The CHIRP Blog
He came from Oklahoma to Bakersfield, California, added a bigger beat to honky-tonk music, and became one of the biggest stars in country music history. Buck Owens picked great material, could pen a decent tune himself, and was blessed with an awesome band, The Buckaroos, led by the incomparable Don Rich on lead guitar. Owens dominated the country charts in the ’60s, as sometimes his A-sides would hit number one, only to be supplanted by the B-sides. He once had a letter printed in a trade magazine, apologizing for edging too much towards rock ‘n’ roll, and then turned around and released a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Memphis”. And, of course, he was covered by The Beatles, who did his classic “Act Naturally”. His influence lived on, touching Dwight Yoakam and others. Let’s all salute the man with the red, white and blue guitar by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle, and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.
- Arcwelder — You (Pull): This Minneapolis trio played an awesome blend of melodic guitar rock, somewhat in the vein of bands like Husker Du, blended with some noise rock and post-punk rhythms. Throw in some great harmony vocals, and you have one hell of a band. This song relies on a circular guitar riff and creative drumming, with an explosive instrumental breakdown.
- Eagles Of Death Metal — I’m Your Torpedo (Heart On): Some EODM songs are funky ’70s drenched hard rock. But sometimes, inevitably, they edge a bit more towards the sounds of Queens Of The Stone Age. This song is one of those numbers. However, the instrumental approach is different. The Eagles’ songs are often centered on the rhythms, and this is no exception. The repetitive rhythm on this song verges on Krautrock, connecting the dots from Neu to Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult on a pretty exciting track.
- Tom Verlaine — The Scientist Writes A Letter (Flash Light): A contemplative song from the great Television guitarist. Keyboards actually dominate this song and the hook of the song is a pretty keyboard line that punctuates every verse of the song. One of Verlaine’s best solo tracks, which is saying something, because all of his solo albums are worthwhile.
- The White Stripes — The Air Through My Fingers (Elephant): This song really swings. Yes, Meg White’s drumming is simple but it doesn’t get in the way of the blues riff that first is played on the guitar and then gets a funkier treatment on the electric piano. Jack White is typically playful on this fun number.
- LCD Soundsystem — Drunk Girls (This Is Happening): A straightforward rock number with a bit of a Bowie sound, and James Murphy’s sense of humor. I know some folks think that each LCD album got weaker, but I like them all pretty much equally. I hope Murphy reconsiders his decision to retire the band.
- Joyride — 1, 2, 3 Red Light (Right To Chews: Bubblegum Classics Revisited): I don’t recall much about Joyride, but they do a real nice job on this cover of the oldie from The 1910 Fruitgum Company (who were represented in last week’s shuffle). This is one of my favorite bubblegum songs, as it is so innocent, but it’s about a horny guy who wants to go further with his girl, but she won’t let him.
- Starflyer 59 — Teens In Love (I Am The Portuguese Blues): This ostensibly Christian rock band takes a slightly different approach with each album. This album was a rocker. This song sports a chunky riff that could have come from a Lenny Kravitz record. The loud guitars contrast with the solid melody and soothing vocals. Might be the best song on a good album.
- Frisbie — Pick A Flower (Period): The forgotten second album from this wonderful Chicago band. The circumstances of the record, which came out in a limited pressing, are unusual. The band’s original drummer, Zack Kantor, had to leave the band due to mental health issues. Kantor wrote a significant percentage of the band’s songs, and this album, recorded by the band as a trio (Steve Frisbie and Liam Davis on vocals and acoustic guitars, Eddie Carlson on bass), recorded a batch of those songs at a show at Fitzgerald’s. While the band might not think the recordings as ideal, Kantor was a great songwriter, performances are heartfelt, making for a resonant effort. This song has a bit of an R & B undercurrent with an unusual ascending melody in the chorus.
- Robyn Hitchcock — You’ve Got A Sweet Mouth On You, Baby (Jewels For Sophia): A whimsical talking blues which shows the inlluence of early Dylan. Hitchcock gives a low key performance and it’s obvious that he’s having fun on this simple song.
- The La De Das — How Is The Air Up There? (Nuggets II): A garage rock classic. This song is basically electrified folk rock with a modified Bo Diddley beat underneath and a great chorus to shout along with. Fits well between the early Rolling Stones and The Seeds.
Judson Claiborne has two albums to its credit, and its understated folk rock has only gotten better. Mystical observations of the world co-mingle with warbly, weary vocals reminiscent of Tim Rutili (Califone, Red Red Meat) to leave a heart-shaped imprint in your ears. Judson Claiborne answered some questions for CHIRP in anticipation of their upcoming Coach House Sounds session, available at www.coachhousesounds.com on August 16th, 2011. Hear preview tracks all week on CHIPRadio.org and download the session next week!
1. What the dumbest thing you’ve ever done in a basement?
I tried to slow dance with a security guard in the basement of the Saint Louis Art Museum while on LSD. It was the Ancient Egypt exhibit maybe? I was wearing headphones, listening to Dead Can Dance’s Into the Labyrinth on the walkman. She was a good sport about it, I think.
*2. Can you tell me about one time when you realized this was YOUR city? *
While living in Seattle last fall and winter, trying to find a hot dog without cream cheese all over it. I’m serious.
3. Describe a scenario where Judson Claiborne could be someone’s life coach and the top 2 life lessons you’d teach them.
To quote one of my favorite bank robbers – “spirit ain’t spit without exercise”. You can’t expect to survive life’s gravity or steal a hundred thousand dollars without dancing around or riding your bike everyday. Also, it’s a real good idea to say hello and nod to people on the street. Get to know your neighbors and ask them to tell you their stories. I’d give this advice to anybody, any ol’ time.
4. Tell me about your CHS session—what did you like about it? Was there anything that surprised you or was spontaneous that came out in the recording?
It was nice running into The Eternals on the way out of their session. It was our first time recording with The Reverend Jacob F. Ross, our new guitar player, so that was some nice nervous excitement to play with. There are polaroids all over the place down there of bands who’ve done CHS sessions previously. I imagined these bands recording, then being blasted into outer space. “What will outer space feel like?”, I wondered. Am I in outer space?
5. What’s happening? What are your current/upcoming shows or releases?
My band and I are working on a new record. We’re doing a little bit of everything right now. Just spent two days out at Key Club Recording Company in Benton Harbor, MI with our Engineer Tim Iseler and his new life partner in crime, Marketa Irglova. She sang some amazing harmonies on a couple of songs we’re working on and made a mean home made Tomato Cream Soup. Still plenty of writing to do, we’re planning for a spring 2013 release. Been thinking / reading about successful bank robbers and whirling dervishes. In other news, I’m playing a really interesting music festival here in Chicago on Aug 13 called Found Sound . It’s a site specific series of performances in Ukrainian Village. You grab a map and bike around to experience shows in garages, backyards, or the Duk’s hot dog stand patio, which is where I’m playing. Also finishing up a residency at Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar in Bridgeport on Aug 14..
CHIRP Radio is an all-volunteer effort. We would like to introduce you to some of the people who make the station what it is!
Blake Burkhart was born in Chicago, raised in the nearby suburbs to the North and now is a member of the Ukrainian Village community. He studied Documentary Filmmaking at Columbia College Chicago for undergrad and graduated in 2008.
Aside from his day-to-day grind, Blake does freelance Video and Photo projects for clients (mostly Chicagoland artists/bands), and sometimes purely to entertain himself. He is most at home behind the lens of a camera and now has plans to take on more projects than ever before in the coming months. He’s somewhat handy with a bass, shaky with a guitar, and is now attempting to learn the drums (slowly but surely….very slowly).
Blake has been a CHIRP volunteer since February 2011. He has enjoyed every second of his involvement from handing out fliers and telling nice Chicagoans what CHIRP is all about, to conducting interviews for the guest department including: Cut Copy, Architecture in Helsinki, Battles and Art Brut. He has also done photo work for CHIRP and is in the early stages of some CHIRP-related video projects.
He has just started DJ training, and is thrilled at the prospect of gracing the CHIRP airwaves one day soon. Blake will continue to tell anyone who will listen that joining CHIRP easily ranks among the best decisions of his life and he has high hopes for his future involvement with the best radio station in the world.
He’s MCA, he’s Nathaniel Hornblower, he’s a Free Tibet kind of guy. Of course, I’m talking about Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. His slightly raspy voice has offset the whinier Mike D. and King Ad-rock, dropping killer rhymes for years. The Beastie Boys are rap legends, who proved detractors wrong again and again, becoming elder statesmen in the process. Yauch has apparently overcome cancer and the Boys are reaping plaudits for their recent Hot Sauce Committee album. Since Paul’s Boutique has about as many samples as any album ever made, I’m sure Yauch would appreciate the shuffle. So grab your iPod or MP3 player, hit shuffle, and share the first 10 songs that come up…for Adam. I’m sure he’d want it that way.
- A.C. Newman — The Changeling (Get Guilty) (Get Guilty): On Newman’s first solo album, he developed some things that he later incorporated into The New Pornographers. On his excellent second album, the songwriting was more consistent with his main gig. The main difference is that the overall sound is a bit less dense. Newman put together a great supporting cast, and the songwriting is really strong, making for an effort that ranks with the best of The New Pornographers’ albums. This is a really nice mid-tempo song.
- Fleetwood Mac — Landslide (Fleetwood Mac): A terrific Steve Nicks tune from her first album with the Mac. This song has a quality that’s not too far from Dolly Parton or Emmylou Harris, with just a bit of a Laurel Canyon aspect. As time moves on, the first three Fleetwood Mac albums with Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham seem to get better and better.
- Paul Revere & The Raiders — Observation From Flight 285 (In 3/4 Time) (Somthing’s Happening): A piece of psych-pop fluff from Paul Revere & The Raiders. They started out as a classic frat party band, with a great facility for R & B and rock ‘n’ roll. As they evolved, they became a pop machine, with a chameleon-like ability to take on any style and sound good. This is a tribute to the versatility of singer Mark Lindsey. This song is somewhere between The Bee Gees and Chad & Jeremy. Sweet stuff.
- 1910 Fruitgum Company — Goody Goody Gumdrops (The Best of the 1910 Fruitgum Company): A fine bubblegum hit from the band that also gave us “Simple Simon Says” and “1, 2, 3, Red Light”. It’s all about the hook, and this song has a big one.
- The Sonics — Dirty Robber (Here Are The Sonics): A rock ‘n’ roll burner in the tradition of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis from arguably the greatest garage rock band of the ’60s. The playing isn’t quite as frenzied as on the best Sonics’ sides, but Rosalie is totally into it, and there is a fine honking sax solo.
- Lime Spiders — Save My Soul (Headcleaner): Best known for “Slave Girl”, this Aussie garage band from the ’80s featured the shredding vocals of Mick Blood. This song relies on soft/loud dynamics and is a rave up somewhat in the style of The Animals or Yardbirds.
- The Casual Dots — Evil Operations Classified (The Casual Dots): Christina Billotte of Autoclave and Slant 6 continued with her beguiling mix of post-punk and more traditional ’50s and surf rock tropes. This song has a number of styles, portrayed on the guitar, played over a loping beat. From ska like riffing, to surf guitar to melodic Buzzcocks like blasts, this song is quite something.
- Ron Sexsmith — Impossible World (Exit Strategy of the Soul): A philosophical number from Ron Sexsmith. While he usually focuses on matters of the heart and vignettes, this is Sexsmith trying to figure out why we experience so much pain. And he sings to a typically warm and pithy melody.
- Anton Barbeau — Stewart Mason (Guladong): A driving paean to ultra-knowledgable writer Stewart Mason. Whether any of the details of the song are accurate, I would not know, but having a bouncy pop-rock tune with your name in it, from a fine Bay Area pop eccentric is pretty darned cool. I think this is the second time this has come up in a shuffle.
- XTC — Harvest Festival (Apple Venus, Volume 1): The penultimate XTC album is their last classic, full on sumptuous orch-pop songs. This is a pretty baroque pop song with three distinctive killer melodies. Andy Partridge’s lyrics are evocative of the past, with precise detail. The way the melody of the verse melts into the chorus is perfection, and then is countered by middle eight that douses the fuzzy nostalgia with a dose of reality, which explains why we are nostalgic. This is an amazing song, yet there are at least two or three tracks on the album that are even better.
Let’s pay tribute to Charlie Christian. Who is he? Merely one of the earliest, if not the earliest, innovators on the electric guitar. He is the man who turned the guitar into a solo instrument, getting his start in 1940, playing with Benny Goodman. But his legacy isn’t just about being the first prominent electric guitarist. Some say his distinctive playing was a precursor to bebop. He is certainly a figure who should be remembered. So let’s salute Mr. Christian by getting out your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle, and sharing the first 10 tunes that come up.
- Robyn — In My Eyes (Body Talk, Pt. 2): You’ve got to figure that some day, Robyn will be back topping the pop charts. Her three records last year were brimming with melodic dance floor fare, sometime with pretty decent lyrics. One thing I appreciate about her music is that she seems to take inspiration from a wide swath of electronic pop music, so her albums play like the best of the ’80s to now in the various trends in synthesized stuff. This is a mid-tempo number with a particularly urgent vocal, with some wise mulit-tracking in spots.
- Bill Moss — Sock It To ‘Em Soul Brother (Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label): This is from the first ever Numero Group compilation, which chronicled this Ohio label. Moss, the founder of the label, was a singer who liked positive messages. This song has a light funk groove, somewhere between James Brown and Sam and Dave as Moss lists famous black people and emphasizes that African-Americans need to work hard and they can make it. Of course, Moss never would have anticipated that O.J. Simpson would later not be much of a role model.
- Doleful Lions — Ocean Stars (The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here!): A bouncy tune from the Lions’ second album, finding Jonathan Scott trading in jangly pop that would fit well in between The Smiths and The Housemartins. Hearing his angelic voice sound quite playful on this fairly simple tune is a real pleasure. Fun song.
- Guided By Voices — Everywhere By Helicopter (Universal Truths And Cycles): A slicing, riffy tune from GBV. This song seems somewhere between ’60s freakbeat with a bit of punk rock snarl. I could actually hear The Smithereens covering this, though it would be a bit cuddlier.
- The Byrds — Hickory Wind (Sweethearts Of The Rodeo): A weepy country ballad from this seminal country rock effort. Gram Parsons caused a major shift in The Byrds’ sound, as they suddenly purveyed classic country sounds. The sincerity is evident, but I find this album to be overrated, as the band is often too measured and the vocals aren’t that strong. One would be better off with a contemporary Buck Owens or Merle Haggard album.
- The Wonder Stuff — The Animals And Me (The Eight Legged Groove Thing): If you like melodic British guitar pop, you can’t go wrong with the Stuffies’ debut album. Great riffs, strong melodies and hooks out the wazoo. The Wonder Stuff managed to incorporate some creative rhythms (not just 4/4 stuff) while not sacrificing the great pop song structure, as on this excellent tune.
- Superchunk — Certain Stars (Here’s Where The Strings Come In): This song fades in on some feedback before hitting stride in a galloping rhythm. The bouncy drums and lockstep guitar chords always get to me. Everyone from The Clash to Big Dipper has a song like this in its repetoire, and it always works for me.
- The Boo Radleys — One Is For (Giant Steps): An interlude from the Boos second and best album. They straddled the border between Brit pop and shoegazer music, eventually heading more to the pop side. They could be pretty arty, as this brief snatch of chamber pop illustrates.
- Split Enz — Titus (Second Thoughts): A Phil Judd number from the second Split Enz album, which is produced by Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music. This is a twee psychdelic number with Judd’s compelling, quivering voice. A lot of early Enz sounds like a mix of The Beatles, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Genesis. This short number has a great instrumental break with stately horns.
- Freda Payne — Band Of Gold (Have A Nice Decade: The ’70s Pop Culture Box): A classic slice of ’70s pop-soul. A lot of retro soul heads right to the ’60s, but I wish someone could revive the sounds of Payne, Honey Cone, The Spinners and other of the early ’70s.