Beatnik Affectations - Faves

Too Much Fighting on the Dance Floor

"Paging Ira Kaplan. Please reclaim your equipment 
at the security check point. Paging Ira Kaplan."
Austin Intl. Airport

 

 I had planned to pen an SxSW review, but there's nothing that
 I could add that isn't said by someone else in this issue. 
 Needless to say, I had a great time. Hopefully Jay Farrar will
 show next year. 

 tim
 tim@vestek.com



 From Bill Baldwin <baldwin@origin.ea.com>

 SXSW Matador Showcase

 I've seen yo la tengo numerous times, and been blown away, bored to death,
 and  simply entertained, sometimes all in the course of a single show, but 
 Saturday night these guys were possessed, played mostly new stuff from the
 forthcoming Electro-Pura, which should be fucking incredible if this show 
 was any indication. They are masters of slowly funneling chaotic noise into 
 a song and then sliding it back out again before you even know what hit you.
 They throbbed, they pulsated, the drugs kicked in about halfway through, Ira
 was a madman with maracas. They scared me, and I'm still scared thinking 
 about it. Fucking unbelievable.



 From: Harris, Terry J. <HARRISTJ@f1groups.fsd.jhuapl.edu>

 The Matador showcase at this year's SXSW in Austin had to have been _the_  
 premier event. Headliners among headliners: Guided by Voices, Bettie 
 Serveert, and Yo La Tengo as the main attractions.

 YLT, who followed a decent set by New York's Railroad Jerk, gave a glorious 
 preview of their soon-to-be album Electro-Pura. They started out slow and 
 drony, like the most trance-inducing stuff from Painful, and slowly built 
 momentum over the course of the 45-minute showcase set.

 It seemed clear from the show that the new album will be similar to Painful 
 -- with the buzzing but crisp and melodic drone, more than just occasional 
 organ, and still-plenty of brilliant Ira-thrashing guitar work. Indeed, the 
 last song of the set (whatever it was, I'm not a setlist keeper) was sublime 
 -- better than the best of Painful, which I liked a lot.
 
 It appeared there were technical problems on stage with Ira and Georgia 
 consternation expressed wordlessly but clearly to the sound guy stage left. 
 I didn't notice anything wrong from where I was standing, other than the 
 pretty-bad acoustics of the cavernous hall. Antietam's Tara Key wandered 
 across the stage a couple of times, obviously acting as Ira's guitar tech.

 Other YLT snippets from the SXSW weekend:

 -- Ira played about half of the set with Tara Key and Antietam the night 
 before. Tara and Ira, known by a friend as "the guitar freakout twins" were 
 just amazing. (For pure visceral pleasure, I may have like that set better 
 than YLT's.)

 -- Sitting in the Austin airport Sunday afternoon, I was witness to quite 
 the indie-rock comedy. Half of Giant Sand missing their flight, for example. 
 And the best: "Paging Ira Kaplan. Please reclaim your equipment at the 
 security check point. Paging Ira Kaplan."

 Terry




 From: la sullen teen <paigelet@mail.utexas.edu>

 SXSW Happenings...

     Dirt Merchants - from Boston, album out April 4 on Zero Hour. really
 vicious, dissonant material with eerie female vocals. Songs are mostly
 short and masterpieces. Best moment was when she played a ringing triad
 over and over off a guitar with a bottlecap wedged in the lower three
 strings. Sonic Youth fans will be all over this album like a dog on a
 fire hydrant.

 Bettie Seervert - you think the albums are great? See them live.
 It's much more explosive live.

 Yo La Tengo - a lot of crazy, chaotic organ noise with a dry sense
 of humor. Ira, at one point, shook maracas with a stony expression. I
 didn't think that could happen.

 Swirlies - the new material is more jangly than whooshy, but they
 were a lot of fun.

 Sixteen Deluxe - came on looking like giant alien bugs with
 lightsabers in all the fog on stage.

 Crust - with their thrown bread, guitars with springs, rap send-ups
 and arena rock moment, they stole the show from a competent Sixteen
 Deluxe and a day-glo painted Ed Hall.

   
 I find it hard to dis any event that has no real problems getting 
 people in and out of 100-plus shows safely and quickly, nor do I
 have problems with the wide array of indie and major label talent 
 there. There was more than enough for everbody to see. Anyone who 
 is bitching about SXSW might want to just avoid next year if it's
 SUCH A PAIN.




 From: Matthew Ness <moebius@netcom.com>

 Well, it's only an advance cassete, and it sounded muddy in my beat-up
 Walkman until I took the Dolby off, but despite all that _Electr-O-Pura_
 still came together as another wowser of an album from the Hoboken Three. 
 Although it's definitely a progression of sorts from _Painful_, they've
 managed to take a step forward rather than back with the addition of
 gritty noir and subtle tape loop magic to their standard fare of air-raid
 guitar and chaos-order-chaos song arrangments.  This time around,
 Georgia's soothing vox more-or-less share center stage with Ira's
 plaintive cries and sullen growls, lending a smooth sense of yin/yang
 harmony to the endeavor as a whole. 

 I attempted to give this album a first listen at work, but it turns out 
 that the full experience of YLT just can't be had while editing manuals for 
 relational database systems.  It came across much better while taking a 
 slow Sunday stroll around the more colorful neighborhoods of my native 
 San Francisco..._Electr-O-Pura_ goes especially well with the Mission 
 District at twilight...the long shadows, grafitti hierglyphics, Spanish 
 architecture, discarded bottles of Jim Beam left next to fire hydrants, 
 and the mouthwatering scent of pork and chicken frying on the grill...

 During a third listen, I wrote down the tracks and what came to me as I
 heard them (apoligies to Paul Tullis): 

 SOUNDS LIKE

 1. Decora                            Georgia calling you home from a
                                      tortured dream...

 2. Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken#1)     tense spaghetti western 3am in 
                                      hoboken
 
 3. The Hour Grows Late               heartbreak soup

 4. Tom Courtenay                     70's Big Star vs. 90's VU

 5. False Ending                      just that (nearly false alarm)

 6. Pablo + Andrea                    dozey song of loss ("...and i'll 
                                      cover you like a slipcover covers
                                      a chair...")

 7. Paul is Dead                      Leonard Cohen trapped in jokertown

 8. False Alarm                       YLT techno, exiles in mainstreet mix

 1. The Ballad of Red Buckets         trembles and shakes

 2. Don't Say A Word (Hot Chicken #2) breathy, beautiful, atmospheric...
                                      YLT's best lullabye so far

 3. (Straight Down To The) Bitter End herky-jerky boy washout

 4. My Heart's Reflection             electroacoustic passion music, 
                                      drifting to earth ("I want to 
                                      see my heart's reflection in
                                      her eyes...")

 5. Attack on Love                    carcrashcarcrashcarcrashcarcrash

 6. Blue Line Swinger                 he's gone for good and you're out 
                                      of clove cigarettes...


 Well, *of course* I liked the album.  Thanks to my pals at _Might_ magazine 
 for loaning me the tape...

 ---->matt<----



 From: Glenn Susser <glenns@panix.com>

 YLT on N'Yawk N'Yawk Radio

 Where: WXRK - the Vin Scelsa "Idiots Delight" Show - 92.3
 WheN: May 21 after 8pm
 Why: To spread propaganda on Electro-pura I guess

 glenn susser
 glenns@panix.com
 CIS:73424.2630



 From: Tony McCartan <TONY@itd.tv.bbc.co.uk>

 On the CD-now! www pages "Electr-O-Pura" has a release date of April 25. 
 With a catalogue number of WEA/ATLANTIC 7567 925504  (so much for the 
 Matador only release).

 Hope to hear about SxSW in YLD #19.

 Will pass on any European news I get hold of.

 Cheers,
     Tony Mc.


 From: GERARDC@delphi.com


 "Tom Courtenay" b/w "bi-sexual boogie" 7" out now
 "Tom Courtenay" CD5 w/ 3 non-LP tracks out now


  GC



 From: LePageL/MF <LePageL/MF@hermes.bc.edu>

 The new Chickfactor (issue #8) could well be _YLT special edition_ with
 full interviews of James McNew (YLT bassist and mastermind of Dump) and
 [separately] Georgia and Ira.  Topics of discussion: road food, contract
 riders, recording techniques, early and embarrassing personal histories, tv
 preferences, and a personal eye-witness account of the Great Salmon Skin cmj
 Massacree.  This last item is well worth the price of the 'zine which is $3
 BTW, and available via US Mail.  Write to:

    Gail O'Hara / Chickfactor
    245 East 19th Street #12T
    New York, NY  10003

 Everyone should buy this because it's so cool, and in addition to said
 interviews, you get one-line record reviews by Stephin Merritt (of Mag
 Fields) and a centerfold calendar in the hilarious cartoon series "Pavement
 Boy."

 Finally, I have to gloat over this one:  I just heard that YLT are playing
 Boston _on my birthday_!  Oh  my god.

 --Lise


 Tour Dates

 3/29 - London @ The Monarch  49 Chalk Farm Road, NW1.
 5/6  - Carleton College, Northfield, MN
 5/11 - Philadelphia, PA (Trocadero) w/ Lambchop
 5/12 - Cat's Cradle, Chapel Hill, NC w/ Lambchoo
 5/13 - 9:30 Club, WDC w/ Lambchop 
 5/16 - Met Cafe, Providence, RI w/ Lambchop
 5/17 - Bogie's, Albany, NY w/ Lambchop
 5/19 - Tramps, NC, NY w/ SF Seals, Lambchop
 5/20 - Middle East , Camridge, MA w/ Lambchop

Love potion number
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This page modified on June 2, 1996