Issue # 27 July 2001 thewigwambam.com
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Ignoring Objectivity Since 1998 WIG WAM BAM “Albuquerque zine of music & nepotism”
LOCAL SHOWS NM venues, bands from here or there
Unit 7 Drain, The Hopefuls, Living Under Lies, Melee, Bulletrainmafia, Minority Whip, Built To Spill, the Woggles, the Ladykillers, Mountain Consolidated, Ennui, Lightning Bolt, Sikhara/Body of Binky, the Scmidaholics, Jimmy Flame & the Sexy Boys, the North Atlantic, the Star death, Sally Go Round the Sun, Crispus Attucks, Alison Williams, Coke Is Better With Bourbon, the Down N’ Outs, the Mindy Set, Drill Box Ignition, the Bedraggled, the Elvi, Vacation Bible School, Catalyst, Pinehurst Kids, the Cherry Valance, the Damn Personals, Burning Bride
LOCAL ZINES
Randoms #15 Sex Offender #1
UN-LOCAL RELEASES Any bands, any label
Wasteoid Total Pukeoid [CD-R, Lincoln Nebraska] Seventies Mutation [CD-R compilation / book, 2001]
AL'S STONER ROCK PAGES
Natas, Del Mar (Man’s Ruin 1996) Lowrider, Ode To Io (Meteor City 2000) V/A, I Am Vengeance [soundtrack] Vol.I (Meteor City 2001) Sunshine, Engender (ep, Underdogma Records 2001) Electric Wizard, Dopethrone
LOCAL SHOWS
Unit 7 Drain, the Hopefuls 6/1/01 @ Sprockets Not one of the Hopes’ strongest sets but then again I only heard the last three songs as I was under the impression they weren’t playing until last. And as I never tire of pointing out, a good, clear & well-separated mix is imperative to hearing the Hopefuls at their best. Sprockets is not well known for its sound quality and the soundman’s post next to the stage is one of the worst possible locations. Sprockets is just too cramped and laid out wrong but thankfully the joint keeps kicking out the shows, bless their little hearts. And Unit 7 Drain? sorry guys, the first time I heard ya, I thought you were like post-raver hippies or something but I since stand corrected. Must’ve been an off-night back then, probably mine. The Unit 7 sound harks back to real alternative; that is, the sound of alt.rock before anyone ever heard the phrase, before “edge” stations sprouted up around the country (and disappeared just as quickly), before alternative became synonymous with crap like Stone Temple Pilots and Better Than Ezra; alternative in its best sense back in the early nineties when great bands like Belly and Sugar were getting lots of airplay on hole-in-the-wall college stations. Unit 7 has lots of energy, crunch, melody, hooks and a following who actually like to dance. That was another casualty of alternarock; it wasn’t cool to dance anymore but just fold your arms, bob your head a little and act sardonic. There’s a lot to be said for a band that makes people move. When rock and roll was born fifty years ago, it was the cool people who danced. Don’t ever forget that. Living Under Lies, Melee, Bulletrainmafia, Minority Whip 6/3/01 @ Insurgo Insurgo’s eight month birthday (who the hell celebrates anniversaries in multiples of eight?), complete with Tasha’s devastating chocolatemaplesugarbomb vegan cake that buzzed me out like a line o’ blow. Minority Whip: from Oklahoma City, this standard poppy Fat Wreck-style band sounded even worse with a muddy mix that made them sound like they didn’t know what each other were playing. Bulletrainmafia: This was the night that Bulletrainmafia imploded “onstage” right before our very eyes due to what appeared to be, um, personal & artistic differences mid-song. That’s all folks. I mean, that’s all I got to say about it; I may talk shit here about someone’s music here but I don’t rake muck, so to speak… Melee: good old school-ish hardcore from Allston (Boston area) with some jet-boom basslines underneath of it, sort of rock n’ roll influence which-- if you ask me -- is an influence too much forgotten these days. Of course in another twenty years or so, you who are kids now will be saying the same thing about the loss of hardcore or hip-hop or (god save us) Kid Rock influences. Why? Because most everyone believes the music they listened to during their youth is the best ever. Melee had a good merch table with a few zines from home and other bands’ CDs, always the sign of real punk spirit. Living Under Lies: from Portland, thundering heavy politicore with requisite unintelligible grind-style singing. The front guy took the time to explain each song’s subject (and give his vocals chords a rest from the heavy screaming) which is OK I guess but in that case ya might as well just talk about it; I mean, no matter what’s said beforehand, lots of hardcore bands may well be singing about beating newborns with baseball bats for all you can understand. But that’s just a minor peeve of mine; Living Under Lies were truly serious about their topics, ranging from the ever-popular environmental degradation to the obscure yet true public filmed electrocution of a murderous (read: cruelly mistreated) elephant named Topsy, at Luna Park in Coney Island in 1903. Their merch table was loaded with dozens of 7”s, LPs and CDs of other politipunks; when you’re on the road on depending on sales of your own merch to get you from town to town, selling other people’s stuff is punk as fuck. Observation about a lot of these agitprop bands: if you take away the stray dreadlock or tattoo and put ‘em in an ill-fitting rumpled suit, they look just like your text-book 1920s anarchist. Built To Spill 6/10/01 @ Launchpad Why is it that the most expensive shows are the ones that are the most packed? And just where the fuck are all you people for the four and five dollars shows that need warm bodies? Fuckin’ sheep… Fifteen bucks at the door and if you were anywhere within twenty feet of the stage, ya couldn’t get a godamned drink to your mouth-- well, ya couldn’t get a godamned drink anyway ‘cause it was an all-ages gig; and a strange choice at that for an all-ages show, I must say. ‘77-style punk and not indie rock seems to be the real draw to the Launchpad for those under 21-ers; all the rest of their friends are busy listening to Insane Clown Posse mp3s anyway. I’d guess that Built To Spill is about to break big, judging from the size differential in the crowd since the last time they were here, as well as the half-page spread featured in the staunch Albuquerque Tribune (!), a paper that normally gives such treatment only to, say, Journey or Garth Brooks. Me, all I heard was a few good tunes from their 1997 Perfect From Now On release (certainly my favorite), a truly obscure George Harrison cover that did justice to neither Built To Spill nor Harrison (What is Life? from the superb 1973 All Things Must Pass triple LP--the last good record ever produced by Phil Spector except maybe1979’s The End of the Century by the Ramones ). Everything else they played sounded like third-rate Buffalo Springfield with/or hippie-noodling that reminded of Jerry Garcia’s first solo outing (the 1972 Garcia, one --if not the-- very best record from the whole of the Grateful Dead back-catalogue). So what do all these mentions of past records mean here? Either that I’m an old fuck whose short-term memory is shot (true) or that the promise of Built To Spill’s originality & greatness has been squandered over the past few years (also true). the Woggles, the Ladykillers, Mountain Consolidated 6/13/01 @ Launchpad Mountain Consolidated were certainly a consolidation of all manner of stuff -- a seven-piece with guitar, drums, hollow-body electric bass(!), pedal steel guitar/acoustic slide (a very good player this guy was), percussion, a DJ and keyboards (whew). They had a jam-ish sound more accurately (?) described as Dave Matthews just discovering Warren Zevon is his uncle while writing songs for the Spin Doctors as Bob Dylan’s 1965 Bringing It All Back Home LP is on the turntable. Three piece locals the Ladykillers were up next whom I admire most for their lack of lead or rhythm guitar-- bass, keyboard and drums fill things out rather nicely, daddio, and although they do get a cool groove thing goin’ on, they interrupt themselves much too much and fritter the groove away. While I also admire the fact that they don’t take themselves too seriously I really wish they’d take their music more seriously. I didn’t like them at all at first; I do now more than I did but not as much as I’d hoped to. Ya follow me? While there’s not a whole lot of variation in the tempo of the Woggles’ numbers, its still great music to shake your ass and get sweaty to; mod/garage rocknroll covers and near-covers tightly & faithfully executed. Frontman Manfred enjoys diving into the crowd and certainly plays up to the ladies in attendance. Speaking of which, I’ll never understand what’s wrong with most of you boys out there. Listen up, cats! Girls love to dance! Get it? So the why are hell are you standing around playing “pocket pool” lamenting the fact that you can’t meet no femmes? Hop to it, tiger, and swing! Ennui, Lightning Bolt, Sikhara/Body of Binky, the Scmidaholics, Jimmy Flame & the Sexy Boys 3/17/01 @ Insurgo It was unfortunate that Below the Sound had to cancel their set tonight (one of the trio’s about to be a dad most anytime now). As well, the 3PM (?!) matinee show was so ill-attended (umm, make that ill-advertised) that it was postponed until the evening. I knew about neither one until showing up but actually felt myself lucky about the latter ‘cause was I just in time for the last quarter of a rockin’ set by Jimmy Flame & the Sexxy Boys. Yeah! A rock n’ roll band like this is rare at all-ages Insurgo likely because many of these bands are out of the DIY loop but probably because most rockers drink like godam fish. Flame & the Boys rocked like nobody’s business, with some originals and some covers like Chinese Rocks (which was, depending on whom you believe, written by Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Thunders and/or Richard Hell; a good pedigree in any case). There were great beats and whiskey-and-Pall Mall vocals reminiscent of Social Distortion (when Social Distortion was worth a fuck). There was also a bit too much (any is too much) expectorating. It was sort of poetic justice when Jimmy Flame ended up (never mind how) spitting on his own face. When the set was over, Flame jumped from lead guitar to drums, the rhythm player stood where he was and a new bass & vocalist stepped in and voila! the Schmidtaholics were on. They started out with lots of promise covering Pipeline (the best surfrock song ever written, oceans away from the likes of the Beach Boys or Jan & Dean) but it was soon lost as there was no lead guitar for this riff-based song. That’s like covering Gene Krupa without a drummer. Next the vocalist kicked in with a more hardcore (i.e. gruff yelling) style of singing which almost always ruins rock n’ roll for me. Still, ya gotta admit it’s a pretty slick trick, being half of your own opening band. Twice the merch, twice the stage time, half the stinkin’ bodies in the van! Next was the noise portion of the show with some incarnation of Sikhara and Body of Binky assisted by Nobody Scott on flute & various electro-fuzz and, pulling out her sax, Tasha (guitar in Sally Go Round the Sun as well as ex-Insurgo hostess). In all honesty, this is when my interest began to wane. Experimental noise and free-style doesn’t translate into my left-brain dominated cranium all that well. This stuff seems more fun to play than to watch. Next was Lightning Bolt: a drummer with some bizarro vocal-distortion mask and a bass player that didn’t always sound like a bass at all but (with all the effects pedals & boxes he had) variously like keyboards, harpsichord and some instruments that haven’t been invented yet. Loud as hell with pounding beats, they got into some heavy grooves that I dug but again, the tweaked forays off into no-man’s-land lost a simple-minded rock-boy like me. Finally Ennui was up with some compositions of spare melody building to almost hardcore proportions and then back down again. Unfortunately, their name described my state of mind here. All these bands seemed to know what they were after but in my case, starting out with raw Chuck-Berry-chords rocknroll and heading into uncharted territory was a set-up for disappointment. the North Atlantic, the Star death, Sally Go Round the Sun 6/18/01 @ Insurgo Finally! I got to hear a full set of Sally Go Round the Sun. I was afraid they’d be broken up and their story on VH1 before I finally made it early enough for the complete show. It was worth the wait however. Drummer Thane was driving the band like a junkyard dog snapping at dual guitarists Tasha’s and Chris’ heels. The duo’s vocals were evenly miked, crooning good melodies with tasteful hooks. It was nice to hear what I’d term indie rock rather than the insidious emo disease that’s striking people down left & right everywhere. The Star Death (St Louis MO) were amazing with a sort of Minuteman/ Submission Hold take on things. Although there were a bit too many stops & starts that knocked them out of the groove they were in, funky bassist Tobi held this three-piece in place. She was a solid bottom, an anchor; percussive yet rhythmic & melodic all at once. Experienced and the most impressive musician of the three, it was obvious however that much of the vision belonged to singer Blue because Tobi & drummer Aleta kept their eyes on her most of the time, looking for cues & clues. Blue played her guitar more as an accent (rather than full rhythmic structure) in an accompaniment to her long & flowing song/poems about joy, touring, passing loves, “crusties…takin’ over the streets of Seattle”, kisses, hope and …well, actually everything under the sun and in/outside the mind/body & its desires, all swirling back and forth in spirals of ummm….whatever. I got lost but you get the idea. Extra points for singing about girllove without screaming , “hey! I’m queer, look at me!” but being as ordinary as toast. And you gotta admit that Oceanographer is a terrific title for a song about cunnilingus. After such an un-formulaic band, it was tough to plunge into more-of-the-same “classic” emo with North Atlantic (San Diego). I really don’t wanna be one of those annoying emo-bashers but Jesus! enough is enough! Doesn’t anyone have anything to offer here besides the same chiming guitars, the same high “harmonies”, the same song structures and worst of all, the bands hopping around like they’re rocking the whole world?Actually there’s nothing wrong with North Atlantic, just nothing new either. They’re tight and well-practiced like a lot of emo bands tend to be but left me cold. To be fair, every style of music sounds much the same (hardcore, rock n’ roll, skate punk, disco…) but my emo tolerance is at an all-time low. Maybe I need a vaccination or something, like pulling out my old Samiam or Discount  records. I just haven’t been able to face them anymore since the Great Emo Inundation of ’99 began. Crispus Attucks, Alison Williams, Coke Is Better With Bourbon 6/20/01 @ Insurgo Take half of locals Lush Rustler and an ex-TNA and a drummer from (? ) and you got Coke Is Better With Bourbon, an old-school L.A. rant punk sound: loud & snotty. Next from Portland (where else?) was folkpunk Allison Williams from a scene that says acoustic is more punk than electric (or more DIY at the very least) ‘cause you don’t need no outlets and you can build yer own damn instrument if you like. I’ve seen banjos and bagpipes made from scratch (not kits) right here in Albuquerque. When was the last time you saw an electric guitar punk build & wire their own cabinets? After a few numbers, Williams decided to unplug and asked the meager crowd to move forward. Which was cool. But it felt strange sitting on the floor in front of her. Why is it that every time an acoustic instrument is pulled out, people think its time to kick back? The only reason I sat down at all was that I was standing by myself in the middle of Insurgo while everyone else was lounging on couches. Yes, I succumbed to peer pressure. Williams’ voice was strong and her subjects stronger like long-termers in jail, hoboing around, the shit you take on shittier waitress jobs and dykes being “called ‘sir’ one too many times”. Quite enjoyable and even moving, Allison Williams was a good palate cleanser in between two loudass bands but be certain that she could stand quite well on her own (even if the audience is sitting on their butts). Crispus Attucks seemed musically a bit more new-school rather than old-school hardcore since the last time I saw them here. They always put on a ferocious show, even though it was apparent they were all washed out from the road (and, if the truth be known, a long night of partying previously). Sociopolitical issues like economic injustice, racial inequity and corporate greed don’t seem like tired old punk themes in their powerful hands. This is quite impressive in itself as you would think anyone raised in the shadow of Washington DC would be sick to death of “issues” by now. the Down N’ Outs, the Mindy Set 6/22/01 Burt’s I barely heard any of the Mindy Set as I was late and ended up talking shit at the bar with a couple of shit-talkin’ rockers ( I say that affectionately) but if the fact that there was a (ex?) member or two of UV Transmission onstage and a line of parked scooters outside doesn’t give you a clue as to Mindy’s type of music, turn in your Adam Ant records now. The place was crawling with scooter-trash kids. Reporter in the 1965 Beatles movie A Hard Days Night: “Are you a mod or are you a rocker?” Ringo: “I’m a mocker.” Actually, the two aren’t as far separated as they used to be. Denver’s Down N’ Outs were also happily somewhere between those two Brit factions of yesterday but surely more to the rockin’ side. Savage hair-waggin’ beat music complete with Farfisa keyboard & Rickenbacker guitars and the band stumbling all over themselves somehow had lots of class. Pull on yer pointy black Cuban ankle-high boots & pegged slacks and shake it up on the dance floor with yer baby! Drill Box Ignition, the Bedraggled, the Elvi, Vacation Bible School, Catalyst 6/27/01@ Insurgo Y’know when you’re listening to a cassette and there’s music ‘bleeding through’ from the other side? Ok, so imagine its a tape of Weezer on one side, Mudhoney on the other and while listening to these two mix & meld, you can hear some Led Zep wank over the fence from your neighbor’s six-pack BBQ. And you just ate a handful of ‘ludes two hours ago. That’s what locals Catalyst sounded like at their very first show; uneventful, copping the Doors, some grunge and God only knows what else with lyrics about somebody as useless as Princess Diana. I think these guys spend too much time learning off records. Eclectic taste or not, whatever else you do, ankle that song, guys. Dead or alive, who gives a fuckin’ shit. Illinois’ Vacation Bible School were up next. After a couple of Fat Wreck songs with those limp whoah-oh choruses, I went across the street for a cold drink. Imagine my surprise when I returned to something resembling plain ol’ rock n’roll. Better. Their tourmates the Elvi were a conundrum. Outfitted in suit jackets, wingtip shoes and slicked back hair, they played what you’d least expect from such a presentation: heavy & hard, reminiscent of Scandinavian stuff like the Hellacopters (kinda) but minus the riffage. Quite interesting, well-played and pretty damn toe-tapping. A nice touch was one guitar player tossing his axe over his shoulder and having it arc right back under his arm --due to a very secure strap --and barely missing a beat. A neat trick, that. Next from Denver were the Bedraggled whose set up was quite a production: three basses for one bass player, a fourteen-piece drum set (including a tossed off washing machine rotary drum) tied up with white Xmas lights in percussion bondage, a red drop light hung on a piece of gutter/leader on the mike stand. After all that, it was a damned good thing that they could play well. And I do mean “damned”, as in songs of damnation & redemption (not necessarily in that order) couched in a very gothic sound --Gothic, not goth. Big difference; not Bauhaus/ black eyeliner posing but middle-America scripture-thumping passages of retribution from a wrathful Jehovah. Brrrr! Must be something about the old 49’er frontier ethic up there in Denver to spawn both this band and the very highly recommended Gothic stringband, 16 Horsepower. Drill Box Ignition form Houston jumped up next with some heavy & deliberate memorable tunes (ie containing actual melody) with Cobain-type vocals and bleep-bleep-bleep sci-fi guitar licks like our own dear departed Luxo Champ’s. Oh yeah, most everyone left after Catalyst including them (what? your first show and ya can’t even stick around to support your bill-mates? Bad form!). A few stragglers made it through the Elvi but by the Bedraggled, I was the only paying customer! It was a show of bands watching bands. I felt intimidated to even glance at anyone’s merch table and face four band’s hungry eyes… Pinehurst Kids, the Cherry Valance, the Damn Personals, Burning Bride 6/28/01 @ Launchpad I only caught the last number by Burning Bride that sounded sort of stoner-y to me but someone else in the crowd said they heard an MC5 influence. Yeah well, nowadays, I’ve even heard emo bands claim that; we live in strange times. I thoroughly enjoyed the Damn Personals. Melodies, hooks and some rock informed by emo but without the stuttering stop-start -interlude-start again framework that emo has devolved into and most welcome, no whining. The lead guitarist was tasteful & restrained (most lead guitar players ought to be restrained!) but pulled off some nice work. The rhythm guitar player’s beautiful red hollowbody Ricken-backer was largely wasted on his position. I’d liked to have seen what the lead guy could do with a machine like that. Cherry Valance rocked pretty hard but unfortunately (for me I mean; I don’t give a fuck what you think) weren’t much to my taste. The dual drummers however with matching kits (complete with faux wood-paneling wallpaper right out of your dad’s den!) underscored the rock rather well. The keyboard that one drummer jumped to for a few numbers was sadly inaudible (but otherwise sound-gal Rachel did quite an admirable job for four disparate sounding bands--Bravo! Let’s hear it for the sound crew, any sound crew, who never get enough props).The woman on lead guitar was pulling way too much riffy “ballsy” b.s. for me. Hey -- here’s a gross generalization for ya: with few exceptions (our own laudable Amy Clinkscales [Hopefuls] jumps to mind) the vast majority of women who play leas ply their trade with self-indulgent “badass” licks that punk tried to stamp out thirty years ago. As for my own distaste of such noodling, ya gotta understand that I was growing up when the graffiti “Clapton Is God” was appearing on walls throughout the country. But the Valance did have a few numbers rooted in the soulful hand-clapping In the Midnight Hour vein that got the most of my attention. And I don’t know why but I just adore it when two singers share the same microphone during the chorus; it must have been watching pop combos (as they were known back then) do just that on teeny-bopper TV shows like Where the Action Is and Shindig when I was mere stripling. And speaking of youngsters, it’s a sure bet that any band with “Kids” in their name just can’t cut it in the name of rock n’ roll. The Pinehurst Kids were radio friendly well-played but ultimately undistinguished pop.
LOCAL ZINES
Title & number precede page count, size, print frequency; price Randoms #15 14pp, ½ size, whenever, free streetcorner@hotmail.com Sooner or later almost every zine will have a Sex Issue. Its been said that those who talk about it the most do it the least. So its telling in its own way that Randoms editor-guy didn’t contribute at all to this issue; make your own inferences. Happily, the unspoken theme here is intelligence which makes the, uh, heady subject matter..umm..go down easier. And is infamous Rollerderby zinester Lisa Carver really a reader & contributor to Randoms or was it merely lifted from her be-a-fuck-toy-for-your-man zine? If it is really her (once known as Lisa Suckdog), the writing is better and (you’ll pardon the _expression) less gushing than normal. Sex Offender #1 38pp,full size, (?), free sxyofend@hotmail.com You’ve heard this from me before: El Paso, Texas isn’t part of Nuevo Mexico anymore. But it was and anybody who isn’t gabacho can see past the borders anyhow so that’s why I’m including this ‘Paso zine here. And like, y’know, scene unity & all that jazz. It’s a typical high-school punk kid first issue with all the usual hot topics (you can just imagine) but well-put together (i.e. legible) with a few nice punkgrrrl drawings. Editor Steph Offender saw fit to reproduce a flyer with illo’s ripped off from Love & Rockets, the same comic book (the only one worth killing trees for ) that Wig Wam Bam rips off with alarmingly regularity. Plus old ‘burque band Fuck Taco Bell gets good review.
UN-LOCAL RELEASES
Wasteoid Total Pukeoid [CD-R, Lincoln Nebraska] Short staccato bursts of power violence, grinding mayhem, blistering assault & sound bites designed to wake you the fuck up, hurl an insult or two and kick in your teeth. Nothing here clocks in at even two minutes; endearing song titles like Nick Nolte Is Gary Busey In Disguise, Ratt, Ratt Yayy!!!!!!, Decapitated Coke Head and the endearing Hammer Size Dents All Over Your Face. While this is not what I usually listen nor does it fit this rag’s local bias, I just had to include it here as Russ of Wasteoid was one of the few people kind enough to return e-mail when I inquired to ten different people about shows in Lincoln before my recent trip. He also hipped me to a basement show that I had to miss for no good reason (I was on a business trip after all) which ended up nailed by the local constabulary. Damn! Damn! that the fuckers broke it up and Damn! that I had to miss all the fun… So much for the mainstream’s theories that hardcore music is made by anti-social misfits. Well, misfits maybe, but even though I never got to meet him, I felt much more welcomed by his e-mails and this CD in the mail than by Lincoln’s alt.record stores & hip-clubs-on-the-strip scene. Seventies Mutation [CD-R compilation / book, 2001] seventiesmutation@hotmail.com An international (US, France, Japan & lord knows) comp made up of looking-over-your-shoulder covers of 1970s radio fodder by such groups as Totimoshi, Pat Robertson’s Police State of Love, His Hemorrhoids Are Gone, the Dewey Roses and lots more, some legit outfits, some put together for just this occasion. Why do I include it here? Besides cuts by the local Tasha and semi-local Destructo, the spiral-bound booklet with actual (that’s actual!) cut & paste text was put together by our old buddy Bob Tower and his long-time cohort & partner-in-crime Edith Abeyta. Such pain-staking assemblages are typical of their work. Also cool was the piece of Black Jack licorice bubblegum pasted inside. Yum! Obligatory digression: their record /zine shop Mind Over Matter was my complete education & introduction to the ‘burque’s punk action, lo, these many years past. Tasha worked there then and politely side-stepped my questions about the comic books that enticed me inside the first time; the three of them instead led me to financial and aural ruin through massive purchase of vinyl & paper goods. Even if you aren’t familiar with the titles, you’ve heard these damn songs a million times but never like this: they’re given a thorough working-over, many almost unrecognizable (which in the case of the 70s FM wasteland is a good thing indeed). Mountain’s Mississippi Queen, Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain, Nick Gilder’s Hot Child In the City, Olivia Neutron-Bomb (oops!) I mean-- Olivia Newton-John’s Have You Never Been Mellow, Chic’s Le Freak—the list goes on for over seventy minutes worth of musical madness. The text is played straight but are fractured histories of the original bands; more obscure jokes & cryptic references I’ve yet to see anywhere else: Andrew Loon Oldham, the No Dukes Concert, Pete’s younger brother Bob & the Silver Bullet Band, East River Crack Pipe, the Traveling Wheel-barrows…. I get the jokes buried a good six feet deep in those phrases. Do you? If so, my hat’s off to you! I grew up in those days but what’s your excuse?
AL'S STONER ROCK PAGES
Part Two of Alexander’s overview of essential Stoner Rock, which he contends will be the next big thing. Time will tell. I’m not convinced but I’m as much an opinionated bastard as he is. — Captain America THE STONER ROCK PAGES By Alexander All of these releases (some hard to find through the common paths) can be inspected and/or purchased online at www.meteorcity.com, Albuquerque’s own Meteor City Records; very cool guys who share your area code. I’ve met them, they’re nice. Otherwise, Rocky at mecca Records & Books (corner of Central & 14th St) has been great too. Be a good burqueno/a and get involved. I mean it. Contact me: bigballinal@hotmail.com Natas, Del Mar (Man’s Ruin 1996) Though the group’s name is as cheesy as Wisconsin, this album is magic. How can an album that’s so heavy be so mellow? I found this gem at a place called Destroy All Music in LA (if you’re in Silverlake, please check it out). I was there with my family and this CD stayed in the rent-a-car for a couple of days and we all got buzzed on how great it sounds. Start with a super-clean almost tantric bassline on the opener Samurai and drift into the sparse vocals that may be this album’s truest signature. Long stretches of deserty riffs between human sounds. Hailing from Argentina, these guys are so mellow and yet with distorted hallucinogen-ed riffs make Pink Floyd sound like the Kingston Trio. With a patience in creating a riff I think no American band would have the attention span to bother with, this South American CD is destined to stay at the top of your playlist for a good spell. This would spice up anyone’s BBQ or be an exotic backdrop for a nice night with someone you want real bad. And the heavy Spanish references make my New Mexican brain very fucking happy. If you like the beautiful complexity of traffic or the booming groove of Soundgarden’s riff-o-riffic hypnotic love, then you’ll be impressed with Natas. And your friends will think you’re pretty hip when you say, “yeah, these dudes are from Buenos Aires”. Lowrider, Ode To Io (Meteor City 2000) Holy fuzzwah Batman, these guys must be high, let’s see what they’ve got before we move in…There’s a superhero vibe to what these Swedes have going on here but what the fuck—rock n’ roll has always been about being larger than life. At the same time, though this album has so much love you’ll want to call Grandma & thank her for something. What a no-nonsense Viking warlord funtime thing this is, ladies & jerks. Mixed & recorded by someone called Andeas Eriksson in Karlskoga Sweden of all places, you will not hear ten better recorded albums in the next 75,000 years. What a buttery slippery-yet-crunchy feat, it sounds like a Rice Krispy treat that weighs as much as a good tube amp. Tight but improvisational, melodic & sexy while being as thick as Anna Nicole Smith, these dudes have it all: soulful vocals with really personal lyrics, soul-gouging solos, a drummer who thinks he’s Alex Van Halen (in a good way), a bassist who thinks at all and pile-driving rhythm, why bother with life without hearing this? It’s more fun now that I know what’s up. V/A, I Am Vengeance [soundtrack] Vol.I (Meteor City 2001) The concept here is to put together the heaviest consarned soundtrack ever, gathering global riff-o-rama for an as-yet unreleased slasher flick, Aaron & Jadd (your local sludge pimps from Meteor City records) have put together some cool action. I’ll let you blood n’ guts gourmets know when the second edition and the movie itself are uncaged. For now though, let’s discuss the highlights of our little friend. Track 3, Blood Farmers Bullet In My Head is kickass oldschool metal ala Exciter with nicely processed vocals that remind you of hair-farming keggers and Camaro rides you’ve either enjoyed or not been invited to. The Quills’ Mind Drifter is classic Doom Metal complete with a hokey-assed Page ripoff two-part acoustic intro but it gets heavy real quickly. Hell the singer even sounds like Ozzy. The important thing is that it rules. The real winner is sHeavy’s all-acoustic version of Sea of Tomorrow, what a perfect little tune. Listen to it with headphones to really dig the two-part harmony. Think Blind Faith with a lovelorn vibe, really beautiful & hip. These aren’t the only good songs but I’m not writing a novel, just trying to let you all know about a cool way to spend a bit of your life. Sunshine, Engender (ep, Underdogma Records 2001) www.underdogma.com Four songs of really ass-paddling stoner-meets-Tool wonderfulness. We have cool right-in-the-middle vocals not to loud not too buried, just right. Wish I knew a bit more about these blokes. I think them to be human and really technical for this style. The title track finds a well thought out build & testicular bridge and leaves us wanting more. I really dug the way the drums & vocals build tension in these songs. I’m ready for more. Fans of Tool and Screaming Trees should begin arguing about who bought this first. Electric Wizard, Dopethrone (The Music Cartel 2000) www.music-cartel.com Is this THE “ Doom” album? Well, of 2000, I’d have to join the bandwagon on that one. Probably the most talked-about heavy rock album of the last twelve months, this one may be underrated y’all. I can’t imagine another band being this heavy and this groovy at the same time. Think Sleep vs T-Rex with some of the darkest most wrong-minded lyrics ever; eight songs in 71 minutes and it’s too fucking short. I mean it. This album succeeds and does what so many fail to even attempt. The strength is not in the number of dirge-y riffs but in the purity and dare I say economy of the ones used. What a raging slab this godamned son of a bitch is, a purchase for the perfectionist or stoned-ass lover of destructo-rock. “Legalize drugs & murder”
Wig Wam Bam (by Captain America PO BX 4865 Albq NM 87196 captainamerica1941@hotmail.com) doesn’t know art but knows what it likes and can be found piled up in dusty corners at Insurgo, Burt’s, Bow Wow, Insomnia, Launchpad, Sprockets, mecca Records & Books, AstroZombies, Natural Sound, University Comics & American Home Furnishings.
Wig Wam Bam is written by Captain America  | po box 4865 | albuquerque, nm 87196