Body/Head Kim Gordon/Bill Nace

Body/Head

Coming Apart

Matador

There is so much propulsive feedback, and so many drones, that you don’t notice the drums, and then you realize they aren’t needed.  This is a tribute to the abilities of 

Kim Gordon and her partner Bill Nace. Their guitar work, especially on the intro to “Can’t Help You,” melodise providing the very loose yet sturdy structure, the feedback, and the drones providing a steady rhythm. That has the effect of being vaguely ominous, but is more often strangely comforting. There is nothing cold about this music. It is warm, enveloping, and perfect to meditate to, especially if you hate or are sick of new age music and want something with some teeth in it.

Kim’s chanting adds to these effects. A word, a phrase, no verse-like lyrics. Just a line or two here and there, in a voice that is cracked and strained. Yet these are some of the finest vocals she’s ever done, and make this a classic, even if you’re not sure how well you understand, or get experimental noise/music.

Kim Gordon deserves her icon status in whatever she does, in whatever medium she chooses to express herself, not just because she broke so much ground, and is one of the few college rockers still making relevant music. She’s set the benchmarks for women making any kind of music,  and is just as much a godmother of rock as Patti Smith.  In Nace, she has found a better and more sympathetic player than even Thurston or Lee, and that’s not a put down of either. It’s just a different type of playing than they did. But I prefer this album to a lot of Sonic Youth’s work, even though I am a fan of that band, and would pull this album out to play before I would pull out, say, Goo, that’s how wonderful this album is.

http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/2013/06/26/bodyhead-coming-apart-double-lp-cd-coming-september-10/

 Andrea Weiss

Willis Earl Beal

Wills Earl Beal

Nobody Knows

XL Recordings

I’d say forget about Jack White and the Black Keys. Beal writes, sings, and plays the real indie blues.  And now that he has better recording equipment than he did on his first album Acoustic Sorcery, and a band,  the result is an album that improves on his debut tenfold. Beal is someone who plays the blues first and is an indie musician second.

His music rough, soulful, and blue as in sexual in “Too Dry to Cry” but the command Beal has of every part of his music is also a joy to hear.

Tom Waits is still used for effect, but only for effect. I hear more Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Van Hunt, Keb Mo, and even a bit of Al Green.  He’s a 70s throwback, but a great one. It’s been along time since I heard the blues played this well, although my perspective is limited. The blues in general is such a vast type of music that I can’t say I’ve explored every part of it, but enough that I know the blues when I hear it. If you like the blues, you’ll enjoy this album a lot.

https://www.facebook.com/willisearlbeal 

Andrea Weiss

London Grammar

London Grammar

If You Wait

Columbia Records

If the Eurythmics had appeared today, they would be London Grammar. Hannah Reid, the trio’s lead singer, recalls Anne Lennox at her best, and a is lot more organic than she is. Dot Major and Dan Rothman, the other two members of the trio, construct a sound not unlike Dave Stewart did for the Eurythmics, and it’s a lot more organic than anything he got up to with Lennox.  Reid also has more to say about love than the Eurythmics ever did, and without the bombast that duo indulged in.

They also remind me of the XX, with a fuller sound, but just as good, and since LG has played with the XX, the two bands compliment each other perfectly.  My only quibble about this album is that as the XX does, there is a male singer to balance things, and I kind of wish Rothman sang, just for that balance. Ried alone sounds a bit one sided.  But that’s just me. This is a really good, romantic, slow dance pop album, and as they already have a major following in Europe, there’s no reason these great pop songs can’t do the same in the US.  This is the thinking person’s dance music. Perfect if you’re lovelorn, or just want a slow, romantic spin on the floor with you partner of choice. https://www.facebook.com/londongrammar 

Andrea Weiss

G&G

Ghost and Goblin

Superhorrorcastleland

Self-Released

Guitar based electronica duo, as in synths first, guitar for details, colors and shading, make music that’s supposed to be spooky and frightening, but the singer, lyrics, and music are too friendly to be frightening. That isn’t a put down. I like this album very much, even as it’s not dance music. This is perfect for Halloween, or any time you need to set an eerie vibe.  That these guys are trying to be heavy like Soundgarden also works with me, as I really like Soundgarden.  So if you need to be freaked out a bit, knowing that it’s maybe a bad dream, this album is for you. Have a lot of fun being scared. https://www.facebook.com/ghostandgoblin 

Andrea Weiss

Great Big Something

Great Big Something

Andrea Weiss

Lulu

This post is about a novel I wrote in the 90s called Great Big Something.  It was originally published through a POD press and I've recently revised it and published it as an ebook on Lulu.

Sheila and Mary are lovers and leaders of the band Great Big Something. The band is doing well, but the two women are having problems and decide to go into therapy. While on tour, the other couple in the band, Claudia and Rhonda, break up and Rhonda leaves.  The band scrambles to find a replacement.  To find out what happens, please read the book.

The band is part of the first gay/lesbian rock scene.  At the time I wrote this, there were few out musicians and a lot of homophobia. The story is my response to that, since I am gay.  It is so much better today.  There are many out musicians. And it is a relief that much of the homophobia has finally dissipated.  Gay rights and same-sex marriage are now The Causes and you can be out with no problems. Say what you want about Lady Gaga’s music, but she’s openly bi, and one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. That’s real progress.  

I was and am an 80s college rocker, and “alternative” in this book now means hard rock, not the grunge in the original edition. I had a lot of wrongheaded notions about grunge back in the day, and these days I like it.   Most of what I wanted to have happen musically in the 90s has come to pass, and that is also reflected in the book.  I love today’s indie rock, too.  It’s positive, happy, thoughtful, and great to listen to. 

The novel was a badly written first book and the person who untangled it is my best friend and writing mentor, Jen Grover.  She smoothed out the plot and the characters and her eye for detail and her stylish prose made the novel I dreamed of come true.

So if you are curious, I hope you'll read it and like it.  The book is only available from Lulu right now, but will be on the iTunes store and B&N.com very soon. Kindle folks, sorry, but Amazon isn’t included here, but you can be read it on any Apple/Windows/Linux device or anything that can read an iBook or Nook book.  http://www.lulu.com/shop/andrea-weiss/great-big-something/ebook/product-21179781.html

Andrea Weiss

techno

Sarantis

Hallucinator

Loose Squares

Dark, ominous techno, lives up to its title, putting me in mind of strobe lights going off to the EP on the club floor, or at a party.  The first song concerns sex, the second is anti-cop, the third is about a robbery in progress.  It’s nice to hear techno that isn’t friendly or relaxing, It’s a good change of pace, and if that change is what you want, this EP is for you.

ttps://soundcloud.com/loosesquares/sets/sarantis-hallucinator-loose?utm_source=Chrissy+List&utm_campaign=b5d5958872-PRESS_HP_Sarantis7_23_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_141964dbfa-b5d5958872-310784497

Andrea Weiss

Alela Diane

Alela Diane

After Farewell

Rusted Blue Records

Full disclosure: I reviewed Alela Diane’s wonderful last album Alela Diane and Wild Divine as a promo from Rough Trade.  And I’m not being glib here. That album and her Rough Trade debut, To be Still were and are wonderful.  I write this as a fan first and a critic second. As for her self-released debut The Pirate’s Gospel, I still need to hear this. My apologies.

This is stark, spare, haunting, intense, eerily calm music. While cathartic, it’s not a downer. Mostly just Diane on acoustic guitar, with guests such as Heather Broderick (Horse Feathers, Efterklang, Loch Lomond) piano and flute, Holcombe Waller on strings, and Neal Morgan (Joanna Newsom, Bill Callahan) drums.  She recorded and mixed the album with John Askew at Scenic Burrows and Mix Foundry.

So yes, this is a folk album, a little like early Dar Williams at her most pared down, think “February” from Mortal City, or Mary McCaslin’s lost classic album from 1974, Way Out West. Any album that could sound as good as them will always make me take notice.

Lyrically, it’s just as cathartic. Diane went through a divorce, and she explores her emotions, and her decisions about it. It’s not so much confessional as honest as to why she thinks and feels the way she does. And while there are many albums on the subject, this stands out. She doesn’t make a big statement about anything she went through, just says what she needs to, and leaves it at that.

With neo-folk riding high on the charts, is there any place for an album that is straight up folk music. Yes, absolutely, and this album is a relief  in  the wake of Mumford and the rest of that genre. There is a long tradition of folk being quiet and devastating, Joan Beaz’s song “Diamonds and Rust” come to mind, and that was around long before the latest folk wave, and will remain long after that trend fades. Diane’s album is in Beaz’s tradition, which makes it true folk, because true folk is a lot more than what on the charts right now.  https://www.facebook.com/aleladianemusic

Andrea Weiss