Breaking the Chain
I would like to say that the new Lindsey Buckingham solo record, entitled Lindsey Buckingham, I believe, is basically astonishing. I don't know if I like it, but it's really really really weird sounding. Lots of megamultitracked acoustic guitar, played at breakneck speeds--not like the Minutemen or anything, but pretty souped up--and spooky echo vocals (also megamultitracked) a plenty. No drums till song 9, i think. After being given a walking tour of Tusk, his (bizarre) response to New Wave, I became aware that LB was a complete freak of nature. He's also a king of melody. This is a very strange record. I think I love it.
I know I love the new Decemberists record, The Crane Wife. It comes out in October. It's a whole 'nother thing for them, full of gorgeous folk-rock, along the lines of The Waterboys Fisherman's Blues.
Lastly, that Minutemen documentary? Really sad and sweet. I couldn't help wondering what the underground today would make of a D. Boon figure emerging from nowheresville, with a bulging body and no fashion sense, with an abstract sense of humor and no fear of pretension in his poetic/ philospohical/ literary/ political/ classic rock reference points. A genuinely populist elitist. A viscerally intellectual artist. I know it doesn't really apply, because he was a product of his moment, and a compeletly original visionary for rock. I'm just saying--as I watched this movie, I kept wondering: what would the music critblogs make of a latter day D. Boon, were his equivalent to arise today? I wonder if they'd recognize him without the cosmetic trappings, the obviousness of gesture, the simplicity that seems to mark out the more significant musicians of the day. I don't think I would, necessarily, just as I wouldn't have/didn't then. I was a pre-teen and teenager in SoCal when Minutemen were happening, and short of seeing their name on a couple of studboy military jackets and the (VERY) occasional notebook cover, I had no idea what they were about, other than Not For Me. I only became aware of how blissful and jubliant and inclusive their explosive sound really was. Seeing the movie reminded me of what a beautiful, noble, and brave self-invention American punk actually was.
I still don't like Black Flag, though. Just the idea of Black Flag.
I know I love the new Decemberists record, The Crane Wife. It comes out in October. It's a whole 'nother thing for them, full of gorgeous folk-rock, along the lines of The Waterboys Fisherman's Blues.
Lastly, that Minutemen documentary? Really sad and sweet. I couldn't help wondering what the underground today would make of a D. Boon figure emerging from nowheresville, with a bulging body and no fashion sense, with an abstract sense of humor and no fear of pretension in his poetic/ philospohical/ literary/ political/ classic rock reference points. A genuinely populist elitist. A viscerally intellectual artist. I know it doesn't really apply, because he was a product of his moment, and a compeletly original visionary for rock. I'm just saying--as I watched this movie, I kept wondering: what would the music critblogs make of a latter day D. Boon, were his equivalent to arise today? I wonder if they'd recognize him without the cosmetic trappings, the obviousness of gesture, the simplicity that seems to mark out the more significant musicians of the day. I don't think I would, necessarily, just as I wouldn't have/didn't then. I was a pre-teen and teenager in SoCal when Minutemen were happening, and short of seeing their name on a couple of studboy military jackets and the (VERY) occasional notebook cover, I had no idea what they were about, other than Not For Me. I only became aware of how blissful and jubliant and inclusive their explosive sound really was. Seeing the movie reminded me of what a beautiful, noble, and brave self-invention American punk actually was.
I still don't like Black Flag, though. Just the idea of Black Flag.
posted by Sean Nelson at 1:47 PM
2 Comments:
It sounds like you have a Band Allergy to Black Flag (much like my allergy to the Dismemberment Plan). I actually feel the same way about the Minutemen. That doc is one of our Netflix that we have at home right now, and I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it.
Wh-wh-wha? A new Lindsey album? I can't find anything about it... Interesting coincidence, though, because the other night, well before I read this entry, I went on a Lindsey jag on YouTube looking through all his past videos. Yes, including the ones from "Go Insane," in which Lindsey's hair actually looked like a split-level condo in Edmonds.... it's long been my dream to do a night of L.B. songs, a la yr Nilsson expeditions.
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