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NEWS MARCH 2003
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| Whoops, we did it again! Damn, this is hard. Welcome back to the Drag City Newsletter, March stylee. It’s a tired tale, but we haven’t posted our news of the new up here because we’ve just been too damn busy! And this time, it was for real — for real, this time.
If you recall, when last we spoke with you, we were gearing up for a date for the ages. With Loose Fur, Scene Creamers and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy on the January ticket, we felt insured of a real winner — that rarified release date that appeals to all three levels of the American consumer class system. As it transpired, we were righter than we knew — all three records blew up, all in different places. We were deluged with orders and promo requests from all comers, followed in short order by reorders and more promo requests. Titles went in and out of print! We established new records at the pressing plants, as late-shift staff were called in to finish massive orders that had to be drop-shipped all around the country! Shysters came out the woodwork by the dozens, each with a get-rich-quick scheme attached to these new records. But we were already getting rich off these records… Then, seemingly without warning, we were in the midst of a February 18th release date. AZITA, Papa M, Andrew Chalk and Mirror were the bait — and once again, a nation, then a world, bit! It was something else. As you might have guessed, with all this freshly behind us, we’ve got some catching you up to do! And with so much to tell! With that in mind, and without regard for date and time, and no further ado, follow us down the path… MARCH INTO MARCH But before all that happens, there’s the South by Southwest showcase we’ll be staging down in Austin, featuring AZITA, The Suntanama, Neil Michael Hagerty and (Smog), plus special guests, The Drag City Songwriter’s Workshop and of course our peerless merch table (featuring the return of the Drag City t-shirt). All presided over by your host, Rockin’ Rian Murphy of fabled alternative radio stronghold KROQ! It’s bound to be a blast, and we’ll talk more about what you can expect in just a moment here. JUST LOOK OVER YOUR SHOULDER Also released on February 18th was the first in a series of three CD singles by the enigma you have come to know as Papa M. Since the massive uppercut that was “Whatever, Mortal” back in November of 2001, Papa M has gone small, issuing three songs on a 3” CD entitled “Three Songs” (duh) and nothing more, as he prepares himself for a run at world domination with Zwan. However, with several trips around the globe coming up in the year to come, Papa has prepared a set of records to keep the faithful busy, and vice-versa. Recorded at different times and places over the last year or so, these singles capture the M sound in all its spiritual glory, with guitars, vocals, traditional folk, electronic fission and some other left-field shit. And who knows, maybe they tell a little story…you’ll have to get them all and listen on headphones to find out. Anyway, they’ll come at intervals of two months throughout the year, they’re all weird and wild and delightful and they have three songs each…what more can we say? Papa, thanks for thinking of us! Rounding out the date of February 18th are two titles on the Streamline label, both CD reissues of records issued several years back in impossibly small editions — Andrew Chalk’s Over the Edges and Mirror’s Eye of the Storm. The men who make this music don’t like to talk about it, but they do like music and like to listen to it — so we encourage those of you out there who feel the same way to tap into these meditative, atmospheric sounds. Mirror is Chalk collaborating with Christoph Heemann, Streamline’s curator as well as member of sonic forebears H.N.A.S. and Mimir. Over the Edges is guitar rippled by e-bow applications — hypnotic, you know? Eye of the Storm is more like the inexorable escaping of steam for an extended moment of time — a slow pregnancy that eventually fills your room. LIVE DATES EVERYWHERE! Then of course, there’s this South by Southwest show. AZITA, The Suntanama, Neil Michael Hagerty and (Smog) will be playing dates of varying kinds before and after the fest — in the case of AZITA and The Suntanama perhaps FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER in the communities they’ll be frequenting. (Smog) will be offering a unique spin on the tour concept — playing only free shows at various record shops in the sunny Southland. Check for details on (Smog)’s page, please these shows should be a bit of fun. April shows no sign of slackening in terms of tour dates — there will be American dates for not only Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (out in the Mountain Zone) but also the first-ever American tour for Alasdair Roberts, the Scottish sensation formerly known as Appendix Out. David Grubbs will also be out there in America for his first dates in support of last year’s Rickets & Scurvy. No word on how many yet — more word on all this as we go! Stay in touch! And don’t forget to support your local live show with Drag City recording artists. BACK TO MARCH Though (Smog) presented us with a singles-and-rarities collection just a few months back — Accumulation: None — he hasn’t hit us with an all-new bunch of tunes since all the way back in September of 2001. It was back in that tear-stained month that Rain on Lens hit the largely-empty streets. Since then, (Smog)’s toured a bunch and written a bunch more songs, some of which you can call Supper. No no, silly — it’s an album title. Take that CD out of your mouth. Yeah, and not only that, but Supper is an absolutely stellar new (Smog) album, featuring a variety of very special moments captured in an brand-new (Smog)-made frame. The secret is local ingredients, of course — and (Smog)’s got a big cast of helpers on Supper, all working hard to execute a set of heart-breaking tunes. Check the front page, there’s an mp3 for you to sample right now! The rest will be there for the taking on March 18, 2003. On that same date, prepare yourself to purchase an Imitation Electric Piano! It’s not nearly so esoteric as you might think. Trinity Neon is the name of their debut LP — and for those of you who loved the self-titled EP of 2001, you’ll find further fields of delight on Trinity Neon. With mischievous song titles and an anything-goes attitude to songwriting and arrangements, Imitation Electric Piano are another branch of the ever-growing Stereolab tree. Bassist Simon Johns is the inspirator behind IEP — his good humor and frantic song constructions are embellished upon by an equally wacky and talented bunch of peers. This makes Trinity Neon fun, melodic, compelling and, at the end of the day, entertaining. All this, wrapped in a gatefold sleeve! It’s going to be great and may even be topped off with some live dates over here on our side of the pond (America, people). Keep your eyes out for the Imitation Electric Piano LP/CD Trinity Neon coming your way on March 18th, along with the (Smog) LP/CD. March 18th, it should be a lot of fun — because we’ve also got the Slitch DVD+CD coming out at that time as well! Remember The Continental OP 12”EP, “Slitch Music?” It came out last November, it features Will Oldham and David Pajo, it’s soundtrack music and it’s great, remember? Well the Slitch DVD+CD is the movie + the soundtrack music for all of you vinylly-challenged types out there! There are some of you who may be wondering why we keep writing DVD+CD up here like this. The answer is, in these format-crazy times, what we’re offering here is a new format. A single disc contains both the visual images (on the DVD side) and the music (on the flipside, in old-school CD form). On the DVD side, you get Dianne Bellino’s short film Slitch along with her video for Palace’s “Come In” single from way back in 1993! There’s also animation and a commentary track on the DVD from director Dianne, all wrapt up in the standard-issue DVD longbox. It’s going to be great! Also in March at the same time as (Smog) Supper LP/CD, Imitation Electric Piano Trinity Neon LP/CD and the Slitch DVD+CD are two titles on the Blue Chopsticks label, home to David Grubbs and Mats Gustafsson and Van Oehlen (among others). These two new CDs are from, surprise, surprise, Van Oehlen and Grubbs / Gustafsson. The Van Oehlen features more “odd, is-that-funny? and darkly otherworldly” music in the vein of their first Blue Chopsticks CD, Are You Eggsperienced? Like that former CD, Rock and Roll is Here to Die also features the vocal presence of The Red Krayola’s Mayo Thompson on several cuts. Grubbs and Gustafsson have moved from the static compositions of their first Blue Chopsticks CD, Apertura to a more chaotic, digitally-cut-and-pasted style. Recalling David Grubbs’ recent 30 Minute Raven and Act Five, Scene One, Off-Road is a continually stimulating listening experience. So that’s March, at last. Can you dig it? APRIL Monade is Laetitia from Stereolab. As Monade, she’s put out a few songs on split singles over the years. This record collects those three songs and adds another seven to make a dazzling debut. The full title is Socialisme ou Barbarie: The Bedroom Recordings, but don’t come to the shop expecting a completely low-fi experience — not with technology kickin’ the way it is these days. It’s not low-fi, but it does recall the days of “Lo-Fi” or even Peng for that matter. Picture in your ear’s eye the luscious voice of Laetitia, couched in light surroundings it’s been awhile since Stereolab offered such easygoing soundscapes. They’re to be found on Socialisme ou Barbarie, along with special guests like Rosie and Matt from Pram. It’s a delightful debut for Monade! Also on April 15, 2003, Neil Michael Hagerty puts forth his third album in as many years. Yes, it’s been three years since the mighty demise of the mighty Royal Trux, but Neil hasn’t let it slow him a bit. Moving with the times, as well as east to west, north to south, and every which way he can, Neil has come up with an absolutely staggering new album, The Howling Hex. Running the gamut from soft to hard, from studio to live, Neil mines the venerable old rock and roll for all the compulsion that it’s worth. Laden with golden hits, golden freak-outs, and golden filler, The Howling Hex is Neil Michael Hagerty, far-out and up-close. Finally, there’s Alasdair Roberts. Fresh from his collaboration with Will Oldham and Jason Molina in Amalgamated Sons of Rest, Ali took a bit more time and came up with a new batch of songs for a new Appendix Out record. Once recording was set to commence, he dropped a bit of a bombshell — this record he was set to record would not be an Appendix Out release, but rather an Alasdair Roberts release! It’s just that time in life when a young man has to shed his alias, and stand alone. This brings us to Farewell Sorrow, the Drag City debut of Alasdair Roberts. Recorded in Glasgow with other former Appendix Out contributors, Farewell Sorrow is a great moment for a solo career to begin — as it is a powerful, assured record that finds Alasdair on the move. The native folk musics of Scotland are explored over the course of twelve new songs. It’s lovely stuff look for an mp3 preview before too long here on this very page. Welcome to the pantheon, Alasdair! Also in April will be installment #2 of the Papa M singles series. You know what you have to do. PUT ON YOUR READING GLASSES… I think everyone can agree that, three years on, David Berman’s Actual Air is a classic of modern poetry. Open City did a good job of spreading it around, save for one minor detail — they forgot to issue a hard-backed edition! Their paperback is real nice and all, but we think that you fans of poetry will find greater meaning and resonance in the poems of David Berman once you’ve re-read them between the hard-covers of the Drag City version of Actual Air! Featuring all-new artwork to boot, Actual Air is back! Get hard. You know, we’ve done a few books over the years. They’ve all been amazing reading experiences, but the book that put us on the map in the book world was John Fahey’s How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life. Released in the faux-millennial year of 2000, this semi-memoir took everyone by storm. Fahey’s twisted tales wound through Americana and autobiography then took the back door out to a fantastic realm that explained more about the man than any straightforward narrative could. People really connected to it, press wrote about it, Greil Marcus said something nice about it, libraries started stocking it, and everything was great. When John Fahey died, or as one friend put it, became “extinct,” he left behind a massive legacy and way of looking at the American way, etc as well as a manuscript for a second edition of this curious format of book he’d created. So, look for Vampire Vultures or something like it sometime soon. But not too soon! Before any of you book boofs put on your bitching glasses, remember what we said at the top — there’s no set release date for these books. Yuh cain’t rush good lit’rature… SWSW#!*#@%%!*! COME THE SPRING ON THE WAY OUT OK, that’s that we’ve got to post this thing and move on! Talk to you again soon with any luck, sometime in early April. Until then you know what to do.
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Buy-bye… Rian Murphy |