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It’s open-call submission time over at 33 1/3 again. Although my last proposal (for Throwing Muses’ debut) wasn’t picked up, I’d like to try again. I’m still kicking around a number of ideas and have yet to settle on a single album. At any rate, it’s gotten me to thinking about my favorite volumes in the series —namely, which approaches seemed to click with me, which definitely didn’t.

I’ve by no means read every book in the series. Of the fifteen or so that I’ve tackled, it’s surprising that some of the treatments I was most looking forward to —The Velvet Underground and Nico,Unknown Pleasures, Loveless— were the flattest and least involving. Was this a case of there being nothing left for me to discover about these records? Did I simply know them too well? Perhaps. After all, some of the most enjoyable books were for albums about which I had only the barest of knowledge (The Notorious Byrd Brothers, Low). But it wasn’t necessarily the case.

Simply put, the most successful books didn’t pull any punches. They tempered research and analysis with authorial connection and an overarching narrative pull, resulting in a critical reaction as visceral and immediate as the album that inspired it. Given that baseline, the book was free to be as straightforward or as experimental as it pleased —from Drew Daniel’s fascinating exegesis of Throbbing Gristle to Kate Schatz’s dark novella-length interpretation of Rid of Me.

I’m not sure where my first proposal went awry. Hopefully it was visceral and connective enough. I like to imagine that it fell down on the sheer basis of commerciality. But who knows? I suspect that any album I’d deem worthy of book-length treatment would hardly be salable. (Prolapse’s Pointless Walks to Dismal Places, anyone?) Is that going to stop me from trying again? Hell, no.

Proposal thoughts? Past favorites?

33 1/3 blog | 33 1/3 at Powell’s

Throwing Muses, “Vicky’s Box”

David Bowie, “Heroes/Helden” (Hugo Wilcken’s Low)

The Velvet Underground, “I’m Not a Young Man Anymore” (live at the Gymnasium)(Joe Harvard’s The Velvet Underground & Nico)

PJ Harvey, “Man-Size” (Kate Schatz‘ Rid of Me)

Throbbing Gristle, “Hot on the Heels of Love” (Drew Daniel’s Twenty Jazz Funk Greats)

Providence trio Scarce have the kind of chemistry lesser bands would kill for. Lead singer Chick Graning’s whiskey-soaked rasp and hook-laden, dense guitar work is beautifully matched by bassist Joyce Raskin’s sinewy basslines and boundless energy. And let’s not forget powerhouse drummer Joe Propatier.

Over the decade and a half of their existence, the band have been through more Spinal Tap bullshit and drama than most (as chronicled in Joyce’s memoir, Aching to Be: A Girl’s True Rock N’ Roll Story). Thankfully, they’re emerged from the other side a better band. Just back from a whirlwind tour of Europe and Canada, they’re having their record release party forTattoos and Parades and Yesterdays, an aptly-named collection of new songs and old favorites, tonight at Cambridge club TT the Bear’s. Doors at 8:30. Triple Thick and Wheat open. $10.

You can pick up the new CD at the show, or order it through their Myspace.

More with Joyce Raskin here.

Scarce, “All Sideways” (from the Red EP, 1995)

Scarce, “Dozen” (from the Red EP, 1995)

SCARCE, THREADWAXING SPACE 1994. PHOTO BY ANDREA FELDMAN

You probably don’t need me to tell you twice to go see Wire if they come to your town. No, Bruce Gilbert won’t be with them. On the plus side, Margaret Fiedler (Moonshake, Laika) will be filling in.

Laika appear to be dormant at the moment, sadly. But I always keep an ear peeled for any project that Margaret’s involved in, because they’re always worthwhile. (Not that Wire is an unknown quantity, mind you.) I wish this show weren’t on a weeknight, because I’d love to be there. (I’m missing Stereolab tonight for the same reason. Meh.)

I interviewed Margaret and Guy (Fixsen) of Laika for Warped Reality back in 1995. A soundbite:

Margaret: “I think lo-fi can cover up for a lack of ideas. Some people are really good —it really doesn’t matter if it was recorded in a tin can or a studio; the song and the idea transcends the medium.

“But some people are all ‘feel’ and there’s nothing else there. I’m kind-of reactionary against it, because I really don’t understand ghettoizing anything. I’ve always made music to communicate and I think anybody who actually goes to the effort of releasing a record is trying to communicate. I don’t really buy it when people want to be obscure.”

“I went to a Tricky show [recently] and met his video director Mark Lipscombe. He’s not a frustrated filmmaker like a lot of video directors are. He doesn’t want to make feature-length films. He wants to make pop videos, but he wants to bring all these fucking weird cinema ideas into it. I completely understand it, because that’s the way I feel about music. I don’t want to sprawl out. I don’t want to do some magnum opus. I’d rather do pop music but with fucked-up ideas.”

Upcoming Wire gigs

Oct 06: Barrymore’s, Ottawa,
Oct 07: Lee’s Palace, Toronto, Canada
Oct 08: Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA
Oct 09: The Fillmore at Irving Plaza, New York, NY, USA [WFMU Free Music Show]
Oct 10: Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Oct 11: 9:30 Club, Washington DC, USA
Oct 12: Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA, USA
Oct 14: The Echoplex, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Oct 15: The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA, USA
Oct 16: The Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Oct 17: First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Oct 18: Metro, Chicago, IL, USA

Laika, “Looking for the Jackalope”

Laika, “Spider Happy Hour” [from Silver Apples on the Moon, 1994]

Moonshake, “Girly Loop” [from Big Good Angel, 1993]

“STRELKA & LITTLE ARROW,” RUSSIAN MATCHBOOK COVER, 1960s