Here's The Story Now: Silverghost at Jacoby's

Busy night last night - one of the bittersweet aspects of Detroit's scene - on a good night you can be one place and be satisfied with your decision yet simultaneously kicking yourself for the hot-blooded exploits that you will be missing at 3 other bars in the downtown area...namely, I missed the Hentchmen. But, still had a good night of music.

Just a few photos and words from last night's show at Jacoby's, featuring The Spainards, Wildcatting and Silverghost. Walking through the joint, asking around from assorted attendants or band members, no one seemed to know much about the Spainards, and the mystery is thickened this morning by the fact that I can't seem to find them on myspace - but they showed great potential as a power-trio delving into standard, catchy artsy-indie rock with a measured dose of abrasive noisy feedback at the frayed edges. Keep a look out for them...hopefully they play again sometime.

(The Spainards)

Wildcatting, the forceful wrath-of-Zeus instrumental metal-math rockers (who started in Milford, growing up with Silverghost keyboardist/singer Deleano Acevedo, hence the added camaraderie of the shared bill) further developed some of their new material, fleshing out another cerebral relentless pounding titled "Found Foot;" while also inviting Lo-Fi Bri (from Carjack. and the Electric Fire Babies) up to perform one song as the hybrid-band Carjacking, (covering Carjack's fittingly titled anthem, Carjack Theme. (The Electric Fire Babies play Jacoby's next Saturday.)

Meanwhile, Silverghost, with Marcie Bolan on guitar continue to impress with hints of post-punk/new wave darkly visaged pop structures utilizing great back and forth boy-girl harmony vocals with danceable but not overwhelming sequenced beats and Bolan's formidable guitar work. The arresting middle ground between crunched-fuzzed outward experimental electronics, hard driving pop/rock and esoteric post-punk sing-speak-scream vocals.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion - and Islands

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, (who sometimes fluctuates band members and often fluctuates their band-name...if only silghtly) recently released their characteristically overwhelming instrumental onsalughts on 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons.


They'll be playing the Magic Stick on June 2nd.






















Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – 13 Blues for Thirteen Moon B -


(constellations)



Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra matter-of-factly weed out the uncommitted-to-the-outsider-trip-out-epic-soundscapes by opening with (truly unique to CD format) 11 tracks of cut-up-snippets of an eerie 75 second instrumental song – then falling into the 15 minute "opening" (at # 13) track, 1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound (chanted for the first 2 minutes before falling into a feedback heavy, cello-saw-groove with heavy rhythms and booming nasally vocals.) An easy transition for God Speed You Black Emperor-fans, (this being the project of that band's Efrim Menuck.) Get deep enough into their thick compositions and your mind'll be blown by the intricate effects and 2001: A Space Odyssey-I-can-taste-colors
-trip-out crescendos. An acquired taste for a certain surreal time of day.



~~~~~~


Coming out next week - Islands will release their long awaited follow up to their sort-of debut, Return to the Sea (though they are often seen as starting back in the early 00's as The Unicorns.)


Until the album shows up, (you can hear the whole album on their myspace) here's Islands on Deep Cutz:


J.Milo


~
















(photo by Melissa Trottier)

Islands Are People Too

Nick Thorburn seems an infrequent, translucent little bugger.

He used to be known as Nick Diamonds; he used to be in a band called Unicorns until the Montreal trio burned themselves out on the road, leading to the departure of founding member Alden Penner. After one album, that band became Islands. Islands is best known for aerodynamic calypso-inflected indie rock, spooky dance overtures and sugar-pop craftsmanship, yet simultaneously, Thorburn ardently seeks out hip-hop related side projects.On tour, he lost his other ex-Unicorn/founding Islands member, Jaime Thompson, after which blog spinsters speculated that Islands would become a hip-hop project called Th’ Corn Gangg, which was eventually clarified into just another Islands side project celebrating an occasional non-Islands reunion of Thorburn and Thompson.

Islands released an album, Return to the Sea, with Thorburn now framed by half-a-dozen highly skilled music school students tooting, trilling and sawing on flamboyant trombones, flutes and cello accompaniments — and then went under the radar for the last year, before which Thorburn declared dynamically, “Islands are forever.” And during said-quiet-Islands-year, he stuck his hand into numerous other side project cookie jars of varying genre types and influences.

This soft-spoken Canadian, with sporadically heaved moment-freezing sighs, explains why he deceptively seems hyperactive: “Life’s gotten better,” comes his airy monotone. “Since everything’s gotten sorted out with the new record (Arm’s Way), it’s been in total purgatory for about ... 10 months. It was because we were trying to get out of our really shitty label in Canada.” Breaches of contract meant a looming court battle, but Islands settled: “It was an epic fucking battle — and I chose to enter into it. We came out victorious by virtue of the fact that we’re not giving them this record, and it’s a really good record.” (Out soon on Anti-).

“I really didn’t know what to do with myself,” says the multi-instrumentalist. “I couldn’t stop writing songs but I couldn’t release them.” He collaborated with Toronto musician/once-Islands’er Jim Guthrie, “one of the most gifted, insightful musicians I can think of” to form Human Highway and make “a mellow kinda record, with a lot of harmonies.” The two recorded their first HH song while holed up in a haunted hotel on tour, venturing into a vacant room upstairs and strumming/whistling through a rough composition. Also to kill label-transition-time, he reunited with Jamie Thompson to restart beat experimentation with Th’ Corn Gangg. He says when he started Unicorns he felt he would be in that band for his entire life.

“When that band broke up it kinda shattered everything. Now, I’m a little more adaptable. I can move onto different things if need be, but Islands is definitely my main love, my main focus.” Reflecting on shifting as a songwriter from a trio to a duo to now just himself, he says he feels he’s continually getting better — and no, he’s not obsessed with a pop sound.

Arm’s Way shows signs of this: “The melodies are more developed, the harmony’s there, it’s just a lot more musicality … it’s like a marble slab that we’re carving out, and each one has a unique cut, a unique perspective. Yeah — fun record.” RDW

back-logged Album Reviews

I thought to myself, on this otherwise same-as-any/sleepy-sunny afternoon as I was contemplating the complete digitization of every thought, movement, exchange and social grace - that we should just dive in and make more clutter for the internet. Thus, I'm continuing this scattershot "blog" with my nihilistic word-splurges on music.

This week, (and new to this format of Deep Cutz,) I wanted to put up a few back-logged album reviews. The first, from a local label, God Sags His Pants with their Winter Comp.; then the Scandinavian house/trip-hop/techno of diskJokke
and then Clinic and the Breeders (from April.)

God Sags His Pants Winter Comp. B God Sags His Pants records

A belated heralding for this exceptional compilation (organized earlier this year as a winter-offering) from the impressive and ambitious local rock collective – God Sags His Pants records. This strong, front-to-back listen features the brooding, sometimes volatile/sometimes serene anti-folk mingling with punk, art-rock and singer/songwriter reflections that are typical flavors for the label. Featured here is the head-swimming, layered rock odysseys of Big Black Cloud and the gritty, bristly rock/pop and punk of Noman – the label's flagship bands. Also featured are BBC side projects: singer Costa's intricate acoustics in a melancholic sway as The Blindness of Helen Keller ("Nebraska"); bassist Schram galvanizes a subtly rhythmic solemnity as Shiloh (with "Fmly"); while guitarist Miller and drummer Davis experiment with more avant-electronic wanderings – Miller with a fuzzy distorted woodsy trip as GK (check out "Ice Cream For Eeto") and Miller as a duo in the more ambient electronica of In June (instrumental centerpiece "Breath of Fresh Water.")

Noman holds their own with the most energetic, driving shake ups (the generational indictment of "Bombs Away") and you get a couple BBC cerebral epics ("Merriweather.) Finally, the versatile psyche-folk of GSHP allies (Colorado-based) Penninsula Pardon (the dreamy haunt-pop of "Diadema Dreams") almost ends up stealing the show – but that is a difficult task considering the company of all these talented musicians.

~

diskJokke – Staying In B - smalltown supersound

A running, disorienting piano jaunt fades away to wavy synths and immaculate spaced-out strings as a sturdy dance beat settles into cruise control for a nice 6 minute electro-rave – thus opens diskJokke's "Staying In" LP; a resident house DJ out of the Oslo, Norway (OsloDisco) scene (linked with Lindstrom and Prins Thomas), Joachim Pyrdahl is distinguished by his dub and Italo-leaning styles (utilizing horns, bongos and flashy bass booms) but fused with chilly synth tones of classic house and techno - heavy on disco and the futuristic-robotic-sensibility of new wave, a bit derivative but still inventive.

~

Clinic – Do It! B + Domino

Do It! Declares itself "a celebration of the past to your present," with a synthy gale bridging a fuzzy guitar punch and hallow beat over the Davies-ian opener "Memories;" and one can't help remembering (or noticing the gap this record represents structurally and aurally from) their fuzzy spooky and sparse doo-wop nightmarish debut full-length Internal Wrangler. Do It! is comparatively coherent and clean and, in fact, quite strong in its overall statement (with beautifully surfy-toned guitars over "Tomorrow" mixed with their characteristic creepy harmonica tones that sound easygoing compared to early work.)

The Liverpool quartet continues their smashing of new-wave with surf, 80's pop and krautrock (see the reeling slow-dance bopper "Coda" or the dramatic and swaggering guitar heavy "The Witch. (Made To Measure)") Less evident here is the volatility of their past work – where songs once felt as though they'd deteriorate before the 3^rd chorus into some hallucinogenic oblivion – Do It! features a steady pace throughout (coming and going perfectly in under 35 minutes) with well-crafted minimalist, fuzzed-out rock songs that drift from Pixies-ian loud-to-soft chorus-verse structures (see "Free Not Free.") Stand-out track for me so far, in terms of classic Clinic goes to the guitar noodling subtle freak fest of "Corpus Christi" and it's wind up grinds and strange with a wayward solo from a snake-charmer's pungi. "A celebration of sheer joy."

~

Breeders – Mountain Battle B + 4AD

Spring means fresh, vigor, sprouting, blooming; yet, in the music world it's been a parade of 'what's old is new' stories like the Rolling Stones concert film or R.E.M.'s resurrection or Kim Deal, the beloved but troubled bass player (and singer) from one of the most influentially bastardized (but still one of the top six most important bands ever) the Pixies, who is being hailed with a 'comeback' of her 'other' 'poppier' 'alt-rockier' band, the Breeders – whom we haven't heard from since they're critically unappreciated Title TK (in 2002.)

Mountain Battles is darkly enchanting, with beautiful grooves properly buzzed and layered by producer Steve Albini in the Breeders-preferred anti-computer All-Wave style. The sound is raw, sparse, with hollow drums and minimalist guitars and dreamy but dreary vocals. The rush-fuzz energy of "Overglazed" hits the gas, opens the window and drinks in the sky; "Bang On" sounds like a basement b-side booty-stomp ala strung-out weekday B-52's; "Istanbul" rides a similar low-key but heavily grooved cool-bop ditty vibe; while "Walk It Off" recalls the coarsely shimmering hook-filled melodies and heavy-chug-strummed sweetness of much of their earlier work, "Pod" and "Last Splash." It all has a sort of disoriented solemnity, and at times feels a bit patched together, but the overall effect is a coaxing confidence and a strange sort of swing.

Old may be new this spring, but that's fine – cuz this is a damn fine record.

Meatmen; Electric 6; SSM; Johnny Headband; Deastro and Carjack., Crofoot, 5/23

(from top to bottom)
Electric 6; The Meatmen; Johnny Headband; Carjack

(Johnny Headband photo by: EE Berger; Meatmen photo by Cale Sauter)

This is easily a contender for Show of the Year (not in a literal sense, I’m not collecting votes)

I’m just saying, based on line-up power alone, this show may have that epochal power to conjure mythic rock n roll beasts to spew forth from the cracks of this ruined earth and lay ruthless medieval-style devastation on all outlying cities.

That, and it’s for a great cause, - to help out longtime friend of Detroit Laura Rock.

Next Friday (5/23) at the Crofoot Ballroom, 6 local bands: The Electric 6, The Meatmen, SSM, Johnny Headband, Deastro and Carjack, (plus guest DJ's!) come together for a fund-raising concert dedicated to long time local music supporter (and singer herself from the Black Lincolns) Laura Rock – who is currently facing critical health issues and medical bills. Now, her friends want to give back, with 100% of the proceeds being donated to Laura and her family. "She has a lot of friends and supporters throughout the city," said E6 keyboardist Tait Nucleus?. "She's worked at the Berkley Front, Belmont, Northern Lights Lounge, she's done it all and she's set up a bunch of really successful nights at different bars and brought bands in to do 'em. She’s helped bands out all over"

(Deastro)

Firstly, it’s been years since the iconic hardcore punk rockers The Meatmen played a show, brandishing their brazenly politically-incorrect humor and intensity – secondly, you also get two of the most successful-worldwide (Detroit-born) bands in the grimy-psyche-rock of SSM and the always show-stopping disco-rock of Electric 6. Also on the bill, theatrical new-wave/rock with Johnny Headband (currently working on their next album), the synth-heavy dream pop of Deastro (working on an EP) and the forceful, freaked-up electro punk rock of Carjack (who’s also currently writing and recording.)

An unbelievable line up for a great cause. Tickets are $15. Advanced tickets are available on the crofoot website

Visit: myspace.com/rockontorecovery

(SSM & Carjack)

...next FRIDAY...quite possibly the show of the year

A great line up...a great cause...

Farewells; Oblisk; Pewter Cub and The Netherfriends

Here's a bit of a slap-dash posting...simply to highlight a few local bands that I've been really digging lately - which leads me to acknowledge that even if myspace is a double-edged sword it still leads to you, or me, or she or he, or your mom...having the power, if they're diligent enough, to find these bands on any given minute of any given day...
The other side of that sword, inevitably, is getting lost in the white noise blathering of the internet, as I'm sure this blog does...
but that's for another rant...

for now, check out The Farewells from Ypsilanti, indie rock that spans from dreamy-lo-fi-pop to swaggering guitar-heavy-rock, playing T.C.'s Speakeasy on May 24th!

also, there's the atmospheric grand shoegazey/synth-aided lush soundscapes of Oblisk















...who play the Painted Lady in Hamtramck on the 23rd and Northern Lights Lounge on the 24th.

Next would be just quick shout-outy-type link to Hamtramck's Pewter Cub















classical caustic basement-experimentation lo-fi-fuzzed-indie rock! But, you can read more about that an in upcoming print-version of Deep Cutz


Lastly, The Netherfriends
I just listened to the (hard copy) of their impressive debut EP this week, after they visited the CAID earlier this month. Here is an older Real Detroit article I had written on them before. The last thing I want is for this to come off as the typical blogger-first-kid-on-the-block-to-say-so about a band...I just want people to listen to them...

The Netherfriends
This Thing Called A Heart

“Some guy once told us we sound like the bastard pop-band from hell that he has always been looking for,” says singer/guitarist/pianist/anything-ist, Shawn Rosenblatt of his fuzzed experimental gypsy space-folk trio, The Netherfriends. The guy also said their sound might sound like, “if the Zombies and Animal Collective met and recorded in a kitchen.”

But that glosses over the radiant sky-blue soul of the warm tones and capricious melodies; an otherworldly map sprawled upon the shag carpet in front of your record player with ‘60’s pop LPs. Subtle synths soar throughout with roughly-hewn cerebral wings over versatile percussions — visceral lo-fi hums and harmonies, pastoral melodies and skewed realist lyrics.

Just three college kids, Shawn, drummer Paul Newmann and keyboardist Angie Kang are on their first self-booked tour — bringing their galactic campfire chimes and kaleidoscopic pop structures around the Great Lakes.

It’s worth toasting an Internet musical community where eureka sunrays like Netherfriends can find audiences, and Scrummage University is helping to galvanize an earnest, heartfelt underground devoid of desires for labels or hit singles — embracing refreshing sensibilities for a new underground.

It started as Shawn’s solo project; the material was written and recorded in his apartment with dynamic mics, audio interface and “a bunch of zany instruments” (with additional audio contributions from his bandmates and girlfriend). Shawn found his comrades on Craigslist: “[Paul emailed] me something on the lines of ‘I don’t have a set, but I will play a ladder with a toothbrush.’ We settled on pots and pans and practiced in my bedroom. Angie sent me a track of a rap song she recorded. I loved it and knew she would be perfect.”

“Setting up a tour is surprisingly easy with the Internet these days,” says Shawn, who works part time in a real estate office, at a desk, by himself, with time to peruse the electronic landscape and put the tour feelers out there — they busied themselves during winter-break, booking a tour without sending a single press-kit. Job well done.

I, Crime (Saturday at Northern Lights Lounge), with Giant Tigers

I, Crime

I, Crime are stunning, well-versed songwriters. Consciously aware of whether I'm shopping too closely to the Cliches-department, I wanted to avoid ranting on about how they are hard to label. Maybe they aren't? I could throw adjectives out like soulful and rhythmic and somewhat abrasive, but I don't know if it would do them justice.

Listen to “Priest” and you hear post-punk; listen to “Drowning” and there’s almost a neo/alt-country vibe; and then the swaggering “It Ain’t Right” feels straight-up indie-rock.

Formed in 2004 from a series "beer-influenced Tuesday night experimentations" between writing duo Jennie Knaggs and Anderson Walworth, they soon added percussionist Charlie McCutcheon and began playing out as a trio. Recently, bassist Mike Ventimiglia joined to make it a quartet.

In 2006 they released the Get The Knife EP. Currently, I, Crime working on a full-length with engineer Collin Dupuis (Zoos of Berlin). “Not only is he a totally amazing engineer,” said Jennie, “[and Grammy nominated, but] he is [also] a close friend who has seen the band progress.” The versatile pop/indie/punk/psych/everything rockers are releasing a 7” single for the song, “Dove Skin Gloves” this spring (with the LP out, most likely, in September).

Genre specifications become bastardized — go see this band if you want some of the best rhythmic and stylized rock 'n' pop with splendid hooks and harmonies.They play Saturday at Northern Lights Lounge with Giant Tigers.

Here's the un-cut interview:

DC: what's been some of the new developments for I,Crime?

Jennie Knaggs:

We have been in and out of the studio the last few months working on both a single and a full length record. We will be releasing a 7inch of our song "Dove Skin Gloves" this spring, and the full length should be out by September. Its an on-going project - we just keep adding more songs to the list and experimenting with sounds to bring out the best in each song. It helps make the old songs new again, too. We are really lucky to be recording with Collin Dupuis (drummer of Zoo's of Berlin). Not only is he a totally amazing engineer (and Grammy nominated!!) he is also a close friend of ours who has seen the band progress, so he has a good understanding of what we are going for. The five us really work well together.

DC: Does the collaborative songwriting between you and Anderson still flow the same as it did in the band's more experimental, days? how has it changed? (or not?)

JK: When we started, we were just drinking beer and making stuff up every Tuesday night in my basement. There was no structure or intension at that time. But once we realized we could write real songs together, I think things naturally changed. We may be more accustomed to each others styles now, but mostly our songs come from the same places. Either based on a jam session with the whole band, or one of us will write a song and the rest of us tweek it until it feels done.

Actually, the song "Dove Skin Gloves" none of us remember writing...I was clearing out some memory on my phone and found a recording we had done of a simple idea...I played it back to the band and we all fleshed it out into one of our favorite songs. Its like we stole it from ourselves...

DC: Sometimes the influences-question is inevitable…

Anderson Walworth: That's a hard question... past influences always find their subtle places, but lately I've been into to checking out new punk bands like the potential Johns or the Rats, It seems like it's easier to find a good punk band lately than a tolerable indie rock /rock band.

JK: As a band, I think all of our tastes have always been pretty eclectic... I think we are alike in that way, and that hasn't changed. We all can appreciate a good pop song and then turn around and listen to some punk rock or whatever. But thinking about how other music influences your own is always a difficult question. Influences really sneak in to where it’s hard to spot them in your own music. If I ever try to create a sound based loosely on something else I heard, it usually turns out to be trash. My best songs are always accidental. -

DC: You seem like a laid back outfit, not playing out that much locally, not over-exposing yourself with festival appearances, but still keeping it legit and playing live on NPR and getting out and touring, etc..., are you conscious of this low-key approach or of your still-somewhat (my word, somebody give me the hook for this pun…) “criminally”-low-profile in Detroit? is it a purposeful approach?

AW: We are only low-profile because no one likes us.... : )

DC: What's coming up next for I,Crime?

AW: Hmmm... there is the 7inch and were booking a midwest/east-coast tour for August to celebrate. I hope my eyes don't turn yellow again...

JK: Yeah that was gross.

more info: Giant Tigers
Northern Lights Lounge

Curare III - photos

Here are a few images from last Saturday's Curare III
an epic, strung out, psyche-rock freak-jam of a festival, put on by Mike from Red China
and hosted by the good people at the CAID.
10 bands - dueling stages - cerebral highflying jams - and the combination of Carjack and Wildcatting, a wild ride...probably rapping up somewhere near the 4 a.m. mark of Sunday morning.
(all photos by Mike Milo)


carjack-ING.

The Directions

Pinkeye

The Netherfriends

The Oscillating Fan Club

Danny Doll-Rod's New Band: The Readies

You'll have to forgive the shoddy quality of my journalistic reconnaissance for this trip - I hope it doesn't come off as that amateur cafeteria-gossip-shout-tone - but it still has the desired effect of indicating that Dan Kroha, from the beloved Demolition Doll Rods (apparently on indefinite hiatus) performed with his new band last night, The Readies, which formed sometime over the winter.

Unlike the Doll Rods or the Gories, it has a regular bass player - and a full drum kit. The show went down in a cleared out loft above the Park Bar (behind the State Theatre) which, combined with the beer from a cooler, gave it an almost what's-the-password?-type vibe to the joint.

The sound, from what I can remember, was a sturdy set of classic rock with Danny's own penchant of obscure blues/folk and an inevitable garage-punk energy. But that's just a lazy throw-together of words...the point is, they were tight, Danny's solos and his voice, as always, were show-stopping. Can't wait to see/hear tham again!

All I really have to offer is photographic evidence...most of the shots taken by my brother, Mike.

(Also, visit last night's headliners, Magic Shop)

And I promise the next post will be more...well,...I don't want to say professional...because you always want some bit of questionable stability...at least in the realm of rock journalism. Who's to say what I'll write next? More details and dialogues on the horizon...