Ecovillage – Rhonda De Sant Pere 7.4

                Ecovillage create expansive music. It is ambient yet feels a bit like rock. Without any particular percussion it manages to conjure up images of shoegaze. To some degree I’m reminded of a less distant Tim Hecker as the melodies are more noticeable and intimate. 

                “Rhonda De Sant Pere” begins the two-track EP. Out of wisps little movements are formed. The two Swedes (Emil Holmström and Peter Wikström) deftly avoid any stasis in the movement. Vocals appear somewhere on the periphery of the piece. Sustained tones morph in the background. Nothing is ever quite focused but it feels better having a lush, meditative sound than something overpowering. Little inclusions of nature field recordings add to the pastoral feeling of the piece.

                The second half sprawls for over ten minutes. You don’t really notice the time pass by. “Amadeu I” is more melancholy. Fragments of guitar and violin appear out of the murk. Eventually these all build together into a satisfying conclusion. I’m reminded a little bit of Sigur Ros in this song, perhaps this kind of psychedelic music is native to Scandinavia, I’m not entirely sure.

                I am sure about the EP’s quality. Really it came in the nick of time for me. My only hope is they release a full album next time. This is the kind of music you can sit back with and let wash over you for a while. I’d suggest doing exactly that.

Poetry Review: I am like October when I am dead

Poetry confuses me. It is one of those art forms where the purpose is often obscured. Usually the power resides with the reader than the writer. I have a few poet friends and I’ve mentioned how anxious I feel going through it. How should I react to this? Is it even good that I can relate to it? Am I supposed to understand what’s going on? Is this even a place for a poetry review, since most of my writing has to do with music?

I decided to try and push aside my natural prejudices towards this art form as I dove into Steve Roggenbuck’s chapbook “i am like october when i am dead”.  Apparently this poet had randomly been following me on twitter, with rather cryptic, bizarre tweets, so I decided to return the favor by reading his more full length work. 

His poetry reads like twitter poetry, since most of it is very brief. Most (but not all) of these poems are within the 140 character limit required. I liked some of these poems more than others, since I felt the minimal style worked well for him. Below is each poem, followed by my reaction. Note everything is lower case in his writing. And if you’re familiar with the likes of Tao Lin and his ilk, then this may be somewhat familiar to you, tone-wise. 

1.

i dont care about reading a poem

who do you think i am, robert frost?

i have never been in the woods and i hate walking

-Reaction: I thought this ended up being a tad bit too cute. Steve acknowledges the reader’s hesitancy in wanting to read poetry, but it came off as a bit too silly for me. Actually it took me another go before I decided to read the other ones.

2.

god help me im throwing my neighbor off a building

-Reaction: Liked this one more than the previous one, but it still made me anxious about what awaited me. 

3.

i drink ten gallons of rice milk and pull the headlights out of my car hood

now they are way gone

-Reaction: This one mixes what I think is his sense of humor with strange detail. Using “way gone” instead of “gone” gives it a funnier vibe. I started to become more interested in it, though I acknowledge beginning anything is always tricky.

4.

there is a show on the history channel about the mayan doomsday prophecy

jupiter is in the south of the sky

i love you in the south like the hurricanes of Jupiter

-Reaction: As a person who takes great interest in doomsday, I liked the meshing with it and love. There’s actually been writing about the destructive powers of love, so I feel the poem works on that level. 

5.

you are gone

for lunch i had peanuts

-Reaction: I like his shorter stuff. This seems to flow nicely from the previous passage, giving it a sense of continuity. Or I might just be reading into it too much. 

6.

i have two sunflowers wilting on my bookshelf

thats it

thats all

the poem is done, get out

-Reaction: Again, the referencing of itself bothers me a bit. I’m not sure if I’m the kind of audience he’s trying to appeal to though. Had he kept just the first sentence or simply removed the last, I would’ve liked it more. It is kind of strange for me to ask for edits in such a short thing. Oh well. 

7.

climbing onto this church

thank god

carrying a giant rake with me to scare walking individuals

-Reaction: This is funny. I enjoyed the image of carrying a giant rake. 

8.

last february i drove home from the library next to finch fieldhouse, sigur rós was on the cd player in the car with a tape adapter

i saw an elephant walking out of a circus truck into the parking lot of finch fieldhouse

-Reaction: Apparently the Sigur Ros reference was to improve the emotional content of the poem, since he felt for the poor Elephant. But my music snob tendencies went into overdrive once he said that the CD he was listening to was their “()” album, which I disliked. Ignorance is bliss I guess. 

9.

to my nephew on his birthday

i will choke your dad

i dont care

im not afraid

-Reaction: For whatever reason, this reminded me of the Doors song, perhaps it is that last line. Though he wrote “im” my mind reads it only as “I am”. It feels defiant. 

10.

if you call me, i wont answer

i am sitting under the moon inside of a wheelbarrow

-Reaction: Enjoyed this quite a bit. Despite the short length, it conveyed to be a sense of childhood, where our emotions take hold of logic. That still happens as adults, but the wheelbarrow confirmed it could only apply to kids. 

11.

i am like october when i am dead

there is my hand

i am like the killers of people

-Reaction: This one is bizarre. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about it. 

12.

i asked my dad if the corn harvest is over

it is way over, my dad said

-Reaction: I had no idea about this one. I didn’t grow up on a farm. Apparently Steve did according to his youtube video thing. His voice sounds American, he looks American, and he probably picked corn or milked cows or whatever in his rural town. I’m not as American as Steve Roggenbuck. Sorry. 

13.

the hymnal at my grandmothers funeral says 'wives be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the lord'

five months ago i saw a video of a dog being thrown into a garbage compactor

-Reaction: The darkest one in here. I don’t know whether or not I like it. Since it leaves me so confused, I’ll say that’s probably a good thing. 

14.

oh, you have a smock on

-Reaction: This reminds me of Ernest Hemingway’s six word story. Obviously, Steve’s take is lighter. The choice of the word “smock” gives it a playful connotation, like little children or painters. I enjoyed this one a lot. 

15.

i rented a movie and recorded over it with two hours of myself

on the video i am shouting compliments at my family

i burn my car on purpose

it is january

i greet myself at the beginning of a great career

-Reaction: I liked bits of it. Steve mentioned in the commentary that the last line was re-phrasing Walt Whitman’s line of “I greet you at the beginning of a great career” (via his own commentary on his writing). This one feels chaotic, since he’s doing so many strange things. 

Overall: I liked this. Had he removed some of the more coy parts of it, such as the poem referencing itself, I might have enjoyed it a bit more but this might be a personal preference of mine. Hopefully I get to see more material of his at a later point in time. Since he seems keen on having this available to the public, it won’t be long before we see more from him. I’m strongly considering actually ordering one of these chapbooks from him. The use of space in the chapbook and on the website allows you to place your own ideas into them, various doodles and notes. Please keep up the work, good sir!

I want a Low-Octane Performance.

Reading about concert reviews, I stumbled upon a Rihanna article. It stated how Rihanna rocks in a sudden surprise show in Manhattan. Everybody all around Times Square started singing with her, glad to have her bestow her presence on mere commoners. They are pleased to see her on such a small stage, it is so exciting.

I hear these words describing concerts all the time. Honestly, I’m a little tired of these performances showing “enthusiasm” for the audience. Rather than these high-octane performances, I want a low-octane performance. When I enter that concert hall, I want the singer or performers to be half-asleep or fully asleep.

There’s a few ways this can happen, and it already looks like pop and indie music are converging on the same point. Pop musicians lip-sync like it was nobody’s business. So you get to watch your favorite artist dance right in front of you. Since they’re performing to a pre-recorded track, they really can give it their all dance-wise. Of course they can go further. Whitney Houston doesn’t lip sync; she just kind of stands there and forgets the lyrics of most of her songs. Perhaps if she decided to get a beer in the middle of her concert as the rest of the band sort of mumbles, then I might want to see her live. 

Indie music as well includes similar forms of sleepiness. Some entire genres are based exclusively on not interacting with the audience. Off the top of my head, I’d say shoegaze does a great job of embodying that non-performance I want others to strive towards. Unable to be bothered with even looking at the audience, they merely play their instruments and stare blankly at their Converse sneakers. 

Outside of rock, there are those legends. Salem could not care less whether or not you enjoy their performance. In fact, when they were asked about their dreadful appearance at South by Southwest, they stated that “Who cares about performing live, we wanted to take a nap. Those audience members should consider themselves lucky to see us. Screw our fans, those guys suck.”  After the fall out and receiving only a 7.5 on Pitchfork for their album, they have since shied away from such middle finger invoking statements. I guess most of the buzz-o-sphere wants musicians who ‘care’ about what they do, rather than having them rap while on psychotropic substances.  Nonetheless, they take “Not giving a fuck” to a whole new level. 

My ideal low octane performance might be an even more lethargic slow version of Sigur Ros. Instead of standing up for the performance, the attendees bring blankets and pillows. As the band begins, they move at a sloth-like pace. Slowly, things build down to the absolute basic parts of the music. Think of a stripped down version of Low and you’re halfway there. Eventually the drummer falls asleep and the guitars play so rarely all you hear is the ghost eminence of what had been a chord. The singer brings all of the band members together and they spoon on stage before falling asleep completely.

I really hope that someday these indie and pop bands will realize how much easier things can be if they take this approach. That way energy could be used more productively by updating their twitter, posting songs up on pitchfork/youtube, and partying hard. Bands, you’re welcome. Audience, buy some sleep attire. May I suggest matching pajamas?

Travelling Without Moving: Thanks Jamiroquai for the suggestion: Day Two

Today you’re probably all spaced out from yesterday’s trip up to the higher levels of weird. Don’t worry; I haven’t lessened the cataclysmic storms of the bizarre today. Bring food, snacks, whatever you need. Get a book, do some reading, expand your mind. Avoid the television, or, if you must watch, put it on cartoons and turn the sound off. Then make up the dialogue according to the sound. I’ve done this before; it is a very funny experience, especially the more hyperactive the cartoon is. I’d say Anime would be your best bet, but that’s just merely a suggestion.

Without further ado, I present day two of your journey.

Day Two


1. Gastr Del Sol – Our Exquisite Replica of “Eternity”
Jim O’Rourke gets a lot of shit, mostly by me. This song explains my reasoning behind it. It shows that before he went down a lazy, predictable path, he had the ability and inclination to follow his muse wherever it led him. Here you get a real feel for the build up, which leads into the progressive rock epic following.
2. Van Der Graaf Generator – A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers
Rusty Venture definitely let his kids listen to this, in order to find their creative muse via 70s progressive rock. He couldn’t do much worse than this; this is sort of the crowning achievement of so much nerdy dorks with far too much musical training.
3. Fuck Buttons – Olympians
FUCK BUTTONS! This takes its size and inflates it dramatically with noise, melody, and tribal drums. Does it work? Oh, it works so very well.
4. Television – Marquee Moon
After the past few intense songs, I figured we might need to slow it down a bit. Notice for this particular playlist there’s a few visitors from the 70s. This is just one of many common threads.
5. Tortoise – DJED
Single-handedly remixing any and almost all worthwhile genres of rock and rock-related genres into a massive mix, this does justice to their vision of a “jazz band playing rock music”. If you’re not so keen on the more “difficult” tendencies of this list, I’d suggest going with this one first. Like the New York Times stated, this is “the easy listening end of the avant-garde”. Maybe I’ll make an easy listening, or abridged version of these three lists. We’ll see.
6. Philip Glass – The Grid
Continuing the non-offensive music comes Philip Glass. Basically, the complaint many have is that he steals from his previous works, like “Music in Twelve Parts” among other things. But this definitely gives a great example of what sort of music he’s capable of when he’s hot.
7. Janek Schaefer – The Ruined City
Veering a bit towards the more the experimental, we have what is essentially a remix of depressing classical pieces. Rather than allow his technical performances overwhelm the samples, he works more around the territory than stupidly smashing through it. That sort of stuff happens later in the mix, with far more useless music.
8. British Sea Power – Lately
An epic jam bringing to mind the best and happiest of Grateful Dead, had they existed until the late 90s intact. Towards the end, watch the volume, it gets very loud.
9. Oneida – Sheets of Easter
You’ve to look into the LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT. Uh, I found the perfect repeating loud stupid music. And it is this. There’s no evolution, it is the same thing throughout the entire length. You’re welcome.
10. The Residents – Part Two: the Making of a soul
Birthed from Elvis’s vagina in the 1840s, following the annexation of the Northwest Territories, they roamed the countryside planting apple trees while fighting the Confederacy.

This is all irrelevant however. Really they are theatrical people who created such another-worldly Dadaist play that it must be heard to be believed. I’d recommend the whole album of “Not Available” but this is probably the best bit.
11. Of Montreal – No Conclusion
If you missed what Of Montreal was before Skeletal Lamping, try this, the EP right before that said album came out. Without any idea that they are, I’ll let you know they conjure the images of the glam of David Bowie during his glammiest phase.
12. Terre Thaemlitz – Elevatorium
Neurosis of living in an urban area is reflected oh so well. There are some beautiful things at work, and it is a bit of a shame that in later releases Terre focused more on theory than actual musical content. Here he lets the music speak for itself, without any little theory ruining your blissful dreams.
13. Amp – Perception Returns
Amp nicely compliments Terre’s music. Now we move into the countryside for a form of “rural psychedelic a” that Flying Saucer specialized in. Only in this case, we don’t have to put up with their crumby vocals.
14. Joanna Newsom – Only Skin
Homes infected with Hipsters usually put this on to get rid of them. She’s pretty damn important, and if you were wondering what renaissance fair music would sound like taken to the highest level possible, this would be it. Perhaps if this played at renaissance fairs, I might actually go to them.
15. Nobukazu Takemura – Icefall
Every time I’ve put this on for people, they called it “emotionless computer music”. I disagree; this song puts a smile on my face for the rest of the day every time I hear it. Each little glitch sounds like a computer in the wild passionate throbs of love. Adore it.
16. Sigur Ros – Vidrar vel til loftarasa
This comes closest to anything normal you’ve heard for about the past hour. Odd that the bizarre Icelandic group has to “mainstream” things on here, but that’s what we’re looking at. Indeed, it is truly lovely stuff, rightly influenced by slowcore (one of my favorite genres) and post-rock.
17. Tim Hecker – Incurably Optimistic
Ambient noises come together to from a happy melodic drone.
18. Do Make Say Think – Fredericia
I’ve been fortunate enough to see these guys live, they are excellent. Many people would compare them to a watered down Godspeed, but I don’t think so. They have the same citizenship as Godspeed, but they focus more on the tender side of things than the epic scale Godspeed employs.
19. Jandek – Not Even Water
A depressed Texan comes up on side and starts singing ultra-depressing stuff. Nobody in the audience knows who he is, and then he really rips into the material. By the second song, most have guessed that he is Jandek. But this first song no one knew a thing.
20. Rodan – The Everyday World of Bodies
Beginning the intense paranoia, Rodan kicks off their longest, most enraged song. Forming from the ashes of Slint, they had the pedigree, and, had they stayed together, probably could have gotten a serious following. But like so many bands in Louisville, they cut it short for reasons we’ll never know.
21. Butthole Surfers – Jimi
I am death. – Gibby Haynes. Uh, none of this song makes any sense and the guitar solo sounds like Jimi Hendrix is getting severely tortured while playing his heart out in a sewer system somewhere.
22. Royal Trux – (Edge of the) Ape Oven
The strongest track off “Twin Infinitives” they make sure the hits are directly scored. Both of them sing utter nonsense about things that may exist in their minds/reality. It is hard to tell, as their ravings and intelligent remarks sort of melt into one screed.
23. Autechre – Second Peng
Yeah, you can’t avoid Autechre for long, uncomfortably paranoid pieces. This is from their “pre-digital” era, so the sound will appeal to those who found 90s electronic better than that 00s glitch stuff. Plus, there’s a ton of empty space to get lost in.
24. Kid606 – Never Underestimate the Value of a Holla
KID606 goes insane, starts destroying all pop from 2002. Perhaps besides adoring loud, aggressive punk, he’s a secret closet fan of trashy pop hits.
25. New Order – Perfect Kiss
You should know this.
26. The Juan MacLean – Happy House
Following so close after New Order, this shows that the goofy spirit did not die, but lived on. Though it sounds so simple, the amount of detail put into it is pretty impressive, as is the multiple parts.
27. Boards of Canada – Happy Cycling
Boards of Canada are pretty much dormant right now. But when they’re hot, they’re hot. This one is from their first “official” album, and it is a real wonder. It ended the album, like it ends my mix for today.