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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A new album dropped today that you probably didn’t hear about.  It probably wasn’t something that you’ve been waiting for by one of your “favorite artists” and it probably won’t be making too big of a splash before the year is out.  Although I can easily see it gaining steam throughout the next year or so, that may not even be the case either.  In fact, this may become one of those albums that many people don’t discover until years from now, after the artist is already 3 or 4 albums deep and until a new critical appreciation for their work prompts “new fans” to dig through the back catalog to hear what the artists debut sounded like in 2009.  No matter how it happens, I’ve become convinced over the last week that there’s a new cat on the electronic scene who deserves your attention, knows it, and isn’t going anywhere until he gets it.

EDISON is based out of San Francisco and, even with the over saturation of quality electronic artists in the Bay, he’s still managing to set himself apart as a force in that circuit.  Part of what keeps me interested in the electronic musicians and producers that I love the most is their constant hunger for innovation and an unquenchable thirst to push their crafts, style, and sounds into new directions and possibilities.  It’s that need to always seek new levels of what else is possible.  From the little that I’ve witnessed from Edison so far, I have swiftly and wholehearted become interested in seeing where his desires and focus continue to take him in the future.  Unfortunately, my whacked-out,schizophrenic multi-focus is making it difficult for me to express all of the information that I’d like to at once and in a coherent fashion that would be more easily digestible.  Most likely, the place for us to begin is by acquainting you to the artist through the same means that I was introduced.  That method is by viewing this video. (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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Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Sufjan Stevens earned his most notable success through 2005’s Illinois album.  The 22-song ode to the Prairie State launched both Stevens and his “50 States Project” into the public eye.  In 2006, he followed it up with The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album and a 5-disc box set of Christmas music but, since then, the releases have pretty much ceased.  There’s a strange conflict created in the logic of many of Sufjan’s fans because, although they want to hear a “new” project from him, they are also focused around what the next installment of the last (50 States) project is gonna be.  People would often prefer to buy the same album over and over again than risk having an artist grow in a direction that is uncomfortable for them to deal with.  For anyone with logic and reasoning skills, it’s clear that Stevens will never write an album for each of the 50 states, unless technology and/or his work ethic changes drastically.  I don’t think that the artist’s intentions or claims are dishonest but, even by churning out an album every year, it would still take him until the age of 82 to finish the project.  Music aside, I am acquiring a growing respect for Sufjan’s approach to the creative process, which involves healthy doses of patience, a virtue that I have trouble possessing.  His focus seems to be more about the process than the result and, whether you enjoy those result or not, his dedication and sincerity is still commendable.  He seems to be content with investing as much time to create, or even re-structure, a project until it’s just the way he had envisioned.  In fact, October 6th marks the release of Run Rabbit Run, a reworking of his 2001 Chinese Zodiac-themed, electronic album Enjoy Your Rabbit; this time, with all string instruments.

Recently, I had the opportunity to view one of Steven’s most ambitious projects yet.  In usual Sufjan fashion, The BQE is based around a very specific theme; The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.  Like the 50 states Project, it’s geography based, and the music is completely instrumental, like that of Enjoy Your Rabbit.  There is one aspect that puts The BQE in stark contrast from any of his previous work, however, and that’s the fact that it’s also a film. (more…)

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I used to work the graveyard shift as a night auditor at a pair of shitty hotels, across the street from a crack park in downtown Seattle.  I was eventually, and intentionally, fired but, like most shitty jobs, this one had some Pros mixed in with its Cons. The pros were the comical wingnuts and crackheads, the fact that I met my girlfriend there, my free pizza hook ups every night, and that it was not uncommon for patrons to kick me down free weed.  Among the cons were the not-so comical wingnuts and crackheads, my incompetent and self-important dipshit of a boss (who was over-compensating for his secretive, yet discovered, history for having a taste for man wiener), that I was constantly scheduled as a security guard (not my “job”), and the time that the vato with the dress shirt and neck tattoo tricked me into smoking a sherm blunt with him at 3 in the morning.  The most frustrating situations were the ones where the Cons actually canceled out the Pros all together. One example was when I had learned that the Swedish psych band, DUNGEN, was staying in the hotel and had offered the entire staff free tickets to their local performance.  Sure, it was a “sweet” bonus for having a shitty job, but the problem was that I was actually working at that shitty job during DUNGEN’s performance.  It would take almost 4 more years before I realized to what magnitude I had missed out. (more…)

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Although they had formed 10 years earlier, most people, who were musically aware in the 1990s, wouldn’t site their first encounter with the The Flaming Lips‘ music until the release of “She Don’t Use Jelly“, from the 1993 album Transmissions from the Satellite Heart.  Over the next decade or so, The Lips explored some of the most adventurous territories of their careers, both live and in the studio.  However, they primarily vanished from mainstream view and, by all accounts, didn’t really re-enter the grid until Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002).  Although, The Soft Bulletin (1999) was an experimental and personal breakthrough for them, Yoshimi was the first album that really hit the world hard and gained The Lips the commercial success that had eluded them for 20 years.  The album brought them the first of their 3 Grammy wins and, in many ways, the group has been riding the success of the Yoshimi wave ever since.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming that the group has remained dormant; my views are actually quite the opposite.  In fact, in relation to their endless projects, they may have even spread themselves a bit too thin.  After 2 Yoshimi-related EPs [Fight Test and Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell], The Lips released their next “official” full-length, At War with the Mystics, in 2006.  Since Yoshimi, the group has released their music video chronicle on DVD, were the focus of a successful documentary,  filmed, scored, and released their own feature film, appeared on multiple Hollywood film soundtracks [Spongebob Squarepants, Wedding Crashers, Spider Man 3, etc], appeared on a video game soundtrack, and have collaborated with various other artists on various other projects.  They’ve even had an alley named after them in their home state of Oklahoma, where they hold their annual “March of 1000 Flaming Skeletons” Halloween parade, and even have lent their name and energy to the production of a fucking hotsauce.  In the midst of all of these projects and live shows, it is understandable why the release Mystics could have been lost and diluted for many.  Financially, the album was very “successful”, with the band parting out songs for use in commercials. As a single, unified and artistic project, the release made less of an impact then their previous 2 albums.  Later this month, The Flaming Lips are slated to release a double album, which will, hopefully and temporarily, take the focus off of everything else that they are associated with and put it back onto their studio work.

Embryonic won’t be released until October 13th but, to tide every one over, The Flaming Lips have provided a special thank you to their fans.  Everybody who purchased a ticket for the summer tour was to be provided withspecial little digital Scooby Snacks, which offered them a first look into the upcoming release.  The following was taken directly from the Lips’s official website: (more…)

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