Author: andrea Page 24 of 71

I’ve so been neglecting this blog of late. Some hideous form of inertia has kicked in. “Oh, I posted last week! I can just kick back for awhile.” Suddenly a week had turned to a month, then two —before I knew it, the tumbleweeds were blowing through. Insidious!

It ends here! (Not so) new year, new leaf. I’m cleaning out the virtual dust bunnies and vow to keep things a bit more up-to-date around here.

And, in honor of what was a pretty good Monday (as Mondays go), I give you two three delightfully happy songs from Tom Cullinan’s Kitty Kitty Corp. Tom, as you may know, was the ringleader of gleeful noise anarchists th’ Faith Healers.

Cullinan’s follow-up group, the tuneful but no less quirky Quickspace (née Quickspace Supersport), have been relatively quiet of late, but there’s no indication they’ve called it quits. Rumor even has it there’s a Quickspace album kicking around with Roxanne Stephen (Faith Healers, bringing it all full circle) on lead vocals.

Until that surfaces, though, how about some Novak (sorry for the static —this is straight from the vinyl) and early Quickspace (“Quickspace Happy Song #2,” natch)?

(And, ooh, I just unearthed a demo version of “Rapunzel” as well. Enjoy!)

Quickspace, “Quickspace Happy Song #2” (from Precious Falling)

Novak, “Rapunzel”

Novak, “Rapunzel” (Demo version)

Throwing Muses
Open Rehearsal
Stable Sound, Portsmouth
January 8, 2009
Some road-trip advice: never, ever say, “We’re making good time.” It’s like saying, “How calm the ocean is today!” Cue the typhoon.

So, yeah, we got a leeetle bit lost Thursday night on our way down to this low-key Throwing Muses rehearsal at Stable Sound in Portsmouth. Not once but twice. Missed first exit. No return exit. Picked our way through dinky surface roads trying to find a way back to 138, then missed the turnoff to the studio… yadda yadda yadda. Thank christ for GPS is all I can say.

We did get to our destination eventually. Following the directive to park along the road, we went in search of the studio. The property was sprawling —it was dark and there were no streetlights, but it looked to be comprised of two huge buildings on either side of the road, each flanked by smaller, carriage-house-type buildings. With very few lights to lead the way, we didn’t exactly know which building to go to, so we set off for the largest one. Slip-sliding around in the semi-darkness, we finally spotted a light —an open door midway— and the distinct smell of …grilling steaks?! It was like a mirage. “We’re here!” we cried. “Come on in and relax!” said the steak-tender, a jovial, sandy-haired guy. “Have a beer!” We stepped forward en masse, more than ready to kick back and eat. We then realized, collectively, that there was no-one else in sight. This was definitely not the studio.

“Um, we’re looking for the studio?”

“Oh! Rizzo’s place?” He points behind the stable. “It’s around the corner. You’re close. What’s going on there?”

“We’re going to see Kristin Hersh.”

“Oh my god, I haven’t seen her since back in the day, when they used to play Harpo’s! The drummer plays with that Kendall kid now.”

“Yeah, they’re playing tonight.”

“Oh, wow, I should stop by.”

“You should!”

We thanked him for the steak-and-beer offer, then slipped and slid our way back to the path, an unholy mix of ice, snow and horse crap that wasn’t exactly welcoming to my high-heeled boots. (Stupid choice of footwear, self.)

By the time we skidded around the corner to the studio proper, we were more than ready for a cozy welcome. Expected it, even, given that this is the place where Kristin has recorded all of her solo albums; she’s called it her “passionate hideout” because its big, beautiful windows and magical, welcoming qualities.

As for welcomes, who should open the door but Kristin herself? “You made it!” Waywardly, but yes. “We don’t have a coat rack, but you can throw your coats on the coat pile!” We stood around for awhile, chatting and drinking wine and nibbling on cheese (there was a lot of cheese). Finally, Billy said, “Hey, let’s start!” And we all filed into the studio, a cozy double room with a huge overstuffed couch on one side, the mixing board along one wall and the band set up in the other.

The chance to see the band in process- rather than performance-mode was fascinating, like poring over film splices in the editing room. Throughout the hour and a half-long set, they joked with one another; debated the relative merits of one song over another; and even stopped and re-started songs to fine-tune aspects, often tweaking the pacing mid-song. Take “Walking in the Dark”: on record, it’s grounded not by guitar but by sprightly piano. Transcribing that to the power-trio format proved difficult, and you could see them struggling with the tone.

Other songs sailed off without a hitch, like a furious version of “Finished.” When it was over, Kristin jokingly proclaimed its suckitude. I had to disagree; then again, it’s one of my favorite Muses songs, and if they’d decided to play it on kazoos, I’d still probably think it sounded great. So much for critical distance.

All in all, the band burned through fifteen or so songs, including three off K’s most recent solo record,Learn to Sing Like a Star, and some surprising choices, like “Walking in the Dark,” “Devil’s Roof,” “Bea” and “Say Goodbye.” “Shimmer” called up a lingering, lovely memory of a long-ago nighttime walk through London with the as-yet-unreleased song on repeat. It was as blistering and sepulchral as always, with its beautiful refrain, “I shimmer on horizons.”

Throughout, we were all transfixed and reverentially quiet. No clapping, a few ripples of whispers and cell phone twitters but that was it. At a club, there’d be the whole dance of encore?/no encore, building up to a crescendo of applause. Instead, when the band finished —ignoring Billy’s entreaties to play “City of the Dead”— Kristin quietly said, “Thanks for coming.”

***

If you like what you hear, I humbly ask that you please leave a little something in K’s tip jar. (It’s over to the right, above the Amazon logo.)

Throwing Muses, “Rosetta Stone” (French radio session, February 1995)

Throwing Muses, “Graffiti” (French radio session, February 1995)

PHOTO BY A. FELDMAN. THIS IS NOT STABLE SOUND, BY THE WAY, BUT HI & DRY IN CAMBRIDGE.

+ ATLAS SOUND, LET THE BLIND LEAD THOSE WHO CAN SEE BUT CANNOT FEEL [Kranky/4AD]

“I heard a voice through a great cloud of agony and sickness. The voice was asking questions. It seemed to be opening and closing like a concertina. The words were loud, as the swelling notes of an organ, then they melted to the tiniest wiry tinkle of water in a glass.” —Denton Welch, A Voice Through a Cloud

Atlas Sound, “Ativan”

+ BEACH HOUSE, DEVOTION [Carpark]

“Here all was laughter and confusion. Here beautiful women, their hair dyed gorgeous colors, squashed soft, pale furs into golden chairs, crunched diamonds around glasses of iced drink, jammed bright lipsticked cigarettes into their mouths, and exhaled a heady perfume…” —Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado

Beach House, “Gila”

+ DAVID BYRNE + BRIAN ENO, EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS WILL HAPPEN TODAY [self-released]

“At the same time, I felt feverish and uneasy and in a state of absolute heartache and helpless rage at the prospect of showing up at this party where I was clearly supposed to play the part of a sentimental curiosity, where I’d be a stuffed monkey.” —Grégoire Bouillier, The Mystery Guest

David Byrne & Brian Eno, “Strange Overtones”

+ CASTLEMUSIC, YOU CAN’T TAKE ANYONE

“It was like her heart was too big for her body, and when she’d caught me, and taught me, she made mine the same way.” —Jennifer Stevenson, Trash Sex Magic

Castlemusic, “Heaven”

+ LAND OF TALK, SOME ARE LAKES [Saddle Creek]

“And so she set off across the hot desert to see the thing that wasn’t like anything else, giving little skips in the evening air from the high spirits that bounced inside her like Mexican jumping beans.” —Jay Cantor, Krazy Kat

Land of Talk, “The Man Who Breaks Things (Dark Shuffle)”

+ MATT EVERETT, BLINKING [Little Epiphany]

“This is the first sunrise in the world. Never before did this pink-turning-yellow-turning-hot-white settle onto the façade with which the house on the West, full of glassy eyes, face the silence that comes in the growing light. This time of day never took place before, nor did this light, nor did this being of mine. Tomorrow, whatever is will be something else, and whatever I see will be seen by recomposed eyes full of new vision.” —Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

Matt Everett, “Telepathy”

+ SIAN ALICE GROUP, 59, 59 [The Social Registry]

“A moment since she had lit the darkened room like a torch like a long static flame burning from the floor. Until she spoke. It was her clothes. Something scarlet and over it a saffron-colored dressing-gown suggesting a thing brave and foolhardy: a tongue of fire.” —Olive Moore, Fugue

Sian Alice Group, “Motionless”

+ SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE, CURSE THE TRACED BIRD [Secret Eye]

“We went down into the silent garden. Dawn is the time when nothing breathes, the hour of silence. Everything is transfixed: only the light moves. I sang a bit to cheer myself up. I was chilled to the bone. The Queen, in the meantime, was telling me that she fed all her horses on jam.” —Leonora Carrington, “The Royal Summons” (from The House of Fear & Other Stories)

Spires That In the Sunset Rise, “Party Favors”

+ THE BREEDERS, MOUNTAIN BATTLES [4AD]

“Time ceases to follow normal rules of progression. Instead it blinks on and off like a strobe light. Moments actually vanish while you occupy them… So one instant you feel yourself spiraling into darkness; the next, light streams down onto a whole new stage set, with characters whose faces display the comfort of having been at your table for a while.” —Mary Karr, Cherry

The Breeders, “We’re Gonna Rise”

+ TV ON THE RADIO, DEAR SCIENCE [4AD/DGC]

“She said romanticism starts wars and that I should lower my sights.” —Luke Sutherland, Venus As A Boy

TV on the Radio, “Halfway Home”

+ VALET, NAKED ACID [Kranky]

“The sun seemed to shine on us with the specific intention of licking us clean. We moved our limbs in wonder like cripples faith-healed. …There were roses everywhere. …The first birds tried their wings. I was shining like a gold medal.” —Shelley Jackson, “Fat” (from The Melancholy of Anatomy)

Valet, “Kehaar”

+ VIVIAN GIRLS, VIVIAN GIRLS [In the Red]

“All of a sudden there is a whoosh, a great blast of air as the hatch is opened. Everyone turns to stare. The twelve Girl Scouts, fully equipped with parachutes and helmets, spring out into the air. They’re looking ahead, squinting, sunlight glinting on their braces. They float down two by two, holding hands. Sailing free and brave in the wide-open sky.” —Judy Budnitz, “Scenes from the Fall Fashion Catalog” (from Flying Leap)

Vivian Girls, “Blind Spot”

Also noteworthy:

• Air Miami, Sixteen Songs [Teenbeat Originals]
• Liquid Liquid reissue [Domino]
• Maybe It’s Reno [Teenbeat]
• Stereolab, Chemical Chords [4AD]
• T. Griffin, A Walk Into the Sea [Soundtrack]
• The New Bloods, The Secret Life [Kill Rock Stars]
• The Slits, Return of the Giant Slits [Blast First Petite]
• Wild Combination [Plexifilm]
• Tricky, Knowle West Boy (Domino)
• The Feelies are PLAYING SHOWS. I cannot contain my excitement.