Perfect Sound Forever music magazine- Oct/Nov 08 edition
Jason Gross
In the latest issue of Perfect Sound Forever <http://
www.perfectsoundforever.com>, you'll find (among other things):
SHARON CHESLOW
Punk author & zinester
"... a musician, a photographer, a writer, a philosopher, a
documenter, a muckraker, and an all around pioneer on so many levels.
Sharon has worked with many talented people over the years. She made
history in the first all-female DC punk band, Chalk Circle, and for
confronting Maximum Rock ’n Roll Magazine for its sexist ways. Since
1989, she has been publishing her zine, Interrobang?! She also co-
published the seminal punk book, Banned in DC. Since that time, she
has continued to impress us with her unique artistic projects and
collaborations"
J DILLA
Great DJ gone too soon
"With glassy eyes peering out from beneath a perpetually low fitted
cap, James Yancey confined himself to his home studio, much as Da
Vinci confined Mona Lisa within the murky mountain backdrop that
frames her figure. Just what was going on behind those eyes, nobody
will ever really know. Close friend and Slum Village emcee Elzhi cites
Yancey's constant preoccupation with production as the force behind
his hushed character."
THE DODOS
Arty pop as freak folk
"If you've been living in a vacuum, you may not have heard of The
Dodos (singer/songwriter/guitarist Meric Long, drummer Logan Kroeber,
Joe Haener on xylophone), a powerhouse folk band out of San Francisco.
The blissfully tipsy crowd eagerly anticipated The Dodos performance
while the band was setting up on stage. The first vibrations of
Kroeber’s pounding drum ignited the set that ended much too soon. Long
skillfully strummed, plucked, and picked his guitar, bringing life to
'Fools,' followed by 'Ashley, Jodi, Red and Purple'... from the
recently released second album Visiter."
INDIAN COLLECTORS
Scouring for 78rpm treasures
"India is a sound enthusiast's heaven. On a recent trip to Tamil Nadu
and Mumbai in Southern India, I recorded constantly, both maddened by
and in love with the barrage of noise. Traffic sounds in Indian cities
and towns reach near maddening decibel levels. Everyone drives with
their horn... The sense of personal space (both physical and aural) is
very different than what we are used to in the West. It is a very
crowded country. Parades seem to explode in crowded alleyways with
fireworks and drums and horns."
TOM LUCAS
R&B piano by a Lit prof
"Tom Lucas carved out his small, vital, piece of music lore in the
1970's with the album Red Letter Day. Recorded in 1975 and released in
a very limited run several years later, the record has become a
coveted piece of cult ephemera, selling for an ungodly amount on eBay,
and finally being reissued in 2004, without Lucas' knowledge or
permission. Radioactive's unauthorized re-release might have been an
injurious insult to Lucas' art and livelihood; instead it has become
the catalyst for a revival of Lucas' career as a vital songwriter and
musician."
ANGEL MALDONADO
Puerto Rican son of a drum
"A proper measure of a devout musician might be his influence and
contribution to the growth and development of his national culture and
musical heritage. If the influence of this musician went far beyond
his native shores and had an international effect, and his
contributions spawned a renaissance which revitalized an entire
movement, this is the substance of legend. Such is the case of Puerto
Rican master percussionist Angel 'Cachete' Maldonado."
MIKE & THE RAVENS
Return of garage/surfs legends
"A prank effectively gutted Mike and the Ravens, the hottest rock n'
roll dance band burning up the North Country circuit in '62. No big
deal to the judge. The trio scored 48 hours in the hoosegow with a
choice - military or school. That or serve out the rest of their 60
day sentence. So school it was, laying the foundation for law careers
for Steven Blodgett, Peter Young, and Brian Lyford, all three
determined to stay on the right side of the law, ya know, just in case
they gotta sweeten the sounds in Vermont's Green Mountains one more
time."
NOT EVEN THE TV
South African conceptual art
"The band often seems as much an idea, or even an ideal, as a band.
How else do you explain the fact that the members still meet on an
almost weekly basis, privately in what is termed 'rehearsal' by David
Master (their vocalist and their elemental force) to make what is
consistently among the most provocative, uncompromising and intriguing
rock music in their country with almost no hope that it will be heard
very much more widely than within the confines of that rehearsal
room?"
POPUL VUH
Blissful Komische music
"Like Robert Fripp, the only stable member in every incarnation of
King Crimson, Florian Fricke was the central and guiding figure of
Popol Vuh for their entire recording career. Fricke started to make
music when he was 11, and when he was 15, he went to the Frieburg
Music College; studying grand piano, composition and conducting, but
by 19, he was happy to be free of the constant practice that school
demanded. In the interim, he worked as a film and music reviewer and
a maker of short films. This is where he met director Werner Herzog.
Fricke traveled extensively, with the encountering of other cultures
and religions being very important to him, even though Fricke himself
didn't claim to prefer any one religion over another."
QUARTER AFTER
Part of the neo-psych revolution
"Something has been going on for the past eight years. It is the
musical revolution that the Brian Jonestown Massacre front man Anton
Newcombe is famous for talking about. In 2000, a Neo-Psychedelic scene
with half a dozen bands was birthed in Silverlake, California. The
Quarter After was one of those pioneer bands that was turned on from
the start and continues today to turn on others."
CONRAD SCHNITZLER
70 years of krautrock anarchism
"In the middle of the sixties, Conrad Schnitzler became something like
the leading figure of experimental rock-music in West-Berlin. As a
founding-member of both Kluster and Tangerine Dream, he was a maverick
at breaking the traditions of Rock music. He calls himself an amateur
who is basically an artist; someone who produces 'Sounds.'"
REGINA SPEKTOR
Soviet folk genius?
"Perhaps Regina's strange vocal style developed from this anxiety
about 'crude' songwriting and from her love of sound and language.
Regina 'stretches words... into epic solos, then crams long sentences
into her mouth and spits them out in a few exuberant bars,' as Josh
Tyrangiel described it. She also incorporates sounds, such as hiccups,
hisses, pops, and gurgles. 'The hiccup sounds,' she says, 'were like
discovering I had a tambourine in my throat.'"
TIN PALACE
70's jazz joint remembered
"In 1975, at 315 Bowery, Hilly Kristol was opening up C.B.G.B. to the
advance guard of New York rock. But just up the street, Brooklyn
native Paul Pines had been running a successful jazz club called The
Tin Palace for five years, offering much-needed exposure to American
artists ranging from bop vocalist Eddie Jefferson to AACM stalwarts
Roscoe Mitchell and Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre. An aspiring writer
and poet as well as a jazz fan, Pines traveled to San Francisco to
meet the Beats, then returned to New York to take up residence in the
East Village."
VINYL ANACHRONIST
The vinyl bandwagon arrives
"The headlines are coming fast and furious. Once upon a time, my
editor would email these articles to me maybe two or three times a
year. These days, it seems as if I get a link sent to me every few
days. The difference is that these articles are no longer coming from
local newspapers or obscure music magazines, but major players like
the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal."
We're always looking for good writers and/or ideas so let us know if
you have anything to share.
See you online,
Jason