Earlier this month I began hearing the name “Garage A Trois” thrown around again, which is a band that I wasn’t sure was even still in existence.  The original lineup was comprised of Charlie Hunter (8-string guitar), Skerik (Sax), and Stanton Moore (drums) and was spawned from the recording sessions for Stanton’s first solo effort, All Kooked Out (1998).  During the sessions, Skerik and Hunter, who were featured on the release, ended up recorded a enough extra material with Moore to release a completely separate EP as a trio.  The material, mostly improvised freak-out jazz, was recorded live without overdubs and eventually became the album Mysteryfunk.  In April of ‘98, the trio performed as “Moore and More” for the All Kooked Out record release party in New Orleans, but the group didn’t enter my radar until another New Orleans performance 2 years later.  That show featured GAT being slightly overshadowed as the opening act for the debut performance by another “super group”, Oysterhead (Trey Anastasio/Les Claypool/Stuart Copeland).

Since their inception, the group has gone through a few changes and, with the eclectic and always collaborative band members, it’s often been difficult to even discern what constitutes the use of one band moniker from another.  In 2007, Charlie Hunter decided that, with his family responsibilities and touring, he was spreading himself too thin and could only focus on his main project, The Charlie Hunter Trio.  He took his 8-string guitar with him and, after trying out various temporary members, the remaining members unanimously decided on Marco Benevento’s organ and electronic sounds to fill the huge  gap that had been left.  The last, and first, time that I saw GAT was in 2003, during their tour to promote their sophomore release, Emphasizer.  By that point they had added Mike Dillon on vibraphone/percussion, already making the “TROIS” element in their title obsolete.  They were a tight unit with matching jumpsuits and video effects.  That same year, I was introduced to Benevento/Russo Duo through a performance at Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival, in which they brought Skerik out to perform with them.  About 7 years prior, I caught Skerik performing with his outfit Critters Buggin on that exact same stage.  In 2008, Mike Dillon also became an official member of the Critters Buggin crew.  In addition to these acts, Skerik and Dillon perform together as part of Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade and Fancy Band projects, as well as in The Dead Kenny Gs, who’s logo was created by Claypool.  The DG’s, whom Benevento has joined on stage, is a trio made up of Dillon, Skerik, and a rotating third member.  For a while, the spot was filled by Brian Haas of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, but is currently being manned by Brad Houser from Critters Buggin.  This essentially makes the group a “Critters Buggin Trio“, a name under which they have also performed.  The Marco Benevento Trio, in fact, was made up of former-Jacob Fred member Reed Mathis and Critter’s Buggin drummer, Matt Chamberlain.  Confused yet?  You should be…. and I’ve given you the super stripped down version, without even mentioning Crack Sabbath, The Taint Septet, Coxygen, Tuatara, Go Go Jungle, Robert Walters, or any of the other endless twisted associations between the individual musicians.  I’m just going to assume that, if Stanton Moore is involved, then it’s “technically” a Garage A Trois event.  That and the fact that GAT has just released Power patriot, a new album of material, which they recently showcased during a handful of promotional dates. (more…)

Popularity: 1% [?]

The image below is a screenshot taken from Microsoft.com.  It is the default front page for a section intended to help with business productivity and infrastructure optimization.  You may be asking yourself why we give a shit about this at all or, better yet, why you should.  Don’t worry, the content isn’t as important as the imagery and this will quickly be taken into the directions that you’ve grown to expect from MonsterFresh.com: shockingly offensive racism and shit talking about those that are more financially sound than we are.

I recently received a tweet from my friend JayFerris that read “Haha! Check it quick before MSFT takes them down! RT @kristy: Spot the difference” :

After that were two links to Microsoft web pages.  The first was a link to the page with the screen shot above and the second was to the Polish text version of the same web page.  Let’s see if you can tell the difference. (more…)

Popularity: 1% [?]

(To read Part 2, featuring the Gallery exhibit/Book images, click here)

For those that have been following the construction, breakdown, and pseudo-resurrection of the Dark Night of the Soul collaboration between DJ Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous) and filmmaker David Lynch, we hope to provide some additional information about this chaotic project.  We’re even gonna throw a few links and tips your way about acquiring the tracks from the album and peeping out the original artwork.  For those that aren’t up on the craziness that DNOTS has become, we’re gonna start out by breaking it down for you like an X1 model Hyundai Excel.

Producer/artist Brian Joseph Burton (aka: Danger Mouse) hit the scene pretty tough when he dropped The Grey Album, back in 2004.  The album was comprised of mash-ups between tracks from Jay-Z’s The Black Album and The Beatles‘ White Album and EMI, copyright holder of The Beatles material used, lost their shit.  The EMI Group’s attempts to halt the distribution actually helped to increase the project’s notoriety and demand, as well as that of the artist.  The Dark Night of the Soul project has entered into a similar realm, with Danger Mouse and EMI bumping heads yet again, but we’ll go into that later. (more…)

Popularity: 8% [?]

I first discovered Mark Jenkins‘ work about 1 1/2 years ago and I didn’t like it.  Sifting through the January 2008 issue of Juxtapoz Magazine, I came across, what I believed to be, a lot more intriguing work.  There was a page on pop-surrealist Greg “Craola” Simkins‘ “I’m Scared” exhibit,  painter/low-rider bike artist Dzine’s tricked out ski-boat called Dnipro (equipped with a DJ set up, lazers, smoke machine, 9 TVs, etc), and a spread/interview with illustrator/inker/digital artsit Tomer Hanuka.  In the mix with all of the rest of the great features in the magazine, Jenkins‘ work was lost for me.

His photographs of young girls shoved in a locker or sitting on the ledge of a building weren’t very thought provoking.  There was one of a woman passed out with her face in a plate of food in the middle of a cafeteria, but it just seemed very “high school” to me; a little bit edgy, but nothing new or particularly magnificent.

It probably took about a week or two of me reading through the other articles before I noticed something that I hadn’t before and which made me take a second look.  It was a picture of a man leaning towards a concrete building with his head embedded into the side of it.  After reading the interview with him and looking over the images again, I found out two things that gave me a completely different perspective and a ridiculous amount of appreciation for Mark Jenkins and his art.

1) Jenkins work is not really photography based at all.
2) Those weren’t even real people in those pictures. (more…)

Popularity: 2% [?]

The Vaselines

May 12th 2009

Neumos

Seattle

Somehow, I had completely forgotten about The Vaselines coming to Seattle.  I knew about the show, but forgot that the date was coming up so quickly until I was reminded by an email from Sound Magazine.  I would be cutting it close by sending a  press request to our contact at the venue, so I entered Sound’s contest by replying to the email and won the tickets.  We’ve given away a handful of tickets this year and get passes to review concerts regularly, but there’s just something about “winning” the tickets.  I don’t think I’ve actually “won” anything through a random contest since I was about 7 or 8 years old.  I peeled back a decal in a Chips Ahoy! “Betcha Bite a Chip” contest to reveal 2 chocolate chips.  The prize was a mini-set of Kinex; not enough to really build anything.  This prize turned out to be a hell of a lot more satisfying. (more…)

Popularity: 4% [?]

If you are not already aware of the signs posted by “CRAIG” of Windsor, Australia, this picture alone will probably be enough to pull your attention in.  If you are familiar with these signs, please DON’T GO ANYWHERE! There are some important updates and info that you should definitely know about.  Sorry, CRAIG worshipers and fan club members, this “renegade” and “artist” is what is commonly referred to as “a biter” here in the states.

Last month, signs like the one to left began gaining popularity after they were masking taped to poles and other public surfaces around the Melbourne suburb.  The signs, which became increasingly awkward, had locals questioning their legitimacy and helped the anonymous poster’s popularity blow up like the World Trade.  Sites like FunnyorDie.com blogged about the “artist” and even Time Magazine recognized the phenomenon.  Facebook fan pages sprouted up as quickly as the signs themselves and have already grown thousands strong.  This shit is spreading like AIDS fire and there still appears to be no end to the growth in popularity.

Hopefully, with the latest revelations, the excitement will die down a bit.  There have been endless acknowledgments, articles, and comments referring to how “original” and “creative” Craig seems to be.  I’ve read them and thought the postings were a great idea myself… at first.  Hell, I still feel that they are, but I’m just not that impressed with the Aussie who has garnered so much recognition for them.  The internet is an amazing source for content and information, yet people still abandon research and cross-referencing for immediate and instantaneous gratification.  Even, so-called “legitimate” news sources often take the latter approach.  I, on the other hand, felt prompted to delve deeper and, within 20 minutes, realized that CRAIG had stolen this concept from the beginning by taking a huge bite out of the big apple and the work of New York artist/writer Todd Lamb.  Why more have not chosen to promote this information with an equal number of posts, is beyond me. (more…)

Popularity: 8% [?]