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"I want my music to be beautiful and unsettling at the same time--something that stops the listener and reminds them of something really true in their own lives. The best songs I've ever heard--by people like Fiona Apple, Jeff Buckley, and Elliott Smith--let me know I was not alone. But don't get me wrong--I hate all that emo shit. It's more about just getting it out than wallowing in self-pity. Belting House of the Rising Sun in my living room at one in the morning when my roommate's not home can be very cathartic. So the goal is getting to do stuff like that better, more often, and for more people. At least my neighbors haven't complained yet."
Buffy Sainte-Marie is the Canadian singer-songwriter par-excellence. Her monumental oeuvre spans almost twenty albums, and she has won many accolades including an Academy Award for the song “Up Where We Belong.” Sainte-Marie seemed to materialize out of the plains of Saskatchewan with her natural musical talent fully formed. “To ask me about songwriting is like asking a patient to talk about a disease he was born with,” she modestly asserted. By the age of seventeen, she was already writing songs and playing the mouthbow. Legend has it that she could tune her guitar in thirty-two ways. Gaining international fame for her “songs of love and conscience,” her singing career did not bear out the early predictions by Rolling Stone Magazine that judged her as “a soprano with heavy vibrato, perhaps too eccentric to gain her mass popular acceptance.” Her tremendous vocal range runs the gamut from Baez to Joplin to Mitchell and back again, yet is always unique and deeply moving.
Sainte-Marie has ventured into rock, country, and electronica, but these projects never garnered as much success as her folk singing. Despite her willingness to embrace the new technologies afforded by digital recording, she has always had to struggle against being pigeonholed into the “Pocahontas-with-a-guitar” stereotype. Nevertheless, her political and artistic influence was so strong and threatening that President Johnson himself supported a blacklist campaign in the late 1960s to suppress her music. Forty years later, her music is still relevant: her songs have been sampled by Kayne West and she is debuting an album of original material this month.
Did you know there was once a flourishing post-punk music scene on Queen Street West in Toronto? Yes, I laughed too, but the fact is that many important acts had their roots there, including the Cowboy Junkies and Blue Rodeo. It also produced the undisputed darlings of the Canadian new wave scene. Though you might not recognize them by name, Martha and the Muffins are famous for their understated yet incredibly catchy tune called “Echo Beach” which cracked the top ten in Canada and the UK and is difficult to get out of your head once you’ve heard it. It is a simple song and charming in its banality, dealing with a subject which practically everyone listening to the radio can relate to: some office drone who hates their job is dreaming about getting away for the weekend to relax at Echo Beach, which is a roundabout reference to Lake Ontario of course. Let me tell you, in real life nobody ever swims there. It’s full of radiation and plastic bags and three eyed fish. But it’s still a great song.
One-hit wonders they’re not: they produced eight albums in twelve years and were influential in the way pop music developed over the course of the 80s decade. They’re often referenced as the Canadian version of Blondie, but I must admit that I like them better. Though their sound is full of tinkling synthesizers and strange saxophones, they are somehow unburdened by the pretension and posturing of other post-punk bands playing in the same style at the time. Their vocals are stripped down, direct, and unassuming. I could listen to them for hours on end without getting tired or worn down by them. The music is very danceable, but in a calm and chilled-out sort of way. And I don’t think there’s any other band cool enough to write a song about the greatest snack food combination of Canadian cuisine. Interestingly, there’s a British soap opera called Echo Beach which debuted this year. I guess that’s another sign that the 80s will never die.
This week on TVD, we’re featuring the theme “It Came From the North,” a look at my favorite acts from your Canuck friends north of the border. These artists achieved enough fame to transcend their humble origins in the land of maple syrup and polar bears, while allowing their national identity to shine through in their music. Can we get a salute for the maple leaf?
While there have been Canadian rock bands making a name for themselves in the USA before, The Guess Who were the first to reach superstardom without having to trade in their passports to achieve it. As legendary giants of Canadian pop music, they were the first Canadian band to chart a Number 1 hit in the States, and the first musicians to be inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame. This notoriety offered them the perfect forum to promulgate their version of Canadian values to the world via their smash hit, “American Woman,” which delighted Canadian nationalists and scandalized American critics. Lester Bangs wrote, “Wouldn’t you be offended by this Canuck creep coming down here and taking all our money while running down our women? Sure you would!”
If that wasn’t bad enough, buried somewhere in the middle of the song are pacifist lyrics which fit right into the politically charged climate of the Vietnam War. Not only was The Guess Who dissing American chicks, but now they were mocking Lady Liberty herself! The degree of offense was such that when The Guess Who was invited to play at the White House for the President and Prince Charles, Pat Nixon made a special request for “American Woman” to be omitted from their set list. This infamous song went a long way towards establishing Canada’s reputation as a haven for draft-dodgers and hippies, but that didn’t stop their records from flying off the shelves. Musically, they represent a nice transition from the pop-soul of the 60s to the burgeoning hard rock of the 70s. The Guess Who remain staples of Canadian oldies radio and I’ve spent many a pleasant road trip zipping down the highway, enjoying the fall colors with their tunes blaring out of my windows. Try it yourself while the weather's still decent!
Yep, we're locking up and turning off the lights a little bit early this week. TVD heads to New Orleans today to scout out the Bayou's vinyl stores and go toe-to-toe with the crocs. (And I don't mean the shoes this time - real gators. In the swamps! No joke!) In the meantime, a petit playlist for you to two-step to in my absence. A soundtrack for hangovers indeed...
Her socially conscious lyrics, DIY approach and memorable moniker have set her apart in NYC's indie rock scene just as much as her origins; she is a first generation American (Half Nigerian, half Sierra Leonean, born and raised in Brooklyn). Hers is a different perspective too long ignored in rock music and through her songwriting she has become a relatable voice to more and more previously faceless and voiceless fans of underground rock.
Refusing to accept being overrun by the trendy-yet-empty, caricature of itself hipster invasion taking over most independent rock these days, she is spreading her message of equality, iconoclasm and gender and racial empowerment through soaring guitars, thoughtful lyrics and danceable rhythms. Be there on the 10th when she brings it on down to Dahlak (for free!)."
Brooklyn based songwriters Emily Easterly and J Seger teamed up to release the first in a series of 45rpm split singles with “Please, Please Say Goodnight”/ “City Love Is Strange.” The sleeves are screen-printed by Easterly and Seger themselves, cover design by Nathanael Roney.
“ ‘You say you will and you will one day.’ In some respect, just being on vinyl satisfies these opening lyrics (for us). It’s something that recording artists aspire to in some respect and we just decided we’d outlet our collaborative efforts by recording split 7 inches. “Please, Please Say Goodnight” is a song Emily has written post Heart Comma Heart, her most recent full length. It’s a fully produced number, and recalls her Beatle influence, evidenced by the keyboard-y guitar lines in the chorus and the half-time reprise. There’s also some great bass work on the track, a change given her past guitar/drum set up.” - J
“J Seger’s “City Love is Strange” is just a taste of his upcoming full length, due out this winter. He traded one city for another, moving to Brooklyn and wrote this song as a sort of ode to the city he left behind. It’s got a laid back, swinging vibe that suits his personality. We laid down the vocals live and together and I played a fun ukulele part in there. J’s sound has often been referred to as “timeless” so its fitting that his song will be immortalized on vinyl. For those of you who really appreciate vinyl, can you imagine our excitement the first time we put that piece of wax ingrained with our songs on the player and had a listen for the first time? We haven’t stopped smiling….” – Em
...and TVD's got a copy of that split vinyl single to give away to one lucky commenter!Go here to preview and swoon over both sides of this hand-made gem--then c'mon back and tell us whatcha' thought in the comments section and leave us some contact info! We'll choose a winner next Wednesday, 10/15.
I was a wee bit nervous at the launch of the TVD 'First Date' feature--what if I run out of new bands to highlight? Can I keep the feature consistent each week? Well, happily it turns out that there's no shortage of suitor/songwriters out there for us to 'date' once a week, and as such I've put together a mini theme week for what will ultimately be a short week here at ol' TVD. (Yep, TVD head's to Bayou Country to take in the the charms that be: New Orleans. But some more on that later...)
"Do you really give a shit about my goddamn bio? Well, here it is: I was raised by chimpanzees and cut my teeth on the streets of Philadelphia, belting it out in the subways, living for a dream, laying it all on the line, yeah! Then I moved to New Orleans where I became immersed in Mathematics, had sex with the students I was a TA for and got kicked out due to sloth, pot-smoking and opium consumption, while playing the underground scene like a spring of fresh water up-welling into the madness. The madness! After that I moved to SF and opportunistically crashed in on a friend whose chick had just left him. His chick left and he got me, a slovenly and inconsiderate egomaniacal asshole. Then the voice of God came to me and I wrote the best fucking songs ever.
"Love's lost and they say it's a waste but I'm never gonna throw it away. That's my downfall, in everything and the source of my euphoria with music and everything else. Nowadays I'm doing a show at Cafe du Nord in SF October 21, for Cindy Sheehan's campaign against Nancy "five facelifts" Pelosi for congress in SF. SF people don't know they can actually vote Nancy out for a true progressive. Perhaps they know but Cindy just doesn't fit the frame of a politician. Anyway, Nancy's Bush's best ally in disguise, which is why Sheehan got so pissed that she moved to SF to take Nancy on, perhaps fruitlessly. But I don't give a shit about barking up the wrong tree.
So enough about politics. The less my shows and music are about me, the better. That pretty much sums it all up. We all only want to get a chunk of inspiration and joy and that's why I do music. It's an opportunity for me to be that chunk and for that, it's actually worth being here.
Oh, shit, almost forgot: Thanks for TVD for putting a raving idiot on here. You guys must be real schmucks. Kudos!"
If you're 'fortunate' to get a bit older, the one thing you get used to more than anything is well, losing everything. Often it starts with the hairline, then the waistline, or it's family and then later, friends. The fickle nature of one's love life is the precursor which probably steels you for that later list, I'm thinking ...comings and goings.
Earlier in the week I was talking to my Mom on the phone who's is in the middle to approaching the later stages of Alzheimer's. Her voice is the same but the words have no ground in reality. She's now in a phase where she's seeing her long dead mother and father as regular visitors to her home and even my dad who passed away over two years ago now still apparently drops by. And she doesn't even remember raising me, literally asking me in this last phone conversation who my mother was and just who raised me? Sad and peculiar it is indeed.
This week was also a tough one for those who choose to relinquish their expendable cash in the DC area's book and music stores. Olsson's Books and Records, after 36 years in the area, closed it's locally owned chain of seven stores--a victim of the declining economy, CD sales plummeting, and I'm guessing the proliferation of our download culture. I was heartened to see that about two years ago, Olsson's had reintroduced vinyl onto their shelves, something that I thought might bode well for the future, which I guess will arrive without an Olsson's to while away an hour or so within.
Next weekend, on October 12 to be specific, the 31-year old Orpheus Records who began life in Georgetown and later relocated to Clarendon, Virginia closes its doors for the final time. Many of you might have noticed that big ol' ad over there in the left corner announcing the store's closing (and the slashed prices) getting an update every month as Orpheus was granted a reprieve due to new tenant leasing issues....which seemed to go on...and on.
Frankly, I was happy to update the Orpheus ad with frequency if it meant another month trolling through the bins at Rick's place. That's him up there in the photo...see all those records back there? So many of those records--more than I'd ever imagine--are now housed in the TVD stacks. Oddly, Orpheus' closing and the subsequent major price reductions have literally been a boon to the amount of vinyl I own, and soon much of that stuff will find its way here to the blog, I'm betting.
Hanging out in Orpheus over these past months has been like having these conversations with my mom...the voice is clear with that familiar ring and I feel home here, yet an end is coming. Not just and end for these two particular mainstays, but for an appreciation in general of what these singular stores in any neighborhood MEAN.
Some of my fondest recollections of my dad are the times we spent together in whichever record store on any given weekend--but what DOES the future hold? Will the bloggers over the coming years write, "The fondest recollections of my dad are when he and I were downloading Mp3's from iTunes"...?
If I could, I'd post a mirror at the top of this post and ask us to take a long hard look at ourselves and ask just what the fuck is happening. But in the meantime, allow me to point out that left hand column once more. I ask you to visit and and be damn supportive of those independent record retailers who open and close a brick and mortar store each day.
"So believe it: this is the real thing, no-one's crying wolf, not even Alan McGee. There's not enough hype in the world for Glasvegas. They are an important, amazing, real band that won't let you down. Not because they play real instruments and sing real songs about real people (they'd be just as genuine if they wrote noise collages about interstellar seahorses on MacBooks); they're real because they put their entire hearts and souls and brains into it. And that is rock'n'roll." –NME | "The best Scottish band since Franz Ferdinand sets its sight on America." –nylonmag.com | "If Glasvegas are the most important British breakthrough band of this year, just as MGMT are the most important from America – and the only doubt about that is whether we're talking merely this year, or years – then traditional values of rock'n'roll cool have little to do with it." –The Independent
...The Hotel is the place to be Friday night–and TVD's got a pair of tickets to put you front and center at the 5th stop of their first 6-date tour of the US for the band currently sitting atop the UK album charts. Get our attention in the comments section and we'll choose a winner for the pair Friday at noon.
If you've seen one of the many many many history of punk documentaries or read any number of books on the subject, you've undoubtedly come across the story of when Siouxsie and the Banshees appeared with the Sex Pistols on the 'Today' show with host Bill Grundy. At one point during the interview Grundy begins a horrible attempt at flirting with Siouxsie, to which Steve Jones, guitarist for the Sex Pistols, called Grundy several words not approved for daytime television in the UK. Bill Grundy was fired not too long after the show aired but nobody ever talks about that moment, which ruined Grundy's career and impacted the Sex Pistols' future as well, while looking at it through the lens of a feminist perspective. Often the only time you'll hear about Siouxsie is in the context of the Sex Pistols or Bill Grundy's pathetic pick up attempts.
Every story about that day ends in Steve Jones "standing up" for Siouxsie, so to speak, and Grundy getting canned. Siouxsie was, and still is, a strong woman and an awesome singer. Siouxsie may have gained notoriety as a groupie of the Sex Pistols, but she and the Banshees went on to have a career spanning twenty years, surviving the so-called death of the punk movement. Siouxsie's story is interesting, but so are the stories of other female punkers, like Vi Subversa, an anarcho-punk mother of two with a voice more haunting than Marianne Faithful's and more brash than Johnny Rotten's. Vi's lyrics were so powerful and controversial they resulted in her band, the Poison Girls, being attacked by British political parties. Although female punkers like Siouxsie and Vi inevitably get grouped under a small section in some chapter of most punk historical texts, they deserve as much space in the history books as their male counter parts. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hong Kong Garden (Mp3) X-Ray Spex - Oh Bondage Up Yours! (Mp3) The Slits - Typical Girls (Mp3) The Au Pairs - You (Mp3) Poison Girls - State Control (Mp3)
"We Fought the Big One," the monthly DJ night celebrating the finest in DIY post-punk, left-field pop, and off-kilter independent music, returns this Friday night (10/3) to Marx Cafe. Last week's 'First Date' John Foster (aka Sad Croc) guest DJ's and is certain to spin many a tune close to the heart of any TVD aficionado. So, see ya there, right?
"We Fought the Big One" w/Guest DJ John Foster @ Marx Cafe 3203 Mt. Pleasant St. NW, Washington DC 10pm - 3am NO COVER 21+
I mean, he's got a song called "Nilsson Sings Newman" for chrissakes. Could there be a better fit for a "First Date"?
"Thank you Jon and TVD for sharing my music with your readers.
I am first and foremost a fan of good music - melodies, writing, arrangements, and production that don't belong to any particular era or category other than just plain good music. As a music listener, I believe there was a ton of amazing music recorded in the 1970's. Spending a lifetime trying to discover it all would not be enough. I still buy vinyl because I believe it is the only way to have a completely fulfilling listening experience. However, I am not a purist. I will listen to the iPod on long car rides, and I believe there are modern bands still left to discover with influences in the right places.
I absolutely fell in love with Harry Nilsson about 4 years ago. I still don't have all of his albums because each one I get is like a black hole that turns my world upside down, crumples me up, and spits me out into a completely different view of my surroundings. The intensity of my fascination will probably subside. It did with Van Morrison, The Beatles, The Kinks, Neil Young and so on, but the pure thrill of having another superhero in my music collection is enough to make some question my priorities.
"Nilsson sings Newman" is my favorite album. It has affected me more than any piece of art ever has, and I am not sure that I will have the joy of discovering something as influential to my artistic life ever again. I dare not emulate it, but I did write about it in a song of the same name.
I hope to capture in my own writing some of the same moments that I look for in other musicians' work. I aim to have sincerity, and I hope that it finds you. Thanks much for listening. Best, Drew"
Via Wiki: "Post-punk was a popular musical movement in the mid to late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the early 1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental. Post-punk laid the groundwork for alternative rock by broadening the range of punk and underground music, incorporating elements of Krautrock (particularly the use of synthesizers and extensive repetition), Jamaican dub music (specifically in bass guitar), American funk, studio experimentation, and even punk's traditional polar opposite, disco, into the genre.
It found a firm place in the 1980s indie scene, and led to the development of genres such as gothic rock, industrial music and alternative rock. Post-punk's biggest influence remains in the vast variety of sounds and styles it pioneered, many of which proved very influential in the later alternative rock scene."
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that among these handful of songs, a bridge was built from 'punk' to 'post punk'. Not these songs specifically and/or in this particular order, but there's a maturation process here that begins say, with Gen X and traverses that bridge via Wire and The Cure, and gets us to Gang of Four with a late night butt wiggle via Ian Dury. (Am I over-caffeinated this morning?)
Each morning I wake at 6:30am, check some headlines, and then mull over the blog posts for the day. I was struck by the notion this morning while the coffee was sputtering and brewing that, y'know - the thing about the Sex Pistols for me, and this era of punk in general is that it was truly the last time I can think of when people were "shocked and/or offended" by the antics of a bunch of snot-nose kids. Those days are over, really--the river's run dry.
Then I sat down to put some hazy thoughts together and shocked myself--"Holy...this'll be the 500th post...!" And all of this from one lazy morning as the coffee sputtered and brewed.
Need a feast for the senses? Well, TVD's got two of them covered for ya. Tomorrow night at Dahlak, check out Sarah Claxton's moody and evocative photography at the opening of her one-woman exhibition, and none other than DJ Neville C. will be spinning mod, soul and garage--and there might be a Brazilian tune or two in there as well, he tells us. See ya there, right?
It's like a choice between cake or candy for me--either way you win. But when pressed to favor one continent's take on a burgeoning punk movement, I've got to go with the UK's tendency to absorb influences and regurgitate them in wholly interesting and different guises.
Now, I think it was said by good pal Shamus and blogger extraordinaire Mick over at Raiding the Vinyl Archive (as we were trolling through the US punk records last week) that both preferred the US take on the genre which evolved into artier prospects rather than dull "pub rock" as Shamus referred to it. And both do have a point. But if I'm to be a stickler for the defining aspects of the genre, the dirtier and grittier attack of the UK bands is where I find the appeal.
Television...Blondie...The Ramones...all fantastic, yet with an aspiration to reach higher highs--be they artistic or chart success--that the UK acts just didn't strive for. It was the sound of the streets--and the city--that brought a legitimacy to the movement. It was real, in a way that the Talking Heads never were and where contrivance wasn't to be confused with flamboyance ala The Dolls. 'Twas all grit and spit and safety pins.
"...I've never thought that being a teenager is-no offense-is the absolute coolest thing you can be. I was pretty unhappy when I was a teenager, and I wouldn't want to go back to it. And these people who say, "Teenage rock 'n' roll," as if that's all that it's about, celebrating your adolescence. There are other things to rock 'n' roll and to life. And I think really rock 'n' roll is better when it reaches out to those things. One reason I like the Velvet Underground so much is that it's really adult music." -Bangs
"I want my music to be beautiful and unsettling at the same time--something that stops the listener and reminds them of something really true in their own lives. The best songs I've ever heard--by people like Fiona Apple, Jeff Buckley, and Elliott Smith--let me know I was not alone. But don't get me wrong--I hate all that emo shit. It's more about just getting it out than wallowing in self-pity. Belting House of the Rising Sun in my living room at one in the morning when my roommate's not home can be very cathartic. So the goal is getting to do stuff like that better, more often, and for more people. At least my neighbors haven't complained yet." 
