clifford_thornton

Drummer for the German progressive rock band Can (also in Manfred Schoof's 1960s group and the Globe Unity Orchestra, among others) Jaki Liebezeit has died at age 78 after a short illness. Sad news from the group's official Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/officialCan/?fref=ts

oh, thanks! I had just assumed they were because they both played in Dulfer's band. Paul was in Groep 1850 if memory serves.

Tortoise is touring this spring. One of the guys from Scenic has been working on putting something new together and I'm in touch with him; will let you know what it is and when/if music becomes available. Pajo is still active although I haven't followed much of his music since his brief involvement w/ Tortoise & The For Carnation. Slint periodically reunites, which is cool since they barely played live back in the day. A band I didn't mention because I'm not sure they really fit here is Lungfish (on hiatus), but their musical architect and guitarist, Asa Osborne, has a wonderful minimalist and rather drone-y, yet very unique project called Zomes. He/they tour and have put out recordings consistently over the last several years. Definitely would appeal to fans of the "post-rock" scene.

Kalaparusha - s/t - (CMC/Trio, JP)

Spacemen 3 I think of as a psych band. Never saw them of course but the recordings are superb. Spiritualized I tried but couldn't really get into, though I should give 'em another shot. for those familiar w/ the Spacemen orig, this cover is hilarious:

oh yeah, I remember them. Wasn't really into 'em but certainly remember & may have seen them. Trans Am and The VSS also skirted this realm, though I could never get too excited about them either -- a bit bland for my tastes. But hey, part of the scene. Coptic Light may be of interest to some -- Kevin Shea exploding all over the place against heavy pince-nez riffage. A little later than some of the music mentioned upthread; Bitch Magnet guitarist Jon Fine was the engine for this trio coming together.

yeah, the shouting is perhaps an acquired taste if you aren't keyed into the punk/hardcore element that a number of these bands grew out of. I don't mind it at all

Is Marc Van Wageningen related to drummer Paul and saxophonist Rob?

Yeah, but eradicating the blues, R&B and soul that the Captain had. Not that that's a bad thing -- just different perspectives and experiences (the bands I listed above are English).

I'd say post-punk bands like X-Ray Spex, Swell Maps, This Heat, God's Gift, Glaxo Babies, The Lines (all verrry different from one another, mind you) were precursors to a lot of this music and much weirder than anything in the 'post-rock' realm other than maybe Gastr del Sol.

Great one from AMF's first album:

Definitely a Rock band but Bitch Magnet is easily my favorite of the late '80s/early '90s heavy indie rock scene, such as it was. Their final statement on LP included this: I saw these guys open for Silkworm in 1995 or early '96, before Flemish Altruism came out, and they were really good live. That first album is the best but the second one has its moments too, such as this:

Can we get back to the music, whatever it is, rather than beat a dead semantic horse? Rhoda is unfuckwithable.

Unknown/Various Artists - Brother to Brother - (Yoke Free, US private pressing) pretty fantastic audio play produced in homage to the Poughkeepsie-area homeless/disadvantaged adults and featuring Joe McPhee.

A precursor to Don Caballero that also fits into the art-metal/doom aesthetic is the Dutch band Gore, who released three LPs in the mid-/late-80s that are well worth seeking out. Pretty minimal/arch and odd stuff.

Him was Doug Scharin (Codeine, Rex, June of '44, Directions) and whomever he could get on board -- lunkheaded dub experiments and, with horns, an Afrobeat-inspired ensemble. One of the bands I was in opened for a touring version of the band many, many years ago. They played a good show.

Isotope 217 were cool though with all that Rob Mazurek has done since, it's hard to put in the same category as these bands.

Ah, thanks for bringing up Labradford! They were really cool. Yeah, Spirit of Eden is excellent. There were a few Austin bands that were part of the zeitgeist too: Windsor for the Derby, Stars of the Lid, American Analog Set (more soft indie pop), none of which I've listened to in about 15 years but I remember liking them at the time.

The best "post-rock" music, including Tortoise, really "rocks." Tortoise is a rock band -- a prog-rock band for sure, and with some strange leanings I guess (much tamer than a lot of Krautrock or Zeuhl however), but they are rock musicians playing songs. Djed is a pretty special piece of music indeed and there's not much else like it, but it's appealing enough to fit within the scope of independent pop and rock music. Don't forget that in 1996 when this was released, the tide in indie rock was moving away (somewhat) from lo-fi pop and sludgy weirdness to music that expressed clarity and optimism as well as an interest in exploring more complex structures. On the one hand you had your Sebadoh and Grifters and Pavement, on the other your Polvo, Tortoise, and Rachel's -- these were very different approaches.

Nassau or The Fawn. Both are superb. First couple records on either side are excellent too. Also the term post-rock is really horrible, though I remember it being tossed around when this stuff was coming out over 20 years ago! I just think of it as progressive independent music. I would be willing to try the first Godspeed record again -- I bought it when it came out and sold it not long after, though it was all right. Heard a couple others that really turned me off, but this was like 17 years ago or something. Palace/Bonnie 'Prince' Billy is certainly a tangent to the orbit and one of the great songwriters of the last 20 years. "Ohio River Boat Song" is one of my favorite tunes in any genre. Almost forgot this one, which is an incredible record by -- as I understood it -- a non-performing band: Directions in Music by Bundy K. Brown, Doug Scharin and James Warden. https://www.discogs.com/Directions-Directions-In-Music/release/178565

I remember fondly seeing Tortoise a few times when they were touring "Millions Now Living" in 1996. Also on the bill were 5iveStyle (funky, jittery white Meters with John Herndon) and The Sea & Cake. Have seen Tortoise & the Sea & Cake many times since, only saw 5iveStyle a couple times. What else? Dianogah were pretty good - saw them a bunch. Two electric basses and a low, jazz-tuned drum kit. Their first LP was probably the best and is not coincidentally the hardest to find now. Never got into Godspeed -- thought they were more by-the-numbers than the other stuff. Gastr del Sol were really something in their prime - the first three LPs and the EP "The Harp Factory on Lake Street" are all pretty indispensable in my opinion. What else was lumped into this genre of sorts? Aerial M (David Pajo solo dreck), boring... Ativin had their moments but I think the form had worn itself out by that point. Scenic were good, more dust-bowl filmic psych if you ask me. Stereolab got lumped in but other than John McEntire's production techniques, they were pretty much a Neu!/Velvets cover band (and a good one at that). All the young arty college girls were into 'em. The first three Rachel's records [sic] were cool though seeing them was kind of a bore. Goth kids from Louisville ripping off Michael Nyman and prog but it worked when it did. The Coctails were pretty interesting with their arch-lounge-jazz vibe. Used to have a couple/few of their records. The For Carnation were awesome actually, never saw them (they didn't really gig much IIRC) but the two Matador EPs and the LP are all very, very good. Outgrowth of Slint (their LP "Spiderland" started it all and is a certifiable classic), but in a poetic and restrained fashion that was interesting. Rex I always wanted to like more than I did, but their albums have some really wonderful moments. I'd recommend checking them out. They were terrible live, unfortunately. June of 44 was a fun band to watch and their first three LPs are good, if dated. Actually the very first one is rad and sounds more like an amalgam of Rodan/Bitch Magnet/Codeine, all great and heavy/arty rock bands from the early 90s (or in the case of BM, late 1980s). I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting but it was a time when my hormones were raging, booze was flowing, and I've forgotten more than I'll ever remember. I don't know if I'd throw Don Caballero into the mix -- more hipster prog -- but the first few albums were cool for what they were. I walked out on the one gig I attended though, which would have been about '97 or '98. Storm&Stress were better.

Yeah, those Lowe records are really something. He replaced Steve Reid in Lowe's group, from what I recall, which led to "Fresh."

The wonderful St. Louis drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw has passed at age 69, according to close personal friend Ntozake Shange. He was a founding member of the Black Artists' Group and performed with the Human Arts Ensemble, Anthony Braxton, and his own groups. I was lucky enough to interview him -- although unfortunately only over the phone -- for a short "Encore" article in the July 2015 issue of the New York City Jazz Record, as he played the Vision Festival that year. He was sounding great in recent years after a long period off the scene (owing to personal problems and incarceration). Sad news to receive on a Monday; may he rest in peace.

Wonder if Dave Wayne is available?