Leica M9, Nocti 0.95
Archive for August, 2010
The Path To Skull Orchard
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on August 26, 2010 by johnbuckley100Jon Langford’s “Old Devils”
Posted in Music with tags Jon Langford, Skull Orchard, The Mekons on August 26, 2010 by johnbuckley100It’s been pretty quiet ’round the parlor since the Mekons passed through on their 30th Anniversary tour a few years back… nothing from the Meeks proper, and where are Sally and Rico and all the rest with their solo albums? Even Jon Langford, the closest thing to a workaholic among the Meeks, seemed to have left the Waco Brothers out on the byways. So listening to Old Devils is like having an old friend drop by unexpectedly.
Under the aegis of Jon Langford and Skull Orchard, the music is closer to Langford’s ’98 solo album, Skull Orchard, and to the alt.country Wacos than to comic, cosmic Mekons. Too bad, but still, Langford remains a rock’n’roll treasure who while Chicago based, is still Welsh enough to appreciate Tom Jones; a first-gen British punk who can still crack a whip. Old Devils is tight, fun, and tuneful. Glad to have this old devil aboard.
What A Tangled Web We Weave
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on August 24, 2010 by johnbuckley100Leica M9, Noctilux @0.95. At the community garden off Tunlaw, Washington, D.C., where individual victory gardens are protected from critters by fencing.
Waiting For “Wilderness Heart”
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on August 20, 2010 by johnbuckley100Leica M9, Nocti wide open.
The Forthcoming Delight Of Black Mountain’s “Wilderness Heart”
Posted in Music with tags "Wilderness Heart", Black Mountain, Blood Meridian, Lightning Dust, Stephen McBean on August 20, 2010 by johnbuckley100In the last 12 months, Black Mountain has made moves toward world domination mostly through the cosmically odd use of “Druganaut” in an ad for the Buick Lacrosse (see Tulip Frenzy’s writeup here.) I guess last year was The Pink Mountaintops’ turn, though it was disappointing that we don’t seem to have anything new from other Black Mountain offshoots such as Blood Meridian or Lightning Dust.
Then in late July we got the gloriously sleazy single “Old Fang,” with its Deep Purple organ and video of Stephen McBean riding shotgun in an early ’70s Mustang as a Susan Atkins-type hippie vixen hitchhiker lures him to her psychedelic lair. “Old Fang” could have been the #1 song on WBCN circa 1972, and Black Mountain would have been headliners at Watkins Glen or something. In 2010, it comes off as an absolutely pitch perfect slice o’ mid-Nixon grunge.
The release of “The Hair Song” on their MySpace page gives a further indication of where the forthcoming Wilderness Heart is heading — the purest homage to Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and the boys, replete with “Kashmir” strings — this side of Lez Zeppelin. Get ready. September 14th release date.
Intensity
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on August 18, 2010 by johnbuckley100Leica M9, Nocti @ 0.95
A Proper August, Part II
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on August 14, 2010 by johnbuckley100Leica M9, Nocti 0.95
Dean and Britta’s “13 Most Beautiful” Songs
Posted in Music with tags 13 Most Beautiful: Songs For Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, Dean and Britta, Dean Wareham on August 14, 2010 by johnbuckley100For a decade or more Luna was our favorite band. Some may have found Dean Wareham’s voice offputting, the lyrics occasionally corny, but if you believe in the Unified Field Theory wherein the best rock’n’roll connects to mythical Sterling Morrison/Velvet Underground guitar chords, you had to like Luna. If all the best strands lead back to the VU, Luna was the most tasteful spider in that web. When Wareham broke up the band a few years ago, we admit to feeling an emptiness that has not since been alleviated.
Dean and Britta were a poor substitution, and no offense to Britta, it was mostly because the absence of Sean Eden and Lee Wahl meant Wareham wasn’t really playing in a band. So the brilliance of “13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests” was a welcome surprise. In fact, their version of the Velvet Underground’s lost gem, “I’m Not A Young Man Anymore” is the song of the summer.
We were skeptical, given how bad the Cale/Reed collaboration on “Songs For Drella” was, that a Warhol-inspired album could work. This one does. Oh, not every song. But enough of them are prime Luna/VU/Young Marble Giants gems that it almost feels like we have Luna back.
A Proper August
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95 on August 14, 2010 by johnbuckley100Actually not having one… Leica M9, Noctilux 0.95
Tulip Frenzy 