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(Photo by Jacob Hand)
On their fourth official full-length effort, Eskimo Snow, Oakland’s beloved psychedelic folk-hoppers WHY? take a decidedly less hip-hop approach to their song-writing. Recorded during the 2007 sessions that birthed Alopecia, the band’s last, more robust and rap-inspired record, the 10-song set reveals a lighter and more spacious side of WHY? – songs that feel more like “song-songs” according to frontman Yoni Wolf.
“Eskimo Snow is intentionally what it is I suppose,” the singer/rapper cryptically states in a chat with CHIRP. “But [it’s] not like we said before we made it, ‘let’s make an album that is not rap’ or anything like that. It’s just what we happened to come up with.”
The more live and stripped-down feel on Eskimo Snow was no doubt made possible in part by session players Andrew Broder and Mark Erickson of the Minneapolis-based outfit Fog who rounded out the band to 5 members in the studio. The two longtime collaborators and friends of WHY? will also be joining them on the road this time around and the whole band is doing what they do to prepare the 40+ date trek which will include stops in Australia and New Zealand. “The Fog boys are most definitely in tow in a big way, they are sounding strong; sounding super!” Wolf enthuses. “Of course, we’ve rehearsed an awful lot for the tour. And between rehearsals Broder likes to jump rope, Josiah [Wolf, Yoni’s brother and drummer] likes to work on this house (today he was putting up insulation) and the rest of us…do other stuff I guess.”
“Other stuff” for Yoni meant recently lending his consuming and reviewing skills to TheYoundAndHungry.com with his version of a New York vegan restaurant review. “Though I was extremely busy, my friend Jena asked me to write that,” he admits. “She’s the kind of very attractive woman you find it hard to say no to. So, I did it and I’m glad I did! It was a lot of fun and I could see myself starting a whole new career. I am surely a big fan of food.”
In true WHY? fashion, cooking up another uniquely awesome record called for another batch of unique and awesome album art. To help him flesh-out the many ideas he had for the look of the album, Yoni enlisted the help of photographer Phoebe Streblow and layout artist Sam Flax Keener. The resulting image utilizes paint, photography and collage and vividly depicts a mummy figure with a bouquet of flowers for a head and an eerily lit purple wall for a backdrop. “It is my favorite WHY? cover so far,” Yoni says. “It took me a long long time (months) to come to this idea after having so many others, but I think things finally came together. I had a lot of help from my friends on it.”
As one of the founding members of the anticon collective, Yoni Wolf knows all too well the value of a supportive group of forward-thinking friends. Although some of the crew have branched out to other bands and labels, anticon remains thick as thieves and has injected some young blood (in the form of Serengeti & Polyphonic, Tobacco and Anathallo) to help keep the operation afloat. “I love all those guys,” he says of the label’s rookie acts. “They probably wouldn’t be a part of the label if I felt differently. We are doing quite a few shows with Chicago’s own Serengeti & Polyphonic [on this tour] and we’ve toured with Anathallo (also a Chicago band) and Tobacco in the near past. I’m very much looking forward to the future of anticon.”
Why? is playing tomorrow night (Oct. 5th) at the Bottom Lounge
What’s the iPod/MP3 Shuffle? It’s just a way to get people to share music and foster some discussion. I started doing this on my Facebook page a while back and it’s been great seeing friends exchange comments on each others lists. Every Friday, I get out my 120 GB iPod (which has about 24,000 songs now), hit shuffle and write about the first 10 songs that come up. Sometimes the 10 songs are kind of conventional, sometimes there’s a lot of obscure stuff. So check mine out and please add your own shuffle or discuss other people’s shuffles!
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Good morning! Here in Chicago, the Goodman Theater is reviving The Marx Brothers’ Broadway play Animal Crackers. And today is Groucho Marx’s birthday. Remember, as Groucho once said, “The Lord Alps those who Alps themselves.” — so Alp yourself and everyone else by grabbing your iPod/iTunes/MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first 10 tunes that come up with everyone else.
We at CHIRP were shocked and saddened to hear about The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir’s serious highway accident yesterday. SYGC has been a good friend to CHIRP since our inception, performing at benefits for us and being generally awesome.
In addition to having injuries requiring hospitalization, the band has lost their van and all of their equipment.
Bloodshot Records has set up a recovery fund you can donate to via PayPal. Please join us in contributing to this fund, and share this link with your friends. Tweet it, Facebook it, Digg it, get the word out.
Thanks.
[UPDATE] I changed the news link above to the Bloodshot Records’ news item on their site, because it will be updated as new information becomes available. (Latest news: Mark’s condition upgraded from “Critical” to “Serious”.) If you want the original “breaking news” link I had up before, you can find it here.
What’s the iPod/MP3 Shuffle? It’s just a way to get people to share music and foster some discussion. I started doing this on my Facebook page a while back and it’s been great seeing friends exchange comments on each others lists. Every Friday, I get out my 120 GB iPod (which has about 24,000 songs now), hit shuffle and write about the first 10 songs that come up. Sometimes the 10 songs are kind of conventional, sometimes there’s a lot of obscure stuff. So check mine out and please add your own shuffle or discuss other people’s shuffles!
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Let’s give it up for the man who played Potsie on Happy Days, Anson Williams. He may not have been as cool as the Fonz, but he was the lead singer of the band he was in with Richie Cunningham and Ralph Malph. That’s worth something, isn’t it? In Anson’s honor, grab your iPod/iTunes/MP3 player, hit shuffle and share the first 10 tunes that come up!
Before we get started, a quick word of introduction.
CHIRP was formed, in part, to focus on independent musicians and artists that are underrepresented on the bigger, more commercial stations. All too often, in my opinion, that group includes female artists. Or rather, female artists that are more than just a pretty face and an auto-tuner. As a classically trained percussionist and a drummer, the subject of women in rock is one that is near and dear to my heart. I co-hosted the Women on Women Radio Program for years, I have spoken on panels devoted to women in rock, and heck, I even wrote my Master’s thesis on female musicians.
This post then, marks the first in a series of mini-bios highlighting female musicians who are particularly noteworthy or groundbreaking, female-led bands that have injustly slipped through the cracks into obscurity, and/or just my personal favorite ladies in the industry. I’d like to start off this feature with a look at one of the first all-female rock and roll bands: Goldie & the Gingerbreads.
Born in the era of girl groups, American band Goldie & the Gingerbreads stood out for one very important reason: they played their own instruments. In fact, the Gingerbreads were the first all-female rock band signed to a major label (Atlantic subsidiary Atco), and the first to have any sort of chart success. While other girl groups and female artists had already gained popularity within rock and roll and made an impact on the charts, these women were primarily, if not exclusively, singers. Furthermore, their backing bands were nearly always 100% male. With Goldie Zelkowitz on vocals, Carol MacDonald on guitar, Margo Lewis on organ, and Ginger Bianco on drums, the Gingerbreads were nothing short of groundbreaking. At the same time, however, they were something of a novelty in the male-dominated music industry. MacDonald readily acknowledges this fact: “‘We didn’t think anything of it,’ she says. ‘We got more jobs because they were exploiting the hell out of us. All Girl Band! They’d do the whole thing, tits and ass. And we didn’t care. We were happy because we knew we could play, and we were knocking the socks off most of the male bands. And the guys couldn’t believe it. They’d start laughing, and then they’d walk out crying’” (Garr 59). In fact, the Gingerbreads toured with some of the biggest male rock acts of the time: the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Yardbirds, and the Hollies, to name but a few. They even had a hit in England with the song “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat,” which was later a hit in the U.S. for Herman’s Hermits.
Their success, however, was limited, and their enjoyment of fame tempered by Atlantic’s manipulation of their public image. Before MacDonald joined the Gingerbreads, she recorded solo for Atlantic under the name Carol Shaw. “‘They wanted me to be Lesley Gore,’ she says. ‘My first record, “Jimmy Boy,” was that type of thing. So they give me this image, and I’m not happy. I’m not playing guitar, number one, and I’m not doing my own music” (Garr 58). Her annoyance only increased when, a few years later, the Gingerbreads were asked to record “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat.” “‘I hated the song,’ says MacDonald. ‘We’re doing stuff like “Harlem Shuffle,” and then they give us this “Every time I see you… dee da dee de dee.” Eeeow! I said, “Goldie! What are we doing?” She said, “We gotta do what they say!” It’s like we had to do everything they said or we were not going to be successful’” (Garr 60).
Still, the band engaged in their own small rebellions against the prevalent negative stereotypes of female musicians. Goldie recalls, “‘We’d walk into a club with all our instruments and you could see the owner going “Oh my God, these broads? They know how to play? They really know how to play?” We’d set up and have a sound check and play totally out of tune, and I would sing the wrong lyrics. And the guy’d be chewing on his cigar going “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!” And by the time we went on and counted off the song, we were cookin’. You could see the cigar drop and the guy had a heart attack… We had fun with this’” (Garr 59).
Ultimately, however, Goldie and the Gingerbreads folded due to misappropriation of finances by their management, the pressures of relentless touring, and the disappointment of never breaking big in the States. Goldie went on to become Genya Ravan and front Ten Wheel Drive (who reportedly turned down a spot at Woodstock), and later produced the Dead Boys’ debut record. Carol MacDonald and Ginger Bianco went on to form the influential jazz/funk band Isis, which later also included Margo Lewis and original Gingerbreads’ pianist Carol O’Grady. While the Gingerbreads may not have found the widespread acceptance or acclaim they craved, by the mere fact of their existence they nonetheless fought the rigidly institutionalized sexism that limited women in the music industry at the time, and paved the way for future all-girl bands to be taken seriously.
Works Cited:
Garr, Gillian G. She’s A Rebel: The History of Women in Rock and Roll (expanded second edition). New York: Seal, 2002.
Additional Reading:
Wikipedia
AllMusic
Genya Ravan’s homepage
This article also appeared on the WOW Music Blog