Untied States (“un-tied” states) is the musical creation of two childhood friends from Atlanta, GA.  Colin Arnstein and Skip Engelbrecht dropped their first release, Bird of the Blood Feather, as a duo in 2003.   That EP was followed up by the two full-lengths, Ineffable, by Design (2004) and Retail Detail (2006).  Although all three of them were self-recorded/self-released efforts, the latter two found the duo collaborating with a plethora of rotating additional musicians.  The group spun through various incarnations for their live performances until connecting with Darren Tablan in 2001.  With Tablan operating as an engineer/keyboardist/sound-sample manipulator, US released the 7″, Bye Bye Bi-Polar (b/w These Dead Birds) and was subsequently signed to Distille records.  With the addition of drummer Satchell Mallon, Untied States has now released their first large studio recording, Instant Everything, Constant Nothing.

I hadn’t heard the group’s previous releases and I nearly didn’t hear this new one, either.  I had already received an email about the band from Distile, but I paid it little mind.  We receive so many emails these days that I can’t focus on them all and most have little to no connection to anything that we would even be slightly interested in dealing with.  I think that I had even given a quick listen to an album link for IECN but, for whatever reason, I wasn’t immediately impressed and instantly went back to what I was doing.  Maybe I’m just like a toddler and need pictures to get my attention because, after receiving the following video of the guys performing live for the WRAS | indieATL music series, they had captured my full attention. (more…)

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Chilly Gonzales “Piano Talk”

Feb. 11, 2010

Joe’s Pub, NYC

Once upon a time in a far away land known as Quebec, a young musician would be told the “worst four words of [his] life”:

“You Are A Genius.”

Chilly Gonzales descends upon the piano and sings the words in every possible octave and key in an effort to drive their impact further home.  The artist formerly known as Jason Beck was dubbed a child prodigy early on, clearly a major influence on his current onstage persona: think precocious wunderkind-meets jazzy hipster lounge act.  I like to imagine this particular combo is the direct result of what happens when you condemn a gifted child to a nightly gig as cocktail party entertainment. (more…)

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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…)

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This month has proven to be a particularly great one for me as a Wesley Willis fan.  Not only was I offered an original piece of art by the late, great artist/musician, but I was also mailed a copy of an amazing documentary about Willis for review.

I first discovered Wesley’s work when I was in high school and I was immediately drawn to it (pun intended).  Clearly the man had some obvious points of comic appeal, such as extreme moments of profanity and graphic references to bestiality, but there was definitely something deeper to him, even if it wasn’t always easy to determine exactly what it was.  The documentary Wesley Willis’s Joy Rides has successfully managed to capture and express those difficult to verbalize qualities, which made Wesley such a remarkable and inspiring individual.  One quote from the film, which most aptly sums up this phenomenon, was made by Willis‘ friend/art patron, John Stulgate, who said,  “You could see people’s hearts through their interactions with Wesley Willis.”

Although I had been a long time fan, I didn’t get a chance to see Wesley live until 2002.  The show took place in Seattle at The Graceland (now, El Corazon) and Grand Buffet was opening.  I’ll never forget walking from the bar through the doorway into the venue.  I saw Wesley immediately; he was staring frighteningly out of the corner of his eye and in my direction from behind the merch table.  Due to his immense size and weight, Wesley could be a daunting figure and his breaths were loud and heavy like a tranqued hippo.  I, eventually, made my way over to the table to say hello.  I had brought a sniper deployment manual and a 25¢ hardcover book about rottweilers for him to sign, in lieu of my Book of Mormon and 100 Deadliest Karate Moves books, which I had temporarily left in California.  He signed the sniper book but, once he got the rottweiler book in his hands, he was mesmerized.  “Can I keep this book“, he asked.  “Sure“.  After that, it was like I wasn’t even there, so I slipped away as he focused intently on pictures of similar looking dogs.  When the show ended, Wesley headed back behind the table to flip his wares.  I bought a live EP and asked him if he liked the book.  “I got that right back here!” he said.  Then he added, “I wrote a song called ‘Suck a Rottweiler’s Ass‘.  I’m gonna write a song called ‘Suck a Rottweilers Dick‘!“  So I told him, “You need to write a song called ‘Suck the Stripes off a Zebra’s Dick‘.” (more…)

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I had a photography teacher in high school that would play a video of  The Eagles‘ “Hell Freezes Over” tour, almost every day in class.  Occasionally, it would be a Billy Joel concert video instead, but it was still pretty terrible.  Fortunately, I was in “advanced photography” and was able to avoid some of it.  This basically means that I would step past the rest of the class and puff chronic herbs out of Country Time Lemonade cans in the dark room.  One day I came to class and was surprised to see that the TV playing  We’re All Devo, a VHS featuring music videos and original SNL cast member turned voice-over actress, Laraine Newman.  It wasn’t too difficult to locate the kid who brought in the DEVO video, because he was the only one that was even paying attention to the screen.  Besides that kid, the only other person that I knew who was really vocal about their appreciation for the group, was my friend Crackbaby G.  It was the mid -90s, and nobody at my suburban high school really gave a shit about the, then defunct, band.  Thanks to Crackbaby, in 2006, I was finally able to achieve my dream of seeing DEVO live for the first time.  This month, I was finally able to combine my love of photography with an opportunity to witness the bands on- stage theatrics all over again.

Much like The Pixies, DEVO has set out on a limited city tour, scheduled to coincide with a deluxe album re-release.  The Ultra DEVO-LUX Ltd. Edition packaging will feature their debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo, and the commercially successful Freedom of Choice.  The double re-issue will also contain unreleased material, 2 DVDs, a poster, and a yellow 7 inch vinyl.  The tour itself  involves a 2 night stop in each of 6 different major cities.  The first of the nights features the group performing Are We Not Men? in its entirety, while the second night involves them giving the same treatment to Freedom of Choice.  I knew that DEVO was scheduled to perform a pair of dates in Seattle, but I had also accepted that I was probably not going to be able to see either of them.  I tried to jump on it and request passes the day that the press release was sent out, but it was a difficult ticket to get and the comp. tickets were all accounted for by radio stations.  As someone who used to listen to Are We Not Men? religiously, I was disappointed.  When the day of the show approached and I hadn’t heard any good news, I all but put the concerts out of my mind entirely.  The first night came and went but, on the second/Freedom of Choice night, I received a last minute email informing me that I could be approved for a photo pass.  The problem was that there were no more reviewer passes left.  I’ve had issues trying to enter the venue without a ticket in the past, but I was assured that shouldn’t be an issue.  This also meant that, if I wanted to stay in the venue after the 3-song limit outlined in the photo-policy, I was going to have to do so on the sly. (more…)

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Exciting and heart breaking, and original, yet familiar; Built to Spill’s new album is everything that I had hoped that it would be.  There is No Enemy is comprised of eleven tracks which were recorded over a span of three years.   I have to admit that, when you love a band as much as I love this one, there is always a huge fear of disappointment that accompanies the anticipation of a new release.  This is especially true when a band has been around for a while and they seem unlikely to produce anything that could out-do what they have already created in the past.  For the many who share these concerns, I am elated to report to you that, Yes, I am in love with this album, and Yes, I do want to marry it.

The band is still based around Doug Martsch and his usual group of cohorts (Scott Plouf , Brett Nelson , Jim Roth, and Brett Netson), but this album also features numerous other guest musicians and past collaborators.  Sam Coomes (Quasi), cellist John McMahon, Scott Schmaljohn (Treepeople), and Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers) all make appearances.  Martsch’s wife, Karena Youtz is even credited with providing “some lyrics”, but this isn’t anything entirely new. She actually helped to write “Cleo“, one of my favorite songs from their 1994 release, There’s Nothing Wrong With Love.

There is no Enemy seems much less abstract than Built to Spill’s previous work, but it is no less profound. (more…)

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