Two Steps to Beauty - Scott Miller, R.I.P.

I sit here shocked by the news of the last few days, two steps from turning this blog into a series of rants and diatribes in response to the ugliness of recent events.  Then I read that Scott Miller died... and I'm reminded.

For those of you unaware, Miller fronted the 1980s power-pop/neo-psychedelic/choose-your-own-adjective (any of them fit) band Game Theory.  He also led the more recent Loud Family.  But for me, it was all about Game Theory, and his double-album masterpeice, Lolita Nation (produced by the great Mitch Easter).  And for the beauty it reminds me of, I shall stay up late on a work night, listen to all 74 minutes, have a beer or two, and pay tribute.

Although there are some very pretty moments, Lolita Nation is not beautiful in the classic sense.  It's a ragged mish-mash of noisebites, half-developed ideas, and self-referencing samples that, somehow -- amazingly -- work as a cohesive unit.  A rather nightmarish, sound-effects-laden, Kenneth, What's the Frequency? segues into the guitar-rocking Not Because You Can before the album drips into alternately synthy and folky dream-sequences and partial songs.  Exactly What We Don't Want to Hear was an acerbic counterpoint to the rising "alternative" movement before the genre was ever coined.  Snippets of half-dreamt songs predating Guided By Voices by years are mixed with an abundance of pop gems like We Love You Carol and Alison, Slip, and Look Away.

Then there's The Waist and the Knees.  Despite Miller's somewhat effeminate lead vocals and penchant for samples and electronics (or maybe because of it), this song had every bit the sledgehammer effect that Bad Brains or fIREHOSE had for me.  Incendiary is perhaps a word I've used too often for songs that torch the ears and soul.  But this is perhaps the first song I used that word to describe.

The closer, Together Now, Very Minor, is a warped beauty of a coda that includes the lyrics:

And write the obit when you do
He never ran out when the spirits were low
A nice guy as minor celebrities go
All right all together now now very minor I know

And please don't pay attention to
A thing I do or say
It's a ploy to drag you out
And take it all away
All away

Whether or not he was talking about himself, I would say:  "YES.  Pay attention to the things he did and said!  Pay attention to the music he made!"  And to beautiful art, and nature, and anything you can find that offsets the nastiness that wants to creep into our world.

So back at the beginning, when I said I was reminded... I meant that I was reminded of beauty.  Beauty in the larger, over-arching sense.  I mean art.  I mean science.  A good photograph, a hug, or a tree.  From a DNA molecule to the volcanoes of Io.  A song, a thought, a word.  A more open mind.  A philosophy.  Love.

There is beauty all around us.  It is never more than two steps away.  The universe is a wonderful, amazing place, chock full of the stuff!  My Mom told me that as some of her last words to me (though I already knew it, because she and my Dad raised me well).  Beauty is, simply, in all its forms, the most valuable thing in the universe.  And we only have one lifetime to enjoy and appreciate it.  It is what is worth saving, and passing on to future generations.  It is what improves the world for those to come.

For myself, I have always found great beauty in music.  But you can find it anywhere.  Whether or not this particular artist does the same for you as he did for me isn't what's important.  The point is that the beauty in this world far outweighs the ugliness.  And Scott Miller, in death, reminded me of that tonight.

Today, in honor of Miller, his band's website has made Game Theory's music available for free.  Lolita Nation is there, for the first time ever as MP3s (officially anyway, so far as I know).  I recall him saying once that he'd never release this album electronically while he was alive.  I guess, in the end, he was true to his word.  I've made crappy vinyl-to-MP3 conversions of the album in the past. This is not how I ever wanted to get the clean files.  But since they're there, please download and enjoy, with one caveat:  the album Lolita Nation MUST be listened to in its entirety.

Scott Miller may have left this world too early.  But he left it a more beautiful place than it was when he entered it.  Thanks, Scott, for opening my eyes to a world of music that I hadn't known existed. And for leaving us with the beauty of your music to enjoy forever.

PS:  You can donate to Miller's children's education at the Scott Miller Family Memorial fund.  Just click the link.

What's in a Meme?

As the U.S. Supreme Court debates marriage equality, numerous and humorous variations on the popular "equality" meme have been popping up all over the web.  Though they may not have first created them, I've tried to credit the more unique ones to those who at least first fired them across the bow of my Facebook page.

"The Classic"

"The Big Bacon Classic"

"The Wordy"

"The Paula Deen"

"The Henry Rollins"

(courtesy Chris Benton)

"The Crawfish"

(courtesy Barry Cantin)

"The Teeth"

(courtesy Jacki Huntington)

"The Fangs"

(courtesy True Blood)

"The Kittehs"

(courtesy Starfucker)

"The Peeps"

(courtesy They Might be Giants)

Marriage, Schmarriage

Sometimes I think we should only allow two kinds of marriage, and clearly state them as such:  "Church Marriage" and "Civil Marriage".  That way, no one would ever confuse the two, and we'd save ourselves a whole helluva lotta grief.  As long as no one's being harmed or forced to do anything against their will, a church (or its congregation) can't tell the government what a marriage means... AND the government (or its citizens who are not members of, or on the Board of Directors of, that church) can't tell a church what a marriage means.

Now, I can't speak for any church, since I belong to none.  But perhaps one of the most essential functions of our government is to ensure equal rights for all.  That being the case, I think that marriage, as defined by our government, and with it, any rights that this imparts (which is, really, the only reason this is even a debate) should apply to any two persons who choose to commit to each other and live their lives together.

I mean, we've all had roommates.  You know even just that shit is hard!  So any person who is willing to commit to sharing their whole life with someone -- supporting them, being supported by them, living with them for an entire lifetime (that takes balls) -- should be granted the right to have that person covered by their insurance, to visit them in the hospital if they are sick, to raise a child with them, etc, etc, etc.

Oh, sure, I know there are already civil unions, domestic partnerships, and various other constructs which grant pairs of people rights of different levels... ones which vary from state to state, county to county, year to year.  But if there were just "Church Marriage" and "Civil Marriage",  this mess might be a little easier to sort out for all parties involved.

I suggest coming up with catchier names for each to make the idea more palatable.  How's about "Ye Ole Marriage" and "Neü-Marriage"?  "Ownership" and "Partnership" (in no particular order, of course)?  "Pre-Divorce" and "Ante-Divorce"?  Hell, I'd be happy with "Holy Marriage" and "Heathen Marriage" if it'd make some people happy.

This way, any given church won't have to bother trying to convince the Supreme Court that they can only sanction marriage as being between a man and a woman.  Likewise, the Supreme Court won't have to waste their time telling Christian Denomination 2.0 (Beta) that a marriage simply can't require the slaying of 200 Philistines and presentation of their foreskins to a prospective father-in-law in order to wed their daughter (1 Samuel 18:27)... or other variations thereof.

Well, there is the little bit about mass murder.  But why sweat the details?

(Image courtesy The Brick Bible.  Use of this image is in no way meant to imply an endorsement of the opinions expressed in this blog; it's just that they have an incredibly clever and artistic way of presenting the Bible.)

Jenny Besetzt - Only

Okay, been draggin' my feet long enough (blog's been AWOL for a month or so).  Upon reading in this week's Indy about Jenny Besetzt's "largely overlooked" LP, Only, I figured it's time to put my two cents in.  Criminally overlooked is more like it, as this is one of the best local releases in a LONG time. 

The thing that strikes you first about Jenny Besetzt is that they are, somehow, simultaneously drone-y and jumpy.  Their music envelopes you in a deep, comforting ambience.  But at the same time it's always moving, driving... sometimes at breakneck speed.  It's easy to get lost -- embedded in a trance-like state as they play -- but you never feel like you're standing still.  This comes thanks to what's basically a pretty punk-rock rhythm section paired with more of a shoegaze-style of vocals/guitar from frontman John Wollaber, and some pretty 90's-flavored indie-guitar from Brad Morton. 

That mix of more-or-less tried-and-true indie-rock tropes yields a surprisingly unexpected -- stunning, really -- outcome.  It's bright and dark and jagged.  Shards repeatedly pierce the gauzey atmosphere.  Little detours, experimental movements of sound, punctuate many of the songs before they can settle into something too comfortable (see the last half of both A Sudden Burden of Proof and In These Woven Streets Your Face Became the Fabric of This City).

There are some awfully catchy numbers, like the driving Always, the lovelorn Teenage Lions, and the thudding and bittersweet She Was an Evergreen Tree.  Songs like that last one and others call to mind 80s-90s Britpop (of the New Order or Swervedriver persuasion)... maybe that's just the cool synth foundation or the fact that Brad can sometimes sound a bit like Johnny Marr.  But they don't really sound derivative of that era.  And while there's an uplifting, optimistic feel to their sound (and song titles, see above), it comes with a deeper sense of awareness... that this is maybe all just bluster, and real life never really works that way (see They Were Full of Brave Illusions About Each Other). 

I was kinda waiting on lyrics from the band to write a more informed review, but really, the sound of Jenny Besetzt is what's so striking (sorry, John!), and what makes them stand out so much to me.  Jenny Besetzt is from Greensboro, but with a couple of members residing in the Triangle, they've been pretty much a mainstay on local stages.  Their live show is every bit as good as this CD, so go see them! (if you're reading this at the last minute, go see them tonight - March 22 - at the Pinhook with Lollipops and Wing Dam; I'm about to head on over)

UPDATED to add photos:
Jenny Besetzt and Lollipops were great as always.  Baltimore's Wing Dam filled the middle slot admirably, and were much more stripped down and raw rock'n'roll than the "bedroom pop" I'd read them being described as earlier.  Some pretty trippy photos of Lollipops below (read: unfocused and overexposed).

Jenny Besetzt

Wing Dam (nice shirt!)

Lollipops

Chinese Lantern Festival - Saxapahaw, NC (2/23/13)

The SaxArt Gallery (Saxapahaw Artists) held a Chinese Lantern Festival in conjunction with a show and fundraiser.  It was an overcast night, but it seemed as if we were seeding the clouds with our very own stars.

Here's a sloppy little video I made of the wonderful night.

WKNC Double Barrel Benefit X (Raleigh, NC, 2/1/13-2/2/13)

NC State's WKNC held their 10th Double Barrel Benefit (DBBX) last weekend in downtown Raleigh.  The annual fundraiser has featured some of the best & brightest in local talent over the years, including Polvo, Bowerbirds, Annuals, the Mountain Goats, and Future Islands.  This year was no different.

I only attended the first night and the day party and market on Saturday, but that was enough to see some of the best that NC has to offer.  Friday night began at the Pour House with the frenetic & fun pop of Raleigh's Lollipops.  Iggy seems to record so fast I'm already a couple of albums behind on his (maybe?) year-old band.

Greensboro's Jenny Besetzt followed with their dream-like guitar buzz.  Oh, but they're frenetic enough in their own right... I think I saw at least 2 drumsticks fly across the stage.  But I also really liked the slow, celtic-tinged number singer John Wollaber broke into in the middle of the set somewhere.  Hadn't heard that one before.

Lilac Shadows followed with what was their first show in several months.  They've returned with a more straight-ahead rock sound.  I still hear the same thread of shoegaze and early Manchester in there, but it sounds more "in your face" than before.

The night closed with the definitely more straight-ahead, rootsy rock of JKutchma and the Five Fifths. The crowd was ready for J, enraptured as he preached about playing his music as a struggling small-time artist, just for the love of it, and then hearing it played on the radio... on WKNC.  Now the crowd could sing along to his music.  And they did.  That's what DBB (and WKNC) is all about.

The next day, I stopped by the DBBX Day Party and Market, held at both the Pour House and the neighboring Tir Na Nog.  I really just wanted to take my kids to a show, and to see Organos again (whom I had seen but once, at last years DBB).  But first, I caught Winston-Salem's great Estrangers, who belted out their brand of 60s/California-flavored fuzzpop.  It was a pretty good crowd for an early afternoon show, and the kids loved it! (as did everyone else)

Meanwhile, I want to mention one of the booths I checked out.  Silber Mini-Comics are tiny matchbook-sized comics sold by Silber Records, based here in Raleigh.  I bought a sci-fi/horror series called Worms for my kid.  But we both liked it.  Pleasantly weird.  Weirdly disturbing.  Disturbingly pleasant.

After a break, I went over to Pour House to catch Organos.  They were as good as I remember.  I love that this band is so vocal and rhythm-driven.  Side Girl, from their CD Concha, sounded great live, despite that it's just voices and clapping.

Organos have a way with a minimal, sometimes dark flavor of pop.Here's a video of Organos doing Lazy Lessons.

I'm sure I missed great sets by the other Day Party bands, as well as Saturday night shows by Oulipo, Some Army, Wesley Wolfe, and Spider Bags.  But still, it was a great weekend of music.  Many thanks to WKNC for bringing us this music every day, and for an annual event that, though a fundraiser, consistently stands on its own as a loaded bill that's well worth your bucks.

More photos to be posted soon on the HSIITBAAA Facebook page...

Magic and Wonder: The Music Tapes' Traveling Imaginary Tour (Cat's Cradle, 1/28/13)

The Music Tapes impart a childlike glee and a magical wonder to their audience through their shows.  Since things like magic and wonder can be hard to express with mere words, I thought I’d try something different for their indoor circus-tent tour, the Traveling Imaginary.  So I’ve made a short little film to capture what my “night at the circus” was like.

Bandleader Julian Kostner, member of the Elephant 6 Collective and formerly of Neutral Milk Hotel, is whimsy personified.  It’s as if he’s on a mission to help all of us reclaim our inner child.  Having seen the Music Tapes twice, I can attest that they’re making great strides towards that noble cause… be it via big-top, lullaby, or Christmas caroling tours.  In addition to the music, props, and games, Julian is a wonderful storyteller.  His lilting voice relates tales of quirky characters and places unknown, or forgotten, touching the mind and the heart. 

I’ll leave the stories to him.  It seems only right that some of these things should be kept secret, as they are best experienced in person.  Even one of the games was kept hidden from those of us in attendance, unless -- and only if -- they chose (one-by-one) to play it! 

I’ll just let the film tell the rest of the tale.  Enjoy!