This year I was (again) honored to be asked to contribute to the annual Village Voice critics’ poll. Here’s the info and the results.

The Pazz & Jop critics’ poll is a highly influential poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics (roughly 700 in the 2009 poll). Albums have been voted upon every year since 1974 (voting also took place in 1971), and votes for singles have been tabulated since 1979.

Since the poll’s inception, critics have been invited to award their ten albums a total of 100 points, with each album receiving a maximum of 30 points and a minimum of 5. Lists submitted without points are given 10 points per album by the poll’s editors. Singles lists have always been unweighted.

Music critic Robert Christgau was in charge of the poll for 33 years, and wrote an essay every year that accompanied and framed the list. Christgau was dismissed from the Village Voice in August 2006, but the paper intends to continue the feature. Christgau continues to submit his Top Ten list and to encourage other eligible critics to do so.

The poll was jokingly given the spoonerism name “Pazz & Jop” rather than the more obvious “Jazz & Pop” because, inevitably, some detractor will claim that a nominated work is ineligible or undeserving on the grounds that it isn’t “really” jazz or pop. Since there are no formal definitions for the made-up terms “pazz” and “jop”, voters will concentrate on the actual merits of a work rather than arguing over whether it fits into this or that genre.

Pazz + Jop 2009:

• the winners
• the critics
• my ballot

The Cure Can Has Cheezburger

Taylor Swift = ♥

Our Song: In Defense of Taylor Swift

My favorite thing in 2009 has been teenage country cutie Taylor Swift. Normally my music radar sweeps shamefully closer to the underground, but it only took one encounter for me to fall in love with Swift’s undeniably hooky, magnetically charged songs.

Swift was hired by Sony/ATV at age fourteen as a staff songwriter, and since then her accomplishments and accolades have just kept on multiplying. The willowy powerhouse with blond tendrils has become the hottest thing to hit country music since Garth Brooks. True, the majority of Swift’s songs are hardly “traditional” country: Except for the occasional fiddle or lilt in her singing, she almost exclusively plays pop songs. And although her image is that of a young Faith Hill or Shania Twain, her talent is on par with classic artists such as Lucinda, Reba and Dolly.

Her stadium tours sell out months in advance, and she’s been nominated (and won) pretty much every music award possible. But don’t hate the playa, children. Just because it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s bad. (See: Nirvana, the Beatles.) Homegirl’s self-titled debut is the longest-charting record of this decade, and to date she’s sold more than 10 million albums. (Swifty even outsold Michael Jackson this year. Dang.) Songs such as “You Belong With Me,” “White Horse,” “Love Story,” “Teardrops on My Guitar” and “Our Song” are freakin’ scary-good. Not good for a country star. Not good for a girl. Not good for someone her age. Just plain good.

Swift is also at least partially responsible for the greatest pop-culture moment of 2009: the Kanye West Interruption Incident from the MTV Video Music Awards. This misdirected outburst of attention-whoring introduced Taylor to a whole new group of fans she wouldn’t have reached otherwise. Miss Swift’s composure, grace and subsequent roof-blowing song performance was more than enough to silence any haters. Oh, snap. Don’t mess with her; I think she’s in it for the long haul.  — Jaime Lees

Greatest Taylor Swift pop culture moments captured on video:

— TS and T-Pain, “Thug Story” – link
— TS speech, hugging Dave Grohl (start at 5:45) – link
— TS SNL musical monologue (La La La) – link
— TS pranked by Ellen DeGeneres – link
— TS being awesome (see 1:30) – link
— TS as Ace Frehley from KISS – link and link
— TS with Def Leppard, “Pour Some Sugar on Me” – link
— TS music video, “You Belong With Me” – link
— TS vs. Kanye West on MTV – link

• article – link (page 3)
• Taylor Swift – website

A.A. Bondy

Interview : A.A. Bondy, Playing Tonight at the Gargoyle
By Jaime Lees
Fri., Nov. 20 2009

From television to the radio to the internet, indie-folk newcomer A.A. Bondy has been popping up everywhere lately. In addition to touring with Bon Iver, the Felice Brothers and Conor Oberst, he’s appeared at Bonnaroo, recorded a session for Daytrotter.com and performed for Conan O’Brien (to name a few). Furthermore, his music has been roundly praised by influential tastemakers such as Brooklynvegan, Pitchfork, Stereogum and– ahem– the Riverfront Times.

Yep, Bondy seems to be steadily climbing the ladder of success, but it’s not for nothin’. His debut album, 2007’s American Hearts, was so warm, so hauntingly beautiful, that audiences immediately took notice. His glowing arrangements carry just the right amount of magic to induce fuzzy, slow-motion Winnie-Cooper-standing-in-the-sunshine Wonder Years-type moments.

Critics frequently describe him as “the next Bob Dylan,” but this weighty comparison doesn’t seem to have gone to his head. For all of his musical intensity, Bondy comes off like a normal dude. We caught up with him on the road last week while he was en route to an Atlanta gig and he was both humble and humorous. (Bondy is currently on the road with Elvis Perkins in support of his sophomore release, When the Devil’s Loose.)

When did I last interview you? At the beginning of 2008?
Yeah, I remember. But I last saw you there when I played with the [Felice] Brothers in the fall at that weird cafeteria.

Well, what has been happening with your career since then because your shit has been blowing up!
Is it?

Don’t play. I have a list here in front of me. Uh… NPR. Conan. Good Morning America… I could go on.
Oh. I mean, I guess so? I just keep my head down and try to do my job. And if there’s money to be collected, I certainly get it. But, um, I don’t know. I’m all right with what’s going on. I mean, it’s not, like, to the point where it’s like drastically life-changing. [It] feels good, you know, when you go to a town and people show up or people buy records. I like all that stuff.

Do you feel like you’re doing pretty well? Are you getting stuff done that you wanna get done?
It depends on what you mean by that. I mean, I’m able to make records and live off of it. That’s pretty, uh, a big thing, I think. If anybody gets to do what they really feel like doing and make a living off of it — one should sleep well at night, I guess.

How are you doing on your tour? You’ve been touring pretty much non-stop for two years and you’ve got tons more dates scheduled still, right?
Yeah, we’re hitting it pretty hard right now. We’ve crossed the month line and we have five weeks to go. [We have] one month off for Christmas, then we get to go back out. Yeah, I mean, right now I’m alright. It feels pretty good. Some times are better than others, but that’s to be expected in anything.

What’s up after the tour stuff?
Uh, probably looking at what another record is going to be like.

Do you know where you’re going to record it?
Probably in Mississippi, but I don’t know yet. I don’t know. I’ll start there, and then, I don’t know. I don’t know. I can rarely think about it. I just listen to this little box that tells me where to go.

The “little box” being the dude that tells you where to drive? [OnStar]
Yeah. I wish he would tell me everything else to do like, “Pull over in 2.1 miles because you’re having fried chicken.” That would be great. [laughs]

[laughs] Do you know what I think is weird? You’re funny, but because your music is so serious nobody would suspect it. I mean, all of the press I read about you has this ultra-romanticized old-timey stuff in it like, “Oh, he’s a lone troubadour,” and “He probably rides from gig to gig on a horse,” and stuff like that.
Fuck that. Fuck. That. [groans, laughs quietly] You know what I mean? Whatever. I have no answer for why anybody says what they say, you know? Like, you go to a movie and you get sad at the things other people think are funny and vice versa. [adopts a hyper-Southern country accent] Yeah, let me cut this interview short because a train is about to come by and I’ve gotta jump onto it.

Exactly! That’s what I’m saying!
Yeah, [they say] I’m basically a fucking hobo, you know. Whatever.

So, I imagine that when you’re on the road you’re talking to people all day, you’re doing interviews, you’re shakin’ hands and kissin’ babies and whatever. How do you get writing done on the road? Do you have to find quiet time?
Uh, sort of. I mean, when you do get time it seems like better things come out. You don’t have to work as hard to get to them. You just have less time to work things out. And my brain works more slowly at home, so it takes a lot to get to a place where I can get anything done [at home]. I do a lot of laying around in the grass and smoke cigarettes. Ride my motorcycle. I’d like to have more time out here to get stuff done cause I feel like I could get better things done but, you know, really you just do what you can.

Now that there’s more people paying attention to your work, do you feel like more under pressure to be good or– more to the point– are you ever intimidated by all the stuff that’s happening now?
Not at all. Nuh-uh. I mean, I’m too old for that. Like, I just wanna do my job, you know. That’s all I care about. It’s like a series of absurd situations. But I don’t know, I feel more capable now than before. And hopefully that’s how it goes with anything. So of course you get into situations where… I usually just beat myself up. I don’t need anybody else to do it for me.

Aw. That’s sad.
Well, no, it’s not like that. Anybody who makes anything has to go through that.

I’ve got one more question for you and I’ll let you get back to driving. It’s a question that I ask everyone I know. And it’s very serious.
Uh… ok.

Who do you think is a bigger alien? Prince or David Bowie?
[laughs] Prince or David Bowie? [laughs] Hmmm… I think there’s equal amounts of alien in both of those guys. Maybe from different planets. I mean, if I had to pick… I don’t know… they’re both just… I’m going to call it a draw. Hmmm… But David Bowie had that eye thing going for him and when he was taking all of the coke he definitely appeared much more Close Encounters than Prince but… Prince is weird as fuck, too, so…

And he’s so tiny!
I know! But I say Tyra Banks is more alien than both of them.

• article – link
• A.A. Bondy – MySpace
• BrooklynVegan – link

J Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph of Dinosaur Jr. Photo by Brantley Gutierrez.

Dinosaur Jr./Lou Barlow & the MissingMen
By Jaime Lees
Published on October 05, 2009
8 p.m. Wednesday, October 14. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard.
$22 advance, $25 day of show. 314-726-6161.

With grunge-era staples such as “Freak Scene” and “Out There,”Dinosaur Jr. specialized in bittersweet compositions, where even the sad songs were love songs and even the love songs were sad. But they were no crybabies: An impermeable wall of screaming guitar concealed much of this melancholy. To the delight of fans, not much has changed over the past twenty or so years. The older songs still ring true, and the live shows are still a pulverizing avalanche of sound. (The volume of which can only be described as “unholy.”) And don’t call this a nostalgia tour: The band’s new album, Farm, might be its best one yet — supplying a mixture of confessional songwriting and dizzy, throbbing rock. Dino’s own Lou Barlow opens the show in support of his solo album, Goodnight Unknown.

INTERVIEW:

Lou Barlow has indie cred out the ass. As the bass player for Dinosaur Jr (which is playing at the Pageant on Wednesday, October 14), Barlow (alongside guitarist J Mascis and drummer Murph) has been at the forefront of the “alternative” scene since the early ’80s.

And if playing with Dinosaur Jr. wasn’t enough, this dude started college radio gods Sebadoh as a side gig. A side gig! He needed another outlet for his songwriting and — whoops! — he accidentally started freakin’ Sebadoh. Jeez.

Still, it gets crazier. For a few years in the mid-’90s, Barlow fronted psych duo Folk Implosion. Yeah, you know ‘em. That’s the band that scored a surprise hit with the spooky “Natural One” off of the soundtrack from the film KIDS.

Oh yeah, and Mr. Midas puts out beautiful lo-fi solo albums, the latest of which, Goodnight Unknown, is released this week on Merge.

We “interviewed” Barlow via email a couple of weeks ago while he was touring with Dinosaur Jr. in Europe. He was gracious enough to write us back, despite the semi-ridiculous questions we sent his way. Thanks, Lou.

Jaime Lees: So you’re doing a weird thing on this tour. In addition to playing with Dinosaur Jr., you’re also the opening act, playing your solo music with a backing band. How does that work out? It seems exhausting. Do you need to take a nappy, Lou Barlow?
naw, the more i play the more energy i have. dino only plays for an hour and half a night. my band will be playing for 45 minutes, tops. we’ll be on a bus, so i can sleep, dino has roadies so i can sit on my ass for most of a day. i’ll be fine.

Your new album, Goodnight Unknown, gets better with each listen. It seems more upbeat than your previous solo work, but it still lovey and conflicted. Do you write about situations in your own life or do you see yourself more as a storyteller?
i’m not a storyteller. at all. the songs are based on situations in my life. i collect phrases that have the right feel when i sing them. string them together around the theme. maybe a particular incident or a general message ( i.e. ‘i love you’ ). songs provide a lot to hide behind. you can get away with murdering the language. as long as the feel is right.

When you’re writing music, how do you decide who gets it? Meaning: Do you write songs for your solo albums and Dinosaur Jr. albums separately? Or does it all start from the same place?
with dino i like to start with improvising bass and drums. finding riffs that feel good. then marrying them with existing melodies or something totally new. the main objective is matching the texture of j’s songs in some way. i don’t want to frankenstein a song i wrote on acoustic into a dino-replica. i want it to be organically dino. if that makes sense. the songs i write on acoustic guitars seem best kept acoustic, for now. those became the songs on ‘goodnight unknown’

So, I really loved those silver and purple limited edition Dinosaur Jr. themed Nike High-Top Dunks. Do you have any other plans to license merchandise like this? And can you hook a ho up with some phat new kicks? (Ladies size 7, please)
i don’t even know how that happened. j’s on a whole other level of brand awareness and profit avenues.

Do you still live in L.A.? What’s the process for when Dinosaur Jr. needs to get together to write, rehearse or record?
i still live in LA. when dino needs me i go back east, stay with my parents and soak up the hometown vibes. and i can bring my wife and the kid out for gramma time.

How on earth do you still have your hearing? I last saw Dinosaur Jr. play in 2006 and it was the loudest MF sound I’ve ever heard in my life. Not just the loudest concert I’ve ever been to, but the loudest sound I’ve ever heard. Many people fled the venue. Those who stayed were shoving cocktail napkins down their ear canals. At least two chicks were crying. Does that make you proud, Lou? Huh? Does it?
no. it’s f-in ridiculous. it’s j’s trip. he is inflexibly dedicated to the idea of extreme volume as a necessity. was then, is now. it’s one of the great mascis mysteries.

i wear 2 pairs of 33 db reduction earplugs. one pair buried in my ear canals, the other gaffer taped on top of those.. it sounds and feels pretty great that way. i experience the songs on a physical level as well as melodic and emotional (i think and dance to them )

we played a show last year with small amps and it was great. we really don’t need the extreme amplification but it’s part of j’s ‘brand’. that’s the ship i’m sailing on and i won’t be mutinying anytime soon. the positives still outweigh the negs.

• article – link
• reprint – Houston Press
• interview – link
• Dinosaur Jr – website
• Lou Barlow – website
• Brantley Gutierrez – website

The Breeders
9 p.m. Friday, August 7.
Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City.
By Jaime Lees

St. Louis is frequently a flyover city for national touring bands, but that’s not the case with the Breeders. They have love for us, and it’s documented: The band returns to town on Friday for the first time since filming a music video here in February, a clip which starred our own female roller-derby league, the Arch Rival Roller Girls. The song in the video, “Fate to Fatal,” is the lead track off of the band’s limited edition EP of the same name. Like 2008’s Mountain Battles, the new EP showcases the same candy-coated indie-pop harmonies that made the band so magnetic during its first wave of success in the ’90s. It’s been nearly twenty years since its first album, Pod, and it’s clear that the Breeders haven’t lost any of its magic.

>> interview with Kelley Deal HERE<<

• article – link
• The Breeders – website
• Arch Rival Roller Girls – website
• “Fate to Fatal” video here

Package tours are usually about reviving long-dead bands for a quick buck. However, the So-Cal Punk Invasion Tour breaks that tradition: Each band on the bill is still active and fully functional. Sure, the lineups may not be original, but for those who missed the first wave of West Coast punk, this tour is a great introduction. Lee Ving returns to St. Louis to headline with his pioneering punk band, Fear. (Judging by the energetic reception to a Ving solo show at Deluxe in April, the Gateway City has been hurtin’ for some hardcore.) Punk palates will be further sated by the surf stylings of Agent Orange and by D.I. (a band featuring ex-Adolescents and Social Distortion drummer Casey Royer). Total Chaos and Bloodhook round out the bill.

• article link
• Fear and Lee Ving – website
• Agent Orange – website
• D.I. – MySpace
• Total Chaos – website
• Bloodhook – MySpace

photo by Heather Stumpf

Sybris
9 p.m. Friday, July 24. Cicero’s, 6691 Delmar Boulevard, University City.
By Jaime Lees

For six long years, Chicago’s Sybris has been touring in the Midwest and beyond. The band’s brilliant second album, Into the Trees, was recorded at Pachyderm Studio (read: birthplace of Nirvana’s In Utero) and was released last year on the indie label Absolutely Kosher. Sybris’ sound has built over the years, with songs that range from Pavement-esque shuffling to unexpected bursts of great grungeitude. Singer Angela Mullenhour’s divine voice is what makes the band truly unique, though: Her coy coo sounds like some weird, dreamy hybrid of Emily Haines (Metric) and Harriet Wheeler (The Sundays). The band is just now reaping moderate success, having scored a few choice opening slots and a place on the Lollapalooza lineup last year, so catch them while you can.

• article – link
• Sybris – website
• Sybris – MySpace
• photo by Heather Stumpf

Photo by Michael Schmelling. Doodles by JL.

Sonic Youth 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 17.
Live on the Levee, under the Gateway Arch. Free.

Electric Youth: Sonic Youth and Kim Gordon continue to age gracefully with a new LP, The Eternal
By Jaime Lees

In their 28-year career, indie-rock godfathers Sonic Youth have experienced unprecedented success — and had unparalleled staying power. Credit this longevity to the band’s stability: Guitarist/vocalist Lee Ranaldo, drummer Steve Shelley, bassist/vocalist Kim Gordon and guitarist/vocalist/her husband Thurston Moore have launched numerous side projects, completed countless world tours and released copius rarites and studio albums.

The band’s Matador Records-released latest, The Eternal, marks its return to an independent label. (It had been with Geffen since 1990’s Goo.) But Eternal is the perfect extension of the Sonic Youth catalog, a hybrid of resonant guitar textures and jammy, jazzed-out, free-form experimentation. The album evokes Daydream Nation’s unpredictable explosiveness and the near-psychedelic, extended harmonies of Washing Machine, but it isn’t a musical progression as much as it is a lateral move. That in particular is Sonic Youth’s trademark: Although each new album the band releases might contain heavier guitars, additional harmonies or more noise, they all maintain that nebulous Sonic Youth quality. There’s something special about the dreamy pop blasts that the band creates together; instead of their dueling talents triggering a compromise, it feels as though collaboration enriches the Sonic Youth sound.

As Sonic Youth’s bassist and one of its songwriters, Kim Gordon has long been an inspiration to younger musicians. As one of the few females in a respected, long-running rock band, Gordon is thought of as the cool, MILF-y matriarch of indie rock. But unlike many women, she’s praised as much for her musical input as she is for her good looks and hushed, lusty voice. Her contributions to the band have rarely been as pronounced as they are on Eternal, on which she sings lead on several tracks, and her imposing bass lines sweep boldly through the din.

A prolific visual artist, Gordon is also accomplished in many other disciplines — including painting, drawing, writing, producing and organizing both art and music events. She’s also fronted two successful fashion lines, X-Girl and the new Mirror/Dash, which is sold at Urban Outfitters. On the eve of Sonic Youth’s current tour, we spoke with Gordon about how she balances her multiple interests with life on the road. She has a reputation as being private — even aloof — in interviews, but we found her to be inviting, engaging and downright giggly.

Jaime Lees: You have so many different projects. How do you decide what you’re going to work on? Is it deadlines?
Kim Gordon: Yeah, deadlines. Exactly. Well, with the art stuff, some things you have to create [on deadline], either projects with someone or sometimes you get asked for a show. I work on ideas and stuff, but when it really comes down to it, it’s all about a deadline.

Do you complete your art first and then look for a show for it, or do you hear about an interesting show and want to create something for it?
It’s kind of a little of both. Right now I’m in this show in Graz in Austria, a group show. I don’t usually like group shows, but this one was interesting. I like the curator [Diedrich Diederichsen]. He’s a writer before he’s a curator. [Along with] my friend, Jutta Koether, who’s an artist, they asked us if we wanted to do a collaboration.

So how can you spend half of your life on the road and still be painting?
Well, this has been a really busy spring, but generally we just tour around a record. We’re not one of those bands that goes on tour for a year or something. We have a daughter, and Lee has kids so, you know, I try and tour around her school schedule. We’ve been gone a lot this spring already, so it’s hard. And I think it’s actually harder for moms to leave their kids. I know some people say, “How come people don’t make a big deal about asking fathers what it’s like to go on the road?” It is hard for them, too, but I think it’s easier if you have one parent at home that’s taking care of it.

Do you bring her [daughter Coco] with you on tour?
Sometimes. But as she’s gotten older she’s been able to stay home with someone. And she prefers to stay home. [Laughs]

When you’re out touring and you get to each new city, do you have something you like to do there? You know, like some people like to find the city’s best restaurant or used bookstore or whatever.
Oh yeah, we’re totally into picking out good restaurants. And actually, Mark [Ibold, of Pavement fame], who is playing bass with us now, he’s really great at looking up food websites, and he always knows about places to try. But when we first started touring, it was always like, “Where’s the good barbecue place?” [Laughs] So when we get to a city, sometimes we’ll get day rooms at a hotel. We usually have a few hours during the day to hang out before we do sound check, and sometimes we have interviews.

So you have sound check and then you go do your dinner thing before the show?
Sometimes. I mean, you have to eat a certain amount of time before the show. Steve, our drummer, won’t eat if it’s less than five hours before our show.

Does he get barfy?
[Laughs] He just plays better. And you do play better if you’re not full. Nothing like a whole lot of barbecue and then having to go onstage! [Laughs]

So do you get any of your other work done on tour? I mean, it’s not like you can paint on the bus…
It’s hard. Some people can do a lot of stuff on tour. I can’t because I have a perpetual state of exhaustion because I don’t sleep on the bus very well. Like, Lee seems to always have little projects he’s working on, but I’m not so good. I’m going to try and seek out, like, yoga classes and things like that to offset the barbecue. [Laughs] It’s a little anxiety provoking, actually, to have to go away for six weeks. In fact, I’m in the middle of packing right now.

I know, like, how many shoes do you bring? Who knows?
Yeah, it’s like, how do I pack all these vitamins? I always over-pack. But you’re basically living out of a suitcase for six weeks. It’s like, you buy all these clothes [at home], but then you kind of have to say goodbye to them. [Laughs] It’s hard to go away during the summer, actually. But it’ll be fun once we get going.

Is it easier for you guys when you’re touring with another band, because then you have more people around to hang out with? Or is that just annoying?
[Laughs] Well, it can be. You’re together all the time, and sometimes you sort of create a distance, because otherwise you would really be irritated all the time. [Laughs] Twelve people on a bus is kind of hard. But anyway, God, it’s nice to be asked other questions than normal, you know? I mean, we get tired of the same questions all the time so it’s going really well so far. You’re doing a good job.

Well, thank you. I’m bored with reading the same questions all the time. So, do you ever have free time? Do you ever have a time where you’re at home, and you don’t have any huge projects staring at you?
Um, pretty much never. But last summer, we only did a little bit of touring, but that was the first time in maybe twenty years where we hadn’t toured in the summer. I mean, it was kind of shocking, actually. But when I’m home I procrastinate about doing things so I can hang out with my friends. Like now, I should be getting my things done, but I’d rather see my friends before I go, so…

So what are you doing when you get back from tour? What’s your next big thing?
Well, Mirror/Dash, the clothing line, is kind of an ongoing thing. But for the next project, I have a book I’m working on, my paintings, and I’m sort of working on another painting series. But we’re going to do a bunch of touring in the fall, so I’m kind of keeping my schedule as open as I can. I don’t want to be too…pressured. But as busy as I am, Thurston has many more projects than I do. I don’t know how he does it, really. But it’s energizing if you get stuff back from it.

• Riverfront Times (St. Louis) – link
• reprint in The Pitch (Kansas City) – link
• reprint in Dallas Observer – link
• interview outtakes at A to Z blog – link
• Sonic Youth – website
• Sonic Youth – Facebook
• Sonic Youth – Twitter
• Urban Outfitters – Mirror/Dash
• Michael Schmelling – website

painting of Phonocaptors by Dana Smith, asbestossister.com

The Phonocaptors with Sex Robots
10 p.m. Friday, June 5. Deluxe, 2733 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood.
By Jaime Lees
Published on June 02, 2009 at 10:11am

Local rockers the Phonocaptors were once a beloved Midwestern treasure, a band revered for dynamic live shows and for songs built on vibrant, fuzzy guitars. The trio created three albums full of powerful, juicy rock & roll candy — thanks to guitarist/songwriter Jason Hutto’s flashy riffs, Keith Voegele’s weighty bass and the slick drumming of Scott “Scooter” Hermes. The Phonos disbanded in 2004, and since then, its members have found success with other bands, including area favorites the Bottle Rockets, Bunnygrunt, Tight Pants Syndrome and Walkie Talkie U.S.A. However, these experiences have just added to the trio’s many talents — which it’ll reveal once again at this Friday night reunion show. Welcome back, Phonocaptors. We missed you.

• article – link
• Jason Hutto – website
• Phonocaptors videos at LoFiSTL.com
• Sex Robots – MySpace
• Dana Smith – website

photo courtesy of Sarah Paradoski

Interview with Kelley Deal of the Breeders

This one is personal, darlings. As a Breeders fan and a native St. Louisan, I was beyond stoked to learn that the band would be shooting a video in my city with our roller derby team, the Arch Rival Roller Girls.

The event was whispered about for months, but nobody was sure if it would really happen until about a week before the video date. There were no contracts involved, just people getting together to make something cool, completely D.I.Y. style.

So imagine our excitement when it actually happened. Right on time, Kelley Deal arrived in town with video directors Mando Lopez (Breeders bassist) and James Ford. Suddenly, we were superstars. And it was all set up by my friend, Amy Whited.

Whited is a lovable little spaz with a brain that moves lightning fast (and a mouth to match). I’ve known her since I was about 17 years old and she was a cool older sister type who had a band and hosted riotgrrrl concerts in the basement of her ramshackle house.

As far back as I can remember, Whited’s true love had always been music- specifically the Breeders. She’d met the band, seen them play countless times and she has artwork from a Breeders record tattooed prominently on her upper arm. She even adopted two little mixed Dachshund puppies and named them Kim Dog and Kelley Dog.

Whited explains, “They were my most favorite band. I loved the Pixies before them. I was on a mission to meet them cause I saw them in Columbia, Missouri in April 1994, and I was thinking that I must speak to Breeders at Lollapalooza. And they were nice!”

Her dedication all of these years resulted in a spectacular success: arranging for the Breeders to record the bands latest video in St. Louis with her roller derby team and newest obsession, the Arch Rival Roller Girls.

The shoot was scheduled for early on Valentine’s Day and despite the drizzle, the roller girls turned up en masse. During the eight hour video shoot they had to skate pretty much constantly, but they hardly even took breaks. In fact, the rollers seemed to rally near the end of the day.

“We kind of got delirious around hour number six, ” explains Arch Rival Roller Girl Lauren Busiere, “We had to keep skating all day and we were all exhausted. We were completely bonkers. It was like a child’s slumber party in the middle of the day- except Kelley Deal was there. It was really awesome, but completely crazy.”

The spirit of the day was greatly helped along by Deal, who has endless enthusiasm and a contagious smile. She trotted around the rink, sprinkling encouraging words, heartfelt ‘thank you’s and pats on the back wherever needed. Her main role of the day, however, seemed to be to coach the performers with the song lyrics. She wanted the derby players to be the ones singing the song in the video, so she spent much of her time standing behind the camera, holding up a lyric sheet and singing along.

I talked to Kelley yesterday and asked her about Whited, roller derby, the video, her new EP and the Breeders’ future plans. The interview is below.

– Jaime Lees

——————————————-

JAIME LEES: Ok, so let me just say, I’ve known Amy Whited for about a million years.

KELLEY DEAL: Oh, me too. Do you know the story of how we met her?

Yes, but please tell me all of it.

Kelley Deal, Amy Whited, Kim Deal in 1994

Ok, the Breeders- this was in 1994, the Breeders were on Lollapalooza and we were in Chicago. And my mom and dad had gone to that show ’cause they live in Dayton. So, of course they have all the backstage passes and all that stuff. So we were out walking around and stuff and then we go back to say hi to my mom and dad and they have this, like, 16 or 17 year old little blond-headed girl with them. And they introduced us to her and we were like “Hey, well Hi, how are you?” and my mom is like “This is Amy. She’s joining us back here.”

I guess they started talking to her and they discovered she’d hitchhiked from St. Louis, Missouri to Chicago to go to Lollpalooza. So, of course, my mother and father were just appalled at that idea. So they kind of adopted her that day. So we said hi to her and got her a pass and we hung out back there. And I know before the end of the day my mom and dad gave her money and made her promise to take a bus home back to St. Louis.

Awww.

You know, I never did ask her how she got home. I need to ask her that. Cause if it were me, I’d have spent it on drugs, you know? Wouldn’t you? But, so after that, years would go by. And any time the Breeders went out, any time we were close to St. Louis like Chicago or Cincinnati we’d be like “Hey, there’s Amy!”And eventually we exchanged phone numbers and then when the email came along we exchanged email.

And the last time I saw Amy was back in the summer when the Breeders came to St. Louis and we met up and we were talking to her and her and some of her friends and roller girl friends came on to the tour bus and we hung out there and stuff after the show. And Amy and I were just talking about how cool it would be to do a video with the derby involved in it somehow. Like the Breeders could play in the middle of the rink or something and we both thought it would be a great idea but then we just kind of forgot about it.

So we left and then the Breeders did this Vote Early, Rock Late rally. It wasn’t for Obama but it kind of ended up being for Obama, if you know what I mean. And it was in Cincinnati and we’re hanging out after our show and we’re talking to these girls and one of them had a derby shirt on for the Cincinnati roller derby and I’m like “Oh my god, are you guys in derby, too? Oh, do you know Amy?” Thinking that everybody knows everybody, you know how that is. So then… That was in October and in November, you know, I had my knitting book out.

Yes.

So there’s this thing called the No Coast Craft Fair in Minneapolis in November and they invited me to go out there to do a book signing and to judge craft contests. It was really fun. There was five teams and it was me and several other judges. And one of the teams was the Minnesota roller girls. And they actually won the contest. But they actually deserved to win. It wasn’t just that I liked roller derby and so they won. (laughs) Yeah, so I was like “What is going on with this derby stuff? This is crazy! Ok, I can take a hint.” And so I called Amy up and I said, “Amy, listen, we’ve gotta do this.” And since then we had a new song we had done. And I was like “That new song, ‘Fate to Fatal’ would be perfect for this.” But then the idea of us all getting together… We were taking a break, the band was taking a break and two of the people live in Los Angeles.

Right.

And Kim and I are in Dayton and I’m like “How are we going to get all of our people down there to do a live show?” And at the same time, I was thinking about how cool it would be if the [roller] girls would do the lip-synching. That’s way more interesting to me, to have them do the lip-synching. So we started thinking, how could that work? Cause there’s not any real narrative to it. It’s not like there’s really a story, and I never really wanted there to be a story, I really just wanted it to be about their derby and how fun it is and how rad it is, you know? And that’s it. I don’t think it needs any story. It’s a fantastic visual. And it’s a great song. So it just worked out perfect.

So how did you decide to do it here [in St. Louis]? Are the Dayton/Cincinnati roller girls pissed?

Good point, good point. At one time, Amy and I were talking and we had talked about all of this a lot. And we’re like, what we could do- I was calling them away games but they’re not they’re called “road derby” or something. And they were going to be going through Detroit and I was like “Well, you guys could come through Dayton, and you could, like, play against the Dayton derby.” And that would have been cool. But the thing is, logistically, where are we gonna set all the girls up? And they’d have to come through here, we’d have to get hotels or find houses for people to stay in- it just made more sense [to film in STL], because there’s so many derby girls there in St. Louis. I mean, there’s the whole league, and it’s not just Amy’s team. And it took me a while to put that together. I was like “Oh, so there’s not just 13 of you rolling around.” “Oh no, there’s tons of us, and we could actually play against ourselves on our teams.” And I’m like, “You know what, Amy, it will just be easier.” And I drove down from Dayton in my car. And then Mando [Lopez] and [James] Ford, they flew out to St. Louis. And you know, cameras are so good now, and Mando- he’s the bass player in the Breeders- he actually does it for a living. He does camera work for a living.

So you were like, “Well, we don’t have to get a camera guy…”

Kelley Deal, Amy Whited in 2009 looking out over Skatium Rink (photo by Jennifer Hylton)

Exactly. So then it was like, how is this gonna work? Cause I’d never been to the Skatium before. And I’m like what about drinks? Cause people are going to be thirsty. And what about food? And I’m just… all of these are question marks, cause we were in the middle of doing something else right then.

Kim and I were driving to Chicago to do this benefit we do with Second City, it’s like a 24 hour comedy and music thing. We’ve been doing that for a few years and it’s really fun, so we were rehearsing for that cause you’ve gotta kind of tear all the songs apart and make them interesting for just two people to play. And we had to figure it out. Kim would be like, “We could do Pacer, Kelley, if you play the bass part.” And I’d be, “OK, well how does the bass part go?” [Kim,] “Well, wait, I don’t remember. So I’ll play the bass part and sing.” So we were kind of re-learning that. So it was really busy, and Christmas was coming up, and it just seemed really busy so I was so worried it wouldn’t come together. That I was just going to drive into the Skatium and I was just going to go “Uh… here’s the lyrics. Go! Make magic!” So I get there, Amy has it completely– I don’t know what she does for a living. I think it has something to do with, like, organization and shit, doesn’t it?

Yeah, it’s some kind of office something right now.

Yeah, exactly. You can tell. Everything was completely mapped out.

Dude, if Amy wants to get something done, she just gets it done.

Oh my god! And gets it done well. Yeah. It ran like clockwork. I mean, I was so fuckin’ impressed, man. Yeah, I was really impressed.

She has some kind of weird motivating skills, do you know what I’m saying? She got all of those chicks to show up and skate for eight hours straight…

Oh my god! They skated like dogs for eight hours. Without drinking. No beers.

They really did.

I’m impressed with that. They’re really good about not drinking and skating. At least, they seem to be. Maybe somebody is there with a flask takin’ a nip, but I was pretty impressed with that. There’s a lot of socialization there, too. You wanna talk with your friends and you wanna have fun, so the idea of not drinking when you’re doing it for eight hours and it’s on a Saturday…

Well, what’s kind of great about that derby is that most of those girls didn’t know each other before they got involved in it. They all just kind of made their own family and it’s kind of sweet to watch. Cause they wouldn’t really know each other otherwise.

Oh, I know. It’s so cool. And, you know, when you get older you have all of your high school friends and all your neighborhood friends and then you have your work friends but as you get older you kind of start losing the number of friends somehow. I think, I don’t know what it is, how that works and shit, but something like derby, having those relationships with girls- it’s so good. And it’s not work relationships. I used to work in an office, you know, and everybody in the office goes out to dinner afterward, you go to a bar, meet up or something like that, but then you invariably start talking about work, or people at work. But the derby it just so great cause it’s something other than work.

I mean, I was shocked by how much they just- they just skated for eight hours straight and then all of those tricks at the end? I had no idea they could do that stuff.

Oh I know, oh my god. I don’t know if it’s out right now, or if it’s going to be out in the next couple of days. Have you seen the video? Mando called it- he titled the making of “Skate to Fatal.”

Yeah, I saw the clip on Rolling Stone.

They were really cute talking about- I mean, you see all of these wipe-out shots- it was pretty bad at the beginning there.

I watched saw James [Ford] take a serious fall. I wasn’t sure if he was going to be OK there for a minute!

Ha! Oh my god! Yeah! Mando was talking to me, about an hour into it, and he’s like “Man, I’m telling them to slow down but they can’t slow down. Listen I don’t know how this is going to work, but it’s not going to work how I thought it was. They can’t slow down. They’re unable to.”

Yeah, you just have to get out the way!

Yeah! So the video is cool. It’s awesome. There’s so many wipe out shots that look really bad ass. I don’t know all the girls and stuff, but there’s this one girl that’s got long hair and she’s doing push-ups. As a chick, I just really love it. And there’s at the very end, the whole thing ends with Grave Danger absolutely wiping out and she’s just laughing- it shows her laughing on the rink. It’s so cute. And they were all so patient! And they were willing just to try everything and they had enthusiasm and they looked great and the shots were amazing.

And they were doing those jumps and spins and shit. I mean, I’ve seen plenty of games, but I didn’t know they could do stuff like that.

I know!

So were you technically a director?

No, I was the… how do you say… I was the idea person.

Well, it was hard to tell, cause it seemed like you had some stuff planned out. But then it would be like “OK, wait, now to this.”

Right. I mean, I had a vision. And Mando respected that.

(Laughs)

And I appreciate that he let me, you know, work on it.

So tell me about the EP that “Fate to Fatal” is going on. With Mark Lanegan and all… I love him.

Oh my god, his voice…

It’s so soothing!

You know, he sings like… (long pause) he sings like an old black man. He has that resonance of life, love, love lost, dreams smashed, forlorn- you know what I mean?

Oh yeah.

It’s like he sings like a serial killer would.

Yeah!

It’s kind of really spooky and eerie and kind of dangerous but soothing, too, in a really weird way.

It’s half soothing, half really sexy and I’m always confused about how to react when I hear it.

(laughs) Yeah, right, exactly. Like, “Should I be afraid of that voice?”

Yeah, am I scared or am I turned on or what?

Totally. Yeah, should I be turned on or not?

So why did you put out an EP and not a full album? Are you going to make another one?

Well what happened was last summer Kim got into a little writing frenzy. So we were doing some songs and we decided to record one of the songs, Fate to Fatal, in England at the very tail-end of the tour. And then we came home until, like, November. And we had a month, month and a half break there. And then we worked some more. And we worked some more. And we knew we were going to do All Tomorrows Parties, do you know about that?

Yeah.

Yeah, we’re curating and we’ve got really good bands. X is doing our party. Gang of Four is doing our party. Wire is doing our party.

Damn girl!

I know, it’s so awesome. And Teenage Fanclub…

(gasps) Don’t even talk about Teenage Fanclub. Love them!

Yeah! I like to call it “my party.” (laughs) And so we were going ATP and we’re going, “Geez, we’ve got these songs, we should release, like, an EP around that time. It’s be fun. It would give us new songs to play- cause we just did Europe- we were just there. So we can do some new songs and people would actually know the new songs cause they’d have been released.” So that’s what we decided to do- put out an EP. And then we were talking about how we should release it, and we talked to 4AD a little bit and it was, like, overkill, so we thought “we should just do it ourselves” so we did.

And now it’s going to be on vinyl and digital download?

Yep.

Well that’s the best way to do it now.

I think so, yeah. It just so happens that we were doing this the same time that Record Store Day was coming up. It’s this Saturday, so we were like, if we wanted to, we could just make the release date Record Store Day. So we just did that and it will be available for download on iTunes the following Tuesday. We’re doing the in-store at Shake It Records and that’s this Saturday. Shake It Records is a local vinyl store in Cincinnati, and Kim and I are going to drive down there with some guitars and play for like a half an hour or 40 minutes and I think we’re going to sign some records, too.

Everything just seems to keep lining up in the right way. And when I was looking up the release info it said that Pod and Last Splash were being re-released on vinyl, too. Is that true?

Well, we’ve never had a release that has not been on vinyl. So yeah, it’s all coming out on vinyl and I think it’s great.

So are you gonna summer tour? Are you coming here? What up?

That’s a good question. I know we’re doing… we’ve already… dates are already starting to get confirmed for August in Los Angeles. We’ll start working that out then. We’ll start moving out from there. I think we might do this San Diego street fair- Street Scene or something like that. Then opening for Elvis Costello who is doing something with Jenny Lewis at some bluegrass thing. He’s doing something with her and some other people. I can’t remember what it’s called, but it’s a bluegrass kind of thing. I think it would be awesome. Whatever Elvis Costello does- I’m so happy to open for him. Oh my god. So yeah, some more touring. I don’t know exactly where or when we’re coming.

Well, that’s nice. But when you do the midwest again you know you’ve got to come here cause you know about a million more people want to come.

Oh my god, I’d love to. I can’t wait for those guys- and for you, too, cause you were there during it- to see the video.

Oh my god, I stayed the whole time, it was so long.

They skated like dogs!

Like dogs!

———————————–

• VIDEO HERE
• Breeders – website
• No Aloha – Breeders fansite
• Amy Whited – website
• click for photos from video shoot by Sarah Paradoski
• Lauren Busiere’s art here

As the lead singer for the punk band Fear, Lee Ving earned a reputation as a sharp, acid-tongued agitator. His commanding, drill-sergeant vocal delivery and surly attitude helped to build a new breed of bad-tempered hardcore. With songs like “Let’s Have a War” and “I Love Livin’ in the City,” Fear put on a legendarily abrasive stage show, disguising complicated music beneath a blanket of punk-rock attitude.

Still, Ving is not at all what you might expect. College-educated and thirsty for theoretical physics, the clearly intelligent Ving runs his own MySpace page and is starting a record company to release his many musical ventures — everything from out-of-print Fear albums to new recordings by his bluegrass band.

We caught up with him in early March to ask about his history and upcoming solo shows. Warm and enthusiastic, with a voice like sweet honey whiskey, Ving is honest and funny, offering up quotable bits like “I have to say, I was really overjoyed when Guns N’ Roses recorded a cover of ‘I Don’t Care About You.’ That was…lucrative.” And: “I like that John Mayer. He’s a good player, and that’s the kind of thing I respond to.”

Jaime Lees: Aside from Fear, you have a rich musical past. How did you get into playing these solo shows?
Lee Ving: I’ve been doing it for a while, and I get to do a lot of different kinds of music. I don’t try to stick to the Fear format, or try to be Fear all by myself. I do other kinds of music. You know, pop tunes, jazz standards, solo tunes, songs that I liked over the radio — things that the Fear crowd might not readily accept. But they’re songs that I like to sing; I sing them well, so I really want to do them. It gives me an outlet to do it. I’d been playing for a while when I started Fear. I didn’t learn to play as Fear began, as some other groups did. Some of the first bands I was ever in were blues bands in Philadelphia — we played with Buddy Guy and B.B. King and Junior Wells. I was in this band in Philly called Sweet Stavin Chain, and it was a full-on blues band. Michael Brecker would come and play with us on weekends. Let me tell you, as a blues soloist, there was no one better. So that band really smoked. Now many people mention Michael Brecker and John Coltrane in the same breath. I mean, Michael Brecker had Junior Walker down so good. He played better than Junior Walker. You know who Junior Walker is, right?

Yeah, I love all those old Motown guys. So how did you transition from blues to punk?
OK, so I moved from New York to Los Angeles, and then eventually I discovered this punk-rock thing. And I thought that the players I saw were beginners and that the shows weren’t thought out. I knew that I could put a band together that had far superior players, and I knew that I could incite better than the people I was seeing. But what I really liked about it was the audience! The band starts playing, and the audience starts jumping up and down and bashing the living daylights out of each other! With punk you could say whatever you want, play whatever you want and give the audience a hard time if you wanted to. I thought, Wow, this is great. So that’s what inspired me to start the Fear thing. And we’ve been at it ever since.

See, but I think that all of your different musical training came through in Fear.
Absolutely. I was in New York and Philadelphia listening to these jazz musicians play live three to six nights a week for most of my life, and that still comes out of every pore when I write something. There’s no way to keep that under wraps, and that education is priceless. I mean, I heard Charles Mingus play live many, many nights. And Stanley Turrentine many, many nights. And Freddie Hubbard. And Archie Shepp and Art Blakey and Beaver Harris and Clifford Jordan and McCoy Tyner, and Elvin Jones and Tony Williams, Rahsaan Roland Kirk… I could just keep going all night. So it was a very advanced musical platform that gave birth to this punk-rock band. Which I think is reasonably unusual.

How did Fear relate to the other bands in the punk/hardcore scene? Many of them were straight-edge and writing songs like “TV Party,” but you were singing about wanting more beer.
Well, you know, I was aware that there was this straight-edge thing, but it just seemed ridiculous to me. I didn’t believe it for a minute. And it’s OK to say what you believe in, and it’s OK if you do that. It just didn’t seem like something that was real. I couldn’t believe that none of these people were having any sex or drinking at all or taking any drug. But maybe they weren’t.

Also, I think that the idea of being cloistered or monastic in some way may free the mind to concentrate on some things; maybe there’s benefit in it. But you know, we just did what we did. And we wanted to say shit that was funny to the audience — and we certainly consumed our weight in beer, no problem. [Clears throat] But if we weren’t going to be accepted among bands that didn’t seem like they had a sense of humor, then so be it. Black Flag said they didn’t like us because we were telling jokes. They didn’t think that there was any place for that.

Well, Black Flag was serious business. I love them for it, but most kids just want to laugh, scream at people and be loud.
Yeah, you’re a kid! That’s what to do. That’s what feeling good is all about! So it all just seemed funny to me. The fact that there were causes also seemed funny to me. For people to try to say that their band really stood for some sort of political movement or something? I didn’t believe any of that shit for a minute, either. I thought that the band stood for, you know, trying to make some money — if it was getting paid $17 or $10,000. And we wanted to put across entertaining shows musically and verbally, you know, the banter between the band members and the back-and-forth with the crowd.

That’s why it was so great! Because you never knew if you were joking, and it made it very confusing and very excellent.
Yeah, that’s right! That’s exactly where I wanted it! I wanted the boneheads to think that I was completely serious, that I really wanted to “have a war,” and I wanted those that were capable to see the satire in those sort of ridiculous statements and song titles. That way, everybody could go home happy!

Details:
Lee Ving
8:30 p.m. Saturday, April 4.
Deluxe, 2733 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood.
$15 advance, $17 day of show. 314-646-0370.

• article – link
• FEAR and Lee Ving – website

Phil Spector is the real Afroman

I was gonna write this show preview, but then I got high.
I was gonna tell you about rapper Afroman, too, until I got high.
Now I’m skimpin’ on the content and I know why. (Why, man?)
Because I got high. Because I got high. Because I got high.
I was gonna hype this show up well, but then I got high.
I had a whole lot of stuff to tell, until I got high.
But I’ll see you at the Firebird and you know why. (Why, man?)
Because you’re all high. Because you’re all high. Because you’re all high.
La da-da da da daa.

• article – link
• Afroman – website

Davey Wrathgaber is a member of the Athens, Georgia, pop powerhouse the Elephant 6, a collective of bands that includes Apples in Stereo, Elf Power, Of Montreal and Neutral Milk Hotel. Wrathgaber enlists friends from these bands to play with him in the Visitations, and although hyped as psych folk, the band is not so much psychedelic as it is comfortably schizophrenic. Its new album, The Conundrum Tree, is multifaceted and diverse; songs like “Fresh Dog” perfectly mix “We Got the Beat” with “Sister Ray,” while “Bony Maurine” reflects the ringing regional sound so clearly that it sounds like Mike freakin’ Mills actually sings it. Apparently, Wrathgaber’s talent lies in tweaking the delicious Athens recipe and baking something that tastes a little less sweet — and a lot more dreamy.

• article – link
• The Visitations – MySpace
• The Visitations – website

We’ve been sittin’ on this one for weeks, people. We tried to get official announcements and press statements but they weren’t forthcoming.

So here it is: The Breeders are scheduled to be in St. Louis on Valentine’s Day to shoot a music video with St. Louis’ all-female roller derby league, the Arch Rival Roller Girls. The video is reportedly for a song on a new Breeders EP that will be released this spring/summer.

We’re not authorized to leak specific details (this is a private shoot), but we will say that one wouldn’t have to work too hard to find the location and scam an invite. It’s a “friends of friends” style event so start asking around.

Ahhh… It feels so good to spill the beans. Check back at A to Z where we’ll give you details and other information as we have it.

See you there, my hearts,
Jaime Lees

• article link
• photos from shoot HERE
• Pitchfork link HERE
• 4AD link HERE

It only takes one good local concert (or few strong drinks) and I’m primed to begin my often repeated sermon about how this city is filled with a disproportionate number of good people and great bands. St. Louis is not that big; we have no right to be so awesome. But like an opportunistic fungus, art finds fertile ground in the oppressive weather and dank basements of the Midwest. The right people just seem to find each other, and when the magic is poppin’ it seems like nothing short of divine intervention.

That is why, with a heavy heart, I called up singer/guitarist Mario Viele and asked him about his upcoming semi-permanent move to New York. Viele is a ridiculously skilled musician. He seems to jump on any instrument with a virtuosity rarely witnessed — dude really does play the guitar just like he’s ringing a bell. Truthfully, his ubiquitous talent would be flat-out annoying if he wasn’t so damn humble.

Though only in his mid twenties, Viele has left deep footprints all over the local scene. His own label, Roadhouse Tunes, promotes and presses local records and his recent bands include St. Louis favorites such as Bunnygrunt, the Pubes and Sex Robots.

I’m not ashamed to say that Sex Robots have saved my life, or at least my wee rocker heart, on more than one occasion. I’ve had some of the best nights of my life watching the Robots play energetic, shambolic sets in dirty dive bars. The bands hooked-out sound and simple melodies reflect everything amazing about rock and roll, all rolled up into tight, two-and-a-half minute songs. I’m too young to have seen the Replacements in their prime, but I can’t help but imagine that a Robots show is very similar.

With only two more local shows scheduled, Viele’s upcoming move, rumors of bassist Tracey Morrissey going back to school and drummer Maysam Attaran working with a new band, the future of the Robots appeared grim. Robots go bye-bye? Really, I couldn’t stand the thought.

Determined to get to the bottom of this, I caught up with Viele a few days ago to discuss the status of Sex Robots. He was with Bunnygrunt, finishing recording its album at Bel*Air Studio in Athens, Georgia. When his duties were complete he called to set the record straight. After I relayed my breathless, fangirl fear that his move marks the end of the Sex Robots, Viele seemed to try hard not to laugh, reassuring me that I couldn’t be more wrong. Me? Wrong? I guess there’s a first time for everything.

“The thing I like about 2009 is that there’s definite plans,” Viele explains, “There’s plans to tour and make an album and because of that, our working energy is going towards making those things happen and therefore everything else, as far as where we are and where we will be, is all kind of a big x-variable, and that’s really cool.”

Sex Robots have one show scheduled tonight at Mangia and another set for February 13 at the Schlafly Tap Room, but are going on an East coast tour between these dates, with plans to record an album in St. Louis in the summer and tour again in the fall. Viele, for one, relishes traveling and the time on the road and seems completely unconcerned with the upcoming change of surroundings or the strength of the band.

“I feel that if we went and recorded now, it wouldn’t be as good as if we took a little time away and then got back together to play it out. That way it will be all worked out, but also be totally fresh. I’m following what my brain says and my brain wants two things: to make music and tour. I just do what my brain says. The voice in my brain goes ‘Hey, do this’ and I go ‘Okay, Brain, I don’t know why, but I trust you.’

“I’m getting to the point where I trust what my brain tells me to do. I just look at it as, the more we’re traveling, the more I see it as gaining ability to write and operate from anywhere. It’s an adventure. I think of the band as the best excuse ever to make ridiculous decisions and go on the road with my best friends.”

• article – link
• Sex Robots – MySpace

This year I was (again) honored to be asked to contribute to the annual Village Voice critics’ poll. Here’s the info and the results.

Pazz & Jop 2008
36th Annual Village Voice Critics’ Poll

the winners
the ballots

About Pazz + Jop:

The Pazz & Jop critics’ poll is a highly influential poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics (roughly 800 in the 2004 poll). Albums have been voted upon every year since 1974 (voting also took place in 1971), and votes for singles have been tabulated since 1979.

Since the poll’s inception, critics have been invited to award their ten albums a total of 100 points, with each album receiving a maximum of 30 points and a minimum of 5. Lists submitted without points are given 10 points per album by the poll’s editors. Singles lists have always been unweighted.

Music critic Robert Christgau was in charge of the poll for 33 years, and wrote an essay every year that accompanied and framed the list. Christgau was dismissed from the Village Voice in August 2006, but the paper intends to continue the feature. Christgau continues to submit his Top Ten list and to encourage other eligible critics to do so.

The poll was jokingly given the spoonerism name “Pazz & Jop” rather than the more obvious “Jazz & Pop” because, inevitably, some detractor will claim that a nominated work is ineligible or undeserving on the grounds that it isn’t “really” jazz or pop. Since there are no formal definitions for the made-up terms “pazz” and “jop”, voters will concentrate on the actual merits of a work rather than arguing over whether it fits into this or that genre.

Village Voice – website

It’s a packed Tuesday night at BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups, and the crowd doesn’t pay much attention when three young gentlemen wearing dapper hats and sharp trousers take the stage. But less than a minute into the trio’s set, most of the room is captivated. Two of the men share singing duties, exploring the deep, pained voices of the blues. Occasional hootenanny-style off-microphone hollering energizes the audience, as does a mournful, wailing harmonica.

A previously unmoved patron with a gentle face like fine, worn leather cracks a smile. He releases an exhilarated “Hot damn!” and commences tapping his toes and beating out rhythms on his polyester-covered thigh. The Rum Drum Ramblers have won over a new fan — an increasingly familiar occurrence to anyone who’s seen the group live since it started playing together in 2007.

To the uninitiated, the Ramblers might seem like an atypical blues band. The group features three young white kids in their early twenties, all of whom have roots in the punk scene. (Their previous groups include the Vultures and Nineteen.) But guitarist Mat Wilson, bassist Joey Glynn and harmonica player Ryan Koenig are no dilettantes, and they often look to their DIY roots for guidance. The group averaged three performances a week in 2008 and will perform anywhere; favorite haunts include pizza joints, rock clubs and even street corners. As Wilson explains, “The variety of places we played this year was just ridiculous. We’ve taken so many random gigs. You have no clue — I have no clue where we’ll pop up.”

And invites aren’t even necessary — sometimes, the band will just host its own damn party. The Ramblers’ label, St. Louis’ own Big Muddy Records, threw one hell of a hoedown this summer at a pavilion in Tower Grove Park. Lit by the moon and mountains of tiny tea candles, a couple hundred revelers passed bottles of hooch, shook their tail feathers and reclined on quilts in the grass. The trio’s set was acoustic but powerful, spreading energy and good vibes out into the warm, dark night.

That spirit lives on in the band’s debut recording, Hey Lordy Mama Mama Get Up and Go. It’s an electric, lively EP that sounds polished — but still preserves the rawness and passion of its shows. In between sets at BB’s, we caught up with Mat Wilson and Ryan Koenig and discussed what makes the Rum Drum Ramblers tick.

B-sides: Tell me about why you chose to play all of the different places you played last year.

Ryan Koenig: If you just play the same club every week, you just get the same crowd. When we play BB’s we draw the blues people. When we play the Blues City Deli, we draw from that neighborhood. When we play CBGB, we draw all the punk rock[ers] and the young community that hangs out on South Grand.

Mat Wilson: As a blues band, we can drag some shit out and entertain people for four hours, or we can step in CBGB and play 30 minutes of material and kill it. We can also play an electric set or an acoustic set, or a set with horns and a drummer or without it, or with guest players. The fact that we can do anything like that at a show makes it fresh.

What do you guys think you sound like? What’s your inspiration?

Wilson: I would say, like…I’m pulling from pre-war Chicago blues. Like, the first electric blues.

Koenig: I’m into a lot of the country blues and just country in general. But then I also like a lot of the Chicago stuff and the New Orleans stuff. I tell people it’s just American music.

Wilson: Yeah, American music. I like it when people call us Americana more than blues ’cause it’s not like we’re… hoochie-coochie men. [Laughs] Our thing is getting as much variety as possible and not just sticking to clubs in the blues scene. Because I’ve seen enough of it, and we can totally do it with a punk-rock ethic and kind of be troubadours with what we’re doing. We don’t need the blues society to book a blues show. We can bring a blues show any fuckin’ place we set up and play.

What music do you have in common that you all love?

Wilson: Jimmy Reed. Otis Rush. Magic fuckin’ Sam. A lot of that more obscure Chicago blues. Bo Diddley. Mississippi Sheiks, big time.

Koenig: Also, our same tastes include the Clash and the Damned, Johnny Thunders and the Circle Jerks.

Wilson: Punk rock definitely came first for me, but it wasn’t until I picked up a Muddy Waters record and John Lee Hooker record until I realized those dudes were punk as fuck. And I didn’t think that because I wanted everything to be punk rock, but because I recognized an intensity that was there.

Koenig: One thing I think modern rock lacks is intensity. I think the way to bring the intensity back to live music and to clubs is to be playing stuff that’s not just what’s out there now. To show people that it’s still alive, I guess.

Wilson: I think that blues is definitely the original struggle music, just as I saw punk rock when I got into it. Now we’re going through historical times just as they were then. So if you hear some new material that reflects on what’s going on now, it might be interesting. We know that blues didn’t die. Punk rock didn’t die.

• article – link
• Rum Drum Ramblers – MySpace
• Big Muddy Records – website
• photo credit – Tiffany Sutton

Dear Kid Sister,

I love you, but you need to get off of your ass and release your debut already. I read yesterday that you and your label are holding your album until it feels right “sonically.” I don’t know what that means, but it smells like caca. I mean, all I wanna do is bump Dream Date at my next house party and you fools are ruining my fun.

And what the fuck, yo? Chicago is not that far away, please come play St. Louis. What’s wrong? You’ve got no love for us? We love you. (See proof here and here). I heard you played Washington University a few months back, but us non-students didn’t have a chance of getting in to that show.

Back in the day, I saw you kick it with Flosstradamus at the Town Hall Pub parties up in Chicago, and I know that you’re the right girl to get a St. Louis dance party started. I’ll even come and pick you up! The damn engine light is on in my stupid VW Beetle and I’d still road trip my ass up there to come and get you. You’d have fun here: We’ve got mad beauty shops and hella nail salons — we’ll take you to get your nails did! I know you like it.

I saw you at SXSW last year and I gotta say, you were crunk, but your performance was still tight and your style was fly as hell. I sprained my ankle that night and after your show you walked by me trying to dance while still elevating my ankle on a bar stool and you told me I was “workin’ it.” Damn, don’t I know it!

Anyway, I sprained my ankle for you — you owe me. Any time you want to come to the Lou, just holla at yo girl and we’ll get it worked out. Hell, hit me on my beeper.

Much Love,
Jaime Lees and the City of St. Louis

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