I have interviewed JOHN LEIGHTON BEEZER for PERFECT SOUND FOREVER, and you can read the results (in all their girth) here:
http://www.furious.com/perfect/johnleightonbeezer.html

…for all your compulsively-improvised music needs!
~5

http://www.archive.org/details/5-Track2009-03-24.LiquidLoungeLongBeach

Batteries ran down so only a couple of tunes made it through. But this was fun to play, and although the set got better after the tape stopped (of course - you pull out the camera and the unicorn runs away, you know?) these first two tunes make for an amusing 12 minutes and three seconds.

Simon Lewis and Stephen Palmer say this about that:

“With a funky West-Coast groove, 5-Track and Glass Goblins are a ray of sunshine as they wind their way across the four songs on their EP “Kira”. Sounding like the Grateful Dead on the title track, the sweet vocals and mellowness are perfectly melded together, the softness tempered by the sad lyrics contained within the song. Slightly rockier “Space Angel” contains some excellent lead guitar and a fine bass-line that leads the way through the song, the track ending in a squeal of feedback. With a similar feel, “I Don’t Know What to Do”, is a live track that has a looser feel, the guitar again dominating. Also live is the final 25 minute improvisation “Yuppie Repellent”, a track that sound like it could have been recorded at the Fillmore in 1967, the guitar dancing and weaving through the matrix of sound created by the rest of the band, lovely stuff only slightly marred by an over loud snare drum. As it says on the press release “If you lose your happy thoughts you’ll fall out of the sky”, no chance of that whilst this is playing, I think.”

You can find the Terrascope March 09 Reviews page here:
http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Reviews/Rumbles_March09.htm

and the KIRA CD here:
http://www.5-track.com/CDkira.html

good luck
5

I neglected to mention here that, as the title of this post suggests, John Norwood came over the other day with a new song for us to record together. John is a solid, solid songwriter, one of my favorites, and his new tune is where it’s at. It’s a Kristofferson-esque (but less mystical, so maybe sorta Prine-y then) ditty called “Electric Chair,” and you can hear it at either of these two **space pages:

http://www.myspace.com/johnnorwood

http://www.myspace.com/independentscene

rite on
5

HAPPY EQUINOX!!

…Have some video!

Side Mouse:

Side Lion:

‘cos I only like bands with Howl in the name, anymore. Not so much true this year as it was in 2007, I guess. Anyway…

I wasn’t sure about this record when I first got it. I played it a few times, it was pleasantly reminiscent of the live shows, the songs seemed a bit more anonymous than those on album #1, and the overall tone felt strident and histrionic in a slightly forced way - whereas a more blatantly (properly?) strident and histrionic band never feels forced.

OK, but whatever, all that is in the past. Side one and side two work better, for me, when I don’t play them quite exactly right in a one-after-the-other row but rather wait at least a few minutes if not half a day in between. But the tones are much floatier than I had been giving them credit for, and that undercuts the histrionics in a very good way. Emotionally tense but sonically creamy. I’m not going to call this the second-coming of classic rock or anything, and I probably still like the Black Crowes better most of the time, but there’s a meaty swirl to this record that does something very positive for my mood. The afro-beat textures seem a little out of place… But hell, there’s a learning curve with anything, and they give the album some spice. Also the way the songs stretch out, you tune in after a minute or so (wash another glass, put some soap on the sponge) and, whoa, what a cool different spacey riff that is now! (wipe a plate, fish some spoons out of the bottom of the spagetti pot) whoa, back to that little rocknroll groove from, like, five minutes ago, nice (step in water spot on floor and trip over the cat while drying foot) … damn, is this the same song? This part’s, like, HEAVY!

As always, buy the vinyl. It weighs more, but it sounds better

I just had a listen to what I believe is the first record (double-vinyl my preferred format) by Akron/Family. It seems to be called “Akron/Family”. Hence my supposition.

It doesn’t really remind me of anything - including their other record, “Love Is Simple”. (They may have records besides these two, but these are the two I have heard). If I had to compare it to something it would be Six Organs Of Admittance. But that is a bit of a stretch. The commonalities are acoustic guitars, a post-folk sensibility, and the occasional odd noise. But Six Organs is darker and more intense, and generally I like Six Organs better.

“Love Is Simple” feels more like an album by a band. There is more of what seems to be a Beatles influence. The songs are for the most part either cracked folky-country-blue-eyed-soul or full-on weirdo assault. Usually one of each per side (four sides).

This is not to discount the earlier record, which is a fine listen. If anything it is less demanding than “Love Is Simple,” so I may end up playing it more - and also because it feels like less of a monadic statement, less complete in itself, less demanding of a listen from start to finish… Whereas “Love Is Simple” is a WORK, a psychically exhausting experience, if a rewarding one.

Both albums include lyrics influenced strongly by what seems to be Shambhala Buddhism - to the point where these records can be considered Useful. This approach could be didactic, assaultive, off-putting or proselytizing. But here it works - which is part of the Neil Young comparison: the ability to make a lyric work that, by any objective measure, shouldn’t.

Live, by the way, this band is great. Something like Phish crossed with Acid Mothers Temple and Neil Young. But really nothing like any of those. A wonderful live band experience. Worth your time. Worth your money. In fact, I am tempted to guess that the solidified temperament of “Love Is Simple” owes something to a pile of touring experience.

Here’s a video of CRICKET & THE 2:19 performing at Viento y Agua, a way-cool coffeehouse in Long Beach, CA, Earth. This happened on March 12, 2009. John Boyd ran the camera. Cricket sings, strums, and wrote the song. Simon drums. Feather percussion. 5-Track electric guitar. Enjoy!

Ding Dong Ditty - live @ Viento y Agua

There’s other vids. If you click on this one, you can see them.

good luck,

~5

Here’s a compilation from YOGA GROOVE in North Hollywood, Friday 3-6-09:

…And a wonderful version of SPARK PLUG HOMINY from The Bandit Gallery in Echo Park, 2-28-09: