WELCOME BACK TO THE DALL HOUSE
…or is that House of Dall? We’re talking about the Cynthia Dall House, in case you hadn’t fathomed. Still, how could you not? Steady readers of this column will recall the Dall name from many of our past columns. Now and again, we’d drop a mention of this great new record of Cynthia’s that was coming out. Here in September 2002, that record is finally a reality. The name may have changed since we first started talking about it, but Sound Restores Young Men remains a great new record from Cynthia Dall.

The other thing that has changed is that now you too can know the greatness of Cynthia’s new record by running to your local shop and purchasing either an LP or CD copy, anytime after September the 10th. That’s the street date for Sound Restores Young Men ‘Street Date,’ for you uninitiated out there means, ‘the beginning of a beautiful new thing happening in your life.’ So get ready for a beautiful new thing. Fans of Cynthia’s Untitled album can look forward to a more electric experience on Sound Restores Young Men — though no less intense than that former experience. Though perhaps a little more frenzied this time. There are, however, just as many French horns and cellos this time around — some things never change! One thing that hasn’t changed is that Sound Restores Young Men is an awesome album from Cynthia Dall featuring production and playing from both Tim Green and Jim O’Rourke, as if the rest weren’t compelling enough. Which it is. She’s like our very own pop music princess, the Drag City Christina Aguilera, if you will. Kids, we’re excited — as is Miss Cynthia. She’s chomping on the bit to get back on the road and play some of these tunes and more in person. Look for West Coast shows to happen this fall and East Coast dates in the Spring. But first, purchase Sound Restores Young Men, on sale starting September 10th.

AMALGAMATED SONS OF REST
Indie music conspiricists, stand down — your paranoid journey is at its end! Those of you who’ve dreamed of debunking the myth of Will Oldham, Ali Roberts and Jason Molina’s separate existence…you now have an answer. You’ve claimed that they’re all the same man. They’ve never been seen in the same room at the same time, you say. But we have proof this isn’t so. Actually, wait a minute — do we? All we’ve really got is this record of all of them playing and singing together. And there’s no photos anywhere on it! Oh well, even if this don’t prove shit, we’re still living large. For years now, those three like-voiced (but ultimately distinct) men have been the subjects of three different cults of personality and now, all three are together under one sonic roof, singing and playing together as Amalgamated Sons of Rest.

The record to which we refer is out now on the Galaxia label. Galaxia, you might recall, produced a 180gm rendering of the “Papa M Sings” EP, complete with etching — one of the most committed EP releases in recent memory. The Amalgamated Sons of Rest has an etched vinyl side as well, in addition to the side where Oldham, Roberts and Molina sing and play and blow you away. Why, it’s a hoot! We’ve got a big pile of 12”EPs and CDEPs here to distribute to stores and all you lucky mail orderers. It goes out to stores on the same day as the Cynthia Dall release — or, if you like, purchase it today off the Special Orders page. Get with it, man! You too, woman!

JEWS CHANGE COLORS!
Did we just say Special Orders page? Well, what if we’d said T-shirts page? Because don’t look now, but the Silver Jews “Cartoon” T-shirt has changed colors. No, it’s not the world’s first ’mood shirt’ — it’s just a second run to commemorate the selling through of the first run in such short order. Available in all the sizes of the rainbow, the new Jews shirt is built to satisfy. Whether you turned your nose up at the first color combo or plunged happily into the trough, you now have a second chance at a life spent wearing the Silver Jews “Cartoon” shirt. Or buy the venerable old “Peace” design, still available to you in stalwart red lettering on a blue cloth. Silver Jews fans, take heed!

THE OCTOBER FRACTION
Folks, as much as we’d like to just live for today, there are other days in the week, other weeks in the month, other months in the year! And some of them are bearing down on us like a runaway truck. So let’s just be calm and take them one at a time. We’ll start with October. Ahem. Jee-zus! October is absolutely packed with new releases, tour dates and other freaky scenes that we can’t even begin to anticipate yet!

You might recall that we mentioned to you last month the Royal Trux Hand of Glory LP/CD, the Mick Turner Moth LP/CD and the Warm Voices Rearranged: Anagram Record Reviews book (by Brandan Kearney & Gregg Turkington). Well, almost all of them are all still happening in October. That’s just a part of the whirlwind of October —new releases, tour dates, cancellations and more! And so, we regret to inform the Mick Turner Fan Club that Moth is going to miss the October party. Something about corrupted music files in the master tape or some other trivial double-talk. Artists, I swear! Anything to shift the spotlight back onto them. What it means for Mick Turner is that his record will come out in November instead.

We’ll talk some more about the other titles and things further down the page — scroll on, if you can’t wait. We however, have got to pause to talk about perhaps the most momentous event of the YEAR, not to mention October…

THE RETURN OF GHOST
Ghost fans of America, live right. Save your pennies and dimes and nickel bags and hang on — because Ghost is coming! In anticipation of their latest appearance at Terrastock on October 11th, we’ve booked our favorite psychedelic folk masters a week of shows running from Chicago to Cambridge, stopping off to freak the freaks in Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC, Philly, Brooklyn and Amherst, MA. Because Ghost live in faraway Japan, their tours of the US are few and far between. The last one was five long years ago, by our blessed watch. Which is a shame — because when Masaki Batoh gets his merry band on the stage, strange magics generally occur. Some of this can surely be attributed to the impeccable sounds and styles of guitarist Michio Kurihara. However, Ghost also bring a heavy rhythm section and a variety of acoustics (from guitars and hurdy gurdy to bongos, bells, gongs and a sitar last time around). It’s not just what they play — it’s the way they play. And what they wear while playing, which falls under the heading of genuinely freaky garb. They look like they stepped off the Mothership. So what are you waiting for? Citizens of Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC, Philly, Brooklyn and Amherst, MA — snap out of it! And get thee to the Ghost show. Check out the Tour Page — then and only then can you consider yourself completely informed.

TOUR FORECAST
So that’s the heart-stopping news about the Ghost tour. But that’s just one of the tours blowing through our world this fall. Like the weather, the Drag City wheel never stops turning! You know, what goes up, must get down, right? So dig this — it’s your Drag City Live Shows Forecast for the coming months…

September: In America, U.S. Maple out east and down south, with scattered nights of Brother JT, David Berman, David Grubbs and The Suntanama, mostly on the east coast. Several nights of Scene Creamers in the DC and New Jersey areas. In Australia, sporadic Neil Hamburger shows across the region.

October: In America, Ghost sweeps through several Midwestern and Northeastern states. Three weeks of steady David Grubbs over Europe. U.S. Maple moves into Italy for a two week period starting in mid-October.

November: David Grubbs brings his European chill back to the US, Scene Creamers rain down over the West Coast, (Smog) blows up and down the East Coast. Cynthia Dall will touch down in California and other spots out West. Edith Frost will appear in Spain, Italy and elsewhere. Back stateside, David Berman brings the rain in Oakland right before Thanksgiving.

And when all those shows are played, there will be more. But don’t take it from your humble scribe — check the TOUR PAGE.

GRUBBS SPEAKS!
Did we just say David Grubbs? Damn straight. In the frothy wake of his latest LP/CD, Rickets & Scurvy, David Grubbs has been out there promoting the damn thing — on the road in Europe as well as a just-finished jaunt in the legendary land Down Under — that’s right, New Zealand. But he played some dates in Australia too. Word from David — and everyone else — was that these shows went swimmingly. And that the swimming went well, too. The rock inherent in Rickets & Scurvy is fueling a rockin’ set from David, one that will be whipped on U.S. audiences in November of this year, when he returns to the stage here with a band — a band, for the first time in his four years as a solo artist! We look forward to this kind of action from David.

Also on the Grubbs beat — He’s just finished a thirteen-minute soundtrack for Angela Bulloch's film installation "Horizontal Technicolour," which will be exhibited at the Institute of Visual Culture's Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England from Sept 8 – Oct 13. "Horizontal Technicolour" uses footage from "2001 – A Space Odyssey" as well as material that the artist shot at Zabriskie Point; the soundtrack is a throbbingly heavy organ piece inspired by music from those two films. Can a CD release of this material be far behind? Keep your eyes on this space…

Grubbs etc…He’s also DJ-ing on Sept 21 at the WFMU benefit show (also featuring ESG, Brother JT, The Styrenes, etc.) being held at the new Brooklyn club Southpaw (125 5th Ave, in case you haven’t heard). And a European tour starts on Sept 26 in Ireland, concluding three weeks later in Italy. Most of the tour will be the trio of David, Noël Akchoté, and drummer Thomas Belhom — the very fellows who are going to rock America with David in November. Stay tuned! More details soon.

WEIRD WAR UPDATE
So, the album came out, the press hit the stands and the mystery ended. But another mystery began in a lot of young minds across the world. The mystery of when their tour was going to start remains unsolved to this day. The phone’s been ringing off the hook — with local promoters, major labels and kids everywhere around the world asking, When can I see this Weird War? People, we don’t have an answer yet — so in the meantime, give the Weird War platter another spin. And hey — tell a friend, would ya? This Warcan’t wait for you.

THE SHOPPING BAG
You know what? The Christmas season is coming. That means that in addition to all the records we just told you about, as well as all the records we’re going to tell you about, we’ve got some new records to tell you about!

For instance, in October we’ve got something that promises to reanimate the android heart of Royal Trux fans everywhere. It seems inevitable that the rabid will shit themselves when they hear tell of Hand of Glory. Why? Well first of all — since Royal Trux broke up two long years ago, they haven’t had any new records out — and to a Trux fan, new records are like crack — got to keep ’em pumping through the system. With no new product since Pound for Pound, Royal Trux fans are jonesing for more. Secondly, this Hand of Glory represents for a Royal Trux not heard since the halcyon days of Twin Infinitives! The first cut is “Domo des Burros,” a lengthy extrapolation that recalls the glories of “Edge of the Ape-Oven.” Fans of their old school Royal Trux jelly-legged shimmy are going to go nuts. The second cut, “The Boxing Story,” is a concrete piece, the likes of which haven’t been heard before in Trux lore. It’s kind of an ultimate paint box of sounds and noises, patched together in a fashion that some of the Trux’s infamous live shows got at, for those of you who might’ve been there. Wherever that was. Anyways, Hand of Glory is a literal, physical, meta-biographical trip, just waiting to happen to you. While hunting it down, be sure and keep an eye or two out for the 180gm LP pressing — guaranteed to get deeper on you than any transient old CD will do. However, the semi-opaque black jewel box the CD comes in is to die for also. What a dilemma! You may have to give up one of your nine lives for this one, cat. Fortunately, Royal Trux Hand of Glory repays all kindness with its glimpses of the mirrored infinite. Look for this phenomenon on October 8th.

Also at that time, we’ll have some “Slitch Music” for you. We might have told you a little about this Slitch thing before — have we? Well, if we haven’t, here’s the deal. Slitch is a short film by Dianne Bellino, an artist whose works have appeared on a number of Palace releases. She made a video for the old Palace song “Come In” as well. But film is her thing. So she’s made this Slitch film and for the soundtrack, she tapped The Continental OP for songs, music and what have you. The Continental OP, you may recall, have appeared as a production team on two hot releases of the last couple years — Papa M “Whatever, Mortal” and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy Ease Down the Road. In fact, they may or may not be pictured on the back of that Bonnie album. So these are a couple of very real dudes. And their EP “Slitch Music is a very real collection of sounds and singing in a movie soundtrack kind of way. Ranging from pastoral and pretty to blunt and punk, “Slitch Music spins around crazily for a half an hour, spitting instrumentals, chants, punk rock and something resembling traditionals out in equal measure.

This release will constitute a first for us — because “Slitch Music will appear as a 12”EP but also as part of the DVD release of Slitch. It will be one of those DVD/CD packages that includes the movie, a digital soundtrack (rare for indie films), animation!, that “Come In” video we were talking about and the CD of the “Slitch Music EP on the flipside of the disc.

And so, along with Hand of Glory, look for The Continental OP “Slitch Music 12”EP, available to all in October. Steady customers with the eye of the hawk will find this release the day it comes out — or a couple days earlier, naturally. There are people that will kill to get at these releases.

But that’s not all. Also available with these music releases, the year’s most unlikely book release! The funniest funny book you’ve read in ages! A must-have book on rock and roll for rock and roll book-collecting freaks! And a book for all you anagram-loving, scrabble-playing book worms out there! Yes, people — all these things, rolled into one satisfying 76-page paperback book. That’s right: Warm Voices Rearranged — Anagram Record Reviews will finally be available to all you fact-hungry people out there on October 8th. Hours of laughter await you! Hours of revelation! You’ll see your record collection with new, tear-filled eyes once you read the gospel of anagrams according to Brandan Kearney and Gregg Turkington. Operating on the supposition that any anagram found in an LP title is a comment upon the LP, these guys flash their wizardry as such:

Joy Division Closer
Joyless, ironic void.

Patti Smith Group’s Easter
Rats! It’s poet’s huge armpit!

X See How We Are
We were hoaxes.

We’re sure you agree — Warm Voices Rearranged could be the Christmas present of the year! We can just about see it under the tree ourselves — so don’t let us down, purchase this hilarious paperback when you’re down the shop, picking up the Hand of Glory LP and CD and the “Slitch Music” 12"! We’ll see you there.

Then, don’t forget to come back in November for more music and — you guessed it, more laughs. On November 5th, a very special (Smog) record will be released. It’s called Accumulation: None and it presents us with a perception problem. You see, when you hear this new (Smog) record, it will sound very much like a new release — despite its status as a singles-and-rarities collection featuring material dating as far back as 1991! Yep, Accumulation: None has some of the earliest (Smog) sides, as well as some Peel sessions, some other singles sides from more recently and a couple other things as well. Plus, one of the more sought-after (Smog) sides from years gone by is present in the track listing. I’m referring to “A Hit” — the song that put (Smog) on the map. Well, on a bigger map, anyway. We just keep getting bigger and bigger maps for Mr. (Smog). But yeah, so we’ve got this (Smog) singles-and-rarities comp, coming in November. Look for it then.

Coming out on the same date is Neil Hamburger’s latest comedy showcase. This one’s called Laugh Out Lord . It has a quasi-religious theme to it, if you can’t tell from that title. We haven’t really heard the record yet, but we’re in the process of purchasing all the remaining overstock from a cassette-only religious label in Oklahoma called Glory Home. Neil is convinced that it’s Grammy time with this release, so keep your eyes peeled as we launch a Grammy campaign that you’ll miss if you blink for even the slightest moment in the months to come. But seriously — with only the Jimmy Fallon LP as competition, Laugh Out Lord is a shoo-in at this year’s ceremony.

So that’s the scoop — get into your shopping bag and get the goods!

GETTING LOOSE
…Loose Fur, that is. Ah, that’ll never get old. Until five minutes from now, that is. As we mentioned late in last month’s update, Loose Fur is the latest moniker adopted by the trio of Glenn Kotche, Jim O’Rourke and Jeff Tweedy. They need a name, see, because their debut album is on the way. For those of you who can’t wait, it’s currently slated for a January release date...so you’ll have to wait. The Loose Fur album is also currently self-titled — we say ‘currently’ because we’re not sure if the boys are going to come up with a nifty LP title that takes it beyond their fresh new group identity. Those guys — they’re always cutting up and laying some new tongue-twisting brain-teaser on us. Usually it’s just an elaborate dirty joke, too. But listen — given that this trio has appeared in some configuration on both O’Rourke’s Insignificance and Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, you gotta give it up for Loose Fur, don’t you think? Whether the answer for you is yes or no, you’ve still got a very good chance of being blown away once Loose Fur enters your personal listening space. So look out, fuckhead.

IN THE YEAR 2003
Yeah, and listen, fuckhead — Loose Fur ain’t our only skank on the block for the year 2003. We’re compiling the list of heavy hitters right now — but here’s your sneak preview. In early stages of the year 2003, we’ll release full-length records from Loose Fur, Scene Creamers, Monade, (Smog), High Llamas and Neil Michael Hagerty. There are rumors of a series of CD single releases from Papa M. Plus, there will be crazy new things from Blue Chopsticks, Moikai, and Streamline.

We’re as anxious to get there as you are. But steady as she goes, people — this is the future we’re fucking with here. Step lightly, eh?

See you in October.

Rian Murphy
Drag City Inc.
September 2002