Addicts and Drunks - Ghosts & Vodka (Six Gun Lover, 2003)
Showcasing the immense guitar playing talents of Cap'n Jazz's Victor Villareal and Sam Zurick, it's no surprise that Ghosts & Vodka is a musician's band. As much of a fan as I always have been of this bright, mathy, wanky, guitar-centric style of music, it took me until now to fully appreciate G&V's output. Releasing only one 7", one LP and a reissue (which is the focus of this blurb) collecting the two and adding an unreleased track, it shouldn't have been so difficult for me, considering how gorgeous and fun all of these songs are. Villareal's trademark noodly, waterfall guitars are ever present here, and Zurick's jagged rhythms present a great counterpoint. Add a tight rhythm section on top of that and you have quite a beast of a collaboration. I think that the initial hurdle for me to get over is the fact that there is no real variance on this sound throughout all of the songs. They just run together. However, now that I consider myself a fan of repetition in music, this isn't an issue at all anymore. Addicts and Drunks is an excellent collection of Ghosts & Vodka's minimal discography, and "It's All About Right Then" and "Futuristic Genitalia" are two of my all-time favorite instrumental jams.
Top jams: "It's All About Right Then," "Good Luck With Your Multiple Personalities," "Laser Guided by God," "Futuristic Genitalia," "Hot Dot Above, Tan Man Below," "Four Red Brains," "Cowboys and Sailors," "Doo Dee Doo Dee Do," "Bizarre Funeral"
It's about time I get into Guided by Voices. Apparently I wasn't ready when I first purchased 1995's Alien Lanes a bit over one year ago. I felt that it was indulgent and obnoxious, in spite of a select few great jams (opener "A Salty Salute" still probably being the best). I also was completely overwhelmed by the 28 tracks cruising by in only 41 minutes. I feel much differently now. Still a little overwhelming, and yes, indulgent, I've come to terms with the amount of songs, and now I can regard the lo-fi guitar pop of Alien Lanes as a charming experiment in pop songwriting and recording. Somehow, each song sounds drastically different, and vary in quality by insane degrees. What a fun way to go about a record. Plus, I can take away 11 songs that I consider to be fantastic at worst. "As We Go Up, We Go Down" and "Blimps Go 90" revealed themselves as two of the album's strongest points, and "My Valuable Hunting Knife" probably rivals "A Salty Salute" as one of the greatest songs of the 90s.
Top jams: "A Salty Salute," "They're Not Witches," "As We Go Up, We Go Down," "Game of Pricks," "Closer You Are," "My Valuable Hunting Knife," "Striped White Jets," "Blimps Go 90," "Strawdogs," "Little Whirl," "Alright"
A while ago, my buddy Matt encouraged in me an interest in Sleater-Kinney and the mid-90s era of the Riot Grrrl movement in general. This led me to download two full lengths from Mary Timony's Helium (which I am yet to spend much time with) and to purchase their debut, the Pirate Prude EP. I had pretty high expectations, and was still pleasantly surprised. I anticipated a badass, angular punk group not unlike Sleater-Kinney. Pirate Prude is more like a bad ass, heavy, mid-to-slow tempo, slightly emo take on the male dominated indie rock style of that time. Timony's voice is strong here, but undeniably melodically challenged, which can be distracting at certain points. The thick, heavy guitars and more than capable rhythm section make up for it, and the subtle flaws throughout the EP are sort of appealing. "XXX" and "Love $$$" are especially good songs. Timony certainly proves herself a force to be reckoned with on Pirate Prude, and I can't wait to dive in to the rest of her work in Helium and her newest project (with Sleater-Kinney members Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss), Wild Flag.
Top jams: "Baby Vampire Made Me," "XXX," "000," "Love $$$"
2 comments:
I think it's interesting that you see GBV as indulgent. I think I've always seen them (or at least A Lanes and B 1000) as the opposite. It seems like he just had all these ideas for songs and never really saw them through, so he just recorded the ideas or the seeds of ideas and called it the album. He still made the album 30 minutes, it just took a lot more ideas to get there. In a way, it's kind of brilliant, because the potential for all of those songs to be incredible still exists (unless it was one of the songs they went on to re-record and give their best shot). Of course, you could also argue that that's the safe and cowardly route as well.
I said that when I first tried to get into Alien Lanes, I felt that it was indulgent. The only ways I could still consider it indulgent would only be in how many tracks there are on the album, and that the few songs that I think are obviously shitty were even included.
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