All posts by G. Gordon Gritty

Boston Counter Cultural Compass, Local Music, Music, New England Underground Music Fest

Fond Experiences @ NEU MF ’14 (Friday, September 5, 2014)

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This past weekend, starting September 4th at Club Bohemia and ending on the 6th at Cuisine En Locale, New England Underground Music Festival 2014 took place with dozens of live performances and tables (with records, tapes, and other physically pleasing artifacts) and the focus was NEW ENGLAND. Yep, lots of interesting happenings regularly evolve the participatory culture in this community – and if you don’t know what that means check out the September issue of the Boston Compass for a worthy explanation written by Sam Potrykus. Speaking of which, Sam and Dan Shea, who has long been a foremost advocate of Boston underground arts, deserve some major props for setting up NEUMF 2014 in conjunction with their nonprofit/volunteer organization, the Boston Hassle.

An event like NEUMF is sundry for us KLYAMers; you can usually find us round town at underground R’n’R events of the garage/punk variety so something like NEUMF is a brilliant step away from business as usual into the… unknown. Right on.

As we walk some paces down Highland Ave in an effort to locate Cuisine En Locale (ya gram that place you used to go for baby showers) we finally arrive, greeted by familiar company: members of Nice Guys, Phaze, The Lentils. Most always a fine salute. Then I see Gracie Jackson, the 7:20 PM performa. Aw shit she just finished playing her set! Course I tell her my disenchantment of barely missing her perform with her solo group.  Must have been nice for those who got the privilege.

Walk into the main area, already up and jamming on stage are Soft Eyes. Not like I actually could tell, I mean I did get my eyes checked. Should be wearing those glasses. I step a little closer and recognize hey that’s Luke on guitar. He and crew are serving up some wailing psychedelia, spiraling guitar work with that oh so distinct organ sound. I get more and more into it as the set flows through. The last song is a faster mover in the bunch, bringing me happiness Ty Segall & White Fence style. Luke tells us they got a buncha shows coming, I’m listening!

Next up is Worn Leather who call Connecticut their home. Their three piece punchy punk I hoped would stir up the crowd a bit more, but I enjoyed boppin my head to them, most especially during the guitarist/singer’s axe solos. There are some nice possibilities with solid bass and drum behind ya and he seemed to know that!

Back to that stage that Soft Eyes was on is Lair. I remember Lair markedly well, in fact I could say they were the most memorable group that I saw at NEUMF. A duo – guitar and drums – but that’s simplifying the story. Third member was this looping station thing [i don’t play music I appreciate it it’s probably not called a looping station]. Drummer with headset, guitarist fond of intermittently screaming and talking. Lightning Bolt vibes sometimes, ‘weirder’ but more melodic Guerrilla Toss vibes, and more straight ahead doom and thunder. Lair’s presence did it for me more than the music itself, which I mean ya dawg this is all pretty new to me and maybe hundreds of others. We’ll see!

Next band I peered deep into was Video Nasties. As they’re playing, I’m thinking damn what I am going to say about these guys. I love ’em. Never saw ’em before, never heard of them, but wow I don’t even think I can articulate what I’m hearing! That kinda thing. There was a unique energy to their set – maybe it was the dude who was pacing back and forth dancing. Not just a dude but a singer in the band. I hardly noticed the off-stage microphone until he started speaking into it! Hahaha. No drummer necessary…they got machines for that. Also a dude on synths (who sang, too, I believe) and a tall man guitarist/singer. Their stage presence, clang, and strut like DEVO, maybe a super chilled out Lost Sounds. I was into everything they did. Count me most impressed, keep rockin dudes.

At one time KLYAM delved briefly into the world of Electronic Music courtesy of our Queen’s brother Richard Franke. I am not a rock ‘n roll purist or anti-electronic music… I just happen to really love and prefer raw, fun, exciting, live instrument aided rock ‘n roll music. But I can get down with dance music, finding some sounds pleasing, riveting even, when I hear them. That’s exactly the case with JEROME. I totally dug his mix which I guess some could simply call ‘techno’ but I’ll stick with the term beats. A whole bunch of us were dancing, maybe it looked funny from a far. I dunno, don’t care. Fun times.

The Lentils here we come. Lentil Luke was feeling in a more relaxing mood – he said it himself. And with the aid of Gracie Jackson (guitar) and Ben Katzman (drums) alongside his trusty mate Nehemiah (bass), why not everyone take a seat and bear witness to the mouthy, crisp Velvet autumn reflections of Mister Luke. The way he writes songs, they kinda float along wistfully, and the crew follows along, sprinkling some leads, adding some OoOmph. If Vermont was the United Kingdom, it’s all good! The past couple of inclinations of the band that I saw were harder rockin (they took a seat here too) so a gent like me mighta been surmising something like that but this was a neat surprise and cool to see some familiar faces take part in it.

(New England) Patriots there’s no mistaking them. Leaders of the night pack – they play this late for a reason. Crowd flips a lid like no other band performing this night, moshing, crowd surfing. They’ve seen these guys before. I think. I hadn’t. What? Ya thats crazy. Glad I did. Chaotic, noisy – louder than Bob Kraft’s private jet. They’ve garnered the acclaim of many women and men and in between and I am now involved in their schemes, in the front row, seeing these Pats bounce back and forth. Good exercise doesn’t come without some sweat. Alla Boston’s noise outfits of recent years aren’t just spitting distortion and incoherence, there always be some hooks and candied fun to their game. Pats got that. Special Teams.

Now for the grand finale here. Minibeast featuring Peter Prescott (drummer in Mission of Burma) on guitar/keyboard/effects and a few other musicians on other instruments. Not ya typical rock band – off beam experimentation with some poppier flare now and then. One of those ‘wowza’ live experiences that gets you or me confused in a good kind of way. Throw any and all biases and expectations out the window. Course the night was a little fuzzy at this point!

Mavis The Dog, Music, Solo Doings

Solo Doings: Mavis The Dog

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Mavis The Dog has created his own universe of music. The sort of universe that I’m speaking about can be detected on some real spectacular records of the past few years like Girls of the Gravitron’s Magnetic Mountain and The Electric Bunnies Through The Magical Door and it is one of those ‘I know it when I hear it’ experiences that transports you into a modernly bucolic listening environment. The creative freedom pursued by the masterminds of these records definitely transcends what we might easily define as rock ‘n roll, punk, garage, folk, or anything like that. The ‘outsider’ MO, which is so thoughtfully made digestible by Irwin Chusid’s Songs in the Key of Z (highly recommended reading!), begins and ends with making satisfying music to your own ears.

Mavis The Dog from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is responsible for three and a half album’s worth of original material that was self-released digitally and on tape between April 2011 and March 2012. Mavis, whose internet presence is currently limited to his blog on which you can freely download every MTD album, has not released any new songs since, but that does not mean that this home studio solo phenom hasn’t been at work transmitting his headspace into bouncy, dreamy, psychedelic rock ‘n roll. He’s got a new batch of songs all set, he’s just ironing out some others in the mean time. I first found out about Mavis through DJ Boots Lobelle’s Don’t Paint Your Teeth WVKR radio show. Boots Lobelle’s programming pairs older outsider/DIY classics like Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair with newer artists whose approaches are just as bizarre and brilliant. After hearing Mavis played, I was able to track down his blog along with other websites that featured his music from a couple of years ago. I was instantly hooked and my fascination hasn’t faded. Mavis has been my car ride to work CD for some time now. My playlist is a personalized Best-Of that pulls tunes from all of his albums, but definitely takes a majority from The Second Album.

“The Beach Boys have a great lyric, “sometimes I feel very sad” which repeats and is sung over a happy sounding progression.  That contrast creates an emotion that is neither sad or happy and I can only relate it to the feeling of nostalgia. But it’s not nostalgia.  It’s something else that’s completely new.  And even though the lyric itself is totally simple and childlike, when it’s combined with the incredible melody it becomes impactful.  That’s the feeling I’m trying to get” is what Mavis tells me in a kind email correspondence. Of course I was curious enough to hear from Mavis himself. I really feel what he means and the way I think of it is that Mavis’ music reflects euphoric old memories, although often with contemporary anxieties and frustrations. In my mind, it is the positively radiant melodies and rhythms that take favor, claiming responsibility for the beauty and landscape of the MTD universe. The house might be dirty on the inside, but it sure looks fine from above.

Mavis The Dog has a sense of humor about things – “Should I go fishing with the Governor’s child? Should I kiss her when she doesn’t smile? Or should I leave her and forget!” (From “Nothing To Do” on The Dog Days of Mavis).  Any number of his lyrics contain plenty of lines that seem specific to Mavis, but sound about right to any music maker: “I’ll be at the basement, lady, writing up a new one, lady, I’m not hoping someday you will say,’I love you too, yes I do, yes I do’. (From “Throw Me A Stone” on The Second Album“). Armed with instrumentation and a simple style a la Johnston and White Fencian experimental production flourishes, Mavis The Dog says this about his songwriting: “The good songs write themselves.  After that it’s just layering and embellishing which is the most fun part for me.  That’s usually the step where the genre is determined.”

The Philly native cut his teeth in The Eeries (a superb DIY garage/pop band that put out an LP Home Alone on Evil Weevil earlier this decade) before going Mavis, bringing back the memories. Sleepy, whisper, haunts. Old girls. Then there’s some tunes that I don’t know how I missed the few times around that dodge the familiar: “$$$” stands on its own two with bass, voice, and some ambient instrumental effects. It’s not complete Mavis – it’s a diversion from the familiar song format. Bouncing a long, confidently directionless. But as far as that universe thing that I mentioned up top, the entire catalog is strongly steeped in one man’s chronicle. Yeah, you, go for it.

Mavis The Dog’s Blog: http://mavisthedog.blogspot.com/

Atlantic Thrills, Beware the Dangers of a Ghost Scorpion, Creaturos, Fat Creeps, Fuzzstival, Gymshorts, Local Music, Music, New Highway Hymnal, The Fagettes, The TeleVibes

A KLYAMer’s Preview of Boston FUZZSTIVAL 2014

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Boston Fuzzstival 2014 organized by Illegally Blind’s Jason Trefts is going down tomorrow (Saturday August 2nd) afternoon and evening at The Middle East Upstairs (starting at 1 PM) and Downstairs (starting at 6 PM) and features exactly 15 bands of the garage/psych/surf/pop variety — exactly the styles of music that we appreciate most around here on KLYAM! Of course this is an event we’ve been looking forward to for months and if you remember back to last year Chris cranked out a review of the event as soon as he got home from it. It is a wonderful thing to see underground rock ‘n roll of this kind making the rounds around local blogs; just head over to the Fuzzstival FB event page to read a bunch of posts about Fuzzstival and the bands playing it.

KLYAM’s pretty energetic about the bands we care about. We’re also eager to see any bands we have not had the pleasure to see yet. I’m just going to say some words about some bands I have seen and really really dig:

GYMSHORTS – Playing at 2:25 UPSTAIRS – Providence scum surf roquers blasted into existence about one year ago, but it just might seem like they’ve been around longer with the amount of shows they’ve been playing around New England and New York. Sarah leads the pack in their mosh friendly jams on vocals/guitar while Devin complements her with fuzzy lead twang. I think this will be about my tenth time seeing them and it’s always a real fun time! [LISTEN]

TELEVIBES – Playing at 3:00 UPSTAIRS – North Shore ass jigglers / ball ticklers – course these words are courtesy of Chris, but I agree completely – playing that slimy Migsian stuff that’s had us in a tizzy since hearing their Washed Up EP and damn that release show is still one for the record books. It’s been seven months since – far too long a wait for us so the anticipation runs highhhhh. [LISTEN]

BEWARE THE DANGERS OF A GHOST SCORPION – Playing at 3:45 UPSTAIRS – Everybody ought to pace themselves at this point – I mean on any other day these guys would probably be playing at 12 AM and closing out festivities. Two weeks ago they put an end to STARLAB FEST and wow I fondly recall bopping up, down, and around, perhaps at one point falling as they pounded out southern evil Dicky Dale instrumental after southern evil Dicky Dale instrumental. Guess I just suck at describing surf and should stick to bumping into people with a shit eating grin. Must see group! [LISTEN]

CREATUROS – Playing at 4:30 UPSTAIRS – Have seen these new era Boston garage/psych legends (a term I’ll use loosely to let the crowd response to their 2013 Fuzzstival set do the talking) rather intermittently over the past couple of years. I was really won over when they opened for FUZZ at Great Scott last fall. That was a killer set… then just a bit ago they dropped ‘SHORT SHORTS‘ a pure garage pop goldie. Forgive me for not really knowing any of their other songs by heart, I will know that one! [LISTEN]

ATLANTIC THRILLS – Playing at 6:00 DOWNSTAIRS – Alrighty garage bro so you know the Atlantic Thrills, you read about ’em online somewhere. OK yes it was probably here. We’ve championed their rock ‘n roll since the year 2011, about three years before they dropped their first LP (KLYAM recommended obviously). Tripped to Providence a bunch of times to catch them in their abode and have had some really memorable experiences both on stage and off stage in their presence. Very happy to hear that they are kicking things off DOWNSTAIRS (where they once opened for Those Darlins), here’s to another round of sloppy debauchery. [LISTEN]

THE FAGETTES  – Playing at 9:00 DOWNSTAIRS – Without feeling like a local rock n roll snob, I am confident calling The Fagettes the Boston kings and queens of the garage, flower punk style. They have a history of playing with some of the world’s finest rock n roll bands (NOBUNNY, Shannon and the Clams, Hunx and His Punx) and that is surely no coincidence. The energy, vocal trade-offs of Ryan and Melanie, dueling drums, sax here and there, the noisy POP racket, I could go on and on. You wanna feel good. Catch THE FAGETTES. [LISTEN]

FAT CREEPS – Playing at 9:45 DOWNSTAIRS – We’ve seen the Creeps the most out of all the bands at Fuzzstival about three times over, which should not come as a shocker to anyone as we’re intense supporters from way back. They just released their first LP Must Be Nice [pick one up if you haven’t, along with their klyammy debut 10″ of course] and IT’s great! For those who like both the sun and the shade, the fast and the slow, Fat Creeps pack ’em all and their live show is a stellar reflection of what’s got the Americans, Europeans, and Japanese going nuts!! [LISTEN/BUY 10″]

NEW HIGHWAY HYMNAL  – Playing at 12:15 DOWNSTAIRS – What better way to cap off this night than with New Highway Hymnal, emblematic diplomats of the meaning of FUZZSTIVAL. K, didn’t mean to get that deep all of a sudden, except I’m telling the truth here. Psych/garage/surf/noise The New Highway Hymnal can dismantle a Lowell basement and a 575 capacity venue just the same. Don’t think I’ve seen them since Charlie joined on guitar, should be sweeeeet! Heads up crowd you might get bumped in the head by Hadden’s guitar, but you’ll love it all the same. [LISTEN]

Ausmuteants, Music, Tours

Ausmuteants Touring The U.S In Sep/Oct

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Ausmuteants of Geelong, Australia are coming thru to the United States…importantly to GONERFEST 11, but with dates before and after that throughout the East Coast / Midwest / West Coast, including BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS on October 1st at Midway Cafe. Synthy punk, pure fun, go along YouTube ’em or just git at their album Amusements.

9/20 – Tempe, AZ @ 51west w/ Detached Objects, Womb Tomb, Blanche Beach
9/23 – Austin, TX @ Beerland
9/24 – New Orleans, LA @ Saturn Bar w/ Buck Biloxi and the Fucks
9/25 – Memphis, TN @ GONERFEST 11 w/ Grifters, Radioactivity, So Cow, Golden Pelicans, Ross Johnson?s ?Like Flies On Sherbert? Revue
9/26 – Louisville, KY @ Cropped Out Fest
9/29 – Durham, NC @ Duke Coffeehouse
9/30 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda?s w/ Dan?l Boone, Lantern
10/1 – Boston, MA @ Whitehaus
10/2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio
10/4 – Detroit, MI @ PJ?s Lager House w/ Odonis Odonis
10/5 – Chicago, IL @ The Owl
10/6 – St. Louis, MO @ Melt w/ Lumpy & the Dumpers
10/7 – Minneapolis, MN @ Hexagon w/ Real Numbers
10/10 – Portland, OR @ Dante?s w/ King Khan & BBQ Show
10/11 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile w/ King Khan & BBQ Show
10/15 – San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern
10/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell

New song!

Music, Nobunny, radio, WMBR

NOBUNNY Is Breakfast of Champions BOTW

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Taken from NOBUNNY’s FB Page!

NOBUNNY – yes yes the mightiest rock ‘n roller, the liveliest of animen – is Breakfast of Champions (this is the classic WMBR 88.1 radio program) BAND OF THE WEEK for this week – starting today July 28th, 2014.

What does this mean? It means if you tune in from 8 AM to 10 AM EST or drum up the archives, you can hear 3 NOBUNNY songs in a row daily, yo. This is amazing, if you ask me. Selected by the DJs so there’s sure to be some variation. Though major props to Becca… she’s responsible for the overall selection of NOBUNNY so everyone be sure to thank her.

I’ll link ya right to the WMBR site: http://wmbr.org/www/sched-mul#boc

I love my Nobunny songs just about equally as a rabid devotee but if I was manning the boards I’d delicately place this one on for sure:

Local Music, MINA'S WORLD, Music

MINA’S WORLD – New Boston Gunk Punk Label !!!!!

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Ya huh MINA’S WORLD is Sonam’s (case you are not acclimated, she runs top shelf local booking staple Fast Apple) new label and she’s starting things with a gunky bang – releasing Sick Thoughts newest tape Last Beat of Death in the oh so limited quantity of 50. Turbulent trash pop from the fecund teen punk who’ll be releasing more 7″s from the big guys of the garage. Kinda hard not to go krei along with these angry rippers… props to MINAS WORLD on their premiere release, a winner.

BUFU Records, Free Pizza, Local Music

Free Pizza On Tour Now (Barbara Busch Tour)

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Boston’s own Free Pizza has hit the road once again, bringing their fun punk down the United States and back up again. The best place for you to check where to see them in those cities (on the poster above) is the FASCIST BOOK: https://www.facebook.com/events/771957836196021/

Do check ’em out, we try to as often as we can, but we spoiled being here in BOS.

Music, Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series, The Electric Bunnies

Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series: Through The Magical Door

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Band: The Electric Bunnies
Year: 2009
Label: Florida’s Dying

Some people might be wired to just not accept this kinda stuff, but if you’re one of the lucky ones, these kinds of records are audible blessings… you ‘get it’ or better yet it just resonates along with the other demented recordings in your library. Like Girls of the Gravitron and Kazalok (to name two bands whose records I acquired via the label that put this one out, Florida’s Dying), Electric Bunnies march in their own universe, to their own conceptual beat, and that’s that. Through The Magical Door is far more psychedelic, eastern sounding, and tribal than those records I mentioned, but it operates along that noisy/garage/folk/luscious pop spectrum which I can not seem to get enough of. The first four songs of Side A and the first two of Side B flow like early Barbaras and Smith Westerns goodies. Sunny punk. There are instrumental oddities galore and big deviations from the standard rock ‘n roll format. I like. The gatefold design and included board game speaks to the VIR of this release. Yes, it is worth the physical luxury. Listening to Through The Magical Door makes me feel like I am in on something like-minded underground heads may have missed (again!) so you like-minded underground heads scurry to your store of choice (Florida’s Dying web store) and get on it. It’s out there, weird, and not straightforward. Like you and me. Personally, I would not be surprised if in due listens this splits time alongside all my favorites I mentioned above. Good work Rich.

Music, Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series, The Sonics

Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series: … The Savage Young Sonics

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Band: The Sonics
Label: Norton Records

Picked up this Norton Records LP from Deep Thoughts on Memorial Day and sadly I haven’t played it as much as a guy like me should. Encompassing the first four years of The Sonics in chronological order from A1 ’61 home recordings to B9 ’64 home recordings and some dance and teen club performances sprinkled in, Savage Young Sonics sounds like a band both comfortable dabbling in instrumental surf and gradually more eager to rock ‘n roll.  Apparently they were able to pack in hundreds of adolescents from all over Tacoma. Maybe a good chunk of older folks too: at the drop of the needle my gram started doing the jitterbug, all while smiling widely throughout the first coupla numbers. She wonders out loud when this music from. 1961 I say. “Back in your day?” Yeah! She’s endured louder, naughtier, more primal records (courtesy of my outdoor record player) so comparatively speaking this one is not nearly as rough as the back cover notes suggest. She’s in shock when Andy from Side B calls for people to come to see them at the Medford Armory. Nat that Medford, but hey what a fun time that must have been. The Sonics influence ain’t a joke, though; the crazed spirit of the ’90s and ’00s ‘garage’ groups can be traced to Sonics mania pre- The Witch. A saucy bunch taking things up a dozen notches. Thank the SAX, thank the ORGAN.

Fat Creeps, Music, reviews

Review: Fat Creeps – “Must Be Nice” [2014]

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Band: Fat Creeps
Label: Sophomore Lounge [LP] / Gnar Tapes [CS]

Sometimes people have a habit of associating music with a particular season or climate, but you see listening to the Fat Creeps is an everyday kind of musical experience. This is hardly anything new! From their early days when they readily donned costumes and frequently changed guitars and instruments up through the more subdued times of late, Fat Creeps’ sound has remained about the same: indefinable, but always rocking – sometimes straight up pop, sometimes far more strange!

The first recordings of the Fat Creeps – their self-titled EP released in 2012 and later issued physically by us KLYAM Records and their two song Feeding Tube split 12” with ZEBU! – are peppered with all waves of punk and surf-pop with guitarist/vocalists Gracie Jackson and Mariam Saleh often singing in harmony or trading lines. Those two songs, “Dad Weed” and “Daydreaming” appear 1-2 on Must Be Nice, the band’s first full-length album released on Sophomore Lounge and GNAR Tapes. Their inclusion here is an excellent way to acknowledge their past and usher in some newer sounds. Third track “He Comes In Loudly” supremely shows off the styling and distinctions of Gracie and Mariam. In fact, this one sounds like a best of everything that the pair has done in their four years together. Gracie’s astounding and mumbly vocals on the verses meet up with Mariam’s haunting backing vocals before they so elegantly collide; Gracie ruptures into a brief solo before finishing the song as it started. After this most intriguing song and with good reason, Fat Creeps diversify their arsenal from here on out.





“In Name Only” is Must Be Nice’s “700 Parts,” a Gracie song for sure! Super chill, super hard to figure out what she’s saying, dreamy, surfy. “Blue” is similarly vibed, although it is markedly faster and here Mariam sings her articulate leads. Same is the case for the first two songs on SIDE B. “I’ve Got” is insanely hooky, the bass fuller than ever it seems and the guitars screeching in the old garage. The girls are up to trouble by the time those sludgy distorted four chords enter into the picture and someone’s won or warn.

Get ready to break out your best late ‘70s dance moves for “Party” and don’t be surprised if you catch your hip or not so hip mom, dad, grandmother, and sis causing their own raucus in the rumpus room. Take DEVO and the B-52’s for a point of reference. Fat Creeps certainly have the sweet ability of uniting the punks, the hippiesters, and the family accountant who will instantly reminisce of his days spinning The Gun Club’s Fire of Love at the college radio station. Must Be Nice has you toe-tappin’, head bobbin’ through and through, perhaps most unevenly on “Bak 2 School” – anxiety is high, but so isn’t the whatever factor. Just give me noisy guitars and a throbbing bass. No words necessary. In pure helmets and wedding dress Fat Creeps fashion, the band goes full circle, ending the album with their first song, their first video, the one that drew the acclaim of the Boston Phoenix and the rest of us. NANCY DREW. We got Gracie in our left ear, Mariam in our right, in this more minimalistic, poppy number with one chorus you ain’t forgetting anytime soon!

Noisy, surfy, garagey, who cares-y, Fat Creeps keep things light always. The spooky and haunting aura that has surrounded them since the beginning is only slightly demystified on Must Be Nice and hey, that sure is nice. I wouldn’t go up to them and start quoting their songs, but if I was you and you were me, I would attend every possible show of theirs that you can.  And lastly, credit to Jim Leonard, who drummed on this record and all of Fat Creeps earlier offerings. His versatile and tight drumming is instantly recognizable, holding down the fort economically and just-in-time like an expert operations manager.

 

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