, see-through disc, the name of Albert Ayler became even more notorious. Although the "Free Jazz" movement was at its height in the mid-Sixties (Albert even made the cover of Downbeat), it was never a popular form of music. Albert Ayler was working, but he still relied on his parents and John Coltrane for financial support. He'd also left his wife around the beginning of 1966, after he met Mary Parks.

There was another European tour in November 1966. On November 15th he played at the London School of Economics. This concert was recorded for the BBC2 "Jazz Goes To College" series, but it was never broadcast and the tape was later destroyed. (I should add a note here because the Jeff Schwartz biography implies that the BBC executives were so shocked by Ayler's music that they ordered the immediate destruction of the tapes. It is true that `jazz experts` were consulted and they advised the BBC not to broadcast the programme, but the tapes were destroyed as part of a general space-saving exercise which resulted in the loss of a number of classic drama and comedy programmes as well as the odd concert. As far as I know all the tapes of the "Jazz Goes To College" series, which included performances by Sonny Rollins and Max Roach, were wiped after they'd been shown. However, to give the BBC their due, they did manage to conserve every TV recording of the annual "Trooping The Colour" ceremony - a pointless 2 hour ritual where the Queen sits on a horse and salutes a load of men in silly hats.)

On his return from Europe, Albert embarked on his first major recording contract, since John Coltrane had finally persuaded Bob Thiele at Impulse Records to sign him to the label. It is difficult to overestimate the influence of Coltrane on Ayler, not musically, but in terms of support and encouragement. Coltrane was constantly "cleaning the mirror", his music becoming more and more uncompromising. Perhaps it`s wrong to speculate, but one can't help but wonder whether Albert's music would have changed so radically during the Impulse years if he'd had his friend there to guide him. John Coltrane died on July 17th 1967.

After the magnificence of "In Greenwich Village" and "Love Cry", came the selling-out of "New Grass" and the banality of "Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe". Whether this was a genuine attempt to make his music more accessible and spread his spiritual message further, or whether he just did it for the money, either way it didn't work. The contract with Impulse was terminated. The problems with the music were reflected in Albert's private life. In the summer of 1968 he stopped working with his brother. According to Donald this was because of the influence of Mary Parks, but he also had his own problems and ended up having a nervous breakdown and was institutionalised for a time. In July 1970, Albert played his last concerts in France. On November 25, 1970, Albert Ayler's body was found floating in the East River, at the foot of Congress Street Pier, in Brooklyn.

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Hear Love Cry

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Clinic - Walking With Thee

I'm really fond of this record and not because it (again) marks me dipping into an extensive discography for a handful of efforts by an artist and not trying the whole litter. I stopped listening to Clinic after this. Why? Have you seen how much music there is out there to listen to!!!????!!! It's not like it's 1985 and I have to ride my bike in the sweltering heat to the neighborhood record store praying a Big Black EP might've slipped in among the horde of Genesis, Men At Work and Police records. Seriously, have you looked at the internet?

No, there's a genuine groove to this. A very simple groove.

(NOTE: I wrote three different drafts of this where I editorialized about shifting paradigms, the death of the label, the market for live performance and the commodity of the recorded artifacts. All were deleted because it really opened the door for a lot of "easy for you to say" comments.)

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Allmusic: Right down to its gritty, mod-punk art direction, Walking With Thee seems like it should fit right in with Clinic's previous work. Indeed, the group's second full-length album could've been a carbon copy of their debut, Internal Wrangler, but to Clinic's credit, the band makes a few changes, opting for a smoother production and a quieter, more implosive sound than their previous work offered. Frustratingly, though, most of these changes end up detracting from the group's strengths and diluting the album's impact. Walking With Thee's production is far from slick, but a huge part of Clinic's appeal was that the band seemed to record in an underwater garage, giving their songs a fuzzy, cavernous sound that made their messy, thrashy moments even more dangerously alluring and their ballads that much more affecting. Stripped nearly bare of reverb and static, much of Walking With Thee sounds incomplete, particularly on the almost-punk of "Pet Eunuch," "Welcome," and "The Equaliser," which, with its rattling percussion and driving bassline, could've rivaled Internal Wrangler's ugly-beautiful intensity if had a little more oomph. However, the album isn't a total washout — for every lackluster moment, there's one that connects. "The Vulture" and "Walking With Thee" nearly reach the frenzied, strangely sexy, bottom-dwelling heights (depths?) of Clinic's best work. And beginning with the chilly, hypnotic opener, "Harmony," many of the album's quietest moments are the most compelling. Filmic tracks like "Come Into Our Room" and the dreamy finale "For the Wars" follow suit, though their brooding, stark sound will only strengthen the Radiohead comparisons. There's a lot of promise on Walking With Thee, but nothing here touches the deadpan cool of Internal Wrangler's "The Second Line," the detached poignancy of "Distortion," or the raw energy of "Second Foot Stomp." The band sounds like they're still figuring out how to make the urgency of their previous work jell with a more polished, experimental sound, which makes Walking With Thee not so much a progression or regression as a step sideways. Clinic is still one of the most intriguing acts around, and while this isn't the masterpiece the band has the potential to deliver, an interesting disappointment from them is still better than a successful but boring album from a less-inspired group.

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Cluster - Zuckerzeit

So, this week, I'm downing cold medicine like a Houston rapper on a weekend float trip and I have the most distinctive and disruptive dreams because of it. And if there was a soundtrack to these Nyquil dreams, it would sound like this. My top Cluster (though most would disagree).

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Allmusic: An unexpected jump from the extended kosmische jams of Cluster 71 into uncharted territory that signaled their direction for years to come, Zuckerzeit presented a vision of electronic pop, fusing the duo's haunted melodic sense with crisp, scratchy drum programs that provided a grounded focus to all those synthesizer warbles. Oddly, the ten short tracks have separate composer credits (five each), leading to the assumption that Roedelius handled more evocative synthesizer lines ("Hollywood," "Rosa") while Moebius pushed the group into experimental ground ("Rote Riki," "Caramba"). It's undoubtedly one of the most distinctive records in the Cluster discography.

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Caustic Resin - The Medicine Is All Gone

So one day I twittered that I was hornswaggled I haven't heard this. yes I've see Built To Spill many times - some mind blowers and some shit shows - kinda knowing but not knowing the effect of Caustic Resin on BTS both on stage (sharing members) and in concept.

I suppose some might claim Caustic Resin is just dumbly aping BTS but there's a lot to suggest that the apin' is a vicey-versy. Let the dense, slow Live Rusty jams seep in and you make the call. Either way, fukkit, I like.

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Caustic Resin is the wild card on the Boise indie scene, delivering anthemic drug-rock space jams which veer from eviscerating psychedelic epics to gentle, atmospheric soundscapes; The Medicine Is All Gone, the band's third LPs on as many labels, doesn't tamper with their basic formula, and offers such intoxicating freak-outs as "Niacin," "Dripping" and "Man from Michigan."

Allmusic Bio: Longtime linchpins of the Boise, ID, indie scene, Caustic Resin were often lost in the shadow of the city's best-known exports, Built to Spill. Yet their roots dated back farther, and were also less connected to Seattle. Somewhat in contrast to the dominant sounds of the Northwest, Caustic Resin's music was a dark, druggy blend of heavy metal, psychedelia, and space rock.

Headed by guitarist/vocalist Brett Netson, the band favored thick, slow-moving jams filled with torturous vocals and warped noise freak-outs, softened by the occasional quiet meditation or hint of blues. Most media attention focused on Caustic Resin's relationship with Built to Spill — Netson was a frequent guest musician, and the two bands once combined for an EP release — but they proved to be a venerable presence in their own right, sticking around for well over a decade.Caustic Resin were formed in Boise in 1988, and originally featured guitarist/singer Brett Netson (formerly of local punk outfit the Pugs), bassist Tom Romich Jr., and drummer Pat Perkins.

They started out playing in heavy metal venues, but were soon gigging with another Boise-rooted band, Doug Martsch's pre-Built to Spill outfit Treepeople. By the early '90s, drummer James Dillion (aka James Manny) had replaced Perkins, giving the group its best-known lineup. In 1993, Netson moonlighted with the newly formed Built to Spill as their charter bass player, appearing on their debut album for C/Z, Ultimate Alternative Wavers. Helped by the exposure and Martsch's advocacy (he cited Caustic Resin as an influence on his own music), Caustic Resin signed with C/Z themselves and issued their official debut album, Body Love Body Hate, that year as well.Like Built to Spill, Caustic Resin subsequently moved over to Up Records. Their next album, 1995's Fly Me to the Moon, began to break away from some of the metal stylings of their debut, often floating into spacier — if no less challenging — territory. It was produced by Phil Ek, who would also helm most of Built to Spill's best work. 1996 saw Caustic Resin uniting with Built to Spill's Doug Martsch for a four-song collaborative (not split) EP, Built to Spill Caustic Resin.

Following its release, Netson took the band away from the path they'd been treading, moving them away from BtS to the California-based indie Alias (although he continued to appear as a guest guitarist for BtS albums and live shows). Caustic Resin debuted for their new label with 1998's The Medicine Is All Gone, which refined their basic blueprint while drawing comparisons to electric Neil Young and Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. The group continued to mellow on 1999's Trick Question, a more varied and nuanced effort that welcomed several guest musicians and featured an alternate rhythm section — bassist Mike Johnson (Dinosaur Jr., Mark Lanegan) and drummer Joe Plummer — behind Netson on several tracks. The Afterbirth appeared in 2000, marking the band's third album in as many years, and a return to their raw earlier sound. It was also their last album for Alias; they would eventually return to Up. In the meantime, Netson played and toured with Built to Spill. Finally, in 2003, Caustic Resin returned with Keep on Truckin, which featured original drummer Pat Perkins and split bass duties between Romich and Johnson.

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The Coctails - Long Sound

As an homage to the KCMO -> Chicago connection that permeates & infuses the FROXX, here's one from some of both cities' best-loved sons. KCAI grads and Chicagoland transplants (KCMO can, admittedly, get a bit, um, provincial at times) The Coctails hat-tip a handful of jazz genres and do so formidably, with precision, chutzpah and academic chops.

This here cooks.

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All Music: On Long Sound, Chicago's Coctails continued their offbeat style of jazzy lounge music. Throughout their career they were somehow able to recruit their fan base from indie rock circles, and this album played a large role in their development. It was during this era of the band that the quartet's sound moved more to jazz and away from the band's poppier efforts on albums like Early Hi-Ball Years. The disc starts off with "Steam," a subdued song that moves at a crawling pace. Throughout the disc, the band experiments with a variety of horns, including saxophone, clarinet, vibraphone, trumpet, and fluegelhorn. The pace picks up on "China Song," which is followed by the jumbled and inventive "Monkeys and Seals," which includes Ken Vandermark on bass clarinet. "Tenement" includes an extended solo by soprano saxophonist Hal Russell. The simplest song is "Twilight for Henry"; it's also the only song that is absent of horns. The song simply consists of guitar and bass, serving as a sort of musical intermission in the middle of the mostly horn-based album. The piano intertwines gracefully with Dave Crawford's fluegelhorn on "Waterlogged," leading to the chaotic blend of piano and horns on "Clown's Coffee." The album concludes with the longest song on the disc, the almost seven-minute-long "Gripper Bite," which consists of the core group of four and the simple mix of saxophone, bass, drums, and guitar. The songs on the album were recorded at Acme Studios in Chicago in August 1992. Seven of the ten songs included guest musicians, as the band began to extend their musical reach beyond the quartet of John Upturch, Mark Greenberg, B. Norman Phipps, and Archer Prewitt.

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Nelson Angelo E Joyce - Nelson Angelo E Joyce

rocky says:

this was a loan from Gallo a while back,

and it was a real revelation to me.

othermusic.com: Nelson Angelo is a great, if somewhat overlooked Brazilian songwriter and arranger mainly known outside of his homeland for his appearance on Milton Nascimento's classic Clube da Esquina (the present record is practically its sister album). By 1972, when this album was cut, Joyce had been gaining renown as a bossa nova interpreter with a couple of albums and some singles under her belt. Just prior to this record the couple were part of a short-lived quartet called A Tribo which experimented with the conventions of bossa nova. After the dissolution of that group, Angelo and Joyce teamed up for the recording of this very, very beautiful album of hushed atmospherics and sweet melodies. The emphasis is on space, with songs constructed around Joyce's delicate acoustic guitar and Angelo's moody string and woodwind arrangements. The songs are given so much room to breathe that even a bit of fuzz guitar seems unobtrusive. A very subtle masterpiece, and one of the finest and most successful explorations into Brazilian song following the initial heyday of the Tropicalia movement. [MK]

loronix: Nelson Angelo e Joyce (1972), for Odeon, the third Joyce LP from Joyce, a Brazilian singer with several fans at Loronix. Joyce was married with Nelson Angelo when this LP was recorded in 1972. I think this makes the difference on this nice album with both playing and making several duets together as they were rehearsing on their living room. People say that this is a classic album from Brazilian MPB (Musica Popular Brasiliera) in the 70's.

dustygroove: Amazing! This album is one of Joyce's truly hip albums, and it's a beautiful set of tracks written and performed with Nelson Angelo (who was Joyce's bandmate in the group A Tribo) -- with a sound and feeling that's slightly different from her other work as a leader. The music has an extremely haunting quality, and Angelo's presence adds a lot to Joyce's usual mix of lovely vocals and guitar playing. Many of the tracks on here have been extremely hard to find over the years, and very little of the album was issued on the Essential Joyce compilation. It's all fantastic, and the record's a truly essential chapter in Joyce's career!

Joyce website

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