Pure Indie : Thunderegg

A day after devoting an entire post of homage to the true spirit of indie, I get a package in the mail.  I knew it was a CD since I don’t get any other kind of package, but this one was heavy.  I’d say it felt like a triple CD collection, but I was wrong, it was an eight CD collection and a book to boot!  What I got was Open Book : The Collected Thunderegg, 1995-2004.  If you didn’t already know, Thunderegg is a musician/school administrator who comes to us from the latest musical mecca, Brooklyn.  The book that accompanies the CD is 108 pages long complete with a table of contents, lyrics, index of song titles and index of first lines (a true first).  And like any good songwriter and writer for that matter Will Georgantas gives his listeners and readers a good witty ‘hook’.  Here’s a sampler of my favorites (in alphabetical order thanks to the index):

1. Cop on a horse, cop on a horse, he’s the pride of the force,
2. Dextromethorphan, dime-store paregoric,
3. Double-date Brad, didn’t want to make Rebecca feel had,
4. He built a bed based on what she said,
5. I depend upon being depended on,
6. The American standard is slipping and it’s all your fault,
7. Walking in my wet shoes on the way to Saturday,
8. You told me you were born a human race,

What is also great about this collection of eight albums, eight hours and bonus tracks is the honesty behind it’s creation.  As Will himself explains:

Open Book is only possible thanks to big changes in the music world: the flexibility of being an independent artist, the efficiency of mp3 files, the low cost of home recording, and guerilla marketing through music blogs and tons of free downloads.  At the same time, it’s an actual physical object that people can hold in their hands. . .

This collection is admirable.  The songs are smart, playful, melodic and masterfully crafted.  At times you hear traces of They Might Be Giants, The Meat Puppets or even Yo La Tengo.  Nonetheless, Thunderegg is everything indie was meant to be.

Thunderegg : Will Bite
Thunderegg : The Building of the Bed
Thunderegg : Endless Screw
Thunderegg : You Showed Them to Me
Thunderegg : There Should Be Wheels On Everything

Jorrell : A Port Elizabeth Brahmin

How
indie can indie get?  It used to be that indie meant you put
something out using a Tascam or similiar four track using a radioshack
low definition tape you bought for 99¢ at some garage sale.  It
meant you created the recording in a tiny room by yourself or with a
guy you knew old enough to buy beer at the local Chevron.  It
meant that you would create copies one by one on your dual deck tape
recorder and package it with covers designed at the local Kinko’s (or
if you are truly old school at the corner deli where copies were
5¢).  But Today Indie is a genre, a culture where even the likes
of Geffen or Sony can put out bands labeled as such through any number
of their baby-labels lurking about. 

Well, here below is
some indie you may never have heard but it was originally recorded and
put out by the now defunct Mermaid Records out of Santa Rosa, CA. 
Here is Jorrell from the anthology A Port Elizabeth Brahmin:

Jorrell : Harvey’s Milk
Jorrell : Silent Film
Jorrell : Home is Where I Live
Jorrell : Avatar
Jorrell : Change it Please
Jorrell : Item Line Vito
Jorrell : Coming

Great Story and Hypermodernity

I love this one from the kind folks behind the Breakmakers:

I wanted to tell you about this guy – Jont. He’s a friend
of ours with a bit of a crazy story, but basically his song Sweetheart
was on the Wedding Crashers soundtrack, which unfortunately got played
right at the end of the credits when everyone had left.. Of course
nobody heard it, except for the movie theatre ushers, who went mad for
it.  So he wrote this song for them, called House Of Dreaming.
It’s up on his blog

Jont : House of Dreaming

And from the folks at Frigital Records:

The Hypermodernity Club
is currently led by cw said and brian fm in brooklyn new york. the
group, which is made up of former members of the rep, also consists of
a revolving door of musicians such as chicago’s chris schmader, dallas’
luke o’hara, and colby broadwater, currently stationed with the 2nd
platoon bravo battery 1-76 fa in iraq. the band is now in the studio
recording their debut album, praxis vs. poiesis, to be realeased in early 2006.
 

The Hypermodernity Club : Our friend in Baghdad

Pilot the Morning Fall

Well, I guess bloggin’ was just not enough for me. 
I’ve decided to construct a music label as well.  Why not?  I
mean, I put up songs by artists and labels I respect, but why not put
up music by 4F friends?  Visit 4F Records.

I present to you a new ep by Farhad Parsa and Joel Arquillos (me) who
create music under the name Pilot the Morning Fall.  Here’s how
we rationalize it:

At a time when garage space is at a premium and internet space is at an
all time low, it’s easy to understand why musicians like Pilot the Morning Fall prefer the rental
rates of online digital space.

Here’s how it works:  Somehow, in between Farhad’s life as
a photographer, film maker and composer, he sits down with his guitar,
keyboard, dulcimer, stuffed rabbit and lays down some dirty
tracks.  He then e-mails them to Joel who has to stop teaching his
high school students to listen.  Joel usually digs it and rushes
home on his bicycle and loads the tracks onto his laptop, opens up MS
Word and starts verbalizing his vocalizations.  After a few hours of this he
begins to create his own vocal tracks (he loves adding wah-wah guitar
to everything, but Farhad usually deletes it).

Oh, and most importantly, we talked the amazing Grady McFerrin into creating the beautiful album cover you see above.  Thanks Grady!

Go directly to Blue02

New Pain & Music for the New Year

I hope the rest of you started the New Year in better shape than me.  On my way to work along my usual route down the steep Portola/Upper Market drive I slid into a curb with my bicycle and flew about 10 feet (according to witnesses) and remained unconscious for about 10 minutes.  Somebody called an ambulance but as soon as I saw a familiar face say “are you alright?” I got up, put my bike in the back of this person’s vehicle and demanded he drive me to work.  I must have been delirous, repeating myself and worrying my wife would kill me if she heard, but eventually the ambulance picked me up at work and I spent the rest of the day recovering from a concussion in a neck brace next to crack addicts and prisoners at the General Hospital.

With that said, let me guide you to some interesting music being put out by Yerbird Records, a wonderful independent label run by Morgan King out of Charlottesville, Virginia.  His latest offering is the music of Nic Garcia with an album called The Desperate One’s.  The singers voice is subtle and hushed, with a light instrumental back up.  Reminds me a bit of a little known artist who worked under the name Bullet for Fidel and even a little bit of Will Oldham during Palace years, but with more of a Hayden twinge.  Here are a few tracks from the record for your own research:

Nic Garcia : The Black Turn Pink
Nic Garcia : Triumph

Another soft, quiet sound I’ve been checking out comes to us from Athens, Georgia called Venice is Sinking.  They’ve got this barn yard rock sound that is brought together by a strong violin or viola lining.  On their site they compare themselves to Galaxie 500 and Low.  They have furnished this nice tune for us all to listen to.  Here:

Venice is Sinking : Pulaski Heights

And finally check out what’s new by the wonderful folks who used to call themselves Sparring Partners but are now known as Heartbreak Motel.  They’ve returned to their original sound and have added some great drums and electric guitar.  Great harmonies and male and female vocals bring these songs together in the fashion of other great duos like Arcade Fire and the Fiery Furnaces.  Welcome back folks!  You can see them live in the Bay Area soon too at Papa Tobys Revolution Cafe in San Francisco, CA on Jan 19, 2006 @ 9:00PM.

Heartbreak Motel : Jakes Song
Heartbreak Motel : High on the Ground