We’re so funny, we’re so fun, and a war is going on.
Yes, you can actually meet good musicians on MySpace, and Liz Toussaint, is one of them. She characterizes herself as country-soul (citing Anita Baker and Kenny Rogers as her musical parents, but to these ears she’s better than both. She definitely utilizes aspects of contemporary overproduced soul-pop, but they are tempered with a rootsy guitar based gospel funk that gives it the edge over most slick productions. Check her out at www.myspace.com/liz toussaint (and her new album, which has just been released June 10th
Are you sick of all these cutesy watered down versions of The Go Gos in so many female guitar ensembles like The All Girl Summer Fun Band? Do you miss the force of the early Donnas, Sleeter -Kinney or LZ? Then check out this Mexico City based punk band. Not only do they rock, but also give you a chance to bone up opn your espanol with such songs as “Ven En Mi Boca.”
Are you the kind who says, “I love classic country, but I hate contemporary country?” I kind of am (though know more than I can’t stand most commercial ‘modern rock’), but sometimes a grea song still can sneak in. This recent Alan Jackson hit is particularly ingenious in the way the songwriter spars with the car mechanic, and should be appreciated by any songwriter who is sick of being told that the service he provides is lesser than car mechanics, or computer wizards for that matter. Yah!
Another late 1980s, college-rock classic that no one seems to play anymore. Next up, Die Kreutzen
I wouldn’t mind playing in a band like The Shins, but only if I can be co-songwriter and at least part-time singer. They could use a little Dylan to balance out their Brian Wilson/Paul McCartney lushness, and I would love to see what kind of arrangements to my songs we’d come up with. I wonder if they’d be as open to Continuous Peasant’s strengths as I am to theirs. I know they’re a tighter band than my new lineup is so far, and I’d even understand why some would say their complexly structured, brilliantly orchestrated and pleasantly sung songs are better. They’re evocative of a kind of 1960s sound, like Belle and Sebastian, but I haven’t found so much of the pssion or personality of, say, Ray Davies or the early Bee Gees. It’s like they’re so bent on imitating a sound, the result seems a little too musically clever, so it’d be really great to see if we could collaborate on an EP (I bet either of us wouldn’t be able to stand it much longer) and see if my weaknesses and theirs could cancel each other out.
Ah, dream on!
Recently released in America on Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles, this DVD from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada based Nardwuar (The Human Serviette), is a hilarious send-up of our culture’s celebrity fascination. Nardwuar is primarily an interviewer, tracking down many celebrities (such asDavid Cross, Michael Moore, Alice Cooper, Vanilla Ice, Blur, The White Stripes, Courtney Love, Snoop Doggy Dogg!,
Henry Rollins, etc. Because Nardwuar presents himself as an enthusiastic but kind of annoying overgrown child in these interviews, many of the rap, metal, and hardcore acts he’s drawn to tend to come off like diffident arrogant a*holes (Henry Rollins for instance, but also members of Blur who are caught on tape threatening to punch Nardwuar out), yet I also came out of this movie with more respect for people like Snoop Dogg, who are willing to play along with him. Even if you’re not interested in the acts he interviews, this DVD is a must see for anyone interested in contemporary culture; it’s a kind of punk relaity show!
This is Nardwuar’s band. At firs I was skeptical that he included his own band’s songs (as well as his other band The Goblins), on his DVD. Like, here’s a guy who spends so much time and energy interviewing celebrities to get people to buy his own CD—ugh, where’s his integrity?!? But, what’s so wrong with that, really? And besides, the video for “Half-Empty Halls” is really great! The band itself has a lot of post-Buzzcockspower pop aspects, and the lyrical message, in which he mockingly celebrates the reality of playing in ‘half-empty halls’ while pulling out as thousands of rock video cliches (and showing the band ocking out to about five people in the audience!), is driven home but not in a heavy-handed way. Sure, there’s bitterness underlying it; but it’s more fun and funny than it is ‘message music’—though it points toward something. I really do look forward to what Nardwuar does next.
Karen Miller hosts a podcast called “The Miller Tells Her Tale,” which
features much ‘Americana’ music. She’s a passionate advocate of much new music, from more rockin’ to ballads—-mostly guitar-based, though I’m going to try to submit some of my piano based songs to her to see how open her definition of Americana is. In the Bay Area, I have the pleasure of hearing her on KYOU-1550AM, the local radio station that broadcasts podcasts, but even though she’s based in the UK, you can google her at “themillertellshertale” and check it out if you’re into the podcast thing. She’s also on myspace.
One of their great ‘novelty hits’ that was more than a novelty and less, alas, than a hit.
So, once again I tried to give the media darling The Decemberists a chance, as a friend raved about “16 Military Wives,” but what am I going to have to do to erase my knowledge of The Kinks’ 1969 album Arthur? Maybe if I didn’t know “Yes Sir, No Sir,” I’d like this Decemberists’ song better. But in the meantime, I try to be humble and remember that it took the Kinks’ seven albums, and a certain freedom that fame and money had afforded them, to get to this level, and that maybe the new crop of bands (from The Decemberists to Continuous Peasant) will have our seeds nourished so we can get to tha point. so yeah I know when I got one finger pointing, I got four more pointing back, and try to be humble, and hope….
