Perfect Sound Forever- December 2021 issue

[Jason Gross]

Greetings,

In the latest issue of Perfect Sound Forever <https://www.furious.com/perfect/index1221.html>, you'll find (among other things):

THE AMPERSANDS
Interview- putting the art into pop, by Chris Wheatley
"Twin Cities/Bay Area indie duo The Ampersands can trace their musical roots back to the great innovations of the '60's, when bands such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys, alongside producers such as George Martin, Phil Spector, and Joe Meek broadened the definition of popular music to include ambitious arrangements, unusual sounds, and experimental adventures."


BUILT TO SPILL
Interview- Brett Nelson's 18-year temp gig, by Peter Crigler
"From the ashes of the Treepeople, Idaho’s native sons Built to Spill carved out their own path in the world. Leader Doug Martsch backed with various other musicians over the years set out to make his own indie rock and, in the process, became a heralded songwriter and the band became craftsmen of their own idiosyncratic style. Though they’ve never sold truckloads of records, they became one of the most well-respected indie rock bands of the nineties and beyond."


EUGENE CHADBOURNE
Interview- Extensive look at his country roots, by J. Vognsen
"Country music provides fertile creative ground for both Chadbourne's instrumental skills and his excellent comedic timing, but he has also provided a couple of important contributions to the genre as a songwriter. "


TOMMY COOMES
Interview- Chrisitan rock pioneer, by Bob Gersztyn
"Tommy Coomes is a founding member of Love Song, a pioneer Jesus rock band whose nucleus formed in 1970. By 1975, they broke up, but Coomes was also co-owner of Maranatha Records. Tommy later became the music director for the Billy Graham Organization, as well as Promise Keepers and has his own group, the Tommy Coomes Band."


BOB DYLAN
Did he really have the Xmas spirit? by Kurt Wildermuth
Q: Is <I>Christmas in the Heart</I> a big joke, a put-on? A: No, it isn’t a joke, but like a lot of Dylan’s work it is unexpectedly funny in places. And like a lot of his work it involves an element of pastiche, as he puts on "masks" and "costumes" (not exactly personas or characters).


JON HASSELL
Ethnomusicologist's Canadian Years, Part 1 by Andrew Timar
"But how did he end up in at York U. in the first place? What forces brought Jon repeatedly to Canada until the 1980s to gig, teach, experiment, record several influential early albums and to live for several weeks in a former farm house located on Toronto’s northern city limits? Who were the musicians he met here with whom he developed close ties and who encouraged him at the outset of his “coffee-colored music” Fourth World personal quest?"


JON HASSELL
On Tour in Europe- 1985 and 1988, by Thierry Guillemin
"The first time [I toured with Jon] was in May 1985, the album Power Spot was not out yet. It was my first international Tour (I was 25). The tour started with 2 concerts in Paris, then Hamburg, Rotterdam, Bruxelles, Amsterdam (at the famous Paradiso), and Eindhoven. The band was Jon, Deano [J.A. Deane], Jean-Philippe [Rykiel] and Michael Brook. For the first concert in Paris, Brian Eno was there (but not playing!). We were back on the road in November (with Goran Vejvoda replacing Michael)."


FIERCE LENNY C
Fiction- snagging a mythical drummer, by Jim Rader
"Several hours later, I ran into old drummer friend Lenny Cusano, professionally known as Lenny C., in the Lower East Side watering hole El Centro. I’d never played with Lenny, his main credits neo-psychedelic band Brave New World and the oddly named Phillip Charnel Quartet, who did not play jazz. Lenny’s face alarmingly pale, his thin lips tightly shut, I approached his small wooden table, its other chair unoccupied. El Centro had the same stench as CBGB's where we’d met four years ago, Lenny three years my junior."


JERRY JERRY
80's Canadian punk with actual talent/songs by Mike Chamberlain
"In the annals of Canadian punk rock history, the remote city of Edmonton, Alberta, contributed more than its share to the story. SNFU, Moe Berg, kd lang, Junior Gone Wild, and Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra all emerged from the city between 1984 and 1986."


AHMED MALEK
Peregrinations of Algerian film music by Domenic Maltempi
"Ahmed Malek is primarily known as a composer of film music that defined a generation for his homeland Algeria, and beyond. His music has a long reach, as does his other works, that evade native boundaries, or sonic brackets. What informs it, sculpts it, and gives its heft, is not only his prowess as a composer, but the open-eyed child-wide antenna and appetite for sound and its possibilities scattered around Earth."


PAUL MCMAHON
Singer, songwriter, Goddess Worshipper by Kurt Wildermuth
"According to the singer/songwriter Paul McMahon’s Bandcamp page, McMahon came 'from a musical family' and 'explored folk, jug, blues and rock' before 'quitting music at 20 for art, returning as a punk rocker at 27.' He then undertook a long personal quest 'in search of the real real deal; the songs becoming a diary of psychological and spiritual experience.'"


SINN SISAMOUTH
The Golden Voice of Cambodia by Daniel Hess
"Sinn Sisamouth is probably the most influential artist in Cambodian music history and is believed to have written over a thousand songs. His story starts with humble beginnings and ends with the same tragedy that almost every tale of Cambodian heritage seems to have, with a life cut far too short."


THROWING MUSES
Interview- Kristin Hersh copes with indie fame, by Peter Crigler
"Kristin Hersh is an icon; one of the queens of indie rock, and revered for being so influential. Starting the Throwing Muses in the eighties and beginning a solo career in the '90's, she blazed her own path and never looked back. She is definitely one of the forerunners of the Riot Grrrl movement and should be bowed down to by all female alt rockers."


ANDREW VIOLETTE
Postmodern "Neo-romantic minimalism" by Daniel Barbiero
"While many of his earlier compositions have a neoclassical sound, the later compositions are characterized by their combination of Romantic and (small "m") minimalist elements. In fact Violette liked to describe his work as consisting in a "neo-romantically minimalist style"--a good, concise description, to which it could be added that it is a neo-romantic minimalism with a postmodern twist. "


VINYL ANACHRONIST
2021, Year of Moving Up by Marc Phillips
"That brings us to the 22nd Annual Vinyl Anachronist Awards for Analog Excellence. I spent 2021 listening to countless turntables, cartridges and phono stages, and I have a lot of culling to do to actually pick the winners. Please don’t be mad if I’ve forgotten something along the way."




We also have a Spotify playlist with most of the artists above here:
<https://open.spotify.com/playlist/48GsOaqmyGxzOla5KRqtl7?si=1d2969f65ded4ea6>

We're always looking for good writers and/or ideas so let us know if you have anything to share.

See you online,
Jason