RKNet Blog... Thing

Shared by Mathiasx via #ectomo.
I really like this! The video itself looks like it was generated by painstaking hours on a Lite Bright, although I’m sure that’s probably not the case. The sound is modern, perhaps a rather common brand of modern not-quite-pop. Yet it’s pleasant and listenable and there are threads of influence running through here that are almost palpable. Fuzzy guitar matched with a good drum beat, and a lilting vocal make this a pleasure to listen to in my book.

What do you think?

Boy was it ever! I would explain it to you, but I barely understood it myself. For your listening pleasure, however, I’ve put together another mixwit mix tape that I feel helps express in very broad terms the kind of day I had.

Featuring

1. Kajiura Yuki - Key of the Twilight
2. Sonic Youth - Hits of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsburg)
3. Placebo - Bigmouth Strikes Again (cover)
4. Sebadoh - Too Pure (live)
5. The Tubes - White Punks on Dope
6. New York Dolls - Human Being
7. Tsunami Bomb - The Invasion from Within
8. The Distillers - Sick of It All
9. Howlin’ Wolf - Spoonful
10. New Radicals - I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore
11. New Radicals - Someday We’ll Know

I hope you enjoy it!

Although Guided By Voices were around between 1983 and 2004, there is a good chance you’ve never heard of this band. I know I wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for the combined efforts of a cover by …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and Ian’s prodigious musical knowledge.

The song I’m sharing with you is the one I’m desperately, madly in love with these days. Clocking in at a meager 1:45 (2:14 on the Trail of Dead cover), it’s hard to believe it could be so moving. This brief sampling off of 1994’s Bee Thousand is slow and delicate like an aged alley cat and just like that old cat it still resonates like the graceful killer living at its core. That, and you know, there is all that rusty yowling.

The lo-fi buzz permates the latter half, sending the song from a quiet mystery into a trip into the past, when records were cut in one take or bust, all the instruments in one room, and you’d better hope the drums were properly muffled because we aren’t doing this again, dammit.

I highly recommend giving the rest of Bee Thousand a listen. If you have an interest in early R.E.M., Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, or perhaps some of these newer lo-fi and indie darlings like The White Stripes or Trail of Dead, then you should really be listening to Guided By Voices. For those less interested in the actual audio aspect, you can stun all your hipster friends with your new found, old school indie cred, you trend whore.

For musicians, the Guided By Voices website has the chords available for a bunch of their songs (Caution: Frames! T_T). In that same section are MP3s and Real Audio files of live performances, as well as a couple videos.

Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory (lyrics by Guided By Voices)

Cold hands touching my face
Don’t hide… the snake can see you
Old friends you might not remember
Fading away from you
The Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory
The Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory

And we looked
And we passed
Through the hallways of shatterproof glass

She runs through the night as if nobody cares
She screams and she cries and ignores all the stares
She wants me to come, but I’m never going there
The Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory
The Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory
The Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory

Clocking in at 11 minutes, this alternate take of the title track from the rerelease of Televison’s 1977 album Marquee Moon is a sweeping soundscape of what translates to near pure bliss for this listener.

“Eleven minutes?!” one may be inclined to exclaim, “Why that’s much longer than 3! and far longer than the limited attention span which may even permit 5 minutes of one song!” Yes it’s true. Still I urge you, gentle readers, to set aside the urge for mere bite-size culture bits take this time to absorb the crash of the drums, the sinuous progression of the guitar, the underlying call of the bass, the lyrical journey.

From Al Handa’s review in the Perfect Sound Forever online magazine review of Marquee Moon:

Next comes “Marquee Moon,” a nine minute encapsulation of the group sound; a great Lloyd chord opening, looping riffs out of left field by Verlaine, and a funky, rocking bass and drum part that lead into the song. It then builds and builds, and Verlaine begins to solo up into the upper neck of the guitar. More than a few times you wonder if even he knows where it’s all going. It finally resolves into a Stones-like chord burst (actually not unlike a good Dead jam number), then settles into a lyrical, atmospheric section. Smith and Ficca then lead us back into a reprise of the main melody.

While Ectomo’s litmus test of child worthiness is good for the younger set, it is often good to present your little parasite with further challenges as they grow to ensure that they weren’t just pulling one over on you before. (Children are known to be wily, despite an inate tendency towards stupidity.)

If your carpet rodent can successfuly identify each inference of sexual conduct and not make some kind of blanket fundamentalist statement of disgust then there’s a chance they may end up as a viable human being.

Be sure to watch the interview at the end of the song to get an idea of just how high Lou “Tai Chi Champ” Reed was back in the 70s.

Editor’s Post Script: I was quite drunk when I first posted this, with no preamble or followup comment. Suffice it to say I had been cruising around YouTube while saucing it up, and decided this great live performance by Ween (way back in the day) was highly deserving of a nod from the RKNet hive mind. That said, please enjoy the video, as it’s a great performance by the duo.

This group caught my eye as I was researching Cocorosie. Although this group steers far more towards the sensibilities of My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth than Cocorosie. It’s pleasant, uses harmonious vocals and delicious guitar distortion. I’m no technical expert, but I know what I like and this group passes all checks! (Plus, the 23 reference tickles my recent fancy in all things Discordia.)