It's not just that they change songs and stretch them out in concert, though they do. But hearing VU live is where you really get a sense of how brilliant and unappreciated they were while they were actually a working band. They've been an essential part of the underground canon for years and are records that most everyone exploring the fringes of rock music will get to eventually. Not much is left to be said on the influence and reach and just flat-out great music found on the four studio LPs by the Velvet Underground. _The Velvet Underground: _ The Quine Tapes While some of the elaborate rings look difficult (um, hazardous) to wear, I'm totally coveting the cassette tape and boombox necklaces. Plastique's L.A.-based graphic designer laser-cuts her music-, typography- and geometry-inspired adornments for an exceptionally bold effect. But Plastique's laser-cut reel-to-reel necklace or turntable ring go a hell of a lot better with retro-80s blouson tops and striped leggings than blinding bling does. No, plastic will never be as glamorous as gold. Mark RichardsonÄiamond earrings may not be in your holiday gift budget this year, but Plastique's black acrylic jewelry surely is. It's an essential document for understanding how ideas about music traveled in the not-so-distant past, and it's also a testament to the power of fandom, that so much could be accomplished when starting out with so very little. Their remove didn't keep them from weighing in on new records of note, and they did so with raw humor and insight (emphasis on the humor- these guys were disgusting but very funny). Written at first by Tesco Vee (also of the band the Meatmen) and Dave Stimson, Touch & Go is especially fascinating because of their vantage point in small town Michigan, many miles away from the action. It's fascinating to see how this small group of music obsessives was feeling its way through the heady days of music at the dawn of the 80s, straddling punk, hardcore, new wave, and even a little ska. This thick book contains reproductions of the entire run of Touch & Go, a zine produced mostly in the area of Lansing, Mich., between 19 (the creators of the zine went on to form Touch & Go records). I'm a huge fan of books about the history of music subcultures, but there's something especially compelling about going back to the primary sources to see how people were experiencing and understanding it at the time. Touch and Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine '79-'83 It's two nights, 6xCDs, and the set comes houses in a wooden box with a button, facsimile replications of the ticket and a newspaper review, and a long essay with photographs. -Mark Richardson It was the first time they'd played "Dark Star" and "Help-> Slip -> Frank" in years, too. This particular set came from a run of shows that was well regarded by more devoted Dead Heads, and in the opinion of many, it stands among their finest moments of the second half of the decade. The band seems very in the moment and not focused on getting anywhere in particular, but they were still capable of sharp interplay while finding new ways to play their familiar batch of songs. To me, live Dead from the 80s is about experiments with new textures (Jerry Garcia was heavy into playing guitar through a MIDI rig that allowed him to alter his tone) and jams that seemed to float more, with a more meandering and abstracted quality. By this time their music had for the most part lost the sometimes-dark edge of their late-60s/early-70s jams, and it had also lost the loping Southern-tinged funk of the late 70s. Now, late-80s Dead is not typically the place for someone new to the band to start. That continues this year with Formerly the Warlocks, which comes from two shows in October 1989. And I mentioned there how each of the multiple-disc boxes that have appeared in the last few years serves to be something like a definitive account of the Dead during one of their primary phases. Last year we had Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings, which documented a run of shows during one of the Dead's best years. Grateful Dead boxes are becoming something of a Pitchfork Gift Guide tradition. _The Grateful Dead: _ Formerly the Warlocks Box
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |