NO IDEA WHAT IT IS, BUT I'LL TAKE IT

TOKYO KID BROTHERS
Throw Away The Books Let's Go Into The Streets 1971, P-Vine/Victor Records

Fuzzy Rock Song With Protesting Woman In The Middle

Shouting Man Followed By Rousing Acid Rock Jam

Ensemble Punky Krauty Hippy Rock Track


There's one shop in New York where I buy three-quarters of the music I don't order online. Yes, it has eclectic inventory that turns over efficiently. But the real reason I love this place so much is that they give free reign when it comes to exploring and experimenting with their inventory. All of the discs are arranged on their racks and shelves, without protective cases, sensors, or thermal detonators. Customers are free to listen to one or thirty-one discs while they're in the store. All one has to do is pick up a disc, open it, put the disc in a discman, and explore to one's heart's content.

The end result for me is that I can fulfill my desire to check out every disc that has an awesome cover, or that was released between 1970-76, or that has anything else intriguing about it. And I'm not tied to a turntable, so I can check out one Roger Dean-graced disc while sifting around for some random Hipgnosis-graced disc......or something I never knew that I never knew about.

Such was the case last week when I found a certain, enigmatic Japanese disc. That state of origin is often an interest-piquer, by itself. The front cover was intriguing, too: a thrice repeated, b&w photo of a Japanese ensemble, of some sort, taken inside a boxing ring. Maybe 20 people, an eclectic bunch, a kind of Warhol factory-style group, with a muscle dude in the upper right, next to someone holding out a tattered American flag. Bottom left, random nude chick and random freak folks in-between. Front center is the apparent leader of this entourage, a youngish-looking guy, in an overcoat, with a briefcase (guitar case? bomb case?) at his feet, kind of looking up at the camera.

Unfortunately, there isn't much English to be found anywhere, to give me any clue as to what I have in my hands. The words "special thanks to" are inside the booklet, as are other cryptic words such as "love & banana." I do see some numbers, however: 1970, '73, '69, '67. Not totally sure if this means what I hope it does, but it could be promising. I keep looking through the booklet and notice that there are, in fact, a few English words on the cover. A slogan. A manifesto, even: "Throw Away The Books Let's Go Into The Streets." Well, the time-period definitely seems confirmed. What this fun bunch is protesting is less clear and it's probably better that way. BUT, I do have my disc player so I can actually hear what this thing sounds like.

And it's a trip. It kicks off with some hard rock riffage, a la Free or early Grand Funk, as played by "Take Your Children Not To Work, But To Form-A-Band Day." Until the the vocals land like a pack of rabid rejects from an Exploding Plastic Inevitable party, shout-singing like early Amon Duul or some punk-hippy, Japanese Slits or Raincoats. The good drugs settle in and the singers then drift into a blissful and peaceful, wordless intonation and drift off ....Only to be jolted by an animated, agitated female voice, presumably on a street corner, presumably protesting or spreaking the thruth, as she sees it, to someone who apparently doesn't get it....when the rabid party rejects jump back in, this time with some different hard rock backing them up. Cut. And that's the first track.

I didn't know what was on the rest of the album. I didn't care. I knew that this disc, whatever it was, was a "piece of interest." What happens to be on the rest of the disc includes shamanistic chants, anthemic ballads, acid jams, hippy rock, hysterical weeping, big ensemble choruses, lots of fuzz, and a concluding monologue: "Sayonara. Sayonara. Sayonara."

If it sounds performative and theatrical, that's because it is. After playing the disc and writing the brief, I did a Google search, using the front cover slogan as my guide and found that the group was called Tokyo Kid Brothers and was, indeed, and dance/performance troupe in the late 60s. Several comparisons have been made to projects such as Hair. Julian Cope gives a typically electrifying and evocative, if unrealistically over-the-top description here. TKB eventually evolved into the just slightly less obscure J.A. Caesar, which carried on the theatrical underpinnings of the original group, but added heavy psychedelia and prog rock as the years went on. Those are stories for another day. Until then, please enjoy these few TKB tracks.

HAPPY RHODES

HAPPY RHODES (Official Web Site)
HAPPY RHODES (MySpace Page)

Wretches Gone Awry--A sublime example of Happy's melodic mastery. Starts like medieval Kate Bush (or "Fotheringay" by Fairport Convention), drops for a nearly-imperceptible second into a mode that comes close to almost suggesting country, and then back again to the gothic finger-picking and melancholy. (from Rhodes I, 1984, when Happy was around 19).

Asylum Master--A good example of Happy's lower (if not lowest) register and high register within the same song. (from Rhodes II, 1984)

Feed the Fire--Nice alternate version with Happy gracefully quoting Yes, Kate Bush, and Bowie in the coda. (from Rhodesongs, 1993. Original version on Warpaint, 1991)

To Be E. Mortal--One of Happy's more challenging pieces, and brilliantly so. She repeats the title in variations, accompanied by synths. Mesmerizing and infinite. (from Ecto, 1987)


It's amazing to read the range of people who state their admiration (if not infatuation) with Kate Bush. I've read comments from Steve Walsh, the vocalist of Kansas, to Kendall Jones and John Norwood Fisher, guitar and bass of Fishbone, to Quorthon, of Bathory. What any of these guys got from Kate's work or how her work influenced their work is unclear, but such is art.

I wonder what they'd think of Happy Rhodes. Unless you have never heard Kate Bush's work before, it is impossible to hear Happy Rhodes and not have her conjured. Of course, there are twists. Firstly, Happy recorded her entire output with a fraction of the monetary resources of Ms. Bush, giving the semi-ironically named Happy a more austere, but no less soulfull, sound. Also, Happy played most every instrument on most of her albums. Often, this means that she is simply accompanying herself on an acoustic guitar, lending her art-pop a less baroque and more distinctly "singer-songwriter" feeling than Ms. Bush. Ms. Rhodes also utilizes several synthesizers, sometimes subtly, sometimes more overtly. They used to bug me, and sometimes still do, sounding cheaper and cheesier than the artist playing them. Over time, I've come to increasingly, but not always, embrace their organic "imperfections" as a symbol of the human/machine or reality/dream essences of Happy Rhodes' music.

The greatest difference between the two artists ironically stems from the source of their greatest similarity: their voices. Clearly, Happy made a concerted and magically successful effort to channel the faerie-high aspects of Kate Bush. While doing so, Happy somehow also developed the ability to summon a strikingly resonant low-end. Some have compared it to Annie Lennox, though Happy's voice feels more brooding and imperious while eschewing Ms. Lennox' r&b influences. Ms. Bush has an underrated low-end, as well, but it's not the equal of Ms. Rhodes', who also wields her low-end more frequently and with greater confidence.

Bush revels more in the sensual world while Rhodes feels more personal and introspective, like she was the only girl in school listening to Yes and Kate Bush--and listened to them alone. Perhaps like Happy was the only person in school who knew Happy existed. Rhodes is limited in her presentation and arrangements, lacking some of the leaps of evolution and experimentation that Bush consistently displayed, resulting in a relative sameness that would not stand up to Bush's song book over a few hours. But Happy more than makes up for this with a melodic sense that can be, at times, beyond words. Her acoustic guitar and multi-tracked vocals are often sufficent to stop a given breath. Not always, but far more frequently than most. But there is no shame in coming second to one of your idols.

As it stands, with Lilith Fair perennials on one side and debauched wastoids and hipsters on the other, Happy Rhodes has stood pretty much alone with her art rock and prog rock-informed style. Blessedly, she has endured as one of the most enchanting underground songwriters of the 80s/90s. We are expecting a new album from her in the not-too-distant future.

THE SKINS OF METAL & PROG, TURNED INSIDE-OUT

The process of gearing up for the recent Blind Idiot God shows got a friend and me talking about heavy instrumental bands of days gone by. Before I could say anything like Spastic Ink or the Champs, he took the liberty of exclaiming, "I fucking hate metal. I also fucking hate prog." Well then. There you have it. Then he slipped this one "What I love is Gore."

That was initially surprising since that pretty much forgotten and not really lamented Dutch band have elements of both metal and prog. The guitars are mean and aggressive. The drums are punishing and relentless. The tracks are often of epic length and daunting complexity. At the same time, the band subverts both metal and prog. While the guitars are, indeed, strong and forceful, they do not really set themselves up in positions to glory in that strength. The riffs rarely repeat, nor do they even identify themselves. They chug and slash and tear and crash but rarely do they breathe and rarely still do they leave space for an anthem. The playing shifts constantly, with no where to plant your feet, nowhere to raise your arms and metal hands. Here, the monolithic wall of riffs seems more intended to drown or suffocate you than to help you attain any catharsis.

The same goes for the way Gore stands prog on its head. As per most classic prog, Gore's compositions are often very long, in the 15-25 minute range. Also in line with much prog rock, the compositional complexity and instrumental virtuosity are both at very high levels, by rock standards. But unlike the more symphonic structures favored by traditional prog, with their emotional peaks, valleys and overall narratives, Gore tends to play at one, dense dynamic level: a thick but harmonically rich guitar tempest with a million chordal shifts and pummeling rhythm, but little, discernable melodic development. Gore is not looking for highs and lows to take you on a journey as much as build a swirling space in which the listener can either asphyxiate or lose themself through the rabbit hole. I suppose an angry, three-piece, mid period King Crimson trying to play the first three Swans albums might sound something like this.

Apropos of nothing, while Gore were an instrumental band, they had lyric sheets that would be covered with wall-to-wall text, in small type. Go figure.

Considering that Gore's best work was done in the late 80s, well before Slint, Rodan, Don Caballero, Pelican, et al the band may deserve credit as the first, heavy, post-rock band. But not that many people ever heard Gore and, those that did often didn't like them. It was the time of thrash and death, the time of rave, the time of the Pixies. With the possible exception of a Blind Idiot God here or there, no one was playing music like this back then. That doesn't necessarily make Gore's music more likeable, or even influential. But it does make them adventurous, original and admirable.

GORE -- The Breeding/Liefde (from Wrede/The Cruel Peace, 1988)

The most dynamic and accessible track from their masterwork, the double-album, Wrede/The Cruel Peace. Earlier work was basically instrumental hard core while later work was thug metal faux-soundtrack stuff, complete with spoken word. This is where they hit their inverted metal and prog genius.

For biographical info on Gore, click here.

DO ME BAD THINGS

Simon Reynolds recently posted a few entries in memoriam of Tony Ogden, the late singer of early 90s group, World of Twist. Among many interesting comments, Reynolds describes WoT as "monumental," "saccharine," "lavish," "cosmic," "an Ecstasy-addled vision of pop
utopia. Bubblegum sitar, corny horn flourishes, Northern soul beats, Dave Gilmour/Loop guitar curlicues, mucoid spurts of synth, aciiied frenzy - it ought to be a mess, but the absurdly motley inputs come together like a dream." Sounds like a lot of fun. Add WoT to the "must check out" list.

His descriptions of such over-the-top, multi-appendaged, polymorphously perverse pop remind me of a disc I picked up last year called Yes! by a group called Do Me Bad Things. The album title feels most appropriate since the bands seems to have said "yes" to every musical idea that anyone in the nine-piece band brought to the table. This is bubblegum r&b, hard rock pure pop by a bunch of people who "like heavy rock. We like riffs. We like sludgy rock. But we like pop harmonies and hooks...and power ballads."

So what the heck does that mean when the disc is spinning? It means Beyonce backed by AC/DC, with a Spice Girls harmony chorus frolicking in the middle, chased by a bar of heavy rifferama on one side and funky drumming on the other and through the middle with a guitar solo that wouldn't be out of place on a Boston record, only to be doubled-up by a noisy, meaty sax solo to take the whole thing over the top.

DMBT are on the same label as The Darkness, so that explains some of the "no fear of being ridiculous" aesthetic. The Scissor Sisters' hyperbolic sense of fun with their many influences is a decent reference point. Jellyfish's Alice in Candyland sunspray pop is also a good refernce point. The Go! Team's cheerleader enthusiasm definitely applies, as well. But before you think that this music must float in the air, the sometimes crunching guitars and sometimes wailing vocals are there to give it some heft.

This is shoot-the-moon pop. Stuff that figures, if you're gonna do it, why not go all the way? No "drab realism" here, no forced earnestness, and certainly no self-seriousness. As Reynolds said of World of Twist, this ought to be a mess and it kind of is, prompting no small amount of head scratching and exclamations of "are you kidding me?" But it does come together. I wouldn't say "like a dream" with all of the fleeting ephemerality that implies. It comes together more like a carnival. Maybe you just got a spiral lollipop that's wider than your head, or a five scoop banana split, or a foot long chili-covered corn dog. Maybe you ate them all at once, but you're with your honey, you're doing every ride, life's got magic and it's good.


DO ME BAD THINGS -- What's Hideous
The track I had in mind when i described their sound above.

DO ME BAD THINGS -- Time For Deliverance
Opening track and probably the most riff-centric track of theirs.

DO ME BAD THINGS -- Move In Stereo (Liv Ullman on Drums)
One of their more bubblegummy tracks, but expertly so.

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Marshall, Donovan, Broomfield -- "That's Love"

Just can't stop playing this track. It happens sometimes. When it does, it's so instantaneous that I'd wager it has to be chemical. A certain shift from one note to another, a chord modulation, a rhythmic tilt or break, whatever it is, triggers a hormonal/endorphal release and everything else is irrelevant.

Here, it starts with a jazzy, sorta-bossa groove, with restrained electric guitar of the kind that Michael Franks might use. Cool, nice, but not yet remarkable. The voice comes in and here's where things start to interesting. It's a flawed voice, idiosyncratic, perhaps that of a songwriter or arranger, rather than that of a "pure" vocalist. It's tough to pin down sexually. While it becomes clear that it's a male voice (I think), there's not a note of Marvin Gaye or Al Green in sight. It's not even the extreme falsetto of Curtis Mayfield. Stevie Wonder's high tenor starts getting closer, but the closest comparison might actually be a slightly clearer Eartha Kitt. But it's not as if the voice is so great that makes the song indelible. It's just that it's off-center enough to signal that there might be something unusual about this track. Just enough to keep you listening.

The verses progress in their jazzy soul way, electric piano providing the flavor behind the vocalist. A little hint of horns. As the chorus approaches, the horns rise a bit, strings start swelling, a climax is meticulously being built. And this is key. The extra time spent on the transition from verse to chorus is the time spent setting up the swoon into rapture. As the strings build, it's not with clouds of cotton candy, but with the precipice-standing, four-note cadence of the Twilight Zone. They're inside the mix, so as not to dominate the consciousness of the listner, but the tension they build is palpable, at least semi-consciously. When the chorus drops, it's not as an explosion or exultation as much as the glide following the step over the edge. The chills on my neck swirl as the voice does its bittersweet, slowly, inevitably descending "That's luuuuuuuuuve...." with a sweepingly co-gliding horn on one side and strings on the other. That's around where the explanation stops and the reasons cease to matter.

MARSHALL, DONOVAN, BROOMFIELD -- That's Love

HOYRY KONE: Finland's Not Scandanavian?

Finland is not actually part of "Scandanavia." That noble distinction is reserved for Norway, Sweden and Denmark. We don't usually think of it that way but, no, Finland is not one of them. Is it right to think of Finland as the West Coast brothers of Russia? That doesn't feel quite right, either. So, neither here nor there it is!

Maybe it's the combination of alcohol from the East and social liberalism from the West and the deep, dark forests and snow-capped crests of both that have made Finland the idiosyncratic wonder it is. Whatever the case, the last decade has seen more than a fair share of tweaky, freaky, geeky stuff coming out of Finland. Circle's repetition-based, psychedelic hard rock, Magyar Posse's cinematic post-rock, Aaviko's "casio-core," Rotten Sound's brutally tight grind-core, Skepticism's ambient "funereal doom,"and dozens of freak and acid folk bands such Kemialliset Ystavat light their bonfires and commune with the fireflies and reindeer in the woods.



But the band that stands out for me was Hoyry Kone. And sadly that band is no more (several of the members becoming the Eastern European/gypsy-flavored rock band, Alamaillman Vasarat). While they were easily as weird and quirky as any band Finland has produced, they also added the virtues of compositional brilliance and instrumental virtuosity. God bless prog rock! Without it, we'd all devolve into lysergic drum circles and cluelessly strummed stringed instruments of various provenances (fun to do, perhaps. Fun to listen to? Not so much).

For those who do like prog rock (King Crimson, Magma, Yes, etc) and who have tried it all, this is a band for you. While drawing from plenty of sources (nothing coes from nothing, after all), Hoyry Kone has very few real peers. Maybe the Czech band, Uz Jsme Doma, with their ethnic melodies and manic instrumental skills has a similarly tweaked vibe, but that's one of very few. There's plenty to love: a vocalist of conservatory quality, a bass player to match the manic thump of Magma, two guitarists of metallic chunkiness and jazzy finesse, violin & cello to transmute some Eastern European/Gypsy melodies, and a drummer sharp enough to bridge to off-kilter, string-based, Balkan sections and symphonic prog passages. East, West, neither.

Mind you, this is off-center stuff, even for a prog band. The vocals are in Finnish (and Latin). The melodies are a little, um, foreign. The rhythms are rarely straightforward. The songs are rarely within galaxies of verse-chorus structure. Still, this is music. It's not oral surgery or even Albert Ayler. If you've been there with King Crimson and Magma, as well as their 90s progeny such as Anekdoten, Anglagard, and Deus Ex Machina, you're gonna be just fine. You might even find in Hoyry Kone your new, favorite, out-of-print prog rock heroes.



HOYRY KONE -- Karjunkaato (from Huono Parturi)
A good summary of their sound. Other tracks might be heavier or weirder, but this brings their aesthetic together: the strong vocals, the Eastern European (Finnish?) melodies, prominent rhythm section, wide dynamics, the whole nine.

HOYRY KONE -- Orn (from Hyonteisia Voi Rakastaa)
The first track from their first album. This was the song that made me pick up the cheap, used copy of this disc from Mellotronen, in Stockholm, 1997. A little funky to hear the new wave-style production here, but the chops and imagination were clearly already in place.