I don't know what other sort of ballyhoo I could blather at you regarding this band... only that, when I went out and about for this year's Metro Times Blowout, they were the only band that I had an unbreakable appointment to see... highlighted, underlined, starred...
Beguiling minimalist synth rock and tumbling experimental pop trips..., tribal computer rock; not too nerdy, not too nostalgic, just the perfect amount of jiggowats fluxing throgh their amplified capacitors...
3-18 - Belmont (Hamtramck)
It's only their fourth show, but the members have plenty of experience humbly roaring and rocking along with acts like Bars of Gold and Pigeon......that, and this has been steadily uploading as a basement side project for a few years now.
And, by performing this Fun show, alongisde Ypsi's loop lashing punk rock duo Jehovah's Witness Protection Program and funkified indie-rock brigade Sharky & the Habit, they're helping to introduce to the world a brand new--ish act... Hairs - which, rumor has it, includes members of the now-sparsely-seen, satirical dance-party duo, Champions of Breakfast... only now, as rumor continues to have it, they're playing actual instruments... with their amps turned up to devestating, in fact aurally compromising, levels... a darker, dirtier, blown out rock boom! ....as rumor has it...
Kurt Vile's billowy brown locks that shade his sleepy eyes and add frizzy curtains to his mic-kissing drawling ballads seems to already recall the distinctive drooping mop aura of guitar god J. Mascis...
Makes sense that they're doing some shows together - including Mar 31st at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. The dark-folk-tinged indie rock singer/songwriter from Philly brings ballads from his latest Smoke Ring for My Halo (video from Pitchfork's "Don't Look Down..." below).
It's also fitting that the cover of J. Mascis' brand-new (out today) solo album, Several Shades of Why would feature curious hairy creatures...upon a curious hill...of hair... Or maybe that's not fitting and I'm beating a lame tangent's proverbial dead horse.
But, interestingly, Mascis, often a soundsystem onto himself, with his mightily roaring amps and electric-guitar wizardry - has unplugged himself... This is an acoustic album and it seems to have been pulled off quite well by the renowned underground-pop shredder...
You can get his Something out of Nothing EP, for free, here...in the run-up to his forthcoming Lost and Found EP (-Earnest Endeavors).
"This is real life...a movie in which I exist...you couldn't write yourself a better script..." he affirms over a beguiling beat that seems to almost stumble a bit while a slightly aloof horn sample languorously lilts...on "Real Life Pt 1" before an awkward cut, a teasing of aesthetics, and the surge of ominous strings saw under computery wrung-ups... Fuzzed beats that clatter and cut fast, discreet, never overwhelming any piece and often juking or flitting under a quirky marriage between samples of left-field, glitchy, electro-elements with warmer, soul/r&b-tinged horns and strings... while his vocal cadence displays exceptional adaptability - laying upon an already unique structure that works against mainstream hip/hop's typical rhythmic reliances and coming out comfortable, natural, thus continually captivating, laid upon the more jittery tumbles of songs like "This Evening..."
There are days when writing about music, or culture, feels crass or incongruous... and this, in the face of unimaginable tragedy, is one of those days...
Benefit show for Wound Menswear/Motor City Sewing The take at the door goes to support local clothing designer/entrepreneur Sarah Lapinski's Wound Menswear and Motor City Sewing- -"a dedicated, talented group of people," said Lapinski's friend, Davy, himself. "She provides a lot of space, material and expertise for a growing number of talented people. She gives people a reason to stay here, and we need that." More info on WM/MCS
Patrick Davy sounds primed to reach for this town’s power-pop torch (passed by, say, a Brendon Benson type), only add more crashing gusto in the guitars and more hearts worn upon his lyrical sleeves.
Davy has a very summery-toned midrange voice that occasionally evokes ostensible singer/songwriter tenderness or some other kind of throaty belted, jangled-up road trip rock ambience, but the instrumental aspects thrive on feedback fired brio; “Don’t You Tell Me” opens with thundering drums and a fast, keyed-up bass groove before a strident guitar roars out this cathartic hook, demonstrating the ensemble’s keenness for the aggressive aesthetic – thus, the counterpoint for the more playful aspects of the pop-side of the Ghosts’ coin, with smooth vocals, ear-worming melodies and swaggering hooks.
Take a song like the marathon “Summer Moon” which morphs from some alt-rock shredded, soaring pop ballad to an exorcising psychedelic blues jam. Davy’s own lyrics mirror this treading-of-dual-shores (sunny pop to noisy rock) in their varying elucidations, “Slow Sad Story” is a subdued, goosebump prickling lullaby from a weary heart “I will surrender before you take me…” but on the more visceral rocking opener, a fired up lover assures “I will hunt down those who hurt you and hang them from a Linden Tree…”
Thanks for visiting... read the rant if you like... To soundtrack this post, here's Detroit's Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr's debut single from their forthcoming LP It's a Corporate World (June 7 on Quite Scientific) - They're currently touring down to SXSW with Tapes N Tapes...
I'm probably making this bigger than it has to be - so I'm struggling to get it started... the one thousandth post of this... bottomless digital chronicle known as Deep Cutz.
I'm completely blanking... Is this any kind of accomplishment? Should I be sweating it as much as I am? I feel like I'm on the front porch ready to kiss the girl of my dreams good night under a full blue moon and my voice is cracking, pimples, popping and I'm stepping on her shiny, red pleather open-toe shoes as I stammer, searching to cough out the properly momentous and profoundly succinct music lyric from the myriad of past musical favorites and my mind is blanking...
Every hundred or so posts I've asked myself when the last post would be... and, I can assure you, with what I have planned over the next three weeks, this one is far from the last... But, truth be told, inspiration to keep writing here is refreshed on an almost weekly basis; it could be the subtlest of gestures, a fleeting lyric belted out live and almost lost under piles of feedback, or the fire in someone's eyes as they emit their stories, their takes, their opinions, their plans, ...their hopes, to me, at the side of a bar or the side of a stage.
But - you come to a thousand and you wonder - are these grimy bars, these worn stages, these cacophonous liquor pooled caverns my natural habitat? Do I, as some sort of nervous nocturnal creature ever lose the survival skills needed to sustain in this niche... or do I ever, will I ever want to,...migrate away, to some more sensible environment?
And if all these words are just my own humble crickety chirp into the already cluttered soundscape of this world...or even just Detroit's music scene...then what has it meant, so far?
I've always called it a 'dialogue with music.' Not traditional reviews. Not traditional interviews. It came down to: What is the extent of music's potential as a writing stimulant?
What was written about here are things that moved me... I put headphones on, and quasi-ritualistically drowned myself in the sounds until I could perceive a work, an album, as a separate space to be in habited... and then I would write, essentially a communique from inside, a fly in the wall inside the room of the album. Instead of just name dropping other band's or saying something sounds just like another quickly/easily referenced band or style...I tried to detail the unique dimensions of each album's space...
...sonic architecture or something like that...
...or, just merely getting lost with one's head between the headphones... let your eyes roll back in some sort of Ouija-esque trance and let the songs in your ears possess your fingers at the keyboard...
But I have no intention to make this about me... I just wanted to stop at this point of the journey, sigh briefly and say: "huh."
I suppose this is as good a time as any to announce this show:
So...Mostly, I just want to say: -a great thanks- to anyone who's read this... and continues to do so. And especially, a thanks to contributors: Thomas Matich for his dozen or so works (and spectacular podcasts); Eric Allen and Phreddy Wischusen as well... Trever Long for his photos (as well as Lo-fi Bri and my bro, mike). Just thanks to anyone who's supported this blog...
In seven years writing about the music scene in Detroit...and three years of doing this blog-thing... I can't remember a more energized populace of players and performers -
I'm excited and scared to see how and where Deep Cutz will transition into the ever-more-avalanching-ubiquity and advertisement-strewing-typhoons of this internet music world... but until I figure it out, I'm content to continue finding new alleys, new corners, new attics, basements and garages where in the next dynamic minds are tucked writing the next dynamic pieces of music to liven up the air in this ever expanding space...
...where it no longer feels like such a little room.
"And, as you know, Crystal Castles stole my heart a couple years ago. I haven't really been as romantically inspired by a record since." -- Anthony Kiedis, as told to Rick Rubin [Interview Magazine, February 2011]
There are artists that when looking back at an era or movement standout as important figures in that time. With it being 2011 there's a decade of augties music to still make sense of. Where as previous periods had many obvious musicians who could be used a primes examples of an era and genre (The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Depeche Mode, Tupac Shakur.. only to name a few).. these last ten years moved so quick.. with such a rabid focus on digitally ingesting as much material as we could handle from Kanye West to Animal Collective to all the bands that looked back on previous decades and trends when moving forward.
So what makes Crystal Castles different?
It's certainly not just that they've moved the frontman from Red Hot Chili Peppers. Earlier this year, a friend of mine who works at Northern Lights Lounge in Detroit was organizing a new dance party he called "Raw Sugar." He asked me to be one of the DJs and during a phone conversation I wanted to know what sort of aesthetic he was aiming for. He described a vibe that shied away from the candy-pop and bubblegum '80s new wave.. he wanted darker and edgier dance music. The main reference point was Crystal Castles. And with that, I knew what he was going for...
In 2008, when Crystal Castles appeared with their self-titled debut album, they fit right in line with the 8bit techno sounds of Detroit's own Deastro, only adding a gothic twist à la The Faint. Perhaps that's nothing unique, except for the grating, abrasive punk rock screeches of front-gal Alice Glass. Tracks such as "xxzxcuzx me," were nightmarish trips to swirling psycho-killer crawling arcades. Pretty much music to piss your parents off.
Yet Crystal Castles isn't altogether offensive and lacking rhythm. Cuts such as the icy "Vanished" or the melodic melancholy of "Courtship Dating" are hypnotic dance tracks that form the core of this duo whose bite is indeed as vicious as their startling barks.
Their live shows have gained attention for being fucking crazy. Alice Glass has leaped from speakers, she's broken bones. When they played the Magic Stick with HEALTH (the band whose raucous song "Crimewave," Crystal Castles transformed into a bouncy android mash) in Detroit in early 2008, it was one of those "where did all these crazy kids come from?" moments.
Last year saw the mysterious duo release their second album (again self-titled) and collaborating with The Cure's Robert Smith as he lent vocals to the single release version of "Not In Love" (a cover of an obscure new romantic hit by Platinum Blonde). It has been written that producer Ethan Kath crafted some of the instrumentals for the latest record in an abandoned shack in Detroit. He's been quoted saying that he recorded many of the tracks in some very cold weather. Well, winter in Michigan this year has been a "snowpocalypse."
Upon request, Deep Cutz was not granted an interview with Crystal Castles, as the publicist kindly replied "they actually don't do anything that appears online. I know, it's weird, but it's their choice." In this recent climate of Charle Sheen Tweets and iPad hysteria, I find it to be quite refreshing.
I'm curious to see how the group's concert at the Royal Oak Music Theatre unfolds this coming Sunday... will the suburban venue unleash a wave of spirited teenage angst?
Crystal Castles latest effort is more sinister, blistering with volcanic eruptions that have bold titles like "Pap Smear" and "Vietnam." The album sounds like a score to a Stephen King film adaption about archaic, discarded electronics that come to life seeking revenge. In the music video for "Baptism," Glass' hyper dancing is set against clips of a burning house and a creepy baby. It's the sort of imagery that might have sparked outrage 1o-15 years ago, but there hasn't been a Nightline segment on how controversial and inappropriate Crystal Castles are. Perhaps Americans have just become too desensitized. Yet, one gets the impression that Kath and Glass are winking at us.
It's easy to take a hint by listening to the shimmering full moon of "Celestica," with Glass' foggy whispers of "do you pray with eyes closed naturally" and the accompanying music video featuring the singer dressed for Bible School and roaming around a graveyard. The track is possibly the band's best yet, with an euphoric wave of exorcising synthesizers. While their dark music lurks in the shadows, I wouldn't write Crystal Castles off as satanic or another silly Marilyn Manson shock fest.
For this writer, the violence and gloom in their music is merely a reflection of mankind and the consequences of the poisons that torment this earth: abuse of religion, money, war, etc. Be it, "Fainting Spells," which is abrasive and confrontational to the point of being perhaps unlistenable to "Courtship Dating," a wired wetdream -- the band has sort of packaged up modern day society into audio pornography -- dirty, graphic, perhaps a bit wrong, but pleasurable and fetish fancy none-the-less.
And above all, and to what makes this band special and why they matter is this: in this day when art, music, and even people seem to be devoid of a soul... Crystal Castles come off as possessed.
I think this is what inspires Kiedis. What my friend was thinking of for "Raw Sugar." Why this band is different and what I mean by possessed is not that they are the Devil's Music. They are angry.
And anger... that is something we could use more of. Because shit is fucked up. Anger can lead to changing things for the better.//DC//
Crystal Castles -- The Royal Oak Music Theatre -- Sunday, March 13, 8pm
If you haven't gotten a chance to experience the quaint and cozy ambience of an Acoustic Dinner at PJs Lager House (always curated by Detroit-based Americana duo Lac La Belle), then...this is your last chance. ...At least for a little while. With the tinny clatter of banjos, the rustic ring of a resonator guitar and imposing, versatile vocals (able to belt, coo or yodel), Jennie Knaggs and Nick Shillace bring their hat-doffing, curtseying charms to the table while you can relax at the close of another rat race week, enjoying specials like shrimp, steak and gumbo, along with PJs usual menu.
Kzoo-based "old-time-minded" folk duo Red Tail Ring will also provide some songs for your enjoyment.
Also, if you're free this Saturday (Mar 12), stop in to give one of my favorites a warm send-off... Stevers...that oft-referenced future LP still lingers somewhere in our imaginations...where will we go next?
Scarlet Oaks - High Strung - Misty Lyn & the Big Beautiful
So, in about a month's time, NY's jangly psyche-n-shoegaze sweethearts Cyrstal Stilts will release their 2nd LP - In Love With Oblivions (on Slumberland) hints at stronger struts of pop and yet, also, still grimey shades of punk draping down upon their stripped down guitar warbled allure.
No extensive tour dates yet - but you can stream a couple tracks from Oblivion:
In tow with this bloggy quick-and-dirty post - England's somewhat saucy, definitely shakeable, atmospheric indie rock quartet Wild Beasts are also getting ready to drop a new album onto this internet world: Smother is out in May on Domino... Take a listen.
The grooving, gossamer fuzzed dream pop of Jason Quever's Papercuts put out their fourth album on Sub Pop just a week ago... blends of evocative baroque-pop muddled melifluously with head swimming feedback...and Quever's poignant and provocative lyrics... the most soothing electricution you'll find this side of the stereo.
3-12 @ Old Miami with: Beggars Passalacqua, Noman, & Pat Jordache
PARTY ON FUCKERS!
by Falkon
Somehow you are using your blue jeans as a pillow; no wonder your butt is cold. Before you have time to wonder where you are or how you got there, you realize you must drink water. A lot of water.A choir of angels fall in clear cold streams into an oversized BD’s Mongolian Barbecue glass mug. Even in the distorted reflection of the chrome covered faucet, you can see the imprint of the carpet on your cheek.And then you remember...
WILSON.Wilson did this to me. You’re in some dude’s house in Lansing and you don’t go to college there or anywhere.The party summoned you.From Pitchfork blind cities, over-prescribed suburbs, truant universities, and buck mad meth-mouthed country roads come a strange mix of people that in normal circumstances wouldn’t be partying together.But here they are.Mac’s Bar is an olfactory patchwork.Cold and cigarette smoke clinging to Carhart jackets. The malty enticement of spilt PBR. Sweat with nuances of coffee and chinese food.Euphoria by Calvin Klein. Some girl disappears into a mass of sorority girls and bearded men, leaving the delicate Euphoria to blossom around you, once you can no longer see her.
There are a lot of dudes with gauged ears, and a dark eyed blonde wearing a glittering, jeweled top that wraps every photon of the cheesy LED lights into a cocoon, only to release them a thousand twinkling butterflies.In front of the stage is a lump of humanity too tangled and sweaty to stereotype at all.
There’s no doubt that Wilson’s music is aggressive.But take a moment to question where that aggression is being channeled.The crowd is energized but not hostile, animated but not violent.It’s as if lead singer, Chad Nicefield, has reached into your chest, pulled out your still beating filthy black heart Temple-of-doom-style, and held it aloft for the whole world to see.In that moment, instead of feeling ashamed you look around the room and see hands in the air, all filled with beating filthy black hearts.You no longer fear the darkness inside yourself.By the time the last double bass drum throbs into dull echoes, your heart back in its chest feels cleaner than Jesus’ pubic hair.
INTERVIEW
Five incorrigibles comprise Wilson: vocalist Chad Nicefield, guitarists Jason Spencer and Joel Matthews, bassist Drew Rambo, and drummer Mike McGowan.When feral co-eds treed Chad and Jason in the bathroom at Mac’s Bar, I was able to eavesdrop these words of wisdom through a glory hole in the stall wall.
How did the band form?
Jason: In 2009, after jamming on random material for a year and pursuing previous projects, I came to Mike and Drew with a newer style of rock n’ roll that I envisioned would be a great fit for partying and having a good ol’ time. We jammed to the tracks and decided that this was an awesome representation of what our lives had become...one big party.
Joel came on board as our second guitarist later in the year. We had known Joel from previous bands in the past and figured he would be a good fit for us freaks. Soon after, the biggest freak of them all…Chad, joined forces to create what we call the Wilson party machine.Chad is a crazy dude. He has brought an aura of energy to Wilson that can’t be described in words. Between his facial expressions, stage presence and dirty voice, the band has really taken a huge step into a world of possibility on and off the stage.Our energy as a band increased, and so did the live shows, including crowd participation.
What are your musical influences?
Jason: Any music with energy influences me to write, but I must say that loud, loud rock n’ roll tickles my sack! I love the feeling of intensity and having a good time. When I see a kid having a good fucking time, I just want to make that kid have a GREAT fucking time.
Chad: We are influenced everyday...Every sound we hear, in every moment of our lives creates a bubble of creativity that we like to burst in our music. Sure, certain bands and tones has influenced us as players, but as a band as a whole...I'd say the life of the party is our biggest influence. And I don't mean an actual "party" party, but LIFE'S party. We are all here to have a good time, Right? Right?
It’s hard to categorize your music.What’s Wilson’s “scene”?
Jason: I don’t think there is a specific scene for us right now. Wilson has dipped its tip into several scenes, but has yet to find the right fit…which I enjoy. I guess you could consider us the random dudes that show up to a party, but get along with everyone in the end!
Chad:We like to call ourselves "Gnarly, Northern, Keg-Party, Rock and Roll". What that means to us is something of a play on words. At its heart, Wilson is a Rock and Roll giant burrowing through the Michigan dirt of our states great landscapes. We tend to get compared to Southern Metal bands...however it is something completely different for us. We take pride in where we are from and want people to know that. And there are plenty of influences in Michigan to write riff heavy tunes to.
We are not a "Metal" band. Sure we are definitely heavier than your typical Rock & Roll act...but we focus a lot on melody and pitch. The vocals are not screaming at you, they are yelling at you..controlling the conversation. There is still melody in the delivery.
And on top of everything, Wilson is a band that was created to give you a sound track to your life's most intense party. We create this music to give the listener something to release themselves to.
Think of that college, basement keg-party that you lost your virginity at, or that high school bonfire you chugged your first bottle of whiskey at, then blew chunks all over your girlfriend, as she gave you a lil’ tugger!THAT’S A FUCKING PARTY!
What’s the best way to really enjoy a concert?
Jason: I think the best thing any person can do is just have a good time with an open mind. That sounds cliché as hell, but seriously, some shows have become so dry, you know? You got people with straight faces, standing up like pillars and girls putting on a model show...this is a concert – move around, scream, pick up chicks, pick up boys, do your thing!
![Deep Cutz - [[Uncutz]]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj56Cy6ejCrNHSD2kFvaVuF4KxeWxvSzDiAy8Qkrjg0RD74ZVaNFczlCm7F-YxRrwevxWXonBDJFBi03G1Lr_jbFWSpu9WS1jhuzgiuZizcLgWLBkIq26ZR6OqJJIfRrDw3YzWw3opFkgs/s730/Deep_Cutz-HEADER.jpg)
