“Don’t go to bed yet. Just push record and see what happens…”
Las Cruces rocks
It’s been a full year since I ventured out to Art Obscura and got my first taste of the local indie rock scene here in Las Cruces. I blogged about that show here, and since then I’ve quietly supported the scene by buying CDs, promoting new tunes on social media, and even creating my own music every now and again. Unfortunately, my work/grad-school schedule has conspired with my personal demons to keep me from experiencing very many live shows over the course of this past year.
Tonight is no exception, as there will be another big show at Art Obscura that I can’t make, this time celebrating the release of Back of a Car‘s excellent new record, Unconditional Loathe. Check it out right here:
Another local artist I will be sorry to miss tonight is the wonderful KT Neely. KT has been busy this past year putting out great music, including the lovely, heart-wrenching tune, Coyote.
Kt Neely | Coyote from The LNG Company on Vimeo.
One of my local favorites, Alabama Deathwalk, will not be performing tonight, but they continue to put out great, soulful songs, like their latest, 2-Weeks.
Simeon Beardsley, another soulful, acoustic guitar-strumming maestro, who may or may not be playing tonight with KT Neely, has also put out tons of great music over this past year, including this gem (On your way).
Last, but not least, is a brand new (to me) musical discovery who goes by Mosaic Mountains (Not on tonight’s bill, but I’ll keep my eye out for a future show). Cut from the same cloth as KT Neely, Mosaic Mountains is a young woman named Courtney who has produced some gorgeous, stripped-down, soul-bare, acoustic tunes that are pretty freaking awesome, including Protocol Soul and Melancholy My Good Friend.
Great music is indeed alive and well in Las Cruces. If only I could catch a show!
Next time…
Being in love
Being in love (Jason Molina)
Being in love means you are completely broken
then put back together
But the one piece that was yours
is beating in your lover’s breast
She says the same thing about hers
Is beating in your lover’s breast
She says the same thing about hers
However I have gotten here
I have plans to be with you
And for the first time
It is working
It is working
It is working
And I am proof that the heart is a risky fuel to burn
I am proof that the heart is a risky fuel to burn
What’s left after that’s all gone
I hope to never learn
But if you stick with me
you can help me
I’m sure we’ll find new things to burn
Cause we are proof that the heart is a risky fuel to burn
Yeah we are proof that the heart is a risky fuel to burn
Kruxfest 2015 (Show at Art Obscura): Alabama Deathwalk, Back of a Car, Asa Martin
So I finally ventured out to a live music show here in Las Cruces, New Mexico. There was a long build-up to last night’s five minute drive to the Art Obscura gallery to see a handful of local singer-songwriters (Asa Martin, Back of a Car, Alabama Deathwalk) ply their respective trades as part of Kruxfest 2015. The seed was planted a few months ago when a friend turned me on to a local art blog called The Truant, which features a detailed music calendar. A quick scan and some random googling then turned up the music of Alabama Deathwalk, a.k.a. Eric Reed. I had been half-heartedly searching for (and not finding) a soulful music scene here in my new town that might partially fill the void left after relocating from Carrboro/Chapel Hill, North Carolina. After three years here I had pretty much given up hope that Las Cruces could satisfy my particular musical sensibilities. These two Alabama Deathwalk songs restored that hope:
There’s such a sincerity in this dude’s voice, and when his music hit me I was like, “Yes. This is something I can get into. I wonder if there is anything else along these lines here in town?” Then a trip to Alabama Deathwalk’s Facebook page yielded a web of connections which formed a local indie-folk-singer-songwriter scene that had been invisible to me until that point. I bought a couple of Eric’s CDs from his Bandcamp site, then started cyber-stalking his musician Facebook friends, starting with KT Neely. When I heard her recordings, I liked them so much that I immediately bought everything she had on her Bandcamp site. I soon discovered that KT works at my favorite local coffee shop, and that she and Eric are a couple who sometimes record songs together:
Clicking around some more on the Alabama Deathwalk Facebook page I soon discovered the likes of Asa Martin and Back of a Car, the other two dudes on the bill last night along with Eric. Asa’s opening set last night was wonderful–at turns charming, disarming, and powerful. Here’s a recent video that gives a good sense of Asa’s vibe:
Back of a Car (a.k.a. Kelley Williams) followed Asa with his own captivating and awesome set. All I knew about Kelley going in was that he works at a local coffee shop/eatery (he made me a great sandwich a couple of weeks ago), he plays a ton of shows around town, and he had the opportunity to open for the legendary John Darnielle (of The Mountain Goats) a few months back at a local benefit show. Here’s a video of Kelley doing his thing, which includes some interesting guitar arrangements on a badass pink electric:
Eric Reed closed the show with a soulful set of tunes that had his friends in the crowd singing along, and had me pumped full of inspiration to run home and work on my own music with renewed energy.
To make a long blog post short, last night’s show was fantastic. I found myself in the middle of a local music scene that seems pretty special. Along with KT Neely, other local musicians were in the crowd showing their support, including members of Decade of the Dead Arcade, a local band I haven’t had the chance to check out yet, aside from this video, which is pretty sweet:
So there you have it. I finally got out of the house and discovered that there is a thriving indie music scene right in my own back yard. Thanks to all of the above for the music and inspiration, and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.
Jason Molina
I’m searching, but I can’t for the life of me recall how I was first exposed to the music of the late Jason Molina. I believe it was a random event that I happened to hear the song “Back on top” from the album “The Lioness.” I remember initially being somewhat put off by his voice, as I was by Neutral Milk Hotel‘s Jeff Mangum at first listen. As with Jeff though, I was quickly won over by the sheer soul being transmitted into my brain, laser-like, by Molina’s music. The lyrics, in particular, to “Back on top” had me reeling:
I’ve been thrashed by the truth of your body
I’ve been thrashed by the truth of your eyes
You looked me square in the eyes
You said don’t take but one thing to be your truth
You said don’t take but one thing to be your truth
Sad, heavy music–just the kind I like to lose myself in, especially when playing and singing songs myself. Rather than fanning the flames of sorrow and self-pity, I find that such immersion and expression cleanses me in some deep way. Anyway, for whatever reason, I purchased the tune from iTunes, but never got around to exploring the rest of the songs on the record, not to mention Molina’s full oeuvre. It was my mentor and hero, Glen Hansard, who put things right when he released an EP of Molina’s songs earlier this month. “It was triumph we once proposed” is a tribute to Molina and the friendship that sprung up between the two men over their mutual connection to the heart and soul of music. Hansard’s lovely take on Molina’s tunes inspired me this week to explore further. After listening to Hansard’s EP, I discovered a documentary on YouTube that gives a glimpse of the sweetness and intensity and sadness and wondrousness overflowing from Molina as he was immersed in the process of recording the album “Josephine”:
Then, earlier today, I learned Molina’s song, “Being in love,” and I’ve been playing and singing it with a growing urgency for the past two hours or so. Turns out the song was featured on the “Lioness” record. I should have bought it all those years ago! But then I wouldn’t be enjoying the discovery of it now, right now actually, as it plays in the background while I type these words. I will be making a purchase later on this afternoon…
The Goastt of Waxahatchee
I rarely get excited (or even mildly interested) in new music these days. Like many aging Gen-Xers, I wince when I catch wind of what passes for a “hit song” today. I know, I know… Most popular music in every era is pretty shitty. And it’s subjective, yada yada yada…
However… over the past week or so a couple of Facebook associates linked me up with the following nuggets of new music that I find to be quite pleasing in my ear holes. First up is The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger with “Animals.” The visuals (including the beautiful naked women) probably contribute to the allure of this tune for me, not to mention the fact that John Lennon’s look-a-like sound-a-like son Sean is fronting the band, but I’ve been singing this song around the house for days, so there’s more to it than meets the eye.
The GOASTT – “Animals” Video from stereogum on Vimeo.
Then there’s Waxahatchee, who is Katie Crutchfield, a young singer-songwriter from Alabama. She reminds me of early Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power), and embodies that totally stripped-down, recorded-in-a-bedroom-on-a-lonely-night sound that I find so compelling when delivered with soulful vocals:
Actually, I had the opportunity to see Waxahatchee perform live the other day at one of the DIY venues here in Las Cruces. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it, due to the fact that I am totally lame and old and a withered husk of human being. Perhaps that’s a tad harsh. The show was on a Tuesday night and I had to be fit, bright and early, for a long, full day on Wednesday. The sad truth is that, be it age or some unknown source of lame-itude, I just can’t live the late-night, music-scene lifestyle any more, especially during a school night. Now the entirety of my “scene” takes place right here, in my little office with all my little gadgets to keep me company.
*Sigh*
Echoes
I do other stuff too, but mostly I amuse myself.
Release of Beautifuller Things / Echoes
My latest collections of recordings are now available for download via Bandcamp. Beautifuller Things is a batch of original material, while Echoes is a collection of covers. Both albums and all individual songs can (and should!) be downloaded for free, but if you feel like throwing a dime into the guitar case, you have that option for the Beautifuller Things record only (I need to make sure I don’t make a penny off the covers, so my prison sentence for copyright infringement will be at a minimum). Enjoy!
Little fingers
Perhaps this will be a new trend: Spending ten minutes laying down a rough acoustic demo, then half the day setting it to hundred-year-old silent movie footage. Copyright laws aside, I had fun with this:
When everything is dubious and put to the test
[Little fingers forget, little fingers forget]
Tied up and tedious, and dragged from the bed
[Little fingers forget, little fingers forget]
Surrounded by memories and lingering limbs
[Little fingers forget, little fingers forget]
Wandering, restless, and made of mistakes
[Little fingers forget, little fingers forget]
Heavy and heavenly, this weight on my chest
[Little fingers forget, little fingers forget]
Halfhearted melody, fragmented phrase
[Little fingers forget, little fingers forget]
Battered and Beautiful, like flickering flames
[Little fingers forget, little fingers forget]
Sleepwalking
It’s a been period of struggle, creatively, so it feels like parting with an enormous turd to get a tune out and into the world. Or a baby, or something. Yeah, a baby…
The recorded narration is the psychologist Wilhelm Reich, and the old man in the video is Henry Miller. What do these two men have in common, besides being deceased? Well, each man managed to intensely capture my interest several years ago, when I thought I was on the path to eventual enlightenment. I must have taken a wrong turn some where along the line… The song isn’t really about either one of them, of course. Or maybe it is, I don’t know. What I do know is that I enjoy this weird style of musical exploration, so I’m going to keep doing it as long as it feels interesting. And yeah, I also know that I’m breaking all kinds of copyright laws by playing around with audio and video footage created by others, but it’s only playing, after all. Fortunately, only a few people have ever paid the slightest attention to anything I’ve ever done, so I think I’ll avoid doing any hard time.
Henry Miller? Wilhelm Reich? Look, I’ve had a wee bit much to drink and I’ve handed the keys over to the “muse.”
Sometimes I think you faked your death
So I’d stop faking my whole life
I take and take till nothing’s left
I get it wrong till nothing’s right
It’s only hard to say goodbye
When you don’t really want to go
I never understood your pain
I never really wanted to know
And if you didn’t see the sun rise
Well at least you had a look at the stars
And if you didn’t play your cards right
At least you didn’t throw ‘em in
And while I was out sleepwalking
The sun burned up in your eyes
But then everything was taken
I got a secret to confess
I’m only in it for the love
Now you’ve gone and put me to the test
To live my life like I dreamed of
And every time I see sun rise
And whenever I look up at the stars
And when I’m singing to the ceiling
With everything I hold in my heart
I’ll remember what you told me
and the way the sun burned in your eyes
And the gift that I was given