Why Brian Eno Quit Roxy Music

This fine bit of Rock and Roll Revisionist Theater is brought to you by Brian Walsby.   
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"I am Bryan Ferry, bitches!!"

The Big Pink- "Too Young to Love" Video (2009) 4AD

It's hard for me not to like a band that helps itself to generous servings of My Bloody Valentine and Verve, but what's with the name? Is it a house with a famous basement in Woodstock or a Freudian nightmare? More Big Pink to come (pardon the pun)...

The Czars- The Ugly People vs. the Beautiful People (2001) MP3 & FLAC

"It's just a side effect of loving you, a nasty soundtrack to the city."

I first discovered The Czars in the bargain bin of a Berkeley record store during my college years. Clacking, bleary-eyed, through the endless cutouts and unwanted, discounted dreck that inevitably accumulates in such places, the album cover above immediately caught my eye, so I payed 75 cents for the honor of hearing The Czars for the first time (incidentally, I managed to discover Joe Henry the same way). This band was a fixture of the criminally under-publicized Denver Southern Gothic music scene of the 90s and early 2000s, a scene also home to 16 Horsepower, Woven Hand, Jay Munly, and Slim Cessna's Auto Club. On The Ugly People vs. the Beautiful People, The Czars were able to perfect their unique chamber-lounge-jazz-folk sound, once again allowing John Grant's languorous vocals to take center stage, but unlike their debut record, the song-writing is consistently great and the production provides an atmospheric intangibility that works wonders for these dark ballads of heartache and spiritual despair (although I could have done without the auto-tune vocal effect on "What Used to Be a Human"). A little Paula Frazer mixed in doesn't hurt either.

Mick Karn- Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters (1987) MP3 & FLAC -In Memory of Mick Karn-

"I burn a candle in your place. I picture the passions on your face. Feelings that rise on a wave and fall away."

What's most notable about Mick Karn's second solo album, Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters, is that it marked a rekindling of his working relationship with ex-Japan mate David Sylvian. Sylvian lends his inimitable vocals to two of the album's tracks, "Buoy" & "When Love Walks In," and it is no suprise that these are the most memorable moments on the otherwise instrumental album. Nevertheless, except for "Answer," which is built on choir-like vocal washes and goes absolutely nowhere (something like a Dead Can Dance throwaway), these instrumentals can be quite charming. The percussion is a little plodding at times, but there is some fine Japan-esque keyboard work provided by Karn, and of course his lovely, slinky bass work.

Japan- Quiet Life (1979) MP3 & FLAC -In Memory of Mick Karn-

"Now that you feel the weather, was it all in vain?  Now that we're together, we seem so alien."

Quiet Life is the album on which Japan took a significant step toward lasting relevance. It sits in their discography as the quintessential "transitional" record, but it's unique hybrid of the alternative Glam-Rock of their first two albums wedded to the more experimental synth and bass driven direction their later work would take suggests that the album should be evaluated on its own terms. In addition, Quiet Life marks the point at which David Sylvian began channeling his inner Scott Walker, taking his distinctive baritone voice down paths untraveled in Japan's earlier work. Yes, in many ways, this album opened the door for a wave of New Romantic bands comprised of much less talented musicians (e.g. Duran Duran), but Quiet Life contains a depth, a darkness, and musical pedigree far beyond the grasp of the New Wave acolytes to come. Simply put, you need to hear this if you haven't already.

Dalis Car- The Waking Hour (1984) MP3 & FLAC -In Memory of Mick Karn-

"Plant your tree of hidden dreams beneath your fears that burst the seams."

Dalis Car was a one-off collaboration between Mick Karn and Peter Murphy, sort of a rebound project after the disintegration of their respective bands, Japan and Bauhaus. Musically, the album owes more to Japan, though the arrangements are fairly minimal, something Japan was not necessarily known for. While Karn's unparalleled fretless bass sound dominates throughout (and this is a good thing), it is Murphy who steps into uncharted territory on this recording. His often dissonant, abstract vocals are a far cry from his ziggy-as-vampire onstage persona with Bauhaus. Little did we know at the time, however, that The Waking Hour would represent a first (uncommercial) baby step toward the goth-pop crooner Murphy would become at the dawn of the nineties. Having been a big fan of both Bauhaus and Japan in the early eighties, I remember being disappointed by this album (although I loved the cover). A quarter of a century later, Dalis Car sounds a little friendlier to my ears.

Dalis Car- "His Box" Video (1984) Live, Old Grey Whistle Test -In Memory of Mick Karn-

Here's a live track from a short-lived collaboration between Mick Karn and Peter Murphy of Bauhaus. Word is, they were planning to record a second Dalis Car album in 2011, but Karn passed away yesterday, succumbing to cancer. More Dalis Car to follow...

Japan- "Quiet Life" Video (1979) -RIP Mick Karn-

At some point down the road, I'd love to do a series of posts relating to David Sylvian, but this Japan post has everything to do with today's passing of Mick Karn, bassist extraordinaire, from cancer at the age of 52. I didn't even realize he was ill. Rest in peace Mick, you will truly be missed.

Tarnation- Gentle Creatures (1995) MP3 & FLAC

"Where the gentle creatures roam, that is the place I call my home. You know I'll miss you when I'm gone, but I must be moving on."

Back in the mid-90s, a time when Alt. Country was not yet considered an anachronism and Indie chanteuse Neko Case was playing drums in a Punk band while going to art school, there was a band called Tarnation fronted by another ex-Punk drummer with a big country voice: Paula Frazer. Even more so than Case, Frazer is a torch singer, saturating every syllable with as much darkness and yearning as she can muster. The obvious touchstone here is Patsy Cline, and while Cline's iconic status is well-deserved, Frazer has a voice even Cline might have envied. Gentle Creatures is not for those who like their Alt. Country reverential (meaning traditional); this album was released on 4AD after all. You'll find no gentle acoustic ballads and sentimental odes to simpler times here; rather, Frazer's Gothic imagery and smoldering vocals coupled with spaghetti-western guitars and atmospheric production all coalesce into something truly "Alt." A forgotten classic by any standards.

Junior Murvin- Police & Thieves (1977) MP3 & FLAC

"Police and thieves in the streets, oh yeah! Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunition."

Many will already be familiar with the title track of Junior Murvin's debut "solo" album, as The Clash recorded "Police & Thieves" less than a year later for their eponymously titled debut. While The Clash's Punk-Reggae interpretation is memorable, Lee "Scratch" Perry's Dub-informed production and Murvin's unparalleled vocals make the original version truly definitive.  If your knowledge of Roots-Reggae begins and ends with Bob Marley, you are in for a revelation because Murvin brings an entirely different vocal style to these songs. While Marley's vocals add Rock and Folk influences to the Caribbean mix, Murvin seems to be channeling the ghosts of 1960s Motown and R&B, but these comparisons do neither artist any justice. If you want to understand why Police & Thieves is widely considered one of the essential Roots-Reggae albums, listen to Murvin's prophesying falsetto roaring through Perry's trademark heavily reverbed production, creating a dark and intense musical template for these tales of social unrest and spiritual reckoning.

Coming Soon- Brian Eno: The Series

In anticipation of The Killing Moon's upcoming series of Brian Eno (and related) posts, here's some live MGMT doing a song from Congratulations:



Don't worry, I'll mix in other posts, so it won't be all Eno all the time...

Senator Ron Wyden: Thank You For Fighting Internet Censorship!

I'm not a big fan of the U.S. legislative process and generally feel little more than a frustrated disdain for those involved in the day-to-day machinations of our "representative" oligarchy; however, when credit is due, credit is due. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, is a U.S. Senator from Oregon who recently prevented the dreaded internet censorship bill COICA (Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act) from passage during the most recent legislative session. Do you think he's a FLAC kind of guy? Anyway, it's terrifying to think that a lone Senator from Oregon, who, for whatever reason, has a conscience, is all that stands between us and a "brave new world" of corporate interests using government authority to determine what we can and cannot express in cyber-space. Yay! Senator Wyden!- keep up the good fight; I only wish I was more of a man of faith...

Sign the Original Anti-Blacklist Petition

Support the Senator with a Conscience

Bash the Fash

I never realized how difficult it is to find a cool photo of a politician. I settled on this one because I can picture him saying, "Back off you corporate lackeys! This simply isn't going to happen on my watch!"

The New Pornographers- "Sing Me Spanish Techno" Video (2005)

Here's a rare case of a video actually improving on a song. This is from The New Pornographers' masterpiece, Twin Cinema:

The Brian Jonestown Massacre- Bringing It All Back Home Again EP (1999) MP3 & FLAC -For Rosa-

"Well I've drank a lot of whiskey, ate way too many pills, went around tight corners and had my share of spills."

The Brian Jonestown Massacre are something of an enigma to me. While they have produced some indisputable gems over the past 18 years or so, I find much of their discography somewhat indistinguishable, making it a hard sell for repeated listens in this epoch of digital music overload. Having said this, there was a brief, meteoric three album run in 1996 where their brand of 60s Stones revivalism wedded to an ironic 90s Lo-Fi aesthetic (though BJM are anything but ironic) refracted through a heavy dose of hallucinogenics made for some memorable, compelling work. My favorite among these is Thank God for Mental Illness, which introduced a Country-Blues variation to their sound resulting in some flickering moments of greatness. Three years later, this sound was briefly revisited on the Bringing It All Back Home Again EP, which, at least for me, is the last time BJM sounded relevant. This isn't lush acoustic gloom; rather, it's the kind of thing that sounds like it was recorded with pawn shop guitars at Spahn Ranch (not to mention that one song was actually penned by Charley himself). The gem here is "Reign On" with Miranda Lee Richards doing a more than credible job of channeling Hope Sandoval.

Espers- S/T (2004) MP3 & FLAC

"So we circle and strive and reverse when we drive so we'll never arrive."

While it is clear that the members of Espers are profoundly influenced by the British-Folk scene of the 1960's and 70's, they are also practitioners of a dark brand of psychedelia that, when wedded to their otherwise baroque inclinations, makes for a heady brew best described as an Elizabethan acid-trip. While casual listeners may dismiss Espers as just another derivative hippie-worshiping indie band, this is simply not the case. This debut album positively drips with melancholy, and Espers use their influences as a jumping off point rather than a destination, always taking familiar sounds somewhere new and usually quite foreboding (and where else are you going to hear an auto-harp and acid guitar drone in the same song?). More Espers coming soon.

Roxy Music- "Virginia Plain" Video (1972) Live, Top of the Pops

Clips from Top of the Pops usually amount to five minutes of bad lip-syncing on a set that looks something like a cheap high-school prom, but this clip of Roxy Music back in the day decked out in all their wonderful glam attitude and excess is fucking sublime. Check out Brian Eno on the toggle box:

The Specials- "Ghost Town" Video (1981)

Here's an ode to 2011 because I'm always a bit depressive on New Years (something about time slipping irrevocably by)- The Specials with their iconic Ska sing-along. More Ska greatness coming soon...