Smoke - Benjamin Smoke. Subject of documentary. Very Tom Waitsian music from Transvestite from Georgia.
Oh! He is also the subject of Kelly Hogan's great "Sugarbowl," on her recent Because It Feel Good -- they were co-workers, and good friends, back in her Jody Grind days. Is the CD good? Because I love the song -- it's one of the few in which Kelly really lets it rip vocally on the record, and it's quite moving as well.
Hey there, sugarbowl
My little Miss Solid Gold
You were always a lady just like a lady should be
I know times were bad
But looking back inside my head
The mountaintops are all that I can see.
I was actually coming here to tell Hayden and anyone else who cares:
Vic Chesnutt re-issues coming June 15th:
The re-release of the first four albums of Athens, GA native, Vic Chesnutt, is serious cause for celebration. New West will re-issue Little, West of Rome, Drunk and Is The Actor Happy? on June 15th. All are bonafide cornerstones of indie music - revered by fans, critics and, especially it seems, by other musicians and writers. Folks like Michael Stipe, Lucinda Williams, Tom Waits, Van Dyke Parks and Jonathan Richman have championed Vic’s music over the years. Rolling Stone said of Vic, “[the songs] resonate with a soulful man-child insight... a gifted, willful storyteller.”
These titles were originally released in the early to mid nineties, and will be available June 15th with gorgeous expanded packages and never-before-heard bonus tracks unearthed from Vic's personal vault.
[link]
New West is also the Old 97s new label, since Elektra bounced them. Their CD is, I believe, due in July.
The reissue thing is kind of interesting, though it's making me feel old seeing My Own Personal Pantheon being reissued with the full 20th anniversary push.
Camper Van Beethoven has all been coming out in reissue as well.
Bela Report:
I cannot avoid the hypenatation thing on this band. It's Goth-power-pop-chamber-pop. Very melodic, lots of cello, mopey subject matter, "hollow" echoey production that I associate with chamber-goth groups, harmonies galore.
So...if Teenage Fanclub had a younger goth brother, and substituted cello for the chiming guitars.
I cannot avoid the hypenatation thing on this band. It's Goth-power-pop-chamber-pop. Very melodic, lots of cello, mopey subject matter, "hollow" echoey production that I associate with chamber-goth groups, harmonies galore.
So in other words, Jilli must own it?
So in other words, Jilli must own it?
Yeah, I think you'd like it a lot. It's not quite as wicked as Rasputina. It's more like gothier Eliott Smith. But they're well aware of their contrasts. The title is
'Til Summer Ends
and their inner picture is staged like goth Beatles.
It's consistently very pretty though.
Oh! He is also the subject of Kelly Hogan's great "Sugarbowl," on her recent Because It Feel Good -- they were co-workers, and good friends, back in her Jody Grind days. Is the CD good? Because I love the song -- it's one of the few in which Kelly really lets it rip vocally on the record, and it's quite moving as well.
Misha, I like it. The one I got (Another Reason To Fast) sounds way more like Nick Cave than Tom Waits. Except, the southern transvestite drug abuser is doing the singing, rather than being a Cave character. Several Jody Grind alum played with Smoke, and also in Benjamin's drag band The Opal Foxx Quartet.
VAST's new album (Nude) is brilliant. That is all.
Vic Chesnutt re-issues coming June 15th
Sweet! Dinosaur Jr is forthcoming with reissues of Bug & You're Living All Over Me, too.
Have you seen this: >[link]
Nope. Or at least I hadn't before you linked to it. Part of me wants to reread GR and V, but a bigger part of me is a) lazy and b) thinks, "Why would I want to reread 1500 pages of dense, arcane, willfully obscure literature that I didn't get much pleasure from when I read it before?" That said, I absolutely love the line (can't find the exact quotation) that goes something like, "When Profane walked to work every morning he would glance at the news kiosk and if the New York Times did not have a two-inch banner headline he knew that everything was okay." I'll keep working on it.
David, no luck at the record show, but I did think of another major Bay Area music figure: David Murray of the World Saxophone Quartet and other projects, for whom one could make a strong case of being the most significant jazzman to emerge in the last thirty years. Just picked up the new WSQ Hendrix tribute Experience, and I wish I could say I liked it more. Maybe it will grow on me. Too much Craig Harris and not enough Hamiet Bluiett for my taste. I like the Oliver Lake arrangements of "If 6 Was 9" and "Little Wing". There is a rhythm section. It's been a while since they recorded with just horns. I've never heard Gil Evans' Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix, but I'd like to hear his interpretation. The Evans/Miles transmutation of "The Wind Cries Mary" into "Mademoiselle Mabry" on Filles de Kilimanjaro is way better than anything on the WSQ disc, and I'd guess better than anything on the Evans album, but that may be an unfair comparison as it's one of Miles' greatest.
