OHHH...danny boy

In the haze known as this afternoon, I somehow remember my conversation last night with Rick Digglesworth aka "Papa Barrel." It went like this:"Glover don't work." I had been wondering why no one had downloaded that particular track, as if there was some secret about it that I wasn't privy to. So if you tried to download the tune "Glover" from the Barrel lp and it didn't work, it should now. Just look to your right in the "Omnibus Links" section and click that bitch. The Barrel lp link, that is.

Hey people, let me know if it doesn't. Like love, this blog is a two way street and you can add comments.

Charts

Out of 82 files total:

top 10 Downloaded Files (so far)...
New Band 25
Purkinje Final show track 6 24
Purkinje final show track 1 21
Moreland Audio Final untitled track 20
Home of the Wildcats crime story 16
Moreland Audio string theory track 15
Purkinje final show track 2 15
Copa Vance four 14
Home of the Wildcats fireside matador 11
HOTW glory and whiskey 11


Total downloads to date: 417

As I start to have less stuff to post I'm sure the downloads will slow down, but as soon as I reach 1000 downloads I'll post a video of the first Purkinje Shift show ever (also from Moreland Avenue Tavern.)

The Band Who Wasn't There

As long as I'm posting practice recordings, I figured I'd put up some recordings of a band that failed to get off the ground. Right before this new thing with Bryan Fielden, Gary and I were playing in a band with Lee Corum on drums called Book of Rides. We got three songs together and then Lee got too busy (hmmmm... .) I feel like the songs were pretty good so I'll put em on up for yas. They were recorded in sparkling thunderbox stereo mush. I don't know if we'll rearrange these songs or parts of them with Bryan. We'll see.

Songs this way...

Broken omnibus lnks

are fxx//d

Yess Yess Yule

Sax w/ noots...sax + bari guits with c//d-v'oh

james al shejoyce in nootsy and sunn av krusharr

Riffing is Fundamental

Last year or the year before (boy it all blends together,) maybe even the year before that I was involved in a version of Russell Jackson's Riff Fest/Ansurbana. Originally he wanted it to be a big involved thing with multiple drummers and many guitarists but it ended up being just a quartet. It was: Russell//guitar---Rick Moore//guitar---Lee Corum//drumset//hand percussion---me//bass//tenor sax//hand percussion. Russel had it posted somewhere but I can't find it anymore.

Anyway, it is one 16 minute recording divided into about four sections. The first section is total noise. The whole band overdubbed on top of itself playing chaotic craziness. The next section is slow sludge a la melvins/earth, but based on a random numeric form we came up with. That goes into a drone rock groove section over which I play saxophone and Lee and I also overdubbed bongo and conga drums. That's right, Lee played hand drums. That eventually gets into the closing math polyriff for about two minutes. Just like some of the avant jazz stuff I've posted, if you actually sit down and listen to it then it can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. I'm not sure it's ipod treadmill material. Maybe it is though. I'm about to get a new YMCA card so I'll let you know.

I have to thank Russell for organizing the whole thing and bankrolling the recording. It was recorded at Zero Return studios. If it wasn't the last thing recorded there then it would have to be one of the last. The whole thing was 16 minutes and with overdubs we got it done in maybe two hours. Russ had paid for the day so with all that time left over Lay Down Mains came in and recorded (and mixed) their tune "Grey Sands" which I believe came out on the ISP 7" comp.

Okay now,

Riff-fest III is this way...

Hopefully we can do something like it again someday. I had a blast.

Skronk

"Skronk" is a term coined by Robert Christgau (or at least Lester Bangs attributed it to him in his "A Reasonable Guide to Horrible Noise") to describe the music made by musicians in the late '70s art-punk movement No Wave (i.e. DNA, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, etc.), and like-minded noisy or 'difficult' pieces of music.

I just lifted that from http://skronkbox.blogspot.com. Of course, in the interim the term has been co-opted by other journalists to define a particular genre of music involving the saxophone. The downtown music of John Zorn comes to mind as an archetype for "skronk."

I do giveth and partaketh of the ol' skronk my own seff, though I feel as though the noisy aspect isn't quite as involved in my own playing. I have witnessed first hand people that find my free playing incredibly noisy and unmusical though, so the skronk is in the eye of the beholder. You can be the judge if you download the performances I'm posting of duets with Keith Leslie (on drums.) Keith is an incredible drummer and pianist, never ceasing to amaze me with his sense of spontaneity. He was the original drummer of Samadha and also played keyboards in Twittering Machine.

Why do I like this style of music? Because it's HARD. When nothing is preset and no one knows whats about to happen...well I think it's actually alot truer to what daily life is really like. It often sucks, but when it doesn't it can be very, very beautiful (in the words of John Lurie.)

Okay, enough bullshit.

There are three files: two live sets from Eyedrum and one from live @ WREK.

They are pretty big files but I think some of you will really enjoy them. They go well with coffee..maybe 10 a.m....I'll see you there.


Keith and Ben Avant Duets are here...


p.s. I encourage everyone to find John Coltrane's "interstellar Space" cd. That album inspired me to pick up the saxophone after a 5 year post high school hiatus. It is really what is behind my desire to explore the tenor sax/drum format. I've been listening to it for about 12 years now and I keep finding new things in it.

not in a food court...

...but in a radio station. Yes I got som peeps on the old Live @ WREK cd. Before Bryan Fielden was a beret wearin' goatee havin' jazz drummer (okay no hat or goatee) he was an indie rock guitarist. That's right. I promise. He was in a band called The 42 with another guy named Frank on drums and another guy on bass. Their track from the WREK cd is called " Perpheral Hearing Aid." I have no idea if it's Bryan singing or not. Bryan's frequent collaborator in San Augustin, Andrew Burnes, was originally known as a bass player rather than the international avant guitarde hero he is recognized as today. While he was in the aforementioned Barrel, he was also holding down the ass end of William Carlos Williams. Also in that band was my partner in tenor skronk Rob Mallard. I will be posting more music featuring Rob very soon. Their track is called "Salt Pilla (Heavy Parham.") And yes: live at wrek is now held in a food court in the student's center at Georgia Tech. The last time I played there a guy named Richard Noble was running it and he did a wonderful job...very friendly etc. It was very hard playing free jazz in that food court though, I must say. Support 'em now but don't forget this old stuff. The cd is available as a real player file on the wrek.org site.

42 and WCW this way...

The Birth of a performance artist

Little did Adam O. know that the Moreland Audio midwest tour would affect his direction in life so profoundly. This youtube video was actually his first public performance of Sitting, Breathing, Not Thinking ( about anything but porn.)

Also check out where he headed

New Band

I've been playing lately (guitar) with Gary from Purkinje Shift and Bryan Fielden from San Augustin. It's more two guitar + drums no bass no vocal madness. I enjoy playing in this configuration again.

We've been moving rather slowly due to the fact that the other two guys in the band act like adults and must sometimes shoulder the responsibilities of their daily lives, but the ball is starting to roll. Oh, I guess I did cancel practice for about a month due to a very bad man who called himself a contractor.

I'm linking here to a practice recording of a new song (recorded today.) This was the second time we played it all the way through so it's a little raw. There is no band name yet but the ideas are a brewin'. Let me know what you think.

New Band Here

The painting is by Neil Blender and has no relation to anything else in this post. Maybe I'll post pictures of my paintings. Next time.

Nine Underground

I was going to post some big free jazz files of mine, but I'm still having trouble with the computer end of things. Ithink it's an old OSX thing. In the meantime I'm posting an album called Nine//Underground. This was a compilation of Atlanta electronic/experimental music from 1980-84ish. My brother produced the album for Perimeter records. Arthur (my brother) had a radio show on WREK, initially called "Conceptions" and then "Notes From Underground", that played experimental, ambient and industrial music from around the world c. 1982-88 (I'm guessing.) His friend Glen Thrasher, now of A Capella Books, had a radio show running on WREK concurrently called "Destroy All Music." Ellen McGrail may still be doing that show, but I'm not sure because it's so hard to listen to WREK now (unless you're into terrrible Turkish pop music.) During that time there was a healthy scene in Atlanta that semi supported the extremes in art and music. I say that, but I was not there ( I was probably ten) and I remember my brother being very poor at the time. Anyway, this was before laptops, before PCs, before regular bars like Lenny's would accept just about anybody. These people were the true pioneers and I have to respect that because it was done with no expectation of real accolades whatsoever.

One person on this comp went on to semifame and that was Jarboe...real name Jane Couch. She ended up in Swans and now does her own alt/goth/diva thing as "The Living Jarboe." Let me tell you...when my brother was 20 and she was 31 and he brought her home for thanksgiving...well, my parents and my brother are great now. Just listen to her track and imagine the cranberry sauce!

Hmm...pvc precinct ended up having Johhny Ether aka John Laubach in the band..young schizophrenics really was a crazy dude..incest, well legend has it that it was brother, sister and daughter in their band...sequence 3 was John Kincaid who did "Personality Crisis" on WREK...Pillowtexans were people that lived in the Pillowtex warehouse on Mitchell Street(?) back when loft living was a very dubious prosect, indeed...

I can't ermember much else except that the label was perimeter records which was run by Chris Swarz. I swear I saw him dancing aroud drunk at El Myr last friday...who knows?

Here 'tis:

Nine//Underground

Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Doh! I mean Pine, Cotton, Sand...or is it Pine AND Cotton, Sand. I already can't remember. Well anyway, David Daniell sent the Barrel lp to me and one of those phrases is its title. He took it straight off of the 180 gram virgin vinyl so there are a few pops and scratches if you're scared of that sort of thing. I think it was recorded by the dude that recorded Engine Kid...somewhere up and to the right. There's nothing else to say other than it rocks hard. I guess I guess I could also say that it's hard to find bands in Atlanta using 2 marshall half stacks and an SVT. Nobody uses the manamps anymore (as far as I know and that's not saying much.)

Here they are:

Barrel lp

Oh yeah, I don't think the vinyl is available anywhere. Once it is I'll post a link to it (probably to Stickfigure.)

Wislov

Both before and during Moreland Audio, Adam was in a band called Wislov. It consisted of Blake Williams (wi) Nat Slaughter (sl) and Adam Overton (ov.) trombone-keys/bass/drums. I remember them being on the Medeski/Martin/Wood tip at the beginning, but they evolved into miles/drumandbass craziness. What I'm posting here sounds kind of like they warmed up by smoking a joint soaked in Miles Davis's ass sweat (I still have no idea how to make my own last name possesive.) We have three tracks from a cd titled "Suite for Bibi Andersson" and dated 6/15/99 only since they were young artists they did it eurosteez (15.6.99.) I showed the picture from the cd to Karen and all she could say was "that sure is a big bass." Unfortunately, unless I buy a scanner you will never know the mass of Nat's instrument. Why only three tracks? Because Wislov was three cocksure young boys who liked to play twenty minute songs and I need a new hard drive.

Wislov

More Moreland...

I just found a recording of Moreland Audio dated 1/17/02 from the Earl. I believe it was recorded by Henry Owings. Also on the bill that night were Ocelot and The Common Cold. I seem to remember not liking The CC that much, but when I looked them up on itunes...well it sounds kind of like Moreland Audio (maybe a little lighter.) It's funny, but when I listen to this stuff I can hear people I know in the audience and form a mental picture of the night. Listen for Bruce Bohannon...super easy to pick out. I also seem to remember Gary getting annoyed with the "crazy stuff" that I said in between songs, and you can see what that amounts to here.

MO//AUD live @ EARL

In the hopper for the moment I get an external hard drive:

Barrel studio album
Nine Underground (atlanta electronic music 80-82)
Keith Leslie/Ben Davis free jazz duets
Nu South Subterraneans
Book of Rides

Copage

Almost forgot about Copa Vance in the String Theory post. They were on that comp as well. All good friends of mine and some bandmates at one time or another. Rick Moore/Bruce Bohannon/Alan Chastain/Lee Corum. Guitar Sing/Guitar Sing/Bass/Drums. They were very, very, very loud. It's hard to believe that Rick has actually turned down in the ensuing years.

Here's their track.

Strang(e) Theory

Back in the day, which in today's terms means about five years ago, Pat Foley and John Somebody (sorry, I'm bad with names) started having benefit shows for a comp cd they were working on called "String Theory." Everything was recorded at Shangrila studios by Will Nameescapesme. I ended up being in two bands that were on the comp: A good Horse and Moreland Audio.

A Good Horse was Daniel Clay's band. I say that because he really wrote all of the compositions. The band consisted of me on saxophone, Daniel on Guitar, Robbie Handley on bass, Nat Slaughter on bass, and Jamie Shepard on drums. I will post more AGH shortly that also includes additional members Bryan Fielden on drums and Gordon Vernick on trumpet. This track from string theory is some of my favorite music ever, but shortly after it was recorded Daniel didn't want to do it anymore. Jeez Daniel...at least don't stop the solo stuff. I had a 102 degree fever the day this was recorded (in the summer.)

Moreland Audio was me on guitar and baritone guitar, Gary Flom from Purkinje Shift on guitar and lap steel and Adam Overton on drums and laptop metronome. Due to a tuner malfunction our track was tuned a half step up from the usual tuning. I was playing baritone guitar. The end of this track came from us fucking around in practice trying to duplicate a skipping cd player in our music.

For some reason Will did not want the musicians to be around when the music was mixed and I'll have to say publicly that that is completely insane. It makes me love Westside Red even more.

The two tracks are

this way

Direction(able)

Back before I went off in this particular musical direction, which may not be particularly discernible by the odd collection of music here, I was a card carrying punk. Germs, F.U.s, Misfits (ew boy) etc...ONLY. Around 1992 I was living in Home Park near GA Tech (though not attending) and within the next few years I ended up running into the guys that would form Barrel. I only bring it up because after hearing Barrel straight up punk rock did not seem so interesting anymore, and I wanted to find out how they got their particular sound. I was in a punk band at the time (Habeas Corpses) and it wasn't long after I heard Barrel that we all decided to call it quits. Barrel consisted of Rick Moore/Andrew Burnes/ David Daniell/ Scott Robbins.Guitar-sing/Guitar-hair/Bass-couch surfing/Drums-flat top. Maybe some day Rick will mp3ify their album for me, or maybe he'll give you one. In the meantime I'm posting links to their tracks from the "Compatibility of Dissonance" compilation...maybe from 1995? I believe it was the last stuff they ever recorded. So Rick, if you read this, the only person to blame for my artfaggotry is yourself! Would zip files of all this stuff be better? Anybody.

Barrel Tracks This Way

Please Don't Tell the Avant Garde

In addition to strumming the geetar my main job in life is honking on the saxophone (more on that later.) I was in a very short lived group with keith leslie (percussion) and daniel clay (guitar.) I think it lasted from 2005-2005. We played two shows: one in Baltimore to 4 people and one in atlanta. The one in atlanta was in an abandoned warehouse next to eyedrum. I had myself and Daniel convinced that we were going to contract avian flu from playing there. Daniel moved to Maine for a while and when he returned did not want to play this stuff anymore. To this day I cannot figure out why (let me know.) We recorded an album's worth of stuff with decatur engineer Ben Price...and here is the link to the mediafire file:

Clay---Davis---Leslie

I was in a group with Daniel called A Good Horse (his group) and I'll post that stuff soon too if I can get the thumbs up.

Links to Past Performances

So I'm finally going to use this blog. I figured that if I'm going to go nuts posting files of old performances (maybe new) on mediafire, then I should have the links all in one place.

Here they are:

The Purkinje Shift final show (2000)

www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=215521c04323686691b20cc0d07ba4d2cc6fdc1d76f6237c

The Moreland Audio final show (2003)

www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=215521c04323686691b20cc0d07ba4d2f82fe54d7e1bb0c2

more coming soon...and I feel like complaining a lot lately so if you're interested, I'm about to start using this bitch.