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Monday, March 11, 2013 5
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Singing praise for all the underdogs By Max Fisher Guest Columnist
By now it’s a timetested cliche: “The record only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band.” The Velvet Underground & Nico (yes, the record with the banana on the cover) was the first great alternative album ever recorded. Lou Reed’s fierce poetry over the band’s radically unconventional grit laid the scaffolding for punk rock, post-punk, new wave and art rock to come. Even contemporary indie isn’t safe from the tentacles of this acute debut. And it was recorded by a group of then-nobodies working in perfect obscurity as the in-house band at Andy Warhol’s New York art studio, The Factory. There’s a certain romance to the notion of an artist crafting his masterpiece in private. The persistent underdog with no fame, no audience and an electricity bill to pay. We can all place ourselves in his shoes. On those grounds, it’s worthwhile to take a look at modern equivalents to The Velvet Underground & Nico; three albums whose influence far exceed their recognition. To the underdogs! Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - The Doldrums The Doldrums is an album that was never meant to see the light of day. It doesn’t belong in anyone’s iTunes library. It doesn’t belong on Internet forum discussions or on the tips of anyone’s tongues. These 15 schizophrenic tracks belong in some forgotten drawer on the dusty, scratched up CD-R Ariel Pink, also known as, uh, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, initially recorded them. Using nothing more than his own layered and tonedeaf voice and a feebleat-best command of the guitar and synthesizer, Pink crafted some of the most genuine, nostalgic and unsettling pop music ever set to tape. And he did it without ever caring if anyone heard. The story goes that
a homemade copy of the disc found its way onto the floor of Animal Collective’s van one tour. There it sat collecting grime for a couple years, before one of the band members decided to throw it on. They were astonished with what they heard, and immediately wanted Pink on their label. Thus, The Doldrums became the first non-Animal Collective release to be put out on the band’s own Paw Tracks. What followed were low reviews and an even lower publicity campaign that relegated Pink to a fringe but extremely dedicated cult following. There are many, including ex-Girls frontman Christopher Owens, who credit Pink as the most gifted songwriter of this generation. His brand of lo-fidelity, inspired equally by “dad rock” and 1980s cop thriller soundtracks, predated the so-called “hypnogogic pop” trend in indie music by nearly a decade, giving him ample time to perfect the craft and set the standard. Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill The term “bedroom artist” is bogged down with negative associations. That label applies to the breed of musicians who record quiet, tenuous, reverb-drenched, lo-fidelity songs with the intent of obscuring melody and blurring the line between distinct sounds and voices. It all sounds very pretty in concept, but so many “artistes” use this opaque technique as a mask for genuinely poor songwriting. This dubious scene blossomed in the later years of the last decade following Grouper’s release of the gorgeously haunting Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill in 2008. The album was met with positive reviews from critics across the board, but quickly fell out of print and shrugged itself into obscure corners of the web. Those who stumbled upon the lost LP tended to be Internet-hip creative folks who figured “Hey, this is easy! I’ve got GarageBand and an acous-
tic guitar. I can make this.” As simple as Dragging a Dead Deer sounds, however, no one since has matched it in terms of sheer elegance and beauty. For all it’s ambience and subtlety, the album is effortlessly free of any pretension or boredom—something that can’t be said for most of the copycats. Chuck Person - Chuck Person’s Eccojams Vol. 1 Chuck Person is an alter ego of Daniel Lopatin, better known for his work as Oneohtrix Point Never. In 2010, Lopatin began uploading mysterious videos to YouTube under the guise Sunsetcorp. These videos featured temposhifted samples from late 80s/early 90s adult contemporary, R&B, and ambiguously dated midi files looped and distorted endlessly over vague, corporate, technological imagery from that same period. The results were extremely unsettling, to say the least. After rousing some curiosity, “Chuck Person” anonymously dropped a cohesive mixtape of these short vignettes. And, as is par with Lopatin’s work, Chuck Person’s Eccojams Vol. 1 became the birth of a whole new aesthetic. One astute Internet user observed that the mixtape sounded as though it were hiding, unshowered, in the corner of a public library computer lab. Truer words have never been typed. In 2012, thanks to Lopatin’s influence, the vaporwave genre exploded on the scene with appropriately titled artists like Macintosh Plus, Laserdisc Visions and Saint Pepsi perverting commercial culture from the dawn of the digital age. Smooth jazz and elevator music were blended and saturated to mock consumer gluttony all while embellishing on and embracing it. A musical equivalent to retrofuturism if ever there was one, thanks to Chuck P. Have any albums you think launched a thousand bands? Still have no idea what “vaporwave” is? Let Max know at mdfisher2@wisc.edu.
The Arts Desk’s Top Five Smashing Pumpkins Songs
Photo Courtesy of Virgin Records
The Pumpkins were playing today in the office and the arts desk realized that, thanks to Billy Corgan’s persistant spiral into narcassictic insanity and, even worse, musical mediocrity, a whole generation of listeners will never know one of the best bands of the ’90s were, in fact, one of the best bands of the ’90s. So here’s a list of my personal favorite songs from the front of their catalog to the very back.
photo courtesy of THe Overture Center for the Arts
“Mary Poppins” opens at the Overture Center for the Arts this week, starring Madeline Trumble, Con O’Shea-Creal, Chris Hoch and Kerry Conte.
‘Mary Poppins’ drifts to the Overture this Tuesday By Lanni Solochek The Daily Cardinal
The always-popular “Mary Poppins” is making an appearance at Madison’s Overture Center this week. The show features everyone’s favorite scenes and songs as well as an incredibly talented live cast. I had the pleasure of speaking with Kerry Conte, who plays the vivacious, feministic Winifred Banks. Conte told me a little about her personal performance history, as well as some great comments about the upcoming show. Daily Cardinal: You’ve got an amazing history in the theater with a fair number of shows under your belt. What would you say is the most challenging song you’ve had to sing in any show? Kerry Conte: I was in a show called Hollywood Pinafore; it’s a show based on Gilbert and Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore” (1878). In the show, I had to sing a four-minute long aria and that was really challenging. DC: Have you always known you wanted to be on the stage or was it an interest that developed later in life? KC: I always knew.
When I was in kindergarten, we did The Wizard of Oz. I was Dorothy and I decided then that I really wanted to be in theater. DC: Let’s talk a little bit about the show coming up. Mary Poppins has a pretty big reputation— do you think the show upholds that? KC: Absolutely. The show encompasses the movie, but also everything you love about the books. It’s so British. It’s got wonderful scenes and a great story and the production manages to weave both together. DC: Is this the largest production you’ve been in off-Broadway? KC: Yeah, this is definitely the largest. It has the most costumes, the most sets, and the biggest cast. It’s also been the most challenging for me. I’ve never had a major role, so it’s so great to get into this and have so many lines and songs. Mrs. Banks is a character that I can dig into. DC: Has it been fun to travel with the cast? KC: Definitely. We’ve been on tour for over a year and the people are so great. DC: What has been the best city to travel to in
5. “For Martha” - Adore An eight minute synth maelstrom held together by one of the most infectious piano riffs ever—the highlight an underrated album 4. “Medallia of the Gray Skies” Tonight, Tonight EP People forget that Corgan was, at heart, a big sap. “Medallia” is a perfect example of his sadsack balladry charms. 3. “Soma” - Siamese Dream Corgan’s guitar wizardry and the band’s role as dreamy shoegaze-shepard are at
your opinion? KC: It keeps changing! Every city is the best. DC: What has been the best part of this production of Mary Poppins? KC: Doing the shows. It’s always different. The changes of cast always keep it fresh. DC: What’s your favorite part of playing Mrs. Banks? KC: I love her character. There are some changes from movie. At the beginning, she’s not sure where she fits in and then at the end she gets confidence thanks to Mary Poppins and the kids. She goes from being meek to powerful. DC: What is your favorite song from the show? KC: supercalifragilistic. It’s so much fun and it’s such high energy. And the dancing is great! DC: What’s one thing you’d like to tell the student body to motivate them to come see the show? KC: It’s really a nice evening of theater. The show is entertaining and a great story. Everyone thinks more about their life and their place in the world after seeing it. “Mary Poppins” opens Tuesday, March 12th and runs until March 17th.
their most focused on this brilliant song. 2. “1979” - Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness One of the best pop songs of yesteryear. The drum machines still sound like the future. 1. “Jellybelly” - Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Frothing, manic guitar squall, nonsensitical teenaged melancholia and hooks for days—say what you will, but this is the best song the Smashing Pumpkins ever wrote.