Pink Moan

February 9th, 2009 by Gnat

Harry Smith is the kind of guy who makes me feel guilty. Guilty for not going out and making art and documenting the human experience every minute of every hour of every day. Watching a folk music documentary on the Ovation channel tonight, I was reacquainted with the genius of Harry Smith. Harry Smith compiled (from his own collection) the legendary Anthology of American Folk Music, which was released in 1952 on Folkways Records. In 1965 he went on to record and produce the first record by avant folk/rock pranksters, the Fugs. Not only that, he was at one time “the greatest living magician” according to the godfather of experimental cinema, Kenneth Anger. Because even before Harry was capturing magical music, he was making magic with film. Check this piece out:

The life and work of Harry Smith is severly interesting. Visit his website here. And though I have only started this bad boy, here’s a hefty and heady analysis of Smith’s films, entitled Alchemical Transformations: The Abstract Films of Harry Smith (Jamie Sexton). Now, go make art.

January 16th, 2009 by Gnat

I discovered Afri-Cola (German brand of cola) last night during the Monks documentary: The Transatlantic Feedback. Many years ago an Afri-Cola commercial was supposed to feature music by the Monks, but that’s not even the strange part. My friend saved me some effort by eloquently blogging about Afri-Cola here. Feast your eyes on what is perhaps the finest, and surely most German, cola commercial ever (sort of NSFW):

January 12th, 2009 by Gnat

…start blogging again this week. Just got my grad school application finished and uploaded over the weekend so I’ll have more free time to write soon. In the meantime, check out my friend’s newish blog four-thirty-three, it’s rad. Through four-thirty-three I was introduced to this fabulous piece of web work: the David Lee Roth Runnin’ with the Devil soundboard. You should definitely check it out, awwww yeeeaaah!

December 9th, 2008 by Gnat

Here’s a rad pic of Brian Jones to liven up your (and my) day:

Unrelated warning: expect a flattering post on Steely Dan coming from me soon. Yeah that’s right, Steely Dan kicks ass in my book.

December 2nd, 2008 by Gnat

On this killer version of Waiting for the Man.

November 14th, 2008 by Gnat

Here’s a fun clip from the Monkees’ Head:

Have a great weekend!

October 31st, 2008 by Gnat

So last week I decided it would be a good idea to write about some of my favorite punk rock LPs and singles on this here blog.  While many would argue punk music is better suited for the 7″ format, I’m going to start off this series of posts with a handful of punk rock albums I think are damn near, if not, perfect in all their 12″, 33 1/3 rpm, long-playing glory. I’m posting these albums in no particular order, no top 5 or 10, etc. Suffice it to say these titles are all the cream of the punky crop to my ears. I’ve decided to forego listing some of the classics like Never Mind the Bullocks… and the eponymous Clash debut in favor of including punk albums that are either: 1) specific to the time period in which I grew up, 2) personally important to me, or 3) simply kickass in my book. Here we go…

Operation Ivy - Energy
(1989)

The original vinyl release of this now-classic ska punk LP was 19 songs of tight and tinny pure punk joy. Later reissues of Energy tacked on some earlier Operation Ivy EPs and singles, but I still prefer the 19-song original. Berkeley’s OPIV (do people still call ‘em that?) couldn’t have come up with a more apt name for their debut LP. Ska-soaked rhythms are combined seamlessly with hardcore freneticness throughout the entirety of the album. Blissful musical bursts are seasoned with lyrics about punky themes like disaffection, isolation and calls for unity among the scene. Guitarist and bassist Tim Armstrong and Matt “McCall” Freeman, respectively, went on to form Rancid, but I think Energy is their shining contribution to the punk rock canon.

Energy was a very important record for me and my friends when it was released. I remember my friend Steve telling me to buy it ASAP when I bumped into him at the local record shop, Music Town, in 1990 (as far as I know Steve still sports a large tattoo of the OPIV shadow man on his bicep). This album could be heard blasting at many a party and from many a car window during my high school years. Ah, sweet youth: skater boys and ska punk. Here are a couple of standout tracks for your downloading pleasure:

Sound System
Bombshell

October 3rd, 2008 by Gnat

Now do I have your attention? Lately I can’t get the song I Need Lunch by the Dead Boys out of my head. Click here and download the mp3 (lest it be removed), listen to the tune, read the following lyrics, and bear with me:

“I-I don’t need your company
Girls like you all come for free
I-I don’t really wanna dance
Girl, I just wanna get in your pants

I-I don’t wantcha to hang around
Girl I don’t need ya to drag me down
Well I-I don’t really wanna dance
Girl, I just wanna get in your pants

Now listen girl

You try and try
You want we’re just more than friends
You cry and cry
You know i’ll prick ya’in the end
Look at me that way, bitch
Your face is gonna getta punch
I said I don’t need no cook girl
I need lunch

Now listen to me baby

I-you go find yourself a factory man
Girl-you were born with dishpan hands
Well I, baby, I don’t need romance
You know, girl, I just wanna get in your pants

I said-I need lunch

Feed me!!”

Even without Stiv Bators’ snarky, snarly intonation these lyrics on their own read as offensive. His searing delivery backed by loud guitars only serves to salt the sting. The narrator of this song hates women, or at least the woman he’s singing to and about. Hell, at the song’s apex he threatens to punch the bitch. I mean, this is hard, violent shit. In addition, this song equates a woman with a meal.

So why do I love it so much?

Believe me, gentle reader, I have spent too much time analyzing my love of I Need Lunch. Time that should have probably been spent working or studying for the GRE. But the good news is I think I figured it out: I love this song because it expresses primitive drive, without any pretense of sentimentality. I don’t have to like what Stiv Bators is saying, but I can’t ignore the rawness of his lament. It’s ugly and it’s real. And I’ll take a real hate song any day over a flaccid, fake love song. True and ugly is better than phony and pretty.

Stiv (1949-1990)

September 29th, 2008 by Gnat

Good fodder for a lazy Monday post, don’t you think? Carl Wilson is my favorite singer out of all the Beach Boys. I don’t usually like to post so much YouTube content in a relatively short period of time, but I have to share the following two clips. The first one is a cool little video (with some fun, goofy dancing by Carl) of 1971’s killer tune Long Promised Road:

This second clip is great, too. Carl belts out the blissful I Can Hear Music only to be followed by Dennis Wilson singing a Charles Manson-penned tune, Never Learn Not to Love (originally titled by Manson Cease to Exist). Oh weren’t the ’60s a hoot?!

September 23rd, 2008 by Gnat

My good friend and former bandmate, Cheree, years ago penned this lyric to one of our band’s (bees are black) songs: “The joy of advertising/Keeps us in place.” I was always especially fond of that particular line, because “advertising” and “joy” are two words you never think of combining.

Advertising, especially the concept of “branding,” fascinates me because it’s really a sort of black magick. Signs and symbols, slogans and catchphrases all meld to become more than the sum of their parts. The patented Nike swoosh, for example, is basically a magickal symbol, a sigil, infused with energy over the years to create an immediately recognizable, global brand symbol. Same goes for the McDonald’s arches. We each have our own feelings that are brought up when we encounter one of these symbols. For instance, upon first glance the Nike swoosh fondly reminds me of my grandfather’s store where he sold many a pair of Nikes, and the dusty, leathery smell of his stockroom. On the filpside, in more recent years Nike has become widely infamous for using sweatshops. Thus my feelings associated with the Nike swoosh, and consequently brand, have been tarnished.

Advertising at its best successfully links products to our positive emotions. At its worst (though some would perversely argue, best) it becomes the Swastika. (See the Wikipedia entry for the history and evolution of the Swastika, perhaps history’s most instantly recognizable symbol after the crucifix.) I like to keep up with trends in advertising, because you gotta know your enemy. That’s why this article struck me:

Products Placed: How Companies Pay Artists to Include Brands in Lyrics

I’m not surprised. I mean, in a way rock and roll has always included product placement. Hell, some argue that Ike Turner’s “Rocket 88″ was the very first rock and roll song, and that’s about an Oldsmobile engine. And, bear with me here, one could even argue that the Beach Boys actually, if inadvertently, branded the California summer mystique through their sun-soaked harmonies and lyrics invoking images of cars, girls, beaches and waves. The joy of advertising, indeed…