The Sleepless Reader

TSR #5 - combatwoundedveteran

2005-03-20T11:04:00.000-05:00

If Jackson Pollock's seemingly random and violent paint splashes across a canvas can be art, why can't combatwoundedveteran's seemingly random and violent noise be music?

If you listened to just the first few minutes of episode #16 of The Tragically Nameless Podcast and then, as host Deniz Rudin suggested you might, turned it off, then the following message is for you:

Go back and listen again.

I realize that it can be hard to make your way through the pained screams, wailing guitar, and random drumbeats, but only if you try to listen to it the way you would listen to what most of us think of as a "song"...something with a regular beat and a melody. You can no more listen to cwv's music with that mindset than you can look at Pollock's paintings the same way you would look at the Mona Lisa. Look at Pollock's Convergence and tell me what the white splotch top center means. Now listen to a cwv track and tell me what the lyrics mean.

cwv's music is meant to be experienced (note that I did not say "enjoyed") on a much more primal level than you are probably used to. Their music is meant to induce entirely visceral responses (including confusion, pain, and nausea) rather than tickling the same part of your auditory cortex that Yanni does. They extend the visceral experience beyond their music to their album and tracks names. "Rocks in a Blender" and "Disembowelment at Room Temperature" aren't really meant to describe the music; they evoke odd and disorienting visual images that prepare your brain for the oncoming aural assault. Added to this is the unmistakably ghoulish album art provided by Steak Mtn. Illustration and Design. If cwv wants to complete the experience, they should include some sort of horrifying scratch-n-sniff with their next album.

Although the Pollock comparisons work for the way in which you have to experience cwv's sounds, the response is probably much more like seeing Damien Hirst's suspended and dissected animal cadavers for the first time. We're disturbed. We look away. We take another peek. We're still disturbed but we start feeling a growing fascination. The more we look, the more sickened we are, but the harder it is to look away. Any artist producing a work called "A Thousand Years: Two Adjoining Vitrines Containing a Severed Cow's Head and a Colony of Maggots and Flies Breeding and Dying by an Insect-O-Cutor" probably understands what cwv is trying to do with their music.

Not all of it is total noise. Some tracks, like "15 Minutes on a Forklift" from their 2002 album Duck Down for the Torso, have an undercutting bass line that pulls you through the song as you are assaulted by frontman Ponch's vocals. Listening to this track, I felt like I was doing one of those dream-sequence slow-motion runs away from the vocals, and the drums and bass were my soundtrack. "It's got essentially random pounding and screaming, but a bassline going keeping it connected and timely, hacking into my rhythm sense," Deniz explained to me patiently, "so I have a beat to move to along with the chaos." Leave it to an articulate teenager who truly loves and understands hardcore to explain it far better than I could.

Here's the good news: It's okay to listen to this music and decide you never want to hear it again. But yes, if you fancy yourself a music lover, you have to listen once. Good luck.

Note to readers: You can download episode 16 of The Tragically Nameless Podcast directly by clicking here.

TSR #4 - Ten Ways From Sunday

2005-03-14T20:56:00.000-05:00

Old school rock makes me happy. That would explain the smile that sprung onto my face as I listened to Insomnia Radio show #21 the other night.

Replacing the horrified expression I must have had at being forced to listen to The Thought Criminals’ Suicide Bomber for a second time, the smile came as I was treated to some excellent old school-style rock in the form of Gotta Get It by Vancouver band Ten Ways From Sunday. This track has the two major elements I look for in a rock track…strong vocals on top of a well-balanced bass and guitar combo. In fact, so impressed was I with the near-perfect interplay between guitar and bass in this track that I went to the band’s website looking to see how long the two had been playing together. I was guessing they’d had at least 3 or 4 years of being around each other to play off each other so intuitively, but the real explanation was even better. Dave (guitar) and Mike (bass) Young are brothers. The clean but un-wimpy drumming of Travis Robson sure doesn’t hurt the formula either.

Listening to the other tracks from the band’s newly-released and self-titled EP (available on their website) did not disappoint. A variety of styles are to be found, my personal favorites being hard-hitting tracks Gotta Get It and Nobody’s Business and, at the opposite end of the spectrum, rock ballads Without and Feel Awake.

Have you figured out by now that I like bands who can explore a variety of sounds while managing to keep their identity? This band impresses me not only by doing it, but by understanding how this has been a recipe for success in rock for more than a generation. “I think we like the fact that with this genre of music we aren’t constrained to a typical song structure and we’re free to experiment with whatever feels right,” says frontman Matt Layzell. “The appeal is in the flexibilty - you listen to a band like Led Zeppelin and they’ve got blues in one song, straight ahead rock in another, and jazz in the next.” Normally, any band comparing themselves to Zeppelin, even indirectly, would really piss me off. In their case, I’m making an exception.

In my opinion, any collection of indie rock is incomplete without these guys. While you’re waiting for their CD to arrive in the mail, at least you have their track on Insomnia Radio to listen to. If that isn’t enough, go buy a used copy of the NHL 2004 video game by EA Sports which features the song You’ve Been Around off their 2003 What I Wanted EP.

Mea maxima culpa

2005-03-14T20:47:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the slightly prolonged absence, folks. I've been working on a number of projects, only some of them related to the Reader. Sometimes the house and the job that pays the mortgage for the house win the competition for time and attention.

Anyway, new editions of the Reader are on their way. I fully expect to have issue #4 out tonight (looking at a band from this week's Insomnia Radio) and will follow it up with issue #5 later this week, with an inside look at music you've heard on The Tragically Nameless Podcast.

EXPANSION!!!!!

2005-03-07T20:32:00.000-05:00

Due to popular demand, The Sleepless Reader is expanding! From now on, the Reader will feature stories about bands you hear not only on Insomnia Radio, but also In Over Your Head Radio (thanks Julien!) and The Tragically Nameless Podcast (thanks Deniz!).

Okay, I lied. It has nothing to do with popular demand. I just really love these podcasts and am thrilled at the chance to write about the wide variety of music they offer. Either way, you win. Shut up and read.

BUT BEFORE YOU DO...

Please support my three amigos by voting for them at Podcast Alley. You can vote simply by going to each of the links below and clicking on Vote Now!
Insomnia Radio
In Over Your Head Radio
The Tragically Nameless Podcast

TSR #3 - Spiraling

2005-03-02T21:14:00.000-05:00

These guys remind me of someone. Don’t they?

Squeeze is right below them in my iTunes artist list. Let me listen. Yeah, there are similarities. Kind of. Maybe not.

So who am I thinking of when I listen to them? Progresssive rock. Lots of energy. Loads of synthesizer. The Alan Parsons Project? Yes? ELO? Maybe all of those, a little. In fact, the influence of Yes is to be expected, considering that the band's keyboardist, Tom Brislin, toured with Yes in 2001. But still, there's another influence that I can't quite put my finger on. Could it be...

80’s arcade supergame Galaga?

THAT’S IT!!!

If you are a classic video game junkie like me, you'll recognize sounds from the game Galaga in "(I don't want to) Grow Up", from Spiraling's debut CD Transmitter. All of a sudden, the title of their EP, Challenging Stages, makes sense. There couldn't be a better parallel. For those of you who aren't Galaga-literate, the challenging stage is your chance to feel like top dog. It's all about you. Move around. Find the rhythm. Shoot everything in sight. Perfect score. You've never felt so good.

So that's it. Galaga and Spiraling tickle the same spot in my brain. No wonder I am hooked.

Much has already been written about this band, and most every article you happen across will draw parallels to other bands, including the ones I listed above. I have to say I prefer comparing Spiraling to Galaga, because none of the band comparisons really do these guys credit. Their sound is all their own, unique and fun, with great songwriting and very talented instrumental work. This is particularly true of drummer Paul Wells. I have seen at least two reviews likening him to Keith Moon of The Who. Frankly, I don't think it's a fair comparison. Wells is definitely the better of the two.

You can download some of Spiraling's tracks and purchase their CDs on the band's website. The Challenging Stage EP can also be obtained from the iTunes Music Store.

Spiraling can also be heard performing on Substitution Mass Confusion, a tribute to The Cars available on indie label Not Lame Records. Every day I hold my breath as the postman approaches, waiting for my copy to arrive. So far, no luck. Expect a review when this CD hits my stereo.

Afterword: Substitution Mass Confusion will be featured on Underground Radio this Saturday, March 5, at 10:06 pm. Central Floridians like me will be listening to UGR on Melbourne-based station AM 920 WMEL. Everyone else can catch their web simulcast. If you aren't already an Underground Radio listener, you will be after this show.

Insomnia Radio - Spiraling out of control

2005-02-27T15:52:00.000-05:00

Well, my good friend Jason E. has outdone himself with today's release of a magnum, two-part, 110-minute-long, merlot-soaked Insomnia Radio bonanza. It was great to hear him having such a good time again. As always, the music was fantastic top to bottom. And how about that pork chop story? Riveting, huh? You simply cannot get that kind of entertainment on mainstream radio.

Seriously, best show ever, Jason. It's hard to believe you're not being paid for this stuff.

Luckily for me, Insomnia Radio #20 begins and ends with tracks by a band I have been wanting to write about for a while, and now I have a good reason to. Edition #3 of The Sleepless Reader will be devoted to Spiraling. Coming at you sometime between now and Wednesday, March 2. (For those of you placing bets, my money is on Wednesday.)

In the meantime, click on the graphic above to check out the band's website, where you can download a few of their tracks and purhase their CDs. You can also buy their Challenging Stage EP on the iTunes Music Store.

A call for feedback

2005-02-25T11:25:00.000-05:00

The Reader has been up and running for a few weeks now, and I would really like to know if anyone is reading it and, if you are, what comments or suggestions you have. I particularly want to hear your opinions about format, article length, and frequency of publication, but please don't feel you have to limit your comments to those topics. It doesn't matter if you agree or disagree with me, have praise or criticism for the Reader, whatever...I want to hear from you.

Please leave any comments you have by clicking on the comment link at the end of this post, or you can send me an email or contact me using Skype or AIM using the links in the sidebar. You can also go back and leave comments on the reviews of Lorenzo's Music and Gidgets Ga-Ga.

Jason is taking a well-deserved break, so there was no Insomnia Radio podcast last night. One way or another, though, there will be a new edition of the Sleepless Reader here on Tuesday. Stay tuned for more details!

TSR #2 - Gidgets Ga-Ga

2005-02-22T22:35:00.000-05:00

A quick note to music critic Katherine Raz…
HUH?

In her review of Gidgets Ga-Ga’s 2003 album Don’t Boris on chicagogigs.com, Raz makes this band out to be another pop cliché, a hackneyed failure of “stale and flat” riffs “echo[ing] the eternal jangle of another alternapoop commercial stuck somewhere in the FM frequencies between 94.7 and 101.1.”

Not surprisingly, she supports her statements using the most hackneyed, stale cliché of cultural criticism. It's easy...you try it. First, draw parallels between individual elements of the music/film/art you're reviewing to other popular (and by that implication, less respectable) music, films, or art. Then, proceed to use these parallels (which are, of course, a product of the critic’s mind and not the work itself) as reason to pan the work wholesale and ignore its intrinsic merits.

This isn’t to say that I want you to ignore Raz’s review. On the contrary, I respect much of what she has written about other bands, so I want you to read every word. Then I want you to listen to Gidgets Ga-Ga and see just how wrong she is about this band’s infectious brand of alternative pop.

There isn’t any question that Gidgets Ga-Ga’s sound shows definite, although hard to qualify, changes between their 2000 self-titled EP and Don’t Boris (both are available on the iTunes Music Store and from other sources listed on the band’s webpage). The overall tone of Don’t Boris is maybe a little brighter. The edge maybe a little softer. But whereas Raz considers this to be evidence of an impending sell-out, I hear it as a natural part of the band’s evolution. A baby step away from the British Invasion pop feel that permeated the Gidgets Ga-Ga EP hardly worries me that they’re trying to conduct a Hootie-and-the-Blowfish makeover. The songwriting is still good, the vocals and instrumentals are still fresh, and the production is still quality.

What someone might be left feeling, however, is the familiar sensation that change sucks, regardless of whether it is objectively for the better or for the worse. In a way, it is probably a little unfortunate that the band cut what I consider far and away to be their best track, Belmont, so early on. The quality of this song appears to be the one thing that Raz and I agree on, and it’s not hard to understand why someone might get nervous at any suggestion of a move away from this winning style.

Still, I know better than to want a band to stay in one place musically. It is that characteristic stasis of many "successful" bands that has driven me away from commercial radio and (thankfully) into the world of independently produced music. I want Gidgets Ga-Ga to continue exploring new ideas, new sounds, new songs.

Of course, Ms. Raz would agree with me that anything less would be the true sell-out. Wouldn't she?

Feelin' the IR love

2005-02-17T21:25:00.000-05:00

Many thanks to Jason over at Insomnia Radio for the kind words about me and the Reader in tonight's podcast. BIG congrats to him on being the first to bust out that Chance track. Chance will definitely be the subject of a future edition of the Reader, but not before I delve into the music and history of a great band from my hometown. You got a taste of Gidgets Ga-Ga on Insomnia Radio 19 (you can also find their tracks on iTunes by clicking the above ga-ga-graphic). We'll peer into the work of this Chicago band in the next installment of the The Sleepless Reader...coming to a web browser near you on Tuesday, February 22.

TSR #1 - Lorenzo's Music

2005-02-14T19:30:00.000-05:00

I’m finding it difficult to locate someone who doesn’t find something enjoyable about Lorenzo’s Music.

Believe me, I've tried. So far, I have played various tracks of theirs for fans of classic rock, hardcore, emo, ska, jazz, swing, blues, funk, and avant garde music. The responses have had a few common threads. “Why haven’t I heard of these guys before?” “You never hear stuff like this on the radio.” "Who the hell is Lorenzo?"

And the most common response, “Hey…let me borrow that CD.”

Why does this band out of Madison, Wisconsin, hold such universal appeal? Listening to their album Schematic (2000, Crustacean Records) should provide the answer. If you happen to be the type of person who decides whether or not to buy an album based on one track, I'd pick All I Want as the one which best showcases the band's talents. Like the driving beat? The brilliant use of the horns in the arrangement? The alternatingly smooth and raw vocals? I thought you would.

But don't be fooled into thinking that the rest of the album sounds the same or even similar. Rather than defining themselves as performers of one style of music or another, Lorenzo's Music moves between styles effortlessly. They are not a punk band experimenting with 30's-style swing, an indie rock band trying their hands at Chicago-style blues, or a hardcore band exploring their love of latin rhythms. They are simply a group of talented guys who obviously see no reason why they can't just do all of the above. As Holly Day of musicdish.com wrote of them in 2000, "instead of seeming like they're stretching themselves out too far, trying to do everything at once and trying to cover all their musical bases, they ease into each new song and genre as easy as breathing."

Lorenzo's Music is Tom Ray (vocals), Mark Whitcomb (guitar), Scott Beardsley (drums), and Chris Boeger (bass). The band first came together in 1997. Ray was working for a nightclub but had aspirations to form a band to perform his own music. He demoed the songs he had written for Whitcomb and Beardsley, who were both playing with bands that frequently appeared in the club, and the three were rehearsing together soon after. The original band also included a guitarist (Whitcomb was playing bass at the time) and a small horn section (their roles figure prominently on Schematic).

The inspiration for the band's name came one night as Ray was watching The Bob Newhart Show on Nick at Night, when he caught the name of the show's creator and executive producer in the credits...Mr. Lorenzo Music, better known to most people as the voices of Carlton the Doorman on the sitcom Rhoda (which he also produced) and Garfield the Cat in his self-titled cartoon. "I added the apostrophe to avoid confusion," Ray explains.

Despite local success and the release of Schematic in mid-2000, changes in career and geography took their toll. The guitarist and one horn player left to pursue careers in law and medicine, respectively. Whitcomb and Beardsley left to tour as the rhythm section for a solo artist. Lorenzo's Music was no more.

In a bit of irony still too bizarre for me to fully wrap my head around, the day in 2001 that the band Lorenzo's Music officially broke up, Mr. Lorenzo Music (actor, producer, voice of Garfield) died of cancer at the age of 64. Really.

A couple of years passed. Ray was still in Madison and had continued to write music. Whitcomb had returned to Madison and opened his own recording studio. Ray recalls, "And one night [in the fall of 2003] out of the blue Mark called me to invite me to an open jam he was hosting at a club in downtown Madison. I showed up and Mark asked what I had been doing and if I was still writing songs. He asked me if I would want to work with him. I said, 'Of course!'"

Soon, Beardsley was also back drumming for his bandmates and brought with him bassist Boeger (their original guitarist was now off practicing law and Whitcomb had taken over guitar duties). These four now make up the core of Lorenzo's Music, and the diversity of their musical experience and influences, which includes punk, metal, blues-rock, jazz, and (of course) high school band, explains their apparently seamless comfort with different styles of music.

Their reunion is our good luck. The band has recorded a collection of tracks, no less eclectic than those on Schematic, which are scheduled to be released as their second album, Solamente Tres Polabras. For those of you who took French instead of Spanish in high school, that translates to "just three words". And in case you're wondering if that title has some deep or romantic meaning, don't. The group decided on the name when they realized that all of the songs on the album had three-word titles.

The plans for release of the new album are not yet certain, but if you just can't wait to hear their music, I can't blame you. Apparently, the band can't blame you either. Although their website is still under construction, they have made tracks from Solamente Tres Polabras available for download or streaming at lorenzosmusic.iuma.com. Eventually, they plan to be back online at www.lorenzosmusic.com.

It is a shame that the link for the album's final track, Hot Water Avalanche, doesn't work, since I consider it the best of the bunch. (The good news is that you can still hear it on episode 18 of Insomnia Radio.) As often happens, it was tough for me to pick a best track, but not for the usual reason. With most bands, it's tough to choose a best song because so many of their songs sound the same. With Lorenzo's Music, the problem arises because all the tracks are so unique. Each holds a different appeal for me at different times and when I am in different moods. An album that anticipates my needs...what more can I ask for?

Happen to be in Madison next week? You're in luck. You can hear Lorenzo's Music live at The Slipper Club on February 23. If you're going, don't tell me. I'll be too jealous.

And if you have any lingering doubts about how good this group is, or whether or not you should buy their CDs, consider that you just witnessed someone who lives in Florida (and complains he's freezing to death when it's 55 degrees out) wish that he could be in Wisconsin in February.

Afterword (2/14/05, 11:00 PM): I have been notified by Tom Ray that www.lorenzosmusic.com now has a teaser page up. The page includes several mp3 downloads (including Hot Water Avalanche) and a place for fans to sign up for the band's email newsletter.

Let the sleeplessness begin...

2005-02-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

The first edition of the Reader will spotlight Madison (Wisconsin) band Lorenzo's Music. If you haven't already heard them, you can't imagine what you're missing. Go check out last week's edition of Insomnia Radio to hear their awesome track Hot Water Avalanche. If you need a bigger fix, their 2000 album Schematic is available on the iTunes Music Store (clicking on the above cover art will take you there). Be sure to check back here in the next couple days for much more about this talented group and their music.

A footnote from your friendly neighborhood music junkie: Your feedback is very important to me. Please click the comments link below and leave a message if you have any suggestions for future editions, including bands you'd like to see profiled or reviewed. You can also send me an email using the link in the sidebar or hit me up on AIM or Skype. If there's a band you really like that hasn't already been played on Insomnia Radio, tell me about them. I will do some research on them and pass their tracks along to Jason for his consideration...maybe you'll get to hear them on a future episode of Insomnia Radio!

Coming soon to a blog near you!

2005-02-12T15:20:00.000-05:00

Don't touch that dial, folks. Stay tuned to Insomnia Radio for more details on the upcoming launch of The Sleepless Reader...music criticism, commentary, and interviews for aficionados of independent music!