Canon Fodder #6: Blast Off!
The Birthday Party - Live 81-82
The Birthday Party - Hits
Have you seen the above clip of The Birthday Party on some European TV show before? I’m not much for live albums, but Live 81-82 captures that energy better than any of band’s full-lengths. Lurching, menacing, giddily confident camp. The thrill of some Australian guys trying to make it England, knowing they’re better at making a spooky ruckus than the locals, in part because they’re having more fun (how much I enjoy Nick Cave depends considerably on how much he allows for ruckus and fun). While the tracklisting overlaps considerably with Hits - a typically fantastic, thorough compilation released by 4AD in 1992 - it includes a terrific obscurity (“Bully Bones”) and a climactic cover of The Stooges’ “Fun House.” I’ve known these both these haunted houses of song since college, and it feels right to have picked them up at the same time. Frankly, a 2CD reissue wouldn’t be a bad idea! The rare case where a live disc wouldn’t come off as padding to a historical summary, but rather an enjoyable illumination of a band's chemistry.
Vic Chesnutt - At The Cut
I couldn’t get into Vic Chesnutt during his 90s moment. As a young alternaguy looking to avoid young alternaguy cliches (though rarely successfully), I was skeptical when it came to hype about authenticity, eccentricity and darkness. Having a been around the block a bit now myself, it’s a lot easier to hear the difference between idiosyncrasy and affectation, and between someone indulging depression and someone wrestling with it. Not that affectation and indulgence can’t be fun, but I get why peers like Michael Stipe and Kristin Hersh loved Chesnutt now. Where they quested to get at feeling through imagery and abstraction, he found a way to express a sentiment through language that was straightforward but unique. I’m still digging around, so I can’t say which album I like most. But this collaboration with Guy Picciotto and Silver Mt Zion, released a few months before his death in 2009, features “Flirted With You All My Life,” a powerful portrait of living with the potential for suicide (accent on living). It’s the song that inspired me to give him another try - courtesy of Spotify Discovery, believe it or not (I can’t believe Ben Gibbard and Conor Oberst recently had the balls to release covers, though I'm not surprised I hadn’t heard about their takes independently). The post-rock grandeur of the backdrop may be a bit much for fans of his earlier work (which was sometimes just his voice, guitar and Stipe on organ), but Chesnutt's thankfully not overwhelmed by it.
(For some reason I can't get this beautiful live video of Chesnutt performing "Flirted With You All My Life" to post, but I really wish I could.)
The Horrors - Luminous
Unmoved by the hype around their 2007 debut (teenage garage rockers who got Chris Cunningham to make a video! Yowsa!), I was blown away when I belatedly heard their 2011 single “Still Life,” the rare attempt at modern anthemic psychedelia that struck me as both effectively anthemic and psychedelic (not sure why I heard it a couple years ago - maybe Spotify Discovery again). Nothing else on Skying or this 2014 follow-up was quite so gripping, but I dig their dreamy, groovy vibe - not unlike a less cutesy Dandy Warhols. More than anything I’d say I get from them what I keep hearing other people got from The Verve. I think those names should effectively triangulate who needs to give a shit here.
Scratch Acid - The Greatest Gift
Jesus Lizard juvenalia? The best emulation of the Birthday Party that America could come up with? There’s enough charm for me between those two angles to merit owning a compilation of their one EP and and one album. Believe it or not I didn’t get into The Jesus Lizard until this decade. Capitol didn’t make an effort to promote them when the band belatedly went major, and the press never suggested hooks to me as a kid (neither did an attempt at their Touch & Go best-of in college). But today I’m a lot more sympathetic to post-hardcore churn and bellow at its most aggressively swinging and playful (even if my inner A&R guy still chafes at that Albini vocal muffle). Scratch Acid didn't swing quite so hard, but they shared Cave & co's joy in scabrous hooting & hollering. I didn’t notice the occasional gothic misogynist violence until reading the lyric sheet, so caveat emptor if you aren't compelled to chalk it up to naive youth and genre cliche.
The Rapture - Echoes
I liked the hits on this Pitchfork 2003 Album Of The Year since 2003. A young band unafraid to chant over cowbells, with producers who weren’t afraid to strip the band down to hooks over the beat. The problem was everything without a dance beat felt nigh unconscionable, and too frequent. I still prefer the follow-up, Pieces Of The People We Love, which lacked the DFA drama but made up for it with more consistent boogiework. But time has given the whole of Echoes enough nostalgic appeal to merit ownership again. Isn’t that a hilarious lesson? If it bugs you that a new album sounds too much like twenty years ago, wait twenty years and it might sound like good old times, too.
Les Savy Fav - Go Forth
I’m of the opinion that these cats didn’t get truly magnificent until 2007’s surprise reunion album Let’s Stay Friends, but I love their sound - shrill, shouted surreal tales of sci-fi and scenesterdom over flanged-out post-hardcore churn - enough today to want five albums on the shelf (the other four in descending order of affection, with Go Forth fifth: Let’s Stay Friends, Inches, Root For Ruin and The Cat And The Cobra). Highlights here include the dystopian blitz “Reprobate’s Resume,” the majestic O. Henry tale “Adopduction” and the desperate drone climax “Bloom On Demand.” If you’re new to them, I’d still recommend first hearing these modes on Let’s Stay Friends, but if you were already on Team LSF by this album I’ll understand if you think that’s nonsense.