Spur of the Moment

My current favorite band existed in 1968. Maybe that "current favorite" slot will change in the near future, perhaps to fit some new hot shit, or maybe I'll slide back even further to a rockabilly crooner named Crazy Pete, from 1957.

Or, I could strive, -could spend my fleeting minutes on Google making sure no one else has written about whoever else I want to nonchalantly slide 'cross the table to you in proper bloggy clever clog exhibition, then blow that up for a few moments.

But I'd rather write against that and continue listening to Spur - some longlost Belleville IL based quintet of cowboy psyche-pop confoundables.

"(Buired) Treasure" will be the cliche most likely thrust upon any forthcoming written accounts of this Drag City re-issue of here's and there's from their studio sessions; but perhaps the bigger point could be that even though we have so much to look forward to, have so much surging through our screens on each new morning's troll and scroll of the daily blogo-hipsto-hype and blasted out ballyhoo...even though there's always something new - it becomes doubly overwhelming (and in fact, invigorating) that we can look back and find so much more that fell betwixt the cracks, while our society rode on, on it's own distracted, negligent tear through the amorphous early 70's' album rock malaise and into the gas shortage backgrounding mainstream Disco's bourgeoise blitz and then leaving those "treasures" wholly forgotten and covered in dust by the time the 80's arrived.

That's what happened to so many bands - Spur among them. To live for the next-hot-new-thing means that all you're really ever doing is compiling a killer (and I'll give you that, absolutely killer) Top/Best-Of/End of the Year list that assuredly compiles the coolest and most impressive musical entries of the passing calendar year...

But you weren't living in the moment - you were only just-waiting for that next new....new new new: Crystal Castles, Ratatat, The National, the next whoever, the new whatever - and here it comes and no, no time to enjoy it because you have to pounce on the next one.

All the while, Spur collects more dust.

That is, until another element that we have a plethora of (in this internet age of everywheres and everythings): Record Labels...specifically, Drag City - goes back like musicphile archeologists and uncovers these things for us.

Well, enough of that rabble...about the future, and nextnewthingiosis, (cough cough).

Spur is a magnificent listen for all appreciators of the gravelly guitar tumbling psyche-pop of Byrdsian rodeo-psyche rock. The rich (but hazily fuzzed) sound billows forth with a sometimes-three-strong guitar gallop of surfy Fenders and jazzy Gibsons...as though the Ventures are next door neighbors with Wes Montgomery and the Flying Burrito Brothers are manning the grill for their communal potluck.

Spur of the Moment zings with that ethereal high harmonized hippie-nomad chant that could have slid in with impeccable comfort onto the Easy Rider soundtrack, yet it's meandering melodies and heady, teased out riff shuffles could likely bend the ear of the more esoteric or opaque-sounding freaked-up folkies of early Zappa or the more pallatable Captain Beefheart - but rake all the rest of that slightly adnauseum pop-worshiping, psychedelic-inclined, guitars-n-harmonies groups, from Traffic to Big Star or....well...name-dropping is weak. There's a bit of an dark and fantastical, urban-scuffed edge to some tunes, but then an all out effervescent rush of varrying flavors, frying jazz, country, rockabilly and power-pop till the juices all blend together - serenely sating all you sweethearts of the rodeo.

More new stuff soon.

More info from Drag City

CAVE Reminder - 6/20 - Old Miami

This is Cave.











They made one of my favorite recordings of the year...not just the entirety of their 12" (Pure Moods on Drag City), but the magical "Teenager" and all it's 7-minutes of glory: sensational/nonchalant ballad of climbing drums, wavy over-caffeinated riffs, UFO exhaust splays and monotone-to-bawled out vocals.

Fervent drives; all kinds of coalescing craziness and in fact captivating teased out noise and ever-present grooves - plug in whatever you want from their early write-ups, if it's their post-punk DEVO thing or their Faust-ian krautrock outer-limits caution to the wind opuses - whatever gets you.....'cuz they're coming to town and it's not the hipster Stick, or the BBQ-bolstered Lager House - it's The Old Miami. (with Mr. Quintron and Miss Pussycat)

Things to Watch - Winnebago Man! (Do you believe any of that sh*t?) Plus: Happy Summer Vacation

This is like my dad's longlost alternate-universe cousin - or something - he's the only other guy I can imagine getting more (somehow hilariously) angry over the most mundane things...from faulty cupboards, to hot sunshine, to fucking flies...

Here's to an age of multiple "internet phenomenons" - I think I'm actually going to see this. (In fact, I know I will)

Also...

For the young academics in our readership - enjoy your summer
Classes could be worse...

Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs - 6/17 Majestic Cafe

Superb country-blues pop songstress, Holly Golightly, cut her teeth in the realm of gritty guitars with Billy Childish back in the 90's. Detroit-centrics might recall her voice warming the milieu of "It's True That We Love One Another," a track from our town's deified blues-rock pair, the White Stripes. But I found all this out, personally, after I wound up spinning this year's Medicine County three times in a day. This latest release, in a line of 18, has subtly earned a top spot in my rotation. It's playful, theatrical, charming, boy-girl vocals croon and growl; and it's coated with soot and exhaust, as strident sore-throat guitars grumble their way along a chugging foundation spilling into stringy melody-twisting punk-tinged shreds. Pedal steel and organs give it that southern Appalachian scruffiness and their bluesy-warbled yarn like vocals cover each corner of the cottonfield, from cutesy two-step dancing and hat doffed southern charm to more macabre midnight ghost story affairs.

In any case - I think you'd like to hear it -

Paired with Illy Mack - at the Majestic Cafe.

Wednesday

Duende releases a 12" vinyl ("E.P.") at Club Bart's - having a weekday party of space-blues and psychedelic trip-hop with Oblisk and the Sound and Fury -

Lightning Love, meanwhile, will be playing down at the Lager House with up and comers The Daredevil Christopher Wright and the Kickstand Band .

















Coast through your Thursday's with bags under your eyes and frogs in your throats...rest up, and then just put off really nailing that big sale at the office for Friday's agenda - it'll work out.

P.S. -
What am I listening to? SPUR - read about it. (Then read about it more, later, when I properly ramble about it).

Thanks for reading.

I, Crime - 6/11 - The Old Miami

When fixations upon nuanced categorization or trend-lassoing labels grows into some lurching, deformed, burly and boiled, scaley city-devouring beast... it is up to bands like I, Crime to come along - like some sort of proper device be it a laser sword, proton torpedoes or maybe the Glave, and slice, dice and puncture all this overblown ballyhoo by bringing their achingly earnest, seemingly straight-and-simple rhythm-based, harmony-induced, guitar-glory.

- A firm flying no -bones-bout-it fist punching the greyish and coarse organs of gaunt rickety post-punk and splattering it all around a wider stylistic panorama - never tarrying too long in the gutteral and dark metal area or the freewheeling swagger of rockabilly or the bristly poignancy of blues - and yet confidently and gracefully extending themselves equally to all these corners...but never to the point where you'd want to say... "Oh, I, Crime? They're this __-band. If you like ___ or ___, or maybe you like ___'s last record, but not ___'s second record, then, yeah, you'll probably like I, Crime."

And I usually rattle off similar spiels every time I have occassion to write about them...so I think it's officially a truism.

And, ...again, I have occasion to write about them...

Because, after their debut Get The Knife EP and 2008's 7"-single Dove Skin Gloves, this refined rock quartet is releasing their first proper full length: Spread Like Water/Block The Sun on Woodbridge Records.

The performance-laden celebration for said-release happens June 11th - at The Old Miami - with the Oscillating Fan Club and Computer Perfection.

More info

Sunday - Legendary Creatres - Lac La Belle - AJ&DZ

Sunday night at the Loving Touch - take in the soothing soulful folk of Legendary Creatures (lovely lulling boy-girl harmonies, softly blown over country-tinged elements from organ to ukulele) - but able to indulge in a bit of atmospheric-indie rock via intricate instrumentation from a sunny surf guitar to shuffling minimalist rhythms.



Now that we're all conjuring some Blanch-y type flavors - I could also nod to the more Appalachian-twanged traditionalists of folk, Lac La Belle - who will join LC....at the LT--in Ferndale.

Allan James (of indie rockers The Cold Wave) and Daniel Zott (of beat-lead space poppers Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr) will join forces for a set, as well.

Key Notes: Broken Bells live @ St. Andrews Hall

words: thomas matich
photos: trever long


There seemed to be a buzzing anticipation for the Broken Bells show this past week. As with Gnarls Barkley and the Garden State Soundtrack before them, the music of Danger Mouse and James Mercer has been able to comfortably co-exist somewhere between Starbucks and NahRight. The mellow cozy sweater smoothness of The Shins was a perfect peanut butter compliment to the funky dark chocolate of Danger Mouse's collages of urban suites. Even though Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse fell backwards into ubiquity with "Crazy," Broken Bells have that Steve Jobs sparkle of consumer friendly design and functionality that make the product a guaranteed hit.

As a venue, St. Andrews Hall seemed like a perfect fit for Broken Bells, an act that could probably draw the b-boys at the Ghostface Killah show downstairs in the basement of The Shelter to go upstairs and mingle with skinny jeaned hipsters who came to see Interpol. When I arrived, the club was packed and as usual on a summer night, hot and sweaty.



Broken Bells' hit single "The High Road" was the highlight of the performance, as Mercer was able to get some of the audience to partake in a group hand-clap. As a seven piece line-up, the notes of the album were accentuated quite well, although the bass was a bit clumsy at parts and some sonics seemed clunky. Strangely enough, Danger Mouse lacked a true stage presence as he floated into the background along with the band -- perhaps underlining his role as a producer and string puller behind the beats.

With just a simple video projection of grainy shots of birds and desert sunsets, Mercer was the focal point throughout. He didn't disappoint as his buttery harmonies floated across the room as he tenderized killer vocals on cuts such as "Vaporize" and "The Mall & Misery." I was hoping the band would play a Shins or Gnarls Barkley song -- that would've helped to break the monotony of choosing from just one album's worth of material -- even though it was executed well enough.


I wonder what Broken Bells means for the future of The Shins as this album showcases that Mercer does possess that Phil Collins or Paul Simon quality of having a strong enough voice to branch out and truly do his own thing. Maybe he can work with Timbaland or Brian Eno next? Judging from the work that Danger Mouse did, Mercer has that Apple quality going for him -- just develop an app for this guy to run on and watch everyone come out. //DC//

Duende's new "E.P" - Club Bart's - Wednesday

Detroit's psyche-scorched goth-blues muses, Duende, have finished a new recording. Their latest, a 6-song 12" vinyl (presented as, essentially, a traditional E.P.), is titled Way In Is Out

And though their release party is going down on a Wednesday evening (6/9), they're keeping it fairly local (particularly for us suburbanites potentially weary of tying-one-on with work looming in the morning); catch their set at Club Bart's in Ferndale.
















This is likely to be the last show for their longtime bassist Jason Worden, whose moving on to other projects; they'll also welcome past member Johnny Lee Miller, sitting in on guitar.





More info from Loco Gnosis.

The Golden Filter - 6/11 - Majestic Cafe

Things to hear, watch, and then go experience:

The Golden Filter - "Hide Me" - this minimalist electro-dance-pop duo from NY is gaining steam as they work towards the release of Voluspa which sounds either like some longlost Greek Goddess or an Eastern European compact vehicle from 1989 - but it is, at least if the internet is to be believed, an ancient poem foretelling the end of the world.

Ballads for darkened rooms, tingly adrenaline rushes and dreamy synth twinkled dazes - The Golden Filter could be the sweeter sugar to follow the gulp of maybe a bitter, strident Cold Cave - there's is, despite the apocalyptic album title, a more naive, freer, fuzzy grin and hustle, (perhaps supplemented by the effectively wispy/ethereal lead vocals) but still nicely chilled with the computery blip and bop.

Watch:

The Golden Filter - "Solid Gold" from The Golden Filter on Vimeo.

More info

News (and videos) Zoos of Berlin - Future Islands - Broken Bells

Hello.

Their gossamer British-affectation harmonized voices sweep over with the charismatic-kick comparable to an Obama-ala-04's-convention-speech, so it would make Zoos of Berlin Prime candidates to be appointed veritable Detroit ambassadors to the achingly amorphous and unpredictable music-world at large, bringing their oh-so-stately and welcoming, tight, stylish groove-pop to the visiting table.

They will be welcoming the fuzz-drove yowly post-punky pop of Future Islands - down at the Majestic Cafe - on Sunday night. I think I've listened to "Long Flight" four times today. But, for Zoos of Berlin- there's a new video of their's, below - but you probably saw it here first - where a debate about "national bands" and "touring bands" provides some insightful discourse for a few scrolls...but then transitions into a debate about -jr giving "thumbs up."

Zoos of Berlin - Electrical Way from Pomp&Clout on Vimeo.

Broken Bells, the lush electro orchestral funk pop burgeoning between the Shins' James Mercer and renowned multi-instrumentalist/producer Danger Mouse, visited our smoggy shores here in Detroit, earlier in the week - I missed the show myself though I know a few comrades who made it out...

Here's a new video ("The Ghost Inside") from the pair: