A podcast featuring audio from artists looking to make their mark
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The New Acid Test is an experiment from Kent, NY. It’s a collaborative effort from Veto Mega, DJ Kryptonite, Boxguts, and Jack of All Trades… I may have forgotten a few. The New Acid Test’s album, The Cubensis Sessions, is available now on Bandcamp!
The New Acid Test on Bandcamp
… I wonder if these dudes do drugs…
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I got to be extremely awkward and weird while interviewing the man behind Mystery Skulls! Mystery Skulls’ EP, EP, is available now on Bandcamp!
Mystery Skulls on Bandcamp
… Tumblr
… Twitter
… Facebook
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I’m sick. My nose is running so much that I am forced to stop it up with a handful of tissues, which I transformed into some sort of nose-tampon. It’s a good opportunity to play a pre-recorded interview, right?
This episode is intended to mark the one-year anniversary of this podcast! Hooray for us, yay… Our first episode featured Derrick‘s album “The Shock You Experience at the Sudden Recollection of the Moment You were Conceived” and now we’re going to feature an interview with Derrick and listen to some tracks off of his new LP, “Prodigal Songs“, which can be found on Bandcamp for only $5!
I’ve known Derrick since I was a kid. His was the first “indie” band I ever saw and he’s the first person to instruct me on how to make the most out of a 4 track cassette recorder (that’s an antique tool used to capture sound onto analog tape for all of you who are under 22 years old). Still, to this day, he’s one of the greatest singer/songwriters I’ve ever seen (that means you too, Joe Cocker!).
Derrick never spoke much; in the interview, he talks about spouting off about The Bible when he was younger but I never heard him do that back in the day. What I remember most is that he’d disappear for a while and then we’d hear that he showed up in Seattle or something. He always struggled with chemical addiction and he speaks very openly and honestly about it in the interview. This is also a running theme on Prodigal Songs.
Derrick recently went on tour with David Bixby and they not only share the fact that they’re both accomplished singer/songwriters; they have both struggled against the traps of dogmatic thinking. Derrick is helping to introduce David to the underground music scene in which David has become a cult phenomenon amongst hipsters and their psychedelic kin.
Finally, Derrick also speaks about his record label, “Wreckingball Wreckords“. We will be featuring other artists from this label in the future; so, subscribe to the podcast and prepare yourself for some great tunes!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
There are many different types of microphones and the choices may be overwhelming to young musicians and sound engineers who are interested in home or field recording. If you’re a budding producer, you’ll never get to mogul status if you’re recording artists using the wrong microphone. Similarly, if you run an underground punk venue in your basement and you want to document all the great shows, this episode will prove very helpful.
Jon O’Neil is the founder of Naiant, a company that designs and manufactures innovative microphone and microphone accessories. In this episode, I ask Jon how he started his company, how its grown, and how people interested in sound recording can get the best results in a wide variety of sound spaces.
Naiant‘s most recent U series microphone is innovative because it supports interchangeable capsules, which are the sound sensors on the microphone. This not only saves you money, but it will let you get the best performance possible in a wide variety of soundscapes such as home studios, coffee shops, student lounges, auditoriums, basements, bars, etc.
Go to Naiant.com and check out all of the great, inexpensive products that Jon has created for his company, Naiant.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I dreamt I was walking toward an illuminated circus tent. I was met at the entrance by a troop of alter boys in bondage gear. They led me inside, through a cloud of smoke and into a hall of mirrors. I emerged into the center ring where an orgy of clowns, priests, and paraphilic infantiles was presided over by the pope, with the bearded lady at his side as queen.
Caterpillarmen give me nightmares. As much as I dig spazing out to their album, Babycum, they invade my subconscious and I wake up terrified and covered in sweat. The title alone gives me the creeps; but, then cum the circus melodies.
“This is your fucking dream, you sick fuck!”
I think it’s just as likely that Caterpillarmen are commenting on the connotation of “baby” as used in popular music. For example… Justin Bieber… babies singin’ “baby” … and makin’ babies in bathrooms.
Caterpillarmen are from Iceland and have been touring Europe with tUnE YarDs. Their album proves that they are supremely talented, unique, and progressive; even if their song titles are incredibly disturbing.
All joking aside, Caterpillarmen are radical in all ways. They show radical musicianship and are radically in your face. In the 80′s, punk rockers wore swastikas in a half-sarcastic attempt to turn Reagan’s America in on itself. Punks proved to pop culture that, deep down, Reagan’s youth weren’t any different than Hitler’s, mindless drones, the lot of them.
I like to think that Caterpillarmen are illuminating the dark side of the popular subconscious. I like to think they are proving that we are sycophantically encouraging perversion by praising disguised men of the cloth or those in clown make-up, a mistake the mundane make by denying the progressive attitude that drives this very unique music… I think that’s called rationalization; but, I’ll stick to it if it makes the nightmares go away.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
We continue our short series on David Bixby, Christian cults, culture, and celebrity by comparing personal spiritual experience to top-down, hierarchical systems like cults of personality. Though my lexicon may differ significantly from David’s, we were able to identify many shared core principles, observations, and lessons from our communal search for purpose.
We live in an anthropic, self-similar world. In this place, things are very much as they seem; there is no need for a heaven above or a hell below. There’s no need for a matrix, separating us from our true selves. In this place, the matrix is in you and all around you. Here, power can’t loom over individual will; instead, we welcome the knowledge of a shared spirit weaving together our subjective experiences into a true human tapestry.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“You can only be light.”
Meredith’s pressured speech ignites, illuminating a cacophonous mushroom cloud of fuzz and feedback.
“This resistance is reaction to the world we’re raised inside.”
Noise erupts but never overwhelms. Shoppers’ chemistry is undeniable, non-synthetic synthesis with some squealing guitar to boot.
Some bands fit nicely into pre-existing genres. Those bands conform to the waves of external influence and can easily find gigs at a bar on any given Saturday night. Other bands simply do not conform. They can only be themselves. Shoppers is its own unique unit, it’s a special sonic compound composed of free radicals who choose to coexist.
The story told in the album “Silver Year” is that of another free radical. An enlightened young woman who’s searching, in vain, to find someone as radical as she is.
“All I wanted was some honest proof that people might be good and normal. How does that confuse you?”
I’m a cave man, clinging to the cave walls in the dark, searching for something true without even a lantern to light my way or a shadow to keep me company. When I hear track vi. on Silver Year, I drop my knuckles to the ground and drag them around as I pace and scream, ”I believe in love; I believe in truth; I believe in you.”
I stumbled my way through my interview with the band and this reading of Meredith’s lyrics. I ask the tough questions… only in so much as they are difficult for me to ask. My view may be limited by my base qualities and steeped in traditionally gendered stereotypes; but, I can’t help it.
“You can not take on that sadness. You must lift your arms and fight; lean into your fear and fall into your silver year.”
Why do we trade innocence for acceptance?
“[...] What’s the point of being young and dumb if you’re always too drunk to come? Let’s share the blame. [...] The body is beautiful. The body is alcoholic [...] I am ashamed. Oh! I’m so good at making friends. I can really clear the room.”
Some dream analysts say that silver represents purity and protection; this protection often takes the form of social justice, which implies a retroactive application of natural laws or “righting wrongs.” I think this applies to the story illustrated lyrically on Silver Year. The story of a girl struggling to figure out what it means to be pure and if it’s the loss of that purity or the desperate clinging to its ideal that leads to her suffering.
“Hit me harder; I’m already gone. It’s a bedroom riot now. [...] hold me down; fuck my mouth; but, it’s all still holy somehow [...] First, I closed my legs; then, I closed my mouth; then, I closed my heart; now, I’m shutting down. You’ll know when I’m ashamed.”
It’s not the story of a promiscuous girl who’s been fucked raw, though it might be the story of an enlightened being who perseverates on her own penetration. This is the story of sexual liberation.
This girl in the story has nothing to be ashamed of and seems to blame herself for other people’s failure to show empathy or the enlightenment that she assumes is universal. Trust me, sweetheart, you’re alone. She’s a character who’s much more invested in others than they are in her. Her search for the external affirmation of what she already knows is truly great about herself leads to vulnerable situations and then the self-hate at the realization that external affirmation is hollow and meaningless.
Download Silver Year for free!
Shoppers on Bandcamp
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subPixel‘s new double EP, The Wave, is out and it’s f’ing radical. This is the first time I’ve heard of a double EP and I’m not at all surprised that it came from subPixel. There are 2 versions of 6 songs, which makes for 12 tracks. Each song is done in two formats; the first format is live with real instruments; the second format is called “chip” and uses the same technology as 1st generation Nintendo used.
What’s special about subPixel‘s The Wave is that the two versions can be played synchronously and mixed channel-by-channel with an upcoming application made by subPixel. This is genius. It’s genius AND it sounds good. There are a lot of progressive projects out there that sacrifice melody and hook in order to experiment with odd syncopation and abstract harmonies. The problem is, many of those projects get the soul squeezed out of them early in the conceptual phase and become impressive yet hollow robotic novelties.
Instead of musically masturbating on tape, subPixel uses his mathematical mind to document the many levels of melody that run rhythmically through his musical mind. He’s one of those guys who never stops hearing music because he never stops listening. If you’re in the Hudson Valley, check out one of his performances in New Paltz!
… subPixel on Facebook
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“If you build it, they will come.”
It turns out that colleges might not just be debt farms!
College students love new music and attending live music events; but, as they sink further and further into academic debt-slavery, they don’t have very much money to spend on cultural events such as these. So, it’s important that they know the ways in which they can tap into school funds in order to put on great, inexpensive shows on their campuses. Taking control of your own cultural development is no longer just an option; it’s a necessity.
On this episode, we hear from Jon O’Neil, who builds sound equipment through his company, Naiant, and volunteers for The Outer Banks Forum for the Lively Arts, which is a municipal music series. We also hear from Ted Winkworth, who was the lead singer for Another Breath and now runs the Oswego Indie Series at SUNY Oswego, where he is also a drug and alcohol abuse prevention professional.
The goal for this episode is to enumerate the ways in which college students and community members may attract funding in order to put on concerts in their area. We will hear how this is done in schools as well as in the larger community.
Don’t settle for slavery.
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David Bixby not only survived being in a christian cult with his mind in tact; he also survived a shipwreck off the west coast of North America and a midwest tour with Derrick Hart.
David tells us how this experience fits into his life’s narrative and how it reconnected him with his older material and the significance it has with the current underground culture.
Always a seeker, David’s journey has taken him from the midwest, through a cult, into the sea, and, most recently, on a short tour with Derrick Hart. Check out It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine for future columns written by David!
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David Bixby not only survived being in a christian cult with his mind in tact; he also survived a shipwreck off the west coast of North America. While sailing with only his dog, he woke in the middle of the night to find that he had ventured into rough seas. His boat was torn apart and he was forced to cling to a floating section that happened to contain his dog, who also survived.
David tells us how this experience fits into his life’s narrative and how it taught him the importance of exercising his own volition.
Always a seeker, David’s journey has taken him from the midwest, through a cult, into the sea, and, most recently, on a small tour with Derrick Hart. We’ll hear more about this tour from David on the next episode of The Unsigned podcast.
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We continue our short series on David Bixby, Christian cults, culture, and celebrity by comparing personal spiritual experience to top-down, hierarchical systems like cults of personality. Though my lexicon may differ significantly from David’s, we were able to identify many shared core principles, observations, and lessons from our communal search for purpose.
After my explanation of why I used the analogy of rape cults to dissect what’s really happening to people who accept top->down, pyramidal hierarchical social systems, David and I talk about how to escape. If you’re a young American, you know better than most what it’s like to be raped by your parent’s generation who have been indoctrinated into a culture of greed, corruption, and abuse. If you’ve been abused by a religious cult, a pedagogical cult, military cult, or financial system of abuse, you probably don’t see a way out; but, David argues that there is a way.
We talk about how to challenge our own assumptions and dogmatic thinking, even if it’s a dogma of science where we start to be more sure of our “knowledge” than we are eager to ask questions. David tells me about how the leader of the cult he was in got tired of being parentified and urged his followers to participate in a seminar that was aimed at training people to think for themselves, which, to me, seems like a contradiction or paradox. In my mind, the only solution is revolution… be it an internal revolution of the mind or an external revolution of the established social structure.
Let’s create a cult to end all cults. Let’s revel in the contradiction of arbitrary authority. Hang the David Bixby poster on your wall as an icon to incite a consciousness revolution.
Thanks for letting me take a vacation… I’ll be taking more time off soon.
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There are many different types of microphones and the choices may be overwhelming to young musicians and sound engineers who are interested in home or field recording. If you’re a budding producer, you’ll never get to mogul status if you’re recording artists using the wrong microphone. Similarly, if you run an underground punk venue in your basement and you want to document all the great shows, this episode will prove very helpful.
Jon O’Neil is the founder of Naiant, a company that designs and manufactures innovative microphone and microphone accessories. In this episode, I ask Jon how he started his company, how its grown, and how people interested in sound recording can get the best results in a wide variety of sound spaces.
Naiant‘s most recent U series microphone is innovative because it supports interchangeable capsules, which are the sound sensors on the microphone. This not only saves you money, but it will let you get the best performance possible in a wide variety of soundscapes such as home studios, coffee shops, student lounges, auditoriums, basements, bars, etc.
Go to Naiant.com and check out all of the great, inexpensive products that Jon has created for his company, Naiant.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
We continue our short series on David Bixby, Christian cults, culture, and celebrity by comparing personal spiritual experience to top-down, hierarchical systems like cults of personality. Though my lexicon may differ significantly from David’s, we were able to identify many shared core principles, observations, and lessons from our communal search for purpose.
We live in an anthropic, self-similar world. In this place, things are very much as they seem; there is no need for a heaven above or a hell below. There’s no need for a matrix, separating us from our true selves. In this place, the matrix is in you and all around you. Here, power can’t loom over individual will; instead, we welcome the knowledge of a shared spirit weaving together our subjective experiences into a true human tapestry.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
We featured The Doctors Fox’s last LP, Plural Non-Posessive, on Ep. 9 of The Unsigned and, now that they’re back with Handful of Laughs ($8 on Bandcamp), we just had to spread the word!
The Doctors Fox are one of the most eclectic and experimental bands out there. As a Boston band, they are expected to be able to adapt and appeal to large groups of strangers at bars; but, their musicianship is so adept, they simply cannot simply play the standards. Instead, they take identifiable melodies and slowly distend them, bending the audience’s collective ear until the reach the point of prolapse.
Collective prolapse has been the main goal of music since the dawning of time; The Doctors Fox should rest assured that they’ve accomplished what languageless hand-drummers set out to do eons ago.
The Doctors Fox’s website
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If you’re an aspiring artist, you may want to look into how to start a cult. If you’re the typical fame-whore, then a cult of personality is what you need most! On this, the second in a series of episodes chronicling the early life of David Bixby, David and I discuss how you create a cult, how you attract followers, and how they sculpt the leader, which I refer to as the golem.
This episode is sponsored by It’s Psychedelic Baby magazine. If you use the coupon code ‘KLEMEN’ when you purchase the David Bixby poster, then you’ll receive 10% off!
Have you ever been in a cult? Would you know it if you were? If you gave money to a church or to a school, then you likely helped to fund a rape cult.
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“If you build it, they will come.”
It turns out that colleges might not just be debt farms!
College students love new music and attending live music events; but, as they sink further and further into academic debt-slavery, they don’t have very much money to spend on cultural events such as these. So, it’s important that they know the ways in which they can tap into school funds in order to put on great, inexpensive shows on their campuses. Taking control of your own cultural development is no longer just an option; it’s a necessity.
On this episode, we hear from Jon O’Neil, who builds sound equipment through his company, Naiant, and volunteers for The Outer Banks Forum for the Lively Arts, which is a municipal music series. We also hear from Ted Winkworth, who was the lead singer for Another Breath and now runs the Oswego Indie Series at SUNY Oswego, where he is also a drug and alcohol abuse prevention professional.
The goal for this episode is to enumerate the ways in which college students and community members may attract funding in order to put on concerts in their area. We will hear how this is done in schools as well as in the larger community.
Don’t settle for slavery.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I dreamt I was walking toward an illuminated circus tent. I was met at the entrance by a troop of alter boys in bondage gear. They led me inside, through a cloud of smoke and into a hall of mirrors. I emerged into the center ring where an orgy of clowns, priests, and paraphilic infantiles was presided over by the pope, with the bearded lady at his side as queen.
Caterpillarmen give me nightmares. As much as I dig spazing out to their album, Babycum, they invade my subconscious and I wake up terrified and covered in sweat. The title alone gives me the creeps; but, then cum the circus melodies.
“This is your fucking dream, you sick fuck!”
I think it’s just as likely that Caterpillarmen are commenting on the connotation of “baby” as used in popular music. For example… Justin Bieber… babies singin’ “baby” … and makin’ babies in bathrooms.
Caterpillarmen are from Iceland and have been touring Europe with tUnE YarDs. Their album proves that they are supremely talented, unique, and progressive; even if their song titles are incredibly disturbing.
All joking aside, Caterpillarmen are radical in all ways. They show radical musicianship and are radically in your face. In the 80′s, punk rockers wore swastikas in a half-sarcastic attempt to turn Reagan’s America in on itself. Punks proved to pop culture that, deep down, Reagan’s youth weren’t any different than Hitler’s, mindless drones, the lot of them.
I like to think that Caterpillarmen are illuminating the dark side of the popular subconscious. I like to think they are proving that we are sycophantically encouraging perversion by praising disguised men of the cloth or those in clown make-up, a mistake the mundane make by denying the progressive attitude that drives this very unique music… I think that’s called rationalization; but, I’ll stick to it if it makes the nightmares go away.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Fever Machine is a 3-piece party-rock powerhouse from Shanghai, China. They’re recent LP, Living in Oblivion, is composed of 11 tracks; that’s 11 epic wins over boring, whiny emo everywhere. Stuck up vegan punk rockers can’t lick the dirt off of The Fever Machine‘s leather boots without getting a swift kick to the face just for the hell of it. The Fever Machine just doesn’t give a fuck!
I’ve been to China; but, I have no idea what the underground music scene is like. I was there for less edgy reasons (doing play therapy with survivors of the Sichuan earthquake); but, boy, could I have used a few fun nights out, fist pumping to The Fever Machine!
They describe themselves as epic, schizo rock… which is pretty accurate judging by the lengthy, mind-bending tracks that include some examples of wild syncopation that inspire moments of synesthesia. Did you see that? That song sounded purple for a second!
The Fever Machine’s website
… on Twitter
… on Facebook
… on Soundcloud
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What would happen if Wesley Willis bred with Bjork? What quirky, schizophrenic, Supercute monster would spawn from their unholy commingling?
This is not a “Where Are They Now?: Toddlers in Tiaras edition”; this is not a Bratz Dollz supergroup; and, this is not that serious; THIS IS SUPERCUTE!
Supercute is a bubblegum pop band… sorta like Destiny’s Child but with a little less Destiny than Child… What’s strange is that the core group of performers are all young adults who dress to look young in what appears to be princess Halloween costumes made by four year olds. They sing goofy satirical tunes from an almost militantly pedantic perspective… that makes it pedantic as in “child-like”; but, not pedantic as in lacking in thought.
Maybe, rather than Wesley Willis and Bjork, this is the result of a torrid love-affair between Lady Gaga and Raffi. Either way, I’m terrified.
Supercute! on Bandcamp
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subPixel‘s new double EP, The Wave, is out and it’s f’ing radical. This is the first time I’ve heard of a double EP and I’m not at all surprised that it came from subPixel. There are 2 versions of 6 songs, which makes for 12 tracks. Each song is done in two formats; the first format is live with real instruments; the second format is called “chip” and uses the same technology as 1st generation Nintendo used.
What’s special about subPixel‘s The Wave is that the two versions can be played synchronously and mixed channel-by-channel with an upcoming application made by subPixel. This is genius. It’s genius AND it sounds good. There are a lot of progressive projects out there that sacrifice melody and hook in order to experiment with odd syncopation and abstract harmonies. The problem is, many of those projects get the soul squeezed out of them early in the conceptual phase and become impressive yet hollow robotic novelties.
Instead of musically masturbating on tape, subPixel uses his mathematical mind to document the many levels of melody that run rhythmically through his musical mind. He’s one of those guys who never stops hearing music because he never stops listening. If you’re in the Hudson Valley, check out one of his performances in New Paltz!
… subPixel on Facebook
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I’m sick. My nose is running so much that I am forced to stop it up with a handful of tissues, which I transformed into some sort of nose-tampon. It’s a good opportunity to play a pre-recorded interview, right?
This episode is intended to mark the one-year anniversary of this podcast! Hooray for us, yay… Our first episode featured Derrick‘s album “The Shock You Experience at the Sudden Recollection of the Moment You were Conceived” and now we’re going to feature an interview with Derrick and listen to some tracks off of his new LP, “Prodigal Songs“, which can be found on Bandcamp for only $5!
I’ve known Derrick since I was a kid. His was the first “indie” band I ever saw and he’s the first person to instruct me on how to make the most out of a 4 track cassette recorder (that’s an antique tool used to capture sound onto analog tape for all of you who are under 22 years old). Still, to this day, he’s one of the greatest singer/songwriters I’ve ever seen (that means you too, Joe Cocker!).
Derrick never spoke much; in the interview, he talks about spouting off about The Bible when he was younger but I never heard him do that back in the day. What I remember most is that he’d disappear for a while and then we’d hear that he showed up in Seattle or something. He always struggled with chemical addiction and he speaks very openly and honestly about it in the interview. This is also a running theme on Prodigal Songs.
Derrick recently went on tour with David Bixby and they not only share the fact that they’re both accomplished singer/songwriters; they have both struggled against the traps of dogmatic thinking. Derrick is helping to introduce David to the underground music scene in which David has become a cult phenomenon amongst hipsters and their psychedelic kin.
Finally, Derrick also speaks about his record label, “Wreckingball Wreckords“. We will be featuring other artists from this label in the future; so, subscribe to the podcast and prepare yourself for some great tunes!
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No, that’s not a theme song for a new season of The Wire; that’s Brown Bird‘s “Thunder and Lightening” and it’s damn good. It’s almost as good as “End of Days”, which is imperceptibly better than “Fingers to the Bone”, which is tied with “Bilgewater” and “Cast No Shadow”… at least that’s how I ranked the available tracks from Brown Bird’s new LP when I first listened.
I ranked the tracks on Salt for Salt differently on the second listen… inverted that list on the third… and threw it out by the fourth.
The 5 songs available online are really solid but if you buy Salt for Salt for $8.99, you get 6 additional songs, which is an incredibly good deal for a popular and talented new band!
Brown Bird will be playing with Larcenist and Sam Katz in the Hewitt lounge at SUNY Oswego. $5 for students & $10 general admission. Doors open at 7. Tickets are available at the Suny Oswego box office or at the door. If you’re living in Oswego, going to school there, or in a nearby town like Syracuse or Rochester, this is a show to see!
Brown Bird’s website
… on Bandcamp
… on Facebook
… on Twitter
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“You can only be light.”
Meredith’s pressured speech ignites, illuminating a cacophonous mushroom cloud of fuzz and feedback.
“This resistance is reaction to the world we’re raised inside.”
Noise erupts but never overwhelms. Shoppers’ chemistry is undeniable, non-synthetic synthesis with some squealing guitar to boot.
Some bands fit nicely into pre-existing genres. Those bands conform to the waves of external influence and can easily find gigs at a bar on any given Saturday night. Other bands simply do not conform. They can only be themselves. Shoppers is its own unique unit, it’s a special sonic compound composed of free radicals who choose to coexist.
The story told in the album “Silver Year” is that of another free radical. An enlightened young woman who’s searching, in vain, to find someone as radical as she is.
“All I wanted was some honest proof that people might be good and normal. How does that confuse you?”
I’m a cave man, clinging to the cave walls in the dark, searching for something true without even a lantern to light my way or a shadow to keep me company. When I hear track vi. on Silver Year, I drop my knuckles to the ground and drag them around as I pace and scream, ”I believe in love; I believe in truth; I believe in you.”
I stumbled my way through my interview with the band and this reading of Meredith’s lyrics. I ask the tough questions… only in so much as they are difficult for me to ask. My view may be limited by my base qualities and steeped in traditionally gendered stereotypes; but, I can’t help it.
“You can not take on that sadness. You must lift your arms and fight; lean into your fear and fall into your silver year.”
Why do we trade innocence for acceptance?
“[...] What’s the point of being young and dumb if you’re always too drunk to come? Let’s share the blame. [...] The body is beautiful. The body is alcoholic [...] I am ashamed. Oh! I’m so good at making friends. I can really clear the room.”
Some dream analysts say that silver represents purity and protection; this protection often takes the form of social justice, which implies a retroactive application of natural laws or “righting wrongs.” I think this applies to the story illustrated lyrically on Silver Year. The story of a girl struggling to figure out what it means to be pure and if it’s the loss of that purity or the desperate clinging to its ideal that leads to her suffering.
“Hit me harder; I’m already gone. It’s a bedroom riot now. [...] hold me down; fuck my mouth; but, it’s all still holy somehow [...] First, I closed my legs; then, I closed my mouth; then, I closed my heart; now, I’m shutting down. You’ll know when I’m ashamed.”
It’s not the story of a promiscuous girl who’s been fucked raw, though it might be the story of an enlightened being who perseverates on her own penetration. This is the story of sexual liberation.
This girl in the story has nothing to be ashamed of and seems to blame herself for other people’s failure to show empathy or the enlightenment that she assumes is universal. Trust me, sweetheart, you’re alone. She’s a character who’s much more invested in others than they are in her. Her search for the external affirmation of what she already knows is truly great about herself leads to vulnerable situations and then the self-hate at the realization that external affirmation is hollow and meaningless.
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“Nothing lasts forever” is the recurring message I get when listening to Snowmine‘s Laminate Pet Animal. The layers of instruments, effects, and vocals repeatedly hammer home the idea that everything that comes also goes.
“Linear time is an illusion,” is what I keep reminding myself, trying to ward off the non-illusory sense of loss that comes when the album’s over. In my head, I’m always listening; my brain’s still trying to process it bit by digital bit. Is it anthemic folk rock? Hook-laden outsider art made from found pieces thrown away by Brooklynites along with cans of Blue Ribbon? Nope.
Memories fade, tastes change, but form can persist if it’s shielded from agents of decay. In pop music, some agents of decay are contracts, advances, award shows, chart listings, and smiling suits. That’s why finding great bands such as Snowmine is so rewarding. Albums like Laminate Pet Animal are beloved companions on long car rides and whilst doing chores. Though the idea of laminating a beloved pet animal seems morbid to me, the idea of saving a vacuum sealed copy of Laminate Pet Animal is appealing because I know that this band deserves to stay untarnished and fresh.
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The space between my ears felt raw and delicate, like when I bite my nails until I taste blood. I experienced complete sensory overload when I saw Roh Delikat in an Albany bar in 2004. Coerced into driving my friend Jackie, I wasn’t sure if I’d dig it at first. Before they started playing all I saw was some three piece band fronted by a petite young woman with a serious expression who was backed by an only slightly taller, somewhat gaunt drummer and a giant, long-haired bass player. I realized what I was in for as soon as she cranked up her Gibson and started to sing. Roh Delikat is a three member gem buried deep in the underground in a dark, lonely spot known only as Allston, MA.
Before Roh Delikat was done playing, I had already taken out my wallet and debated whether or not I really needed food for the next week. Could I, a poor college student, subsist only on this rock and roll? Yes. I picked up the Ant EP and spent the next few years listening obsessively. All my friends thought I was so cool for introducing them to the band. Some compared it to Denali and others compared it to Fugazi, both were right and both were wrong.
At the time, the Ant EP was the only available recording. They were touring with it before the full-length “Deaf + Dear” became available. Since then, they have released another full length called “Sunny”, which contains a couple of the tracks off of the original EP. But, the Ant is nowhere to be found. I couldn’t even find the track listing online, which is why I had to guess at the last song’s title. It’s one of my favorite songs and I realized it after waking up a few days ago with it playing, unprompted, in my head. Thank you, Roh Delikat, thank you very much!
“Deaf + Dear” and “Sunny” are available for only $5 on Roh Delikat’s Bandcamp site! You will not be disappointed.
