Peter Hook and The Light kick of new U.S. tour in Miami — a live report and an interview
April 20, 2015
This past weekend, Miami saw Peter Hook and the Light take the stage at Grand Central to perform the music of Joy Division. It marked the start of their Southeastern U.S. tour, which features the band playing opening act to themselves with the music of New Order before playing Joy Division’s two albums, Unknown Pleasures and Closer in their entirety. It was a longtime coming, seeing as the original Joy Division never made a tour of the U.S. due to the shocking suicide of the band’s lead singer, Ian Curtis, in 1980.
OK, so this incarnation only features Joy Division’s original bassist. Still, even though it was far from the original Joy Division line-up, no former member of the Manchester post-punk act could have pulled off a tribute better. Hook took vocal duties for Curtis, and his baritone was an excellent match. There was an additional bassist on stage, Jack Bates, who traded parts with the frontman, though Hook had some key moments to solo on his bass in his signature style: down low on his fret board. It worked especially well during the opening set of select New Order songs to get the crowd warmed up. Hook’s voice, however, was a poor stand-in for New Order’s singer Bernard Sumner. A drunk guy singing along in the crowd behind me sounded better.
This opening set included some prime cuts from the late ’80s New Order, including tracks from Low Life and Brotherhood. Guitarist David Potts took vocals on one song, which fit the set better (sorry, Hooky). Rounding out the band was Andy Poole on keyboards and Paul Kehoe on drums. The band was super tight, although the levels weren’t great at the start, with drums dominating over the melodies. Still, the live show was incredibly faithful. As such, none of the original 
members were missed. It was a marvelous performance that really felt like a celebration of the music. Hook ate up the adulation of the crowd, which included many who donned variations of Joy Division and New Order T-shirts. Hook showed no shame in embracing his star appeal, putting himself on display at the edge of the stage on more than one occasion to give the audience as close a view as possible of his playing key parts of many songs.
I spoke to him a few weeks earlier for an article in the Miami New Times. Speaking via phone from his second home in Mallorca, Hook explained his group has spent a longtime with the music. They have been performing much of it since 2010, when he formed The Light to pay tribute to the music of Joy Division in the band’s hometown of Manchester on the 30th anniversary of Curtis’ passing. Eventually a tour resulted, as did tours and performances of New Order’s albums, including Movement and Power, Corruption & Lies. Now comes the 35th anniversary of Curtis’ death. Peter Hook and the Light have already performed West and East Coast tours of the U.S. featuring Joy Division’s music. This current tour marks their first southern US tour.
When I spoke to Hook about his status in New Order, he was pretty blunt about the relationship: he only communicates with his former mates through lawyers. “They masquerade as New Order now, which I disagree with because they aren’t New Order. It’s like me calling myself Joy Division. That’s
how I look at it. I wouldn’t have the gall to do it. But I suppose that’s what happens when you bring out a group like Bad Lieutenant that flopped so badly, and then you have a massive financial recession.” The latter is a jab at Sumner trying to start a band outside of New Order with Bad Lieutenant, which released an album in 2009 that only made it to number 70 on the U.K. pop charts.
You can read more regarding his feelings about New Order as well as his reflection on Curtis in this article for the Miami New Times, which appeared in print last week. Jump through the headline below:
Peter Hook on Former Band, New Order: “What They Did to Me Was Disgusting”
We also spoke about Peter Murphy, the frontman of Bauhaus, who, when I spoke to him in 2013, had this to say about Joy Division: “Bauhaus Was the Seminal Moment in That Time; Joy Division Was Not” (click through the quote for more on that). After reading that article, Hook seemed to laugh it off. “I know him very well,” he offered. “I just read, actually, the bass player [David J] from Bauhaus’s book, and Peter, unfortunately, does not come across very well, and in that book, I must say, there does seem to be a lot of lead singer syndrome, and what he said about Joy Division in your article just simply isn’t true, is it?”
Murphy had been playing “Transmission,” a Joy Division song, live for many years. He was going to play it in Miami, but scratched it off his set list that night. Maybe my article had something to do with it. Again, Hook was amused and said there is no bad blood between them. He said, “I mean, it’s funny. I’ve known him over the years quite a lot because some of our road crew used to work for him. I’ve seen him quite a lot … He asked me on stage before that article to play ‘Transmission’ with him, when I DJed with him. He’s been playing Joy Division songs for a long time.”
Hook did relay that he met Murphy under some rather comic circumstances, having kicked him out of a Manchester club when he was a bouncer where Murphy was slated to perform with Bauhaus. You can read about that incident and more in this article on the Miami New Times Music blog:
Peter Hook on Joy Division Versus Bauhaus: “They Were a Bit Gothy Glam”
Peter Hook and the Light continue their tour in the south with a show in Atlanta tomorrow. For more tour dates, which concludes the America tour with a visit to Mexico City, visit this link. Some U.K. dates will follow after this tour.
All photos taken by Igor Shteyrenberg at Miami’s Grand Central, April 10, 2015.
Update from the Archives: The Dead Milkmen, chatting with guitarist/vocalist Joe Genaro 21 years later
April 10, 2014
I met the Dead Milkmen 21 years ago. They were the first band with MTV cred and international recognition I had the chance to interview. It was a job that came to me when a promo/advance cassette of their 1993 album Not Richard But Dick arrived to the offices of The Beacon, the student newspaper of Florida International University. It was an intimidating gig for a green music writer such as I, who mostly wrote CD reviews up until this opportunity. The Milkmen were a weirdo punk rock band with a sarcastic and sometimes cruel sense of humor made famous with songs like the “art fag” song “You’ll Dance To Anything” and the sinister “Let’s Get the Baby High.” To top it off, they hid behind fake names.
But what has really shown through over the band’s legacy years is the profound talent they harbor as musicians. Their sound cannot be pigeonholed as mere punk rock. They have an inventive songcraft that includes both catchy songs and a deconstructive knowledge of genre. Still, a wry, critical and sometimes subversive sense of humor shines through their lyrics. Pre-dating the guys behind “South Park,” the Milkmen’s lyrics spare no one, from conspiracy theorists (“Stuart”) to the devout (“I Dream of Jesus”) to hipsters (“You’ll Dance To Anything”).
I met the quartet of vocalist/keyboarist Rodney Linderman (fake name then Arr. Trad.), guitarist/vocalist Joe Genaro (a.k.a. Butterfly Fairweather), bassist Dave Schulthise (then 11070) and drummer Dean Sabatino (Dean Clean) during a break from sound check at the now long-gone Button South nightclub in Fort Lauderdale. They were as stand-offish as an alternative rock MTV band in the slacker years of the 1990s could be, but they were still funny and sociable. I warmed up to them quickly, and I had them all sign the back of my personal CD copy of Not Richard, But Dick. They left some interesting messages, too:
The resulting “Beacon” article was re-printed in 1994 by the Chicago ‘zine “Pure.” You can read the admittedly cheesy and amateurish article here: Vodka Keeps the Dead Milkmen Singing. The one Milkman I best got along with was Genaro, despite his creepy message that accompanied his autograph. After our chat, later that evening, he and I sat on some stools behind the pit to watch Possum Dixon* open the show. Genero and I spoke about a mutual appreciation for Stereolab and other then current up-and-coming artists.
Sometime last month, when the recent opportunity for a follow-up interview arose, Genero was the guy I felt most at ease doing a follow-up interview with, so I reached out to him when I heard he and his old mates were making a rare appearance in Miami at Grand Central on April 11. We ended up chatting over the phone for nearly an hour. He now admits to liking Radiohead, but not many truly current, contemporary alternative rock artists. He also graciously accepted my notion that the Milkmen’s sound is rooted in both The Velvet Underground and The Ramones. He also said that though The Dead Milkmen have often been considered a comedy band, it’s just how their music came out. They’ve never consciously been a comedy act.
Watch Genero front the band’s famed MTV hit “Punk Rock Girl:”
We eased into that serious talk about music, though. Our chat began silly enough with me asking the same stupid questions I first asked the band in 1993. It started the conversation with more than a few laughs. However, the interview turned really serious later. He explained the decision to break-up in 1994, the band’s relationship with the major label Hollywood Records, and most profoundly, the effect Schulthise’s suicide had on him and the band. You can read most of our Q&A in the music blog for The Miami New Times, Crossfade, by jumping through the blog’s logo below:
A much shorter print piece ran in The Miami New Times yesterday. You can pick it up free at news stands for the next week, throughout Miami-Dade County. It can also be read here.
Most of the material resulting from this interview appears in that Crossfade link. However, as you might expect, there was still a lot left over. So here, at Indie Ethos, you can read about their post-reunion life with some stellar new material they have self-released that includes an album from 2011 (The King In Yellow) and several great 7-inches (see them here— one is already sold out). The new music reveals that the Dead Milkmen have remained incredibly true to its sound and humor, though they now have Dan Stevens on bass. Finally, they are nearly done with a new album. Here’s the end of our conversation:
Hans Morgenstern: So tell me about the new material.
Joe Genaro: We were just in the studio last weekend, and we’ll be in the studio this weekend to add to that, so we’re fleshing out… We started out recording a series of 7-inches, and I think the original idea is that we were gonna release everything on the 7-inches and then compile it on the album, but we changed our plans and decided, OK, we’re not going to release all of the songs on the 7-inches. We did four of them, good enough, and we recorded six more songs, and together, that will create an album, what we consider the next album, the 10th studio album.
Do you have a title for it?
No. We have lots of ideas for titles but no title. The working title that Rodney came up with was Servant Girl Annihilator.
Hmm. Interesting.
(Laughs). If that becomes the actual title, we shall see. There’s other titles we’ve been floating around, so who knows. It’s usually, oddly, the last thing that we do— is finalize the title and the artwork and such.
So how many songs is it gonna have?
17 or 18.
And you return to the studio for final mixes or what?
To do final mixes. I think recording is finished. We might polish some things. Sometimes when we’re mixing a song, oh, we can’t live with this little thing. We wished we had played this on a different thing, but otherwise I think we’re done.
What’s different about recording an album now as opposed to the early years of recording for you?
What’s a little bit different now is you take bits that you recorded in one measure and move them easily to another. Like, if you wanted an ending to all line up in the end you can shift. Before, in the tape days, you’d have to figure out how we’re all gonna have to see each other if we’re gonna have an ending where we all end at once. Now you can record it and have the engineer move it where it should be.
And you can sound like expert musicians.
Exactly (laughs), which we’re not.
The years have passed since I seriously sat down and listened to your music, but I can’t say you’ve changed so much. What keeps your sound so fixed?
I think it’s three of us, our style, for one thing. No one plays guitar quite like me. They probably don’t want to. Dean is very unique in his approach, very good drummer, and obviously Rodney has a unique sound and has a voice that no one has matched ever. The danger is that we have a different bass player now, but Dan learned to play bass by listening to Dave. He’s a young’un. He came to our attention through being a fan of the Dead Milkmen back in the ’90s. Just after we’d broken up, he befriended me and Dean at the time. I recorded his first band. They’re still actually together. He had a band with two cousins called Farquar Muckenfuss, kind of like a surfy-punk instrumental band. And when my friend Chris [Seegal] put the band The Low Budgets together he also knew Dan. In fact, he and I met Dan together for the first time, in person, at a show. So the band The Low Budgets was the first that I created with Dan in. It just seemed natural that he sort of acquired a similar style to Dave, by learning to play bass like Dave. He has his own style, of course, but he was very good at mimicking. But now he’s becoming more comfortable with the new stuff and no longer trying to play like Dave would have played it.
How do you balance a set list with the new material and the songs people want to hear?
Good question. It’s a tough thing to do. Rodney is our set list master. We all have somewhat of a say. We all have rights to refusal. We don’t try to put too many new songs in. We learned from other people’s experiences that that can be the death of the energy of the show. People come to a show of a band like us expecting certain songs, and we want to make them happy. From personal experience, we’re happy when the crowd’s happy. So we hit the songs that we think people want to hear, and we sprinkle in the songs that we want to play, and things that they wouldn’t mind hearing, knowing that they probably never heard them before.
* * *
The Dead Milkmen play Miami with Sandratz and Humbert, Friday, April 11, at Grand Central, 697 N. Miami Ave., Miami. The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets cost $18 via ticketfly.com. Call 305-377-2277, or visit grandcentralmiami.com. The group continues to Tampa after that, but that show is sold out. Then, they fly back home to Philadelphia, so it’s a mere two-day tour.
Notes:
*I was impressed by Possum Dixon, a band from California that Genaro remembered as fun to party with after the shows this opening act. They then had yet to reach underground college rock fame on the MTV late-night video show “120 Minutes.” Genaro suggested I write about them, too. I would eventually give their self-titled debut a glowing review in The Beacon, comparing them to Wall of Voodoo. Possum Dixon’s vocalist Robert Zabrecky would later send me a postcard saying “We love Wall of Voodoo!”
A 3-part interview with Kurt Vile in ‘Miami New Times’
November 1, 2013
For those who know their music, Philadelphia-based singer-songwriter, Kurt Vile would like to clarify something: When his parents, Mr. and Ms. Vile, named him Kurt, they did not know anything about the early 20th-century German songwriter Kurt Weill, whose last name is properly pronounced “vile.” Speaking over the phone from his home, the 33-year-old Vile said of his parents, “They had no idea who the composer was … I do have German in my ancestry, but my running joke is I always forget my family tree.”
It’s a great sign when a musician reveals a sense of humor about what is possibly a question he might have heard more often than he has cared to answer. As suits such a giving artist, Vile spoke frankly and was not above giving credit where due. From sonic ideas to his influences, he seemed happy to talk about it all. It was therefore easy for this writer to produce not one, but three different articles on Vile for the “Miami New Times,” ahead of his first live appearance in the Magic City tonight at Grand Central (see details below, as well as more tour dates).
The first article appeared last week, which also appears in print in this week’s issue of the “Miami New Times.” On the publication’s “Crossfade” music blog, the headline for the article tempted some commentators to answer Vile’s rhetorical question:
Kurt Vile on Pretty Daze: “Who Lately Has Opened an Album With a Nine-Minute Song?”
Vile spent even more time talking about long songs than was fit to print. His new album, Wakin On A Pretty Daze features a plethora of rambling, lengthy tracks. He admitted he has long had an affection for indulging in riffs that invite the listener to get lost in the music. He pointed to Neil Young as an example. “Like that song ‘Cortez the Killer,’ it can go on forever because he is just playing the right cords,” he said. “It has the right feel, the right groove. That’s an example of a song that doesn’t matter how long it is, and I was just taking that without exactly thinking about ‘Cortez the Killer,’ but there’s a million artists. It’s like the beginning of time, just people in the fields are playing blues riffs forever. So it’s just fine-tuning that and making it your own thing.”
Vile revealed that he felt a new-found ease with these new songs after getting his 2010 breakthrough album Smoke Ring For My Halo out of his system. Though the new songs flow easy and organically, he said they did not necessarily come out in single writing sessions. A lot of the songs were written in different parts of the world while he toured.
“Different parts of the songs I write in different places,” he said, “but it all just kind of works cohesively and finally, ultimately when you go into the studio, you’re still not sure it’s all going to work out, and then you hear it back. Then there are sections where you just keep it going and think maybe you’ll just fade it out, but then you think this is where a solo will happen and then you listen back and you just realize you got to a place where the whole thing is good like that or at least good enough for you to not cut it out, whereas, in the past, I’ve done long songs too where they are seven, eight minutes long, but it’s still kind of primitive, though.”
Long songs have been something Vile has tried to fine tune for several years. He looks back at earlier experiments with modesty and without shame. “You listen back, it’s primitive. I like it, but I didn’t quite nail it in the recording cause it just kinda sounds all the same, all the way through to me. There were a lot of long songs for Smoke Ring too, but we just had to edit them down because after a while you weren’t bobbing your head. And also you wanted a single. It was that kind of record where a song like ‘Runner Ups’ was longer, cut it down. ‘Society Is My Friend’ was longer, cut it down. Stuff like that,” he added with a laugh.
Humility seems to be part of Vile’s character. The second article for “Crossfade” came easy: his confession to feeling insecure about the recording and production process:
Kurt Vile on the Process of Recording His Albums: “There Is Ultimately a Million Drafts”
All there was to say on the topic appeared in that article. What was left included more technical insights into his craft but also his demystification of analog recordings to vinyl. A self-proclaimed fan on vinyl records, Vile said they just do not make them like the used to. The picture below is a still image from a home-made video for “Never Run Away,” from Wakin On A Pretty Daze, featuring his then 3-year-old daughter and his record collection. After the jump to this third article, you will find the video.:
Kurt Vile on Computer-Free Rock: “Well, That’s Cool, But Kinda Hard to Do, It’s a Luxury”
Kurt Vile and the Violators with Beach Fossils, VBA and the Band In Heaven. Friday, November 1. Grand Central, 697 N. Miami Ave., Miami. Doors 8 p.m. Tickets cost $15. All ages. Call 305-377-2277 or visit grandcentralmiami.com.
His tour continues up Florida and later in Europe:
11-02 Orlando, FL – The Social *
11-03 Tallahassee, FL – Club Downunder *
11-05 New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jack’s *
11-06 Houston, TX – Walters *
11-11 Oxford, MS – Proud Larry’s *
11-12 Chattanooga, TN – JJ’s Bohemia *
12-07 Stockholm, Sweden – Debaser Medis
12-08 Lund, Sweden – Mejeriet
12-11 London, England – 02 Shepherd’s Social Club
12-13 Leeds, England – Brudenell Social Club
12-14 Manchester, England – Manchester Academy 2
12-15 Glasgow, Scotland – Arches
12-16 Bristol, England – The Fleece
12-17 Brighton, England – Concorde 2
12-19 Paris, France – La Gaite Lyrique
12-20 Tourcoing, France – Le Grand Mix
* with Beach Fossils
More tour dates into 2014 and several dates in Australia can be found on Vile’s official tour page (that’s a hotlink).
Thanks to “Pure Honey” for “getting” how I write and inviting me to compose an ode to Of Montreal in the 23rd issue of their ‘zine. Long-time album artist David Barnes and younger brother to the band’s frontman/mastermind Kevin Barnes took on the role of mouthpiece. And did he deliver.
He took my probing questions into his relationship with his older brother via email and either embraced them or turned them inside out, depending on how you might look at it. Though his answers had a fantastical element (he shared that, as children, his parents would reward he and Kevin with “the hose” and punish them by allowing them to dry out and “turn to dust”), they still revealed an honest love/hate relationship those with siblings might relate with. You can read the full story by jumping through the “Pure Honey” logo below…
The editor of “Pure Honey” also commissioned the younger Barnes to compose the cover art for that month’s issue and a poster for Of Montreal’s Miami show. See the images for yourself by jumping through the detail of the cover art below:
Of Montreal perform with Yip Deceiver in Miami on Friday, July 5 at Grand Central. DJ set by Afrobeta. The show is all ages and is scheduled for 8 p.m. It is SOLD OUT.
Miami-area music figures help pick best albums of 2012
December 30, 2012
As this year comes to a close, and I spent more time than ever having to watch movies, as a newly inducted member into the Florida Film Critics Circle (including Hollywood fare! Blech), I felt a bit slack about my longtime experience covering music. So I wanted some help with a survey of some of the best albums 2012. I asked musicians, DJs and general local music scenesters of South Florida (current and past) to share their top 10 albums of 2012.
The tastes represented here are eclectic, and, as inspired by my first contributor, Emile Milgrim of Other Electricitiesand Sweat Records, include no music journalists who are pandered and marketed to by music labels. I therefore, humbly put my lists and thoughts at the end of these 12 notable personalities. Yet, I was pleased to find that within these varied lists, the one album I dared to call a masterpiece in 2012 appeared six times, far more than any other album (and the guy behind it laughed at me!)— hence the headline image.
I had attempted for a moment to survey a top 10 ranked list, but these people are not ones who follow rules easily, hence you can expect many albums ranked in no particular order and even albums from years outside 2012 and lists that did not care to limit themselves to 10 choices. I believe these are all genuinely beloved releases and should provide many intriguing discoveries for adventurous music-types.
Those included in this informal survey are all random people I know who responded to my request mostly via Facebook. I know plenty more people who could have provided intriguing lists, so if you feel left out… never fear, there is always next year.
Without further ado, on to the lists:
Emile Milgrim
Owner at Other Electricities
Ten 2012 albums listened to most (in no particular order):
Scott Walker – Bish Bosch
Lee Fields – Faithful Man
Aesop Rock – Skelethon
Loscil – Sketches From New Brighton
Micachu & The Shapes – Never
Bat For Lashes – Haunted Man
Open Mike Eagle – 4NML HSPTL
Doseone – G is for Deep
Jeans Wilder – Totally
Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin – Instrumental Tourist
Honorable Mentions (note: my record label released some of these)
Holly Hunt – Year One
Bacanal Intruder – Do While, If Else
Motèl Mari – Eternal Peasant
Chelsea Wolfe – Unknown Rooms
Earth – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II
Giulio Aldinucci – Tarsia
Dan Deacon – America
Serengeti – C.A.R.
Black Marble – A Different Arrangement
Orcas – Orcas
Reissues of Aphex Twin, Massive Attack, Stereolab, Califone, Sea & Cake, Tortoise, Crass, Codeine, Wendy Rene, Alvarius B., Destroyer, Blur, Sugar.
Sleeper hit of the year: Pepe Deluxé – Queen Of The Wave
I’m sure I’m forgetting something… It should also be noted that I probably listened to Belle & Sebastian more than anything. They’re my Beatles.
Richard Vergez
Member of the instrumental band Möthersky
Agent Side Grinder – Hardware
Excellent post-punk from Sweden. The aesthetics of Cabaret Voltaire, the fury of Swans, and the precision of Kraftwerk. Saw them live in Berlin this year, fantastic energy.
Raime – Quarter Turns Over a Living Line
A complete deconstruction of electronic music. Terrifyingly beautiful.
Fabulous Diamonds – Commercial Music
Zoned out super heavy minimalism from this Australian duo. Loads of atmosphere and droning mantras disguised as rock. Sounds like drugs.
Pye Corner Audio – The Black Mill Tapes
A collection of original analog tapes brought back to life on this double LP from UK label Type. Dark and desolate soundscapes built from vintage synths and drum machines.
Swans – The Seer
Another amazing full-length from one of the world’s most uncompromising and prolific bands. Hypnotic, cathartic and dynamic. Although I can do without the Karen O track.
Slug Guts – Playin’ in Time with the Deadbeat
Another Aussie release. Nasty and dirgey rock ‘n’ roll a la Birthday Party. As if they dug up the bones of Roland S. Howard himself and slapped six strings on him.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
Everything you would expect from a Godspeed record. Weird tape loops, slowly building phrases, crescendos, Middle Eastern flourishes, and tons of despair. Even some spacey Hawkwind moments.
Cult of Youth – Love Will Prevail
Dark folk with a good post-punk energy. See also Death in June.
Tamaryn – Tender New Signs
Lush, swoony, reverby shoegaze stuff. Tamaryn stays consistent.
Scott Walker – Bish Bosch
This made the list only because it is the worst thing I’ve heard all year and Scott is a genius for convincing the public to spend a shit on this record. Unlistenable. Piss taker of the year award goes to Scott Walker.
Alex Caso
a.k.a. Musician/DJ Alx Czo
Top 10:
Tame Impala – Lonerism
Peaking Lights – Lucifer
Soft moon – Zeros
Swans – Seer
Sad Souls – Apeiron
Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin – Instrumental Tourists
Laurel Halo – Quarantine
The KVB – Always Then
Echo Lake – Wild Peace
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Mature Themes
Notable 5 I couldn’t fit:
Brian Eno – Lux
Grimes – Visions
Gary War – Jared’s Lot
Mirroring – Foreign Body
Lust For Youth – Growing Seeds
Mikey Ramirez
Operations manager at Radio-Active Records
In no particular order:
Cult Of Youth – Love Will Prevail
Swans – The Seer
The Wake – Here Comes Everybody (reissue)
Andy Stott – Luxury Problems
Tame Impala – Lonerism
Ceremony – Zoo
Chromatics – Kill For Love
Sharon Van Etten – Tramp
Moritz Von Oswald – Fetch
Gaslamp Killer – Breakthrough
Steven Toth
a.k.a. Mr. Entertainment of the band Mr. Entertainment and the Pookie Smackers
1. Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light
2. Guided By Voices – Let’s Go Eat The Factory
3. Brian Jonestown Massacre – Aufheben
4. Earth – Angels of Darkness Demons of Light II
5. Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral
6. Ian Hunter – When I’m President
7. Kramer – Brill Building
8. Holly Hunt – Year One
9. Swans – The Seer
10. ZZZ’s – Prescription
re-issues:
Michael Chapman – Rainmaker
Captain Beefheart – Bat Chain Puller
The Reactions
Music-related film:
Waiting for Sugarman – Rodriguez
Alex Gimeno
a.k.a. Musician/DJ Ursula 1000
Poolside – Pacific Standard Time
Seahawks – Aquadisco
Fleetwood Mac – “Dreams (Psychemagik Remix)”
The Fangs – Vampire Vamp
Toy – Toy
Purson – Rocking Horse
Temples – Shelter Song
Boston Bun – Housecall
The Three Degrees – Maybe (reissue)
The Primitives – Echoes and Rhymes
Pocket of Lollipops
a.k.a. musicians Maite Urrechaga and Tony Kapel
The Kills – “The Last Goodbye” EP
Flying Lotus – Until the Quiet Comes
Crystal Castles – III
Mykki Blanco & the Mutant Angels – “Join My Militia”
Unrest – Perfect Teeth (reissue)
Grizzly Bear – Shields
Animal Collective – Centipede HZ
Jack White – Blunderbuss
The Ting Tings – Sounds From Nowheresville
Smashing Pumpkins – Oceania
Santigold – Santigold (2008)
On heavy rotation at the couple’s home this year:
Sonic Youth – Destroyed Room
Versus – Deep Red
Jane’s Addiction – Ritual De Lo Habitual
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
Modest Mouse – Building Nothing Out of Something
Pink Floyd – Umma Gumma or Obscured by Clouds
Bat for Lashes – Fur & Gold
David Bowie – Hunky Dory
Efterklang – Tripper
The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free
Aramís Lorié
Managing Partner & Co-Founder Grand Central
Listed in no particular order:
The XX – Coexist
Grizzly Bear – Shields
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Mature Themes
Tame Impala – Innerspeaker (2010)
Crystal Castles – III
Beck – Song Reader ( I haven’t heard it or attempted to play it yet, but concept alone is immensely brilliant)
Lower Dens – Nootropics
Tanlines – Mixed Emotions
Hundred Waters – Hundred Waters
Lana Del Rey – Born To Die (great fabrication of an artist)
John Physioc
Assistant Manager at Miami Beach Cinematheque
Listed in no particular order:
The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Aufheben
The Soft Moon – Zeros
Peaking Lights – Lucifer
Swans – The Seer
Tropic of Cancer – The End of All Things
Tales of Murder and Dust – Hallucination of Beauty
The Limiñanas – Crystal Anis
Matthew Dear – Beams
The Blondes – Blondes
Starred – “Prison to Prison” EP
Jsin Jimenez
“Doer of Jobs” at (((SHAKE)))
Grimes – Visions
Beach House – Bloom
Holly Hunt – Year One
Traxman – Da Mind Of Traxman
Tnght – Tnght
Swans – The Seer
Mala – Mala In Cuba
Ryan Hemsworth – Last Words
Metro Zu – Mink Rug
Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
Juan Montoya
Guitarist (currently member of Atlanta-based MonstrO, but formerly of Miami greats Torche, Floor and Ed Matus’ Struggle)
Manray – Tournament (2011)
Order Of The Owl – In the Noon of the After Day
Kavinsky – Drive Movie Soundtrack (Even though it’s from 2011, I spent the whole year listening to this)
Melvins – The Bulls and the Bees
Biters – “Last of a Dying Breed” EP
Can we finish it off with albums I wished would of come out? I can even title them:
My Bloody Valentine – Eternal Wait
Aphex Twin – Beyond Babylon
Trans Am – Fluid To It
Melt Banana – Nude Mood
Danzig – Sangre Nuestro
Carl Ferrari
Guiatarist of Gypsy Cat
Kurt Rosenwinke – Star of Jupiter
Elisa Weilerstein with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle – Elgar and Carter Cello Concertos
Dead Can dance – Anastasis
Lenacay – Ryma
Esperanza Spalding – Radiomusic Society
Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow
Lupe Fiasco – Food and Liquor II
Bomba Estereo – Elegancia Tropical
Brooklyn Rider – Seven Steps
Earth – Angels of Darkness Demons of Light II
My Bloody Valentine’s long awaited follow-up to Loveless
Hans Morgenstern
writer of this blog
Finally, my top 10 albums of 2012 (and I really feared I wasn’t going to be able to come up with one based on all the film reviewing I did this year [that list will be out tomorrow, by the way]. Another note, as you can tell by the contacts above, I am too partial and precious to my local music scene to pick out local artists, for fear of leaving someone out, but let my coverage this year of Holly Hunt, Boxwood and Spielberger stand for itself.):
Swans – The Seer
I declared it a masterpiece to the creator’s face, and I am happy to own up to it here. It’s a difficult one to listen to from start to finish, from it’s near 2-hour runtime to its sweeping range of emotions, and its dynamics between noisy indulgence and soaring symphonic qualities. I doubt most modern musicians have the kind of talent Michael Gira has and know how to use it as well.
Beach House – Bloom
Another album of bold declaration to the songwriter’s face. I told singer Victoria Legrand that no album has grabbed me with such immediacy since the album that topped my 2010 list. I feel obliged to own up to that and place it after the masterpiece of 2012. Though I interviewed several other musicians, as the coverage of Swans and Beach House on this blog shows, I feel genuinely lucky to have been able to talk to the artists behind some of the greatest albums of the year. To hear these two as much as I did and study them as deep as I did and not get tired of them, either, stands as testament to that.
Grizzly Bear – Shields
I wished I could have written as extensively about and talked to the artists behind this album, but no tour down here made it hard. I was skeptical about this release, as Grizzly Bear has only turned further and further away from its brilliant moody, abstract and atmospheric debut, Horn of Plenty with each release. However, Shields, it’s fourth full-length, had so much genuine soul, it swept away all doubts with each song.
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Mature Themes
I had heard this man’s prior work, but was never blown away … until Mature Themes. It jumps genres with a glee I have not seen since I first heard Ween, 20 years ago. It even had progressive rock elements that remind me of very early Brian Eno. Anyone who can do that deserves props.
Lotus Plaza – Spooky Action at a Distance
So, lead singer/guitarist Bradford Cox of Deerhunter often gets all the attention for the work in the brilliantly noisy Deerhunter, but I am partial to the band’s shy guitarist Lockett Pundt. His contributions are the band’s catchiest and most indulgent. It’s all on display here, his second solo album under the moniker of Lotus Plaza.
Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light
It’s been a long time since a Spiritualized album took ecstatic turns into blissful, noisy jams. This album has several of these moments.
Faust – 10
It may seem hardly fair to include an unreleased album on my list, but Faust is one legendary group, and it is damn sad that legal issues has kept 10 unreleased. A resourceful bootlegger manufactured two runs on vinyl, and I was lucky to have been led to a copy. The works on here are some of the best I have heard featuring founding members Jean Hervé Péron and Werner “Zappi” Diermaier since the original line-up’s masterwork Faust IV.
Diiv – Oshin
I was drawn to the wit and atmosphere of the album cover, something that has not happened to me in years. The contents did not disappoint! By tuns Krautrock-inspired droney to as catchy as the Cure, Oshin was one of the best blind-buy album surprises of my life.
Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
It’s a sad shame that gossip rags/blogs seem attracted to hounding Apple. She is one of the most talented performers I have ever seen, and a brilliant songwriter, as well. Her raw delivery and energy are an impressive thing to capture on vinyl, and this was definitely one of the year’s highlights. Between her soulful growls and her resonating piano are brilliant, human insights few pop artists know how to tune into.
Just to off-set things, too, number 11 is an obscure honorable mention:
Birthmark – Antibodies
One of the great but little recognized albums I have heard this year comes from Birthmark. This is the on-going side-project of Nate Kinsella, formerly of Joan of Arc and Make Believe. It features the familiar deconstructive, yet still catchy approach of songwriting that defined his earlier bands. However, Kinsella brings together elements of classical instruments and electronics, and mixes them together to compliment and contrast each other to brilliant effect.
Off-setting things some more: Music documentary of the year goes to: LCD Soundsystem – Shut Up and Play the Hits
OK, so I haven’t seen the buzzy Searching for Sugarman or Marley documentaries, but I cried a tear the moment Murphy sang the lyric “this will be the last time” during “All My Friends.” So this is the way LCD ends, with a bang and a whimper. The documentary is brilliantly mixed by James Murphy himself featuring bombastic performances of the band’s final show at a sold-out Madison Square Garden interspersed among Murphy’s contemplative musings of why he ended it. The blu-ray release features the ultimate bonus feature, as it includes the entire three-and-a-half-hour MSG show spread across two blu-ray discs. LCD Soundsystem was indeed one of the most amazing bands of the turn of the millennium. They will also go down as one of the best live experiences of my life, which makes the dissolution of the band all the more tragic.
So, a few weeks ago, I was hanging on the telephone waiting for Temper Trap’s frontman Dougy Mandagi (pictured above, center) to get on the phone. I was told he was in the shower, he was coming down the elevator and I got … bassist Jonathon Aherne (pictured above, far right). One would think, dang! But, no. Aherne was generous and insightful. The resulting profile was published in this week’s “Miami New Times.” Read it by jumping through the logo of the “Miami New Times” music blog:
Yes, the story focuses a lot on “Sweet Disposition,” that song from my favorite film of 2009, (500) Days of Summer. But I was curious about the effect of such a popular hit on an indie band now releasing records on one of the largest of major labels in the world: Columbia Records, which is owned by Sony Entertainment. It doesn’t get bigger than that. The label’s rep listened in on our conversation and told us when to get off the phone, but that’s how it goes. It did not stop me from asking polite questions about the psychological effects of— to put it simply— selling out, and Aherne seemed to have a healthy attitude about it. The band loves having a song as recognizable as “Sweet Disposition,” and you can expect to hear it live on their current tour for their new self-titled album. “There’s nothing wrong with that because we want our music to connect with people, for people to enjoy it,” he said. So here’s that song, once again:
Finally, the contest…
Now you’ve heard the song again, visit Independent Ethos’ Facebook page (yep, that’s the live link) and share where you first heard the song.
The band continues its tour beyond Miami at these following dates:
10/19/2012 Atlanta GA Center Stage
10/20/2012 Orlando FL House of Blues
10/21/2012 Miami FL Grand Central
10/23/2012 St. Petersburg FL State Theater
10/25/2012 Fort Worth TX Ridglea Theater
10/26/2012 Houston TX House of Blues
10/28/2012 Austin TX Stubb’s
Live review: PiL at Grand Central, Miami, Oct. 5, 2012
October 8, 2012
I’ve seen the unglamorous aging of punk rock and— wouldn’t you know it— John Lydon, once known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, is embracing it with down-to-earth charm. Before Public Image Ltd., i.e. PiL, took the stage at Grand Central in Miami last Friday, I was advised to get there on time. The group would start at 9 p.m. sharp. It actually started about 15 minutes later, but still damn early for a headline act (no opener) at Grand Central.
The band came out to the darkened stage with no intro music beyond what the DJ had been playing for the few dancers. “We’re pill,” said Lydon before the band kicked off its near two-hour set with “This is Not a Love Song.” It was pure, driving power pop propulsion, while Lydon’s voice shifted and morphed from warbles to buzz saw growls and barks. The power trio version of this song was a refreshing thing to hear stripped of the disco-stylings, like the horns, of its original version. Lu
Edmonds played an electric saz, a Persian instrument from the lute family, for the song. Though exotic to look at, it did not take the song to any strange places beyond its distinctive potency. What this band— which also included Bruce Smith on drums (another longtime PiL alum) and new bassist Scott Firth— did do well was groove along and indulge in the essence of the PiL sound: pure post-punk.
Edmonds, who went on to play in the Damned and the Mekons after PiL, before recently returning to a newly reformed PiL, shined as a talented guitarist during the grooves. The band highlighted lots of material from its new album This is PiL, which features some grand, unrelenting hooks. “Deeper Water,” one of the band’s new songs, followed “This is Not a Love Song” and rode a catchy guitar line laced with the reggae influence of so much British post-punk of the seventies, as Lydon delighted in his amorphous voice for an almost seven-minute duration. The band were tight and kept things interesting with some pre-programmed keyboard lines that joined in from the ether.
They also explored some old songs, and their sober, mature quality even made songs like the 11-minute “Albatross” a pleasant moment. The piercing hiss of the Keith Levene’s original guitar and Rotten’s once tired, melting voice were replaced by Edmonds’ rambling and roaring guitar work and Lydon sounded vibrant and awake. The rhythm section offered a solid drone, as the group reveled in wallowing in its minimalist punk until coming to a sputtering stop.
I captured a video of the next song, another new one called “One Drop,” where the now rather rotund and flabby Lydon sings, “We are teenagers” with a slight trace of irony:
The set went on in much the same manner, visiting old mainstays like “Disappointed” but also featuring new songs like “Reggie Song,” which fit comfortably in the band’s oeuvre. The songs had a repetitive quality and seemed extended longer than they needed, but that’s typical PiL. It’s like they drive a hook of a song in perpetuity in order to allow it to stick in your head.
The audience, composed of members of the aged punk generation of the early eighties and of the early nineties alternative nation years of MTV, mostly nodded along to the music and occasionally raised their fists. A few pogo-ed for a few seconds at a time. A 20-year break between albums can do something to your relevance, as few in the audience were current generation hipsters.
Lydon was an amenable front man. He spit on stage once— that I saw— and excused himself for using a big bottle of something for mouthwash and not swallowing. 
He even seemed to present himself as pro-Obama, lamenting the president’s weak showing at that week’s debate. “You couldn’t put that fuckin’ presidential debate to music. Believe me, I tried,” he said before introducing “U.S.L.S. 1.” Before the song’s grand chiming guitar line soared off, he said, “Here’s what would happen if Romney gets in” about the song with the line “The devil takes care of his own.” Again, the song sounded even grander live with this line-up of musicians, who delighted in new dynamics missing from the original.
After a few more songs, the band would take a five-minute break before returning to the stage for a lengthy encore that began with the 10-plus-minute closer off the new album, “Out of the Woods.” That song then dovetailed into the band’s biggest song, “Rise,” and Lydon encouraged audience participation by hanging the mic over the audience for the “Anger is an energy” line. PiL closed the show with “Open Up,” an early Leftfield song that Lydon sang guest vocals on. It was an apt indulgent turn that revealed PiL’s seemless connection to droning house music. The jam probably lasted 15 minutes.
PiL came across as a well-preserved relic of a certain era which— as it did in its early post-punk days— revealed scarcely a trace of Lydon’s punk roots as Johnny Rotten. These were skilled, mature musicians up on stage that night for a show made more tolerable by a mostly subdued crowd who were there for the music rather than to be “seen.” People mostly stood in rapt attention, and they were easy to walk among and never crowded up against each other (unless you were the tight, small bunch toward the front of the stage).
Set list:
This is Not a Love Song
Deeper Water
Albatross
One Drop
Disappointed
Warrior
Reggie Song
U.S.L.S. 1
Swan Lake (A.K.A. Death Disco)
Bags
Religion
Encore:
Out of the Woods
Rise
Open Up
North American tour dates for PiL continue thusly:
10/08 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
10/09 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
10/12 – Clifton Park, NY @ Upstate Concert Hall
10/13 – New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
10/15 – Boston, MA @ Royale Boston
10/16 – Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
10/18 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
10/19 – Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
10/21 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
10/22 – Minneapolis, MN @ Mill City Nights
10/25 – San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom
10/28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Club NOKIA
11/01 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
11/03 – Austin, TX @ Fun Fun Fun Fest
Independent Ethos 