Bob Mould: Beauty and Ruin live

BOB MOULD

AMOEBA MUSIC

HOLLYWOOD, CA

03 JUNE, 2014

To celebrate release day and kick off the tour for Beauty and Ruin, Bob Mould landed in LA, pulled his rhythm section, (the law firm of Wurster and Narducy), in from Europe, and proceeded to lay waste to Amoeba Hollywood wth a 10 song set that continued this year's trend of "Instores Requiring Earplugs". This is something of a golden age for Mould, (no pun intended), in a career that's seen its share of blinding light and fallow moments, and the latest rise can be traced back to the moment the rhythm section snapped into place. In the smoke-filled hard bop days of the mid-50's, under Miles, the trio of Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Jo Jones was known simply as The Rhythm Section, and a case can be made for bassist Jason Narducy and drummer Jon Wurster as the indie rock equivalent. Narducy's roots stretch back to Mould producing Jason's band Verbow back in the 90's. When Mould saluted his own Workbook with a 25th anniversary show at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall in February, it was the Verbow combo of Narducy on bass and Alison Chesley on cello accompanying him, returning the gift. Along with his Split Single project, he joined Wurster in Superchunk as bassist on their most recent tour. While we're not quite ready to ordain him Philly Jon Wurster, (geographically correct though it may be), the powerhouse drummer from Superchunk has gone on to sit in with a number of bands, always raising up whatever situation he's dropped into. The combination of the two has, to say the least, rejuvenated Mould's sound, keeping up with his fiercest guitar tangents, but most importantly, adding a swing and buoyancy to songs that could easily turn leaden. Once the foundation was laid, Mould has worked backwards and forwards, rewriting his own history one blast at a time, revisiting his older songs while turning in new work that ranks with his best.
With no other show on the schedule save an appearance on Conan, the band was fully locked in and focused. Kicking off with "The Descent", from 2012's Silver Age, the die was cast as they moved on to tracks two through six from Beauty and Ruin, in that order, with "Little Glass Pill" setting up the sideways blowtorch pop feint of first single "I Don't Know You Anymore", clearing the decks for the full throttle punk charge of "Kid With Crooked Face", and it could have been the mid-80's all over again, or '94. At every station, Bob Mould has been there in the background, and while not a household name, it's hard to swing a dead cat without coming across an indie band that doesn't owe some small debt to the man. "Nemeses Are Laughing" and "The War" set up the conceptual thrust of the LP, and just when a normal instore would have petered out, Mould never looked back, tapping into the Sugar songbook for a volcanic take on "Hoover Dam", before returning to the business at hand with new tracks "Tomorrow Morning" and a hard charging "Hey Mr. Grey". Finishing things up, he dusted off another Sugar gem from Copper Blue, "If I Can't Change Your Mind". As much as the guitar shock and awe that preceded, the song was a potent reminder of his gift for melody. Beauty and Ruin is out now on Merge Records, and the band is on tour this summer-they'll return to Los Angeles in September for two nights at the Roxy.

Setlist:
The Descent
Little Glass Pill
I Don't Know You Anymore
Kid With Crooked Face
Nemeses Are Laughing
 The War
Hoover Dam
Tomorrow morning
Hey Mr. Grey
If I Can't Change Your Mind

Listing To Starboard: Favorite Albums 2013

TOP 25: 2013

Here we are once again, another year down the pipes, and based on the evidence found within, a further edging away from the bloated corpse of the music industry, as little if any of this list appeared on a major label. Take that as evidence of my curmudgeon-ness as much as any artistic judgement. While the main focus on this blog has always been performance, many albums crossed the transom this year, and we'll stick with the O.G. format of a top 25, although twice that many would have been doable. Perhaps next year. Shout outs to Don Giovanni and Slumberland for being co-holders of the Label Of The Year distinction, a testimony to their depth, balls, and ears, with multiple releases landing on the list.
Notable releases from the year, just bubbling under the list, include the debut of California X, Anna Calvi's second album, a second full length from Nashville's own Diarrhea Planet, the second, (and unforturnately final) entry from Spectrals, and a double LP celebrating the 20th year of Quasi, (can that really be so?!). Also making waves were Brooklyn via Oakland's Weekend, (not to be confused with the vowel and soul-challenged singer with a similar name), Jonathan Wilson, Mikal Cronin, Sky Larkin, Terry Malts, Janelle Monae, and the first new work in many a year from Sebadoh. Lists, of course, are a fool's errand by definition, and any of these records are worth your valuable time.
Without further ado:

25) Chastity Belt: No Regerts

24) SISU: Blood Tears
23) Upset: She's Gone
22) Bleached: Ride Your Heart
21) Dog Party: Lost Control
20) Joanna Gruesome: Weird Sister
19) Veronica Falls: Waiting For Something To Happen
18) Besnard Lakes: Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO 
17) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Push The Sky Away
16: Savages: Silence Yourself
15) No Age: An Object
14) Arcade Fire: Reflektor
13) Cate Le Bon: Mug Museum
12) Swearin': Surfing Strange
11) No Joy: Wait For Pleasure

10: Okkervil River: The Silver Gymnasium
http://www.theowlmag.com/album-reviews/the-silver-gymnasium-by-okkervil-river/ 

9) Wax Idols: Discipline + Desire
 http://www.theowlmag.com/album-reviews/discipline-desire-by-wax-idols/

8) Los Campesinos!: No Blues
http://www.theowlmag.com/album-reviews/no-blues-by-los-campesinos/ 

7) Speedy Ortiz: Major Arcana

On their first full-length, all the pieces fall together for Speedy Ortiz. Helping to spearhead a Massachusetts renaissance, the band effectively torches its way through, though, interestingly, leaves its deepest mark when it dials the volume back (relatively) on "No Below". This bodes well for the future-it will be interesting to see how far they push their boundaries.

 
6) My Bloody Valentine: mbv
http://bamnwgan.blogspot.com/2013/02/mbv-and-me.html 

5) Kurt Vile: Wakin' On A Pretty Daze

Wakin' On A Pretty Daze is Kurt Vile's State Of His Own Union address, as every Kurt Vile album is, but more so. Expanding his vision onto two discs, the title track spins out to just under ten minutes without a wasted note. Vile and the Violaters are in that rare space where they could take on the phone book and make it work, as evidenced by two festival appearances this year that took the same material and transformed it into acoustic lullabies in a foggy San Francisco meadow and aggressive riff-heavy rock in a parched field in the middle of downtown LA.

4) Superchunk: I Hate Music 

There's a special kind of gauntlet being dropped when one entitles an album I Hate Music, and who else but Superchunk could make it work?  Like Yo La Tengo's Fade, it's an LP wrestling with mortality, suffused with mourning over the loss of an old friend. The trick is in embracing the shadow of memories and backing it up with music that's nothing short of life affirming. Their most trenchant and affecting work since Foolish, no matter how dark it gets, Superchunk shows the way forward.

3) Yo La Tengo: Fade

The unsinkable Yo La Tengo faced down mortality and came away with Fade, an elegant collection of the Hoboken trio's pop gems, leavened with the lessons learned from Ira Kaplan's recent health scare. Fade reminds us of the importance of community and the work we do, and how easily it can be lost, and the strength it takes to go forward. Nowhere was this more apparent than in their performance of "The Point Of It" during this year's FYF, pushing the hushed song forward in the face of a noisy, distracted field-leaving a devastating mark on those who were actually listening. A potent reminder that punk is not always loud.

 2) Waxahatchee: Cerulean Salt

Casting aside the acoustic rawness, but keeping the incisive portraits of her debut American Weekend, Katie Crutchfield, aka Waxahatchee, amped up the sonics and left us Cerulean Salt as a snapshot in time. "Coast To Coast" was a winning single that hit over the head like great 50's rock classics, in and out in under two minutes. The elliptical "Dixie Cups and Jars"might be her finest achievement to date. The prolific artist also found time for an EP and a double album (!) with side project Great Thunder.

1) Laura Stevenson: Wheel

 

A staggering tour de force from the Long Island wunderkind...the place where all the threads she'd been working with came together in a hypnotic song cycle that flirts with many genres, but can't be confined to one. Ace string and horn arrangements by Rob Moose and Kelly Pratt, respectively, carry the day. Like last year's top choice, Father John Misty's Fear Fun, it's an album I'll be listening to five years down the road.

In closing, this marks the fifth year of BAMNWGAN, and this would be the place to thank you all for your love and support.

Return Of The Mac

MAC MCCAUGHAN (SUPERCHUNK)

ORIGAMI VINYL, LA

12 JUNE, 2012

For me, if it's a road trip or a long haul late night drive, odds are good Superchunk is involved.
They've seen the hard times and taken the lumps and soldiered through, bloodied but unbowed, carving a nice little niche for themselves, and a mini-indie empire in the form of Merge Records.  It's a band I reach for by default when the going gets rough.
Last we heard from the the band was 2010's aptly named Majesty Shredding, until now. Tuesday saw the release of a new Superchunk 45, "This Summer", b/w an ace cover of Bananarama's "Cruel Summer".  Limited to a release of 1300 copies, it's probably best to strike quick if you want this one.

 To commemorate the event, or fortuitous luck, Mac McCaughan played a solo instore at Origami Vinyl in Echo Park, packed to the gills with 40-50 very happy campers. He walked the margins of the Superchunk/Portastatic catalogues, favoring lightly heard tunes, stripping down the classics and even debuting a new song, "Trees Of Barcelona".  The hard rocking "Digging For Something" really benefitted from acoustic treatment, highlighting the bittersweet lyrics.  "Detroit Has A Skyline", which has been performed in seemingly every configuration sans polka, was the inevitable showstopper.
An amazing night in the company of an indie legend, and a nice stopgap until the full bands return.

Courtesy of @Superchunk, here's the setlist in their typical shorthand fashion:
Origami solo set: RopeLight/Cool/ThisSummer/HomeAtDawn/ SongforaClock/Spys/Barcelona/Throwing/Digging/Noisy/Detroit/SanAndreas
Fun bonus outtake (below), what I've come to know and love as the "Abraham Lincoln" shot:

Goodbye Fonda?!

Word passed heavy today about the fate of the Fonda MusicBox Theater, with rumor having it closing soon, if only temporarily. The picture became somewhat clearer, thanks to quick reportage from LA Weekly and the LA Times.

It took me years to deal with going all the way to LA for shows, (with day traffic a six hour round trip), but a crucial part of what turned the tide for me was the 1300 seat oasis on the corner of Hollywood and Gower.  Many a night I would hang out on the roof between sets, eyeballing the Capitol Records building, gazing up the street towards the Roosevelt. 

With proximity to Amoeba Records and Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles, it is/was the epicenter of my LA Bermuda Triangle, and will be very hard to replace.

Some favorite memories from the venue include: 

-the last LA show of Stereolab in 2008 

-a stunning Superchunk show done to a half filled house, not to mention a comet-like appearance from The Vaselines as openers

-a transcendent Beach House gig last February when the crowd became one, 

-the Gang of Four returning to LA for the first time in too many years

-an electric solo performance from the Dresden Dolls' Amanda Palmer, introduced by none other than Neil Gaiman. What little did we know that down the road they would be married!

Not to mention the ones that got away: 

-Nine Inch Nails did a spot as part of their 'Wave Goodbye' tour.  I never got close to getting tickets...

-Radiohead picked the Music Box to put on their relief benefit for Haiti.  I dropped out of the ticket bidding at $350, no harm done.  Still regret that! 

Got an email tonight from Goldenvoice, who are going ahead with putting tickets on sale for the Cults gig in March.  I'm sure they'll have a backup in place, but if anyone can help leverage out this mess, it would be GV, (who just celebrated their 30th anniversary).

One of the biggest unanswered questions will be the fate of the adjoining restaurant, The Blue Palms, which has managed to carve a fine little niche among craft beer lovers.

Hopefully new ownership will be kind in renovations and not destroy the loving recreations of Bosch's 'Garden Of Earthly Delights'.  It might be that that I miss the most...

b/o 2010: pt I (25-11)

Looking for a predominant theme in my world, at least, it has been the Year Of Merge, comfortably placing four albums in the top 25, notching their first #1 album in Billboard, and topping it off with the resurgence of label founders McCaughan & Ballance's own band Superchunk, it has certainly been a year to remember for the Little Indie That Could...

The subtext would be: 'The Long Tail Rules...' Years from now, I suspect I'll look back on this time as being as much of a watershed as the early '90's, in terms of depth of releases. The List has been very tough to narrow down the last few years, and it's been a bonanza of great music. Last year tilted heavily towards veterans, this year seems more of a mix.

Without furthur ado:
#25) NEW PORNOGRAPHERS: Together
Carl Newman and the gang bring it on home for 'Together', sharpening the songs, and adding the special bonus of a tour that included, (at some stops), all the original cohorts.

A pure pop extravaganza from the Canadian supergroup...

Key tracks: "Silver Jenny Dollar" and "Your Hands (Together)"











#24) VASELINES: Sex With An X
Any decade that has a Vaselines record can't be all bad. Wonder of wonders, 2010 saw the gang drop 'Sex With An X', dress up as a priest and nun in their video, and hit the road in style for a U.S. tour, while maintaining their bellicose goodness on record.

"I Hate The 80's" will serve as the statement on misguided nostalgia, and the final track, "Exit The Vaselines" closes another chapter.

Utterly unpredictable, and joyously bitter, that's our Vaselines!






#23) WARPAINT: The Fool
Long strange trip from the LA underground to this, their debut album. Intense and atmospheric, they could be the dark horse of the strongest LA musical scene in the last 25 years...

Key tracks: "Undertow" & "Lissie's Heart Murmur"











#22) SERENA MANEESH: S-M2: Abyss In B Minor
Tired of waiting for that My Bloody Valentine record that's hell bent on putting 'Chinese Democracy' to shame? Well, have I got something for you, or the noise rock fan in your life...They don't call it "Abyss In B Minor" for nothing!

Surprisingly tuneful, and always rocking new entry from Serena Maneesh that never really left the turntable all year long...

Key tracks: "I Just Want To See Your Face" & "D.I.W.S.W.T.T.D"





#21) BROKEN BELLS: Broken Bells
Danger Mouse continues his hot streak, this time picking up Shins frontman James Mercer for an album of dark pop bliss.

Branching off his recent work with the Black Keys and Beck, it's a deep record that rewards every new listen...

Key tracks: "The High Road" & "The Ghost Inside"











#20) SUN KIL MOON: Admiral Fell Promises
Dark cryptic record that poses as many questions as it answers...Perhaps not the greatest gateway to Kozelek's work, but at the same time a portal for a subset who might never have come across his previous work.

Stark insular take on the ususal Kozelek tales of people and the road, done all on one nylon string guitar. What at first could sound samey becomes a hypnotic trance...

Key tracks: "Half Moon Bay" & "Third & Seneca"






#19) SCOUT NIBLETT: The Calcination Of Scout Niblett
What might win the takeaway prize for cover of the year, the enigmatic photo only serves to enhance the spookiness within. A great grueling guitar album for those who bemoan the lack of such things in today's environment.

Key tracks: "Calcination" & "Just Do It".












#18) QUASI: American Gong
Really don't know when Janet Weiss finds the time, but Quasi steps back into the limelight with their strongest and most assured record to date.

A genuine rock and roll blast!

Key tracks: "Bye Bye Blackbird" & "Death Is Not The End".













#17) BEST COAST: Crazy For You
Simple stories of a woman, her cat, her boy problems, and her weed, or the lack thereof, set to fuzz blasted Spector tones...What indeed, is not to love?

Key tracks: "Our Deal" & "When I'm With You".














#16) ALOE BLACC: Good Things
Aloe Blacc runs over the sophomore slump with 'Good Things', an assured followup to his bedroom treasure debut 'Shining Through'...

Key tracks: "I Need A Dollar", which got some great exposure as the theme to an HBO show, and his reinvention of the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale".












#15) SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS: I Learned The Hard Way
SJ&DK return with an album perfectly pitched to these trying times...'I Learned The Hard Way' is bloodied but unbowed look at the state of things in the here and now, personally and politically.

The band is in as fine shape as ever, and enterprising late night show hosts should take notice: if there's one band that could possibly give the Roots a run for it's money as the default house band, the Dap Kings would be the one.

Key tracks: title track, "The Game Gets Old".






#14) BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE: Forgiveness Rock Record
Broken Social Scene return with their first LP in five years, a sprawling beautiful mess of a record that holds up to repeated listening...

Drew and Canning have dropped some of their most cohesive tunes, and it stands as a breakthrough record for them.

Key tracks: "World Sick", "All To All", "Art House Director", & "Texico Bitches".








#13) GRINDERMAN: Grinderman 2
Building on the dirty ass rock & roll of their debut, Grinderman 2 ups the ante with more assured songcraft, while not sacrificing the edge.

In places, the line between Grinderman and the mothership Bad Seeds is not erased, but certainly blurred. As long as Nick Cave is at the helm, though, you know what you're going to get...

Key tracks: "Heathen Child", "Mickey Mouse & The Goodbye Man", "Evil"

Bonus Points: Amazing remixes are available, including "Worm Tamer" as done by A Place To Bury Strangers, and "Super Heathen Child", featuring Mr. Robert Fripp.


#12) LONELADY: Nerve Up
Amazingly assured debut LP that builds on wired post punk rhythms but coalesces into a beauty all its own...

Key tracks: title track, "Marble", & "Cattletears".
















#11) SUPERCHUNK: Majesty Shredding
Heart warming return from North Carolina quartet with their first full album in nine years. Dial is firmly wrenched up to 11, and their energy level throughout shames bands half their age.
Followed by a series of blistering performances that left many a poor aging hipster all pogoed out.

Key tracks: "Fractures In Plaster", "Learned To Surf", & "Everything At Once".









Post script: 11 & 12 were the hardest things to kick out of my top ten, & led to much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Mea Culpa: Albums that I haven't got to yet that would probably be very listworthy: Joanna Newsom's 'Have One On Me', and Gil Scott Heron's 'I'm New Here'...

Superchunk Day!

What started out as a simple show that tickets were purchased for months and months ago, steadily transformed into Superchunk Day! It began with a simple email from Merge Records announcing a fall tour. The onsale day came, tickets were purchased. Time passed and excitement grew when it was announced that Teenage Fanclub was opening their Northwest dates. Spirits fell when it turned out to be only those dates. Spirits rose again when the mighty Vaselines were announced as the LA openers, as well as northwest up & comers Telekinesis.

Then the whole Matador 21 party came together, and their inclusion there, (and subsequent top flight set), did nothing to dampen the ardor of the impending show. Back in California, come to find out that they've set up a string of instore appearances at indie record shops, including Origami Vinyl in Echo Park at noon, day of show. So now the whole thing has taken shape and morphed into 'Superchunk Day', originally planned as the last date of the 'Majesty Shredding' tour. Apparently, it's gone to plan and then some, as they've added another handful of dates throughout the country.

Origami: great footage of 'Everything At Once', courtesy of Prestoff2000 (YouTube)

Telekinesis belted out a set that was far more lively than their first LP would have you believe. They kept the melodies intact, but gave every song a nice loud buzz, and looked to be very happy at this particular opening gig.

Their newest EP, not coincidentally on Merge Records, was the heart of the set. I'm looking forward to their next step, as well as seeing a complete show on their own, if this is any indication...




It's been a fascinating ride for The Vaselines, who cut one album back in the '80's, broke up...found a cult following after it turned out Kurt Cobain was a huge fan, and Nirvana covered a few of their songs, which led to a reformation and a gig opening up a Nirvana UK tour.
The sparks were fanned once again when Sub Pop put out an anthology of their work, and they got it together once again for an appearance at the label's birthday party in Seattle a few years back.


Now, apparently, the time has come again...In September, a new LP, 'Sex With An X', appeared, followed by a jaunt across the states. Los Angeles was the fortuitous hookup with Superchunk, which brings us up to this evening. The set largely focused on the new record, leavened with tart doses of the back catalogue, and despite the venue only being 2/3 filled, they gave it their all.

Time has been a friend to them, and having sympathetic players with them made for the kind of show the band never got to enjoy in the past, having broken up before, in some sense, they really got going.

Superchunk celebrated their return to Los Angeles proper for the first time in many years, hitting the stage with 'Learned To Surf', (above), from this year's 'Majesty Shredding', and leaving no stone unturned, unleashing a show as full bodied and frenetic as their star turn at the Matador fest at the beginning of October.
The aforementioned 2/3 full house was still in effect for Superchunk, which seemed sad on the heels of this victory lap that saw them fully engaged and energized, and playing just as well as ever. Rarely have i seen the balcony of the Fonda closed, but it kept the crowd as tight and focused as the band, and was a testimony to a night of tough choices for the LA music fan, as Broken Social Scene was across town at the Wiltern Theater, and Scout Niblett was in town as well, along with a few other tasty choices.



Like their path thus far, Superchunk faced it with grace, and powered through a set that touched on all phases of their years, culminating with a Misfits cover that put their own distinctive stamp on the evening.

Predominate theme through the night seemed to be the staying power of the aging hipster audience that furiously pogoed away, and by the time the midnight hour passed, it became apparent that one would regret this, in the most glorious way, the next day.
































(Programming Notes: The good folks at Also Ran Blog have posted recordings of both the Superchunk instore at Origami and the Superchunk set at the Fonda)