hrrundivbakshi

Thrifty Music, Vol. 1: John Lennon Suxx!

Mar 042007

Townsman Hrrundivbakshi introduces a coming series on Thrifty Music!

Sorry to have to resort to that idiotic, thrill-seeking headline to get your attention, but something Very Important has happened, and I wanted to make sure you were properly focused. What has happened, you ask? Well, I finally retired my Technics SL-D2 turntable — faithful friend since junior high, and conduit for virtually every slab of rock and roll vinyl that ever meant anything to me — and I plunked down a modest sum of new cash to buy a turntable that features not just standard RCA audio “outs” but a lovely USB cable as well. This means I can go straight out of the turntable and into my laptop — and that means I can finally start sharing some of the weirder, more wonderful and noteworthy discs I’ve unearthed in my cheapskate peregrinations to the finer thrift stores in the Washington, DC area.

See, I love thrift store music. Flipping through old vinyl — 50 to 99 cents an album, maybe a quarter per single — allows me a freedom to explore the dusty corners of recorded music that I simply don’t enjoy on the digital side of the fence. Here’s the reason why: I’m not looking for anything in particular. Sure, I could find a Russian mp3 site where I can hear the finer tracks off of the Atlanta Rhythm Section‘s surprisingly good first album — but I’d never make the point of looking for that album in the first place… so I’d never find it. I tell you, this notion that the Internet helps us all broaden our musical minds is hogwash!

No, in order to really allow our musical brains to expand in new and unexpected directions, it’s incumbent upon us to stop looking for stuff. That means no tangential connections, no previous incarnations, no niche-y satellite/Internet radio stations, no AllMusic name-drops, and most especially, no “customers who purchased (insert album here) also enjoyed…” recommendations.

If you’re looking for quality brain manure, you gotta fearlessly stand in the middle of a dusty, kaleidoscopic torrent of weird album covers, making your selections for reasons that have only the most tenuous connections to anything you already know. Here’s some advice, based on my experience:
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Jeff Lynne: Master Craftsman or Just a Tool?

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Feb 182007

Folks: it’s with a somewhat heavy heart that I have to open up a dialog on a topic of some internal conflict for me, namely: how much do I really like Jeff Lynne?

The truth is, I’ve always been deeply conflicted about this guy. On the one hand, he wrote, arranged, performed and produced some of the most pleasing ear candy to emerge from the 70s — an era when radio competition was particularly fierce. For a while there, the guy was unstoppable, and *prolific* to boot. And those songs! Pure pop perfection!

Even his lesser numbers — like the material he tossed off for the godawful Olivia Neutron Bomb vehicle “Xanadu” — kicked ass. What pop tunesmith wouldn’t give his right arm to be able to write something like “I’m Alive,” or the title track from that movie?

And it’s not like Mr. Lynne doesn’t also have an impeccable pop/rock pedigree, to boot. Lesser rock nerds will of course know that he was a critically important member of the underappreciated late-phase Move, along with Mod fave Roy Wood. Serious Prock aficionados will even have heard a track or two from his admirable early efforts with the Idle Race. And — Lord knows — he keeps all the “right company” *these* days.

So what is it about this guy that keeps him rattling around in the same box where I keep my Jellyfishes, Ringo solo albums, Badfinger singles and such? More than any artist, I want to say — at the same time — “he’s awesome!” and “he’s a hack!” I mean, I don’t feel this way about Hall & Oates, fercrissake!

Is it the signature, unmistakable production? The have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too attitude towards wanting to be “orchestral” and candy-coated at the same time? The awful Look? Just plain jealousy? What is it?

I’m hoping that hearing what the rest of you think about Mr. Lynne will help me come to grips with my feelings on the man.

I look forward to your responses.

You Painted Your Teeth!

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Feb 042007

Townsman Christian writes:

Hey,

This is Christian, at Fritz’s place watching the Super Bowl, joining Fritz in some scotch tasting and posting as him.

I am trying to convince Fritz to join me to go see Jandek in Richmond next month. He’d never heard of Jandek. If the rest of you haven’t, click here.

Give us your opinions here! The curiosity factor alone should be worth the trip.

Y’all Betta Recognize: Stupidbowl Edition

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Feb 032007

So a favorite figure of RTH controversy – so controversial that Mr. Mod dares not utter his name – is performing at halftime during this year’s Super Bowl. I just wanted to be sure we had as many laptops hummin’ as possible during that performance – we need to fully and finally iron out our differences on this guy, and I reckon a real-time assessment might be just what we need to come to terms.

I look forward to your comments.

Kentonite

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Feb 012007

From the late 1940s until, arguably, the early 1960s, music fans in search of “serious,” academically rigorous and technically exacting music – that was not of the classical idiom – frequently turned to big band leader Stan Kenton. Kenton’s band offered everything these brainy music listeners sought: music engineered (and I choose that word very carefully) for maximum impact, a well-considered rationale for each and every composition, technically gifted soloists – really, everything the brainiac-aesthete desired.

Today, nearly 30 years after Stan Kenton’s passing, his legacy remains, taking many forms. Though the likes of Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe may have fallen into relative disfavor, modern-day Kentonites find much to enjoy in the posthumous releases of Stevie Ray Vaughan, the latest Eno album, and — if approached from the right angle — The Arcade Fire, The Decemberists, Jason Falkner, Polyhonic Spree, and many more. That guy in college who rhapsodized over the animal sounds Adrian Belew could coax out of his battered Musicmaster? Kentonite. The bass player in your band, who can’t talk about Sly and the Family Stone without going off on a tangent about how Larry Graham invented “poppin'” and “slappin'”? Kentonite. The Zappa freak who’s still trying to explain why you should care about Frank’s all-synclavier album, Jazz From Hell? Kentonite, all the way.

And it’s easy to fall prey to Kentonite thinking. It makes you feel smarter than the average bear. It helps compartmentalize loose, wiggly rationalizations for liking unpopular things. In a place like Rock Town Hall, we’re expected to have reasons for liking things – and that’s why the charges of Kentonism fly so freely around these parts.

So…are you a Kentonite? Of course you are!

A Serious Question

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Jan 302007

Guys — and especially gals — I want to know: what *exactly* is wrong with the following performance? I know you’ll give me some quality thoughts on this; I trust you not to just say “it suxx!”, like some RTHers I know. I want your best.

Sabu’s Amazing Liner Notes

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Jan 272007

So as some of you already know, I have a compulsive thrift store music habit – essentially a poverty-friendly form of retail therapy that I strongly recommend to folks who are addicted to buying music but who can’t see their way clear to dropping $13 on every crazy music purchase they make.

I’ll get into the specific reasons why thrift store music kicks so much major ass in a different post. For now, I want to share a jaw-dropping discovery I made today in a Salvation Army store: the Most Amazing Liner Notes In the History Of Recorded Music.
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