I’ve been revisiting some of my Minneapolis music past and there is one band that managed to evade all of my attempts in the past to locate any of their music in physical format or online: Dark Carnival.
This is not the superband from Detroit by the same name that involved Stooges members and had a female lead… yeller? (I was not impressed, suffice it to say.)
This iteration of Dark Carnival was from a slightly earlier period of 1983-1988, and probably classes as more as proto-goth than goth. I’m fairly certain I saw them live at least a few times at one of the many popup alley and record store gigs, outdoor block parties and all-age shows I managed to find when I was too young to be admitted to drinking shows.
My tastes in music run fairly eclectic. It’s quicker to say what I don’t usually care for than to list off the things I do care for. Fewer caveats that way.
So I was sad to be belatedly notified that Pat Fish died a few years ago in an off-hand manner by a DJ on a radio program dedicated to “alternative before there was alternative”, but mostly plays music that got decent airplay and the acts/songs were not all that “alternative” or edgy when you get down to it (Ramones, Tommy Two Tone, “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, etc.).
Apparently, it was worth mentioning because it is around the anniversary of Pat Fish’s passing. Not that absolutely anyone aside from myself who was listening (and only listening to it because of the occasional “oh wow” moments while driving) would know who the hell The Jazz Butcher was.
I played Pat/Jazz Butcher a bit when I worked at a second-hand record store “back in the day” (which is a fancy way of saying that I would rather not mention just how far back that day was) — their records never seemed to sell and I should have bought them myself, but why do that when I could listen to it while working and afford to upgrade my meals to PBJ sandwiches instead of ramen for my decision.
Always a bit tongue in cheek, Jazz Butcher were a fun act to listen to.
In case you haven’t run into them before (and I’d honestly be surprised if most of you have) and want a gander, here’s a good specimen for your ears (but not your eyes). It might surprise some of you, as Jazz Butcher is fairly tame and most of you are used to my exotic listens being shared.
As always, leave some comments if you have them.
[...T]his is partytime And you've got to say its better than a war
This is partytime And its better than a cold bath with someone you dislike
This is partytime And its good to drink for free when you haven't any money
This is partytime Oh, she might just possibly take me home
I’m not quite sure why I decided to give Phoebe Bridgers a whirl yesterday on recommendation by The Guardian. I am not her target audience, so maybe it was was the description of her sound as “folk” that caught my attention.
Whatever the reason, I ended up watching the official video for her new single and thought, “Huh, not bad.” It reminded me of the late 90s Lilith Faire sounds that were making the rounds on the somewhat progressive radio stations of the time. A nice change of pace from what I’ve been mostly hearing for the two decades or so. I always appreciate a retro feel (good gods, I’m now retro!). A little slicker than I usually like, but most things are slicker in the digital age than I usually prefer. The conceptual official video was also a nice change of pace from the plotless stage (or inside of cheese-grater) videos that most folks do these days.
Anyway, I was feeling like a potato and doing potato kinds of things, I started watching YouTube videos on the big television. And, because it is YouTube and I watched on video of Phoebe Bridgers, I obviously wanted to watch more of the same.
A live video came up of a live show performance and I thought I’d see how she sounded live. It’s a potato thing to do when one is potatoing.
I was expecting live — I was not expecting kids to be her supporting band.
Kids.
Like 10-12 year old kids.
And they knocked that shit out of the park and into the next county.
I mean, that 10-year-old drummer is banging on those skins like a champ. I absolutely love her energy.
Give it a whirl. Turn off the sound if the music doesn’t appeal and just be impressed with the ear-to-ear smiles of kids performing live as if they are having the time of their lives. If you really don’t care for it, jump to the end when Jimmy is shaking everyone’s hands. That’s worth a ton right there.
What a joy to watch kids just being kids and being awesome!
“I’m not a Beatles fan, but I am a John Lennon fan.”
I'm sick to death of seeing things From tight-lipped, condescending, mama's little chauvinists All I want is the truth Just give me some truth, now
I've had enough of watching scenes With schizophrenic, egocentric, paranoiac, prima-donnas All I want is the truth, now Just gimme me some truth
No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of Tricky Dicky Is going to Mother Hubbard soft soap me With just a pocketful of hope Money for dope Money for rope
Amazing, isn’t it, how topical this song is 50 years later?
Stuffies doing their cover of the Lennon song.
That song was always a blast to busk in downtown Minneapolis around 1989.
Did I mention I occasionally did “air guitar performances” while singing (sic) with an empty guitar case? I took great efforts to carefully put the “guitar” back into the case when I was done with my performance.
Okay, singing was probably a bit strong of a word to use here. You get the idear tho’, right?
We are old, we are young, We are in this together Vagabonds and children Prisoners forever With pulses a-raging and Eyes full of wonder Kicking out behind us again
Out planting trees a few weeks ago, I had a portable speaker on my beltloop and streaming music on it. I hadn’t listened to Justin and Co. for a spell and decided it was time to remedy that omission via giving the album “Thunder and Consolation” a spin (if that’s what you call it when you stream music and not put a record on a turntable).
Talk about earworming… Vagabonds is one of those songs that easily to sing the chorus with the band on, once you know the lyrics (see above) and NMA have been firmly stuck in my head since.
Okay, YouTube has been at me for weeks to watch these guys (gals?), so I finally caved and watched the video.
These folks are off the deep end of the spectrum. Not the most experimental I’ve ever heard for music, because it is still recognizable a rock-adjacent in sound. They do some neat tricks with loops and effects on top of a microtonal guitar/bass combo with polyrhythm drums. The whole, adjusting knobs on the effects with bare feet is an interesting trick.
And they’ve cultivated their “weird vibe” very precisely between the phallic masks and eye-melting pattern clash. They also, apparently, have their own language for interviews for which their manager “translates”.
Looks fun. And they appear talented (from what I can hear, but there is an emphasis on disruption and subversion, so I might not be hearing it quite right).
But.
For me, it started to sound clever but samey after a point. More gimmick than hook, if you know what I mean.
I jumped to a song above, but feel free to start and the beginning. Give me your read on this. Is microtonal (other notes than the Western chromatic scale) the future? Do you think they’ll be around in three years? Or just a flash in the pan?
Seriously, though, they make Zappa sound relatively grounded. Makes me long for Diamanda Galás and her Steak Knives experimental (opera-trained) vocal/screaming routine, honestly. Wait. Maybe don’t listen to that link. It may give you reason to judge me.
Meh.
Curious if you think they are good, bad or if you’re indifferent to the whole thing. Drop me a note.
Hey isn't this neat But we've got to be discreet 'Cause something this supercalifragilistic Can get sado-masochistic so quickly
So if you want to know me Well you'd just better take things slowly
Man, I sure miss the tongue in cheek saccharine-laced snarky sugar pop of albums like this. A little more over-the-top than Strawberry Switchblade (who were more polka-dot laced bubblegum goth), but I loved this shit.
As you might recall from a few days ago, Julianne sang for the more folksy-hippie-goth All About Eve. Yeah, I’m in a J.R. mood this week.
