BORN AGAIN IN THE USA (2006)

THE BLOG THAT NO ONE READS IS BACK! HAD SOME WORK TO DO.

ANYWAY LET'S TALK ABOUT THE SECOND LOOSE FUR (JIM, JEFF TWEEDY, GLENN KOTCHE) ALBUM. THE FIRST ONE WAS THIS COOL AND KIND OF PLAYFULLY LOOSE ROCK-ISH RECORD FOR AUTUMNAL GENTLEMEN OF THE MIND. I LIKED IT AND THOUGHT JIM'S CONTRIBS WERE JUST SWELL.

BORN AGAIN IN THE USA (6/10 TITLE, NOT A FAN OF REFERENTIAL HUMOUR IN ROCK ALBUM TITLES, SORT OF SAYS YOU DON'T CARE AS MUCH I'D LIKE YOU TO, THEN AGAIN THAT DETACHED INSINCERITY IS VERY JIM) IS A TIGHTER AFFAIR THAT FEELS MORE LIKE A JEFF TWEEDY RECORD. THAT IS TO SAY THERE'S A BREEZY SIXTIES-TURNS-SEVENTIES FEEL ACROSS EVERYTHING THAT IS AGREEABLE.

JIM'S SONGS ARE THE STAR TURN: 'ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS' COULD BE ON EUREKA, 'STUPID AS THE SUN' COULD BE ON INSIGNIFICANCE, AND 'THOU SHALT WILT' HAS THE BREEZY BACHARACH FEEL THAT WE NOW KNOW JIM IS PRETTY INTO.

THIS IS A GOOD RECORD IN THE MAIN. THERE'S A LONG INSTRUMENTAL CALLED 'WRECKROOM' THAT OTHER CRITICS DIDN'T SEEM TO LIKE BUT I FIND IT BUMBLES ALONG QUITE NICELY. IT'S JUST MORE OBVIOUSLY JEFF'S RECORD TO MY EAR.

WEAPONS OF ASS DESTRUCTION (2006)

IF YOU ARE ON THIS ENTRY LOOKING FOR THE 2002 ADULT FILM STARRING BELLADONNA, THE POLITICAL THEORY BOOK BY ALFONZO RACHEL, THE HABANERO-LACED HOT SAUCE, OR THE RECORD BY DUNGEON MEAT THEN I AM VERY SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU. HOWEVER, MAYBE YOU LIKE COMPLETELY TUNELESS MUSIC TO FUCK TO, OWN THE LIBS TO, TO DOUSE ON YOUR FOOD, OR JUST SIMPLY TO LISTEN TO? IF SO, STICK AROUND.

FORTY MORE MINUTES ALONGSIDE MATS GUSTAFSSON AND THURSTON MOORE, DISKAHOLICS ROUND OUT THE SOLID CASE FOR THEM BEING THE WORST BAND THAT EVER LIVED. THREE ALBUMS OUT OF THREE OF ROTE AVANT IMPROVISATION THAT GOES NOWHERE AT ALL, SUCCESSFULLY EXPLORING NO MOOD, BREAKING NO GROUND, AND ONLY REALLY ANNOYING ANYONE WHO LISTENS.

JIM PLAYS SYNTH AND WHILE THIS BLOG IS ABOUT HIS WORK AND I'VE GENERALLY BEEN KIND, HE HAS TO SHOULDER SOME OF THE BLAME HERE WITH HIS SHITTY TONES AND ANTI-SOCIAL CREAKING AND BUZZING. YOU'RE IMPRESSING NO ONE MATE. GO AND HAVE A WORD WITH YOURSELF.

I HATE THIS AND I HATE DISKAHOLICS. DUD.

MELBOURNE DIRECT (2006)

IN WHICH THE STRONGEST CASE FOR KIM GORDON AS A MODERATING INFLUENCE ON SONIC YOUTH IS MADE: THIS RECORD, CREDITED TO THURSTON, LEE, AND STEVE OF SONIC YOUTH AS WELL AS JIM, GIVES 80 MINUTES OF FLOOR-SPACE TO THOSE BITS OF SONIC YOUTH GIGS THAT COME BETWEEN THE TALKING AND THE START OF THE RECOGNISABLE BITS OF SONGS.

IN SHORT IT IS 80 MINUTES OF PERCUSSIVE TAPPING ON ELECTRIC GUITARS HOOKED UP TO A SMALL ARMADA OF FX UNITS, CREATING ATMOSPHERIC BILLOWS OF SOUNDS AND UNFORMED EXPLORATORY MOMENTS. THERE ISN'T ANYTHING APPROACH A POP SONG HERE, AND STEVE SHELLEY'S CONTRIBUTIONS RARELY EVEN COULD BE FILED AS 'BEAT-KEEPING'. 

HUGE RESPECT FOR ALL OF THESE GUYS (MY LAPTOP LOCKSCREEN EVEN FEATURES RANALDO FROM THE INSET IMAGE OF THE ASCENSION BY GLENN BRANCA) BUT THIS LAPSES INTO TOSS AFTER NOT VERY LONG. HAD IT BEEN EDITED DOWN A LITTLE AND PERHAPS GONE THROUGH SOME DYNAMICS, MAYBE EVEN DARED TO PLAY WITH MELODY AND RHYTHM A LITTLE, I COULD HAVE SAID IT WAS A GOOD EXPERIMENT. 

BUT IT'S NOT. IT IS BASICALLY WANKING WITHOUT TECHNIQUE. OK OK THERE IS SOME TECHNIQUE AND SKILL IN COAGULATING 4 PLAYERS INTO THIS SOUND AND NOT HAVING ONE BECOME OVERLY-DOMINANT, AND IT IS NOT LIKE THIS RECORD IS CHARMLESS (THE LAST 8 MINUTES PICK UP!).

BUT I THINK I AM GOING 'DUD' FOR THE SECOND TIME IN 2006 AND THE SECOND TIME WITH THURSTON MOORE. COME TO THINK OF IT JIM'S 2006 RECORD WITH CHRIS CORSANO KINDA SUCKED TOO. NO WONDER HE TOOK SOME TIME OFF MUSIC SHORTLY AFTER.

DUD.

LIVE IN JAPAN VOL. 1 (2006)

I ALREADY WROTE ABOUT THIS ON LOADS OF LOAD SO HERE IS THE ONLY CROSSPOST BETWEEN THAT BLOG AND THIS.

POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS TERRITORY FOR LOAD RECORDS HERE AS THIS IS A BONAFIDE RELEASE BY A BUNCH OF DUDES WHO WERE ALREADY CELEBRITIES IN MUSIC AT THIS POINT. I CAN'T QUITE EXPLAIN WHY BUT THIS SORT OF TURNS LOAD INTO A BIG INDIE EVEN THOUGH THIS RECORD IS POINTEDLY AGAINST ALL THAT SORT OF EVENT RELEASE SHIT BY BEING A SPONTANEOUS GRAB OF SOUND FROM A SHOW.

DISKAHOLICS ARE SONIC YOUTHIST THURSTON MOORE, SAXOPHONIST MATS GUSTAFFSON, AND GENERAL MUSIC GUY JIM O'ROURKE. AND IF YOU'RE THINKING "THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE LINE-UP FROM A SONIC YOUTH SYR SERIES RECORD" THEN YOU'D BE NEARLY RIGHT AND ALSO NOT FAR OFF SOUND WISE. IT'S IMPROV EXPERIMENTAL NOISE WHERE BARELY ANY OF THE INSTRUMENTS SOUND LIKE THE EXPECTED TONE/TIMBRE/OUTPUT OF THAT PARTICULAR INSTRUMENT.

LIVE IN JAPAN JUST STUTTERS ALONG NOT REALLY EXPLORING ANY MOOD. IT'S AN INTRO WAITING TO GET TO AN ACTUAL JAM. IT IS NEGATIVE SPACE IN MUSIC INCARNATE. THERE ARE MORE OFFENSIVE RECORDS THAN THIS - IT IS ACTUALLY QUITE RESERVED - BUT CHRIST THE IDEA OF SPENDING MONEY ON THIS SEEMS ABSURD IN 2020. MAYBE WE HAVEN'T LOST AS MUCH AS I THOUGHT WE HAD.

 

GENUINE DUD OF A RECORD.

MIMIDOKODESUKA (2006)

A BAND GOING BY THE NAME OF OSOREZAN MASKING A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT WITH DARIN GRAY (WHO WAS IN BRISE-GLACE AND GENERALLY A LONGTIME PAL OF O'ROURKE) AND IN DEMAND DRUMMER EXTRAORDINAIRE CHRIS CORSANO (CIRCULAR BREATHING ON A DRUMKIT REMAINS ONE OF THOSE LIVE MOMENTS TO BE TOPPED).

THIS IS ONE OF THOSE YOU WOULD PROBABLY FILE UNDER JAZZ OR FREE ROCK BECAUSE OF BOTH TERMS HAVING SOME SENSE OF MALLEABILITY WHEN IT COMES TO 'NOT PAYING MUCH ATTENTION TO RULES OR YOUR ENJOYMENT'. 

WHAT GENERALLY PAINS ME ABOUT THIS KIND OF MUSIC, HAVING BEEN AROUND VARIOUS FREE ROCK/JAZZ SCENES AT THE TIME THIS WAS RECORDED (THAT CORSANO WAS ACTIVE IN) IS THAT THERE ABSOLUTELY *IS* AN ORTHODOXY HERE, A DOGMA, AN UNDERPINNING. AND I HATE TO SAY IT THAT THAT DOGMA IS 'AVOID DOING ANYTHING FAMILIAR'. YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE HOW QUICKLY THAT BECOMES BORING DESPITE PURPORTING TO VENTURE BOLDLY ON THE OPPOSITE PATH.

I HAVEN'T MATURED ENOUGH TO PRETEND TO GET INTO STUFF LIKE THIS. IT ISN'T THE MOST OBJECTIONABLE RECORD IN ITS CLASS AND AT TIMES MIGHT EVEN PITCH TOWARD THE WELCOMING SHORES OF BEING OK, BUT IT IS MUSIC THAT TRADES ON NAMES RATHER THAN MERIT. 

JIM DID A FEW GUITAR SKRONK RECORDS LIKE THIS WHILE HE WAS IN SONIC YOUTH AND WILCO, CLEARLY PERTURBED BY ALL THOSE ACTUAL MELODIES HE WAS COMPLICIT IN MAKING.

NOT QUITE A DUD BUT NOT FAR OFF.