Ar•du•ous per•fec•tion
‘Colouring of Pigeons’
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Volcano! makes music that manipulates the mind and body. I’m not sure what strange practice of hypnosis these men studied, perhaps jazz, but every time I hear “Africa Just Wants to Have Fun” I end up breaking something. Volcano! is based out of Chicago, IL and is made up of Aaron With, Sam Scranton and Mark Cartwright. The group has been around since 2003, so this music is not new by any means. With that written it doesn’t detract from the fact that the music is incredible and I felt compelled to write about it. Having stalked the group’s oddly abundant number of social networking sites it looks like there is new music from this group on the horizon. Stay tuned here.
Josie’s favorite word about music is: stank. I will tell him about a band and he will ask me if it stanky. He is my friend and manager at Caffe Fiore, but our favorite past time is sharing music that we think the other would like. Most recently he couldn’t get enough of The Drums. He had me listen and I felt the same way. They don’t have the stank he is usually looking for, but there something earnest in their music that brought him joy. The Drums were pure magic in anticipation of the upcoming summer.
The Drums are Jonathan Pierce who brought Adam Kessler along from Elkland and added his best friend Jacob Graham plus drummer Connor Hanwick. As the winter drags on the drums are the light at the end of the tunnel. Their music is a vision of a bright and beautiful summer. We will all be wearing shorts at the beach and roller-skating down the boardwalk.
Don’t Be A Jerk
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Down By The Water
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Shabazz Palace’s general approach seems to categorically follow Saul Williams‘ above mandate. The fusions of North African rhythms and percussion, an attraction to space in the vein of Sun Ra, bottoming out synth bass lines and other electro influences all come together with the boardwalk level swagger of rapper Ish (former Seattle constituent of Digable Planets). Capitalizing on the mystery of anonymity created by having no web identity and resources (his web site consists of only broke ass links—but you can pick up his two EPs from the store), the power and draw of his music seems to grow more you listen to it (and is maybe also a reason why a blog post can announce a video three months after it hit the web…). The song to the video—which is a dope homage to the 1977 classic Killer of Sheep (a film which Mos Def also referenced earlier this year with his album cover to “The Ecstatic”)—has Ish rapping like in most of his songs from an omniscient perspective as if he were some sort of prophet or griot of American experience.
Hearing Kim Krans sing reminds me of the first time I put on a Pretenders record. I put down the needle, halfway interested in the greatest hits collection I found in a bargain bin. I was about to leave the room when I heard Chrissie Hynde’s voice and immediately came back in and sat on the bed and played the first song over and over for the next hour. It was one of the moments where I found a record that I didn’t just like- I loved it. That feeling doesn’t happen that often.
When I put on Family Band’s first full length, Miller Path, I was only really half-listening. I was in the kitchen when I heard the drums drifting in, and then the sparse guitars, but my ears perked up instantly when I first heard Krans’ world-weary voice. Once again, love at first listen. And it didn’t stop there. The more I paid attention, the more I was in awe of Jonny Ollsin’s perfect execution of sounds- the guitars are meticulous and have a classical sensibility about them. This record is perhaps one of the strongest arguments I’ve ever heard for buying a pair of high quality headphones- you’ll find yourself on the floor, eyes closed, transported to a dark folk landscape of sound.
It may be hard to believe that Family Band only have one EP to their name (Miller Path will release in March). There’s a dynamic at work here that veteran bands can only dream of. These songs feel like they were composed outside of city noise or cramped professional studios-they seem to be constructed in someplace quiet and beautiful. There’s a reverent nod to silence as much is there is to the unique textures and layers that make up these nine songs. In short- its not the typical full length debut. Expect the eerie beauty and heavy, desolate folk of Family Band to warm up to ears later this year.
Fantasy
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Hatred
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On January 12, 2010, Camp Revival sat down with Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band to chortle with them over their worst show experiences. Above is a video of the band commiserating over a brutal show that they played in December 2008 at The Independent in San Francisco, CA.
ALSO, I was privileged enough to hear a couple songs off of their upcoming album. Blew. My. Mind.
On November 21, 2009 Camp Revival filmed Ryan Barrett from The Pica Beats in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood. It was a dark night; outside, a monsoon of biblical proportions pelted down on the small fruit stand that we huddled in to evade the weather. Drinking cheap, burnt coffee we started to set up our equipment amidst the seasonal produce and dairy fridges. After a couple of sips, Barrett got familiar with the produce that surrounded him and started strumming the chords to “Whisper Wine,” a new song that The Pica Beats are currently working on.
Above is the exclusive version that Barrett performed for Camp Revival.
