Ickmusic @ ACL: Day One Recap
Here’s a brief recap of my first day at ACL: Friday, September 14th….
Jesse Malin – my bro and I walked in part way into Jesse’s set. Jesse gets instant cred in my book because he pulled the Boss in to his new album to sing “Broken Radio” with him. He’s got the east coast pure rock n’ roll vibe going, and he delivered with his set. One of those acts that I need to see in a small club. I’ll be catching him next time he hits Phoenix.
Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts – far be it from me to be a superficial, “typical male”, but the bass player for Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts enhanced the show for me. Her name is Sybil Buck, turns out she’s a model for Yves St. Laurent, and she shakes and shimmies like she stepped out of a Robert Palmer video. The Astronauts set was a favorite of both my brother and I. Buck and the other female in the group, killer lead guitarist Jen Turner, laid down some sweet harmonies – making some of the tunes sound very ethereal and even Pixies-like at times. A great set, and it made me re-listen to their latest release, Let’s Just Be, with a new appreciation. Hail hail Joseph & the Astronauts…
Will Hoge – the mid-afternoon, post fire set by Will Hoge at the Austin Venures stage was a nice well-kept secret among the throngs at the festival. A relatively small crowd got treated to some down home rock n roll, often reminiscent of the Black Crowes (at least to these ears). Hoge even busted out some trademark Chris Robinson moves at times, complete with some handclaps and mic-stand staggers. Good set.
Blonde Redhead -We only caught a couple songs before getting positioned for Crowded House, but what I did hear sounded interesting. I’ll have to dig into some of their stuff.
Crowded House – my bro’s highlight of the weekend was seeing Crowded House, who he hadn’t seen since the early 90’s in Minneapolis. It was my first time seeing Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and the band. It was a solid, tight set that was the last of their six week North American tour. Hearing familiar tunes like “Weather With You” and “Don’t Dream It’s Over” was mighty nice.
M.I.A. – We were stuck behind the soundboard for Maya’s packed set, so we cut it a bit short after a few songs. But I watched some video screen action of M.I.A. and her dance partner jump around to the likes of “Bucky Done Gun”, “Sunshowers”, “Boyz”, and “World Town”. I should’ve pre-positioned myself for this one, if you know what I mean (huh?)…
(photo courtesy of Mark C. Austin on Flickr)
Youtube snippet from ACL (“Bucky Done Gone”)
Spoon – okay we were about 2 football fields back and I laid down and closed my eyes for a while, then we were off to see the Kaiser Chiefs. But I did hear some cool tunes off the new album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, like “The Underdog”, “Don’t You Evah” and “The Ghost of You Lingers”.
Kaiser Chiefs – These guys tore it up. All I really needed was “I Predict a Riot”, in which lead singer Ricky Wilson scaled the scaffolding, came down, jumped around, and then proceeded to twist his ankle. That didn’t dampen his spirits though. He hopped around on one leg for the remainder of the show; a set list filled with high energy British rock from start to finish.
Reverend Horton Heat – I’ve seen the Rev a multitude of times over the years, so it wasn’t a priority to catch the whole set. But we did manage to catch the last several tunes, which gave us “Psychobilly Freakout”, “Bales of Cocaine”, “It’s Martini Time”, Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, “Greensleeves”, and “Folsom Prison Blues”. It’s always good to see the Rev and his Gretsch, Jimbo and his stand up bass, and their latest drummer.
But I missed “400 Bucks“!
The Killers (from a diiistaaance) – We gave it a shot, but couldn’t get anywhere near the stage. So I can’t say I truly got to take in any of the Killers. We decided to head out.
Recaps of Days Two and Three coming soon.
“Obscurity Knocks” Files No. 101: Boogiemonsters
Authors Note: This is the kickoff of what I hope to be a bi-weekly feature. I have a few lined up but if you have any suggestions or recommendations leave a comment or drop a line to michael at ickmusic.com.
Album: Riders of the Storm: The Underwater Album
Genre: Psychedelic Hip-Hop
Status: Disbanded1994 Stands as one of those monumental years in Hip-Hop. The Notorious B.I.G. unleashed Ready to Die on the world, Nas dropped his classic Illmatic and we were all learning just how deep The Wu Tang Clan rolled with solo efforts from Method Man and The GZA. This year also stands out for all the underground acts that were bubbling up to the surface on smaller imprint labels. Groups like Souls Of Mischief, Black Moon and the subject of this file, The Boogiemonsters, released much slept on classic records during this time.
The Boogiemonsters’ four MC’s formed in and around ’92 when Brooklyn natives Vex and Mondo met the Jamaican born brothers Yodared and Myntric at Virginia State University. They ascended through the underground and college scene and were picked up by Pendulum Records in 1993. On August 9th, 1994 they released their debut album Riders of the Storm: The Underwater Album.
I clearly remember the first time I listened to the record. Swishy, heavily effected beats with touches of soul layered over it drew me in and made me nod my head while the lyrics gave way to a higher level of conscious, much in the same vein of A Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul. There was a message and a feeling to this record that separated from the rest. A passion that was on the positive with a flow so sweet it dripped like honey. Each of the four MC’s complementing the preceding style perfectly without sounding like a clone.
The single “Recognized Thresholds of Negative Stress” is a pure mission statement put to rhythm and verse.
“The cytoplasma, is gettin phatter as it grows
and expansions of the soul so throw the trash below dig within
Your mental will extend upon arrival of the truth the spiritual”My mind was blown. And it continued on throughout the rest of the record and to this day I can turn on this record and get lost in it. In writing this article I listened to it at least three times and found it just as fresh and new as it did in ’94.
According to sources on the interweb the group lost two members for “spiritual” reasons and their 1997 sophomore album God Sound cast them into hip-hop obscurity.
Boogiemonsters –
Recognized Thresholds Of Negative Stress(MP3)Boogiemonsters –
Muzic Appreciation (Sweet Music)(MP3)Bonus Video Files:
Boogiemonsters – Recognized Thresholds Of Negative Stress (Video)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARc_mdE_r6A 336 278]
Boogiemonsters – Honeydips in Gotham (Video)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtwkFj1IZ4g 336 278]
Buy Riders of the Storm: The Underwater Album: Amazon*
Links: MySpace (Vex Davortex)
*(The record is out of print, but it appears that you can pick it up from Amazon used.)