Issue No. 6-jul ’14
the liner notes of st. louis
Barn to be wild Concert Venue, Art Gallery & Farm Codfish Hollow
Time Killer INSIDE: Beck • Veruca Salt • Jack White • R.I.P. Lou “Fatha” Thimes
Open Your Mind For Death Blues
Money For nuthin Help Your Friends’ Bands Make Money Without Spending A Bunch Yourself serve yourself and save
>>
Eleven Magazine Volume 10, issue 6
complimentary
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 1
DEPT. OF
PERIODICAL LITERATURE ST. LOUIS, MO
Volume 10, Issue No. 6
July 2014
features (cont’d)
Front of the book
11 Ways to Help Your Band 24 Friends Make Money by Langen Neubacher .
5 Editor’s Note 6 Where Is My Mind? Columns
eleven’s musicalendar Recommended Shows 26
8 Introducing by sam clapp
Beck, Future Folk, Dub Thompson
Astral Place
Bring On the Night Show Previews and Reviews228
8 Watcherr by Curtis Tinsley DIIV
Sylvan Esso, Search Parties, Veruca Salt, Suzie Cue, Mac DeMarco, Cloud Nothings, Tori Amos
10 Paper Time Machine by Paige Brubeck It’s All in the Eyes, Part II
Blue Beat 30 by Jeremy Segel-moss .
features 12 Free Radicals: Death Blues and Friends Shake Up St. Louis by eric hall
R.I.P. Jimmy Lee Kennett, Tony Simmons, Lou “Fatha” Thimes
14 Records Breaking Records: Jack White’s Vinyl Innovations by Langen Neubacher 16 C odfish Hollow Barnstormers by Anne McCullough . 18 Like Passing a Ghost: Transcendental Trunk Rattler Black James by K.E. Luther .
Hot Rocks Album Reviews2 32 Wussy, Dock Ellis Band, Sylvan Esso, Vanilla Beans, SOHN
The Rebellious Jukebox 33 by Matt Harnish . The Maness Brothers, David Dee
.
The Way Back Page Show Us Your Tats 35 by Suzie Gilb & Theo Welling Bee Boedeker, Ronnie Brake
COVER PHOTO OF BLACK JAMES BY K.E. LUTHER. DESIGN BY PAIGE BRUBECK.
. .
at
Over 1000 Square Feet Neve VR 36 Recording Console • Flying Fader Automation • Musgrave Modifications • Custom Augsberger Speaker System • Generous Amount of Outboard Gear • State of the Art Isolation Booth • Shigeru Kawai 7 ft Grand Piano • •
To learn more, visit our website at www.eibynelly.com or call 888-841-3602 and book the studio today! Vatterott ex’treme Institute by Nelly - St Louis 800 N 3rd Street l St. Louis, MO 63102
Photo of Disclosure at the pageant by ismael Valenzuela
Do You Know About:
Eleven Magazine Volume 10 | Issue 6 | July 2014 Publisher Hugh Scott Editor-In-Chief Evan Sult Special assignments editor Paige Brubeck WeB Editor Hugh Scott photo editor Jason Stoff Art Director Evan Sult CONTRIBUTING Writers Dave Anderson, Caitlin Bladt, Curt Brewer, Paige Brubeck, Ryan Boyle, Juliet Charles, Sam Clapp, Raymond Code, Melinda Cooper, Jenn DeRose, Ira Gamerman, Suzie Gilb, Matt Harnish, Jordan Heimburger, Gabe Karabell, Nelda Kerr, Cassie Kohler, Kevin Korinek, Josh Levi, Rob Levy, Bob McMahon, Jack Probst, Jason Robinson, Jeremy Segel-Moss, Robert Severson, Michele Ulsohn, Chris Ward, Robin Wheeler, Rev. Daniel W. Wright PHOTOGRAPHERS Nate Burrell, Jarred Gastreich, Abby Gillardi, Jon Gitchoff, Kelly Glueck, Adam Robinson, Jason Stoff, Bill Streeter, Bryan Sutter, Ismael Valenzuela, Theo Welling, Carrie Zukoski intern Christian Soares
Illustrators Paige Brubeck, Sean Dove, Tyler Gross, Lyndsey Lesh, Curtis Tinsley, Sam Washburn proofreader Tracy Brubeck Promotions & Distribution Suzie Gilb Ann Scott Consultation Clifford Holekamp Derek Filcoff Cady Seabaugh Hugh Scott III Founded in 2006 by a group including Jonathan Fritz, Josh Petersel and Matthew Ström ELEVEN MAGAZINE 3407 S. Jefferson St. Louis, MO 63118 for ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Hugh Scott advertising@elevenmusicmag.com calendar listings listings@elevenmusicmag.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR deareleven@elevenmusicmag.com We welcome your comments. Please let us know if you do not want your letter published.
HAVE A QUESTION FOR US? info@elevenmusicmag.com ONLINE elevenmusicmag.com twitter.com/elevenmag facebook.com/ElevenMagazine Copyright 2014 Scotty Scott Media, LLC
4 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
Editor’s Note by Evan Sult
Friday Night St. Louis Love Song Teller Bar, and another one up the street at Yaqui’s. Someone in our group is headed further along to the show at The Livery, but the sign out front of Los Punk says Fred Friction is playing, so we pay the cover and slip inside. Fred is onstage and he’s just getting going. Every set he plays is a revelation, a proof of the truth (for certain rare individuals) that drunken inspiration is a real thing. Zak Marmalefsky, who put this thing together, is smiling along to the lyrics, and Eric Hall steps in from the back patio to catch the set. Sherman S. Sherman, behind us, probably knows all the words to all the songs. Fred rules the room from the stage, stepping away from the mic to play his spoons and holler lyrics to a rapt audience. Suddenly he’s done, though, and out back there’s a fire going in the firepit, and Karen from Astral Place suddenly appears, manic with glee from the photo shoot they just finished, and Lee is talking his shamanistic groove about the Tail of the Dragon and moving to Athens Georgia and Chloe Pigslop is talking about her own move to Seattle sometime next week. Smoke barbecues Brennan and me as we talk about the state of his Cherokee gallery, Bank. The touring band, Zebu, starts making a giant clatter, so Lee and Zak and Chloe start gettin down and I step out front. It’s a struggle to make it through the crowd of friendly faces just to get across the street to Melt, where Tone Rodent is playing and hosting Native Lights, an Oklahoma band I don’t know but which features the drummer from Broncho, a band I dearly love. Dammit: we’re too late to catch their show. We shoot the shit with Mark Early, talk about tour, and try to figure out who in the world is going to step into Jason Hutto’s boots when he leaves in October. It’s impossible; there’s no one for the job. Chris Sabatino drifts by with his crew as Matty Coonfield loads gear into the van out front. The night is warm. We still got a lot of the summer.
.com
We’re running late, of course. We jump in the car and make our way to Midtown, where Rebecca Harris, a woman we met by chance earlier in the week at Mud House, is curating a dual art opening. She’s from London, in town on an artist residency; one of the artists in her show is from St. Louis, the other she met in Milan. The show is in a boomy room just around the corner from the new KDHX digs. One piece looks like a medium-sized guitar amp and is broadcasting what sounds like the clink of prison chainlinks and the irregular thud of a heavy hammer. You can see the amp in the middle of the room, and the sound is overt. But after we get our drinks and check out the long, complicated bolt of cloth to our right, and the clay sculpture to our left, we are drawn to a small motion happening on the pedestal over there, where a mic is pointed close at a small green jingle bell kept in motion by a slow-moving motor, so close that the bell occasionally bumps the mic. This, we finally discover, is the source of the chain gang sounds we’ve been hearing all along. Eureka! Bidding farewell, we take off for dinner at Evangeline’s in the Central West End, where a bluegrass band is just getting started. Dinner is a pleasure, but we’re in a hurry to make it to Cherokee Street, to the Luminary Center for the Arts, before their opening concludes. We make it just before the doors are locked, and thereby meet the artist, Lauren, who it turns out is that mysterious darkhaired girl we’ve seen at all the World Cup games in the neighborhood. She’s from New York, she’s here for a couple of weeks, and of course it turns out she’s rooming with Rebecca. As the gallery lights click off and we clear out, we find ourselves on the street among a crowd, catching up with Damon Davis, on his way from the Adoptahighway show at Foam to the show getting underway at 2720. There are crowds down the way outside the Whiskey Ring and the Fortune
mobile • web • branding
located on Cherokee Street in STL 815-535-7908
Unconventional workspace for the unconventionally employed
nebulastl.com
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 5
WHERE IS MY MIND? This Month in the History of Now
On Friday, June 20, at Off Broadway, Scarlet Tanager released their new album, Let’s Love, in grand style. At the same time, the show was a joyous send-off for band members Josh and Jordan Shepherd. who are leaving Photo by Jason Stoff to begin a family together.
Chris & Jake’s WAILIN! Profiles in gearage 2006 FLYING V, FADED CHERRY Serial #: 009860509 Owner: Mark Plant Bands: Times Beach, Broken Prayer
Back story: I bought this when I was 17. I didn’t know how to play guitar really when I bought it and just wanted the absolute coolest thing. Since I spent a ton of money I pretty much had to learn. I have tiny hands so the thin neck makes it perfect for me to play. The finish is also very natural and your hands can fly on it. I bought it to play punk extremely fast and eventually I learned how to. It’s been on probably 5-6 tours now and broken in almost every way possible, and spent some time underwater. Upgrades (a lot of the work was done at Gravity Strings): • Schaller tuners: broke the originals multiple times and had to get a tougher bone nut • Humbucker-sized P90s from eBay, humbucking in the middle position The original pickups were more suited for a more metallic sound. I don’t really like metal at all, but that was cool for a while until they stopped working because of water damage. I got P90s because they’re louder and have much smoother and defined high end. these were CHEAP and they sound incredible, perfect for this guitar and the Times Beach sound. • Gold hardware on the pickguard because the screws got rusty • Reinforced electronics from Gravity Strings Featured on: • All Suburban Smash recordings: - Greatest Hits Vol 2 demo - Adventures Through Time and Space - The Snitch Tape • Sack Lunch tour tape
6 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
• Masculine Journey 7” • Times Beach - “ Cement” b/w “Still” cassette - Raw Pop cassette - “ Ceiling Fans” on the Hurt Feelings record
We Are the Best
And the soundtrack is colossal. Fear not: there are several more in store. Supermensch, directed by Mike Myers, tells the story of his friend Shep Gordon, a man who somehow found himself at the very center of the entertainment world’s hastily assembled power structure. Pretty much any frame of Gordon in his prime includes some other massive star, be it Alice Cooper or Michael Douglas or Jimi Hendrix, and his story is necessarily the story of the music industry itself. From the shot of him in a private jet sporting a “NO HEAD NO BACKSTAGE PASS”
WA F F L E B AR
I don’t know why it’s happening, but I’ll take it: all of a sudden there are a bunch of music-themed movies in the theater. You’ve got only yourself to kick if you missed Only Lovers Left Alive, the Jim Jarmusch vampire movie featuring not just Detroit psychrockers White Hills but Jarmusch’s own band Sqürl, who performed most of the excellent soundtrack. It was like the extended prologue to the greatest vampire movie never... quite... made, a tantalizing glimpse of the movie you wish would happen next.
MELT
Get thee to a moviehouse
t-shirt you can expect gross tales of excess... but he finds his soul in the end, apparently. I’m curious which will actually turn out to be the better half of the movie. I personally thought Once was a great fantasy of a movie til the final few minutes, which were frustrating and bogus. Begin Again, the new film written by the same guy, John Carney, looks like maybe he felt a little the same way, and wants to see things turn out differently this time (I’m trying hard not to spoil either film here). Luckily, in lieu of Once’s charismatic young unknowns, Begin Again was cast with scruffy Mark Ruffalo (who doesn’t love this guy?) and legit Keira Knightley in the starring roles. I can hear you protest: Adam Levine’s in the damn thing! Ah yes, but that’s why Mos Def is too. See? It’s OK now! The one I’ve got the highest hopes for, though, is We Are the Best, a Swedish film about three (really) young girls in the early ‘80s who take punk to heart and decide to form a band, then figure out about how to play instruments and all that stuff. Based on a graphic novel by director Lukas Moodysson’s wife Coco (how’s that for teamwork?), the three stars and their city are charismatic enough that the trailer practically boils over with promise. Oh, and just in case you thought that Clint Eastwood directing Jersey Boys would make it interesting: sadly, no.
Saturday, July 5 // 9pm // No cover Faux Ferocious, Concord America, Boreal Hills & Hott Lunch Wednesday, July 9 // 9pm // No cover Care, Bright White Hide, Other People Friday, July 11 // 9pm // No cover Johnny Vancouver Band, Keokuk & Josh Clinton Saturday, July 12 // 9pm Supper Club w/ Grant Harbron & Trevor Matthews Sunday, July 13 // 8pm // $5 Matt Wixson’s Flying Circus & CBJ Friday, July 18 // 9pm Leave Me Be’s Saturday, July 19 // 9pm Little Falcon, Logos & Saint Me Sunday, July 20 // 8pm State Lines, Born Without Bones Monday, July 21 // 8pm Wicked Inquisition, Barewire, Black Death, Oath Enmity Wednesday, July 23 Open Mic w/ Suzie Cue Friday, July 25 // 9pm // No cover Lonely Mountain String Band + TBA Sunday, July 27 // 8pm // $5 Haints In The Holler, Cody James, Ian McGowan & The Good Deeds Monday, July 28 // 9pm Nudes & Shaved Women Tuesday, July 29 // 9pm Spaces Of Disappearance & Mr Bones
2712 Cherokee Street // 314.771.6358 elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 7
At its heart, Astral Place is about friendship. Becca Moore (guitar), Grace Hong (vocals), Karen Mandelbaum (drums), and Christine Stavridis (bass) went to art school together, and now they live together in Asstral Place, their home in South City. They’re a tireless creative organism that chews up the raw material of life on Earth and turns it into prints, games, zines, plush skulls, photographs, films, illustrations, and computer programs, dusted usually with at least a trace of gold glitter. Astral Place (one “s”) is their first foray into music, and played its first show earlier this year, and in mid-July, Peacebath Records will drop the band’s debut, a five-song cassette that showcases the band’s lighthearted hybridization of post-punk aesthetics with Deerhoofian shenanigans. Grace, Becca, and Karen were kind enough to chat at Riley’s Pub over pineapple and banana pepper pizza. Christine, who couldn’t make it, was represented in effigy by a plastic mushroom-shaped toy that glowed alternately green, blue, and pink. Becca: I’ve always kind of promised myself that I would only be in a band that I took somewhat seriously if it was all girls, and this is kind of like a dream come true.
Grace: And I think that writing together is one of the most fun things for us to do. Because we’re working together, collaborating together, making something together, and that’s exciting.
Karen: It was not really a moment of inspiration. It was sort of just like, “We’re all gonna have fun together, a lot of fun together,” and that’s, I think, the main thing we do. Just hang out and have fun, and make groovy tunes.
Karen: There’s also a limit to what you can take in without expelling a little bit, too. We were all taking a lot of influences from a lot of different places, and just wanted to apply it to what we did.
Is it a way to spend time together?
Musical influences?
Karen: Yeah, actually, it totally is. Grace: Structure.
Karen: Everything. Like interactive art, and really really bad stories. And drag queens, they’re an inspiration.
Becca: I feel like it’s an outlet for all of us, but it’s also a way to hang out and not have to stare at a screen, since that’s what we have to do during the day so often. So it’s a different way of getting to communicate and be present with one another.
Christine [glowing pink]: Astral Place might be garage rock, it might be trash pop. I’m not sure. Maybe we’ve transcended the genres so closely tied to the material plane. Maybe we’ve ascended into a few genres on the astral plane. We’re in the space waste genre.
Christine [interviewed later by email, her effigy glowing green]: It’s such a joy to be able to mold and create music you like with your best friends. What could be cooler than that?
Do you think being in an all-female band has impacted the way you’re received?
Photo by Jason Stoff
So, what made you want to be in a band?
8 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
Becca: Yeah, I’m not into that. Well, I’m into being in an all-girl band, but I’ve had people
tell me that like, “Oh, you’re all girls? Don’t worry about being able to play your instruments.” And I hate that! I think that sucks! Karen: I think we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard than, “We’re female, so we just need to show up.” I mean, we will show up, but I want it to be more than that. Becca: I don’t want it to be about sex appeal. I want it to be about the ideas that we represent. Christine [glowing blue]: Sometimes when we get compliments, I internally append “...for a girl” to any statement I hear. I’m probably ascribing too much negativity in that way to my gender. But topics about inequality have been on my mind a lot lately. Despite what I said, I don’t feel like we’ re being written off as “good for a girl band.” I think those insecurities are more personal apprehensions and not reflections of our reception. How would you say making music relates to the rest of your undertakings? Becca: It’s a way to let go of perfectionism, because I definitely struggle with that, and knowing that I have limitations with my guitar playing. But I’m playing with my best friends, so I know I can just do whatever and it’s okay. Karen: That’s so exactly what it is, too, for me. It’s me just knowing that I’m with people who totally aren’t judging me and we can just create without having any of that internal critic saying “you’re doing this wrong.” With these girls, its just way easier to turn that off and just make stuff. Grace: And it’s an exercise in trust, too, because you get up together and you promise each other indirectly that you’re going to do something together. And that’s the really amazing part. Astral Place plays Saturday, July 12 at Apop, and Wednesday, July 16 at Blank Space.
Futurism
WATCHERR
by Curtis Tinsley
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 9
PAPER TIME MACHINE Curated by Paige Brubeck
It’s All in the Eyes, Part II In the June issue, Paper Time Machine featured a collection of posters that all contained some sort of obstruction or absence of eyes. There’s something fundamentally unnerving and compelling about this in a design. The same goes for obstructing everything but the eyes. By looking at magazine racks, or advertising across a variety of media, it’s easy to see that eye contact is a hugely important part of graphic culture in this country. There’s a visceral response you can feel when someone makes eye contact with you — or is prevented from doing so. A few months ago, an article in the New York Times on this subject referred to a Cornell University study in which two groups of adults were shown Trix cereal boxes. One group was shown a version where the rabbit was looking straight at them; the other was shown a box where the rabbit was looking slightly down. When questioned later, the group who had made eye contact with the rabbit was not only more likely to purchase that cereal over a competing brand, but also reported feeling more trust in the brand. This is a lesson poster designers have learned, consciously or otherwise. While “put a bird on it” has become a hoary old chestnut in the indie arts and crafts world, I often find myself deciding to “put a face on it” while working on a design. All of the posters in this month’s gallery prominently highlight eyes. While some are abstract or suggestive, others lift a direct gaze straight from a photograph, leaving behind the other features. The effect can be mesmerizing, as you meet the eye(s) in front of you... and probably connect more strongly, whether you realize it or not, with Washed Out or Nada Surf.
1
4. Superchunk, Spider Bags Tour poster, September 2013 Designer: Doe Eyed 5. Dr. Dog, Those Darlins, Brass Bed October 10, 2009 Chelsea’s Cafe | Baton Rouge, LA Designer: Scott Campbell
1. Explosions In The Sky, Lichens March 20, 21, 22, 2008 Great American Music Hall | San Fancisco, CA Designer: The Small Stakes
6. Nada Surf, Say Hi To Your Mom Friday, October 21, 2005 Bimbo’s 365 Club | Columbus, OH Designer: The Small Stakes
2. Wolfmother May 26-28, 2006 Sasquatch Music Festival | Quincy, WA Designer: Aesthetic Apparatus
7. The Pixies State Theater, Fox Theater | Detroit, MI November 18, 20, 22, 2004 Designer: Aesthetic Apparatus
3. Washed Out April 22, 23, 2012 Highline Ballroom / Music Hall of Williamsburg | NYC Designer: Scott Campbell
8. Mogwai, The Twilight Sad April 22, 2009 Workplay | Birmingham, AL Designer: Methane Studios
10 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
6
7
2 3
4
5
8
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 11
Free Radicals Three chances to lose your mind in the best way
Photo by Adam Lissick
by Eric Hall Percussionist Jon Mueller had earned significant accolades with his previous bands Pele and Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, and continues to with his current band Volcano Choir, which includes additional members from Collections Of Colonies Of Bees and All Tiny Creatures, plus Justin Vernon (otherwise known on several Kanye West tracks as Bon Iver, which is the band he famously leads). However, some of his most exploratory work has been done on his own, or in more sporadic collaborations. Having long since proved his worth as a solid, graceful drummer with his more traditional outfits, when he steps outside of those he often moves into Sound Art territory and up-ends what it even means to most to be a drummer. Utilizing electroacoustics and extended techniques, Mueller might, for example, coax sustained drones from a drum head amplified by a speaker feeding back onto itself, or slowly build an alarm bell clatter from a battery-powered fan against a cymbal. Many pieces are studies that use only a few objects and get
12 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
Death Blues, Darin Gray & Ghost Ice, Demonlover Monday, July 14 William A. Kerr Foundation
deep into their individual potential. These works tend to have profound tactility and an up-close clarity, but also exist in palpable sonic spaces. Led by Mueller, Death Blues is at least a band, but also a broader ideology that may manifest in any medium imaginable. Its multi-sensory offerings thus far include not only musical performances but essays, videos, dance, and images — though these concepts might well find their audience by way of almost any other form of expression or interaction as the inspirations arise. Death Blues is about death insofar as the Fire Department is about fire; it’s a process to keep death at bay. Musically speaking, Death Blues has no specific heri-
tage or genre, but frequently takes form as a minimalist, primordial rock energy that ascends gradually over itself with shifting micro-momentum, extending each present pattern / moment into a concentrated vitality. The intention is to interrupt the blur of life’s inevitable sequence of haphazard heres and nows and share a potent focus on the RIGHTHERERIGHTFUCKINGNOW. It’s simultaneously trance-inducing and sensesharpening, emphasizing the slight variations and nuances within its repetitions. It’s a metronomic riff that sneaks around your periphery, wraps around you, and eases you into the middle of it, and then up with it into a frozen time. Those who are only aware of bassist Darin Gray through his consistent and close orbit of the Wilco camp — live sit-ins with Loose Fur (Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, and Jim O’Rourke), several of O’Rourke’s song-based Drag City releases (which also frequently rely on Tweedy and Kotche), On Fillmore (his longstanding duo with Kotche that toured with NPR’s Radiolab Live last year), and currently as a member of the Tweedy & son project TWEEDY — know good
and well that Gray has style and chops, same as Mueller, though there’s a remarkably different player inside him, as well; one that would not only surprise someone only familiar with those projects, but would surely surprise everyone with any traditional expectations of how his instrument is fundamentally played. Also a maestro of extended technique, Gray comes at every surface of his double bass with objects selected over several years of exploration: gongs, wires, bamboo, rubber balls, kalimbas, chains, and rods are threaded between the strings, pulled over the worn wooden contours, and wedged against the bridge. Sometimes a rubber hose is lowered into a sound hole and connected to his lungs by way of a trumpet mouthpiece, allowing him to breathe long drones through the instrument’s resonant chamber. These are further shaped by effects pedals that loop and contort the sounds. Anyone can just clang some shit together and muster accidental sounds from an instrument (and maybe more people should), but in the hands of an artist with decades of development and dedication, the creaks, cries, rumbles, and whines are painted around each other in a beautiful and powerfully engaging way.
Instead of enjoying a few days of downtime from the current TWEEDY tour, Gray will be red-eyeing in especially for this show, where he’ll pair up with Ghost Ice, a scarcely documented shaman of gestural and astral electronics. The equipment he uses changes often; sometimes it’s analogue synths, tapes, microphones, or an old organ, but the personality of the performance is consistent and succinct. There’s the building impression each time that he may be restraining an inner spirit to keep it from
Americana or folk, but somehow not too far from psychedelic noise and even punk, either, the four multi-instrumentalists in Theodore had sparse, beautiful songs that were layered over the tastiest sonic beds around. When one of its members got pulled away to commit to a more refined project, the remaining members erupted forth as Demonlover, taking the vast musical ingredients of their previous band and rubbing them all through a grater over heaps of Kraut, Tropicália, jazz, and sludge jams. They can shift directions like they’re pulling ideas out of a hat, but they’re each accomplished and tuned in with each other enough to pull it off. It’s a wholly unpredictable, therefore always exciting, project. The William A Kerr Foundation (21 O’Fallon St.) — the event’s setting itself — is the other star of this show. It’s a modern, eco-focused, multi-tiered structure with an open layout and great acoustics. But it’s the Foundation’s location, on the edge of a barely occupied cluster of warehouses on the bank of the Mississippi River just north of the Arch, that finally seals the otherworldliness of this event. This show is truly a must see. Things probably won’t be the same for you afterwards.
Death Blues is about death insofar as the Fire Department is about fire; it’s a process to keep death at bay. busting out of him, or may be trying to grab elusive spectres from the æther to channel their energies. Whatever it is, performing music on electronics rarely has the kind of physicality and expressiveness that Ghost Ice employs. A Darin Gray / Ghost Ice duo is a chance to witness two varied artists swirl their individual sensibilities together. Once upon a time, a band called Theodore created what many felt was some of the most beloved music possible. Not too far from
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 13
Records breaking records The mad vinyl science of Jack White
Illustration by Tyler Gross
by Cassie Kohler Jack White has a knack for reviving the dead. Call him a contemporary rock’n’roll Dr. Frankenstein, his love for the outdated, forgotten aspects of our culture has lead him to be one of the pioneering figures in modern-day vinyl production. It’s no secret that vinyl is making a drastic comeback in the music industry. Record sales have been climbing steadily since 2007, and Jack White’s Third Man Records has been at the forefront of this triumphant return. In the age of digital music, vinyl collecting is one of the ultimate statements of love for music in its physical form, and White is intent on treating vinyl records as an opportunity to make physical art and musical artifacts, simultaneously fusing preservation and progress. His obsession with the physical format of music has led to one of the coolest musical revivals to date. White established Third Man Records as a label in Detroit in 2001, but it wasn’t until he moved to a physical location in Nashville in 2009, where he could build a custom facility and work closely with United Record Pressing, one of the country’s longest-running record plants, that he had everything he needed to begin his mad experimentation with the physical attributes of records. Third Man Records has already released multi-colored, swirlcolored, scented and Halloweenedition glow-in-the-dark records. Those are the joys of vinyl well known to the collector. But that was White just getting warmed up. Record Store Day is, naturally, a special holiday for Jack White. Third Man Records released the first ever playable etching on Record Store Day in 2012: The label’s logo is etched into “Love Is Blindness,” the B-side of White’s 12” single “Sixteen Saltines” (design credit goes to George Ingram). That same single was also released with a blue-liquid fill in clear vinyl creating a psychedelic, lava lamp effect when played. Then there was the “triple decker,” a record inside of a record: The Dead Weather’s “Blue Blood Blues” 12” single contains within it a separate unreleased 7” for the single “I Feel Strange.” Only 300 of these records were made. Collectors have to literally break open the 12” in order to listen
14 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
to the 7”, practically forcing them to buy multiple copies. Recently White refurbished a 1947 Voice-O-Graph booth, a music booth – think photo booth style – where an individual can record up to two minutes of music, and receive a 6” phonograph record within minutes. Recently, Neil Young recorded an album of cover songs, called A Letter Home, recorded entirely inside the booth. Better yet, the Voice-O-Graph is available to whoever stops by the Third Man Records store and steps inside. You, me, or anyone can record our own vinyl record in that booth! Rather than running low on tricks, though, White has poured on the juice.
Lazaretto, his second solo album, was released last month. It hit number one and broke the 20-year standing record for most vinyl copies sold in a single week – 40,000 – beating out the previous record holder, Pearl Jam’s 1994 release Vitalogy. All musical aspects aside, the record itself contains every trick imaginable in one package, and its ingenuity sets multiple vinyl production firsts. What is being referred to as the Lazaretto Ultra LP will redefine what collectors expect from the future of vinyl production. Just holding the record in hand, it’s unusual: Side A has a modern, shiny finish, and Side B is a matte, flat finish. Side A of the Ultra LP requires you drop the needle on the inside of the groove, near the label, where it plays inside to outside,
ending at the first-ever outside locked groove, where the needle circles in an endless loop. In the dead wax of Side A, the first ever hand-etched hologram designed by artist Tristan Duke of Infinity Light Science appears when the record is played. The image is an angel, a reference to the album’s cover art. Side B loads on the outside edge in standard fashion, but: track one on Side B, “Just One Drink,” has two intros, one acoustic and one electric. Which introduction you get solely depends on where you drop the needle. The grooves ultimately merge into the remainder of the song– the first time this has ever been done in one song. As if this wasn’t enough, the album contains two vinyl-only hidden tracks. But where do you hide tracks on a record? Well, under the label of course! But hidden tracks on both sides aren’t enough for the ambitious mastermind: each hidden track runs at different speeds. Another first for vinyl production, the Ultra LP contains three play speeds in one high-quality 180 gram pressing. While the album is the standard 33 1/3rpm, Side A’s bonus track runs at 78rpm and Side B’s at 45rpm. And since sound quality is still key, the LP was mastered analog to analog with no compression like those used for the digital release. Revitalizing the dead is nothing new to White: before diving into the music world full time, he was an upholsterer in Detroit, and eventually owned his own refurbishing shop, Third Man Upholstery. But before Third Man Upholstery, there was co-worker and bandmate Brian Muldoon and White’s early band, the Upholsterers. Together, Muldoon and White released what is considered the rarest Jack White release to date: “Makers of High Grade Suites.” Here’s the thing: the aptly titled 7” can only be found hidden in the furniture repaired at Muldoon Studios. 100 copies of clear vinyl, encased in transparent covers that make them undetectable by X-ray machines, were placed under the foam of furniture they worked on, as a sort of secret message between upholsterers. In order to find the record, customers would be forced to rip open their couches and chairs. According to White’s All Songs Considered interview on NPR, none have surfaced yet.
Tuesday July 8
Future Folk Tuesday July 15
Caught a Ghost Wednesday July 16 D irty Boubon River Show | Al Holiday Thursday July 17 Dopapod | Strange Owls Friday July 18 D irty River Boys | The Defeated Country Thursday July 24
Alan Evans' Playonbrother Thursday July 26 Pigeon John | Tanya Morgan | Whiteout | Playdough | AtM w/ Mvstermind Tuesday July 29
The Honey C utters Wednesday July 30
Sundy Best Thursday August 8th Toymaker & Spaceship Present The Video Game Show Thursday August 28th
So Late It's Early Show Sunday Aug 31
Cree Rider Americana & BB Q Fest II
Every Monday: Open Mic
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 15
16 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
Barnstorming Iowa
Neulore in the Barn.
Codfish Hollow could change your summer plans
Photos by Jason Deem
by Anne McCullough Codfish Hollow Barnstormers grew out of a barbecue in 2009 when the founder of the website Daytrotter.com, Sean Moeller, found himself in a conversation with the Los Angeles band Local Natives. Together, they hatched a plan to start a barn tour and less than a month later, former St. Louisan and current Iowa City resident Caleb Engstrom, Chicagoans Catfish Haven and Local Natives came together for the first ever Barnstormer concert in the Barn at Catfish Hollow. Since then,the Barn has attracted a who’s who of both established and up-andcoming indie bands for its semi-monthly
summertime shows, including Ra Ra Riot, Delta Spirit, The Walkmen, The Music Tapes, and Cory Chisel as well as some acts more familiar to the mainstream such as Norah Jones and Counting Crows. The bill is only part of the show’s appeal, though. The Codfish Hollow Barn stands on a fourth generation family farm in beautiful Maquoketa, Iowa, just north of Davenport and about four hours from St. Louis. It’s operated by Tiffany Costello-Biehl, the great-granddaughter of the farm’s original owners. Together with Moeller, Communion Records and Ben Lovett, Costello-Biehl books the shows in The Hollow and also operates a neat little art gallery out of the original family house.
On May 22, the Barn hosted its first show of the 2014 summer season with Busy Living, Bootstraps, Neulore and Hunterchild. This month, The Hold Steady will perform on the Fourth of July along with The Whigs, Hunterchild, Matt Pryor, The Bellfuries, Sacco, and Josh Berwanger Band. And later in the month, The Wild Rovers invade the Hollow on July 20 for a show with Cory Chisel, Adriel Denae and more. For a complete summer schedule, check out their website at codfishhollowbarnstormers.com. Tickets normally range from $12 to $30, and the shows are all ages, family friendly and while they don’t sell alcohol on the premises, they do allow you to bring your own, cooler and all!
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 17
18 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
The mysterious music of multimedia electronic artist Black James exists in some self-defined space between dance floors, gallery walls, and wide night skies. K.E. Luther travels to Knoxville TN listening for the Appalachian roots of Black James’ new album, Mountain Boy.
Photos by K.E. Luther
B
y the time I reach Knoxville, Tennessee, the sun is already beginning to set, the tufted clouds turning orange and purple at the horizon. I roll down the car windows and breathe in the mountain air: honeysuckle, freshly mown hay and the cold, limestone smell of the Tennessee River. The evening is warm, but the first hints of a cool night ride on the breeze. For a moment, it feels good to be home. I wind my way through the western part of town to a rundown La Quinta Inn tucked behind a Mexican restaurant. The parking lot is already full for the evening and one of the residents has a grill smoking in the bed of his truck. A few spaces down, a young woman sleeps in the front seat of her car, her absurdly high heels dangling out of the window. My room is located at the far end of a concrete breezeway, past the vending machines and the fire escape. I open the door and immediately fall asleep, face down, on top of the comforter. I am in Knoxville to explore Appalachian culture, to wrestle with God and the Devil, faith and science, tradition and change, family and isolation, and the ghosts that follow every Southerner through their days. But more importantly, I am back in Knoxville to interview Jennifer McDaniels, the trailblazing artist behind Black James and a woman who struggles with all of these questions in her own work.
In early May, McDaniels left her current home in St. Louis to record her latest album, Mountain Boy, at her mother’s house in Knoxville. As a fellow East Tennessean, I asked if I could tag along for a couple of days, to document the way that the landscape influenced the new material. She agreed, and we made plans to meet up in a few weeks. Suddenly I am awakened by the sound of a text alert. McDaniels is on her way to Marie’s Tavern, a dive bar near the Greyhound bus station. “Bring yer camera,” she writes. I comb my hair, splash some water on my face and head out for the evening. When I reach downtown Knoxville, the place feels a little deserted, a ghost town in the middle of a vibrant city. Even on a busy night, the buildings in the entertainment district seem to huddle together, inching away from the train tracks, the abandoned factories and the silent mountains beyond. Finally I spot the sign for Marie’s and park in a dirt lot down the road. Inside, an older crowd, working class and rowdy, drinks their way through karaoke night. McDaniels is seated at the bar, nursing a Miller High Life and wearing a sequined American flag baseball cap. I order a shot and stand in the audience for a moment, knocked out by the middle-aged man stomping his way through a classic rock number. Watching the display, it occurs to me that McDaniels should record a
karaoke song. When the man finishes, we clap politely and make our way back to the covered patio. Out in the cool night air, McDaniels lights a cigarette and blows smoke into the velvet darkness. Eventually the next singer takes the stage and we can hear the music through the open door. McDaniels stops to listen, then tells me that she recorded a song at Marie’s last week. I register the echo. She was out drinking with her cousins and performed a version of “Lady in Red” that brought down the house. That vocal sample would later become “Mature Nature Karaoke,” a tribute to a recently deceased relative and one of the most haunting tracks on Mountain Boy. The Appalachians are full of this dark magic: hallucinatory experiences, ghostly encounters and meaningful coincidences. The next morning, McDaniels invites me to her mother’s house to see her bedroom studio. On the way into town, I scan the dial for the local National Public Radio affiliate. Instead I find a solid block of conservative broadcasting, Christian faith healing, classic rock and commercial country. I settle for the latter and roll into Knoxville listening to the new Dustin Lynch song, “Where It’s At,” a piece of low-brow country rap that makes Kid Rock look like a pioneering musical genius. The monolithic nature of Appalachian culture affects every artist who lives there.
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 19
For musicians, the most popular acts tend to embrace alternative country, old time and roots music. Even McDaniels began her career in St. Louis by releasing an album, Waterhead, that sounded distinctly Southern—a collection of gospel standards and heavily distorted banjo tunes that featured stories of violence, alcoholism and life on the economic fringes. On the follow-up album, im A mirAcle, McDaniels broke with tradition and created an entirely original sound: heavy electronic beats with densely layered samples and hazy, cascading vocals that frequently distorted into strange, animalistic screams. By combining elements of club, punk, rap, Mexican pop and experimental noise with gospel, classic country and Appalachian mysticism, she created a new form of dance music that was equal parts block party and performance art, East Tennessee and Ibiza. While McDaniels continues this sound on Mountain Boy (released this May through FarFetched), she also returns to her Southern roots with greater detail. With a primitive beat and lyrics about “running
20 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
through the country where the tall weeds grow,” a song like “Gasoline” would sound right at home alongside artists like Valerie June and CocoRosie on the local college radio station. Nearly the entire track was produced using only the sound of fingernails rubbing together and a cassette tape rattling into a microphone. As McDaniels puts it, “That’s folk music right, making art out of what’s at hand?” After a quick tour of the house, McDaniels grabs the keys to her car and we drive down to Loves Creek to fill a couple of jugs with genuine mountain spring water. From there, we make our way to Blaine, Tennessee, a small community about twenty miles east of town. As the morning fog clears, we stop for breakfast at a solitary gas station. McDaniels buys a corn dog, a container of Southern goulash, and two large cans of Miller High Life. The Red House Cemetery is a small family plot located behind an old farmhouse. We park at a gap in the wire fence and head out through the freshly mown grass. McDaniels’ former boyfriend, the
actor Brad Renfro, is buried here beneath a sprawling, low-slung tree at the top of a secluded hill. I stop to register the breathtaking view, the valley bathed in golden light, the Appalachian Mountains stretching away in concentric bands. McDaniels removes the two cans of Miller High Life from a plastic bag, stacks them at the base of the headstone, and unwraps her corndog. Brad Renfro is probably best known for his childhood role in the 1994 film The Client, a legal drama based on a popular John Grisham novel. Only twelve at the time, he won several awards for his performance and became a major celebrity in Knoxville. He went on to appear in several well-regarded films, but by the time he met McDaniels, his career was beginning to unravel. In 1998, at the age of fifteen, he was arrested for drug possession and barely avoided a public trial. Two years later, fresh out of high school, Renfro and McDaniels began dating, spending most of their time running wild in the hills around Knoxville. They bonded over music — she dreamed of becoming a disco
queen and he kept a recording studio in the back of his house. According to McDaniels, her former boyfriend was “probably the best guitar player I’ve ever known in my life.” But he drank heavily, and after a short time, she felt alone in the relationship. She pauses for a moment. A strong wind blows down from the mountains and we sit in the grass listening to the birds call through the trees, a recurring sound on the new album. Finally she runs to the car to retrieve a couple of items: a handful of dried flowers and a piece of rusted wire coiled to look like a crown of thorns. She uses the objects to decorate the headstone, trying several different arrangements before settling on the one she likes best. McDaniels ended her relationship with Renfro in 2003, and though the two remained friends, she moved to Florida to escape the aftermath. A few years later the demons of human nature won, and Brad Renfro died of a heroin overdose at his home in Los Angeles. In the wake of the news, McDaniels dedicated herself to mastering the banjo.
At one point, she was “probably about as good at [the instrument] as Brad was at the guitar,” she says. “I don’t know, maybe close.” She no longer plays in public, but on Mountain Boy, she resurrects one of her earliest songs for a track called “Calvary.” Over finger cymbals and a spectral choir, she sings “Jesus I’m so thankful that I let you down that day / And know without a doubt that you took my sins away.” It sounds like a woman learning to forgive and to let go of the past. Before we leave, McDaniels opens both cans of beer and pours them over the gravesite, observing a personal Decoration Day. On the way back to the car, she tells me, “Mostly everything I do is just like a sort of therapy or exercise, really. It’s just like, this feels good to manifest and materialize these thoughts inside of you. It’s like: you made a baby, you made a picture, you made a song. That’s the most rewarding thing to me in life, going through a process and being able to look at [the result]. And kind of just get it out of you and it’s gone. Like passing a ghost, man.”
When McDaniels returned to Knoxville this May, she cleared out a room in the back of her mother’s house, put a mattress on the floor and arranged her recording equipment on a small desk in the corner. For the most part, the space is bare, but the area around her workstation is extravagantly decorated with talismans, tchotchkes and inspirational photos. I pick up one of the cassette tapes displayed above her boombox, a compilation of easy-listening gospel songs. “I love going and finding shit, like atmospheric stuff,” she says. “Around here especially, there’s like, sermons on tape. Some of that shit is so scary,” she laughs. McDaniels has been working on Mountain Boy for almost two years now, using what little free time she manages to steal from work and family to sketch out ideas. As an electronic musician, she is always in the process of gathering raw material—clips from the Internet, samples from her tape collection, and field recordings from her own life—which she then organizes into digital folders based on theme. When she starts a new track, she sits at the computer
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 21
and thinks, “Okay, I’m gonna make a song. How am I feeling? And then I already have all this stuff to choose from.” She opens the folder for an epic dance number called “Tina” and scrolls through dozens of samples that are currently under consideration. While most of the tracks on Mountain Boy feature original vocals and live instrumentation, a song like “Tina” relies almost exclusively on found material. McDaniels shrugs at the artistic and legal implications. “It’s more like collage to me, when it’s not any of my stuff,” she says. “I mean there’s a chance that some people might have heard [a sample], but usually it’s so heavily distorted or just fucked with that you don’t know what it is anymore. And I’m like, Is this mine now? Can I claim this? I don’t have to give credit to the person who invented the fucking clarinet every time I
for the company. When we first walk in, McDaniels keeps a low profile. She stops at the front desk and quietly informs the receptionist that she needs to have a set of posters made. The woman smiles politely and calls over a salesperson. While trying to explain the order, McDaniels casually mentions that she knows one of the other employees. All of a sudden, there is a flurry of activity in the rear of the building and Mark Renfro appears in the doorway. He seems genuinely pleased to see McDaniels, offering a warm hug and inquiring about her mother. In the middle of the exchange, the salesperson interrupts to discuss a problem with the order. McDaniels steps away to handle the situation, leaving me to stare blankly at a ghost from a secondhand story. I consider asking a few questions, but Mark
I love hip hop and I love R&B,” she says. “I love jungle beats and dance music and disco. I love all the rowdy stuff.” According to McDaniels, she grew up in a religious household and her access to dance music was fairly restricted. “But when I did get to listen to it,” she says, “it was like, ‘Hell yeah, give me some more of it!’ My first tape was C&C Music Factory.” She stole the album from a friend and was devastated when her mother took it away. “I used to lose my mind listening to that tape. And then like ten years later, I moved to Florida and I found the CD at a store and I like went crazy all over again. I was dancing in the yard like a maniac, like I lost my mind,” she tells me, laughing at the memory. The name Black James is just a sleight of hand, a form of misdirection designed to confound listeners and to challenge the
“ It’s more like collage to me, when it’s not any of my stuff. I mean, there’s a chance that people might have heard [a sample], but usually it’s so heavily distorted you don’t know what it is anymore. And I’m like, Is this mine now? Can I claim this? I don’t have to give credit to the person who invented the fucking clarinet every time I play it.”
play it,” she laughs. McDaniels clicks around on the desktop until she finds the newest version of a song called “Knock Out Gang,” a piece of sexy, chillwave disco that sounds like a lost cut from the first Washed Out record. While we listen to the track, McDaniels shows me a few examples of the album art for Mountain Boy. In addition to being a successful musician and an architect in training, McDaniels is also a well-regarded visual artist. For this project, she illustrated her dreams, creating bright, surreal landscapes out of open-source images. Finally she clicks on a poster for an upcoming show with Sleepy Kitty at the Pilot Light, one of the best-known venues in town. Since moving away, she has struggled to book a decent gig in Knoxville, so she is especially excited about the performance. She makes a few last minute adjustments to the image, a low-resolution picture of a childhood friend wearing a lion mask crawling across a black rug. “Oh man,” she says, “I didn’t even think about it when I made it but it’s like a sleepy kitty. It’s perfect.” She saves the file to a disc and asks if I want to run a quick errand. Aside from the chain stores near the mall, Blue Ridge Printing is the only place in Knoxville to make copies. As it turns out, Mark Renfro, Brad Renfro’s father, works
22 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
is understandably gun-shy of reporters. So I wait patiently until he says, “I hear you’re friends with Jenny,” and tells me a funny story about the time they went fishing. Back in the car, I ask about race in contemporary music, a potential minefield for a white woman who performs under the name Black James. “I don’t think there is a line to be crossed,” she says. “It’s something that’s fluid, so I just go with it.” She skips to her favorite track on the new Frank Ocean album and cranks the volume. “I love rap and
notion of what kind of artists make electronic music. McDaniels is more concerned that audiences will attribute her work to her male collaborators, especially her longtime friend and co-producer Damon Davis. Known around Saint Louis as Loose Screwz, Davis heads two multimedia collectives, FarFetched and Civil Ape, and is the winner of the 2013 Riverfront Times Mastermind Award. But a song like “LOLOALCOHOL,” a grinding, schizophrenic track that features guest appearances by Davis and another rapper named Zado, proves that the album is unmistakably the work of a singular, distinctive voice. Later that evening, I sit with McDaniels’ mother, Sharon, in the living room of her house, looking through old family photos. Sharon has a wicked sense of humor, and every time she discovers an interesting snapshot — Jenny at the beach, Jenny holding a bow and arrow, Jenny in oversized glasses — she tells a story that brings her daughter running down the hallway. (A number of these images will surface later on the Internet as part of the promotional campaign for Mountain Boy.) Finally, she tell her mother to put the box away. “And you need to go change clothes,” Sharon replies. The two women are running late for the funeral of a close relative. According to
McDaniels, her family tends to die young, and she ends up burying a cousin every time she comes home. While Sharon packs up the photos, McDaniels tells me that she recently discovered an old recording of her grandmother, Frances White, singing hymns. She wants to reissue the vinyl single, but more importantly, she hopes to collaborate on a full-length album. Every time she calls, though, Frances is busy with her own life. Music haunts the entire family, often in brutal and surreal ways. McDaniels’ great-grandfather, John B. Reed, fell while sweeping out the elevator in his apartment building. While recovering in a nursing home, he was nearly beaten to death by a mentally ill patient for singing “How Great Thou Art.” He eventually died of his injuries, and after the funeral, a previously unknown branch of Filipino descendants emerged. As it turns out, McDaniels is related to the Reed Sisters, the colorful former stars of a public access variety show in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and the subjects of a documentary called The Reed Sisters: An American Story. We wait on the front porch while Sharon finishes a few last-minute preparations. A stiff wind blows down from the hills, cool and damp with the promise of rain. McDaniels sits in an oversized rocking chair and lights a cigarette. I ask about the primal, supernatural undercurrents on the new record. “Any creepiness I evoke is by accident,” she insists. Still, she admits that the mountains feel dark to her, “because the people are so constrained. I’ve been accused of having the devil in me. And I think it’s funny that [the idea] would even occur to them. That I could be doing some kind of demonic shit.” She takes another drag off her cigarette and flicks the ash into the yard. I ask if she still attends church. “Man, I just could not get down with that club,” she says. “I just don’t want to be part of any club, pretty much. It makes me nervous.” When she was younger, her paternal grandparents “were in the kind of church where you make flags and dance around and stuff,” she says. “They were like, ‘Get up and dance, Jenny!’ I was like, ‘Hell no. I’m not feeling it. I’m not feeling this beat.’” She stands up to check on her mother and shrugs. “Religion still plays a big part in everything [I do], like the music and stuff,” she clarifies, “cause I grew up obviously listening to church music and my mamaw singing and, like, hillbilly music.” A car passes on the street and we watch as the taillights fade into the evening shadows. McDaniels leans against the porch railing and says, “But I always liked disco. When I was a kid, probably like eight or nine, I would go to bed at night. When you first close your eyes, that’s the best time to make
music for me. I would dream up disco songs. I was like, ‘Man, I wish I knew how to record this. This is a classic right here.’” She laughs and stubs her cigarette into an ashtray. Inside an old episode of Seinfeld plays on the television, the sound echoing faintly across the neighborhood. McDaniels walks out into the front yard, beyond the edge of the porch light, and stands facing the road. As night approaches, hundred of fireflies rise from the darkness, flashing their cryptic messages to their kin. In a childlike voice, McDaniels says, “Are they fireflies or are they stars that fell from heaven?” And for the first time in years, I am knocked out by the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains. Eventually McDaniels and her mother leave for the funeral. I make my way back to the hotel, the car windows rolled down and the traffic starting to clear. As I drive, I once again search for the local news station. This time I end up listening to “This Is How We Roll,” the latest country music anthem by the Florida Georgia Line. Over star-spangled guitars and hip hop beats, lead singer Tyler Hubbard raps, “Holler at your boy / if you need a ride / if you roll with me / then you know we’re rolling high.” On the average Friday night in Knoxville, the bars and clubs are filled with country music—local cover bands, old men singing karaoke, and young performers dreaming of Nashville. Promoters seem reluctant to book electronic artists, but the lines are already beginning to blur. On “Head Bang on a Mountaintop,” McDaniels sings, “They call it Smoky Mountains / the air is thick with vapors / I roll it in my papers… hang out in the rural trees / you’re the only ten I see.” The beats drive harder and the almost inhuman vocals scream louder, but the sentiment echoes “This Is How We Roll” with uncanny precision.
On my final day in town, I wake up to see Brad Renfro staring at me from the television screen. I dismiss the image as an early morning hallucination and change the channel. But when I turn back, he appears again, running through the fictional hills of Missouri in the Disney film Tom and Huck. For a brief moment, I consider calling McDaniels, but there is nothing to say: with Mountain Boy, she has passed the ghost to the listener. Instead I pack my bags, leave my keys at the front desk, and drive away from the now silent La Quinta. As I pull onto the highway, the sun crests the limestone hills above the Tennessee River, throwing a golden light across the empty parking lots and the shuttered buildings. Driving back toward St. Louis, I pass through small patches of urban revitalization—organic restaurants, art galleries, even a vinyl record store. Slowly Knoxville is changing, just as the mountains themselves wear away over time. With the new album, McDaniels has tapped into these subtle shifts in the culture to create a new and unexpected form of Appalachian music. The most impressive track on Mountain Boy is a four-minute meditation on place called “Transcendental Trunk Rattler.” The song opens with a bubbling synth line that is immediately pierced by a mournful violin, then adds layers of sighing electronic noise, heavy beats and an impenetrable vocal sample. After slowly building to a climax, the piece empties out, and a bell rings. Over the last fading notes, McDaniels whispers, her voice trembling, “I’ve never been here before. It’s a miracle. It’s so beautiful.” The chime sounds again and she finishes, “I’m never going back.” The overall effect is more distinctly Appalachian than any music since Dock Boggs. And at the same time, it sounds like nothing else on earth.
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 23
11 Ways to Help Make Money for Bands You Love – for $5 or Less!
By Langen Neubacher Any working musician knows these are some of the toughest times ever to make a living off your craft. The struggling economy has left many bars and venues feeling pressured to cut their entertainment budgets, and while the digital age makes it easy for bands to expose their music to a global market, the modern day expectation to get new music instantly, and often free, has had a serious impact on record sales. Plus, lack of health insurance and other benefits leaves even well-known indie darlings like Cat Power open to financial struggles (as she admitted on Instagram a couple of years ago), so the pressure on local musicians is even greater. The best way to support local musicians is still by going to their shows and buying their merchandise. However, people outside of the music scene are handling their own money issues. So I’ve come up with this list of things everyone can do to raise money for their favorite local bands, all while spending $5 or less. What you can do FOR FREE! 1. Use and abuse Spotify, Pandora and streaming services that pay musicians – Streaming services don’t pay much to musicians, usually between .003-.006
24 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
cents per play, but it adds up! Create a playlist featuring your favorite local artist and play it often. I even turn the volume off and leave my local Spotify channel, titled “give my friends all the
pennies,” going when I’m not in the room. The extra plays will also increase their play count and make them more likely to be discovered by new fans. While streaming services can never replace the importance of CD sales, utilizing the sites that pay musicians can offer much needed support! 2. Download free tracks your friends offer online, even if you already have a copy of the song. Increasing the amount of times a track is played or downloaded will encourage people to check out and download other songs by the artist. 3. Help local music get airplay! Increased airplay can easily translate to increased downloads and ticket sales. Usually when my band gets an out of state iTunes sale, I can trace it back to being played on a community radio station in that area. St. Louis is lucky to have 88.1 KDHX, and a host of great college radio stations. Visit the stations’ websites and their pages at spinitron.com to find out which DJs play local music or music similar to your favorite local bands, and then make a
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 24
request! Be polite, and the worst thing you’ll get is a polite no if they can’t work the song into their set. 4. Spread the word on social media, and don’t be shy about reaching out to your friends outside of the music scene who might otherwise never hear of your favorite local groups. Help your friends find new fans by sharing their music videos, interviews, articles, bandcamp, etc. on your social media pages.
For $3 or Less 5. Sometimes you just can’t afford a whole record, so buy your favorite 1-3 songs online via a band’s website or bandcamp page. These sites are usually run by someone in the band and usually 100% of the sales will go to the band. Services like iTunes are great and should be used as an alternative, but check for the band’s personal site first since downloading sites usually take 35-60% of the sales.
set it up in front of me, and placed a tip in it while I was playing. Several other people got the idea and threw in a few bucks and I ended up making over 20% of my income that night from tips.) 8. Buy a sticker or other small item
had good experiences. Supporting venues that treat musicians well pays off for everyone involved. 7. If you didn’t pay a cover, tip the band. Free shows are great, and many bars in town are willing to pay 10-20% of the ring to the entertainment. However, even a packed, hard-drinking house can only generate so much income if the venue is small or the prices are cheap. For example, a $1,500 ring is a good night for most small bars but it only translates to $150-300 for everyone involved on the entertainment side of things. Even a small amount of tips can add up with the money from the venue. Tipping the band encourages the people around you to tip as well. (… One thing that is extra nice to do for bands is to set up a tip collection for them. Many bands feel shy about asking for money, so we don’t even put out a jar. One of the nicest things someone ever did for me was when she walked up with a bucket she’d borrowed from the bar,
from the band. It’s amazing how often many bands have items they’re happy to just give you! Give them a $1 for those little things as a thank you.
For $5 or less 9. Check out EPs, online downloads, download cards, and extras from your favorite bands. You can often get a whole lot of stuff for just putting up $5, and with many of these items the money goes directly to the bands. 10. Chip in on a crowdfunding project. Every little itty bitty bit counts when the band is depending on a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign to fund their project. 11. The next time you go to a show, bring a friend who’s never been to a local club. Offer to buy ‘em a beer or pay for the ticket if it’s $5 or less to seal the deal. Bringing more faces into the crowd is the best way to get the bands paid that night, and help grow the city’s potential audience base over time.
.com
6. Aim your money. Figure out the best way to spend whatever amount you already were going to spend going to shows by finding out which venues your favorite bands feel they get the most benefits from playing. Hit up those shows over venues where they haven’t
Supporting venues that treat musicians well pays off for everyone involved.
mobile • web • branding
located on Cherokee Street in STL 815-535-7908 elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 25
DROWN FISH, The Last Night, Bloodbath & Beyond at Venice Cafe
NEIGHBORHOOD BRATS, Feral Future, Astral Place, Bad Dates at Apop
SATURDAY, JULY 12
PHOX, Trails And Ways at the Duck Room
THURSDAY, JULY 3
BRAID, Pity Sex, Signals Midwest at Fubar
MASKED INTRUDER, Direct Hit!, The Pricedukes, The Humanoids at the Demo
SEARCH PARTIES (CD release), Dots Not Feathers, Bear Hive, Humdrum, The Mhurs at Firebird
WEDNESDAY, JULY 2
SHARK DAD, Too Fun Child at Engine Room
TUESDAY, JULY 1
RECOMMENDED SHOWS
BECK
JULY 2014
SARAH BOLLINGER, Daphne Willis, Jeff
VARIOUS HANDS, Upright Animals, Sweaters at Plush
draws you in with its confident delivery. His new album, Liberation!, is a worthy next step. Live should be even better.
music to employ an orchestra of musicians. Guitarist/bassist Kristian Dunn (he uses a double-necked instrument, natch) is a pedal fetishist’s dream come true: his pedalboard is the real star, so much so that their shows feature a live feed of his feet dancing between the many loop
WEDNESDAY, JULY 16 AT THE PAGEANT It’s funny to say now, but there was a moment in the early ‘90s, following “Loser,” when Beck was treated as a novelty one-off. Little did we know he was a novelty fixture, ready to queer the radio world every year or two with a sudden shift of focus and style that redefines not just his style, but the parameters of pop music. But even with all of the twists and turns — from Odelay to Midnite Vultures to Guero to Sea Change to Song Reader to his collab with Charlotte Gainsbourg to the new Morning Phase—Beck’s most defining character may actually be his consistency: the albums are different, the persona changes, but the quality is always next-level. Like Björk and Radiohead, Beck has become a geologic force in the musical landscape, unpredictable but fundamental, whose every move is a tectonic rearrangement. Live, Beck’s charisma is huge, and he seems to be in a more playful mood these days. With his top-notch band and a good attitude, this show should be unforgettable. ES
MUSICALENDAR
ILLUSTRATION BY PAIGE BRUBECK
WEDNESDAY, JULY 16 ASTRAL PLACE (tape release), Jefferson Street Parade Band at Blank Space
DOUG BENSON at Firebird
TUESDAY, JULY 8
THE HISTORY OF FUTURE FOLK movie screening and performance by Future Folk at the Gramophone
FRIDAY, JULY 11
THEE FINE LINES, Haddonfields at The Engine Room
THURSDAY, JULY 10
FUCKED UP, WEED, Life Like at the Luminary
THE MENTORS at Fubar
If Tenacious D had first gotten stoned together to The Byrds’ “Mr. Spaceman,” or if Man Or Astroman was a charmingly clumsy comedy duo instead of a master class in instrumental space-surf, there might be no place for Future Folk. But there was a tiny hole in the funniverse, so Nils d’Aulaire and Jay Klaitz plugged it with this movie about a pair of evil aliens (Hondos) who descend on the Earth to destroy it, but instead fall in love with the native music, and decide to form a band instead. Romance, funny songs, and running from the cops soon follow, and the film/band has been steadily building a cult audience over the last year. If you’re going to see it, see it at The Gramophone with the aliens in attendance, no?
HUNDRED WATERS, Mas Ysa at Luminary
WHITEOUT (CD release) at Gramophone
CLOUD NOTHINGS, The Wytches at the Luminary
While The Walkmen were a crucial sound of the ‘00s — “The Rat” alone altered the pedal setups and vocal delivery of a thousand bands — they seem to have slipped out of the public imagination. So it’s fitting that the band has gone on “extreme hiatus,” and three of the members are releasing new solo albums. Bauer was the bassist/organist in the band (they all switched places midcareer to keep things interesting) and his new album contains many recognizable aspects of his breakthrough band — including, thankfully, some excellent lyrics and a voice that
PETER MATHEW BAUER at Firebird
FRIDAY, JULY 18
El Ten Eleven makes instrumental music — but don’t stop reading! Because the thing is, they’re a duo, making enough
EL TEN ELEVEN at the Firebird
THURSDAY, JULY 24
CHUCK BERRY at the Duck Room
GARY CLARK JR. at the Pageant
WEDNESDAY, JULY 23
DIIV, Lordo, Regal Degal at the Luminary
MONDAY, JULY 21
JACK WHITE, Benjamin Booker at the Fox
SUNDAY, JULY 20
COTTON JONES, Spectator at Off Broadway
THURSDAY, JULY 17
Scan this QR Code, or go to ElevenMusicMag.com for a listing of club addresses. Check out our expanded calendar of events at calendar.elevenmusicmag.com, powered by
Discussed this issue Comedy show
LEGEND
MUSICALENDAR
FLY GOLDEN EAGLE, Lords And Kids at Gramophone
THURSDAY, JULY 31
TWEENS at The Demo
WEDNESDAY, JULY 30
THE FRESH & ONLYS, The Shilohs at Demo
MONDAY, JULY 28
CURT OREN at Lemp Arts Center
KENTUCKY KNIFE FIGHT, Ford Theatre Reunion, Media Ghost at Plush
WILD CUB, Grizfolk at the Duck Room MAN OR ASTROMAN, Sallie Ford at Firebird
7 SECONDS, The Copyrights, Ultraman at Fubar
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW, Hurray For The Riff Raff at Peabody Opera House
SUNDAY, JULY 27
CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH at Old Rock House
SOMA, Popular Mechanics at The Demo
THE FEED, The Sun And The Sea (double CD release), Tommy Halloran’s Guerilla Swing at the Duck Room
SATURDAY, JULY 26
TURNER CENTER FOR THE ARTS BENEFIT with Mark Stephens & Sherman S. Sherman, DJ Darren Snow at Mangia
JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD at Off Broadway
FRIDAY, JULY 25
pedals’ flashing lights. Drummer Tim Fogarty provides the crucial human touch to mostly straightforward drum parts. There’s an intricate post-rock beauty to the weaving guitar lines and hammered passages that should certainly appeal to fans of Trans Am or STL’s own Foxing.
MARINA ORCHESTRA, The Ghosts Of Giants, Ian McGovern & The Good Deeds at Heavy Anchor
MUTTS, Jon Valley, Mussy Cluves at The Demo
Dub Thompson is young — the two main guys were 19 when they recorded their recent debut in Bloomington IN — but their influences aren’t. It’s a lo-fi sprawl that brings to mind The Fall, Big Black, Prodigy, Gorillaz, and more recent artists like Ariel Pink and Parquet Courts. The key component is a surprising restraint: for all of the verging wildness on their new album, Dograces (Dead Oceans), they keep things cool enough to groove to. That way, when they blow up or dissolve into tape destruction, it actually completes a greater dynamic. If they can keep it together, these guys could be great: all the pieces are certainly there.
DUB THOMPSON, Ought at Off Broadway
Allen at Cicero’s
SATURDAY, JULY 19
LUCERO, Murder By Death at Ready Room
BECK at The Pageant
MAC DEMARCO, Calvin Love at Old Rock House
CAUGHT A GHOST at Gramophone
TUESDAY, JULY 15
JON MUELLER, Darin Gray + Ghost Ice, Demonlover at William A. Kerr Foundation
SUZIE CUE & THE TERRIBLE TOYS, Kid Scientist, Traveling Sound Machine at Off Broadway
MONDAY, JULY 14
VERUCA SALT, Battleme at Firebird
SUNDAY, JULY 13
ELLEN THE FELON, Fire Dog at Venice Café
MONDAY, JULY 7
SARAH MCLACHLAN at the Fox
SUNDAY, JULY 6
YOUNG WIDOWS, White Reaper, Heavy Horse, Hell Night at Firebird
FAUX FEROCIOUS, Concord America, Boreal Hills, Hott Lunch at Melt
VOLCANOES, Rigoletto at Plush
SATURDAY, JULY 5
WUSSY, Rough Shop at Plush
FRIDAY, JULY 4
Live Music
BRING ON THE NIGHT = STL band (current and/or honorary)
Sylvan Esso at The Luminary Center for the Arts.
<<REVIEW
Sylvan Esso
Wednesday, June 11 the Luminary Center for the Arts The freshly opened Luminary Center for the Arts turned out to be an auspicious location for Sylvan Esso’s St. Louis debut. Currently occupied by hanging installations of burnt glass and white, free-standing walls, the new gallery space came off far more intimate than the sheer square footage would indicate. Sylvan Esso’s self-titled debut may have been out for less than a month, but you couldn’t tell that from the crowd. The physical combination of industrial and intimate lent much to the band’s performance. Lit simply in purple and pink, with none of the pyrotechnics typical of an electronic show, the concert seemed part art exhibit, part dance club. Like Purity Ring if you could actually dance to them, lead singer Amelia Meath (previously of ghostly a cappella folk trio Mountain Men) does spry vocal somersaults over Nicholas Sanborn’s
28 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
Photo by Jason Stoff
hip-hop indebted beats, creating the perfect environment for shaking your ass while lost in thought about your first love. The audience filled the walled-off section the Luminary, swaying and singing every word along with Meath. Diminutive even in six-inch platform tennis shoes (“These are the same ones the Spice Girls wore!” she exclaimed proudly), she writhed and twerked all over the stage, bringing the bump-and-grind bass of the band’s music to the forefront. On his half of the stage, Sanborn’s enthusiasm and dancing made him seem more like a hype man than anything else. Between songs, both band members thanked the crowd repeatedly for being there and supporting them, seeming almost shocked that there were so many people to thank. Meath’s voice is even more striking in person than on the album. She switches from a crystal clear coo to a wounded howl to a deep, sultry rumble with such grace that it’s easy to forget all of those sounds are coming out of one person. Singing live over looped vocals, her voice is nothing less
Live Music than stunning. The overwhelming feeling at the show was that everyone in attendance was seeing something incredibly special. I have no doubt that this is a band who will soon be packing venues across the country. With hypnotic performances like these, the intimacy of the Luminary show will be a treasured memory of a bygone stage in a major new band’s development. Caitlin Bladt >>Preview
Search Parties, Dots Not Feathers, Bear Hive, Humdrum, The Mhurs Friday, July 11 Firebird I’ve been to a lot of shows at The Firebird, but I’ve never heard the crowd there louder than last year’s Under Cover Weekend when Search Parties performed as Arcade Fire. They ended their set with “Wake Up,” and the whole room shouted along with the battle-cry chorus that begins the song. Last month I finally heard the band’s real sound while following my ears around the RFT Showcase. Not only did I enjoy them just as much this time, I actually preferred their originals! Symbiotic, sparkly guitars ride a wave of articulate indie-rock rhythms, while smoothly crooned vocal melodies complement the presence of trumpet, violin, and keyboards. As it went on, their set drew more and more festival meanderers inside, many of them lured away from the long line outside the headliner’s venue. That night helped earn them enough votes to win RFT’s “Best New Band of 2014” award. If they pull out all the stops for this CD release, it’s likely to be one of the most talked about performances of the summer. Another of my favorite highlights from the RFT Showcase was the outdoor set by Dots Not Feathers, whose sound will blend perfectly on this bill. If you haven’t had your brain massaged by their gorgeous harmonies and deliciously dancey arrangements, you’re truly missing out. Before the show, make sure to check out their most recent full length release, Dolphin World. Two more bands will add a little trance to the show’s flavor. Bear Hive is a threepiece band of multi-talented musicians who engage their senses by reserving their tempos. The Mhurs are hypnotic and dissonant, punctuating delay-drowned clean guitars with riffs heavily crunched. Their style has a quirky bounce to it, sort of like if Modest Mouse were asked to score the next Tim Burton film. And oh my god, Humdrum. Did you see the videos they made to promote for their RFT Best Indie Rock Band nomination? Did you see them?! I’m still laughing. Theirs will be just the right bubblegum grooves to set your Friday night right. Grant Barnum
>>Preview
Veruca Salt, Battleme Sunday, July 13
Firebird If you had asked me in 1994 if I was a fan of Veruca Salt I would have probably denounced them entirely, while simultaneously doing my best to hide the mixtape in my car which lead off with their hit single at the time, “Seether.” Having committed the sin of introduction via MTV, they were just not cool enough for the snotty high school me, and way too “mainstream” to openly admit to liking. The thing is, this is what made them so weirdly crucial at the time. This was a time when you had to work pretty hard to find bands. Whether it was waiting for the next edition of 120 Minutes or playing roulette with an indie label mailorder catalog and hoping for the best, it was not nearly as easy to find something you liked right away every time you tried. Veruca Salt was also kind of a big deal because they were a band lead by two women, no frontman — no singular personality to connect with the music — and they were right up front seemingly right away. If you were a girl and you wanted to play an electric guitar you had to do a bit of research in order to find someone who looked like you and had already achieved some kind of success breaking out of the acoustic girl-folk stereotype. But when you finally did, you were likely to find a whole slew of others, too. Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Luscious Jackson, Breeders, etc. were cliqued up in small subpopulations; bands like Hole or Garbage were mostly personality led. Veruca Salt showed up seemingly out of nowhere with no affiliations and no particular indie niche to attach to them. They sounded nothing like the stuff coming out of the Pacific Northwest riot grrl movement, or the girl punk coming out of D.C., and rightfully so, since they formed in Chicago. They signed with Minty Fresh, a label responsible for bands such as Papas Fritas, The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, and The Cardigans, and basically hit the ground running from there with their debut album, American Thighs. I don’t mean to write them off as an “accessible” band, because I don’t really think this is the case, but really, their selling point was no big secret. They had monster tone, catchy hooks, and the overall ability to write a solid song big enough for pop radio as well as good enough to convince snobs all over the world to dip into the mainstream, if only for just a second. The sound got even larger with their second full-length, Eight Arms to Hold You, and no wonder: they were working with Bob Rock of Metallica fame. Louise Post and Nina Gordon parted
ways in 1998, and while the band continued to play sans Gordon, they were not able attain the same level of success they’d had in their first four years. Sixteen years later they’ve resurfaced with their newest single, “The Museum of Broken Relationships,” which is now downloadable on their site and sounds uncannily like it belongs on American Thighs. With their original line-up restored, they are here to reintroduce us to all of their not-so-deep cuts, they have a set of new songs to try out on audiences across the country before they take it all to the studio. Their St. Louis stop on July 13 is your chance to sample some of the new work and maybe give a little push for what you think they should throw on this next record. If that doesn’t get you, then maybe the idea of bouncing around to “Volcano Girl” in a soldout club like it’s 1996 just might. Melinda Cooper
>>Preview
Suzie Cue & The Terrible Toys,
Kid Scientist, Traveling Sound Machine Monday, July 14 Off Broadway Suzie Cue & The Terrible Twos is playing their first headlining gig at Off Broadway. They are also altering their name, for this one night only at least, to Suzie Cue & The Terrible TOYS. In the tradition of Jimmy Fallon & The Roots, Suzie Cue and her merry band will perform their entire set on toy instruments, like small Casio keyboards – you know, the kind you used to set a pre-programmed beat on before taking your spot in front of the mirror doing your best Ice Cube impression, at least until your mom told you it was time for bed – and a shrunken plastic drum kit from Toys R Us, and, yeah, probably even some kazoos. The inspiration for the show came when Ms. Cue started incorporating a small toy piano into her regular sets. And you can be sure, even though the instruments are made for kids, she and the band are taking the show seriously. She promises a full set of music, with her originals mixed in with some tasteful and fun cover songs that she’s been dying to play. There is also a slew of special guests making their debuts on toy instruments as well, and who knows, given the date, Cue, the former French major, may just slip in Le Marseillaise or, as I am hoping for, an old Johnny Hallyday tune! Hugh Scott >>PREVIEW
Mac DeMarco
Wednesday, July 16 Old Rock House Pitchfork recently dubbed Mac DeMarco the “Goofball Prince of Indie Rock.” Well, yeah — he stonily grins his way through interviews and describes his musical genre
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 29
Live Music as “jizz jazz,” and more than 85,000 people are into it. But seriously who cares: equal parts Dean Wareham and Shuggie Otis, 23 year-old Mac DeMarco has the licks, the tones, and the songs to justify all the hype he’s been getting. With three pretty releases in the past two years’ time, His latest effort, Salad Days, is getting tons of press, including a First Listen push on NPR. My first listen to this new one happened to be just via random radio play, and man, I was impressed. He keeps the lyrics sparse and the melodies simple, all while changing up the specifics of what seemed to be his signature sound. “Chamber of Reflection” swaps out the filthy-stringed, clean-channel guitar for an obnoxious ‘80s throwback synth tone. Simple beats with a huge presence round it out, and that’s pretty much all this song needed to be perfect. St. Louis catches him one month in on a tour which continues throughout North America and then on to Europe through the end of the year. All jackassery and silly labels aside, the studio work is impressive. I’m ready to see how this is all going to play out live. Melinda cooper >>PREVIEW
Cloud Nothings, Wytches
Thursday, July 17
The Luminary Center for the Arts Cloud Nothings enjoy breaking through their thrashing waterfalls of guitar-driven garage punk into distorted, experimental segments, making their live show exponentially more exciting than any recording. Take the bridge of “Pattern Walks” from this year’s Here and Nowhere Else, their fourth studio release, and amplify it in a
live setting for just a taste of their onstage improvisations. Dylan Baldi, Cloud Nothings’ power source and a stuck-in-his-own head musician, prefers the live format due to these types of chances. It not just Baldi’s garagegrunge, hook-happy guitar riffs that make Cloud Nothings a force to be reckoned with. Drummer Jayson Gerycz backs up Baldi with precise indie dance-rock beats meant to send your head and body into full-blown gyrating convulsions. Heavy bass fuzz separates Cloud Nothings from a true pop-punk title and places them deeper into most postrock categories. The Ohio natives have evolved their sound, taking Baldi’s lo-fi bedroom recordings to the next level of studio production. This tour the band is, understandably, focusing mostly on tracks from their fresh release. Each release is merely the brainchild of Baldi’s neuroses; with Baldi’s vocals more prominently featured, Here and Nowhere Else cuts back on the heavy distortion found on their breakthrough 2012 album Attack on Memory. In alignment with his own personal growth, the twenty-two year old continues to move further away from teenage angst and towards a deeper musical maturity. Cassie Kohler >>PREVIEW
Tori Amos
Friday, August 1 Peabody Opera House With a highly successful, eight-time Grammy-nominated career that has spanned almost three decades, Myra Ellen Amos, who changed her name to Tori in the early ‘80s, was firmly established as a musical icon
BLUE BEAT by Jeremy Segel-Moss
Memorial: Jimmy Lee Kennett, Tony Simmons, & Lou “Fatha” Times In June, St. Louis lost several great musical icons: guitarist Jimmy Lee Kennett, pianist Tony Simmons and radio legend Lou “Fatha” Thimes. While the blues community seems always to be losing notable members, that doesn’t make the losses any easier. As a guitarist in the styles of rock and blues, Jimmy Lee Kennett made a name for himself and his early band, the Joint Jumpers. Over the last few decades he has been a fixture at 1860’s Saloon in Soulard. Kennett has always been a musician who supports, teaches and fosters young musicians. Well-known artists like Tony Campenella and Brian Curran are just some of the fruits of Kennett’s legacy. Denise Thimes, local vocal legend, had a particularly rough June. In a matter of weeks she lost her musical counterpart Tony Simmons, followed directly by her father, Lou “Fatha” Thimes. Simmons, who passed away at the age of 50 from a heart attack, was the backbone of several top soul/blues/gospel groups. He started his professional piano career in St. Louis at the age of 17, when the late great Mae Wheeler recruited him from the Missouri School of the Blind. Regardless of who Simmons was performing with, whether it was Thimes or Kim Massie or any
30 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
before many of us were even born. Between 1992’s debut solo release, Little Earthquakes, and this May’s Unrepentant Geraldines, Amos has now released 14 studio albums, two live discs, two albums of cover material, and one retrospective collection. Her expansive body of original material encompasses the ethereal baroque pop form that she practically invented, as well as gothy alternative rock, piano-based electronica, and recently, string quartet classical. From Fiona Apple to Regina Spector to Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer to Evanesence’s Amy Lee, the influence of Tori Amos on female pianists in the rock and pop genres is far-reaching and practically immeasurable. Her current solo, 30-city North American tour brings Amos back to St. Louis for the first time in a way overdue 12 years. And although she is a multi-instrumentalist, this tour will strictly feature the one instrument (besides her trademark, instantly recognizable mezzo-soprano vocals) with which Tori Amos has become synonymous: the piano. For longtime fans, as well as the previously uninitiated, a Tori Amos concert is a unique experience; a virtual portal to a sacred and mythical world where only certain fortunate mortals are granted visitation privileges. Many of her complex, multiple-component songs have a subtle way of gradually transforming themselves from soft, pretty, dainty ballads into powerful and positively transcendent, beautiful beasts. While performing in a hypnotic state of bliss, Amos forms a profound and sensual bond with the piano’s keys that is as enlightening as it is entertaining. This is a rare opportunity to bear witness to one of modern music’s most inspiring and intrigu-
number of groups, he stole the show. His style in blues, soul, R&B and gospel was fully developed and rock solid. It will be very difficult to fill his shoes. Also passing in June was St. Louis radio legend Lou “Fatha” Thimes. Born in 1928, Thimes got his professional start in the Army on the Radio of the Americas while stationed in Japan. Locally, Thimes was on air for over five decades on such stations as KADI, KXLW, KKSS, KMJM, WESL, and KATZ, and his last show was on KDHX during the early ’00s. Known originally as a blues and gospel DJ, he was also the first black boxing announcer at the Keil Auditorium, and during his heyday (1950s-1970s) he dispersed information about civil rights meetings, where the food lines were, and much more, including upcoming concerts and music events. As we enter what looks like a forward-moving time for St. Louis music, it is always important to remember that any musician playing in St. Louis stands on the shoulders of every musician who came before them. And all American genres of music stand on the shoulders of the blues, which grew straight from the soil and muddy water of St. Louis. This month’s losses are a poignant reminder to all of us to make a point of seeing the older musicians before they are gone. Plan your own St. Louis adventures around them; pay tribute and get your fill while you can. Without them, there would be no St. Louis music scene to celebrate.
STUDIO CITY SHOCK CITY STUDIOS
PHAT BUDDHA STUDIOS
The Most trusted recording studio in St. Louis and the only one with an “A” rating from the BBB. Clients include P. Diddy, Dropkick Murphys, Pitbull, Erin Bode, Universal/Motown and NBC’s The Voice
St. Louis’ Premier recording studio. Quality gear, experienced engineers, cost-efficient rates and 1-on-1 classes. Clients: Black Eyed Peas, George Clinton, Sade, Son Volt, Travis Barker and Lil’ Wayne
2200 Gravois Ave #100 63104 314-771-3099 www.shockcitystudios.com
1901 Locust St, 63103 314-231-3930 www.phatbuddhaproductions.com
ENCAPSULATED STUDIOS
UTOPIA STUDIOS
Recording Studio. Rehearsal Rooms. Screen Printing. Merchandise Distribution. Mail Order Fulfillment.
Practice, Perform & RECORD at Utopia! Track & Mix in spacious live & control rooms with iso booth. Bar/lounge, rehearsal, venue, gear rental & storage, off-street parking. Open daily ‘til 2am.
2607 Bellevue Ave, 63143 www.encapsulatedstudios.com
NATIVE SOUND RECORDING Full service recording on Cherokee Street with talented and skilled in-house producers, session performers, and a wide variety of gear
Cherokee Street 63118 contact@nativesoundrecording.com facebook.com/nativesoundrecording
Paid Advertising
3957 Park Ave, 63110 314-773-3660 www.utopiastl.com
PUT A MIC ON IT Whether you’re running a tape-only basement studio, a cost-conscious band resource, a gearhead paradise, or a world-class destination studio suite, Studio City is the way to get the word out about your recording, mastering, and session services. Contact us now at advertising@elevenmusicmag.com to reserve your space. It’s visible, it’s affordable, and a little goes a long way.
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 31
Album Reviews
HOT ROCKS
= STL band (current and/or honorary)
Single File by Ira Gamerman Wussy Attica!
Shake It Records
Lower “Soft Option” Lower may have the familiar flair of ’80s goth and post-punk heroes, but don’t get too comfortable: their guitars are so razorwire jagged you may get cut. “STEP ASIDE. TAKE PRECAUTIONS. GRACEFULLY FEND OFF CONFLICT,” Adrian Tourbo commands over a rhythm section that would sound equally at home on a tune by Smiths Robert or Mark E. But even at their most abrasive, Lower can’t help but betray a sharp sense of melody and confidence that elevates “Soft Option” above the sum of their influences. Seek Warmer Climes is out now on Matador. Royksopp & Robyn “Do it again” Anticipation has been building for a new Robyn jam since “Call Your Girlfriend” became your actual girlfriend’s personal anthem. With the aid of Royksopp’s propulsive, slick, and blissed-out beats, she has — WAIT FOR IT…done it again. And as soon as it’s done, you’ll wanna do it again. You’ll try to stop, but it just hurts so good. Out now on Cherrytree. The midnight moan “Mulberry” The Midnight Moan sounds decidedly like a band intended for vinyl. They apparently hail from New York, but I find it more likely they’re a bunch of dudes from Jersey, Memphis, and the UK who jammed over some brews in 1972 and then teleported the resulting recordings to present day. New single “Mulberry” is all mumble-mouthed Southern (or is it English?) drawl, with spiky riffs, steady-rockin’ snares, and horns straight outta Springsteen. Comes in Phases debuts this summer.
32 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
Wussy’s newest release, Attica!, is as matter of fact, as ominous, and as comforting as the Midwest itself. The title alone implies a break, a risk and a resignation to embrace self-worth regardless of the physical circumstances or cost therein. An underlying hum abides throughout the record, lulling the listener into a contemplative trance and creating the unrest necessary for a proper uprising. This ever-present drone is not always limited to instrumentation, but still it’s there, softly poking until it bruises. This record begins with a nod to the Gods — in this case, Keith Moon, Pete
Dock Ellis Band
Bad Songs and Waltzes Self release
Imagine for a minute that you’re trekking cross country. It’s been a long day and you’re ready to stop for the night. You’re somewhere in Texarkana, cruising down an unnamed highway in that dusty land that time forgot. You pull into what looks like the rowdiest honky tonk this side of ever. As you order a Stag at the bar, you hear a voice speaking into a microphone. It says: “Ladies and gentlemen, the Dock Ellis Band!” That scenario would be ideal for this dynamite album of quintessential rowdy classic country. It’s full to busting with the tropes of the genre — songs about drinking, getting drunk or being hung over account for over half the songs here — not to mention a big dose of attitude (I mean, c’mon, the album namechecks a Willie Nelson song!) Even with the shopworn clichés, it all works, through some combination of charm and the arcane magicks of hot, twanged-out guitar licks, rock-steady bass and just enough old-timey country
Townsend & Co. — translating their influence within the tremolo echoes of Wussy’s own “Teenage Wasteland.” It’s not a replication of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” as much as a reverent reflection, and it perfectly sets the tone for a very present theme on the album: we are built from all those things that made us feel alive before, and they are what keep us alive now. Somewhere in the middle of everything you can feel their resignation, and the terms they’ve come to within it. This album is rife with guitars rivaling the dirty walls of noise constructed by fellow Ohio natives Guided By Voices, but with more calculated, less boozy, and more determined layers. Throughout, the voices of co-writers Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker never really blend as much as bounce off one another from one song to the next. Finally, on the very last track, “Beautiful,” they bring home the full-circle vibration Attica! is leading up to. Attica! is Wussy’s ninth album since 2005, and even that comes after Cleaver’s long career in Ass Ponys, so these lyrics have been steeped in plenty of history and pure time. The songs come back to the rawest sincerity, sans the insecurity it may have once contained. Cleaver’s voice is the knotty old workbench and Walker’s the thin kitchen knife carving the words into the wood: “I’m not the monster that I once was / 20 years ago I was more beautiful than I am today.” Melinda Cooper
chutzpah. For fans of classic country, you’ll find plenty here to satisfy that itch. For fans of funny drinking songs — “Somebody Put Something in My Drink...Please,” f’r instance — you’ve got lots to choose from. For everyone else: have a listen, you might be surprised at yourself. Jason Robinson
Sylvan Esso Sylvan Esso Partisan Records
Hand claps keep the time on “Hey Mami”, as Amelia Meath chants with herself like a group of kids singing rhymes on the playground. Her dreamy lead vocal flows high and clear atop the first verse, as the ocean crashes on the shore behind her. Nick Sanborn’s programmed dings and beeps arrive suddenly from left field, just before the electro-bass beat drops, and suddenly the song’s character has completely changed from something resembling a playful Feist song into a track produced by Purity Ring. Sylvan Esso is another girl/guy electropop duo that file snugly between the triphop sensibilities of Purity Ring and the
Album Reviews hip-hop driven electro of Phantogram. You may be familiar with Meath from the folk trio Mountain Man (a band who once toured with Feist, which certainly influenced parts of this record), or the Partisan/Knitting Factory Records collective BOBBY. Sylan Esso started as a remix project, when Meath took a song to Sanborn (who works under the name Made Of Oak), and they realized that he was able to add something more substantial to her initial vocals. That first collaboration became the song “Play It Right,” the most single-worthy song of the summer, and a song that serves as an apt summary of Sylvan Esso’s appeal. Meath’s voice is touching no matter what she’s singing; her cadence is perfect for the emotional range of the record, from playful (“H.S.K.T.”) to devastatingly beautiful (“Could I Be”). Sanborn complements her scope with a spectrum of beats and programming that make even the saddest songs, like “Coffee,” fresh and ready for the dance floor. Sylvan Esso’s collection of heartache and beauty all feel like singles, and this album is primed to be the debut of the year. Jack Probst
The Vanilla Beans FFFF EP
Pancake Productions
The latest offering from The Vanilla Beans is short, sweet, and to the
point. Andy Garces, Christopher Eilers, Todd Anderson, and Ani Kramer continue their wonderful electro power pop with this EP, and while it may not be as overtly bouncing or as flourishing as any of their full lengths, FFFF does have its own sort of energy. It starts off positively with the first line of “BF Turtle” — “You can count me in” — and chugalugs along with Garces’s razor sharp wordplay til the final seconds of “Pirate Song (Shame Sauce Part II)”... and before you know it, everything is over almost too quickly. All four tracks are fantastic slices of great pop music, all set up for singing along to.The inhaling and exhaling of verbs, nouns and heartbreaks are complemented by the fun arrangements and blended harmonies of Garces and Kramer. In an age where more and more bands seem to prefer putting out EPs for the sake of giving more attention to fewer tracks and not having the pressure of creating an album’s worth of material, the Beans seem to be above that, releasing a steady amount of material since 2011. Hopefully it won’t be too long for The Vanilla Beans to follow up this release with some new tracks. The only downside is that from the second track onwards, the keyboards are too far forward in the mix, almost leaving the guitars on the backburner. This current batch of songs seem more connected with Garces’s side project, 3 Of 5. While that is by no means a bad thing, the wonderful mixture of electro keys
The Rebellious Jukebox
Life at 45 RPM by Matt Harnish
Okay, a long time ago in the (on the?) Rebellious Jukebox, I wrote a lil’ rant about the blues. Since the blues is a living beast, though, one little column was never gonna cover everything, so this month we’re back to it, loyal readers! The Maness Brothers recently won “best blues band” in the annual Riverfront Times music poll. I’d seen the name for a while, but only just saw them live for the first time at the awards ceremony & I liked them a lot. Their two-piece take on the blues was more Blue Cheer than Black Keys, fuzzed out in all the right ways. Their “Grief Factory” 4-song vinyl debut doesn’t quite pack that wallop, unfortunately, but is still a solid set of Southernstyle blues-rock. The harmonica-heavy “The Catfish & The Fisherman” is my pick to hit, & they must think so, too, since they put that big ol’ catfish on the record sleeve. Veteran bluesman David Dee knows a thing or two about catfish, too, & proved it with his early ‘80s regional hit “Going Fishing.” Or maybe that’s a double entendre. Who can tell? Produced & co-written by the always reliable Oliver Sain, this is a prefect example of what a working bar-blues band sounded like then & sounds like now. You can still catch Mr Dee a few nights a month in all of his shiny-suit wearing, flying-V guitar playing, buxom backup singer featuring glory, & you really should. The blues is a living beast, so live it!
and lively, dynamic guitar are a staple of what makes the Vanilla Beans as endearing as they’ve been. Time will tell whether this breezy, instantly memorable release is a quick stopgap between full length albums or the start of a new phase for the band. Whichever one it is, it’ll definitely be interesting to see which way the band moves forward. Rev. Daniel W. Wright
SOHN
Tremors 4 AD
It seems that about a quarter of what I’ve been enjoying in indie music over the last couple years are bands reviving the sound of pop music I didn’t listen to, or even care for, in the ’90s. Singer/songwriters like How To Dress Well, Autre Ne Veut, Kindness, and Rhye are all heavily influenced by the R&B acts of that decade. Christopher Taylor, an English singer based out of Austria, joins this group of men with pretty but powerful voices. What makes his SOHN project stand out above these other performers is his use of manipulated samples of his own voice, which are repeated and manipulated in such exciting ways that they make the songs. Albums should start strong, then turn that power up another 50 notches. “Tempest” kicks it off with intriguing vocal snippets and an intimate lead vocal performance, then pivots with “The Wheel” to a stunning crescendo. When it hits its peak, the lyrics “All this fuss over nothing / reinventing the wheel / all this searching for something / that’s not real” soar over the spare sample-skip that kicked off the song, while subtle keyboard chords shape the song beneath him. Instead of dying down, Tremors pushes the limit with grandiose dance tracks (“Artifice” and “Lights”) peppered between dramatic slow jams (“Bloodflows” and “Veto”). Taylor’s voice is nothing less than perfection on “Random Notes” and “Paralysed.” The latter is reminiscent of James Blake, but with a much more palpably human texture. “Lessons” is the most intense track, pulsating a steady heartbeat that heightens the tension — “I’m struggling, I’m struggling / I’ve given in, I’ve given in” — into buzzy synth and offbeat vocals shaped from melted versions of Taylor’s voice. Tremors is a sorrowful, devastating debut that hammers rhapsodic beats right into your emotions. jack probst
elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 33
Adornment
THE WAY BACK PAGE
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s the worth of an image permanently drawn on your body with needles? A story at least. There are some tattoos worth elaborating on around STL’s music community, and we’re looking out for ’em.
Show Us Your Tats Curated by Suzie Gilb Photos by Theo Welling This month, we focus on tattoos about musicians, rather than tattoos on musicians. This is the ode to the singer-songwriter. First up, Bee Boedeker shares an Ani DiFranco quote she has tattooed on her left hip, which she got about three years ago at Cheap TRX by artist Mark Skipper. The lyrics are from the song “Overlap.” DiFranco is an artist that Bee discovered in her youth through her mother. “Mom had the same lyrics on the bathroom door as a kid,” she says. Aside from the nostalgia associated, Bee also likes these lyrics because “they have a universal meaning. It can be applied to anyone or any life situation.” Ronnie Brake has multiple tattoos related to his favorite musical artist, Alanis Morissette. The biggest is a back piece containing every lyric to “All I Really Want,” the opening track on Alanis’ debut album Jagged Little Pill. When Ronnie first heard the album, he was “obsessed with her lyrics and her voice. I heard her lyrics and thought, ‘How does she know my life?!’” He got the back piece — or “back story,” as Ronnie calls it — at the same age Alanis was when the song was released, at Cheap TRX from artist David Page. He next got the orchid and a quote from the album Flavors of Entanglement at age 24 from Lauren Busiere at Cheap TRX (she now works at Ragtime).
34 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH FLOWERS TO THE PEOPLE
STRANDS
Full-service floral & gift boutique, specializing in locally & sustainably grown flowers. All retail gifts made by local STL artists. Delivery available in the metro area.
A relaxing boutique salon in the historic DeMun area, Strands draws inspiration from the world of fashion and art to stay on top of current trends. They create designs to showcase your individual beauty!
Cherokee Street 2317 Cherokee St. (63118) 762-0422 | flowerstothepeople.biz
Demun 730 Demun Ave. (63105) 725-1717 | strands-hair.com
SASHA’S ON SHAW
MELT
Great wines, the best cheeses, always served late! The Shaw Neighborhood’s best bar in the shawdow of the garden.
Melt is a funky & eclectic waffle bar offering waffles, cocktails, beer & coffee. Patrons can enjoy live music, pinball, skeeball & more. Gluten free, vegan & vegetarian options available
Shaw 4069 Shaw Blvd 771-7274 | sashaswinebar.com
Cherokee 2712 Cherokee St (63118) 771-6358
CITY DINER AT THE FOX LATE NIGHT CLUB
THE MUD HOUSE
Complete with food and drink, the Club hosts a variety of unique DJ’s spinning reggae, ska, soul, 60’s garage, surf and rockabilly every Saturday night from 10:30 pm until 3:00 am! Midtown 541 North Grand Blvd (63103) 533-7500
FOAM COFFEE & BEER
Off-beat decor, snack plates, free WiFi and weekly events and live shows. The definitive place to work by day or hang out by night.
Cherokee Street 3359 S. Jefferson (63118) 772-2100 | foamstl.com.com
There is not a better patio in St. Louis to enjoy our tasty sandwiches and salads or a better place to get out and work outside of the office.
Cherokee Street 2101 Cherokee St (63118) 776-6599 | themudhousestl.com
STL STYLEHOUSE St. Louis-inspired wearables, custom screen printing and graphic design. You can’t spell STYLE without STL!
Cherokee Street 3159 Cherokee St (63118) 494-7763 | stl-style.com
Paid Advertising elevenmusicmag.com | ELEVEN | 35
36 | ELEVEN | elevenmusicmag.com