There's a great article by Mark Paytress in the "Buried Treasure" section of last month's Mojo on the late 70s "garage Kraftwerk" British band, pragVEC.  I like Paytress' work, vintage synthesizers,  and the band name caught my eye (he likens it to a "Polish lavatory cleaner"), so I read a little.  

When I read they had been a group who "cared more about the positioning of speakers on-stage than in marketing their 'product'", I was further drawn in.  

The clincher was vocalist (now human rights lawyer) Susan Gogan's amazing answer for why the critically acclaimed but commercially disastrous "No-Cowboys" record didn't mark their breakthrough:  "We were caught up in our self-belief.  That record was a piece of art.  It wasn't supposed to be a career move."

How refreshing is that in 2011?!  Art in the service of nothing/no one but itself, if you believe that is possible. Or at least, bigger than money.

Either way, I think I'll buy the record--just because they confidently didn't jam it down my throat.

From Dan Hutt Field Recordings and
the Pop! Dirigible Stable of Artists:



Ready to Make Sweet Love to You in 2011

I've been silent here on the Blog page for quite some time, so it's a good time now to say hello and touch base again.  It's been a tumultuous and extremely busy year, to say the least; I'll be glad to put this one behind me.  No new music right now as I'm a busy, busy bee finishing up draft one of my M.A. thesis on Salman Rushdie's 1999 rock 'n' roll novel, The Ground Beneath Her Feet.  Also just finishing PhD applications, a conference paper (I'm going back to Savannah, GA soon!), blah blah blah.  But I'm making real progress and will be wrapped up with these items shortly.  I will post the thesis here for your perusal when done, and I've got loads of new/old music projects to complete and post here in the new year as well.  Lots of things have been back-burnered for much too long that I'm anxious to get back to.

I am even trying my hand at fiction writing now; I figured if I'm doing scholarly work on the rock novel, it would be interesting to actually try to write one too.  It might very well end up horrible, but that won't interfere with my fun in doing it.  I think this intersection of music and books might actually end up being my thing.  I remember having children's books as a little kid that often had flexi-disc inserts, and that always fascinated me. Still does, I guess.

There is one new item that I've just posted--the 2004 @cme Grain Belt video that Scott did w/ Mark Hendrycks that is posted here on the Pop! Dirigible Records' Bulls-Eyes & Elbows page.  I love it and it cracks me up every time I watch it!  I bet you might get a kick out of it too.

This is a working vacation for me this holiday, and thankfully, my family largely stopped exchanging gifts a long time ago. I did order up a couple of things for my own stocking this year though:  Teenage Fanclub's new record, Shadows, with the incredible track, "Baby Lee" and the fab postmodern cover art, and Billy Hinsche's dvd documentary of the '74 Beach Boys tour.  Beyond the mid-60s Beach Boys era, that late 60s/early 70s period of the band is one of my favorites in all of music.  I saw Billy this summer at the Al Jardine concert in Eagle, NE, and it was a real thrill.

I also had a chance to get into an actual record store this week (I highly recommend Backtrack Records in Lincoln, NE) for the first time in months.  That's a record (no pun intended) for me.  And believe it or not, I actually showed a little restraint. Maybe all my harpings on commercialism aren't just rhetoric as concerns my own behavior?  I spent a couple of hours perusing and managed to escape with only one item, and a non-music one at that: the ultra-cool poster from my favorite James Bond film, 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, starring George Lazenby, Telly Savalas, and Diana Rigg from the Avengers series.  I've had my eye out for it for some time now.

OK, I hope you have a wonderful holiday and have a chance to check back some time in the new year.  Once I finish my current obligations, I envision a windfall of new music and writing here in the coming months.  

Best wishes,

Dan



            

Regarding the flight attendant incident recently aboard Jet Blue airlines, I was thinking:  who among us doesn't wish that at one of our zillion past shitty, dead-end jobs, we'd had a rubber slide escape hatch and two beers at the ready with which to walk (or, I guess, slide) out when it became too unbearable? Not to mention a p.a. system to give formal notice, thanks, and *#@& you's. Vicariously brilliant, say I.

My recently-posted tune "Robert the Baby Owl or Child-Bee with Detonator" has been considerably amped up with guitar contributions by old friend (and likewise Tecumseh native) Andy McCulla. Andy has always been a great friend and considerable musical influence on me and it is a real honor to collaborate with him here. And, his guitar work just smokes! This is much more rock 'n' roll than anything I've done lately. Hear the multi-tracked Byrdsian vibe of the verse riffs and the chaotic wailing a la Richard Lloyd on the chorus. Wow! I love it and it really transforms the song entirely! Hear the re-vamped "Robert" here.

Here's hoping many more collaborations w/Andy are to come. And evidence of this smaller-than-ever world is that Andy is currently jamming with my nephew and former Near South Davenports bandmate, (Dr.) Noah Beadell in their Portland, Oregon hometown. How I wish I was there to participate, but we have taken some preliminary steps towards long-distance collaboration. Second best thing.

Today I ordered a slide whistle. No fictional Dumb Angel sessioneer protege should be without one of course.

You fear that my enthusiasm may result in slide whistle solos on every song for a while? Well, your worries are well-founded; like the Smile sessions, I make no promises--all rules and conventions are out the window.

But I like to think the slide whistle may over time come to be known as my secret weapon or ace card, like Brian Wilson's use of theremin or bass harmonica, or Ian Anderson's flute, or that thing the Thirteenth Floor Elevators always used. In a few years people will talk about my slide whistle as "the fifth Beatle," "plutonium," or "the Transcontinental Railroad."

Title of a new song idea.  Premise:  In the 1890s Morse code community, sleazy long-distance and impersonal breakups between couples conducted via transmitted messages in morse code (the equivalent to present-day breakups by phone, email, or text) were considered to pose formidable rhetorical challenges to successful transmission, requiring fluency in the sub-field of (Re)morse code.  Only the most sensitive and athletic codists could transmit in this dialect, and they were known as the Beep Whisperers.

I know it's not Christmas, but I think I've just come across the greatest recording I've ever heard--seriously.  Enough to knock my revolving door of Beach Boys Smile tracks from the top spot.  It's the Bird and the Bee's 2007 version of the Ukrainian Christmas carol, "Carol of the Bells."  I just came across it this week as I was filling in the gaps of my Bird and the Bee/Inara George collection with singles and one-offs, as I simultaneously ordered their new effort of Hall & Oates covers.  This is everything I need in a song--from cinematic instrumentals (I can't help but believe, accordingly, that Michael Andrews didn't have some hand in the production here) to veritably sublime vocals.  Inara George is second to none in that department.  And I love the photo as well--very early-mid 60s modernist aesthetic--calling to mind the library/den settings of the Beach Boys "In My Room" performance on the Red Skelton show in 1964 and the Beatles "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" portion of Help! in the Dick Lester film a year later.  Do yourself a favor and download this tune (see link below).  But take a look at yourself in the mirror first, 'cause you won't be the same person afterward. This is mind-blowing, psychedelic, spooky yet transcendent baroque pop at its absolute finest. Between the Bird and the Bee, Wilson and Parks, Andrews, and Wondermints, there can be little question as to whether Los Angeles is once again the epicenter of psych-pop music.

http://www.amazon.com/Carol-Of-The-Bells/dp/B000Y02VEE

My good friend and Near South Davenport bandmate Daniel Christian has a new record out, Hold Your Breath.  We had a catch up/record listening visit yesterday and I can vouch that it's a fine album, sonically and aesthetically.  Dan again did me the honor of recording one of my songs, this time "Flowers and Song," and it's a trip to hear what someone else comes up with when they interpret your work.  Dan's version is first-rate:  me likee!  You may purchase his album by going to his website:

http://www.myspace.com/danielchristianmusic

 I just heard the new Inara George solo record, Accidental Experimental, available as download-only, and it's stunning.  Best thing I've heard in 5 years.  Goes back and forth from vocal jazz to baroque pop to new wave to folk to electronica to psychedelic all so effortlessly.   I highly recommend this album.  Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Experimental/dp/B002QJ3YO2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1269375213&sr=8-3