The International Disassociation Of Aaron Dooley

I’ve had the good fortune to catch Aaron Dooley and co. a couple of times this year — hopefully you have, too! But if not, this record serves as a more-than-worthy substitute. Dooley and his big band expertly walk the line between free-form improv and more intricate compositions, delving deep into psychedelia, spiritual jazz and various fusions thereof. There’s dark, moody stuff alongside more melodic trips, horns and pedal steel meshing wonderfully with shimmery guitar work and strings, all grounded by Aaron’s rich electric bass. But on the final track, “Jamais Vu,” he plays acoustic upright, leading the ensemble into a luminous, loping “Journey In Satchidananda”-style tune that takes everyone into transcendental spaces.

Sonic Youth - Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris, France, August 29, 2007

“The new face of jazz!?” Lee Ranaldo proclaims at the close of this set, which was part of the La Villette Jazz Festival in 2007. And … yeah! Rather Ripped, from the previous year, was perhaps Sonic Youth’s most pop-rock album ever. But they had not lost their avant-garde bona fides — not by a long shot.

The opening number on this tape is a 45-minute freeform improv, with the band joined by underground luminaries Jean-Marc Montera, Michel Doneda and Mats Gustafsson. Is it jazz? I don’t know! But it’s awesome.

After that trip into unknown zones, Sonic Youth play a more standard set, mixing Rather Ripped numbers with Daydream Nation chestnuts; they’d start playing that latter album in full in the coming months. But it’s not the usual Daydreamers here, no “Teenage Riot” or “Silver Rocket.” Instead, SY lay into “The Sprawl,” “Cross The Breeze” and “The Wonder,” rediscovering these abstract ragers with glee. There are a few technical hiccups, naturally — check out the “Cross The Breeze” false start with Thurston filling in a cappella-style.

The night ends with another freakout — Montera, Doneda and Gustafsson re-appear for a post-“Expressway” jam that gets even wilder than the previous one. This is the real Sprawl!

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Mazzy Star - The Mint, Los Angeles, California, July 15, 1993

It came to my attention that Mazzy Star’s So Tonight That I Might See came out just about 30 years ago this fall — an occasion worth celebrating? Sure, why not? It’s an album with a weird trajectory: I remember hearing it around that time (on cassette, kiddos!) and thinking it was very nice, kind of like Stevie Nicks sleepwalking through a VU record … my kind of thing! But then, sometime in the summer of 1994, “Fade Into You” became the Alternative Nation’s slow dance number of choice, and STTIMS was a surprise hit!

That was all in the future in the summer of 1993 when Mazzy Star sauntered onstage at the Mint on Pico. In fact, it was so far in the future that the band doesn’t even play their future chart-topper on this particular evening. But that’s OK, it’s still a cool tape, with the band keeping things impressively minimal — sometimes just David Roback and Hope Sandoval, sometimes adding spare percussion, cello and keys.

Check out the bone-chilling version of “Into Dust,” a performance that brings a fairly chatty LA crowd to a standstill; or the plaintive “Flowers In December,” which wouldn’t come out for a few more years (“I’m going to attempt to play harmonica,” a relatively chatty Sandoval says); or the awesome “Mary Of Silence” which evolves into an impressive freakout, Roback sounding like Syd Barrett jamming with the Doors at the Whiskey in ‘66. Good stuff, people!

Television - Max’s Kansas City, New York City, August 28, 1974

I just got my copy of Uncut’s Ultimate Music Guide — the Television edition! Very cool to see a band that was far from a chart-topper / arena-filler get this kind of lavish treatment. The mag is a thing of beauty: tons of fascinating vintage articles/interviews, fantastic photos, interesting new reviews and plenty of dips into Television-adjacent zones (Voidoids, Heartbreakers, etc). Go grab it …

You will probably not be shocked to learn that my contribution to the UMG Television extravaganza is a lengthy writeup of the band’s live albums and bootlegs … a favorite Doom & Gloom subject since before the beginning. Here’s what I wrote about the Max’s gig in 1974, which is one of the earliest Television (if not the earliest) live tapes out there. (How early? Well, “Marquee Moon” is introduced as “the new one.”)

Richard Hell was long gone by the time Television recorded Marquee Moon. In the beginning, however, it was as much his band as it was Verlaine’s — a fact made clear by this Max’s gig, which took place just a few months after the quartet had played their first shows. Hell’s rudimentary-but-right bass work and strung-out vocals may make later Television sound like Steely Dan in comparison, but the impressive verve and originality of the band is positively thrilling even at this early stage. With a host of songs that wouldn’t survive Hell’s ousting from Television, this tape is a vital document of what might have been. 

Ohhh yeah. I’m fascinated by the list of songs above, which seems to be a comprehensive rundown of the Hell era. A lot of tunes for a band that hadn’t existed for all that long — and many of them future classics.

And hey, one more thing: sad news that Keith Allison passed away this month. Keith was the webmaster / Television aficionado behind the long-running The Wonder website, which has been an indispensable resource on Verlaine and the band and beyond for decades now. It was the kind of site that always made you remember that the internet could actually be … good? I didn’t know Keith personally, but I greatly appreciated his work. Hopefully there is some way that The Wonder can stay up for future generations to access …

Swing In Mit The Pentangle

New to me! New to you?! This is one of those sweet early 70s fly-on-the-wall documentaries — it’s not trying to make any grandiose statements about music, it’s just kind of hanging out with some amazing musicians for a half-hour. In this case, Pentangle! The vibes are impeccable. We get to go backstage to smoke a few ciggies after a gig, we get to ride a train up to Scotland with the band, we get to check out some groovy performances. Maybe best of all is the closing sequence at Dunnottar Castle, a coastal/medieval ruin that looks too amazing to be real. But it’s real! Just like Pentangle!

Bert Jansch: Musically, it was never the same twice. Bands like Led Zeppelin, their music stayed the same, roughly. We used to do things in any combination, numbers that lasted half an hour. As a band we were more outrageous than The Who, there was no question about it.

John Renbourn: We got away with a lot of bad stuff. I’m not going to tell you what.

Bitter Cold - Mirrors

We revisited the work of David Obuchowski a few weeks ago with a look back at the excellent Distant Correspondent LP, released just about a decade ago. But David (who you may also know from such groups as Publicist UK and Goes Cube) isn’t just a blast from the past; he’s got a new / great project called Bitter Cold — and it is killer stuff, my friends. Though Obuchowski thrives in collaborative settings, Mirrors is a completely solo affair, with the Denver-based songwriter creating a pleasingly skeletal one-man-band sound — simple drum machine patterns, Johnny-Marr-goes-shoegaze guitars (that occasionally get nicely heavy), shadowy synths and tense, dramatic vocals. We’re in the 80s post-punk comfort zone to some extent — Obuchowski can definitely write a classic hook — but there’s a wildness and idiosyncrasy to the arrangements here that puts Mirrors leagues above the run-of-the-mill. The lyrics match the vibes of the music, leaning fearlessly into disappointment and disillusionment, a soul in turmoil. But there’s always a hint of humor and warmth as well, a knowledge that the darkness will pass.

Sonic Youth - Double Door, Chicago, Illinois, August 5, 2006

Enter Ibold! We’re on the downward slope of the #SonicSummer mountain and in 2006, Sonic Youth drafted Pavement bassist Mark Ibold to help hold down the bottom end. He might not be the mad scientist of sound that Jim O'Rourke was … but who doesn’t love Mark Ibold?! No one, that’s who.

This particular summer, Sonic Youth was on the road promoting Rather Ripped, their final album for DGC. I’m kind of convinced that Rather Ripped could have pushed SY into the mainstream — if they had released it in 1994. Chiming guitars, plenty of hooks, catchy choruses, crisp tempos, a pseudo power ballad … it has Buzz Bin written all over it! (You remember the Buzz Bin, don’t you?)

Anyway, it’s a solid album — perhaps not as exciting as the handful of records that came before it, but pretty exciting nonetheless. Here in Chicago, playing a post-Lollapalooza gig at the Double Door, the Rather Ripped material, er, rips, whether it’s the mystical musings of “Turquoise Boy” or the sweet jangle of “Jams Run Free.” I love the extended ambient segue from the latter tune into a magisterial “Pink Steam” (though I’m not sure I love the lyrics of that one). Does Thurston forget most of the words to “Tom Violence”? Yeah, he does!

Things wrap up in fine form with two dips into the past: an appropriately ferocious “Shaking Hell” and a massive “Expressway To Yr Skull” that threatens to bring the entire venue to the ground.

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By This River

A couple months back, I put together an hour-long mix of various versions of “By This River” — a song by Dieter Moebius, Brian Eno and Hans-Joachim Roedelius that first showed up on Eno’s classic Before and After Science LP. There are orchestral interpretations, solo acoustic renditions, harps, synths — there’s even a very skilled whistler floating down this “River.”

Here’s the tracklisting:

Brian Eno, “By This River” ++ Hans-Joachim Roedelius, “Skizze 4 von By This River” ++ Mari Samuelsen & Konzerthausorchester Berlin, “By This River” ++ Mary Lattimore, “By This River” ++ Sergio Sorrentino, “By This River” ++ Martin L. Gore, “By This River” ++ Elena Somaré, ” By This River” ++ Console, “By This River” ++ Bruce Brubaker, “By This River” ++ Speed The Plough, “By This River” ++ Giampaolo Capelli, “By This River” ++ Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, “By This River” ++ Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto, “By This River (Phantom)” ++ Roedelius & Jean-Benoit Dunckel, “Silencio, Pt. 7 (By This River)”

Why did I do this? I don’t know! But maybe it’s just because the song has a certain hypnotic quality that seems to stop time, that simple keyboard hook flowing over Eno’s hushed vocals. The lyrics, too — they’re not straightforward, exactly, but they communicate something that has always connected with me, now more than ever. The narrator is in some kind of purgatory, “stuck by this river.” He’s not alone, but he’s unable to really communicate meaningfully with the other people on the banks (hmm, feels familiar). It’s a vision, a dream, a longing. “My River runs to thee,” Emily Dickinson wrote. “Blue Sea – Wilt welcome me?”

Yeah, sure. Anyway, had I made this “River” mix a little bit later, I would have included the live version of “By This River” that Eno has been playing on his recent tour (!), backed by the Baltic Sea Philharmonic and some other key collaborators. Listen to a nice audience recording of it here! If you watch the video, it’s impressive that such a large group of musicians can make so little sound. An oblique strategy if ever there was one.

Head Voice :: Ben Chasny, Donovan Quinn & James Jackson Toth

You probably know the names Ben Chasny, Donovan Quinn and James Jackson Toth. The latest venture for these brilliant underground musicians is Head Voice. This is not a new band, however. It’s an old-school zine. 

“Head Voice is dedicated to the spirit of inquiry and transparency; to asking, not telling, and dispelling certain myths about the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to create art and music,” Toth writes in the inaugural issue’s introduction. “We hope that this shared knowledge provides both resources and inspiration.”

The first issue of Head Voice is jam-packed with great stuff, from Chasny’s chat with the esoteric sound artist Kristen Gallerneaux to Toth’s in-depth conversation with Matt Valentine to Quinn’s piece on artist/producer Jason Quever. Every page is guaranteed to spark your imagination, whether you’re a musician or fan (or both). 

Recently, I hopped on Zoom for a roundtable ramble on Head Voice’s origins and where the publication is, er, headed, among other sundry topics.

Need a soundtrack? How about this sneak peek of Winter Band, a new trio featuring Chasny, Quinn and Ethan Miller (Comets on Fire, Howlin Rain, etc). Short, but oh-so-sweet.

Alice Coltrane & Santana - Previously Unissued 1974 Recordings

Further Illuminations! The Heat Warps and Mr. Completely delivered the goods last week with a sizable selection of heretofore uncirculated Alice + Carlos (and John McLaughlin) recordings. Truly great stuff — some very interesting outtakes, improvs and alternates from the Illuminations sessions and a fairly astounding live tape from 1974. Lots of celestial harp and burnt Wurlitzer, along with Santana and McLaughlin’s fusion-y flights of fancy. Let us go into the house of the Lord!!!

The details: A pair of documents has recently emerged to expand our understanding of this collaboration. The first, a 3-hour + 45-minute collection of newly discovered audio from the Illuminations sessions, including previously unknown compositions, stripped back tracking sessions, overdub reels, working tapes and a cache of alternate takes and mixes. It offers a wide-screen vision of the avenues this album could have taken: a more earth-bound collection rooted in free jazz and heavy fusion, or a pared-down, reflective journey aimed to guide listeners on an inner search. All that could have been is laid out here. The second document, equally illuminating, is a previously un-circulated soundboard recording of a March 14, 1974 concert from the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco. The tape features spare devotional sets from John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana, sets from Alice Coltrane in both solo and trio settings, as well as ensemble performances of Illuminations material and more. 

Katie Von Schleicher - A Little Touch Of Schleicher in the Night

A great new one from Katie Von Schleicher, a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who is both wise and wiseass, expertly balancing playfulness with pain. Kind of like Harry Nilsson himself, I guess — the dude referenced in the album’s title, of course. A Little Touch Of Schleicher in the Night frames Katie’s vocals with fizzy/fuzzy guitars, lush strings and clever classic pop arrangements, with such ringers as Sam Evian, Gabriel Birnbaum and Nick Jost bringing their considerable talents to the table. It’s a record that feels wonderfully complex, both in its lyrics and overall approach — but it’s always approachable and warm, too.

Sonic Youth - Greenspace, Valencia, Spain, October 28, 2005

One more trip to the Dude Ranch! This entry in the #SonicSummer extravaganza comes toward the tail-end of “The Jim Years.” Soon, O'Rourke would bid adieu to Sonic Youth, eventually leaving the USA entirely for the Steamrooms of Japan. It was nice while it lasted — and this slightly overdriven Spanish broadcast shows that Jim left the band on a musical high note.

It’s a slightly truncated festival set — but SY makes the most of their onstage time, adding a little extra energy and rambunctiousness to the proceedings. The Sonic Nurse material is still sounding rad, with a tightly wound “Stones” and an extremely explosive “Pattern Recognition” leading the way. Elsewhere, an off-the-rails “Mote” blends beautifully into a kraut-tastic "New Hampshire.”

The evening in Valencia concludes with a truly unique happening — a fiery free-form jam with legendary Flamenco vocalist Enrique Morente. Cante jondo! Morente’s incantatory stylings might seem like an odd fit for Sonic Youth’s shards of noize, but by the end of this 13-minute trip, you might wish they had made an entire album together.

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Damon & Naomi - Best Video Film & Cultural Center, Hamden, Connecticut, May 12, 2023

Following up Powers / Rolin, we’re keeping it duo-y this week with a fabulous tape of Damon & Naomi in the “almost pretty” state of Connecticut earlier this year. D&N were playing Best Video Film & Cultural Center, a nonprofit venue/community gathering space that honestly seems like one of the coolest places in the entire Nutmeg State. “I don’t know why we haven’t played a video store before,” Damon marvels, later noting the unexpectedly excellent acoustics that a wall of VHS tapes provides.

And yeah, he and Naomi are wonderful as always, playing several tunes from their latest/greatest A Sky Record along with some welcome dips into their rich back catalog, which now stretches back over 30 years. I especially enjoy the songs in which Naomi picks up her bass — such a unique and absorbing sound. In the first issue of the highly recommended new zine Head Voice (more on that soon), Ben Chasny and Elisa Ambrogio go deep with Yang about that sound. “[I]f you play really low all the time, the club starts to vibrate and everything falls off the shelves. It’s like a seismic sound, all those super low notes. But I think I really started playing higher up because I always write the bass lines by singing them, so that is where my voice is. I also just thought it sounded pretty and it cut through.”

The laid-back setting also encourages banter, so we get to hear about D&N’s newly adopted cat, misadventures on the Merritt Parkway and Tim Buckley’s appearance on The Monkees. And hey, there’s even a majestic rendition of the old Galaxie 500 chestnut “Another Day” … though I’m also going to suggest you check out the radical version of this song from around the same time with Meg Baird and Charlie Saufley. (Oh and then maybe you can dig the quartet’s radical Popol Vuh cover???)

In case you haven’t guessed yet, this recording is another dig into the Alex Butterfield Archives, which have given us untold treasures over the past several years. Go dig through the tapes! Thank you, Alex!

Powers / Rolin Duo - Live On WFMU, October 3, 2023

The world’s best cosmic dulcimer / guitar duo paid a visit to the world’s best radio station earlier this month — and the results were predictably awesome. “Mama mia!!” exclaims DJ Matt Warwick after Jen Powers and Matthew Rolin wrap up this 20-minute excursion. And you’re going to agree with that sentiment, I guarantee it.

I’ve loved the Powers / Rolin Duo for quite a while now, so it’s a pleasure to tell you that Prairiewolf (that band I play in) is sharing a bill with Matthew Rolin next week in Fort Collins, CO (Jen, alas, isn’t on this particular tour). This will likely be Prairiewolf’s final gig of the year, so if you’re in the area, come on out! If you’re not in the area, check out the rest of Matt’s dates and go see him if he’s in your neck of the woods.

The New York Dolls, Waldorf Astoria, New York City, October 31, 1973

How are you celebrating Halloween this year? I’m taking a time machine 50 years back to see the New York Dolls in the Waldorf-Astoria’s Grand Ballroom. Or, rather, I’m going to watch this raw video of this legendary occasion … it’s a blast, but I’m sure nothing could compare to actually being there.

Will Hermes set the scene in his Love Goes To Buildings On Fire: The Waldorf-Astoria was the epitome of uptown, up-tight, upper-crust New York; whoever agreed to give the ballroom over to the Dolls and their wasted fans was either clueless or wickedly subversive. By midnight, a thousand-some freaks of various stripes were packed into the ballroom entryway, pressing against doors that were supposed to have opened at 11:00. Tempers flared, doors were smashed, and someone lit a stink bomb in the hotel lobby in protest. Security guards admitted a portion of the mob but hundreds were turned away. Arthur Bell described the scene as “Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange and Joel Grey in Cabaret by the dozens, chains and hoods, silver buttocks, scarlet breasts, dildoed noses,” with old-school trannies washing down demerol capsules with swigs of whiskey.

In other words … Happy Halloween!