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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Doane on the Street
Wednesday 05 November @ 10:18:17 |
 - Pulse’s rock ’n’ roll soldier patrols the local scene for your own good -
by Donny Doane
With Halloween just past us, I thought I’d clear out some cobwebs and talk about some of the goodies I’ve been enjoying lately.
Since I’ve been doing this, I’ve been afforded the luxury of pretty much choosing my own subjects. We live in a bustling metropolis that often has an equally bustling music scene. Damn, sometimes it even seems like a community. But every now and then, things seem to quiet down. When this happens, I don’t necessarily feel compelled, which often means I have to resort to digging through “the box.” Fortunately, there are a lot of cool things happening right now which I will be covering in subsequent issues, but until then, I’ll just briefly mention some of the stuff that has filtered my way.
Donny Doane
For the last several years, the stoner/skater rock phenomenon has been wafting through the rooms of music enthusiasts. You know, Fu Manchu, Queens of the Stone Age, et al. While some of this Sabbath stained riffage can be quite good, some of it can be pretty boring, too. In the case of Nebula, I was left a bit flat by their earlier releases, To The Center was plodding and lugubrious, which is probably why it ended up in a stack of CDs I sold a couple of weeks ago. Their new album Atomic Ritual (Liquor and Poker), however, has seen extensive rotation in the old stereo. While it’s still fuzzed out buzz-core, there’s just something about it that lightens the load. It actually sounds like the guys are having fun. Rather than a doomsday drone, the songs have a brighter attack aided by piano/ keys and offset by the tracking of acoustic guitar. But fear not fellow freaks, there’s still plenty of good wah-wah solos, and if I had to make any comparisons, I would suspect they might have gotten ahold of a copy of local outfit The Squabs last record. It isn’t quite punk, and by no means is it metal—it’s just good hard rock you can sink your teeth into like a rawhide chew toy or some Laffy Taffy.
Another specimen of the hard rock that I’ve been grooving on lately is the amazing live How the West Was Won (Atlantic) DVD by the mighty Led Zeppelin. Recorded in 1972 at both the L.A. Forum and the Long Beach Arena, these three discs capture the bone crunching rapture of Zep at the apogee of their dizzying flight. The sound production is top notch as is the band’s performance. Jimmy Page’s fingers fly unhindered by smack and John Bonham’s ham-fisted pummeling takes center stage with his legendary precision, steadiness and artillery-like delivery. If you’re a Zeppelin fan, you might also want to check out Boise, Idaho’s System and Station’s If You Find Me, Let Me Know (Latest Flame). While most of the guitar is shamelessly lifted from the blimp of yore, it’s tempered by indie-rock sensibilities. And even though they’ve relocated to Madison, Wisc., it’s going to take more than 1,000 miles to escape the shadow of Built To Spill. Since they’re closer to Chicago now, they even managed to rip off Jesus Lizard’s Duane Dennison’s line off Head’s “Pastoral” damn near note for note. But hey, they’re trying.
Well, that wraps up the digital end of things. Now I’d like to say a few words about my latest vinyl acquisitions. In flipping through a stack of records at a most unlikely little shop, my heart jumped when I came upon Something Else by The Kinks. For a mere eight bucks I purchased an analog gallery of Ray Davies’ impeccably precious if often slanted sketches and studies of English life. Ray was even kind enough to give his brother Dave the spotlight with his songs “Death of a Clown”, “Funny Face” and “Love Me Till the Sun Shines”. The last song can also be heard on the BBC Sessions as a much brawnier take than the studio cut. One more thing I couldn’t pass up was Linda Ronstadt’s Simple Dreams with a cover of Warren Zevon’s “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” for 50 cents.
Hit That Street A’Runnin’
Speaking of cool cover tunes, female duo Azure Ray, who’ll be playing the Turf Club tonight, do a haunting version of Townes Van Zandt’s “For the Sake of the Song” on their November EP, just so you know. This will be just one of a lot great shows the Turf has hosted lately. A couple weeks ago Rank Strangers and Grickle-Grass played their CD release party there, and in the next couple of weeks henceforward, look for features on both these bands and their new records.
In closing I’d like to offer my congratulations to Popcycle’s Scott Peterson who is expecting a baby in the next few months as well as being hard at work in the studio for that band’s follow up to last year’s Songs in the Key of D Minus. Also, Jake Wisti and his Centurions will be unveiling their new one soon. As of yet, I don’t know the title, but I do know it has a killer version Of Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry”. Catch you on the flip side, carry on fellow soldiers of rock.
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