Author: andrea Page 45 of 71

A few of my favorite things right this minute…

+ A new (yes, new interview with Prolapse. A lively and informative read.

+ Sparks in Stone Lanes.
I stumbled across former Wire editor Mark Sinker’s blog the other day. I’m in the midst of reading this essay about the personal politics of punk and how they relate to one’s own shifting boundaries. Lots of interesting tangents vis à vis Jaime Hernandez’ Love and Rockets characters Maggie & Hopey. While defining Punk seems like an impossible task, I appreciate Mark’s deeply personal rather than po-facedly rock-crit take on the issue: “Punk’s freedoms are absolute, if only in this sense: No-one else’s rules apply to you.” He poignantly sums up Maggie & Hopey’s ever-shifting, immensely complex relationship thusly: it “exalts their battle to discover new ways of being adult without betraying their adolescent choices.”

+ I’ve written about delightful New York City-based group La Laque here before. Although they’ve released a split EP with PAS/CAL, they have yet to offer up their oft-promised first solo release. Their MySpace page assures us that it’s imminent; here’s a re-recorded version of “Le Weekend” from that upcoming EP. It’s a delicious re-working of what had been a slightly mournful song (thanks to violin and a downbeat arrangement). Now it’s bright and punchy, with buoyant Farfisa and tribal drums, while retaining a necessary hint of darkness reminiscent of No Wavers Rosa Yemen (is it that slightly desperate tone in singer Devery’s voice?). Not sure how I feel about the surfy guitar solo at the song’s close, but it’s growing on me.

+ The new Electrelane single, “To The East”, is fast becoming one of my favorite songs of theirs. The video —a delicately washed-out, near-sepia-toned affair with filigrees of color animated over the top— is both celebration and elegy. In that way it reminds me stylistically of AC Marias’ haunting “One of Our Girls (Has Gone Missing)” —all flickers of love and loss. Someone’s dancing out of your life forever…

Verity Susman’s solo side project, Vera November, has a MySpace page . She’s recorded a cover of Arthur Russell’s “Our Last Night Together”, and it’ll finally be out this summer on Rough Trade as part of a Russell tribute album. The songs sound incredibly lush, especially “Give Me A Sign.” You can see snippets of Verity performing the song as part of this trailer for the upcoming Arthur Russell documentary.

+ Today’s music purchases:

Experimental Dental School, 2 1/2 Creatures [Cochon, 2006]

Broadcast, The Future Crayon [WARP, 2006]

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La Laque on MySpace | For more information on Prolapse please visit Graham’s most excellent Prolapse page. | Electrelane | More info on the Arthur Russell movie.

La Laque, “Le Weekend” (re-recorded version from their upcoming EP

Electrelane, “To The East”

IMAGE BY JORDAN CRANE

Not as dark or as angular as Chrome, or as blatantly Birthday Party-worshiping as the Bellmer Dolls, sadly-defunct San Francisco trio Pleasure Forever whipped up a thrillingly tense amalgam of lush, theatrical glam (thanks to bouyant underpinnings of piano and violin) and guitar-lashed despair. (It helped that, song after song, Reznor-alike singer Andrew Rothbard brought himself to an exhaustive edge of hysteria.) The music, too, was desperate and haunted, constantly threatening a kind of emotional overload. With music this endlessly taut and lyrics this overheated and vulnerable, it’s a bit mystifying why the band didn’t find a greater success than they did. I once saw them open for Savage Republic, and they tore the roof off the place. They’re long overdue for reassessment.

The band released two Sub Pop albums —a self-titled disc in 2001 and Alter in 2003— and called it quits some time after. The reconvened this year to finish off a between-albums covers EP, which has now been appended with four additional rare cuts and released as Bodies Need Rest [Conspiracy].

I’m off to Montreal for the weekend to see the Nihilist Spasm Band (“spasm band” being a term for a group that makes their own instruments —Neptune and Turkish Delight would also qualify) play theSuoni Per Il Popolo (Sounds of the People) Festival (which also includes performances by David Kristian, the Ex + Rhythm Activism, Charalambides, and the afromentioned Jandek) on Saturday the 16th. Jon Whitney (Brainwashed) DJs between sets. Don’t miss it if you’re in the area!

Alas, that means I’m going to miss Jeffrey Alexander’s birthday party on Friday night at downtown Providence’s own AS220. Venerable psych-folk duo Charalambides headline a bill that also includes Bronhard/Going/Public, GHQ, Blue Shift, Work/Death, Madagascar and Siege Engine. Go on down Friday night and toast Jeffrey on me.

Conspiracy Records | Pleasure Forever | Pleasure Forever on MySpace | Nihilist Spasm Band | Secret Eye

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Pleasure Forever, “The Bars” (from Bodies Need Rest)

Pleasure Forever, “This Is The Zodiac Speaking” (from their final Sub Pop album,Alter)

For awhile there it looked as though the Masons’ 1999 debut album was going to be their only album. Band leader and songwriter Kraig Mason never stopped writing songs, though, and gentle prodding from a friend who just so happened to run a record label (75 Or Less) spurred him to properly record the songs with a band. And not just any band —The Masons mach 2007 includes such local luminaries as Dave Narcizo (Throwing Muses) on drums, Don Sanders (Medicine Ball) on guitar and vocals, and Jeffrey Underhill (Honeybunch, Velvet Crush) on guitar and keyboards. All these great players work to put Kraig’s charming stories front and center. “Theo”, for instance, draws on the author’s own experience of falling for a dog who’s already taken. (Thankfully he gets visitation rights.)

The band are playing a couple of shows in RI this summer.

The first is at Jake’s on Richmond St on June 9th. The excellent Blizzard of ’78 headline.

The second show is at July 29th at Billy Goode’s in Newport, RI.

I’ll be at Jake’s ’cause Newport at the height of summer is too much for me to handle. (The crowds, the drunken idiots, the traffic jams…) But either show will be well worth your while.

The Masons’ album is available from 75 Or Less Records. More samples and info at the band’s MySpace page.

The Masons, “Theo”

IMAGE BY JULIE DOUCET FROM HER NEW BOOK ELLE HUMOUR