photo & text by nacrowe
as musician MEMOIRS go, THE WOMEN IN ME (GALLERY, 2023) by AMERICAN POP CULTURE icon BRITNEY SPEARS has to be one of the most gut-wrenchingly BRUTAL SELF-NARRATIVE ACCOUNTS i have ever encountered. it recounts a seemingly BOUNDLESS CAREER trajectory of global proportions from relative obscurity in RURAL LOUISIANA that is unthinkably matched in kind by a diabolically inverted LOSS over time of PERSONAL AGENCY and BODILY AUTONOMY. at its core, this MEMOIR is about TRAUMA and what SPEARS went through to survive such. it is all about AMERICA's ODD national OBSESSION with WOMEN'S BODIES and the PERVERSE need to control such.
and make no mistake it is an outright HARROWING ACCOUNT. not that it matters, but i would like to be forthright with the fact that i am no fan of SPEARS' MUSIC or PUBLIC IMAGE. when BUBBLEGUM POP took over in the late 1990s that was right when i was in high school and just loathed her and all her clones as CULTURAL and MUSICAL LIGHTWEIGHTS. with SPEARS in particular i was always got the feeling in interviews that she was pretty NAIVE and at heart a PASSIVE people pleaser, unlike a peer like say MADONNA, MARIAH CAREY, PINK, BEYONCE or CHRISTINA AGUILERA, or much later LADY GAGA, RIHANNA, ARIANA GRANDE, HALSEY, TAYLOR SWIFT, MILEY CYRUS, DUA LIPA, KATY PERRY or CHARLI XCX who all seemed more in control of their ART and IMAGE. all that being said, this BOOK presents a WARPED picture where the PASSIVE FRAILTIES of her PERSONALITY where used against her in an almost DEBAUCHED, CARNIVALESQUE manner by her FAMILY and handlers. she has my COMPASSION and SYMPATHY despite the fact that i cant stand her MUSIC or what her RETROGRADE FEMINISM (as showcased in her MUSIC VIDEOS, LIVE PERFORMANCES, etc.) teaches YOUNG WOMEN about playing NICE with the BOYS and being OBSEQUIOUS to their rules. and it all starts with her upbringing. SPEARS sought out MUSIC and DANCE as an EXPRESSIVE means of channeling out the CONSTANT CHAOS in her house, being the DAUGHTER of a chronically OUT-OF-WORK ALCOHOLIC who was ABUSIVE to her MOTHER. upon gaining traction in her early CAREER, both on BROADWAY and on TELEVISION, SPEARS was able to bridge this divide between worlds that appreciated her TALENTS and a FATHER that conditioned his LOVE and AFFECTION based on her ability to be a BREADWINNER. the connections between her WARPED FAMILY DYNAMICS as a child actor and that of MICHAEL JACKSON are UNCANNY and just as TRAGIC. eventually FAME and FORTUNE allowed her to pay off her father's debts back in LOUISIANA and provided houses, vehicles and a lifestyle hitherto UNATTAINABLE. in the process the FAMILY DYNAMIC shifted and this is the source of her later issues as the moment SPEARS showed PUBLIC WEAKNESS, her FAMILY basically leveraged PUBLIC OPINION and imprisoned her in a CONSERVATORSHIP that allowed them quite literally to PROFIT off her PAIN and SUFFERING for 13 long years. the moment of WEAKNESS was her apparent ERRATIC behavior in response to POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION, being stalked by paparazzi 24-7 for years on end and the then-ongoing contested custody dispute with her EX-HUSBAND over her two young SONS. also that and the PUBLIC SHAMING she took by FORMER BOYFRIEND JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE who grossly and unfairly SLUT-SHAMED her with his debut hit "CRY ME A RIVER" and its SLANDEROUS associated MUSIC VIDEO. aside from her FATHER, this MEMOIR really provides a NEW PERSPECTIVE on TIMBERLAKE and the MISOGYNY that is at the basis of his CAREER (the book doesnt even mention his IMPOTENT inability to chivalrously defend FORMER SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW collaborator JANET JACKSON and her wardrobe malfunction EMBARRASSMENT). tellingly, TIMBERLAKE has kept mum in the wake of the release of THE WOMEN IN ME. regardless, these pressures found her infamously lunging at a paparazzi's car with an umbrella with a SHAVED head (a sign of SELF-NEGATION and SELF-ERADICATION), acting out of SHEER DESPERATION. i remember CONAN O'BRIEN bringing up that incident on his late night TALK SHOW and stating that there was nothing HUMOROUS about it, that this HUMAN BEING was obviously in a state of DEEP PAIN and DISTRESS and accordingly deserved our COLLECTIVE COMPASSION and SYMPATHY, not mockery (this example is one of the reasons i respect O'BRIEN). as aforementioned, her FATHER utilized that change in her PUBLIC PERSONA to quarter her in a CONSERVATORSHIP that allowed him to profit off her labor for more than a decade. he bugged her phone, her house, knew her whereabouts at all times, chose what she ate, when she worked out, when she went to the bathroom (literally), enforced 9PM bedtimes and had bodyguards monitoring her every move 24-7. its almost STOCKHOLM SYNDROME-esque how SPEARS acquiesced to this situation for thirteen years, her justification in the book is that attentive OBEDIANCE to the status quo gained her access to her CHILDREN. its just so SAD and SICKENING to think that her CHILDREN were used deliberately as leverage to exploit her LABOR. by her FAMILY. the closest ive seen to this level of INFANTILIZATION has been RONNE SPECTOR's absolutely INHUMANE and CRUEL TREATMENT at the hands of her PARANOID and DEMENTED EX-HUSBAND PHIL SPECTOR as detailed in BE MY BABY: HOW I SURVIVED MASCARA, MINISKIRTS AND MADNESS, OR MY LIFE AS A FABULOUS RONNETTE (HARMONY, 1990), in which she couldnt leave their LOS ANGELES mansion without supervision, but SPEARS' account is something else entirely. it is practically straight out of MARGARET ATWOOD's RENOWNED DYSTOPIAN novel THE HANDMAID'S TALE (MCLELLAND AND STEWART, 1985). and i think this is the CENTRAL point. there is something sadly uniquely AMERICAN about the PATRONIZING need to DOMINATE WOMEN'S BODIES. SPEARS is literally the CASH COW being squeezed of every last drop of PROFIT from her PHYSICAL BODY through NEVER-ENDING TOURS and LAS VEGAS RESIDENCIES in which she has no CREATIVE or ARTISTIC CONTROL. she is purely a DANCING MONKEY that her FAMILY trotted out to supplement their income in the most DEBASED and WRETCHED scheme i have ever heard of. the idea that JUDICIAL SYSTEM sanctioned this ongoing situation for years on end is beyond APPALLING and TELLING of how as a SOCIETY we truly see WOMEN. once their BODIES literally become UNAPPEALING to the MALE GAZE, their INNATE VALUE diminishes. SPEARS saw this firsthand with her FAMILY when she went BALD, which only cemented the SUPERFICIAL conditionality of their LOVE and AFFECTION towards her. just BRUTAL. absolutely BRUTAL. this MEMOIR is an INDICTMENT not only against the LITERAL PATRIARCHY (i.e. the MEN in her life who repeatedly traumatized her, from her FATHER, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, KEVIN FEDERLINE and so on), but also a SOCIETY that let this arrangement happen in the first place, snuffing out not only her VOICE but her BODILY AUTONOMY in the process. i think everyone should read this MEMOIR. THE WOMEN IN ME was unexpectedly one of the most POIGNANT and IMPACTFUL BOOKS i have read in recent years.
0 Comments
parody by nacrowe
check out HERE this recent streaming video episode of DEER GOD RADIO celebrating the EXPERIMENTAL HIP HOP group DEATH GRIPS!
past episodes of DEER GOD RADIO are available here at the DEER GOD website as well as in the MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC archives. and if you haven't done so already get the FREE PHONE APP for IOS/ANDROID and enjoy listening to MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC 24/7 at your convenience! photo & text by nacrowe
part of my EXPERIENCE with discovering NEW MUSIC is about CONTEXT. living overseas for more than a DECENT chunk of my EXISTENCE, there is an EXTENSIVE list of my FAVORITE bands (FAITH NO MORE, A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, DEVO, MASSIVE ATTACK, DEATH GRIPS, ALICE IN CHAINS, LADYTRON, DEAD KENNEDYS and the WU-TANG CLAN among countless others) that i learned about completely out of CULTURAL CONTEXT. having hosted an internet radio show now for a couple years ive met other DJs that fell in with a genre through SOCIAL or FAMILIAL means having attended an event, a HOUSE dance party or an UNDERGROUND HARDCORE show, that set them on a path.
i never really had that EXPERIENCE. instead ive just always been on the run looking for NEW SOUNDS, especially when i spent time ABROAD living and working in NIGERIA, KUWAIT, JAPAN, VENEZUELA, CYPRUS and MYANMAR. in 2011 when BELONG (SLUMBERLAND, 2011), the second ALBUM by NEW YORK INDIE POP band THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART was released, i was at the beginning of my service in ALBANIA as a PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER. given that timeline i am almost certain my exposure was through YOUTUBE or an ONLINE MUSIC JOURNAL like CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND, STEREOGUM, THE FADER or PITCHFORK. regardless what caught my immediate attention were the SWELLING WAVES of CONTROLLED DISSONANT FEEDBACK a la SHOEGAZE icons MY BLOODY VALENTINE on the title TRACK "BELONG." that SONG in particular very much did seem to cut the difference between the AURAL WEIGHT of such a TRADITIONAL, MULTI-LAYERED SHOEGAZE / DREAM POP COMPOSITION with the CLEAR, BITTERSWEET chiming of CLASSIC INDIE ROCK bands like R.E.M., THE SUNDAYS and THE SMITHS, or maybe even later ACID HOUSE-influenced MADCHESTER scene bands like THE STONE ROSES. either way, that BIZARRE and unknowably OPAQUE post-SOVIET context of ALBANIA seemed a perfect fit to that TRACK. its a HEADY mix of sounds that really made that TRACK in particular swell with EMOTIVE GRAVITY. in retrospect, the knowledge that such was engineered by the LEGENDARY BRITISH RECORDING ENGINEER FLOOD (NEW ORDER, DEPECHE MODE, PJ HARVEY, NINE INCH NAILS, WARPAINT, SNEAKER PIMPS, MINISTRY) makes sense that such an accomplishment was possible for such an outfit on their second full-length RELEASE. by the summer of 2013 i had completed my two-year stint in ALBANIA and was back home visiting my cousin, a RECORDING ENGINEER, in BROOKLYN at his studio. i learned about the bands he'd come across and recorded over the past two years (MAC MILLER, SPOON, CLAMS CASINO, LIAM FINN, UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA, KYP MALONE) and was surprised to hear that he recorded THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART for a corporate promotion. he disliked them and thought they were ELITIST poseurs. again, its all about CONTEXT and he was in the midst of the industry whereas i was a DISTANT, with an emphasis on DISTANT, observer with no skin in the game beyond enjoying the MUSIC. i still find that INSIDE information regarding ARTISTS and BANDS an INTRIGUING yet potentially PERILOUS circumstance. in a sense, i kind of prefer to keep that distance, should the individual members not live up to expectations. regardless, BELONG is a COMPELLING INDIE POP RELEASE that is worthy of investigation. if you are a fan of SLOWDIVE, ALVVAYS, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, JAPANESE BREAKFAST, THE CATHERINE WHEEL, BEACH HOUSE, NO VACATION or THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, then this THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART release may be of interest to you. at the very least it is definitely worth checking out. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
i learned about the wildly EXPERIMENTAL NEW YORK CITY PUNK ROCK band LIP CRITIC via the head of the internet radio station MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC after completing one of my recent radio shows focused on the like-minded AVANT GARDE HIP HOP trio DEATH GRIPS. out of the 200+ shows ive done in the past few years, that SACRAMENTO outfit is undeniably one of the most aggressively ABRASIVE and sonically CONFRONTATIONAL offerings i have played, with the exception of maybe the NO WAVE band SWANS or the BRITISH proto-INDUSTRIAL pioneers THROBBING GRISTLE. so when i was told that DEATH GRIPS was EVOCATIVE of LIP CRITIC, i was pretty much already sold.
and they did not disappoint. LIP CRITIC is unconventionally composed of two DRUMMERS, VOCALS and two SAMPLERS. this format allows for the creation of some incredibly COMPLEX POLYRHYTHMS as well as NONTRADITIONAL juxtapositions of SONIC TEXTURES. the ENERGY and KINETIC PULL of the MUSIC is PROPULSIVE, COMBATIVE and brutally ORIGINAL. like NEXT-LEVEL PUNK ROCK. they are undoubtedly one of the more UNIQUE bands ive heard in years and are definitely worth checking out.
parodies by nacrowe
i discovered the music of DONALD GLOVER, a.k.a. CHILDISH GAMBINO, when i was working and living in JAPAN almost a decade ago. a SIGNIFICANT chunk of my life has been spent in UNFAMILIAR environments and CULTURES ranging from NIGERIA and KUWAIT to ALBANIA and VENEZUELA previous to my time in EAST ASIA. as a third culture kid, im pretty well-acquainted with that that UNRESOLVED feeling of being well out-of-my-element in a given situation. arguably that state is my NORMAL, or at least was for a long-time when i was abroad for extended periods of several years.
but JAPAN felt different. in the UNITED STATES people tend to fantasize about and mythologize this island nation and its UNIQUE culture to the point that it renders little of the actual place. out of all the countries i lived in, which included several developing nations and even a few dictatorships, i never felt as ISOLATED and LONELY as i did in JAPAN. which is saying something since they are technologically ADVANCED, administratively EFFICIENT and a DOMINANT and INNOVATIVE generator of GLOBAL CULTURE (MUSIC, ANIME, CONSUMER ELECTRONICS, BASEBALL, CUISINE, VIDEO GAMES, CINEMA, etc). but i feel like i tapped into something there at the heart of that CULTURE. its INTENSITY burns people out and even snuffs out students who feel UNINVOLVED or OSTRACIZED by society with one of the HIGHEST TEEN SUICIDE RATES in the world (along with SOUTH KOREA). it was also a place that i was ENDLESSLY reminded of my status as an OUTSIDER. a PERMANENT OUTSIDER that would always be an OUTSIDER. its FUNNY, because in every other foreign country i lived in that was obviously also the case, but each time NATIVE coworkers and NEIGHBORING friends and families invited you into being a vaunted piece of the COMPLEX social tapestry of the LOCAL COMMUNITY. without fail. except for JAPAN. i felt utterly alone. that was the context of first hearing BECAUSE THE INTERNET (GLASSNOTE, 2013) by CHILDISH GAMBINO, which to my ears thematically spoke of the implications of finding COMMUNITY and COMMON similarities in COMPLETE STRANGERS online. i found his LYRICS on that album to be quite VERBOSE, THOUGHTFUL, OBLIQUE and incredibly AMBITIOUS in its DENSITY and sheer SCALE. it all revolved around how one's relationship to their COMMUNITY and by extension themselves is affected when one has access to seemingly LIMITLESS INFORMATION. suddenly geography no longer matters. you are almost floating above PREVIOUS SOCIAL PRESCRIPTIONS and AFFILIATIONS that tethered you down by HISTORY, CLASS and RACE. just you and this ocean of INFORMATION. that feeling of being effectively UNTETHERED from SOCIETY and by extension MYSELF was my experience living and working outside of TOKYO at an international school in nearby YOKOHAMA where i had no ties or relationship to the LOCAL COMMUNITY. almost by design. being theirs not mine. for whatever reason, walking around HARAJUKU, SHIBUYA or even the VACANT beaches of KAMAKURA at night listening to that record helped me put everything in perspective, if not intellectually than at least on an EMOTIONAL level. and for that i am still GRATEFUL. embedded below is a recent DEER GOD RADIO episode on nonprofit internet radio station MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC that includes a playlist celebrating CHILDISH GAMBINO. enjoy! photo & text by nacrowe
when the COMEDY MUSIC duo FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS arrived on HBO in the late 2000s with their POIGNANT take on the isolating underclass IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE in URBAN AMERICA, youd think such would not be FERTILE GROUND for a generationally-great NAMESAKE COMEDY SERIES. but youd be wrong. part of what made that SERIES so ASTOUNDING was the QUALITY of the WRITING, which was done by SERIES stars BRET MCKENZIE and JEMAINE CLEMENT with the assistance of VETERAN COMEDY WRITER JAMES BOBIN (who previously helped develop and direct DA ALI G SHOW). another aspect was the QUALITY of the ACTING, which largely had the two leads playing it straight as two WELL-INTENTIONED and HAPLESS NEW ZEALAND outsiders looking for paying gigs around the TRI-STATE AREA as WORKING MUSICIANS in QUEENS as they encounter and deal with a NEVER-ENDING onslaught of CRAZY NEW YORKERS (played notably by RHYS DARBY, ARJ BARKER, KRISTEN SCHAAL and RACHEL BLANCHARD among others).
but the true point of differentiation was their CATCHY SONGS and how that SPECIFIC MATERIAL honed on stage for years as part of their REAL-LIFE ANTI-FOLK LIVE ACT transitioned so SEAMLESSLY into MUSICAL ASIDES on television with seemingly AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE INTEGRITY. part of the charm of the show would be watching how the band randomly integrated a 60s PASTICHE track of FRENCH POP with elementary beginner's phrases throughout (nonsensically entitled "FOUX DE FA FA"), complete with a matching SEPIATONE MUSIC VIDEO, to help explain their MUTUAL JOY and GOOD FORTUNE at both securing POTENTIAL ROMANTIC PARTNERS. oddly the MUSIC works outside of its CINEMATIC ALLUSIONS with the series, but the majority of fans will be reliving the GLORY of such with these often CHARMING, QUIRKY and downright INVENTIVE PARODY TRACKS that touch on everything from DAVID BOWIE ("BOWIE"), SERGE GAINSBOURG ("A KISS IS NOT A CONTRACT"), BARRY WHITE ("BUSINESS TIME") and PET SHOP BOYS ("INNER CITY PRESSURE") sendups, GANGSTA RAP ("HIPHOPOPOTAMUS VS RHYMENOCEROS"), PSYCHEDELIC ROCK ("THE PRINCE OF PARTIES"), DANCEHALL ("BOOM"), all too EARNEST cop show THEME SONGS ("MUTHA'UCKAS") and POST-APOCALYPTIC robot PAEANS to defeating and eradicating mankind ("ROBOTS"). the FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS (SUB POP, 2008) ALBUM release covers TRACKS from the first of the two seasons. and they work both as an ALBUM and as an INTEGRAL aspect of the TELEVISION SERIES because at their CORE they have REAL HEART. i can remember during the period of its original airing attending school in MANHATTAN at COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY and running seemingly ceaselessly around the city completing my two semesters of student teaching in THE BRONX and BROOKLYN. in many ways i felt like the SERIES and the MUSIC translated that FRANTIC pace of LIFE in the city and the POWER of potential of RANDOM INTERACTIONS that all such URBAN dwellers innately understand. and the CONFUSION and seeming ISOLATION that ironically can also come with such a dynamic. when i listen to these PARODY SONGS, that is the CULTURAL MILIEU i am immediately transported back into and it is BITTERSWEET. and that sense of AMBIVALENCE towards LIFE in general i feel is PALPABLE throughout the MUSIC and the SERIES itself. i dont think it is a FORM of HIPSTER DETACHMENT at all, but a feeling of distance that comes when confronted with a lifestyle so OVERWHELMING, ALL-ENCOMPASSING and CONFRONTATIONAL. that is what makes my friends in the city such UNIQUE animals i guess. i love this album and consider it ESSENTIAL. forget about the fact that the SONGS are genuinely FUNNY, since their HEART, PASSION and TUNEFULNESS will last long after the JOKE is over. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
there has been much debate and discussion regarding the role of ART during WORLD WAR II, when the NAZIS effectively raided PUBLIC and PRIVATE COLLECTIONS throughout EUROPE in a multi-pronged bid to both fund its MILITARY MIGHT as well as propagandize their WRETCHED IDEOLOGY on a global stage. it was both an ends and a means unto itself as extolled at length in the HITLER VS PICASSO AND OTHERS: THE NAZI OBSESSION FOR ART (TRAFALGAR RELEASING, 2018) documentary about the NOTORIOUS mass looting of EUROPEAN culture and its AFTERMATH that continues UNABATED on down to the present.
one issue brought up is the idea of PROVENANCE and how MODERN nation states (such as MODERN GERMANY) indefinitely withhold STOLEN ITEMS as articles of the state via RULES and REGULATIONS asking for verified information IMPOSSIBLE to prove for those surviving members of the HOLOCAUST and their DESCENDANTS. it is a black eye that points at a deeper ENTANGLED COMPLICITY in the theft of the past included in CONTEMPORARY, PROMINENT COLLECTIONS. similarly, DUPLICITOUS ART DEALERS that collaborated and worked on behalf of the NAZIS more or less continued UNABATED after the war. their common excuse that BUSINESS IS BUSINESS. the film makes the EXPLICIT point that the REAL DANGER and CORRUPTION of a TOTALITARIAN STATE is not the capacity to directly inflict HARM or PHYSICAL SUFFERING, but instead to convince everyday people to act COMPLICIT on their behalf and alter behavior in accordance to their DIRECTIVES. it is the CORRUPTION and DEBASEMENT of that go-between section of CIVIL SOCIETY that they derive their REAL POWER from. although not mentioned, the context of this film being created in the aftermath of the rise of TRUMP makes that point regarding CIVIL SOCIETY all too REAL in a CONTEMPORARY context. that DEFILEMENT is happening stateside in right now and the coming year will only make apparent which way the AMERICAN public will be swayed. but dividing the CULTURE by utilizing ART through virtue signaling regarding what constitutes PROPER ARCHITECTURE and MUSIC has already begun. we are all boiling frogs in this sense. hopefully it will be stopped at the election box this coming november. we shall see. RESTITUTION has been slow forthcoming for the DESCENDANTS of former GERMAN ART COLLECTORS of JEWISH descent. it is an ongoing process that feels INTRACTABLE but such is the nature of progress. earlier this year with my father i viewed the ADELE BLOCH-BAUER I (1907) painting by GUSTAV KLIMT at the NEUE GALERIE in NEW YORK CITY almost 20 years after i first saw it with him in VIENNA at the BELVEDERE MUSEUM. it took much LITIGATION and even a SUPREME COURT case, but it was returned and later sold to ESTEE LAUDER's husband who put it again on display. one can only hope for such an ending to other pieces of STOLEN NAZI ART worldwide. HITLER VERSUS PICASSO AND OTHERS is a RIVETING film much worth checking out since it EFFECTIVELY elucidates our own COLLECTIVE INABILITY and OUTRIGHT FAILURE to come to complete RESOLVED terms with the full IMPLICATIONS of the NAZI RAPE of EUROPA some 80 years ago. photo & text by nacrowe
both volumes of the much REVERED graphic novel PERSEPOLIS (PANTHEON, 2000-2003) by FRANCO-IRANIAN cartoonist MARJANE SATRAPI are a masterclass in NARRATIVE STORYTELLING and the INTERPLAYING POWER of ILLUSTRATIONS to further an AUTHORIAL PERSPECTIVE. of course i am completely biased as i have taught the first volume on more than one occasion during my former teaching career, once to freshman at BROOKLYN TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL as a student teacher and then later to my eighth graders at a private international school in EASTERN VENEZUELA. the fact that its subject matter faces head-on the STRUGGLE for IDENTITY and AGENCY in that of developing YOUNG WOMAN in IRAN during the ISLAMIC REVOLUTION in the late 1970s didnt deter my students in both countries from being totally engrossed by the story and the PARALLELS in their lives as YOUNG PEOPLE. you never really know what KIDS will respond to and PERSEPOLIS was a consistent hit.
in both environments, BROOKLYN and RURAL VENEZUELA, i had students that were intimately familiar with the IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE and the inner TURMOIL that comes when your country's POLITICAL ORDER / ECONOMY / SOCIAL CONTRACT shifts dramatically beneath your feet. at BROOKLYN TECH many students were either the SONS and DAUGHTERS of IMMIGRANTS or immigrants themselves, which my VENEZUELAN students were acutely aware that the then-IMPLODING economy of their HOMELAND was going to alter everything about their lives in relative short order. most of them now are living permanently abroad in GERMANY, ARGENTINA, PANAMA, CHILE or the UNITED STATES (i.e. FLORIDA) as EFFECTIVE REFUGEES. as i mentioned before, the EXTENDED graphic novel PERSEPOLIS is all about a YOUNG WOMAN 's journey into ADOLESCENCE and later ADULTHOOD while dealing with the extensive PERSONAL and SOCIETAL TRAUMA that was the IRANIAN ISLAMIC REVOLUTION. the privileged EGALITARIAN and COMMUNAL order of her youth virtually overnight shifted into something of a REAL-LIFE ORWELLIAN fever dream with MASSIVE restrictions on her SPEECH, APPEARANCE and BASIC FREEDOMS. more than than that the TIGHT-KNIT, mutually SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY of which she was raised under and which her FAMILY enjoyed for GENERATIONS turn in on itself, with PEOPLE unsure of who or what action would leave them VULNERABLE before the state. people escaped. people disappeared. everything changed including SATRAPI and he relationship with herself. in the second volume she is older, living in VIENNA as a REFUGEE and making her way through the FRENCH education system and again, dealing with the aftermath of her CHILDHOOD TRAUMA and its LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES on her sense of IDENTITY as a YOUNG WOMAN of PERSIAN descent. the message is sent that even those that survive TRAUMA are somewhat still TRAPPED by such thereafter. even going back and visiting IRAN years later is an act of REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK and immense PERSONAL STRUGGLE due to the delta of what once was to what now has been undoubtedly IRREPARABLY LOST. you are with the idea that our sense of AGENCY and IDENTITY are intertwined with MEMORY and the PERSONAL HISTORY and EVOLVING NARRATIVE we tell OURSELVES about OURSELVES. i think that for KIDS who are the brink of adjusting into YOUNG ADULTHOOD, that message is a CONSEQUENTIAL and SELF-EMPOWERING one. that you are part of a COMMUNITY, but that in the end YOU DEFINE YOURSELF. you write your own NARRATIVE by the LIFE DECISIONS you make. that even severely TRAUMATIC events can be overcome with EMPATHY and LOVE, especially with regards to one's self. i adore both volumes of PERSEPOLIS and consider them ESSENTIAL graphic novels that should be read by everyone. also the film aint half bad either.
parody by nacrowe
check out HERE this recent streaming video episode of DEER GOD RADIO celebrating the LONG ISLAND POST-HARDCORE band GLASSJAW!
past episodes of DEER GOD RADIO are available here at the DEER GOD website as well as in the MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC archives. and if you haven't done so already get the FREE PHONE APP for IOS/ANDROID and enjoy listening to MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC 24/7 at your convenience! photo & text by nacrowe
im a nineties kid born in the mid-eighties and i can remember first becoming fascinated by GUITARS when i was in kindergarten. it was a connection i shared (and still do) with my father who likewise became familiar with the owners of a LOCAL GUITAR SHOP in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA when i first began taking lessons around first grade. unfortunately my hands were jut a little too SMALL at the time to bar chords properly, so i quit in FRUSTRATION while my father continued on for a number of years FASTIDIOUSLY taking weekly lessons. the owners and that musician providing TAILORED, STUDENT-CENTRIC lessons were all super cool people and absolutely never gave off that JADED, ELITIST vibe you sometimes get in a GUITAR SHOP. especially during that period which was pre-ALTERNATIVE ROCK explosion and pre-NIRVANA's NEVERMIND (DGC, 1991) album when HAIR METAL was still king. i can still mentally place myself back in that shop in 1990 with all those rows of SWIRLING, dip-painted NEON IBANEZ "SUPER STRATS" no doubt concocted to depict STEVE VAI's 7-string UNIVERSE GUITAR from the cover of his RECENT PASSION AND WARFARE (RELATIVITY, 1990) release.
to me that GUITAR represents a time and era, as well as a MUSICAL COMMUNITY that i grew up surrounded by in ORANGE COUNTY, just outside of LOS ANGELES and the center of all things FLAMBOYANT and OUTLANDISH. boy would that all change in a few short years. to the UNFAMILIAR, VAI is the GENERATIONALLY-GIFTED GUITAR VIRTUOSO from LONG ISLAND who famously worked with FRANK ZAPPA, first as a transcriber of his COMPOSITIONS and then later as an ACTIVE member from 1980-83 before launching a solo career with his highly TECHNICAL INSTRUMENTAL albums and dalliances with other artists over the years such as FORMER VAN HALEN-frontman DAVID LEE ROTH, WHITESNAKE, PUBLIC IMAGE LTD and ALCATRAZZ. in recent decades he has further collaborated with everyone from M83, LIVING COLOUR, MARY G BLIGE, SPINAL TAP, ALICE COOPER and MOTORHEAD among many others. the highlight for me of PASSION AND WARFARE is the EMOTIVE track "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD." i will full admit that i find INSTRUMENTAL records INDULGENT and a rather LISTLESS, even BORING experience at times. especially with VIRTUOSO MUSICIANS there is a tendency to get to entangled in the EXTREME TECHNICAL aspects of GUITAR PLAYING rather than actual SONGWRITING or the creation of COMPOSITIONS with a EXPERIENTIAL sense of arc and narrative to them, as with CLASSICAL MUSIC. "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD" is one of those few GUITAR VIRTUOSO tracks that is intensely EMOTIVE and seemingly evokes the POWERFUL EXPERIENCE of being caught in a TRANSCENDENT moment of SPIRITUAL GRACE. whether it is relating a moment of CARNAL or SPIRITUAL BLISS is a discussion for another day, but for my JADED ears, that track more than upholds the hype surrounding VAI and his GUITAR PLAYING. can't say the same for the rest of the album, which much like the work of fellow LONG ISLANDER JOE SATRIANI just kinda mishmashes together without much to distinction. its not VAI, its definitely me. i am not the ideal audience for his CREATIVE WORK. feels like the sort of thing tailor made for those GUITAR JUNKIES that no doubt purchased those PAINT-DIPPED, NEON IBANEZ UNIVERSES and JEMS at the close of the 1980s. right when i first stepped foot into a LOCAL ORANGE COUNTY GUITAR SHOP when i was five or six and wanted to take lessons because i liked R.E.M.'s recent OUT OF TIME (WARNER BROS, 1991) record. all just a few months before NEVERMIND changed everything, including the amount of FENDER OFFSET GUITARS in that store. VAI is an acquired TASTE. enter at your own discretion. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
i recently learned about the longtime EXPERIMENTAL JAPANESE INDIE ROCK trio BUFFALO DAUGHTER via a recent interview with CELEBRATED BASSIST JUAN ALDERETE (THE MARS VOLTA, DELTRON 3030, MARILYN MANSON, RACER X) about his recent HALO ORBIT project in which he collaborated with GUITARIST SUGAR YOSHINAGA. ALDERETE is renowned for his AVANT-GARDE, MULTI-GENRE acumen as a MULTI-TALENTED MUSICIAN, so if he was a fan of a group for being stylistically out there then they were more than worth a listen.
and in BUFFALO DAUGHTER i discovered a VERITABLE gold mine. the nearest analogues i can think of regarding their sound include BECK, LUSCIOUS JACKSON and the BEASTIE BOYS, both of whom juxtaposed sonic and AESTHETIC STYLES with varying RECORDING TECHNIQUES at almost at will, creating a UNIQUE and wholly INIMITABLE tapestry of SOUND in the process. that is the closest i can get to describing the SOUND of this SINGULAR TOKYO three-piece. in retrospect it makes absolute sense that their work was released on the BEASTIE BOYS now DEFUNCT GRAND ROYAL label back in the day. to my ears it just sounds like CONTEMPORARY, GENRE-LESS MUSIC that borrows a bit from everything in the pursuit of INTRIGUING combinations and juxtaposed SONIC TEXTURES a la MODERN PRODUCERS like GREG KURSTIN and DANGER MOUSE. definitely worth checking out the EXTENSIVE catalogue of BUFFALO DAUGHTER. a world in and of itself.
parodies by nacrowe
i feel like part of the price of participation in today's DIGITAL SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETPLACE where ATTENTION and eyeballs is at a premium, there is an implicit bias towards CYNICAL, INAUTHENTIC and quite frankly OUTLANDISH behavior. same goes for music and the promotion thereof. each new generation is a wellspring of NEW PERSPECTIVES, CONTEXTS and IDEAS just waiting for the opportunity to shine in public view, but i cant help but think that our social media ecosystem and its decided bent to towards ENRAGEMENT ENGAGEMENT largely snuffs out such PROMOTIONAL EFFORTS effectively before they began.
enter CARPARK RECORDS. this WASHINGTON DC label that specializes in quality EXPERIMENTAL ROCK N ROLL and ELECTRONIC MUSIC of the INDIE variety quietly delivers QUALITY records by EMERGING ARTISTS of note, most decidedly LEFT-OF-CENTER with PERSONALITY but stray far from CONTROVERSY or BRUTISH BEHAVIOR. i discovered them via one of their recent flagship acts, THE BETHS, an INVENTIVE INDIE ROCK band from NEW ZEALAND who specialize in TIGHT SONG-CRAFT with QUIRKY, ANGULAR HOOKS and WARM, INVITING and FRIENDLY yet IDIOSYNCRATIC LYRICAL CONCEITS. i almost think of them as a MODERN-DAY PIXIES or THROWING MUSES. through them i discovered and explored the CARPARK RECORDS catalogue. but i am a music nerd (maybe snob). i love the process of finding out about new talent and UNFAMILIAR sounds, its all a LEARNING EXPERIENCE. i feel like an outlier in that respect. i just wonder how independent record labels like CARPARK go about their business quietly when the INSTITUTIONAL PRESSURE would seemingly favor finding a more OUTSPOKEN and CONTENTIOUS ARTIST that could drive more ATTENTION online. to me the label feels like a WELCOME anachronism to a former dynamic in the MARKETPLACE when LIKE-MINDED music fans supported labels and institutions that mirrored their ETHICS and AESTHETICS. maybe that is still happening and i am too terminally online. probably the latter. embedded below is a recent DEER GOD RADIO episode on nonprofit internet radio station MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC that includes a playlist celebrating the WASHINGTON DC-based INDIE MUSIC label CARPARK RECORDS. enjoy! photo & text by nacrowe
arguably along with other SEMINAL bands like FISHBONE, THELONIOUS MONSTER and JANE'S ADDICTION, the BAY AREA's FAITH NO MORE essentially set the table in the late 1980s for what would become the ALTERNATIVE wave of bands that would come to dominate the next decade (and arguably beyond). their SOUND incorporated FUNK, POST-PUNK and METAL ELEMENTS as well as more than a little helping of ABSURDIST HUMOR, but that innate ECLECTICISM and GENRE-LESS SONIC AESTHETIC proved INNOVATIVE and INFLUENTIAL to subsequent musicians that followed suit and emulated their IDIOSYNCRATIC APPROACH.
their third album THE REAL THING (REPRISE, 1989) is for all intents and purposes their COMMERCIAL debut given that it is the first full-length to feature MIKE PATTON, who had replaced the IDIOSYNCRATIC but highly UNRELIABLE singer CHUCK MOSELY. FAITH NO MORE learned of him via the tape-trading network at the time through his band MR. BUNGLE. after passing along recordings for PATTON to sing over, the group quickly realized they had hit pay-dirt as the MULTI-TALENTED PATTON could sing and write LYRICS over seemingly anything. what is INTRIGUING is the lengths to which THE REAL THING sounds like a COHESIVE ARTISTIC STATEMENT yet PATTON had no COMPOSITIONAL INFLUENCE over the MUSIC. he merely wrote LYRICS and sang over EXISTING tracks that MOSELY had not had the opportunity to contribute to. in fact, PATTON was so unsure of the situation, he purposefully took on a NASALLY VOCAL DELIVERY throughout the recording as a hedge against the band, so that post-FAITH NO MORE he would not be so easily identified with his REAL ARTISTIC FOCUS, MR. BUNGLE. a LANDMARK album THE REAL THING put a dent into that wager, with numerous STELLAR TRACKS including "FROM OUT OF NOWHERE," "ZOMBIE EATERS," "FALLING TO PIECES," "EDGE OF THE WORLD," "SURPRISE! YOU'RE DEAD!" and the MASSIVE hit "EPIC." part of my ongoing fascination with FAITH NO MORE since childhood has been their FEARLESS ability to dive into seemingly CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS with gusto. "BE AGGRESSIVE" on ANGEL DUST (REPRISE, 1992) and its EXPLICIT and UNFLINCHING FIRST-PERSON DEPICTION of HOMOSEXUAL ORAL SEX is one example. another is "EDGE OF THE WORLD" off of THE REAL THING, in which PATTON takes on the LECHEROUS PERSPECTIVE of a 40 YEAR-OLD PEDOPHILE with conviction about his CHARACTER's need for little girls. it is quite ABHORRED and DISTASTEFUL CONTENT, but sung in such a convincingly SOULFUL and IMPASSIONED MANNER that most listeners are UNAWARE of what he is singing actually singing about. ditto for "ZOMBIE EATERS" being sung from the PERSPECTIVE of a NEW-BORN BABY or "SURPRISE! YOU'RE DEAD!" from that of a VAMPIRE. the VOCAL PERFORMANCES are that staggeringly IMPACTFUL and just all out VISCERAL that, again, such LYRICAL INTENT is often OVER-LOOKED in the PROCESS. i can't think of another example of such switch-and-bait with other SONGWRITERS in the canon of MODERN MUSIC. THE REAL THING is an absolute ESSENTIAL release by a SEMINAL band. most definitely worth repeat listeners and checking out again and again as i have over the past three decades. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
KELCE (9.14 FILMS, 2023) has to be one of the most RIVETING sports documentaries i have ever come across, right up there with HOOP DREAMS (KARTEMQUIN, 1994), SENNA (STUDIOCANAL, 2010) and WHEN WE WERE KINGS (POLYGRAM, 1996). and i say that not from a fan perspective, because 1) i am not a fan of the PHILADELPHIA EAGLES or their supporters and 2) this film is not a hagiography of the much REVERED and almost certainly CANTON-bound center JASON KELCE.
if anything, this film is a case study in STRUGGLE and DETERMINATION. as an UNDERSIZED OFFENSIVE LINEMAN, KELCE was not recruited out of high school and was a walk-on at the UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI, which meant he basically had to OUTPERFORM others starting at the bottom of the depth chart. he fought and CLAWED his way into being a late (sixth) round draft pick for the EAGLES and fought unceasingly to maintain a roster spot for more than a decade and well into his 30s. on televised games, one can only assume the DAMAGE inflicted, and KELCE doesnt flinch in showcasing the MID-SEASON PHYSICAL TOLL on the PLAYER, even as he is in the moment playing and keeping up with his YOUNG DAUGHTERS. and that REVERBERATING impact that the game has on FAMILY LIFE is arguably the most POIGNANT aspect of this film. undoubtedly JASON SACRIFICES for his FAMILY, but the same or more could be said about his WIFE KYLIE who holds down the home front as her HUSBAND PUSHES, BLOCKS and PUMMELS his way through games on sunday and at practices during the week. the scene that absolutely guts me in this film is when JASON returns to his FAMILY's hotel room having just lost SUPER BOWL LVII a few hours earlier, arguably one of the BIGGEST PROFESSIONAL LETDOWNS of his career, and his mind is completely on his DAUGHTERS and their needs. undoubtedly he was DISAPPOINTED and dealing with the MENTAL, PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL and SPIRITUAL ramifications of that LOSS, but such was set aside for the immediate needs, albeit adorably GOOFY ones, of his small CHILDREN. i dont know how you watch that and not come away TEARY-EYED. ditto the footage of him on the field after the LOSS congratulating his BROTHER and telling his MOTHER to go celebrate with TRAVIS. just such a MATURE and GENUINE act of LOVE on such a public stage. for me this film is about MASCULINITY. JASON embodies virtues of SELF-SACRIFICE, TEAMWORK and LOVE OF FAMILY. and that also includes his little brother TRAVIS, who followed the trail he blazed to the UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATTI, and found himself unable to play do to a THC POSITIVE DRUG TEST at the SUGAR BOWL that year. TRAVIS LOST HIS SCHOLARSHIP and was unable to play beside his BROTHER on a big stage. it was JASON who basically supported TRAVIS unconditionally and helped smooth things over with the team and the school to allow him back into the fold. that sense of LOYALTY is not lost on TRAVIS in this film, who saw their playing against each other in the SUPER BOWL as something they uniquely shared as BROTHERS, irrespective of who won. you can tell the extent that TRAVIS looks up to his BROTHER and cherishes being an UNCLE to his CHILDREN. one would think that JASON would be living vicariously through TRAVIS, with all his celebrity and public adoration, but it seems quite honestly the other way around throughout the film. i cant go without mentioning "the speech." JASON made arguably the most FAMOUS celebration speech in the aftermath of SUPER BOWL LII against the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS days later on the steps of the PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART near the ROCKY statue. there after a parade dressed as a MUMMER, a TRADITIONAL MIME that have their own LONG-RUNNING NEW YEARS DAY parade, JASON gave a speech about underdogs and PHILADELPHIA that ended with him telling the world to F-OFF if they didnt like the city. ICONIC. but it also seemingly fit the man as well, a cast-off that fought his way tooth and nail to success while also being the CONSUMMATE TEAMMATE, FAMILY MAN and (dare i say it) ambassador for the CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE. i consider this film to be ESSENTIAL and a modern CLASSIC. most definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
i remember visiting a CHILDHOOD FRIEND of mine in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA way back in the summer of 2001, before our senior year of high school. at that point it had been years since my FAMILY moved to NIGERIA of all places and i did stints there as well as two years at a NEW ENGLAND boarding school and another year at an INTERNATIONAL school in KUWAIT, where my FAMILY was then situated. this was a PRE-INTERNET, PRE-STREAMING, even PRE-DOWNLOADING era where my ability to learn about NEW MUSIC OVERSEAS was through CASSETTE MIXTAPES through FRIENDS and FRIENDS OF FRIENDS. being back in ORANGE COUNTY visiting my old FRIEND was a wakeup call and an EDUCATION because he was plugged in with his ear to the ground and i learned all about bands id never heard of, everything from local 80s HARDCORE bands like T.S.O.L., AGENT ORANGE, DR. KNOW, CHANNEL 3, THE GERMS, WASTED YOUTH, THE MIDDLE CLASS, D.I., ADOLESCENTS and FEAR to more sonically extreme bands like THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, CONVERGE, BOTCH and THE LOCUST. i say all this because in the intervening years i'd traveled throughout AFRICA, EUROPE and the MIDDLE EAST and i came to learn that what i missed out on culturally back at 'home' was the most explosively FRANTIC sounds ever by a bunch of MANIC MUSICIANS dressed as insects.
i mean at the time i had no way of even comprehending a MUSICIAN like JUSTIN PEARSON or the bands he'd been a part of up to that point. but that was my INTRODUCTION to him and THE LOCUST way back and for whatever reason ive always identified their sound with 9/11 given that their first self-titled THE LOCUST (GOLD STANDARD LABORATORIES, 1998) album was what i was listening to at the time. regardless, i recently came across PEARSON's FRAUGHT and likewise UNRELENTING FROM THE GRAVEYARD OF THE AROUSAL INDUSTRY (SOFT SKULL, 2010) memoir that conveys a lifetime of SEVERE ABUSE, NEGLECT and TRAUMA. from his time in ARIZONA where he dealt with the PAIN of watching his mother get routinely PUMMELED by his FATHER, to his DEATH / MURDER under DUBIOUS circumstances that saw his FAMILY relocate to SAN DIEGO and the cycle began a new with his EVENTUAL STEPDAD. you listen to THE LOCUST or some of his other projects like SOME GIRLS, HEAD WOUND CITY, SWING KIDS or even much later with SATANIC PLANET and DEAD CROSS, and that jagged, DISSONANT SONIC ASSAULTS with UNYIELDING, SPASTIC ENERGY and head-turning ABRUPT TEMPO SHIFTS makes absolute total artistic sense. GALLOWS HUMOR is a CONSTANT throughout this book as PEARSON deals with a bevy of NEAR-CONSTANT lineup changes and COMMITTED yet DOOMED ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS. you very much get the sense that the main theme throughout is no doubt survival by any means necessary as PEARSON, being an only child, showcases much RESILIENCE and SELF-RELIANCE to function and push despite the odds of co-running an INDEPENDENT label (THREE ONE G RECORDS) that seemingly specializes in CHALLENGING, UNCOMMERCIAL MUSIC. from what i could gather his MOTHER, his label co-owner ALLYSIA EDWARDS and his dog GEE GEE are the triumvirate that make up his extended UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT SYSTEM. ROCK N ROLL memoirs are traditionally written by those that had a certain level of SUCCESS or NOTORIETY, so reading FROM THE GRAVEYARD OF THE AROUSAL INDUSTRY is a bit of a OUTLIER in that its subject is somewhat OBSCURE with a dedicated but relatively SLIGHT CULT FOLLOWING. and i think that is what makes it truly COMPELLING as a read, since PEARSON very much gives you an unadulteratedly BRUTAL PERSPECTIVE of the drive involved in surviving at the margins of the RECORDING INDUSTRY with your wits somewhat intact. if anything PERSEVERANCE and SELF-CONFIDENCE involved is almost QUIXOTIC in the extreme, but that is what makes the topic so INTRIGUING. i recommend FROM THE GRAVEYARD OF THE AROUSAL INDUSTRY to anyone interested in learning about what true DIY ETHICS entails from the perspective of a WORKING MUSICIAN and INDEPENDENT small business owner. in spite of all the PAIN and TRAUMA, id argue this book is evidence that PEARSON is very much living his dream. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
im kinda on the fence about this.
the musical and lyrical ENCYCLOPEDIC website GENIUS has long had this ongoing interview series on their YOUTUBE channel called VERIFIED in which PROMINENT SONGWRITERS explain the LYRICS to their HIT SONGS. the variety of said offerings is STAGGERING an covers every genre IMAGINABLE and skews heavily on recent MATERIAL with NEW and EMERGING ARTISTS. LEGACY ARTISTS need not apply unless they have brought something NOVEL to the table worth explaining to a DIGITALLY NATIVE CONSTITUENCY that has no time for REHASHED past glory days or you-should-been-there moments. my contention is not with the ARTISTS, its with the CONCEIT itself. i just dont think that LYRICS are a PARAMOUNT concern when it comes to enjoying MUSIC. when i am listening to MUSIC i am participating in a COMPLICATED INTERACTION that includes EMOTION, PSYCHOLOGY, MEMORY and AESTHETICS, often all at the same time. to have the LYRICIST come out and pour over what their CREATION means to them is largely IRRELEVANT to the ALCHEMICAL PROCESS of contextualizing MATERIAL to your own PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. in a sense the TRACK is no longer theirs, it instead belongs to the PUBLIC. that beings said, some of these are INTRIGUING regarding the CREATION PROCESS for these ARTISTS. where their heads were at, what they were feeling, how the CONCEPTION and RECORDING of this SONG affected them is all COMPELLING information. but that is where i tend to draw the line. any context after that which seems to limit the scope of a SONG seems COUNTERPRODUCTIVE in my mind, but they can do what they want. not sure what i make of it still, but its an INTERESTING series to dabble in once in a while. photo & text by nacrowe
LIMP BIZKIT's sophomore release SIGNIFICANT OTHER (INTERSCOPE, 1999) was such an UNEXPECTED global CULTURAL PHENOMENON that it effectively put the band at the forefront of the now ESTABLISHED NU METAL movement of what was essentially HIP HOP-inspired HYBRID of ALTERNATIVE METAL. and you get the feeling that the band wasnt entirely ready for such attention.
if anything the IMMEDIATE follow-up release, the JUVENILE and nonsensically titled CHOCOLATE STARFISH AND THE HOT DOG FLAVORED WATER (INTERSCOPE, 2000), for all intents and purposes felt like something of a CASH-IN and a RUSH JOB. whereas SIGNIFICANT OTHER for the most part lyrically dealt with UNSOPHISTICATED THEMES related to romantic relationships and the fallout when such goes south, albeit from a decidedly MISOGYNISTIC and IMMATURE perspective, on CHOCOLATE STARFISH frontman FRED DURST seems to be pulling at straws on what to talk about. written, recorded and released a year after their breakthrough release, CHOCOLATE STARFISH resorts to UNORIGINAL LYRICAL CONCEITS like relying on LAME ALLUSIONS to other people's songs (i.e. THE EAGLES' "LIFE IN THE FAST LANE" on "LIVIN' IT UP," THE WHO's "MY GENERATION" on "MY GENERATION," the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE theme song on "TAKE A LOOK AROUND") as well as INSULAR MUSIC INDUSTRY complaints regarding MUSIC CRITICS and UNSUPPORTIVE rival MUSICIANS (i.e. TRENT REZNOR on "HOT DOG"). in short, it is OBVIOUS that DURST ran out of ideas. all that is missing is a song about the road to complete the LYRICAL DOWNWARD SPIRAL into total UN-RELATABLE NARCISSISM. the funny thing is though, the actual BAND never sounded better. in particular GUITARIST WES BORLAND on tracks like "BOILER," "FULL NELSON," "THE ONE," "MY WAY" and "LIVIN' IT UP" with much DEXTERITY and TOUCH that brings a VULNERABLE FINESSE and an INTENSE MUSCULARITY to both ETHEREAL INTERLUDES and BONE-CRUSHING detuned CAVEMAN RIFFS that propel the songs forward. much the same for DRUMMER JOHN OTTO and BASSIST SAM RIVERS, who have to be one of the most criminally OVERLOOKED and critically UNDERESTIMATED RHYTHM SECTIONS in ROCK N ROLL writ large. i lay that all that blame at the feet of DURST, whose aforementioned UNINSPIRED LYRICAL CONTENT on CHOCOLATE STARFISH is the main deficiency of this release and arguably much of the BAND's catalogue. for me, their are certain sections on most of these songs that i enjoy, but the lyrics are so KNUCKLE-DRAGGINGLY DUMB that it kind of ruins it for me. the two exceptions are "BOILER" and "THE ONE," which feel like the most CONSTRAINED and therein COHERENT songs on the album. "BOILER" is all harmonic and DISSONANT FEEDBACK until it explodes into a KILLER GROOVE with lots of FEEL. "THE ONE" is STRAIGHTFORWARD song-centered around a DYNAMIC DELAYED GUITAR EFFECT that is both ENTRANCING and highly MELODIC. both find DURST singing about RELATABLE EMOTIONS regarding DIFFERENT aspects of being in a relationship, the INSPIRED OPTIMISM about the opportunity opening up and the DISGRUNTLED CONFUSION and EMOTIONAL rollercoaster that comes with such being swept out from under your feet. not exactly WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS, but the LYRICS are DIRECT and largely serve the song. unfortunately CHOCOLATE STARFISH suffers from an EXORBITANT amount of filler that ever the STELLAR LIMP BIZKIT RHYTHM SECTION cant save from OUTRIGHT MOCKERY. i detested "MY WAY," "ROLLIN'," "MY GENERATION," "TAKE A LOOK AROUND" and the SCOTT WEILAND co-write "HOLD ON" when they came out, and thought they were beyond CRINGY, and nothing has changed in the two decades plus since. obviously this album would have much benefited from not being released and instead reevaluated and reconsidered in an EXTENDED WRITING PROCESS, but i get it, they struck while the iron was HOT. i just wonder if BORLAND's subsequent exit from the GROUP could have been salvaged if this record didnt SUCK half as much as it did. in my opinion CHOCOLATE STARFISH is MEDIOCRE. the OBVIOUS career highlight is SIGNIFICANT OTHER although the recent STILL SUCKS (SURETONE, 2021) is surprisingly worth checking out. but yeah, outside of two STANDOUT tracks, this album is a hard pass for me. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
ok, first off im well aware J. COLE doesnt need my help getting his name out there. dude is quite established as one of the great MODERN lyricists in HIP HOP. in fact currently there is a much publicized reshuffling of the hierarchy regarding his supposed rivals in KENDRICK LAMAR and DRAKE. to my ears they are three completely SEPARATE ARTISTS.
DRAKE is undoubtedly the CONTEMPORARY KING of CROSS-BRANDING and MARKETING HIP HOP within a decidedly POP CONTEXT, which is no DIG at all. its a DIFFICULT balancing act to be that POPULAR yet still maintain a semblance of DIGNITY and CONTROL over his PUBLIC IMAGE, which he has done and should be praised for such since everyone benefits from an EXPANDED audience base. LAMAR is to my ears is the MODERN-DAY SAVANT, who like JOHN COLTRANE, APHEX TWIN, JIMI HENDRIX, LOU REED or BJORK helped expand the LEXICON of the MEDIUM through his SONIC, LYRICAL and CONCEPTUAL EXPERIMENTS which will undoubtedly stand the test of time, even the less COMMERCIALLY SUCCESSFUL ones. i feel like with LAMAR he is not really playing to today's audience, but a FUTURE one that will appreciate his GENIUS in line with those aforementioned TIMELESS musical PIONEERS. but in J. COLE i am most IMPRESSED. with DRAKE i'll admit i was never a fan of his music, too much HUBRIS and BRAVADO. and dont get me wrong, im a big follower of LAMAR's ARTISTRY, even did a recent radio show focused on him. but J. COLE is bringing something different to his elegantly word-smithed verses: VULNERABILITY. the rappers i admired growing up were usually either pretty IDIOSYNCRATIC or directly HONEST and UNAFRAID with their lyrics, people like RAKIM, Q-TIP, ANDRE 3000, ODB, MF DOOM, TALIB KWELI, KILLER MIKE, GURU, GHOSTFACE KILLAH, EMINEM, DEL THE FUNKY HOMOSAPIEN, PRODIGY, MOS DEF, and CHUCK D. what connects them is that they all had a UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE. i relate to J. COLE in that he speaks about his STRUGGLES the DISTRACTIONS of FAME, MONEY, ATTENTION, WOMEN, PUBLIC PERCEPTION, EXPECTATIONS and the very REAL IMPLICATIONS of such one his MENTAL HEALTH and sense of IDENTITY. the fact that he is next-level ELOQUENT and able to verbally HYPER-ARTICULATE such depth of EMOTION in its most pure FORM is a REMARKABLE GIFT beyond belief. for my money he is the current greatest rapper alive and in the lineage of other CONSCIOUS rappers that came before him. much is made about his APOLOGY for getting SUCKED DOWN into the LYRICAL FRACAS with his supposed rivals, but nobody gives him his due for being a MATURE, FUNCTIONING ADULT. says more about us and what we expect from our entertainers than him, undoubtedly. if you are UNFAMILIAR, J. COLE is absolutely worth checking out. that goes for his entire catalogue to date.
parodies by nacrowe
like ive said before, i am an ABSOLUTE SUCKER for MELODY. for me there is nothing better than listening to a song that is DIRECT, SIMPLE, HONEST and just slays with KILLER HOOKS.
such was absolutely the case when i came upon BEST COAST's debut CRAZY FOR YOU (MEXICAN SUMMER, 2010) more than a decade ago. every song on that album deserved to be a single, but i recall just being floored the first time listening to "BOYFRIEND" and "CRAZY FOR YOU," which both shared an UNBRIDLED OPTIMISM in its SOUND, PRESENTATION and LYRICS albeit with a twinge of heartbreak on the horizon. there is always that COMPLICATED understanding when things are going absolutely SPECTACULAR that the potential for a DEVASTATING loss is OMNIPRESENT like a SWORD OF DAMOCLES. that the rug might be slipped from right under you. with their debut, SINGER-SONGWRITER BETHANY CONSENTINO's lyrical muse was a BURGEONING relationship with NATHAN WILLIAMS of SAN DIEGO EXPERIMENTAL INDIE ROCK band WAVVES. all of that RISK, WORRY, CONFUSION, FAITH, APPROBATION, SELF-ASSURANCE and JOY that comes with finding a ROMANTIC PARTNER. for me at least CONSENTINO really laid all of that mixed-bag of EMOTIONS on the line with that record with those SUNNY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MELODIES in the same TRANSCENDENT tradition of the BEACH BOYS, THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS, LOVE, THE BYRDS, FLEETWOOD MAC and THE GO-GO's. the SECRET weapon of BEST COAST is undoubtedly the less PROMINENT and FORWARD-FACING of the duo, MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST and RECORDING ENGINEER BOBB BRUNO. much like with any great pairing, each plays off of the relative STRENGTHS of the other. and with BRUNO there seems to be a PRETERNATURAL ability to find AURAL HOOKS in AUGMENTED waves of SOUND. his background was in much more EXPERIMENTAL and DISSONANT fair, but such a resume allows for some INTRIGUING SONIC DYNAMICS and UNCONVENTIONAL TONES to find their IDIOSYNCRATIC way into these more TRADITIONAL POP songs. for one, he usually plays a BARITONE GUITAR, which is usually associated more with METAL than ALT COUNTRY / SHOEGAZE / INDIE ROCK fair BEST COAST specialize in. for my part, i seek out videos online of BRUNO's regarding his RECORDING PROCESS and INFORMED opinions concerning GEAR, especially ODD, VINTAGE AMPLIFIERS and long-since DISCONTINUED GUITAR PEDALS. that stuff never gets old and its INTERESTING to hear how such seeps into the REMARKABLE SONIC TAPESTRY that is BEST COAST. embedded below is a recent DEER GOD RADIO episode on nonprofit internet radio station MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC that includes a playlist celebrating the INFECTIOUS LOS ANGELES-based INDIE POP duo BEST COAST. enjoy! photo & text by nacrowe
in the lead-up to the GLOBAL CULTURAL EXPLOSION that was BRITPOP in the mid 1990s, there were a few INFLUENTIAL preceding scenes that would later coalesce into that DIVERSE and POTENT MUSICAL MOVEMENT. among them were the CONCURRENT SHOEGAZE and ACID HOUSE scenes of the late 1980s, both of which introduced NOVEL RHYTHMS and SONIC TEXTURES to the more TRADITIONAL INDIE ROCK SOUND of yesteryear. post-SMITHS and pre-OASIS there was another INNOVATIVE and absolutely SEMINAL likewise MANCUNIAN band that very much bridged that point of connection in this much ESTEEMED lineage, THE STONE ROSES.
all the ELEMENTS were there. a CHARISMATIC SHAMAN-like singer/poet in IAN BROWN whose URBAN SWAGGER and INDELIBLE, LAID-BACK, MANSPREAD POSTURING presaged LIAM GALLAGHER and evoked the LYRICAL OSCAR WILDE-isms of MORRISSEY. a SINGULAR SOUND that very much incorporated the CYCLICAL RHYTHMS of the homespun MADCHESTER SOUND with a decidedly INTERIOR sense of SCALE and a tinge of PSYCHEDELIA that emotively and sonically marked the SHOEGAZE MOVEMENT. their eponymous debut THE STONE ROSES (RCA, 1989) very much split the TRADITIONALIST POP SENSIBILITIES and POETIC lyricism of THE SMITHS with the more EXPANSIVE SONIC AESTHETICS and NONSENSICAL, somewhat SURREALIST, LYRICAL LEANINGS of OASIS. key tracks include "I WANNA BE ADORED," "SHE BANGS THE DRUMS," "I AM THE RESURECTION," "WATERFALL," "FOOL'S GOLD" and "ELEPHANT STONE." unfortunately due to internal conflict, THE STONE ROSES IMPLODED and never reached their full POTENTIAL. in retrospect many see their potential career trajectory in that of the later OASIS, who even consciously mimicked their achievements in matters such as a holding a likewise MASSIVE outdoor concert at KNEBWORTH. for me the NEAREST CULTURAL ANALOGUE to THE STONE ROSES is the likewise LEGENDARY and massively INFLUENTIAL BAY AREA SKA PUNK band OPERATION IVY who likewise IMPLODED after one national stateside tour despite their UNMITIGATED CREATIVE BRILLIANCE. their example is one of never capitalizing on or living up to the POTENTIAL of their one single full-length, ENERGY (LOOKOUT, 1989). sure, other bands came along and evolved their SOUND, but it was a TRANSFORMED MOMENTUM that forever rendered them a footnote in someone else's narrative (i.e. RANCID. JAWBREAKER, GREEN DAY, DANCEHALL CRASHERS, SUBLIME and NO DOUBT). the debut THE STONE ROSES album is a SEMINAL release by a much BELOVED and REVERED band that pointed the way to the future, even if they did not live on as a unit to take advantage of their CULTURAL ANALOGUE and the decade of music and culture that thrived on it. most definitely worth checking out. |
NICHOLAS ARCHIVES
May 2024
CATEGORIES
All
|