Kreamy 'Lectric Santa, live at a house in Oakland, CA 4/29/11

There were a ton of choices for live shows on this evening, which seemed like the first really Spring-like one of 2011. Mike Watt in SF, Mudhoney in Oakland, Kowloon Walled City in SF, Kreamy 'Lectric Santa in Oakland.
Scarp, Jason, and Disaster Amnesiac chose the latter, much to our mutual happiness. KLS, with their mixture of Punk, Prog, Metal, Rock, Jazz, etc., were so lively and inspiring. The mixture of guitar and violin as lead voices provides a very rural, gritty feel to their tunes. Their drummer is a beastly player who leads the bassist through all of their twisted rhythmic turns. Their music is fun and compelling. Their personae are down to earth and welcoming. It was just great to see and hear a band in the house party setting, without pretense and boring show biz accoutrement.
I've read on-line that the main two band members are moving to the Eastern Seaboard, and this show was to be Kreamy 'Lectric Santa's last. I hope not. The music scene needs this band. Perhaps they'll reconsider, once they settle in the North Carolina. 

Smt. Sangeetha Swaminathan-Live at Amma Ashram, 4/15/11

I just want to say that this performance proved to me that music can lift the saddened spirit. Mrs. and Mr. Amnesiac spent $25 each for an evening of wonderful Carnatic devotional music, with all proceeds going to assist volunteer efforts in Japan's devastated Fukushima region.
The soaring vocals of Smt. Sangeetha Swaminathan, with accompaniment by Shri. Shriram Brahmanandam on mrudangam and Smt. Lakshmi Balasubramaniam on violin held us in rapture for over two hours. The trio wasted no time, diving into deep playing within seconds of the start of the concert; this standard remained present throughout the proceedings. Carnatic music, with its ancient base of song-fueled improvisation, is truly remarkable and wonderful to hear.
The deep improvisatory interplay gave much inspiration to this tired and frustrated reporter. It was humbling to be inside of the beautiful space of the M.A. Center, whose credo, "Embrace the World", rings true, even during the tougher spells that come our way.

The Ex-Catch My Shoe

Thirty years into their career, and the Ex have proven themselves to be perhaps the Rock band most capable of using change in their favor. If you can think of a band that has lost so many defining members and subsequently soldiered on to make fresh new sounds, please let me know. And, no, the Fall don't count. Their sound stays pretty much the same, and that's a good thing, too. But, this post is about the  Ex, and their most recent LP, Catch My Shoe.
The Ex's latest change is the departure of G.W. Sok as lead vocalist. It's been written elsewhere that he remains a vital part of the Ex, running their merchandising division. That's pretty amazing, as anyone who has spent time within a band would likely attest. Sok's replacement, Arnold de  Boer, does not radically depart from the Sok's singing style: lateral, left-leaning incantations, somewhat tossed off, but highly effective within the Punk aesthetic framework of the band's Rock approach.
It's de Boer's added guitar that gives the most joy to Disaster Amnesiac.  This addition has given long time member  Andy Moor and founding member Terrie Hessels the impetus to add baritone guitar to the Ex's spiky tones, in lieu of the bass guitar, which has been dispensed with completely. Moor, Hessels and de Boer proceed to make some of the most adventurous guitar music heard around these parts in some time. Their traditional spindly, heavy rhythmic guitar sounds remain present, but throughout Catch My Shoe, they also achieve the most amazing African sounds. This sound features interweaving, polyphonic patterns and melodies, paired with tones much like the over-driven and distorted beauty of the mbiras utilized by Konono No. 1 or the the low budget recordings of so much of the Ethiopiques series. The various offspring of the Blues have forever craved the ability to "return to the Motherland", sound-wise. The creative way in which the Ex have achieved this feat with the guitar tones on Catch My Shoe is stunning and admirably brilliant. All the tours to Ethiopia and who knows where else in Africa have clearly been worth it. If this is the World Music of the 21st Century, consider Disaster Amnesiac on the band wagon.
It's often seemed as if Katherina Bornefeld is the Ex's secret weapon. The imaginative guitar modes of the band's six stringers have clearly needed a lot more than standard/stock drumming, and Katherina has always come up with her own methods of giving the tunes propulsion and beat. Her beats have always been gargantuan! Her solid, driving, "whole kit" playing, with lots of tom tom beats, cowbell patterns, and snare drum rolling, continues to evolve. Take for example the way she sounds as if she's taking control of the entire tune on the second half of Tree Float. One senses that time spent around Free Improv MASTER Han Bennink has seriously effected a lot of her approach within ensemble playing. The fact that she manages to retain a clear, rhythmic pulse inside of this kind of wandering is just impressive as hell. Other tunes have her slamming kick/snare/hat beats worthy of Bonham or playing poly rhythms to equal Ronald Shannon Jackson's manic tom tom symphonies.  Her stylistic/musical development is just as impressive as the rest of the band's, and just as vital to the entire, evolving Ex sound. Her voice also shows nice signs of maturation. The Gurage dialect in which she sings her vocal feature on the album works really well for her range.
Other fine features of Catch My Shoe's include hot, stacked horn parts by Roy Paci, and white hot engineering by Steve Albini. It seems that Albini's role within the Ex's recorded sound cannot be overstated. He's recorded most of their long-playing releases for years now, and they all sound so much the better for it. He captures their vibes onto tape. They must have their mics and spots at Electrical Audio dialed.
The most exciting aspects of Punk for Disaster Amnesiac has always been its tonal and rhythmic reassessments of its Rock antecedents. Along with  their activism within the humanitarian/political spheres, the Ex have pushed these reassessments forward for an astonishing amount of time, and continue to amaze. One can't see them ever throwing in the creative towel and joining the ranks of Anarchy Nostalgia Brigades and their boring slam dance. They just keep making really creative musical statements, come what may in terms of the inevitable changes that life throws their way.

A Long Slow Screw, by Eugene S. Robinson; Robotic Boot, 2010

Thirty years post Hardcore and it feels safe to say that it was a Revolution that won. So many of its perspectives have seeped into the broader society, and this, in Disaster Amnesiac's mind, is a mixed blessing.
One downside of the mental conversion ushered in with Hardcore's Historical Triumph is the lack of story telling ability. So much post-Punk writing, while ostensibly packing the punch of "the Real", takes on a hectoring tone.
In smaller doses, fine.
Ultimately, however, there's only so much "I AM REAL" that can be dished out before the lack of other imaginary aspects becomes an impediment. 
Eugene S. Robinson's Hardcore bona fides are undeniable. Do seek out the twisted recordings of Whipping Boy and Oxbow, or make time to see and hear the latter live for the visceral proof of that.
What's great about A Long Slow Screw is that, along with the sought after and attained physical impact that simplified writing can approximate when paired with attentive reading, Robinson, unlike many of his Hardcore peers, tells one hell of a powerful STORY.
Using 1970's Brooklyn as its gritty backdrop, A Long Slow Screw tells the tale of a heist gone wrong, with thorough attention given to illuminating the shit stained piston which drives the Hustle behind said heist.
Robinson uses a noir tone with which to tell the dark back stories of the novel's characters, who are roughly divided into those getting fucked and those doing the fucking. A more fundamental trait of Hardcore's narrative focus you'd be hard-pressed to find, and in that, the author remains true to his creative roots. It is within his character development and dialogue that he moves away from many of his peers' one dimensionality. As one reads the book, these characters and their intertwined stories come to life within the reader's imagination. It seems clear that Robinson spent a lot of time thinking about them.  The complexity of these characters and the richness of the book's  narrative voice and dialogue are way more compelling than the "right/wrong", "left/right", "I/them" of so much post-Punk aesthetics. Robinson is a writer, not a ranter, and this novel is well worth the time spent reading it. An attentive reader will find him or herself savoring many a passage, many a sharp turn of phrase.
Bonus coolness: as a physical object, A Long Slow Screw, with its sleek black cover and solid paper stock, has a weight not unlike the weights that Mr. Blue,  one of Robinson's more intriguing characters, hefts with such ease.
My only question is, is A Long Slow Screw to be followed by further descriptions of Jake and Easys' ice fueled plight?

Hello America, or How Two Brits Sent a Love Letter to the American West

Just got home from seeing the movie Paul. It was a great comedy, referencing tons of classic Sci-fi, celluloid and print. The writers spared no one in their parodying, yet despite this there was never a sense of the identity-based approval or disapproval of selected sociological subcultures that one often senses coming from the film Class.
A very honest and, ultimately, loving portrait of  a kooky aspect of the American West by British writers Nick Frost and Simon Pegg.
Well done. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way...........................

The Skull Defekts-Peer Amid (Thrill Jockey)

Life is full of surprises. Some good, some bad. The prolific output of Daniel Higgs is hardly a surprise anymore, but a new release in which he fronts an electric band? Indeed, that is a fine, fine surprise for Disaster Amnesiac.
After several years of listening to Higgs play banjo, mouth harp, small/toy percussion, etc. to accompany his mystical/meta-physical lyrics., along with visually feasting upon his many poetry and art books, it's a joy to hear him fronting a full band again. The former expressions are great and lasting, mind you; that said, Higgs has been such a riveting Rock front man, a unique vocalist and lyricist; his absence has been noted and felt within that sphere.
Daniel's vocal development of recent years is fully on display here. His alto registers have become more reedy in some sense, more weathered and aged. Think perhaps of Billy Holiday's later recordings. The qualities of Higg's voice have begun to take on the same sorts of qualities that Lady Day had toward the end: less physically strong, but all the more powerful for their necessary restraint. Along with these apparent qualities comes his recent characteristic evangelical-styled delivery. Lungfish lyrics always hinted at a religious aspect, and Higg's delivery likewise hinted thus. As also displayed on 2010's Say God, on Peer Amid Higgs goes there. Disaster Amnesiac lived for many years in an apartment in which his Grandma would warble old hymns as she accompanied herself on an out of tune piano; the overtly religious tone of some of Higg's lyrics are no bother to me. That said, in a post-Modern world, people may find this kind of earnestness quaint or even unsettling. That response is up to the individual, of course. For those who are repelled by overt evangelical tone of delivery, fear not, as for the most part the lyrics on Peer Amid, while being delivered with a preacher's urgency, remain ecumenical in their meta-physical/mystical subject matters.
It would be tough for a band to reach the high levels of focused minimalism that Lungfish did without ceasing to play altogether. To their credit, Skull Defekts provide great musical accompaniment  to Higgs. Their sound retains a lot of their earlier aesthetic, a big, post-1990's guitar band approach, but one can hear a significant pairing down, a la Lungfish. Whether this is due to Higg's presence or developments within Skull Defekts will have to be conjectured, but it's a welcome development either way. In comparison to Lungfish, the guitars of Joachim Nordwall and Daniel Fagerstroem are less locked-groove in approach, and more garage-ey in tone and style. The drumming of Henrik Rylander  has a more "big beat" feel, which seems to be in keeping with so many Scandinavian Rock drummers' rhythmic style. All comparisons aside, Skull Defekts sound on equal terms with Higgs, whether on more conventional tunes like No More Always and Gospel of the Skull or signature percussive experiments such as In Majestic Drag. This is, after all, Rock music, and at no time is there a feeling of "Daniel Higgs backed by the Skull Defekts". Even the appearance of Higgs on solo banjo and noise on the last track, Hidden Hymn, can not diminish this full band feel.
Peer Amid's mix is live and even, and in keeping with the collaborative Rock feel, the vocals never overpower the instrumental mix. Engineer Stefan Brainstrum did a fine job.
In the liner notes to his great CD collection, Monster, David Thomas recounts how Pere Ubu's Song of the Bailing Man was pressed to 45 rpm, in order to obtain higher fidelity from the vinyl. Peer Amid's vinyl edition shares that aspect of said Ubu LP, and this is an aspect noted at the Thrill Jockey web site. The sound is great. Another victory for the vinyl comeback, one would hope.
With great cover art by Swedish artist Frederik Söderberg, added to it's heavy sound, Peer Amid would undoubtedly make a great addition to any sound collector's archive. Now, if only this group would add some West Coast U.S. dates to their upcoming tour!

Millenarian Rock from Pleadian Youth-Fancy Space People EP (StarTone Records)

As American society crashes and careens through History, we often seem to find ourselves at points of spiritual crisis. Winter of 2011 seems like a particularly trying time to be an American. The Hope and Change that was promised in 2008 has hit the walls of harsher, harder world realities. People seem pensive at best, bitter at worst. In Disaster Amnesiac's opinion, the current mood in America is one perfect for cult leaders' opportunistic entree into the lives of those who may feel particularly let down and/or lost.
Thankfully, there's a cult in existence that will only ask for a few bucks towards purchase of an eponymous  white-vinyl three song release. That cult's name is Fancy Space People.
All cults need some kind of Revelation, some Knowledge to impart to the seekers who find them. Fancy Space Peoples' Revelation comes in the form of a glorious mixture of Rock and Pop styles, primarily mid-1960's-the present, all mixed together to Blissful  Perfection. The three tunes on this EP are seriously well written and arranged. One hears echoes of early Psychedelia, Glitter, Avant-Garage, obscure Soundtracks, 1990's Big Guitar, Art Punk, etc, etc. The kind of ambitiousness on display here would in less Adept hands result in an ugly mash-up of "eclecticism". The presence Space People Mainman Don Bolles, a decades long veteran of creative music making, assures that the tunes are expertly arranged. Every twist and turn sounds spot-on, occurring at the exact right time.  Do you think that Father Divine or Rael had bad timing? Their messages depended upon hitting the right note at the right time, and the music of Fancy Space People is no different.
All of this aural deliciousness supports the Mystical and Loving lyrics of Nora Keyes. As she's credited on the jacket, No-Ra's distinctive, unselfconscious warble sends messages of Love to greater Humanity from Fancy Space People. The main messages seem to be: Fear Not! Create! Have Fun! Love! How can one really argue, especially at such a psychically delicate time for the New Age?
As for the overall sound of the EP, it's big and booming. While it has been released on the independent Star Tone Records, it benefits from the seemingly substantial resources available to the label's founder, Billy Corgan. Disaster Amnesiac read a Rolling Stone interview with Corgan last year, in which he lamented his treatment at the hands of the New Media Wing of the Music Industry. To Billy, I say, Fear Not, Brother. Your Good Works within the Fancy Space People camp are more than enough to redeem you, as if you ever needed redemption from the likes of Pitchfork et al. Perhaps a 7" release of Fancy Space Peoples' 2007  Spectacle Electric would assuage your hurt feelings even further? Just suggesting, one Member to another.
Millenarian-ism is nothing new in the world. In America, it has been honed and refined to a fine point. Fancy Space Peoples' Millenarian Pleadian Scriptures, well within this continuum, should come as welcome messages to any Rocker who may feel distressed in these psychically trying times.