Exuma - I (1970)

My friends have been making some pretty great mixes about the changing of the seasons. But you know what? Fuck that romanticized bullshit I'm fucking cold. As soon as the temperature drops below seventy degrees, my hands fucking hurt all of the time because I have skinny-ass ET fingers. As such, here's some of that Bahamas doo-wah-nanny rainy summertime voodoo music.

The Exuma mystique is certainly interesting, but an over-reliance on narrative in music reviews is annoying to me so internet search that shit if you're curious. Let's talk about songs:

What we have here are a collection of blues/folk songs based around Exuma's throat-shredding vocals and consistently strumming acoustic guitar. Layers of percussion and sound effects and back-up choirs keep this far from a minimalist affair, despite the stripped-down nature of the song-writing. I just posted a record with bird sounds that was "quirky," but this record with bird sounds is "otherworldly." Choruses take on a hypnotic, chanting feel as layers converge onto a theme and Exuma's raving ad-libs soar over the din. Percussive layering, as on the beginning of "Junkanoo," as well as a healthy voodoo presence identifies this music as hailing from the Caribbean rhythmic melting pot. But really, no matter how much I soak in the humidity of "The Obeah Man" I'm still freezing.

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Guest Mix Vol. 2: Stephen C. Kane

Steve Kane is one of the funniest people that I know, and also the biggest Cold Cave fan I know. I'm pretty excited to be posting his mix here, as Steve has a lot of specialized musical knowledge that is very different than mine, and I enjoy new things. Steve has cornered the market on internet endeavors with the name Harsh Distractions, with his internet radio show on Tuesdays from 7-9pm CST at www.fearlessradio.com and his music blog Harsh Distractions. Did you click all of those links? Let's go, Steve:

Somewhere between the brutally humid summers and the arctic winters is a brief flirtation with a temperate climate where, for about two weeks of the entire year, the weather in Chicago is absolutely perfect. Without reiterating too much of what Andy said, autumn is my favorite time of year. It's easy to get nostalgic about fall because I associate so many things I love with this time of year. Namely, the music that reminds me of cooler evenings, new semesters, drinking hot coffee on rainy afternoons, sweaters, and pumpkin flavored everything. This isn't a mix of my favorite fall weather songs of all time, but rather a mix of old favorites and new songs that fit into the mood of the season. Hopefully you agree.

Tracklist:

1. Cold Cave - Love Comes Close
2. Seam - Get Higher
3. Desolation Wilderness - Boardwalk Theme
4. King Khan & The Shrines - Welfare Bread
5. Calypso - Casually Sad Mercedes
6. Wild Nothing - Summer Holiday
7. The Chamber Strings - Everyday Is Christmas
8. Hum - Why I Like The Robins
9. Grouper - Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping
10. Black Tambourine - Black Car
11. The Love Language - Sparxxx
12. Gliss - Morning Light
13. Alcian Blue - See You Shine
14. The Clientele - (I Want You) More Than Eve
15. The House Of Love - Sulphur
16. (Smog) - I Was a Stranger
17. Vampire Weekend - Campus
18. The Radio Dept. - Always A Relief

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Brigitte Fontaine - Brigitte Fontaine Est... (1970)

My posts have been testosterone heavy recently, which makes sense as I am a guy who loves working out. However, in the interest of fulfilling quotas, here is a Brigitte Fontaine record.

Many of the other internet reviews that I've found of this album focus on the "quirkiness" of the sounds texturing these songs (Bird calls! Glockenspiels!). And hey, in a way opposite of dumb Pitchfork bands, these extra things are actually pretty cool. However, the actually interesting part is, no surprise, the songs themselves. . Le Beau Cancer is a wonderful pop song, with an instrumental hook that my subconscious is almost always humming. The way that the phrases of Une Fois Mais Pas Deux leave tension in the vocal line then resolve with a rest and a chord change is a blessing to my earthly existence. And hey, it's got something in common with one of my favorite France Gall songs, too!

There are certainly parallels to be drawn between Tropicalia and this brand of French pop. Something about expertly crafted pop songs with plenty of space behind the vocal melody for an abundance of idiosyncrasies, that, while prevalent, are not distracting from the elegance of the song. You know, all of these flavors and hooks and implied key modulations actually create some sort of world for me. Maybe it makes me feel like I am into steampunk and goggles on my head and full-length jackets and shit like that? Maybe. Come fly away with me and Brigitte F, and Brigitte B in our airship. Brigitte Bardot: the original Steam Punk.

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Tha Alkaholiks - 21 & Over (1993)

Tha Alkaholiks, despite being a hip-hop group from the West Coast in the early 90s, have a lot more in common with EPMD & A Tribe Called Quest than the whiny, whiny, whiny, whiny synth tones of G-Funk. I've really been on the straight and narrow for several months, so I don't even know what these guys are talking about with all their "drinking lingo." That is ok though, because I think that we both like partying. I mean, I don't actually like partying or meeting people or anything like that, even though I occasionally like to try to convince myself that I do. What are you guys doing tonight I don't have work tomorrow.

Tha Lik's debut also accomplishes something appallingly uncommon in rap music: this record is concise and consistent. There aren't five hundred annoying skits. There aren't filler tracks. Ten bangers for your mouth. Who'd like a banger in the mouth?

So, there's more to my EPMD comparison than the Tyrone Thomas sample used for both "It's my Thing" and "Only When I'm Drunk." J-Ro and Tash (and sometimes E-Swift) trade bars in their verses much like Erick and Parrish were doing a few years before. And both groups rely on lazy flows, their laid-back delivery almost masking the extreme cleverness of their rhymes. Although, the patterns on 21 & Over remind me a lot of Phife Dawg...

OH YEAH! I bought this CD on tour and I was putting it out on the merch table as a "conversation piece" along with The Righteous Brothers and Moondog and whatever else I had accumulated. In Cleveland, this guy who was of course very drunk really wanted to buy it, and became incensed upon being informed that it was not for sale. His offers for the CD increased linearly with his drunkeness, and he got to the point of offering me $30. I told him that if he would give me $40 for the CD, I would give it to him. Not because I felt like I needed $40 for a Liks CD that I paid $6.99 for. Rather, a man willing to pay $40 for a used Liks CD really really likes the Liks, and would enjoy the CD much more than me. Unfortunately, he didn't like music that much. However, he did fall over several times in the moshing pit.

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Guest Mix Vol. 1: Andy Nelson

I have a lot of friends involved in a lot of cool stuff with a lot of good opinions on music. As such, the new thing is that my friends will be doing guest mixes for my blog and everyone will thoroughly enjoy this new concept. For Volume One, I present the opinions of my multi-talented (music, jokes, drawings, etc.) roomie Mr. A. Nelson, who plays music in Like Rats & Weekend Nachos and records music at Bricktop Recording (for a very reasonable rate, I might add). So, take in Andy's mix and also visit the internet homepages related to his activities. Also, become excited about this new fun feature and look forward to it every few weeks. Here's ol' Nelly takin it over in his own words:

There are certain pressures I feel when commissioned to make a mix. These pressures are intensified when the mix is for a blog written by a dear friend whose taste in music I very much respect. An irritating self-consciousness sets in when I try to decide on what angle to come at in my song selection. I listen to plenty of music and I feel like my tastes are pretty diverse, but do I want this mix to be some sort of cross-section of my harddrive? Am I trying to impress Todd's loyal readers with a stunning blend of genres, obscurity and controversial mainstream gems? I could do that, but I already applied to the fuckyoucrew several years ago (and was denied). At this point, trying to give less and less of a fuck is a very real goal for me, so whatever, I'm making a mix that I'd enjoy listening to.

It's fucking chilly in the apartment and leaves are turning orange and yellow outside, so my scope has been narrowed to a fall theme. None of these songs have overt fall references (at least I don't think so), but every one of them has some aesthetic quality that I find particularly appropriate to listen to around this season. I guess a few of these songs might make me look like a bit of a sad bastard, but that comes with the territory when you pick and choose tracks in this context. This is my favorite time of year and there's a certain kind of dull melancholy that sort of feels right when things look the way they do outside. It's like nature's last, epic stand before another crushing Chicago winter sets in.

So pop this shit in on a long drive out to the pumpkin patch. Drink some cider and plan your Halloween costume. Wear a nice sweater and get some outdoors-time in before it's too fucking cold to do anything.

Tracklist:

01 Chapterhouse - Breather
02 Danzig - Her Black Wings
03 The Chameleons - Monkeyland
04 Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
05 Mayhem - Life Eternal
06 Cocteau Twins - Evangeline
07 Brainiac - Nothing Ever Changes
08 The Cure - The Figurehead
09 Death In June - The Calling
10 Slowdive - When the Sun Hits
11 Hot Chip - And I Was A Boy From School
12 Burzum - Spell of Destruction
13 Bailter Space - Begin
14 The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
15 Iron Maiden - Hallowed Be Thy Name

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Eric Dolphy - Fire Waltz (1961)

Eric Dolphy is one of my favorite jazz players, as he fluidly balanced the atonal avant-garde jazz of the 60s with the flying chordal improvisation of bop. He follows chords in fleeting flurries of notes that are sometimes quick, dissonant trills and other times smooth melodic arcs. This is one of the more delightful games of expectation vs. reality, as Dolphy clearly always knows exactly what he's doing. Where is his melody going next? There is a nice overall logic to how far out there and how regularly he travels before returning to his harmonic base.

On "Bee Waltz," which has a nice two part chord progression, Dolphy brings out the bass clarinet, and opens with a variety of bubbling dissonances before settling into a rapidfire melodic arc following the quick ii-V chord changes. Observing his choice of melody or dissonance over the two parts of the harmonic structure of the tune is fascinating. He tends to favor melody over the ii-V part for most of his solo, and settles between "free" wailing and modal gymnastics for the first part of the progression. Really really really stimulating, which is good for me since I crave stimulation.

Also, funny that this is called "Fire Waltz" as Dolphy's playing is, to me, quite airy, blue and wet. Sort of an elemental opposite, I guess (terrible, terrible cards btw). Uh, who wants to play Magic I still have some decks.

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Kraftwerk - Computer World (1981)

Back from tour my droogs! Lots of good shows, as music fans around the American East apparently love Weekend Nachos. Also, Brian has a fetish.

Anyway, I was listening to Kraftwerk in the van and Drew was like "Are you listening to the soundtrack for a children's learning video?" This was funny, but also Drew is a fool for not immediately recognizing Kraftwerk.

Kraftwerk is the perfect soundtrack for a detached, emotionless INTJ like myself, right? I live in a computer world, and it certainly is more fun to compute. Social interactions are a stream of data to me, and I read people like Excel tables. I am the next level in human evolution, as the emotions of the plebs were selected for by the statistical climate of the Pleistocene. This type of impulsive thinking is irrelevant and misleading in today's information-rich, black swan dominated megaculture. Good thing I am the operator with my pocket calculator.

There is a lot of space in these songs, which is wonderful for me, as an avowed fan of minimalism. Compositions are very melody-driven, albeit in a slightly quirky way. Each track has a clear theme, that, after being introduced, appears in a myriad of forms throughout. Variations on the melody as well as supplemental samples and counterpoints provide the impetus for forward motion, and the path is laid out by austere, reverb-laden percussion.

I'll use "Pocket Calculator" as my example, as the opening blips are some of the catchiest things ever laid to tape. Pay attention to the bass counterpoint to that melody, which keeps going through the verse after the melody cuts out and a vocal part fills the space. These tradeoffs continue until the string of variations at 2:38, which are eventually tied together by the reintroduction of the theme and the verse vocals. Relate these compositional styles to a Prince groove, or to a quickly morphing riff in a metal song.

Also notice how the opening segment of "Numbers" is just as bonkers as any of the techno, house, or hip-hop that would later rip Kraftwerk off. Swizz Beatz is a pussy, Ralf & Florian are hard.

*link removed*

Also: Once again, some of my writings on music have appeared in the newest issue of Jettison Quarterly (really cool web magazine). Enjoy the articles on Thax Douglas & city gardening in Chicago as well.

João Gilberto - João Gilberto (1961)

I've been in kind of a "chord progression" mood recently, which means lots of Bossa Nova has been clogging up my ear canals. I've been learning quite a bit about extended chords and, as such, I've been working on creating chord melodies through voice leading. However, putting theory into practice is a different story altogether. As much as I kind of understand all of this wonderful crazy beautiful bullshit, I'm still terrible at it.

It's good for me to listen to real dudes like João Gilberto and think "someday I suppose" about my own musical abilities. It's also good for me to try to focus my raging jealousy of João's brain wrinkles into concerted efforts to add more wrinkles to my own brain. But really, the snug green tones of this record warm even my cold soul, and I click for it every time I need a thaw.

"A Primeira Vez" tickles the minimalist you all know that I am. With just a guitar and voice, it is very easy to hear the chord melodies that I'm talking about. Notice the way that the guitar playfully dances around under the somewhat somber, drawn out melody. This juxtaposition of subtle sadness with ostensibly bouncy and happy chording short circuits my analytical nature with tepid saltwater and a I float away in a logic deprivation tank.

*link removed*

I will be on tour with Weekend Nachos for the next two weeks, so no updates until I come back. If you live east of Chicago, check the dates and enjoy a punishing audiovisual experience. Also I'm looking to win new friends and influence them, so e-mail me todd.nief at gmail.com if you're coming to any of the gigs and you want to talk about records most civilians don't care about.

Camp Lo - Uptown Saturday Night (1997)

I've been listening to "Pot Casts" of my brother Stephen C. Kane's radio show recently, which has been a really good experience for me. Motherfucker had a 90's hip-hop "Cast," which is as directly up my alley as one can really be. So come into this alley with me. I'm not lonely, but I do want some company.

On said "Cast," Joel played Camp Lo's Luchini and it really got me thinking. As a youth into rap music, I really only liked the super dark, raw production of RZA, Mobb Deep, Boot Camp Clik, etc. I was familiar with Camp Lo, but, like a true countercultural teen, I found them boring & mainstream. However, since I'm now a much more eclectic consumer of music, I was surprised by how much I really really liked that dang Camp Lo song.

This is a different type of post for me, since I'm posting about something that is relatively new to me. I haven't listened to this record dozens/scores/baker's dozens of times. In fact, I'm listening to it for the second time as I type this, and I'll probably have played it a total of three times when this post "goes live." As such, I can't really isolate my favorite moments of the record and dissect what's happening because, man, I don't even know what my favorite parts of the record are! This shit is new to me, dogg! I will say that the production is phenomenal, and at least a few lines made me smile. Listen to this BIG BANGER, love it, download the record, live my life for me.

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Goran Bregović - Underground OST (1995)

Here is the soundtrack to one of my favorite movies. Periodically, I try to get into "film" or whatever, and I watch a lot of movies from my Netflix queue. Invariably, I find myself quickly losing patience with each movie I watch, and, as such, losing patience with "film" as a whole. It turns out that I am not well-wired for sitting passively taking in information. Anyway, Underground is one of the few movies that really struck a chord with me, in that I didn't at all feel like "why the fuck am I watching this I should really be doing something else." Not only that, but it nailed my skewed worldview, in which I find things that are not funny to anyone else beyond hilarious. Social tics and absurdist humor abound; if you ever want to know what kind of bizarro filter through which I view my interactions with other humans, Underground is a great place to start looking.

I feel associations with my memories of the film when I listen to this, which is how I think many people process music: in relation to significant memories in their lives. Usually, music is a very abstract "music for music's" sake with me, but, in this case, something is different, and the music is unequivocally tied to plotlines and scenes and characters. I am becoming a real boy after all.

I don't know a goddamn thing about Balkan brass music, but this shit is completely chaotic and awesome. A real sensory overload of nonsensical social dynamics, plotting, and deception. You're really gonna want to give this a try.

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Like Rats - Like Rats (2009)

So, I have this platform on the internet where people are interested in my opinion on music. As such, I've got to take this opportunity to tell you to listen to my own recordings. Besides, I wouldn't post it if I didn't think you'd like it. Half-hearted apologies to all of my friends on Twitter/F-book who've already been informed of this a few times. You'll be fine.

This is basically an example of me writing music that I want to hear, and what I want to hear is chromatic riffs at mid-paced tempos, but sometimes fast and sometimes slow. I love Tom G Warrior's signature riff composition style, and I tried to write riffs that evoke similar feelings without actually copying his techniques. There are a few self-imposed stylistic restrictions in order to keep the overall aesthetic within certain boundaries: no palm-muting, no double bass drum. Special attention was paid to the way that two primitive riffs compliment each other and create a relationship that makes each one significantly more interesting than if it were to exist on its own.

With love from me to you:

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While I'm talking about heavy Chicago bands, I also have to mention The Muzzler (Voivod, Morbid Angel, etc.) and Hate (newer Converge, except higher, more metal, and more pissed), both of whom recently put out new releases. The thing about these bands is that I would like them and listen to them even if I didn't even know them as people.

Z-Ro - Look What You Did to Me (1998)

If you couldn't tell from the title, this record is fucking hostile. Dedicated Primitive Future readers will already have good feelings towards Z-Ro from my Guerilla Maab post, or maybe you're already into the Screwed Up Click and depressed, angry rappers. (Please download that Guerilla Maab album if you didn't the first time. It is important. Thank you.) So yeah, throw in my UGK post, and you've got a few of the finest cuts and slices that Texas has to offer. And you're already listening to the Geto Boys and Scarface, right? Right?

Just so you understand what kind of cool guys we're talking about here, check out this insane story about the lifestyle of the DJ Screw and affiliates from one of the best blogs on the internet, Twankle and Glisten: "Once we get to the ground the doors open and we were all asleep in the elevator standing up."

Z-Ro raps really, really fast about one of my favorite emotions: melancholy. Death is embraced as a starting point for existence, with a nod to Biggie: I'm ready to kill, and I'm ready to die. Even as a suburban white growing up in safety and affluence, this concept was crucial to my maturation. Human notions of purpose have no relevance outside of our own minds, but the impetus to act still exists and must be embraced with the same fervor with which we fear our own impending demise. Todd Niefzsche.

Nobody loves me, but I prefer to keep it like that:

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Merauder - Master Killer (1996)

My friend Friel has never heard Merauder, so I made a promise to send Master Killer to him. Then, I figured I'd just send it to the rest of the internet as well.

This is death metal recontextualized as syncopated rock music. Nu-metal showed the world how guys with braids can do this in the worst possible way; Merauder showed the world how guys with braids can do this in a way that I like so much.

Merauder understands that the best way to make their listeners frown uncontrollably is to play at a steady, mid-paced tempo. There is some sort of evolutionary short circuit about heavy guitars with a backbeat at ~150 bpm that causes a severe frown reflex. Major thirds are prevalent, texturing riffs with a distinct flavor: Merauder's most recognizable moment, the big mosher at 1:57 in "Master Killer," makes use of this sound.*

You know, it's interesting that I like this record as much as I do, as the evolution of death metal and hardcore into stoogish w's downtuning their guitars and putting the kick drum on the "and" bums me the fuck out. However, sometimes it's just done really, really well. I am an adult, and this record regularly makes me see red and mosh in my bedroom.

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*Please watch this whole video. Thank you have a nice day.

Christodoulos Halaris - Tropikos Tis Parthenou (1973)

This guy attempts to recreate the music of Ancient Greece, which is extremely interesting. However, the internet search boxes of my life don't really turn up with too much when I try to find out more. I thought we were past these days of not being able to find everything instantaneously with a little bit of basic search engine know-how - information wants to be syndicated.

I did find that people are listing this record as psych-folk on Bay, and also expecting to get several hundred dollars for it. Whoa! I guess the third track has some cacophonous violins that could call up images of Warholian bananas for all the weird-beards spending their paychecks on every fuzzed out guitar solo ever put to wax. The really important part of this record is the impossibly catchy verse of the first song, which exists over a minimally strumming guitar. The chorus of the first song is also really rad, as microtones are used as embellishment on the line. I'd write more, but I'm going camping in order to get in touch with my own primitive roots. See ya never!

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