Everybody who recognizes the name Doug Martsch knows the man from his long and fruitful tenure as leader of Built to Spill, but that's the only notch on his guitar strap. And if asked to cite Martsch's "other band," a considerable number of those who know him would likely offer up the name Halo Benders like the total smarties they fancied themselves to be. And they'd not be incorrect. But in addition to Martsch's involvement, that fine group also featured ex-Beat Happening/K Records honcho Calvin Johnson and longtime producer, solo artist and ex-Pell Mell member Steve [...]
And now for not long awaited/demanded second half of my Frank Sinatra covers album post. You can find part one here. Mind Over Matter - New York, New York Mind Over Matter was an NYC hardcore punk band that, if their Last.FM bio is anything to be believed, played a major factor in the development of screamo. If I was Mind Over Matter, that's not something I would be bragging about. I like this cover a lot, especially how it injects NYC crime statistics into [...]
Human Voices , the Tree People's second album from 1984, is a solid dose of American folk-rock. The group hailed from Eugene Oregon, releasing their debut LP in 1979. Human Voices was a limited edition cassette only release, of which only 300 copies were pressed. Stephen Cohen (guitar and voice), Jeff Stier (recorder, flue, bells and percussion) and Denis Mochary (drums) recorded the album at The Recording Arts Center. It's an album that sounds wonderfully out of step with the post-punk times. Allmusic.com refers to the album as a "mini gem" while psychedelicfolk.com notes that [...]
So, bought a ticket to the upcoming Built to Spill show and it got me inspired to make a Treepeople mix. Treepeople, being Doug Martsch's band before, and in the early days of, Built to Spill. Their brand of post punk-y guitar rock is one of the few over-the-top guitar wankfests I can handle and I love it dearly. Reminds me of listening to the radio when I was in middle school. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, they never had an album that truly did them justice, so I've always wanted to make a mix [...]
I´m reading Juliet, Naked at the moment, which is quite hard to put down. Really should get busy to bring you edition 16 of Wild Weekend now... Ok, ok, here goes. The iPod´s on shuffle once again, and a surprise six pack in the works. No songs from Nick Hornby´s rockstar hero Tucker Crowe alas, but a whole lot of other goodies nonetheless. Such as Fallin´ In Love by American Spring, a Brian Wilson produced pop gem from ´73. Penned by Beach Boys brother and drummer [...]
Doug Martsch is a staple for modern indie rock, and the poster child for the reluctant rock hero. When asked about his found fame and notoriety, he doesn't have much of an answer, mostly confusion as to why it happened in the first place, but at the same time, it doesn't seem to bother him, as he has only been doing what has come natural to him since his adolescence. This feeling of bewilderment has been with him for some time now, stretching back to his first break out band Treepeople . For him it was all coincidence that [...]
Look up. No, not at the ceiling, at the top of this blog. See that masthead? It's ugly. I know you've been thinking it every time you visit here but were too polite to say anything. For that I thank you. Still, it's time for an upgrade. For that, I need your help. I am no artist, but I'm sure some of you are! Whether your medium is paint or Paint™, photos or Photoshop, I'm looking for someone to design a logo, a masthead, a title image to replace that [...]
I was just doing some web-surfing in search of details of this year's Capitol Hill Block Party, I found a zinger: A rumored appearance of Treepeople. Is this true? Fingers crossed it's real. I'd definitely wade through the crazy crowds to see Doug Martsch and company ala 1992 again. read more
"Where does a lot of that earmark money end up anyway? […] You've heard about some of these pet projects they really don't make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not " - Sarah Palin, October 24 Damn it. I had placed a voluntary moratorium on political posts here at A Free Man. My vote is in. My guy is well ahead. I was happy [...]
Sweetness, sweetness I was only joking When I said I'd like to smash every tooth In your head. Oh ... sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking When I said by rights you should be Bludgeoned in your bed. I don't know how we got there, but Dr. O'C and I were talking about bullying the other day. I think I expressed my concern that Boy Z could be the victim of bullying one day, to which Dr. O'C responded, "I'd rather that [...]
We last saw veteran indie rockers Built To Spill so very long ago that we couldn't recall the year and our review of it no longer exists. A search of the Googles reveals that the show was Sept. 18, 2001. Which seems like an odd night to see a show, as it was but a week after Sept. 11. Weren't we all hunkered down in bomb shelters back then? We guess not. We recall the show as being along the lines of the press we've seen for the current tour: nice, but somewhat uninspired. Some lame [...]
"Yeah, I remember when she did that in 2005. It was a scandal. She's done 85 things since then. You're still mad about Offense #2 ?" -- Tom, informing Spike that the "fool woman" Spears has moved well beyond unbuckled kids "I don't want to say my 'excuse', but that's what has led me to these, you know, kinda outbursts I outbursted when I was on your show before." -- Ken Rogers, attributing his foulmouthed non-interviews to his Tri-Polar Situation "I loved it when Anna Nicole Smith died. It [...]
the second ever cover of the week comes from treepeople's 1992 album something vicious for tomorrow . the album is pretty solid, but certainly a disappointment following the band's excellent debut guilt, regret, embarrassment. doug martsch left the treepeople shortly after the album's release to focus on built to spill. but when asked asked whether he quit being a treeperson because he had lost interest in the music they were making, doug replied: [...]
I mentioned the Finnish folk/nujazz band Korpi Ensemble on yesterday's radioshow review, yet just to show you how much I love this song, I featured it once again, so make sure you listen to it. Vocalist Johanna Iivanainen 's singing is very emotional, but of the inspirational and lively kind rather than the melancholic. I'm sure you'll love this song and proceed to buy their CD Puu Contrasting the hopeful tunes of Korpi is Sickoakes which is a band that " consists of a, [...]
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Monday Music – 28 May 2012
Andre 3000 As Jimi Hendrix: Foxey
Listen: The Vaccines – No Hope
