Music is what ‘moves’ me these days. Footy used to, but it doesn’t really hit the spot for me anymore. I have written elsewhere that I have drifted in and out of footy a bit over the years. I’m not really a fan of what the AFL has become, on and off field, and have tended to stick to the SANFL (or no football) in recent times. To each their own though.
What ‘moves’ me these days is having ‘Anarchy In The UK’ come on the radio as I drive to work on a Friday morning. With it blaring out I was that amped that I could have easily driven straight into the stairwell at the back of the office carpark and not given a fuck! Last Friday it was ‘Layla’ (thankfully after it builds you up it eases you back down with the extended outro). If ‘Free Bird’ comes on while I am driving, you best strap in and hang on once those guitars kick in.
My SANFL team won the flag last year, which was nice, but it didn’t have me jumping up and down like I did when The War On Drugs played ‘Under The Pressure’ at Myer Music Bowl (at that part when the drums and band kick back in to release the buildup of tension …). Nor did I sing along to the team song like I did with The National that night in Sydney (I won’t fuck us over, I’m Mr. November!).
It’s not all high-octane stuff though. ‘Purple Rain’ plays in our regular Thursday arvo café from time to time, and I just must play air guitar then raise my hands (coz I know what he’s singing about up here …). Morrissey may be a dickhead, but I love The Smiths, and their songs always leave one pondering one’s own place in the world. Plus, Johnny Marr is a guitar genius (I wish I had realised that at lot earlier). I am also digging the first three Peter Tosh albums (Legalize it, Don’t criticize it …).
Although there was recently a great high-octane moment in above-mentioned café (located in a very high brow, i.e. up itself, eastern suburbs shopping centre) when the young bloke running the show cued up ‘Master of Puppets’! Settle in for 8 minutes 35 of air guitar riffing and shredding! (Well played young man, serving the Burnside Mums in your metal band t-shirt.)
To steal a bit of ‘footy speak’, I have had a bit of a list clean-out in terms of my record collection in recent times. Those that were not getting a regular airing have been moved on, regardless of name or reputation. We are now in a rebuilding period.
I love it when a new artist comes to me from out of nowhere and sticks around. It happened to me with Chris Forsyth, the Philly-based experimental guitarist, whose back catalogue was the subject of an article in a UK music mag I was reading on a flight home from Hobart. He is mostly confined to playing clubs around the US eastern seaboard, but he should be bigger. We needed him at the now late-Adelaide Guitar Festival. Forsyth’s not going to get airplay on Triple M, but that seems to be his goal anyway, focusing on playing stuff that is not Led Zeppelin or the Eagles. Check out ‘Dreaming in the Non-Dream’ or ‘Solar Motel’ if you are interested. He should appeal to fans of Television and their ‘Marquee Moon’ album. If you haven’t listened to ‘Marquee Moon’ you should check that out as a matter of urgency.
Actually, my introduction to the War On Drugs came from an earlier edition of that same UK magazine. An interesting name and a guy with the long hair, check shirt, and Fender guitar that looked sort of like Rory Gallagher but was something altogether different. Another Philly band.
Anyway, I am absently scrolling through a Bandcamp.com new release article one evening, and it is the album cover that catches my eye, the faded green colouring reminds me of Chisel’s Barking Spiders bootleg-look cover. The band is worth a look on that basis alone … I have had them on high rotation since.
The band is Orcutt Shelley Miller, drummer Shelley being Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth fame. Although it is worth noting that they couldn’t look any more different to Sonic Youth if they tried. The best description I have seen is that they look like ZZ Top if they dropped a ton of acid!
An avant-rock trio with a rawness and abrasiveness in the guitar that at times sounds not dissimilar to an extended rehearsal room jam by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, or absent-minded Hendrix-inspired noodling. It is downright filthy at other times, venturing into the outer reaches of the Velvet Underground.
There is no need for vocals here. They couldn’t add anything anyway. Really, apart from Lou Reed, who could come up with lyrics that you could lay down on top of this? All this ‘racket’ from a 4-string Telecaster (Orcutt removes the 4th and 5th strings) and a Violin Bass. These gnarly looking dudes can play. All the while Shelley bangs away in the background and just seems genuinely happy to be there.
Their Spotify bio does more justice to their sound than I possibly could:
“The landscape Orcutt Shelley Miller inhabits lies deep in the stoner American bedrock, fed by volcanic riffage and hypnotic phrasing with rhythmic nods to the SoCal ‘60s and atonal slash piled on a mid ‘80’s SST punk-fusionoid substrate …”
Cool.
Check it out, maybe it will ‘move’ you. It not, to each their own.
Take it easy.
To read more by Greg A click here.
To return to the www.footyalmanac.com.au home page click HERE
Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.
Do you enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help keep things ticking over please consider making your own contribution.
Become an Almanac (annual) member – CLICK HERE
Thanks for the heads up Greg, following your recommendation, I went and read an interview and album review, they definitely sound like a band I want to hear loud. Cheers
Cheers Rick.
They also have a KEXP radio performance that is available on YouTube.