Outsight
Outsight: Taking The Cure
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Outsight brings to light non-mainstream music, film, books, art, ideas and opinions.
Published, somewhere, monthly since July 1991. Feel free to re-print this article.
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I AM RECORDINGS/ARTISTDIRECT RECORDS SIGNS THE CURE
Ross Robinson is a producer known for his projects with Korn, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Sepultura and more. Now, fulfilling a lifelong dream, Robinson signed The Cure to his own imprint, I AM Recordings/ARTISTdirect Records. "They were instrumental in my approach to production. It was The Cure that opened me up to a more sensitive, heartfelt type of music, and I've been extremely loyal to that feeling in every project I've done since then," he says. The band's current lineup (vocalist Robert Smith, Simon Gallup on bass, Perry Bamonte on guitar, Jason Cooper on drums, and Roger O'Donnell on keyboards) begins work on its I AM/ARTISTdirect Records debut in London this July. They committed to three releases. Robinson recalls, "I was backstage at KROQ's Weenie Roast years ago where I noticed The Cure's road cases. I remember saying, 'If these cases are ever in a recording studio with me, and I'm producing these guys, then I'll just quit the business after that.' What could possibly follow producing The Cure?"
MUSES
English band Dreamfield offer hazy trip-hop with female vocals and a lazy, after-hours jazz feel. Three versions of the title track and "Alive" can be found on their EP Christopher's Dream (Dream Records). Fans of In The Nursery side project Les Jumeaux will really appreciate this dark and beautiful music… From Vicki Logan we get understated, delicate and alluring piano melodies on Finding my way Home (Carvic, Inc.). The instrumental album, made for relaxation, features Logan's originals with renditions of "All The Way To Heaven" (Melissa Etheridge) and "Only Time" (Enya)… Potion looks back with a stylish flare to the brisk proto-electropop of Blondie and cool '70s European soundtracks. Check out the EP Circa (Blue Orange) by the retro keyboard pop duo featuring ice-cool vocalist Annie Maley… Also hip in a throwback way is the '60s- and '70s'-styled self-titled album from Lauren Braddock on the aptly named Love Child Records. While Lauren tackles subjects like the environment ("Don't Turn Away"), infidelity ("Lost Dawg") and murder ("Alibi Lounge") she also uses her bright songwriting in a style between Rickie Lee Jones and Sheryl Crow to imagine being caught in the love crossfire between George Harrison and Eric Clapton ("Let Me Be Your Layla"). Lauren is the daughter of Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock ("D-I-V-R-O-C-E", "Time Marches On", etc.)… Two Loons for Tea is the ambitious duo of Jonathan Kochmer and Sarah Scott (vocals). On Looking for Landmarks (Sarathan Music), they create sophisticated, layered pop music with the help of a gallery of guests: Trey Gunn, Skerik, Eric Rosse, Eyvind Kang and many more. Many of their guests come from sharply alternative backgrounds like Pigface, Mr. Bungle, King Crimson and more. However, Edie Brickell is a better reference point for this accessible, soft-textured album…
Logan: Listen to or Buy at Amazon.com
Braddock: Listen to or Buy at Amazon.com
Braddock: Listen to or Buy at Amazon.com
REMAINING GITS WITH MOVIE AND REISSUE
The remaining members of Seattle's The Gits are guitarist Joe Spleen (a.k.a Andrew Kessler), bassist Matthew Fred Dresdner, and drummer Steve Moriarty. Working with Seattle engineer Jack Endino, the group is remixing their two LPs Frenching the Bully (1992) and Enter ...the Conquering Chicken (1994). San Francisco indie label Broken Rekids will release them with bonus tracks not previously available on the original releases. Also, The Gits are working with Director Kerri O'Kane and Producer Jessica Bender on The Gits, a film about Mia Zapata and The Gits. Front woman Mia Zapata was murdered July 7, 1993. Her murderer is now in custody. A 48-year old Cuban native now living in Florida, Jesus C. Mezquia, a fisherman and laborer with a history of violent assaults on women, is being held without bail at the Miami-Dade County Jail on a fugitive warrant for murder and violation of probation. Mezquia is fighting extradition. But because Zapata was raped, it's possible that Mezquia's charge could be amended to aggravated first-degree murder. Aggravated first-degree murder can carry the death penalty in Washington state. Mezquia was linked to Zapata's murder through a DNA sample, which police at the time of the crime had denied existed. The Gits can be found on the web at www.thegits.com. More information on the movie can be found at www.thegitsmovie.com.
DVD REVIEWS ******************
Colin Andrews
Alien Sign: The Message
Waterfall Home Entertainment/MVD
For those yearning for a more scientific approach to the extraterrestrial theories suggested by the Mel Gibson movie Signs, this is the answer. Colin's Niagara of data, fast-paced delivery and infectious enthusiasm will give even the most jaded critic pause to think. Andrews differentiates between simple circles "known" to be caused by the peculiar meteorological "vortex" effect with more complicated designs of unknown origin and known hoaxes. Most explosive in Andrews' delivery is special photography to review invisible landscape features aligned with crop circle formations, activities in the highly restricted Solsbury Hill area and molecular analysis. The DVD includes a slow motion view of a vortex-induced formation in action, but it is not made clear whether this is documentary footage or a re-enactment. Just the plethora of circle formations Andrews presents with excellent photography makes this a wealth of art. There is a gallery of these images on the CD. (3.5)
George Harrison
The Quiet One
Waterfall Home Entertainment/MVD
As both the youngest and most reflectively philosophical member of The Beatles, the giants Lennon and McCartney and the character Starr overshadowed Harrison. This DVD explores the role Harrison played in the mega-popular supergroup. As an adjunct, as 32-page booklet includes numerous photos and quotes from those who knew him. There is an audio CD, but it is not solely the words of Harrison, taken from group press conferences, much from the Australasian tour. Note: Music on the CD is not recordings of The Beatles, but instead preformed by The Overtures. (3)
Various Artists
The Sound of Jazz
MVD
This amazing live jazz document is taken from an episode of The Seven Lively Arts, hosted by Jon Crosby, that aired on CBS December 8, 1957. Crosby does not get in the way while Count Basie, Coleman Hawking and more play some classic ensemble blues. A highpoint of the DVD is Billie Holiday, with all-star backing, singing "Fine And Mellow". Before the performance is a moving voice-over from Holiday on the delivery of the blues. (4)
GG Allin
Live & Pissed 1988
MVD
1988 was a busy year for self-mutilating feces-throwing punk rock performance artist GG Allin. During that year he made his debut San Francisco performance with a five-song set at The Covered Wagon. Pre-show footage shows GG backstage with fans. The entire clamorous, confrontational (but by GG standards, not highly confrontational) set follows. Bonus section include a trailer for Hated, nine songs from GG Allin & The Murder Junkies at The Metro in Richmond, VA in 1993 as well as a 1999 clip of The Murder Junkies performing "Freakshow". (3.5)
Bob Clark, producer and director
Black Christmas
Critical Mass/MVD
This 1974 film preceded John Carpenter's Halloween by four years, yet there is some remarkable similarity. The movie also predates the Friday the 13th franchise, which has its inception in 1980. This seminal slasher flick may very well have started the genre with women being killed willy-nilly by a ruthless madman. Like Halloween, we get the serial killer's point of view, and he is an obscene caller calling from … from the very house the killing is happening, as the police say to the stunned would-be victim. The caller's phone patter is perhaps the most disturbing part of the film. Brace yourself by first watching Richard Kern's Hardcore collection for suitable vocabulary and image desensitization and listen to John Trubee phone pranks as preparation for this caller's audio production. (4)
READABLES ****************************************
Jesus Muhammad-Ali
The Evolution of the Nation of Islam
JMA Publishing
Jesus Muhammad-Ali is the grandson of Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam from 1934 to 1975. As a Nation of Islam insider, Muhammad-Ali is unique qualified to comment on the assassination of Malcolm X and the position of the Nation of Islam in a post-9/11 world. The author does all this as well as illuminating the story of the growth and development of the Nation of Islam organization. For the outsider, Muhammad-Ali's prose can be somewhat impenetrable and the preface warns, "The reader should be aware this book is presented in my voice and has not been grammatically embellished, for a number of heartfelt reasons." Note that the passive voice and run-on sentences are the least of the obstacles in the writing that lies between slang and Islamic ornamentation. Still, the story shines through, illustrated by first-person anecdotes and numerous photographs. Reproductions of Jesus Muhammad-Ali's oil paintings show he has great talent in that area. (3)
MK Ultra
September/October 2002
MK Ultra, with a cover price of $4, plumbs the depths of Goth fashion with an approach like that of a men's magazine. There is a cover girl (Tairrie B of My Ruin), large-breasted centerfold and a video offering: Goth Girls Gone Wild! The professionally produced 55-page magazine boasts an impressive array of interviews: Garbage, KMFDM, Nashville Pussy, Motorhead, Cradle of Filth, Daniel Ash and more. The typical sections of news and reviews are included as well as a sex advice column from "Lady Monster, Certified Sex Therapist." Packed with information and visuals, this is a good read. (4)
Farming Uncle International Journal
Issue No. 89
Box 427, Bronx, NY 10458
This photocopied, staple-bound serial is an "alternative network magazine" that is "devoted to holistic living." This means a myriad of one-sentence quips ("Purchased bottled water from the store - It tastes like water!!!") and ads. The advertisement range from pen pal opportunities to Native American contacts to Wiccan covens and beyond. Interspersed are short articles on such topics as the source of veal, keeping roots in winter and a recipe for buttermilk biscuits. Farming Uncle International Journal is the publication for the alt-agrarian seeking to exist on the fringes of economic life. (2)
Jo Fell
Improvisers 1988-1998
Bruce's Fingers
This 34-page booklet is the photography of Jo Fell capturing improvisational musicians at work. Among those pictured are Derek Bailey, Steve Buckley, Alan Tomlinson, Trevor Watts and many more. For the pictures, a caption identifies personnel, date and location. No other text suggests anything for the reader. Derek Bailey sees this lack of opinionated representation as an asset to the book in the foreword. Jo Fell's introduction includes technical data on the shots. She works without a flash and at somewhat of a distance to avoid intrusion. The effect still captures personality and action in her well-composed pictures. (4)
The Whizzbanger Guide to Zine Distributors
Issue Six
Whizzbanger Productions, Shannon Colebank, POB 5591, Portland, OR 97228
This invaluable resource is an encyclopedia of zine distributors categorized by country. Similarly organized is a related section on "Libraries, Archives, Info-Shops, etc." Zine stores and other, miscellaneous resources are similarly grouped. A growing section lists reviewers that Shannon finds to be dependable. A Bulletin Board section acts as a listing of free classifieds. While Shannon does not review zines per se, there is a two-page spread on Shannon's zine picks for 2001. Shannon is a poet, and the editor's poetry comes toward the back of this annual publication. (3.5)
CD REVIEWS ******************
Sonny Landreth
The Road We're On
Sugar Hill
Landreth plays a varied slide guitar style combining bottleneck slide, palm and thumb-picking techniques for varied texture. This is the eighth album from the blues veteran and features studio recordings of Landreth with a varied cast of backing musicians including keyboardist Steve Conn, Danny Kimball, and Joe Mouton. Engineer is R.S. Field, who first met Sonny when they were recording with British blues legend John Mayall in 1990. The album features a sublimated funk style and a big, booming sound perhaps picked up from the boisterous music Sonny met with accordionist Clifton Chenier's Red Hot Louisiana Band. Fans of music that includes not only Chenier but also Scotty Moore and Duane Allman, and Clifton Chenier will definitely enjoy this rousing electric blues guitar album. (4)
Listen to or Buy at Amazon.com
Techno Lodge
Party w/Techno
Techno Lodge
This disc of relaxed but smiling techno takes no chances. There is a pronounced keyboard delivery and measured punctuation of the bass lines that give the instrumental music a deliberate feel that is dangerously close to plodding. Certainly tolerable for ordering drinks at the bar, but this is not a serious contender for the dance floor or a headphone aficionado's closed eyes reverie. (2.5)
Immortal Lee County Killers
Love Is a Charm of Powerful Trouble
Estrus
Immortal Lee County Killers is an explosive alt-blues ensemble that delivers a bold-stroked version of the blues. Songs like "Robert Johnson" and "She's not Afraid of Anything Walking" have no soft curves here, they are all rough-edged and jagged like broken concrete. Another side of ILCK is evidences in their take on Willie Dixon's "Weak Brain, Narrow Mind". Their measured, paced delivery is in a deep soul groove. The group offers its own original as well as other covers from '60s like R&B giant Roosevelt Jamison's "That's How Strong my Love Is" and on up to contemporary masters of the undiluted form, like R. L. Burnside ("Goin' Down South"). (4)
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Leah Stargazing
Leave it all Behind…
Telescope Records
Leah Stargazing is an enthusiastic and energetic group with most of its members in their late teens. The group offers emotional, melodic indie rock where the distorted guitars are restrained in the mix and the falsetto harmonies are up front. (3)
The Zen Tricksters
Shaking off the Weirdness
Zebra Tango
Shaking off the Weirdness is a solid album from The Zen Tricksters. Special guests on the album include Rob Barraco (Government Mule, Phil Lesh & Friends) and Jason Crosby (Susan Tedeschi), both ex-Zen Tricksters. The group began nearly a quarter-century ago and now delivers its bluesy rock with a style and grace that comes from experience and maturity. Fans of Little Feat and Phish, Grateful Dead and Blues Traveler will take to this disc. (3.5)
Listen to or Buy at Amazon.com
Daniel Carter + Reuben Radding
Luminescence
AUM Fidelity
Daniel Carter (Other Dimensions In Music, TEST) performs on alto sax with Reuben Radding (John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp) on bowed bass in this understated disc of instrumental jazz. (The final track, "Occurrences, Places, Entities and The Sea", is a monster, though.) Daniel Carter is a master of his instrument, gently coaxing an impressive spectrum of tones from his horn. It is also rare even to hear him hold himself to this sole member of the reed family. Carter has been a long-standing member of the improv jazz scene, having worked with Sun Ra, and from the '70s to today with William Parker. Radding comes to us more on the fast track having broken with punk rock to indulge in the sophisticated and extemporaneous. (4.5)
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David Zoffer and Adam Larrabee
Courage in Closeness: Live in Boston
Zofco Productions, POB 231055, Boston, MA 02123-1055
This disc of acoustic instrumental jazz captured the duo live on a Boston stage at the New England Conservatory where both are professors. The pair's piano-guitar duets vary from intimate to lively on this exquisite recording. This varied palette of moods culminates in the duo's take on Joplin's "Solace", which is both intimate and lively, that is, playful. This ability to deliver such an artful joy through the two instruments (fostered by a ten-year relationship) makes the CD excellent and uplifting listening pleasure. Think of Bill Evans with Jim Hall. (4.5)
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Saint of Killers
Saint of Killers
Edgetone Records
Noise rock project Saint of Killers is about ominous crush tones with interludes of guitar noodling punctuated by episodes of blood-curdling screams. This uneven approach gives the music a creepy, unpredictable what's-behind-the-corner feel. Guest musician Matt Waters on saxophone wails cosmic freak-out jazz ratcheting up the tension on this album. (3)
Fabulous Disaster
Panty Raid!
Pink & Black Records
The four ladies of Fabulous Disaster have a big, meaty sound on this guitar punk album produced by the master of the fat-sound, Fat Mike of Fat Wreck Chords. Some of the songs pick up a bright kick from keyboards added by one of the guitarists, Lynda Mandolyn. This with the guitar focus and the group harmony vocals gives an '80s power pop feel to the music. Panty Raid! bridges the gap from the first albums by The Go-Gos and the best albums by L7. (4)
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JP Saccomani / JLH Berthelot
Equilibre Thermique de l'Igloo en Phase de Fonte
Somewhere in Time
This collaboration between Jean-Pierre Saccomani and Jean-Luc H. Berthelot is an opus of surrealist electronica. The otherworldly headspace is cinematic impressions of asymptotes and metamorphosing rhinoceroses. Floating, disembodies synth drones provide tonal coloring to detached episodes of angular electronic sounds on this eerie album, full of texture. (3.5)
Gordian Knot
Emergent
Laser Edge/Sensory
Bill Bruford gives the thunderous bottom end of some righteous percussion to this seven-member post-fusion prog rock group. Bruford is one of the core members of this group, and guests round out an array of seven. One of those guests is Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett. The sound is fleshed out in the studio by co-producer Scott Burns, known for getting the big, angry sound for extreme metal. Leading the group in their instrumental forays is bass stick maestro Sean Malone. Some of the keyboard episodes get rather pretentious, but overall this is a solid record of both artistry and proficiency. (4)
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Lorna Hunt
Sentimental Bedlam
Hunk Records
Lorna Hunt is like a heavy-sounding Sheryl Crow with a blend of edgy indie rock eclecticism. Some tracks are straight and melodic, like the fragile and beautiful "Mysterious Reconstruction". This progressive post-folk album blends Lorna's vocal charm with unexpected tempo changes and unusual timbres. What makes the album worthwhile is that it rises above a formula that would be novel and trite to offer compelling songs with style and verve. (4)
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Thundercrack
The Crack
Estrus
On the CD intro this group has a technique of vocal reverb and clamorous alt-blues that recalls The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. However, "Cheap Cosmetics" is a fusion of hyperactive spy theme guitar with a shade of Elvis Presley in the vocals. "Big Fat Lady" is thunder-soul from Thundercrack with a raw primitivism that could be a side of one of the highly sought seven-inch albums from The Gories. A wide spectrum of sound and roots in the best styles makes The Crack a winning album. (3.5)
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Various Artists
The Best of M.C. Records 1996-2002
M.C. Records
M.C. Records celebrates six years of putting out great blues records with this compendium of 16 tunes for a budget price of around $10. This is an excellent opportunity to check out Big Jack Johnson (four tracks), if you have not already. There is some excellent representation from blues legends in songs by George "Wild Child" Butler ("Gravy Child") and Odetta ("Bourgeois Blues"). Modern delta bluesman R.L. Burnside shows up for two tracks. The Best of M.C. Records is an enjoyable parade of the excellent roots blues M.C. Records has made available to the world. (3.5)
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Kevin Kling
Wonderlure
East Side Digital
Kevin Kling is a warm and weird storyteller like a cross between King Missile's John S. Hall and Garrison Keillor. Kling's comedic tales cover the motorcycle accident and the recovery that marked his 2002 as well as other personal experiences that Kling exploits to humorous and telling potential. "Demo Derby", "Marathon" and "Buying Art" are especially good. Go ahead and retell them to amaze and captivate your friends, just give Kling credit. All eight stories here were originally heard on National Public Radio. (4.5)
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Sound Tribe Sector 9
Seasons 01
Sound Tribe Sector 9
Sound Tribe Sector 9 is a source of mostly atmospheric, floating electronic compositions with a touch of jazz guitar and bass. Going beyond the merely utilitarian dance music possibilities this suggests, STS9 is sonic analgesic for the overtaxed mind. The group's full-spectrum ambient sound features intricate polyrhythms on the headphone side of acid jazz. This is a 2-CD set and a soundtrack for your inner space. (3.5)
Cul de Sac
Death of the Sun
Strange Attractors Audio House
The title of Death of the Sun suggests the dusk that is but a rebirth of a new day. The album is also a somewhat new direction for the group as Jake Trussell joins in the creation of this album lending his talents in digital sampling and sequencing. The intent of the band is to merge their music fully with sampled sounds. This succeeds wonderfully, giving us gently delivered experimental rock nestled in a rocking cradle of looped samples. For instance, the opening track is built on a small piece of a 1933 78 recording of The Comedian Harmonists but is such an interwoven thread to the group's playing that this is nothing like a rock band lumbering along with a skipping shellac platter. This is an amazing if tranquil record that is the result of three years of sophisticated experimentation with sampling held to a high aesthetic standard. (5)
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Steffen Basho-Junghaus
Rivers and Bridges
Strange Attractors Audio House
Mention "experimental guitar" and the natural reaction is to think electric guitar. However, Basho-Junghaus is a rare bird in that he does his experimental guitar acoustically. His talent was alongside other such rare birds on Henry Kaiser's 156 Strings compilation (Cuneiform, 2002). Now we get an entire disc of his musings upon a Takoma Records style, ala John Fahey, Leo Kottke and Robbie Basho. There is intricate and delicate interweaving of melody lines and an understated syncopation for rhythm. This subtle album exhales delicately an exquisite balance of artistry and technique. (5)
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High or Hellwater
High or Hellwater
High or Hellwater
info@HighorHellwater.com
This CD EP is a trio of songs from a trio in the Southern tradition doing fine songs in a neo-Americana style. This is a foretaste of the group's Living the Good Lie album, which came out in its entirety at the close of 2002. Their no-depression style rings with roots-y elegance, a stylish country way that makes the songs bouncy and catchy. (4)
Outsight is non-mainstream music news and views. The content is wholly based on new releases and a focus on the the eclectic and overlooked.
