Nacogdoches

Twenty-something years ago I fittingly got dragged down to the Drag in Austin to go see some band my roommate had heard good things about. Evidently the band leader was some underground musical savant who was simply revolutionary when it came to jazz. We sat in some tiny empty upstairs club, my curiosity somewhat piqued but not quite... jazz wasn't (and still isn't) really my thing. Well, two hours later, I was rendered speechless and have recalled the story about seeing the Golden Arm Trio ever since. Theirs was the first band sticker I slapped on my Fender which I still play to this day. Gaudy with two decades of scum and slime (and layered with umpteen other band decals), you can still kinda make out the "Trio" in the band logo. Regardless, composer and band leader Graham Reynolds was on the drums that night (and occasionally the piano) and it was amazing to watch whom you would usually consider a background musician absolutely control the group (it was an actual "trio" at that point; later on, while the band's name stayed the same there could be as many as eight folks playing together but we can discuss semantics later). The drums were what really had me - controlling, heavy, almost blast beat death metal grooves at times as opposed to the casual background jazz-ish rat-a-tat-tat I expected. It was something else and only recently did I take advantage of this new thing we have called the "Internet" and see what the fuck ever happened to the band. Turns out a LOT. A couple albums, a movie soundtrack (A Scanner Darkly, 'natch) and some highly praised stage shows... it has been an absolute joy revisiting some of the music I completely considered a one-off show so long ago. Check out the band website here - it's amazing how the dude looks almost exactly the same as he did back in '96. Enjoy their first album... a real treat.

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REPOST: The Funk Is Free

Five years and a month since my good pal Daniel Frouman passed on into the ether. In some weird way, I'm still in total denial that I won't get a random phone call, unexpected text, or simply bump into his lanky ass walking down Lamar Boulevard one day. I wish that were the case. I am happy to report that his memory lives on with yearly Funk Extravaganzas in his honor (featuring both a run and a concert) and on the amazing Daniel Frouman Memorial maintained by his brother. Photos and memories galore. I recently re-ripped all the cassettes of music I am privileged to have had him share with me; cleaning off as much of the tape hiss and other analog limitations as I could. I think the songs sound better than ever. While I was at it I also created a whole new slew of CD covers since I'm weirdly/annoyingly neurotic about that sort of thing so the (printable) PDFs are included with the songs. Enjoy and pass the word.

I                                                              II                                                              III

What A Magical Fucking Day

Really cool 2008 demo by this experimental sludge duo from San Antonio. The guilty pair are the prolific Ryan and Jacob of both Intestinal Disgorge (brutal death) and Hordes Of The Morning Star (black metal) infamy. Normpeterson reminds me a lot of Black Mayonnaise - lots of huge riffs interspersed with feedback and assorted noise nonsense - with just enough of the latter to not be boring (or get annoying). Vocals are pretty minimalist - think Alien Jourgensen on "Scarecrow." "Traffic" is easily my favorite track - almost two non-stop minutes of an absolutely sick riff that is impossible not to get hooked on. The band folded a few years ago but all their demos are still available here for free so check 'em out. Enjoy.

Ahideoussprawlingasphaltabsurdity

The Vodka Family Winstons

In case the two people who read this blog haven't been paying attention, I absolutely worship the Butthole Surfers and revere pretty much everything they've recorded. I know there are a lot of fans that are divisive when it comes to the band's "golden years" (i.e. everything before Hairway To Steven versus after) and pretty much write off their post-1990 stuff as pretentious mainstream crap. Of course this happens with most cult bands (please see Ween, Mr. Bungle, 311, any group which has a bunch of semi-popular indie/local albums before getting on a label with some national distribution) when they decide to move out of their shitty apartment, stop recording on a 4-track and gasp! try something new. As a fan I kinda agree, it sucks when a band you love starts sounding... well... different. As a musician I completely understand; it is fucking BORING playing the same shit over and over! And if someone wants to pay you to go into a studio and help you record something then fucking try it because it is goddamn tiring trying to do all that shit yourself! Make some scratch if you get the chance. Instead of the pennies you net when the 2000 homemade 7-inchers you pressed sell out, get a label to fund your tour and put some food in the fridge.* So yes, there is clearly a difference between Butthole Surfer albums when you compare the psychedelia from Psychic... Powerless to the post punk (?) of Electriclarryland but give 'em a break, the guys aged almost ten years between the two! What are you still doing today that has stayed just as new and fresh as it was a decade ago?** Trust me, dropping acid and recording for weeks at a time doesn't exactly have the same appeal at 40 as it does when you're 22 and living in from farmhouse with a bunch of transient musicians.  I guess I'm ranting because I keep getting in the same argument with the same two friends of mine about the 'Surfers and it gets annoying. The fact I even acknowledge Locust Abortion Technician is absolute heresy yet I'd be surprised to know if either of them have ever listened to that album more than once. They're the same way with Ween (nothing will ever surpass The Pod dudemang) but that's another story. Anyways, here are the Butthole Surfers circa 1985 from their Blind Eye Sees All live video. Compiled from two shows in Detroit, the band wallows in their hallucinogenic Another Man's Sac chaos and sleaze out a great performance. The video splices some "interviews" in between the live stuff, they are kinda funny but sort of get old quick so I relocated them to the end. Additionally, I included a couple alternate live versions of "Bar-Be-Que Pope" and "Cowboy Bob" (circa 1985 as well I think) and "Negro Observer" from 1991. Let me know if my friends are right.

* And I'm not calling anyone a "sellout" or any of that shit here - to me that is just a term used by jealous wannabes who feel they have been robbed of their nonexistent "status" that talking about a band nobody has heard of earns them. Do you think Offspring would have been labeled a "sellout" for recording Smash if it hadn't sold a billion copies? No, it would have been "another Offspring album," sold 20,000 copies, they would have continued lounging in Huntington Beach with their local fanbase and eventually broken up over the typical "we've been doing this for too fucking long" feud bands tend to get into. Instead they smartly got with a label that had great distro (by figuring local distribution=lots of local fans ∴ national distribution=lots of national fans) and just happened to be in the right musical place at the right time. Good for them and other bands which have done the same.

** I know there are those few bands which have been doing the exact same thing forever and yep, they can sleep well at night knowing they "kept it real" but you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that those bands haven't had significant lineup changes through the years or that their waning fanbase doesn't acknowledge that "they're still cool but kinda boring now."

P.S. My audio rip keeps getting deleted (as has all my Butthole Surfers stuff) so I've linked to a VHS rip hosted by the good ol' blog Kick To Kill. Enjoy mangs.  

Worm Movies

Currently watching: Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things!
Currently listening to: Corrupted Garten Der Unbewusstheit

Lady Sniff

Stolen from the almighty Death Burger since I couldn't have said it any better (or worse)... "What 'bout some more crazed melodies played by those dirty-eeky Butthole Surfers, ya'll honey-bees?! This 1989 4-track ep on Blast First records (England) is just great tmo, Butt-Surf at its best: Whether they painfully smoke bong, take a ballad, go nutz inna helicopter or rage full-on with "BOOZE! TOBACCO! Dope! Pussy! Cars! HAAAAAAAAaa!!!, I love 'em just the way they are."

1401

 
Currently watching: The Oracle

Currently listening to: The Unborn Dead Primitive Origins

Sammy Davis Jr. 1925-1990

Here's a slab 'o back-in-the-day punk from one of my most favoritest bands, Austin's Butthole Surfers. 4 tracks incorporating blues, industrial, psychedelia and country in a way only a ton of LSD can make sense. Of course, "Moving To Florida" is my fave, maybe it's because my in-laws are leaving town on Wednesday to do the same - run out the clock guys, run out the clock...

Dig In

 
Currently watching: The Angry Red Planet
Currently listening to: EPMD Strictly Business