The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Line Out: Genius

Come to this Awesome Show: The Intelligence, La Luz, and Pony Time!

Emily Nokes — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:31:44 -0700

You're invited to get wild at The Stranger's pre-summer dance party featuring three of our favorite bands! Pony Time and La Luz two of the best fun-making bands in town, and the Intelligence are obviously geniuses because they won a Genius Award.

Bring a friend or lover, family member or co-worker. You won't regret it. Get your tickets now!

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REJOICE: There's New Jan Terri Video!

Derek Erdman — Tue, 28 May 2013 11:00:53 -0700

Looks like the brilliant Jan Terri has done it once again. Her last video, the just okay "Excuse My Christmas" was an enjoyable holiday romp, but it was nothing like the magic of the earlier classics like "Journey to Mars" and "Get Down Goblin." Thank the heavens that this new video is a whole lot like the days of yore, complete with an overcast day at the beach, unsteady camera work, and an excellent song with a key change:

The divine riffage is back. Most of the song features unbridled soloing just underneath the surface. Also, it looks like Jan has moved to Los Angeles and it really shows. There's footage of Jan emerging from the foamy ocean, standing in front of a serene fountain, and walking her dog Denny in Beverly Hills. I sense that this song is in response to the constant trolling that Jan battles (with cunning and grace) on her Facebook page. If this is what the future of Jan Terri looks like, SIGN ME UP.

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Hot Fruit & Reddit's Misogynist Rage

Derek Erdman — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:40:09 -0700

This video by Olympia's Hot Fruit is so brilliantly confusing and excellent:

Everett True's rundown is the most poignant on this matter. Not surprisingly, there's a girls versus boys war waging over on the internet's private school playground.

Hot Fruit will be playing in Seattle on June 21st at Hollow Earth Radio. H/T: Garrett Kelly.

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C/O Editions: A Label That Pays You To Listen To Music

Sean Jewell — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:51:11 -0700

Sean Jewell
C/O Ed. Secret Decoder Ring

Care Of Editions is a German record label with a refreshing take on some stale ideas. They’re purveryors of experimental music, a genre renowned for its DIY ethic, but this is the first label I’ve ever heard of that goes so far as to pay you to download their music. Here’s how that crazy idea works: downloads are limited in edition, and are paid for by the sales of the record they're attached to, meaning that people can only download and get paid if others are also purchasing. The only way to “unlock” paid downloads is for consumers to purchase vinyl copies. What’s better, the more vinyl that is purchased the more a download pays. It begins with a $1 reward and goes up to $45 dollars for the last lucky downloader, provided of course that the last, the 45th vinyl copy, has also sold. C/O will do this six times between 2012 and 2013, effectively devouring itself and breaking even in the process.

As much a work of performance art as it is a distributor of art, founder Gerhard Schultz has even gone so far as literally eliminating the label's website in proportion with record sales and downloads to emphasize the zeroing out of it all. Downloads are paid in real time, too, the label writes you a check as soon as you download, and the label will keep writing checks until all the vinyl is sold. In this way the record label will always zero its own debt out by meeting exact demand with exact supply.

Gerhardt is in Berlin, but was kind enough to allow me to take part in his label experiment from all the way over here in Seattle. He provided me with a download of two of the records—Ezra Buchla’s At The Door, and Scott Cazan’s Swallow— and mailed me a vinyl copy of of the artist known as #/TAU’s First Dew. Though I didn’t get paid to download, or pay for the vinyl, I wanted to go all the way through the process to see how it worked. I’m assuming I would have made at least a couple dollars, then helped to free up one more download by paying for a record. What I found immediately, aside from added confirmation for my love of experimental music, was that participation in the process was like having a philosopher for a record label.

C/O Editions first two releases are not European experimental artists but electroacoustic releases from couple of Los Angelinos. Ezra Buchla is a viola player who loops his own strings and synth sounds into a hurdy-gurdy like drone, and chants over them unintelligibly to spooky effect. Buchla has reportedly taken for inspiration a Jack Spicer poem, and a 16th century lycanthropy trial and conviction (damn werewolves, everywhere). His limited vinyl and download are officially out on the lables websiteApril 12th, but can be preordered (download or vinyl) now.

Scott Cazan is familiar with stringed instruments, but rather than play them in any conventional way, he attaches microphones to them, then drums on them, sometimes he’ll even hold microphone between his own teeth, then tap at tablets and laptops and soundboards as he captures the essence of the wood and flesh of his chosen materials. His record is three tracks of high pitched frequencies: feedback that sounds like steel cable about to snap under tension, wine glasses ringing, flutes holding notes at hypnotically long intervals, only interrupted by the static, beeping, and voice samples with the voyeuristic charm of a pocket call.

The vinyl I received intrigued me. It arrived at my door 4 days after leaving Berlin. Heavy, and sleeved in a cover that had a picture of American white tailed-bucks on the front and the C/O record insignia (A diagram of it’s structure, philosophy, and business model in a single talisman like emblem) on back. # / TAU is the pseudonym of German artist Boris Hegenbart who released First / Dew on CD in 1996, and has re-envisioned here in vinyl. Decidedly the musique concrète-ist of the bunch, he's composing with loops, endless chanting mantras, varying only in pitch and method of creation, but constant, dysrhythmic, and acousmatic. Under the chants I heard beeps, tambourines, and maracas, ther person with me on this experimental journey heard singing. When I moved around the room, the songs changed slightly because I received them differently. I felt like I was participating in the music.

Sean Jewell
Fist / Dew - Boris Hegenbart

It occurs to me that both the record label, and the musicians are shrugging the status quo. The label forgoes the accepted relationship between artist, label, and customer; and the musicians shrug off the idea of what music is expected to be. When accessed in this way, one gets the feeling of participating in –not just admiring— some work of post-modern art that it responds to imperialism (and perhaps even environmental concerns) by ignoring (neither rejecting or accepting) a capitalist model. By cutting clean at a preordained point C/O Editions are making less into more, never engaging in excess, and giving credit to the seemingly infinite —and heretofore worthless—download. In essence, C/O Editions begins as nothing, and achieves its full potential when it arrives back at the start. There will be no take over, no mass acceptance, there are no illusions of manifest destiny, no grand plan to get rich, just music, and it’s distribution framework which only ever goes in debt to –and selflessly places attention on—the process, and the artists themselves.

C/O Editions is selling records and putting itself out of business at the same time right now! Get over there!

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Roky Erickson Lyric of the Day #5

Derek Erdman — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:40:11 -0800

An excerpt from "I Walked With a Zombie," originally released on Evil One from 1981:

I walked with a zombie
I walked with a zombie
I walked with a zombie last night

I walked with a zombie
I walked with a zombie
I walked with a zombie last night

I walked with a zombie
I walked with a zombie
I walked with a zombie last night

I walked with a zombie
(He walked with a zombie)
I walked with a zombie
(He walked with a zombie)
I walked with a zombie last night

Roky Erickson by Timothy Thomas

Hear this actual song here. Send a drawing of Roky Erickson to the email address found here and I'll feature it in a similar brilliant lyrics quote by Roky Erickson.

Feel free to discuss these lyrics below.

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Roky Erickson Lyric of the Day #4

Derek Erdman — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:51:54 -0800

An excerpt from "If You Have Ghosts," originally released on Evil One from 1981:

In the night I am real
In the night I am real

The moon to the left of me
is a part of my thoughts
is a part of me is me

Forever is the wind
is a part of my thoughts
is a part of me is me,
in the night I am real.

I don't want my fangs too long
I don't want my fangs too long

The moon to the left of me
is a part of my thoughts
is a part of me is me

Forever is the wind
to the left of me
is a part of my thoughts
is a part of me is me

I don't want my
fangs too long

If you have ghosts
you have everything.

Roky Erickson by Tara Atkinson

See more of Tara Atkinson's things here. Hear this actual song here. Send a drawing of Roky Erickson to the email address found here and I'll feature it in a similar brilliant lyrics quote by Roky Erickson.

Feel free to discuss these lyrics below.

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Roky Erickson Lyric of the Day #3

Derek Erdman — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:23:43 -0800

An excerpt from "Bloody Hammer," originally released on Evil One from 1981:

Second, "I am this special one
My eyes, green and blue
dart safely unbegotten
to the left to say, 'no'
While the others with their hair turned white,
each roll their eyes back to the top of their head
and hammer the attic floor with a bloody hammer
I never have their bloody hammer
I never have their bloody
I never have their bloody
I never have their bloody hammer."

It's not a sledgehammer
It's not a chisel
It's not a train
but a thought of unlimited horror for (tap your feet)

Doctor O'Chane, Doctor O'Chane
the baby ghost from the 1900s says, "beat it with your chain"
The baby ghost says, "don't drag your spoon, don't drag your chain away,
Doctor O’Chane"

Roky Erickson by James Alan Downing-Groth

Hear this actual song here. Send a drawing of Roky Erickson to the email address found here and I'll feature it in a similar brilliant lyrics quote by Roky Erickson.

Feel free to discuss.

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Roky Erickson Lyric of the Day #2

Derek Erdman — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:41:09 -0800

An excerpt from "Gonna Die More," originally released on You're Gonna Miss Me: The Best of Roky Erickson from 1991:

When you were old
and your heart was opener
you used to say
you're gonna die more I thought
gonna die more
gonna die more
gonna die
gonna die more

Roky Erickson by Austin Hall

See more of Austin's work here, hear this actual song here. Send a drawing of Roky Erickson to the email address found here and I'll feature it in a similar brilliant lyrics quote by Roky Erickson.

Feel free to discuss.

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Roky Erickson Lyric of the Day

Derek Erdman — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:23:11 -0800

An excerpt from "White Faces," originally released on Evil One from 1980:

Friends with the beast because of sharp teeth
the devil so red the fiery evil bleib

White faces, white faces always haunt me so beautifully
learning temples meditating churches
always bring out the white of the devil in me.

The fat, the fat of demonism as ends begin
fangs gnashing at the beauty as in reaches in.

Colorful crucifixion riding the serpent dragon
fire breathing fire breathing with his serpent tongue a'waggin'

Roky Erickson by Jason Polan

See more of Jason Polan's work here, hear this actual song here. Send a drawing of Roky Erickson to the email address found here and I'll feature it in a similar brilliant lyrics quote by Roky Erickson.

Feel free to discuss.

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Today's Earworm (NSFW Audio)

Jason Josephes — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 09:54:15 -0800

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside...

— Linda Creed, "The Greatest Love Of All"

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Purple Haze

Jason Josephes — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:16:18 -0800

Jimi Hendrix,the former soldier turned guitar genius would have been 70 years old today, which is a good enough reason to watch Little Richard circa 1973 wearing a Hendrix costume waxing imperial on Seattle's greatest musical export.

But Jimi's infliuence transcended music and bled into the other arts as well. For instance, here's comedian Michael Winslow covering Jimi's most famous song. You know who Winslow is even if you don't know his name.

That's right, it's the guy from the Police Academy movies who made all the funny noises. In an alternate universe, no Jimi means no Michael Winslow. Which means Police Academy tanks. Which means no sequels. Which means Steve Guttenberg never gets to prove that sci-fi and heart aren't mutually exclusive, and Bobcat Goldthwait never makes it big enough to do "the Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies."

On the plus side, no Jimi means you'd never, ever have to watch a video of Gary Sinise getting down with his side project, The Lt. Dan Band. I love how the camera stays on Sinise the whole time, because what everyone wants to see during a live rendition of Purple Haze is whether or not the guy from CSI has the Noel Redding part down.

Aaaaaaanyway, that aside, it's good that we live in Jimi's universe. Enough of my pithy words. Here's the man himself performing "Machine Gun."

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Minutemen Paranoid Time

Derek Erdman — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:28:13 -0800

Derek Erdman
Fucking finally.

After six days of solid sorting, I've finally got all of the records that I want to keep in hard alphabetical order. By that, I mean bands are separated into individual title release dates, and if they are doubles (usually because of import pressings), their country of origin comes first. In the beginning, I felt aware that being so particular was absolutely insane, but since completion, a great calm has come over me. Today I wanted to listen to the Punch Line by the Minutemen and it took me seconds to find the three copies that I own. One I kept for nostalgia purposes, as it's the copy I bought when I was 14, and the other two are the second pressings with the insert. One is fake signed by the band, like some person just did it in the same handwriting for each member. It's so obviously fake. I listened to the Punch Line six times in a row while doing chores this morning, having to flip the record every seven minutes or so. I spent some of the morning thinking about different pressings of Minutemen records and dug out my copy of their first EP, 1980's Paranoid Time, to check which one I have. I discovered that the big hole, black vinyl version is considered the first pressing, but it was also in print forever. It seems that the initial run was 300 copies that sold out quickly, but apparently nothing changed between that and subsequent re-pressings.

But whoa, enough thinking about spindle holes and pressings, this EP is a crazy white hot perfect slab of seminal political punk made by dudes in their early 20s. How did such youngsters become so informed? Apparently by listening to Blue Öyster Cult and Creedence. Every track is excellent and the whole thing is over in six and a half minutes. From the jerky rhythms of "Validation," to the manic chimes of "The Maze," to the thoughtful faux-intermission of "Definitions," to the brutal and wordless "Sickles and Hammers," to the relative calm of "The Fascist," to the thought provoking and catchy "Joe McCarthy's Ghost," to the fear inducing closer "Paranoid Chant," the whole thing is absolutely beautiful.

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Also Tonight in Music: Master Musicians of Bukkake @ Crocodile

Dave Segal — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:36:16 -0700

Mercurial psych-folk luminaries Six Organs of Admittance are headlining tonight’s show at the Crocodile, but it would be a grave error in judgment to miss Master Musicians of Bukkake. One of three candidates for The Stranger’s Genius Award in music, these local sonic outliers respectfully filter arcane musical elements from various global cultures into mystical, expansive compositions that are alternately ominous and inspirational. Every MMOB live show is different, but they’re all grand spectacles that proceed with a ritualistic grandeur. One kind of feels sorry for whoever follows them onstage.

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Genius Awards MJ Dance Party!

Emily Nokes — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 20:56:40 -0700

Kelly O
No mere mortal can resist.

OH MAN! Last night was fun! Everyone looked so good! I think some of my coworkers even showered. Wait, that's me I'm thinking of. I actually showered. The beer was flowing like wine, and by the end of the ceremony I wanted to hug everyone in the Moore Theatre.

But the best part was the impromptu Michael Jackson dance party. When the Seattle Rock Orchestra busted into "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," fancily dressed folks couldn't help but jump on the stage to dance! A surprised security guard tried to stop it, but you can't really tackle someone wearing sequins and/or a bow-tie (plus you'd have to be a zombie to resist the urge to dance to "Thriller" HA HA). Thank you Seattle Rock Orchestra. Thank you security lady. And THANK YOU geniuses! I really like having an excuse to buy $15 lipstick and tipsily gawk at beautiful people.

Kelly O
Keep on, with the force don't stop.

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Great and Weird Vid - "FINE"

Emily Nokes — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:50:17 -0700

Micachu w/ Brotha May & Baker Trouble. I can't stop watching it! That head bobbing! Very great and very weird.

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THEESatisfaction Performing on the KEXP Stage

Timothy Rysdyke — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 18:05:29 -0700

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How a Band That Was Maybe Going to Call It Quits Ended Up Recording the Perfect Summer Rock Album Instead

Christopher Frizzelle — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 17:42:54 -0700

Kelly O
RAISING THE INTELLIGENCE Everybody's got it easy but Lars Finberg.

You've been outside lately, right? How could you not? Your apartment is fucking hot. And yet 10 minutes ago, everyone was all, "Ugh, Juneuary!" "I always forget about Juneuary!" "Juneuary clouds again!" Now everyone's bursting with happiness, like stems of flowers growing bright new heads.

From the sound of it, the clouds have also cleared on The Intelligence. In the band's earliest stuff, there was an "Are you just trying to annoy me?" level of distortion wrapped around everything, a sonic weather storm worthy of Venus. But as time goes on, the fog of white noise is burning off. It's gotten to the point where frontman Lars Finberg's mom likes some of these songs. He told her, "I think there's like two songs on this you could actually listen to!" And then he played her "Techno Tuesday," the fourth track on Everybody's Got It Easy but Me and the first Intelligence song (ever) with a horn on it. Well, the first proper use of a horn—a horn that gives off that clear-skies, happy-to-be-here horn feeling. Technically, there was a horn on the song "Saint Bartolomeu," two albums ago, but it had so many effects on it, you couldn't tell it was a horn; it was just one sound among many in a hilarious and stressful cyclone.

Anyway, when Finberg's mom heard "Techno Tuesday," she said: "This is you? This is really pretty!"

Holiday Hardcore: The F.U.'s My America

Derek Erdman — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 13:15:06 -0700

If you're a fan of hardcore, there probably isn't a better day of the year to dig through your music collection and pull out all of the best tracks of American discontent. You can dig up a few tracks by MDC, perhaps some Agnostic Front, or you can make things easy on yourself and just listen to My America by the Boston's F.U.'s. It's brilliant, full of critical thinking, and it's over in less than 16 minutes.

My America was released in 1983, a year after the equally good Kill For Christ LP*. Boston hardcore was so hot at this time, boasting the highly influential compilation This Is Boston, Not L.A. which featured The Proletariat, The Freeze, Jerry's Kids, Gang Green and The F.U.'s. Other important bands to come out of Boston around this time were SS Decontrol, Negative FX and DYS. I can't even imagine being able to see all of these bands play live in the early 1980s.

Sarcastic patriotic lyrics and a goofy cover of Grand Funk Railroad's "We're an American Band" caused scene police to label the F.U.'s as right wing nationalists, but those were just people not in on the joke. The Dead Milkmen referenced them shortly afterward in the song "Tiny Town." A year later the F.U.'s adopted a more metal sound and released another LP, but I'm not really familiar with it. I like my hardcore bands to sound like hardcore bands.

Happy 4th of July! America: like it or lump it!

*I use LP liberally, these 45 rpm 12" records tend to zoom right by.

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And the Finalists for the 2012 Genius Award for Music Are...

Christopher Frizzelle — Thu, 10 May 2012 01:14:12 -0700

...right over here.

Polite Interloper #5: Eggs All in a Basket

Gabby Shrimpter — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:02:10 -0700

Hotline.

Um.

Hello? How can I help you?

(whispering) Yes, um, is this the psychic hotline?

Yes.

Yes, I would like to ask some questions.

Okay.

Alright, um. So, um. Well, I'm currently in a financial bind and I wanted to know what kind of outlook am I going to have in the future?

Um, I would say it looks to me like July until the end of the year 2012, looks like it's going to be pretty good for you. Um, but May and June are going to be pretty difficult. But it seems like you're going to get things figured out in the middle of July.

Okay. Um, also, I have this love interest that I've been pursuing for a while and she's um, I'm a sophomore and she's a senior and she's about to graduate and I've been pursuing her for a while and she just doesn't know whether to take the risk or not because she just doesn't...she, we know each other by a mutual friend, you know, things have come in the way before, and rumors and such, so she's afraid to take that risk and I'm just wondering [unintelligible].

It seems to me that, um you're not going to have a serious relationship with this girl. I mean it might be like, there might be some, some kind of relationship but it's not going to be anything serious or lasting.

So is there a chance of anything happening between us before she leaves?

Um, I'm not really sure about that. I just know that in the long run it's not someone you're going to end up with.

Am I going to find someone that's permanent in my life within the next two years?

Yes, within the next two years for sure. I'm looking at, like uh, December of this year you're going to meet someone who's going to be rather special to you.

Yes.

Um hm.

Um, so how is it going to look for my move to California when I graduate high school?

Uh well, it seems like, you're going to be moving to the Los Angeles area?

Um hm.

It seems to me that it's going to be difficult, a little difficult at first, but you're going to get, you're going to settle in quite well. You're going to meet a lot of new friends and um, really find a career that you're going to enjoy.

Um, is there a chance that my career might pick up before I turn 18?

Uh well, I think right now you should concentrate on school, getting done with school and then um, it seems to me like your career is going to pick up more when you're done with school, once you have uh, once you have those eggs all in a basket, if you know what I mean.

Yeah. I just needed some guidance, so...

I understand, I mean, things look pretty good, uh, for you, from what I'm reading over here.

Okay. Thank you.

Absolutely. Have a good Sunday!

And you.

Bye bye.

[hangs up]

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Hey, Happy Birthday Eddie Hazel!

Derek Erdman — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:20:03 -0700

Do you ever just play "Maggot Brain" at full blast and zone out on the blistering ten minutes of Eddie Hazel soloing like a madman? Because I do, often.

derek erdman

Eddie Hazel was born on April 10, 1950 in Brooklyn, New York. His mother Grace wanted to steer him away from a life of drugs and crime, so she moved him to Plainfield, New Jersey. His brother gave him a guitar for Christmas at a young age and Eddie started singing at church. At age 12, Eddie Hazel met Bill "Bass" Nelson and they quickly became close friends.

In 1967, a Plainfield doo-wop group called the Parliaments had a hit with "(I Wanna) Testify." The leader of the group, George Clinton, needed a backing band to tour and picked Bill Nelson to play bass. Nelson suggested adding Eddie Hazel on guitar. Hazel was only 17 at the time and his mother wasn't fond of the idea, but Clinton & Hazel convinced her it would be a good idea. Eventually the Parliaments became Funkadelic.

On the first track of Funkadelic's third album called Maggot Brain, Eddie Hazel was reported told by Clinton to imagine he had been told his mother was dead, but then learned that it was not true. The result was a track described by a critic as Funkadelic's A Love Supreme and was voted by Rolling Stone as number 60 of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time.

Hazel eventually left Funkadelic over a financial dispute with George Clinton, though he continued to work sporadically with the group for years afterward. Every song on 1974's Standing on the Verge of Getting It On (my go-to Funkadelic record, for sure) was co-written by Hazel. Later that year, Hazel was arrested for drug possession and for assaulting an airline stewardess and an air marshal.

Hazel released his only solo LP in 1977 titled Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs. It became a cut-out shortly after its release and is somewhat rare on vinyl.

On December 23, 1992, Hazel died from internal bleeding and liver failure.

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Polite Interloper #4: Looking For Something

Gabby Shrimpter — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:02:54 -0700

(BRRRRRRRRRRRP)

Hotline.

Yeah, is this the free psychic hotline?

Yes, this is the free psychic hotline.

Okay. Um, I'm not sure how this works. I've never called one before.

Are you looking for some information?

Yeah.

Is this information of financial nature?

No.

Is it a matter of the heart?

(urinating in bottle)

Um, a little bit, yeah. What are the other options?

Would you consider yourself a depressed person?

No.

But you're searching for something.

Yeah.

Do you have trouble with religion?

Not really.

Do you struggle on a day-to-day basis?

No.

What are you looking for?

(window opened)

I'm not sure. (chuckles)

But you're looking for something.

(bottle emptied)

Yeah.

(window closes)

What's your occupation?

Uh, unemployed.

What's your education level?

High school.

(background clatter)

Do you get a lot of physical exercise?

No.

Do you currently have a driver's license?

Yes.

I'm afraid that the psychic hotline is closed for the evening. You could call back tomorrow though.

(caller hangs up)

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Crypts Are Going to Be Fucking Huge

Grant Brissey — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:30:55 -0800

This should have been done yesterday, but Tim Keck had me chained to his desk until closing time (with no food or water).

Rachael Dlugolecki
Crypts

For anyone who saw that wholly embarrassing Nirvana cover night at EMP (I streamed it out of morbid curiosity), Crypts' disaster-ending was easily the most memorable thing that happened that night. Some may argue that it wasn't necessarily a good memory, but what do they know? The band was kicked out, and frontman Steve Snare said they didn't even get a copy of Taking Punk to the Masses. He said that's what really hurt*.

Rachael Dlugolecki
This girl flew all the way from Japan to see Crypts.

Anyway, for anyone who questioned their performance that night, Saturday's show at Neumos would put any doubts to rest. Some minor sound-mix issues aside, they were spot-on, and no one can say that Snere is not a striking performer (unless they are stupid). The songs took a form and structure I'd not previously heard, and that rewired CR-8000 (or something in their arsenal) does some magical and brooding low-end science. I don't know what you would call this stuff, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna go look around on the internet for some stupid genre name that doesn't mean anything to anyone but the five most extreme music nerds on the planet. All I know is I just want to hear more.

And this is where the good news comes in:

Bryce Brown, who tweaks knobs or something—I couldn't see exactly, because I was watching from the middle of the room, where the sound is best, and my glasses prescription is hella old—tells me they're headed into the studio with Erik Blood, which is an idea so genius they might have to rewrite the entries to the word "genius" for dictionaries and children's textbooks and science and stuff.

Rough Cut of "Completely Fucked"

*Not actually said.

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Lars Finberg's Now With Wounded Lion, Who Have a New Album Coming Out

Dave Segal — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:32:07 -0800

Stranger music Genius Lars Finberg has joined yet another band: LA’s Wounded Lion. He’s also a member of the Intelligence, Puberty, and Thee Oh Sees. In Wounded Lion, Finberg—ever the versatile, helpful sort—will be wielding guitar and punishing the drumkit. Good luck avoiding carpal-tunnel syndrome, Lars.

Check out “Going Into the Unknown,” a track off Wounded Lion’s new album, IVXLCDM (out Nov. 15 8 on In the Red). It’s a crepuscular, eerie slab of low-slung garage-rock brilliance that bodes well for the rest of the full-length. The video footage of Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is an unexpected bonus.

Press release after the cut.

WOUNDED LION RELEASE 'IVXLCDM' NOVEMBER 15TH THROUGH IN THE RED RECORDS

Through the release of several 45s and last year's debut LP, Wounded Lion have established themselves as Los Angeles' catchiest art-punk band. Fans have stopped and paid attention to their exciting and weirdly direct live shows as well as their strange and original music videos. When someone experiences Wounded Lion for the first time, their spine both relaxes and activates with happiness as they realize that something really genuine and cool is alive in the LA underground and that they don't just have to rely on rad memories of the Urinals, Suburban Lawns, or Wall of Voodoo to know that something is skulking through toxic runoff of the entertainment capital of the world.

With this LP, the Lion has grown smarter and meaner with the addition of Lars Finberg (chief INTELLIGENCE officer, original pounder for the A FRAMES, and current drummer #2 for THEE OH SEES) nailing it behind the drum kit and adding rich, fucked-futurist guitar action. The LP was recorded by the singular Chris Woodhouse (MAYYORS, KARATE PARTY, etc.), and the sound of the album is dense and purposeful with clattering duel-Telecaster strum, tube amp hum and feel it in your chest kick drum. (

All the other Lions bring their A game in 10 songs recorded live over a whole 2 days, mostly in single takes, straight to the goo of two-inch tape. The dudes rocked. Tambourines were destroyed. They dug a tunnel out of a Black Ops prison with sound. They sang about numbers, animals, artificial catagories, a specific episode of the Love Boat, and going into the unknown. The absurd and the sincere had a baby and it doesn't have a name. Go ahead, hold the baby - it feels good!

One of the best records of 2011- not just from Los Angeles or the underground, but from the entire spectrum of activity of living things in the universe!

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Michael Winslow: The Radar Appears To Be Jammed

Derek Erdman — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:18:21 -0700

One of my favorite memories of visiting Seattle before I moved here is of watching Cheech & Chong's Next Movie with Ruben Mendez, which includes this brilliant segment with mouth-sound master Michael Winslow:

Born in Spokane, Washington, Winslow's first TV appearance was on The Gong Show where he wowed the audience with an astounding version of an episode of Benji & Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze."

Winslow went on to make a record and act in a bunch of movies, including his memorable role in Police Academy as Cadet Larvell Jones in every Police Academy movie (Police Academy, Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, Police Academy 3: Back in Training, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol, Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach, Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow) and Police Academy: The TV Series from 1997 until 1998. Click the above links for highlights from each film. If the first 58 seconds from the Police Academy 2 clip doesn't have you ROFLing, I applaud your determined humorlessness.

Of course, this classic can never be forgotten:

In 2010, Michael Winslow debuted his own iPhone and iPod Touch apps. Sometimes life totally fucking rules.

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Extra Lars: The Intelligence Genius Interview Outtakes

Dave Segal — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:27:42 -0700

Kelly O
Lars Finberg: Made $600 on the last Intelligence national tour.

The Intelligence’s Lars Finberg is The Stranger’s musical Genius of 2011. He’s also a wizard at the obscure art of giving good quote. Not every wonderful insight and amusing observation Finberg dropped in our interview for the Genius profile made it into the piece, and a lot of them are too good to languish in my archives. So, without further whatchamacallit, I present some of our Q&A exchange that hit the cutting-room floor, but that now lives FOREVER on Line Out. You’re welcome. (The Stranger's Genius Awards party is tonight at the Moore Theatre.)

You were still in the A Frames, a great and respected band, when you started the Intelligence (I read it in Wikipedia, so it must be true). What were you trying to accomplish with the Intelligence? Please discuss your mindset and the circumstances of your life when you began the band.

I was in a band I'm embarrassed of the name (I tried to change it but was out-voted as we were a punk-rock democracy) that actually had a single on Sub Pop maybe around ’97? We fought over everything from artwork to practice times so when we broke up arguing over a record display in Cellophane Square and the drummer stacked all of my equipment like a giant seven-foot monolith in front of my back door, I started recording on a 4 track by myself. It was really freeing to do it alone and try to play drums and make fake little albums [that] I would work on all day and then see how it panned out at night. I was playing in a band called Toy Train (another name I didn't like!) with Shannon Funchess, who is now in !!! and Light Asylum. I tried to change our name to the Intelligence and was voted down again. So I took the name and thought I'd apply it to my home recordings and the joke would be the Intelligence —I'VE FIGURED IT OUT! NO ONE CAN TELL ME WHAT TO DO EVER BECAUSE I'M THE ONLY ONE HERE!

From there I recorded our first 7" and Dean [Whitmore] from Unnatural Helpers and Min [Yee] from A Frames and some other friends liked it and wanted to help me do it live. Then Min got married and busy and replaced, Dean hated someone else, so they got replaced, Dean hated me and got replaced, ETC ETC ETC. But this all actually started happening a minute before the A Frames, technically I had my single done before the first A Frames single, but I think we thought it would be cooler to have the A Frames be the 001 on our Dragnet Label—but probably more accurate is that A Frames could afford to put theirs out first.

I think if I had any kind of goal with the Intelligence it was that the bands before had been trying to do something specific—let’s sound like the Jesus Lizard (except played by inept 20-year-old wimps)—let’s sound like DJ Shadow (specifically "building steam with a grain of salt...") but with singing, etc. With the home recordings, I was just trying to make up whatever came naturally, which was kinda skewed, weird rock and roll. I heard two things that year that really shaped me: first was Bend Sinister, not the Fall LP but Erin and Min's pre-A Frames band and the Country Teasers’ Satan Is Real Again. When I heard that stuff, my first thought was, ‘Oh, I'm doing it wrong.’

Do you have any routines you enact or any failsafe creative methods you use when songwriting? Or can songs come to you in many different ways, at unexpected times? Maybe you could outline how certain songs—what you think are your best—came into being.

There are a few models I guess:
1. Just plug things in and record and write along to what happens—most of Boredom and Terror is this way. Roll the drum machine for two minutes, make up a bass line on the keyboard , let that sit for two days, come up with a guitar part or three keyboard parts, dig through an old note book and find something that doesn't make you cringe to sing. ‘The World Is a Drag’ (maybe I do cringe some) or ‘Cheer Up Switch’ or the entire Crepuscule with Pacman LP is a good example of this.
2. Write a guitar riff and singing part, the basic bones of a song, and fill in the rhythm second accordingly. Half of Icky Baby and most of Deuteronomy is this way: ‘Dating Cops’ is a good example of this.
3. Totally random but woodshedded a bit. Find a $11.99 keyboard at a thrift store and dig the tone called ‘Marimba,’ use the two chords I know to make up a little riff, have my dad tell me he has and idea for a song for me called ‘Estate Sales,’ and after turning down ‘Wire Monkey Mama,’ try to throw him a bone and end up writing the only real linear narrative song that isn't written in secret code.
4. The whole thing comes while walking down the street. ‘Moody Tower,’ ‘Confidence,’ and our best new song ‘(They Found Me in the Back Of) The Galaxy,’ are like this. I hope that happens more.
5. ‘Males’: have three half-baked riffs laying around, extra tape and time at the studio, five words on a scrap of paper, glue 'em all together, and you got a TITLE TRACK.

Why have the Intelligence had so many lineup changes? You seem like such a charming fellow to work with.

Let me try to start from the beginning: tricky marriages, don't come to practice, want to work on their own band, they move to California or Detroit, they get in a fistfight at practice, we break up, they hate someone in the band, they steal our friends’ things on tour, they don't tell you they lost their passport on the way to Canada, they burst into tears and tell European promoters touring is too hard, their favorite band is the Gossip, they stare at the merch suitcase in the middle of the street while a taxi runs it over, they get pregnant on tour. Besides two morons, I am still friends with everyone who's ever been in the band or at least they act like we are...

How does the Lars Finberg of Males view the Lars Finberg of Boredom and Terror and the singles/EPs that preceded it?

I don't think anything has changed much except deep gratitude that we are able to make money, record with a budget, and have fans that buy our stuff and warrant touring. I can't tell you how grateful I am that I get to spend this much time making music and don't have to work in the basement of an Art School I still owe money to anymore.

So, you’re now in Thee Oh Sees, the Intelligence, Puberty and Wounded Lion. Do you have time to do anything else besides make/play music? I heard you work a job that involves watching films for accuracy in subtitles or something like that. How does that occupation impact on your creative life?

It's been music nonstop for the most part since January, either recording or touring. I technically have a job doing subtitle quality control, which on a tough day consists of watching Meet the Fockers on a grainy monitor making sure the Arabian subtitles are consistent and on a good day watching Roman Polanski's Frantic on a giant TV without subtitles. But I've hardly been able to work—I'm traveling so much. More interesting, though, is moving into sound recording and playback for commercials and music videos. I've got to work some surreal jobs with the likes of Drew Carey and Lemmy [Kilmister of Motörhead] and Ellie Goulding. On a side note, Matt Sorum from Guns N’ Roses is stiffing me $600 on a video job.

What was the impetus to start Puberty?

Susanna [Welbourne, the Intelligence’s keyboardist] and I were listening to a lot of Tones on Tail, Fun Boy Three, and U-Roy and wanted to do the opposite of the Intelligence and be out of our element, not play any instruments, be front people, make a fashionable effort, make pure pop music and be the opposite of most of bands we saw on tour, which is not be afraid to come across as TRYING TO ENTERTAIN PEOPLE. We talked about it for a long time and then Susanna came up with the Trainwreck night and we wanted a band to play but couldn't think of anyone right for it so I wrote a bunch of songs and we got the band together of all our old friends we'd always wanted to play with and rehearsed for a month and had such a great time and so the shows were so great it became a real thing.

What spurred you to join Thee Oh Sees?

The asked me to come and play on their next recording, so I went to Sacramento for four days, played drums, guitar, and keyboards and at the end they told me it was a litmus test to see how it'd go and would I like to join the band. [Thee Oh Sees leader] John Dwyer and I have been friends for over 10 years and we've been friends with Thee Oh Sees from the start, so I jumped at the chance and it is a blast and a half.

The tour diary that you wrote for The Stranger last December was a masterpiece of sardonic observation and witty self-deprecation—one of the funniest things ever published in the paper. That being said, do you feel like, a dozen or so years into your musical career, you should be operating above the indignities outlined in that piece? Why should dullards like the National or Bon Iver receive more per gig than the Intelligence do for an entire tour? Why should they be staying in 4-star hotels while you crash on friends’/strangers’ floors?

Thank you very much, I'm thrilled it was so well received. It's funny, after I sent the first entry I didn't hear back for a couple days and just sent y’all a text saying, ‘I guess that sucked, sorry!?’ I will only sound like Billy Corgan saying we deserve more, but I will say on our last month-and-a-half US tour we each made $600, which is kinda sad, but more than 93 percent of other bands make, so I'll keep my head up.

What is your definition of success in the music world?

Not having a day job is probably the main thing. I would like to not owe $5,000 on my escalating credit card on our van. I would like to not play through a Peavey amp. Otherwise, we know we are lucky with what we've got.

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The Stranger Genius Award Party Is This Friday!!!

Grant Brissey — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:56:22 -0700

Here's some weirdly placed cameras that do a decent job of catching what an absolute blast Wild Orchid Children are live:

They're fun live in a way that their records don't always convey. And then guess what else we did? We got Wheedle's Groove to headline! They don't even sound anything like each other! We're Crazy! What's more you ask? What's more is we have the venerable OC Notes deejaying as well as Emerald City Soul Club. There is so much dance for your ass at this party that you won't be able to move it for a week. All of this for only $7. YOU ARE STEALING IT. All the pertinent info for the party is right here. Buy your tickets right now and let's do this thing.

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Genius Confirmed, Plus: THE PARTY COMETH!

Bethany Jean Clement — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:42:06 -0700

We called it last fall, and now The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones confirms: Shabazz Palaces equals genius ("it is unlikely the group will chart high" is high praise these days). Big ups to Ish and Tendai.

And this year's genius party is coming right up: September 16th, 9:30 p.m. at the Moore, with Wheedle's Groove, Wild Orchid Children, Emerald City Soul Club, and OCNotes. Get a ticket!

KYLE JOHNSON / THE STRANGER
Genius.

In case you missed it, the 2011 Genius Award for music goes to... the Intelligence. They got their QFC sheet cake, and their $5,000 check (and, obviously, review in The New Yorker) are coming soon.

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What Is the Best Intelligence song?

Dave Segal — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:32:54 -0700

Lars Finberg of the Intelligence, last year, pre-Genius.

The Intelligence recently earned The Stranger's 2011 Genius award for music. It's a well-deserved honor. As I've been re-immersing myself in the band's catalog lately, I've realized that it's very hard to pick a favorite track from among their six albums and 14 singles and EPs. Right now, my top song is "Cheer Up Switch," but it fluctuates from day to day—if not hour to hour. How about you? What's your favorite Intelligence track? Vote in the poll below. [Note: "Estate Sales" is the correct title. Apologies.]

The Intelligence—led by sole constant member Lars Finberg—will be awarded their prize at The Stranger's ninth annual Genius Award party Fri. Sept. 16 at the Moore Theatre. This is going to be a heady shindig featuring performances by Wheedle's Groove and Wild Orchid Children, plus DJ sets by OC Notes and Emerald City Soul Club. You can get tickets here.

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And the 2011 Genius Award in Music Goes To