Solid State

Third post today, sheesh.

James Kochalka Superstar has posted an MP3 in which he raps about the Legend" of Zelda: "Old School White Rap."

Watch and listen to the original Nintendo ad for the game.

Read some fresh JKS press here and here.

I have tell you neither of those songs is anywhere near as good as Hank & Dad, which you'll be hearing more about soon. For now, you gotta trust me.

But still: way to be, James.

Culture Club on Boy George: He's gone too far!

That's Culture Club's new singer. I dare you to watch the video on their pimped-out MySpace page.

Finally made it to one of the Greg Davis-hosted shows at Green Door Studio last night, and it was lovely. Three fine acoustic guitarists in an intimate setting — perfect for a late fall evening.

Here's the recap.

Berkeley, California's Sean Smith opened up the show, and he was by far my favorite performer of the night. Some guys are just meant to play the guitar, and he's one of 'em. Full red beard, long hair, longer fingers, and a sly but friendly demeanor well suited to the intricate and whimsical tunes he played. I'm a big fan of the Canterbury prog sound and British Isles "druid-folk," and Smith's style bore that imprint. A steel-string weeeeezard! I even bought his disc. Well actually, Brooke bought it for me, as I'm totally broke.

I had Matt Baldwin pegged as a not-entirely reformed metalhead right out of the gate. Guess we can smell our own. It wasn't just because his opening song featured lyrics from Judas Priest's first record. Something in his spidery fingerstyle was agitated and ever-so-slightly cruel. Once you start down the Dark Path, forever will it dominate your destiny, a wise muppet once said.

I'm about to confess a major heresy here: I'm not a huge fan of the late John Fahey. I appreciate him as a visionary of folk music, but his dark and stumbling (not to mention grindingly repetitive) chord clusters just don't have it for me. As previously mentioned, I prefer a crisper acoustic sound with more high-mids and a gentler touch. My fave semi-trad guitarist is Davey Graham, who nicely blends mystical English stuff with American rag and Indian raga. Do check him out.

The last picker, Glenn Jones, was a close associate of Fahey's. The influence certainly shows. Actually, Jones is technically superior to his friend/mentor. His set was full of charming and humorous asides, making for a truly warm experience. It was cool to be in the presence of someone who'd obviously lived a real journeyman's life. Glad to know those kinds of fellows are still out there making musical magic.

I'd post pics, but I don't have a camera! If Greg sends me some, I'll gladly put 'em up.

Saturday's Radio Bean birthday party was, for the lack of a more unique descriptor, awesome.

I spent a lot of my time upstairs in RB proprietor Lee Anderson's apartment, which featured real-time audio/video of the acts on stage. This technological attraction was courtesy of multimedia guru Bill Simmon.

I watched several bands on a giant projector screen, and was frankly amazed at how terrific the sound was. Even in the bathroom.

Supposedly, 45 bands played. I missed most of them, as I was recording all day. But I saw a handful of great performances from 10 p.m. to around 1:30 a.m.

My favorite set was by Cccome?, who shredded the shit out of doom-blues. Mike Deutsch from Black Sea Quartet rocked electified mandolin with tons of distortion. His playing reminded me of '70s Robert Fripp in full freakout mode. The rest of the band veered between early Black Sabbath and a kind of tribal, hypnotic groove. They need to get in a studio soon.

Swale, who I haven't seen in a while, reminded me of how much I dig their music. They took the stage pretty late, so they had to play abridged (and somewhat sped up) versions of their songs. For example, the molasses buildup at the end of "Faineant" was given the double-time treatment. Surprisingly, it worked; a testament to quality songwriting.

I would've taken pictures, but some dude named Peter Freyne has appropriated the Seven Days house digital camera. Who needs photos to cover politics, anyway? Supposedly we're getting another one. I sure hope it's soon, for the sake of this blog. I mean, there are only so many YouTube vids a man can post.

Flatlander has a nice overview of the Green Mountain Bob Dylan Wanna-Be Contest at False 45th.

And I might as well let it be known that Brooke and I are getting married in June. Ha!

Just recieved this curious press release:

Baton Rouge, LA (November 6, 2006)

With no advance notice or explanation, Baton Rouge indie rockers Bones have lost their long-established MySpace URL (www.myspace.com/bones) to the FOX Television show of the same name.  Bones, the band, has used www.myspace.com/bones for nearly 2 years, racking up close to 20,000 profile views, over 21,000 song plays and over 2100 MySpace friends.

"Losing our URL was a complete surprise to us," said Michael Miller (upright/electric bass, vox). "We logged on one day and found David Boreantz staring back at us. It sucks because we've used that URL for almost 2 years to build our band name and fan base, and it's on all of our product and posters.  We're as indie as it gets and can't afford to reprint everything."

"The crazy thing is, once you pick your MySpace URL you are warned repeatedly by MySpace that you can never change it," said Scott Campbell (drums/synth bass/graphic designer).  "I guess someone bigger came along and wanted the URL we've been promoting for 2 years.  No one from MySpace will get back to us about how this could have happened, and they've now stuck us with www.myspace.com/7483383 which we can not change."

Huh. Guess Rupert Murdoch's ruthless bottom line is starting to be felt.

UPDATE:

In a startling turn of events late last night, Baton Rouge indie rockers BONES received the following message from "Tom" himself:

"I heard about what happened with your URL. I gave it back to ya...Sorry about that! As we grow in size, sometimes people make decisions I don't know about. This was obviously the wrong decision. The Bones URL is yours once again. :) "

Reaction from the band: "We're shocked!! And grateful," said Scott Campbell.  "Not only did Myspace give us back the www.myspace.com/bones URL, but we received a huge outpouring of moral support from the whole indie rock community over this.  It went from being a really horrible experience, to really amazing, and we just want to thank everyone. See you on the road!"

Since we're on a JimmyPage/occult kick, (well, I kind of always am) let's see what those enterprising YouTubers have to offer.

Here's "Stairway to Heaven" all backwards an' Satanic an' shit. The piper's totally callin' you to join him:

Deerhoof's Satomi Matsuzaki.

Last night's show at HG was wonderful. Good crowd, too.

I hadn't seen The Cush on a proper stage in awhile, and it was great to witness them in full flight. Their blend of Spaceman 3-style psych and Sonic Youth-gone-krautrock jamz is only becoming more realized. A fine set.

Deerhoof: What can I say? A spazz delight. I secretly think that everyone loves this kind of stuff, they're just not exposed to it much. A truly joyous sound.

Fiery Furnaces sounded like Yes fronted by Patti Smith. Not as wretched as one might imagine.