Johnny Hash - "Summer of Cum"/"Rat Petal" 7"

Johnny Hash – “Summer of Cum” 7”

In the Red, 1995

Acquired: Love Garden Shotgun Room, Used, 2008

Price: $.25

 

It took me a minute to realize that this band’s name was a joke. “Wait, should this be under H?” I thought. Then I was like “Oh, it’s pry a name that is a band name but not the name of someone in the band.” “Oh, hash, like hashbrowns.” “Oh, hash like drugs.” “OH IT IS A PLAY ON JOHNNY CASH I GET IT!” So there’s my thought process. Also, I gotta say, “Summer of Cum” is probably the best sleazy song title you’re gonna find anywhere, especially when paired up with the song itself which is basically grimy blues rock played into the worst recording equipment imaginable. It sounds like total garbage, which is the point, which is why I’m grooving down on this 7”. This is before the White Stripes made bluesy garage rock hip again (I’m still taken aback every time I hear a crowd chanting the hook from “Seven Nation Army” at a massive sporting event). The b-side, the almost equally excellently titled “Rat Petal” is more subdued, but just as grungy and fueled by guitars that are so distorted they sound like they’re being played through a concrete wall. Tracing the genealogy of the band is tricky since in the 18-20 years since this 7”s release (I’ve seen the release date listed as 1993, 1994, and 1995, and of course it’s nowhere on the sleeve) multiple folks have made the same play-on-famed-country-singer’s-name game (notably white rapper Johnny Ha$h). From what I could find, the group is a duo (Dan Brown and Marty Moore) with roots in the Mick Collins (the Dirtbombs) side project the Screws. The Mick Collins tie makes me think they’re from Detroit, but since these songs were recorded in Memphis I’m not so sure. It certainly sounds like dirty Detroit garage rock, that’s for damn sure. The selling point though was that this was released on In the Red records (although I’m sure even if it wasn’t on a label I knew, I still would have bought it for the title “Summer of Cum” that’s for damn sure) which I thought had popped up fairly recently with the mid-to-late 00s garage rock revival (Vivian Girls, Jay Reatard, the Black Lips, and pretty much every other band of that ilk released SOMETHING on In the Red. I remember when I was music director at KJ seeing In the Red’s neat little VU meter label on the back of a CD usually meant that the CD would at least be listened to) but no, it’s been around since 1991 and released tons and tons and tons of awesome shit.

"Summer of Cum (For Robert Wyatt)"


"Rat Petal"

Suzannah Johannes - Suzannah Johannes 7"

Suzannah Johannes – Suzannah Johannes 7”

Range Life, 2008

Acquired: Suzannah Johannes Live Show, New, 2008

Price: $5

 

I totally expected to step into a time machine when I put this one on. Like the Bandit Teeth/Dactyls 7” I recently wrote up (also from the anti-halcyon days of 2008), seeing Suzannah Johannes open half the Lawrence shows was a big part of that time period. The nice thing about Johannes was that she was an opener you actually wanted to catch. You made sure your pregaming was done by 9 and headed down to the Replay to see her play. It’s not like her sets varied too much—it was either Suzannah with her band or Suzannah on her own—but her songs were just so fucking lovely you never got sick of them. As far as I know, this is the only thing she ever released, and I’m fairly certain it was recorded on with the studio time she won when she won KJHK’s Farmer’s Ball (which used to have studio time at the Get Up Kids-owned Black Lodge Studio in Eudora, where bits of this record were recorded). Man, I can’t get over how pretty these songs are. It’s just plain pure, pleasant vocal pop that reminds me of an earthier version of Taken by Trees. It’s a nice slice of Lawrence music before everything got steeped in irony and cool.

"Horserider's Smile" and "Kelly Ann" can be found on this terrific Daytrotter session.

Gut Feeling: Moonface - Julia With Blue Jeans On

Moonface – Julia With Blue Jeans On

Jagjaguar, 2013

 

The moment where I became a Spencer Krug superfan can be isolated to a cluster of seven notes: The first notes that open Sunset Rubdown’s 2007 album Random Spirit Lover. The little guitar riff on the opening track—“The Mending of the Gown”—incites a bit of a Proustian nostalgia every time I hear it. I typically think of 2007 as my favorite year for music (at least in terms of years I got to live through while actively being a music lover). At the top of that year’s list was Random Spirit Lover. Not because it was the most masterfully crafted album or the one that broke the most new ground, but because it was the album that my gut wanted to hear every day for the back half of that year. It is a sloppy record, but one full of so much raw energy and spark that I found myself inspired every time I threw it in the CD player. I loved the wall-to-wall arrangements that always made the songs feel overstuffed but in a good way. There was so much going on, and Krug’s songwriting was peaking at such a high level it was an album I spent hours upon hours dissecting.

It always depresses me a little to refer to Krug as “the guy from Wolf Parade” whenever I’m trying to push a Sunset Rubdown or Moonface record on someone (“No, the other guy. The guy who sings ‘I Believe in Anything.’ No, there are two singers in that band…oh nevermind, just listen to this!”). Post Apologies to the Queen Mary, Krug seems to save his best tracks for his myriad side projects. “All Fires” from the first Swan Lake album is one of the most pretty sad songs I can recall, and I’ve always been under the impression that his affiliation with Dan Bejar and Carey Mercer led to a sort of songwriting arms race amongst the three considering that they always seem to be upping their game album after album. Though the last Moonface record—Heartbreaking Bravery, a collaboration with Finnish rockers Siinai—was fantastic, it didn’t feel like a triumph. It was loose, and the writing was great, but Krug’s uncanny knack for compiling great capital A Albums is one of his greatest skills. With Sunset Rubdown apparently on hiatus, Krug has taken the opportunity to unleash an unanswered boldness on his new record as Moonface. Julia With Blue Jeans On is not only the best Moonface record to date, but an honest to god triumph.

The songwriting has to be good when you’re constructing an album with nothing but piano and vocals. There are no guitars, no distortion, no walloping drums to cast any ambiguity on the lyrics. On Julia, Krug’s words fill the room wall to wall. He’s no virtuoso on the piano, but his expressive playing serves a perfect supporting role to these seemingly deeply personal songs that are amongst the most compelling he has written despite their spare setting. It is an album to be felt. Here, Krug offers up a pair of love songs that eclipse his much beloved “I’ll Believe in Anything” in sentiment. “November 2011” and the title track utilize Krug’s dark sweetness to wrap themselves around your heart like a python and squeeze. Where Krug typically shrouds his eloquently penned words in mystery and crypticism, the lyric sheet for Julia With Blue Jeans On is as straightforward and intimate as Krug has ever been.

Now I’d say the only word worth singing is a name

And I’d say the only name worth singing is not God

It’s you, Julia, as beautiful and simple as the sun

Julia with Blue Jeans on

His piano ranges from meandering to percussive and eviscerating. The songs are elegant and exhausting, occasionally breathtaking, and almost always wholly compelling and gorgeously penned. It seems criminal that Spencer Krug isn’t better known outside of Wolf Parade, but if that group’s role in the spotlight can help lead intrepid fans down the rabbit hole of Krug’s endlessly fascinating discography.

"Everyone is Noah, Everyone is the Ark"


"Love the House You're in"

Gut Feeling: Superchunk - I Hate Music

Superchunk – I Hate Music

Merge, 2013

 

My brain was way too wired for Majesty Shredding when I Hate Music was released in August. Maybe it had something to do with the band only taking three years to release this album opposed to nine with the last one. Majesty Shredding also caught me at this perfect little moment where I was falling deeply in love with Superchunk and making up for all the time I kept them on the back burner. For the longest time they were a band I knew I would love, absorbed in tiny doses, but ultimately tried to keep up with modern music. And then I quit trying to keep up with modern music, worked at a used CD store three twelve-hour shifts a week and played Indoor Living roughly 60 times in store during my six-month tenure. When Majesty Shredding hit I felt something I’ve felt maybe ten times in my life. The feeling of absolute FUCK YES. All caps. I had that same feeling when I had the good fortune of seeing Guided by Voices play live. It’s a feeling of realizing, via the will of the gods, you haven’t missed the boat and yes, you can still bask in the glory of the good old days of indie rock royalty. Majesty Shredding was as good as any Superchunk album I’d played to death and even after getting neck deep into their complete discography and history over the interim three years between albums, that shit holds its own against any of the acknowledge high points (assuming Superchunk have such defined high watermarks considering one of my favorite things about the band is their absolute steadiness). So I Hate Music was a let down at first because I didn’t immediately love it as much an album I listened to once a day in the last three months of 2010. That is a dumb way to judge music, so I set it aside and let it chill.

Two months later and I’m fucking hooked. I started running again, and the first album I loaded onto my ipod was I Hate Music. I hadn’t listened to it since August, but it’s tough to find ultra spectacular workout jams. Superchunk makes me want to run through a goddamn brick wall. First time back on the treadmill and I am in love with I Hate Music. Not just because it kicks ass, but because it’s a more cohesive effort than Majesty Shredding. It’s insane for my brain to even process that, but a quicker turnaround between records often leads to stuff that’s got more spark than stuff you’ve been plucking away at for almost a decade. There’s new life on I Hate Music. It feels forbidden. Like Superchunk was supposed to be kaput with Here’s to Shutting Up and yet here they are, making every young indie rock band look like they’re trying way too hard. It must be liberating when there is nothing on the line. Everyone in this band could easily just settle down into their family lives (Mac and Laura especially, considering the fortune Arcade Fire must be netting them) and yet, here they are. Delivering everything from easy little sing-a-long pop gems like “Me & You & Jackie Mitoo” and suckerpunch heartwrenchers like “Low F.” You don’t even realize how good some of the songs are until you catch yourself singing them in the car (the chorus on “Trees of Barcelona,” the back half of “Your Theme”). I don’t know when the band has ever sounded this versatile either (see: songs spanning from the 1:15 length punk nugget “Staying Home” to the 6:10 length closer, the mollassesy slow-burn jam “What Can We Do”). It’s not really that big a deal, but I never expect Superchunk to be versatile. They could just do an album that was 12 “Breaking Downs” and I’d be more than content and I guess it all comes down to the thing about new Superchunk albums being like a gift for a holiday you didn’t know about. A welcome surprise of outstanding quality that leaves you generally thankful to be part of a world where great people make great things and are gracious enough to share them with you.

"Me & You & Jackie Mittoo" 

"Low F"

"Trees of Barcelona"

Fucked Up - "Couple Tracks" 7"

Fucked Up – “Couple Tracks” 7”

Matador, 2010

Acquired: Crossroads Music, Used, 2013

Price: $2

 

The “Couple Tracks” 7” offers up a glimpse of Fucked Up in between The Chemistry of Common Life and David Comes to Life. As sophisticated as those two albums are (and I mean genuinely sophisticated, not just sophisticated for a hardcore band), “Couple Tracks” and “Heir Apparent” are down and dirty, no nonsense hardcore jams that are easy to get behind. Fucked Up have a knack for making songs that are both blistering and accessible. Songs that are full of sociopolitical messages or narrative structures that also kick total ass. They’re a punk band’s punk band and yet they’re also a punk band your girlfriend who hates punk rock on principle might like (I speak from experience, and while Jenny can’t tolerate Fucked Up for extended periods of time she did enjoy a few tracks from David Comes to Life and I put it on the board as a victory). The thinking man’s screamy music. Fucked Up are untouchable and should be feared and respected by every other band in the game. Even when they’re just turning out seemingly by the book punk rock as they are here, they’re still doing it at an extremely high level with sonics that never fail to sound artful.

"Couple Tracks"

The Dactyls/Bandit Teeth - Split 7"

The Dactyls/Bandit Teeth – Split 7”

Self Released, 2008

Acquired: Crossroads Music, Used, 2013

Price: $2

 

Of COURSE I found a split featuring two Lawrence bands in a Portland record shop. Crossroads Music was an intense place. It was packed with records. Most of it was junk. The impression I got was that it worked sort of like an antique mall for records: Independent sellers lay out their wares and the guy at the counter keeps track of who sells what. It was confusing until I found one or two little rows of modern indie rock 7”s and promptly spent an hour and a half combing through 45s from bands I’d never heard of. This is one of my favorite fucking things on the planet. The overhead is minimal, so I’m more likely to make an investment in something that just plain looks cool or I have even remotely heard of on the off chance it’s something tasty. Even if I had picked up a copy of this when it was released in 2008 (I’m pretty sure I attended the release party for this 7” and did not purchase a copy because it was during my “I’m about to graduate college and am currently unemployed and have no money” period (not to be confused with my current “I graduated college five years ago and am underemployed and the bulk of my extra money to Sallie Mae” period). While I always liked seeing Bandit Teeth and the Dactyls play live, I never really had any desire to listen to them outside of the Replay Lounge. It’s funny, because I listened to Bandit Teeth auxiliary projects Blood on the Wall and Rooftop Vigilantes at great length at home and in the car. Their contribution to this 7”—“Pajamazon”—is bringing back some fun memories. The nice thing about Bandit Teeth was that the Brad, Zach and Charley all seemed like this was the band that brought them the most joy. The band that was the most fun to be in just because they had all been buddies for forever. It’s ramshackle indie rock with some crustier garage influences. The Dactyls’ fondness for the glory days of indie rock was always firmly apparent. The specter of Pavement was always in the air anytime that played. They seemed so influenced by Pavement I remember remarking that it was strange they didn’t do a one off Pavement tribute because they would have been so good at that. They ultimately grew out of the Pavement knock-off and into a well rounded college rock troupe that seemed content to not set the world on fire and to exist as one of the better openers that Lawrence had to offer to national touring acts. This 7” is stirring up a massive wave of nostalgia for what was at my absolute worst.  My most dickheaded, my most drunk, my most destructive, and most ready to get the fuck out of Lawrence as soon as humanly possible. It’s all kind of funny in hindsight. A period jam packed with reality lessons that helped me grow and learn from my mistakes sound tracked by one of the better periods in the Lawrence Music Scene.

Even though it has only been five years, almost all evidence of these songs ever existing has seemingly vanished from the internet and I'm wishing I had a USB turntable to share these tracks. Preserve them in amber as an artifact of the time when $2 cans of PBR were king.

Here is what is left of Bandit Teeth

Here is what is left of the Dactyls

Joan of Arc - "Meaningful Work" 7"

Joan of Arc – “Meaningful Work” 7”

Polyvinyl, 2010

Acquired: Crossroads Music, Used, 2013

Price: $2

 

Some days I feel like Joan of Arc’s sounding like white noise to my ears is to be blamed on my never having listened to Cap’n Jazz. At one point in the dorms I had Analphabetapolothology on my hard drive but it has since vanished and I’ve been to lazy to reacquire the album. Sometimes I feel like that might make Joan of Arc click. It might also be that it’s too weird for my tastes. I love the 90s emo guitars that still lurk on this late Joan of Arc 7” but their noted avant gardiness brings on the washout. I zone out. Maybe Tim Kinsella just releases so many albums that his discography becomes too daunting to keep up with. That said, after listening to this 7” a few times I’m kind of into it. While I’m more partial to Tim’s brother (and Cap’n Jazz and occasional Joan of Arc bandmate) Mike’s bands American Football (for the smooth, late night true blue emo that both Kinsella’s are responsible for propagating in the face of a genre overrun by artists who think emo is all about screaming infidelities and so on etcetera) and Owen (for the broken, quavering prettiness of Mike Kinsella’s sadness), that’s mostly because those two bands are a lot easier to swallow than Joan of Arc. Both “Meaningful Work” and “The Thing of Things” are packed with odd time signatures, angular guitars, and weird lyrics that make the tracks something to stand back and stare at hand-on-chin rather than internalizing them on an emotional level.

"Meaningful Work"

Guided by Voices - "Chasing Heather Crazy" 7"

Guided by Voices – “Chasing Heather Crazy” 7”

TVT, 2001

Acquired: Jackpot Records, Used, 2013

Price: $5

 

I don’t know why I didn’t buy the other GBV singles they had at Jackpot when I was there. Sure, they were for tracks from Do the Collapse and Universal Truths and Cycles but I think if I was going to attempt to collect the complete discography to one band, it would be Guided by Voices. I had to grab “Chasing Heather Crazy” though. Pop songs don’t get much more pure. It’s the track that made me realize Isolation Drills is probably the best late-period GBV record. B-side “On With the Show” is a slowish track with big guitars that sound like grunting. It’s a pretty standard, decent GBV b-side. I should have bought Isolation Drills when I had the chance. I was pretty dismissive of the post classic line-up GBV records when I set out on my fandom and while I was always fond of “Chasing Heather Crazy” I didn’t wanna pay $14 for it when Love Garden had a used copy of it five years ago. I remember so well! And now the lowest price on Discogs is $40. Such is life. It gives me one more thing to look for when I attend the record stores of these United States. The Gs is always the first place I go. Now and forever.

"Chasing Heather Crazy"

Gut Feeling: Jim Guthrie - Takes Time

Jim Guthrie – Takes Time

Static Clang, 2013

The title of Jim Guthrie’s latest album comes across like a tongue-in-cheek nod to Takes Time being his first album in ten years. Guthrie’s 2003 album Now, More Than Ever is still one of those albums I try to spread Johnny Appleseed style. It’s just so fucking good, and I can’t believe no one has ever heard it (outside of Canada, where it was nominated for a Juno award). Guthrie’s blend of folk and indie-pop makes for a supremely pleasant, life affirming sound. I loved (and still love) Now, More Than Ever’s lead-off track “Problems With Solutions” so much I used it as the name of my mini comic and first blog. Whenever I see a copy for two bucks on in some clearance section at some record store I buy it because I know I know someone who would appreciate Guthrie’s talents. His ability to write songs that are both lighthearted and buoyant yet also packed with considerable depth. And here I am, writing about an album that is ten years old like it just came out yesterday. It’s timeless and tied to a piece of part of my life that was one of the best parts of my life.

It took time before I was able to truly address my affinity for Takes Time. It’s not as good as Now, More Than Ever, but that’s ok. I’m biased. I’ve had spent ten years with that album and I’ve spent maybe six months with this one. A long six months, though. Takes Time is one of the albums I’ve spent the most time with all year because I knew it had to be a grower when I was initially let down. I’m finally ready to say it’s one of my favorite albums of 2013. Not because it’s a great album, but because it satisfies this part of my soul that only Jim Guthrie can satisfy, and that’s the most important thing. There’s levity and depth and this general feeling of wellbeing that washes over me when I listen to these songs. The way I Heart Huckabees made me feel when I saw it in the theater. So good that I subsequently went back once a week until they stopped playing it at Liberty Hall. Takes Time is one of those albums that makes me recognize my place in the grand scheme. There’s something about the gorgeous, melancholy melody of “The Rest is Yet to Come,” backed up by an incredibly bright arrangement of acoustic guitar and strings.

While Takes Time might not be as lyrically fantastic as Now, More Than Ever, his arrangements here are his best yet. While it took him ten years to release a new album, Guthrie wasn’t just sitting around twiddling his thumbs. He spent a decent chunk of time in Nick Thorburn’s post Unicorns project Islands and subsequently released a one-off album with Thorburn under the moniker Human Highway. He recorded the music for the indie video game Sword & Sworcery and Indie Game: The Movie and overall, Guthrie is much more well-rounded than he was ten years ago even if Takes Time isn’t as cohesive as it could be. Either way, I’m just happy Jim Guthrie is back and can only hope and pray that his follow up to this one doesn’t take another ten years.

"The Rest is Yet to Come"

"Bring on the Night"

John Prine - John Prine Live

John Prine – John Prine Live

Oh Boy, 1988

Acquired: Half Price Books, Used, 2013

Price: $7.50

 

John Prine has great fans. His music has that extra something special that really ignites something inside of people. Every now and then some guy will come into the store looking for Prine CDs and we’ll talk for five minutes about how great John Prine is and I’ll check the inventory on the off chance we have a copy of Great Days stashed away somewhere. These are people who get it and wholly appreciate Prine’s gift for spinning yarns full of wit and heartbreak. These people know that barely anyone else ever wrote songs this good. I’ll probably never get to see John Prine live, and I’m OK with that because this live album is one of those rare live album’s that really captures the essence of an artist’s stage show. This isn’t just a straight up, perfectly recorded live album where the only real difference between the studio recordings and the live ones is some applause tacked on the end. While this album picks and chooses lives cuts from various circumstances rather than chronicling one set, it works (The songs are primarily culled from a set at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano with a few from a set at The Cannery in Nashville, one from the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago and one from Austin City Limits). You get the crowd signing along to “Illegal Smile,” which is just totally wonderful. You feel like you’re right there, singing along with a room full of people who love that song just as much as you. Prine’s pre-song banter is fantastic, but that is too be expected. The way he carries himself is such a huge part of his song. He’s not quite self-deprecating, but it feels like that. His commentary on the world at large, from the story behind writing “The Oldest Baby in the World” with Donnie Fritts to a really poignant bit about the Vietnam War Memorial that precedes “Sam Stone,” which might well be the greatest anti-Vietnam song ever. The whole affair feels more like hanging out with a really great dude rather than seeing a concert. It feels like a communal thing. Like a we’re all in this together thing. There’s something really beautiful about feeling connected to a room full of people courtesy of a musician who’s pretty much just like you. I usually start people off on Prime Prine or the first disc of Great Days if they’re keen to get into John Prine, but maybe this one is even better. You get such a sense of who this guy is and where he is coming from, and the song selection is pretty much impossible to beat.

"That's the Way That The World Goes 'Round"