THE SPITS, ROCK N ROLL ADVENTURE KIDS, ROYAL PAINS, HOT LUNCH ““ Funhouse - SUNDAY 10/1

Come, celebrate your Sabbath with The Spits at The Funhouse. The Wood brothers will bless and woo you with their scratch and sniff, T-bone punk. Chug your Pabst Blue offering and watch as they braid their chest hair and read from the Book of Ramones, perhaps while wearing Nixon masks or tinfoil body suits. All time favorite, Speed Wayne, is back with drumming duties. Word is, they’ve gotten way into velcro and pogo sticks, for what that’s worth. This is a send off as the Spits leave shortly after for a 2 month tour through Europe. Bring it on down with your pogo and stick.

So Segal told me that if I loved Arthur Russell I should pick up Soul Jazz Records’ The World of Arthur Russell. It was my introduction to the World of Soul Jazz and I’ll never look back. I’ve been suspicious of compilations in the past, but now I see them for the awesome entry point that they are. After doing a little browsing I found the Dinosaur L track “Clean On Your Bean” on Soul Jazz’s New York Noise.

The tracklisting provided teasers from other artists I’m already devoted to, like romping sensationalists Liquid Liquid and the ghetto girl funk of ESG, but this comp has introduced me to several more power houses, including Glenn Branca, whose “Lesson No.1” is the most arousing guitar/percussion buildup I’ve heard in ages. Take a cross between the over-exposures of Joy Divison and Killing Joke (if that’s possible?), strip them of their posturing and drowning vocals, give them more soul and you’ll only be aproximating the soaring rock netherworld of this track. Until I’m proven wrong, I’m placing this level of excitement up with when I first really listened to The Velvet Underground and when I finally “got” Sonic Youth. Am I hyping this or have I struck gold?

I’m now committed to Soul Jazz for thrusting me forward. New York Noise is in heavy rotation until I can get my hands on some Branca… and New York Noise Vol.2

Speaking of somewhat maladjusted folk, I think I’ll put in a word for The Microphones (Mount Eerie). I’m listening to “Great Ghosts” off the 2004 album Live in Japan (K Records). I know this isn’t the greatest album ever, but I love “Great Ghosts.”

I often get entrenched in electronic music for long periods of time and things begin to either feel too synthetic or too ephemeral. Most of my music is instrumental too, and I like it that way, but sometimes I just need to be sung to. Anacortes’ Phil Elvrum delivers a vocal concoction of lonely heart-strings, Daniel Johnston-like nonsensical shower-singing, and someone whispering something genuinely special in your ear.

And I love these lyrics:

I have my hopes of how I would be after living in exile/after closing your eyes to me/I even wrote scenes where I re-emerged boldly, bearded alive/with eskimo eyes/new baby on my back […] there’s no room in my life for you or your howling […] go on get, I said […] but there’s no such thing as living without their prowling/as you can see, having descended the hill/I still look like me, I still wallow as Phil/and forever will

And it made me cringe at first, but now I love this video of “The Glow Pt. 2.”

Big bummer man! I just found out that my favorite new band, Beach House, has no Seattle gig scheduled during their upcomming West Coast tour. Beach House, the Maryland duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, will release their eponymous debut album on October 3rd, on Carpark Records. This is an amazing record, full of beautiful and delicate “back to the womb” pop music. Please read my review here.

My point ““ the band is looking for a Seattle gig on November 10th. To no avail, the group has tried desperately to find a place to play on that one open day in their schedule. So”¦ I beseech you, check out the record, call your promoter friend (Amy Dials- I love you ; ) and help Beach House land a gig! You can also check out their myspace page for a few tunes.

Computer World has an intriguing opinion piece about the Zune, Microsoft’s challenge to the iPod: Why Microsoft’s Zune scares Apple to the core.

My question: Can you replace the battery on a Zune? Just about everyone I know owns an iPod, yet I refuse to buy any product that requires a hack to replace the battery.

photo by April Brimer

The power of MySpace asserts itself again, this time with internetz tastemaker Pitchfork reviewing a track on Tiny Vipers’ page. Quote to print on the CD sticker: “Vipers is nihilistic enough to be the Emerald City’s best attempt at blowing up the outside world in ten years, yet content to sit sulking in a dingy, one-person flat.”�

Starkly morose Seattle folk singer Tiny Vipers (AKA Jesy Fortino) is now signed to Sub Pop.

The always-interesting Woebot blog has a smart survey of Italian prog rock, a rarely discussed yet profoundly rich movement that flourished most brilliantly in the early ’70s. Those curious about this music should read Woebot and also consult Prog Archives, a site maintained and enriched by the genre’s true believers/obsessive aficionados. Names to research include Franco Battiato, Area, Pierrot Lunaire, Arturo Stalteri, Il Balletto di Bronzo, Picchio Dal Pozzo, Biglietto Per L’Inferno, Goblin, Osanna, Lucio Battisti, Claudio Rocchi, and, of course, Ennio Morricone.

The Italian prog rock I’ve heard (I consider myself merely a dabbler at this point) is florid, complexly structured, virtuosic, impassioned—over the top in almost every way imaginable, right down to the album cover art. Italian prog-rock groups also typically boast flamboyant vocalists who can sing their asses off. Seriously, most of these guys make Robert Plant sound like Leonard Cohen.

So if these qualities sound like your bag (and you find the Mars Volta—who surely are Balletto di Bronzo fans—have fallen off lately), scope out some Italian prog. This site also provides helpful leads. ¡Buona fortuna!

Techno’s own prodigal son Collapses in Miami, apparently. Brought to you by Seattle’s own Fortune Kiki. It’s pretty funny. Too bad the sound is awful.

I attended last night’s Buju Banton concert. I’m sure it will disappoint many of you to hear that protests were nowhere to be seen and instead Studio Seven was filled with people there to enjoy the show (I only heard word of one individual passing out flyers with the offending lyrics). I have to admit that the show was highly entertaining as well. For all of his ideological faults, Buju Banton is a consummate entertainer, and engaged the crowd with a set that spanned genres and tempos. For the most part he danced around the controversy in his banter with comments regarding equality in speech and tolerance (no, really), but later in his set he made more direct comments. The two videos below capture the more direct statements he made.

And to answer the question on many of your minds, no, “Boom Bye Bye” was not played, nor was it even alluded to via a chorus or instrumentally. He did play some ska though.

Then pre-order the Blood Brothers’ new album Young Machetes at any Sonic Boom Records location (Ballard, Fremont, Capitol Hill or online) and get a free ticket to the CD release party at Redmond’s Old Fire House.

The show is going to be insane, and I mean that in the best possible way, so don’t miss out.

Go to www.sonicboomrecords.com for more information.

My favorite record shop, Wall of Sound, is hosting a show tonight at The Rendezvous Jewel Box Theater in Belltown. Guardian Ear will be taking the stage with guitar, cello, oboe and percussion for an engagement of “Avant-garde-acoustic-thrashical-chamber-rock.” I love the mournful quirkiness of the oboe and have thought of taking it up several times. I’m curious to see what comes of this. They say their score is “simultaneously bitter-sweet, confusing, pretty and ridiculous.”

It’s an early show—8 PM, so it shouldn’t get in the way of your jet-set plans for the evening. The clown already has me confused.

Wanna know what all the cool kids will be doing this week? Well check out Setlist to find out about some nice local shows and hear music from the Red Fern, the Purrs, Patience Please, H is for Hellgate, the Sea Navy and more.

And speaking of the Sea Navy (a local band featuring members of TW Walsh and Aquaduct), I’m happy to say that the local band is finally celebrating the release of their debut full-length on October 5th at the Sunset. It’s bright and fun guitar pop—sometimes acoustic, sometimes electric, but always catchy. Fans of Ted Leo, Wilco, and Slender Means take note, as you’ll probably dig it.

I’m really feeling the new record from The Winston Giles Orchestra, partially because its lazy, psychedelic, sort of childlike vibe reminds me a lot of of old Alpha, a bit of Ultramarine and a bit less of the first couple Air records, and partially because it’s just a bitchin’ album cover:

Somewhere between the holes in my brain I remember looking at wallpaper like that in grade school. Or maybe hallucinating something like that in college.

Preview it here.

Seattle’s Plan B are throwing a CD-release bash tonight at the War Room with sonic comrades Foscil, M. Evans, and Hidden Habitats (DJs Bumble Bee, Kamui, and Hideki). I’m the Captain, Where We Going? (Fourthcity), Plan B’s first disc since 2003’s Keepsake EP, brings much reason to celebrate. James van Leuven & Co. have expanded their sound palette, embellishing their hiphop foundation with orchestral grandeur, gorgeous female vocals, and various string instruments that evoke old Europa and Gabor Szabo’s fluent ethno-jazzadelia. Recorded in Seattle and in various European cities, I’m the Captain comes freighted with blissful atmospheres, dreamy melodies, unconventional textures, and transporting, head-nodding beats. And on the title track and “Curtains,”� Plan B construct their most ambitiously cosmic compositions to date. I thought somebody had slipped in a Miles Davis disc from 1970 for a while there.

Here’s the Plan B lineup for tonight:
James van Leuven: Drums/Laptop/Bass Guitar
Bill Jones: Trumpet
Sarah Standard (Carissa’s Wierd): Violin
Anita Rendall: Violin
Adam Swan (Foscil, Truckasaurus): Keyboards
Pat Kearney (Automaton): Bass
Dann Gallucci (Murder City Devils, Modest Mouse): Guitar
Krista Warden: Vocals
Leigh Gable: Keyboards/Bass

…Because I totally don’t hate Rancid. And after seeing them at the Showbox last night, I especially have nothing mean to say (even if Indestructible was a bit of a disappointment), so you’re looking in the wrong place if you want to throw hissy fits about how the band isn’t “punk” anymore or how Tim Armstrong allegedly rolled tape while playing Warped Tour with the Transplants. It just doesn’t matter, dude, because the show last night was killer.

I mean, yeah, it was another Rancid show (Lars called for a lot of circle pits and blew a lot of snot rockets, Tim played shirtless and did more dancing than guitar-playing, and Matt Freeman reminded everyone that he’s one of the best bass players of all time) but still, it was a great fucking Rancid show.

Thankfully (and surprisingly, to some degree) the majority of the set consisted of old favorites, including “Journey to the End of the East Bay” (my personal favorite), “Nihilism,” “Roots Radical,” “Rejected,” “Black Derby Jacket,”� “Tenderloin,”� “Sidekick,”� “Lock, Step & Gone,” and “The War’s End,”—which was actually a killer crowd sing-a-long moment. And even though those dudes have been playing some of those songs for over a decade, they still looked like they were having a blast on stage (Freeman didn’t stop smiling while playing the extended bass solo in “Maxwell Murder,”� he knew he was a badass).

The crowd was perfect too. Of course there was tons of moshing and crowd surfing and circle pits, but the vibe was really positive and friendly; I didn’t see a single fight. I also didn’t see annoying people who only knew Rancid for one or two songs; everyone sang along with everything. There was one dipshit who jumped on stage and stole Tim’s beanie right off his head during “The 11th Hour”� (which caused Tim to get pissed and stop singing for a minute, which was actually sorta funny) but Mr. Armstrong quickly recovered, tied a scarf to cover his tattooed scalp and played on.

The boys also took a second to share some love for a local band—before kicking into Olympia, Lars said “This one goes out to one of the best bands to come out in a long time”¦ they’re called the Briefs.” Crowd went nuts. There must’ve been a lot of Briefs fans in the house.

After almost an hour of playing, the band disappeared backstage for a few minutes, but they came back out and started the 10-15 minute encore with an acoustic version of “Fall Back Down.”� They also played “Time Bomb”� and the Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards song “To Have and to Have Not.”�

The best part, though, was when Lars said, while strapping on his guitar, “We’re going to play a song now by a band called… OPERATION IVY!” They immediately kicked into “Knowledge” and the place exploded.

So fucking great.

The band plays again tonight, but according to the Showbox website, tickets are sold out. If you have a ticket, you’re in for a treat.

I’m out of here in mere hours; I’m heading to NYC for a wedding and to catch the Hold Steady’s record release blow out at Irving Plaza (I’ll have a review and pics for Line Out when I return next week). Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn just sent out a link to this podcast he recorded recently. It’s supposedly in honor of the forthcoming release of Girls and Boys in America (check out a pointy-headed-but-glowing review here), though it really just focuses on the songs that influenced Finn growing up. Unsurprisingly, Minneapolis staples like the ‘Mats and early Soul Asylum figure prominently (and just for you, Seling, the Gorilla Biscuits). Enjoy, and play nice while I’m gone, please.

I’m just following the Irish tradition of songwriting, the Irish way of life, the human way of life. Cram as much pleasure into life, and rail against the pain you have to suffer as a result. Or scream and rant with the pain, and wait for it to be taken away with beautiful pleasure. ““ Shane MacGowan

Rhino has just reissued the five studio albums by the transcendent Pogues.

Transcendent literally, of course, as they jigged between the quaint irrelevance of traditional folk music and the heady, obvious cesspool of punk. What made them different, however, and transcendent in the way that means we’ll still be listening to them long after our Sex Pistols and Clancy Brothers albums have fallen behind dusty bookcases, is their fiery sincerity, their passion, their—dare I say it?—optimism.

Now you may say that optimism is not exactly the mood in the dank “Dark Streets of London,”� or the melancholy “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda,”� or the intense “Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go.”� But what I see in these songs and many like them is the ardent refusal to simply accept the desolation, the disappointment, and the despair of life. Instead, Shane and the band rail against the intolerable suffering of it all.

The best way to do that? Music, of course. The fiddle and tin whistle, the guitar and Shane’s keening, growling, hell-ridden voice. Well, that and a few pints.

When the world is too dark
And I need the light inside of me
I’ll walk into a bar
And drink fifteen pints of beer. ““ Streams of Whiskey

[There are six bonus tracks on each disc and the sound has been vastly improved from the original pressings. Not-very-exciting forewords by Steve Earle, Jim Jarmusch, Tom Waits, and others coexist with fascinating liner notes written by journalists such as Gavin Martin and David Quantick.]

I probably should’ve posted this back on the 23rd, which was the first official day of autumn, but it was also a Saturday and I wasn’t at work.

So now, better late than never, my all-time favorite song to listen to in the fall (I’m a sucker for strings):

Death Cab for Cutie - A Song for Kelly Huckaby.

Note: I’m working on making a list of my ten favorite fall records—which possibly includes A.F.I. (Black Sails in the Sunset and/or The Art of Drowning), Ted Leo (The Tyranny of Distance), and of course Death Cab (anything pre-Plans except Something About Airplanes, which is a winter album to me)—but it’s taking far too long and I wanted to share this song with the world, in case some of the world hasn’t heard it yet. So there you go, world. Listen.

Music junkies on a tight budget who don’t feel good about illegally downloading albums and songs may want to check out La La (www.lala.com).

The process goes like this: you sign up with La La for a free membership; you list all the CDs that you want to obtain and also document all your CDs that you want to trade; you browse other people’s lists for CDs that you want to score; La La finds members who are interested in your goods; when you find CDs you want, you pay $1 (+75 cents for shipping) for each one; La La provides the stamped envelopes.

Note: “La La is based on trading. You must ship CDs in order to receive them. The more music you list, the better your chances are of receiving the music you want.”�

La La currently has 1.8 million titles.

Today Lady Miss Kier lost her six-year-old lawsuit against Sega, which alleged that they misappropriated her “look and feel” for a character in their video game “SC5.” The character, “Ulala” (geddit?), is a frisky bite-sized chick with funky clothes who came to the band’s attention when Sega approached them to help promote the game in England. Sega was able to prove that the developers had never heard of the once-chart-topping Deee-Lite when they developed the game. (?!?)

And now the sprite-sized, sweet as a kitten Kier is out more than $600,000, under California statute that allows defendants to recoup their legal costs from plaintiffs in suits such as this. Let’s hope she and her management didn’t spend all those royalties on lollipops and hot pants.

Meanwhile, Sega’s victory clears the way for the rest of us to misappropriate likenesses at will. My lawyers have given me the thumbs-up to proceed with work on my game about a famous-in-England glam-pop band called the Scalpel Siblings that fights their way through an abandoned military research facility in a bloody quest to recover a rogue suitcase nuke held hostage by Azerbaijanian mobsters.

Eric Grandy suggests you check out the Presets:

THE PRESETS, THE GIRLS, NO-FI SOUL REBELLION (Chop Suey) From Sydney, Australia, the Presets beat a little more life out of the electro-rock horse by actually rocking pretty hard. Live, they play with attitude and energy and their electronics back them up with precisely programmed sass. The duo even upstaged Ladytron on their recent tour by lubricating their robotic parts with some much needed blood and sweat. When their songs are outstanding—as with the melancholy disco of “Girl and the Sea,” the mechanical riffs of “Are You the One,” or the rapturous yelping of “Down Down Down”—the Presets transcend the confines of their peculiar subgenre and deliver the goods. ERIC GRANDY

(Sarah Mirk posted this on the Slog just now and wanted to make sure everyone following the controversy in Line Out also saw the breaking news.)

Neumo’s just released its official statement of its reasons for canceling the controversial Buju Banton show scheduled for tomorrow night.

From Steven Severin, one of Neumo’s (Neumo’s’s?) owners:

After much debate, Neumos has cancelled the Buju Banton show.

Our mission of providing for the free expression of art must give way in this situation to our responsibility to the health and safety of our patrons and the community. Only in this extreme situation where it appears that there is a potential of violence due to extremely heated opinions regarding the lyrical content of this artists lyrics do we take this action. To our patrons, we apologize that you will not be able to see an artist you wanted to see.
To those in the community that were deeply offended that we would bring an artist as controversial and overtly homophobic to the heart of capital hill we apologize.

Neumos is mindful that this action comes at significant social costs. As a performing arts venue we take pride in allowing artists to freely express their views without censorship or prior restraint. We believe that dissension and disagreement are vital and healthy parts of a community. The song, “Boom Bye Bye”�written by Buju Banton over a decade ago when he was fifteen is abhorrent and cannot be defended by anyone. We sympathize with and understand the strong emotions that the publication and dissemination of the lyrics have incited in our community. Because of this, the show cannot go on.

To keep from getting sued, the owners are paying Banton in full for the show — that amounts to the hefty hit of $15,000, according to Severin, who says the show would probably have sold out. “To some people, that may not seem like a lot of money,”� says Severin, “But for a new business, we just got new owners in August, it’s a hard nut to swallow.”�

I can’t stand the Black Eyed Peas or Fergie. I also can’t seem to let go of the fact that Fergie’s new (and awful) single “London Bridge” is a direct rip-off of Gwen Steffani’s “Hollaback Girl.” Yet the world loves her still? Gross!

I’m talking about these parts of each song:

Gwen: “Few times I’ve been around that track so it’s not just gonna happen like that / I ain’t not hollaback girl / I ain’t no hollaback girl.”

Fergie: “How come everytime you come around my London, London bridge wanna go down like / London, London, London, wanna go down / like London, London, London we goin’ down?”

You must listen to believe (I don’t reccommend watching the videos, they’re both annoying, but I couldn’t find MP3s of the songs).

Gwen:

Fergie:

Someone needs to take away her music-making privileges. Now.

Well, at least they are scheduled to play here on December 10. While I realize that the mere presence of this guy…

…doesn’t mean we’ll be witnessing anything resembling this configuration of the group….

…but I still don’t think I’ll be able to resist attending, especially since some of the reports I heard about their NYC shows were excellent. What about the other diehard GnR fans out there—will you be buying tickets?

While you contemplate this, please enjoy an example of why they used to be so wicked good:

Buju Banton’s entourage rolls up in a huge, fancy RV Wed. afternoon. The gays who care swarm his vehicle. When Buju tries to enter Neumo’s, the gays who care bust through his security phalanx and smother Buju with hugs, kisses, caresses, gropes, etc. They kill him with kindness. And they don’t forget the KY jelly. They make Buju never forget how well loved he is in Seattle.

Oops! Buju Banton’s show has been canceled. Refunds at points of purchase.

It was this day 26 years ago that John Bonham died as the result of drinking far too much, far too fast. In Bonzo’s honor, I present to you, “Moby Dick”:

Here’s the offending song and lyrics written by the gay-bashing dancehall star who Neumo’s is bringing to Seattle on Wednesday. What is Neumo’s thinking? We’re in the process of finding out.

World is in trouble / Anytime Buju Banton come / Batty bwoy get up an run / At gunshot me head back / Hear I tell him now crew

(Its like) Boom bye bye / Inna batty bwoy head / Rude bwoy no promote no nasty man / Dem haffi dead / Boom bye bye / Inna batty bwoy head / Rude bwoy no promote no nasty man / Dem haffi dead

I love Rancid. Really. Well, older Rancid anyways. Let’s Go and …And Out Come the Wolves remain in my list of favorite records of all time.

Even so, I still find this really, really funny (click here to make it bigger):

(Thanks to Alithea for the link. Click here for more.)

Rancid plays the Showbox tomorrow and Wednesday night with the Aquabats. Both shows are sold out.

Last month, I posted about the Krump Battle held at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center over in West Seattle. I managed to finally get some video from the night uploaded (to Youtube, naturally), so I figured I’d share.

Video #1 (above): By far one of the evening’s best dancers. There are a lot of other dance elements besides krump, but that only worked in this dancer’s favor.

Video #2: Let’s call him Kid Krump. It was this kid’s birthday, so he got some stage time to show his stuff. This vid doesn’t capture his best moments, but you get the idea.

Video #3: Another of the night’s best dancers. This clip features the oft-repeated ripping of the shirt, a staple of the evening’s festivities.

Video #4: This, the shortest clip, shows just a bit of the switchover between two dancers, and the interplay between them. Despite the “hostility,” the evening was incident-free, and they kept the aggression limited to the stage.

All videos courtesy of BabalooGirl. Thanks.

In what has to be one of the most embarrassing bans in the BBC’s long history of censorship, the premiere UK broadcaster has forbidden airing the new single by LA duo Sparks, “Dick Around.”

Um, hello? Did they even listen to the song? (You can sample it on the band’s MySpace page.) I realize that Russell is singing at a pretty fast clip, but his diction is immaculate—it should be pretty clear the song is not some paean to the male member. Sheesh.

SPARKS REACT TO BBC BAN

RON AND RUSSELL MAEL HAVE REACTED ANGRILY TO SPARKS’ NEW SINGLE DICK AROUND BEING BANNED BY BBC

RON MAEL THIS MORNING RAGED: “THE BBC HAS OFFICIALLY KILLED OFF OUR NEW SINGLE DICK AROUND, OSTENSIBLY THROUGH RATHER CHILDISH OBJECTIONS TO THE TITLE, AN INNOCENT REFERENCE TO THE IDLE LIFE.

THAT A PIECE OF MUSIC CAN BE CONDEMNED PURELY BY ITS TITLE WITHOUT THE ‘DECISION MAKERS’ EVEN HAVING THE DECENCY TO OPEN THE CD CASE IS A TRAVESTY AND AN INSULT TO BOTH US AS THE CREATORS OF THE MUSIC AND TO THE LISTENERS OF THE BBC”

RUSSELL MAEL RESPONDED “THE REACTION FROM THE PUBLIC TO THIS RECORD HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT POSITIVE SO THE BBC SHOULD STOP TRYING TO BE THE MORALITY POLICE WHEN IT IS SO CLEARLY MISPLACED”

Adding insult to injury, the band—who are much, much more famous in England than at home—had to get up at the crack of dawn today to appear on BBC morning radio… but the host DJs couldn’t play the song the Mael brothers had shown up to promote.

I think the broadcaster is just punishing the guys for their 1994 send up “Now That I Own the BBC.” Here’s hoping they get all “Candle In The Wind” on that one and give it a topical update, with heavy lashings of vitriol, and circulate it as a free mp3.

Brightblack Morning Light

One of my favorite rock albums of 2006 doesn’t rock at all. It is Brightblack Morning Light’s self-titled disc, which is bathed in a Jacuzzi-warm amber glow and moves at the tempo and possesses the grace of underwater ballet. This back-to-nature outfit opens for Mojave 3 tonight at Neumo’s.

To whet your ears, check out Andy Beta’s feature on BML in this week’s Stranger and my Stranger Suggests blurb below:

Brightblack Morning Light

(MUSIC) These Cali via ‘bama hippies got soul (and weed) to burn. Brightblack Morning Light’s new eponymous album on Matador comes in a recyclable Digipak, and the disc itself contains what I call “that good ol’ ectoplasmic campfire music.” Imagine Dr. John’s voudoun-funk masterpiece Gris-Gris coagulating into Spiritualized’s blissful paeans to Jesus and junk, and dusted over with reverent, hushed male/female vocals. Rave down. (Neumo’s, 925 E Pike St, 709-9467. 8 pm, $15 adv, 21+.)

I’m rediscovering Sun Ra. I’m far from a jazz initiate, whatever that might mean, and I’ve only celebrated Sun Ra from afar—until now. Trying to reach a point of inspiration has me digging deeper into the experimental, the “transcendental,” and music that’s just plain weird. Most, if not all of them have drawn intergalactic arrows pointing to the “spacial” sounds of Sun Ra.

I’m already on the hunt for Sun Ra records and some Pharoah Sanders since seeing him at Triple Door. My music collection needs experimental jazz and blues and apart from some Moon Dog, Joe Maneri, and stardards by Nina Simone and Getz/Gilberto I don’t have anything to speak of.

Where should my Sun Ra collection begin? What are the best recordings by Miles Davis and Coltrane? A friend of mine swears by Davis’ Bitches Brew.

What other experimental legends are at the source? It doesn’t have to be jazz—as long as it’s from the primordial stew of all the greats of avant garde.

The brilliance of Artex Monkey is finally kicking my ass around. Took me a while. Give it a shot.

This happened:

And then this:

Then this:

And this:

It still breaks my heart to this day that it all ended with this:

Chuck Klosterman documented my perspective of that phenomenally shitty day in this book, should you care to know more.

And while I will always be a bigger fan of In Utero and all the cool kids like to brag that they were into Bleach first, I have treasured memories of hearing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” for the first time and just staring at my stereo speakers in total awe. Sure, it’s a cliché now, but it was a life-changing moment for me.

And you, dear Line Out readers? How did that record impact your lives? Is it something you never cared for? Something you still listen to? Discuss.