The Sonic Mastery of Zen Guerrilla

I don't remember most of the specific details for the show where I saw Zen Guerrilla the first time. They were probably playing with Cash Money (later Cash Audio) and maybe the Quadrajets as well. Probably at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. Somewhere around the hazy aethers of 1998. Whatever night it was Zen Guerrilla made an immediate impression on my friends and I. It was common at that time for us to stop by the merch booth on the way out and plunk down money for a disc or 7" (still do when I go to shows, but unfortunately it's not as common these days). One of us must have done so (my money's on Mr. Brown) because soon after Positronic Raygun was in very heavy rotation amidst our little group. It is a fantastic record and while it didn't completely capture the sonic explosion of the group's live performance, engineers Scott Herzog and Matt Kelley helped the band come pretty close. It's blues-flavored RocknRoll Hendrix style - dipped in the sheer cosmic slop of cranked-up reverb and distant radio signals. Even the outro, an almost three-minute loop of a single bar of music dubbed "Frequency Out" has such a strange, otherworldly sound that I have been known to put it on repeat and listen to it for hours on end, often because I don't want the tone the band sets to end.

I was able to see the group one other time, sometime in 2000 I think at the Bottle opening for Nebula. Once again they were magnificent. Hadn't lost a step. And at both gigs their show-stopping set closer, a balls-out cover of Iron Maiden's The Trooper, was really just a smash in the teeth (almost literally for one of us, as the second time the singer Marcus dove off the stage at directly at my friend Hawk who had but a single instant to move before being crushed by the much-larger man. I felt bad that Marcus had ended up landing pretty much face-first on the beer-soaked floor, but I was glad I didn't have to drive my friend to the Hospital).

Dramarama - Anything, Anything

It's weird, I never heard this song before I moved to LA. Here they play it on pretty much every rock station, still, despite it being considerably old. Even KROQ plays it, and their rotation is about fifteen songs wide and really only dips into the 90's for (of course) Nirvana and (inexplicably) that Harvey Danger song Flagpole sitta (which I actually dig).

Marvel's Doctor Strange Movie

image courtesy of screenrant.com

This news is hours old so I'm not breaking anything here, but I just have to say that the fact that Marvel Phase 3 will contain a Doctor Strange movie is AWESOME!!!

Now, who to cast, eh?

UPDATE: Well, I've started a petition to get Hugh Laurie cast as Stephen Strange, not thinking that it will work per se, but as a method for showing Marvel support (or, I guess, lack thereof, for the actor getting the role). Read about and link to sign it on Joup: Laurie FOR Strange.

Also, check out Laurie's LastFM site here.

An Unexpected Gem of a Compilation

Oh, along about ten or eleven years ago there was a great little record store in Bridgeview, IL. It was about the only good thing in Bridgeview that was good, unless you count numerous adventures in Guidish Park trailer park (now known by some other, uppity name). Anyway, the store was called Unabused Music and it was run by a great uy named Mark. He specialized in having weird imports, bread-and-butter albums by great bands and generally just a nice selection of interesting left-of-center items. I discovered Au Pairs via a 6-disc compilation set I purchased from Mark.

It doesn't look like much. Frankly it looks like it's trying waaaaayyyyy too hard. But something made me buy it* and I was very glad that I did.

Along with Au Pairs there are a number of standout tracks that introduced me to a bunch of bands that I'd either heard of but never really heard or just plain had never heard of. This is one:



The live version of Chelsea's Right to Work on the Shit Factory is a lot more... concise and in general a better listen, but the one above is quite the interesting watch. I mean, the performance above pretty much becomes a shambles at one point, but that's part of the whole atmosphere of this scene - or at least as I understand it through my research, not having been there.

Lastly, the first track that really did it for me on the aforementioned Shit Factory was The Fall's Rowche Rumble - I'd always been aware of the accolades The Fall were given but they had remained on my periphery until I heard this track and fell absolutely in love.




.............

* This was when I was in a band called The Yellow House - a band that ended up making some pretty decent strides in really making a name for ourselves. It was easily my most radio-friendly group, kind of a combination of Blur, The Kinks and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. In a Magickal effort to help us achieve our goal (which in the end it didn't) I named the Record Industry my 'god' and began making a weekly 'sacrifice' to it by no matter what buying two new CDs every Monday. This turned out great for my record collection, however the band eventually died right on the cusp of something great.

Ka sera sera

Start 'em early

Prepare your child for a job in the fast food industry with this helpful (and - in some cases - disturbingly prophetic) play kit!

Did somebody say lower your self esteem?

Dog Faced Hermans - Keep Your Laws Off My Body

The Cure - carnage visors

This is The Cure that I reeeaaallly love: Cold, dark and eerie. I'm glad they finally lightened up, but damn is this an exercise in PERFECT TONE.

Carnage Visors was hard to come by for most of the 90's. I remember seeing it on the B-side of the Faith cassette at Wind Records in Oak Lawn, IL. I didn't buy it, it disappeared and then when I went to buy Faith on disc it didn't have Carnage Visors. I eventually found it on an Import of B-sides and rarities, but I've still never bought Faith, probably just from the force of habit of waiting to come across a version with CV on it. About time I do that though - I'm largely unfamiliar even with it as an album but I remember at the very least The Drowning Man and The Funeral Party are great.