If one does not like a band, one should not stand in front and frown at them and stick their fingers in their ears like the music is crap. Go to your car and listen to death metal! That's what I do... Believe me, there's so many shitty 80's bands that open for bands that I like. I'm spending a lot more time in my car at shows these days.
Yeah, actually, Thymme Jones from Cheer-Accident turned me on to them and Cuneiform records. From that moment, I became a prog dork, and will remain a prog dork.
I wish I had been listening to UZ for that long! I wouldn't have stopped playing the violin and viola, that's fer sure (I started again, about 2 years ago, mere months after "discovering" UZ).
In fact -- with that 80's sound and the better vocals, one may confuse Cheer-Accident with Ultravox. What measures have you taken to make sure this confusion does not arise? Just wondering because I was playing your new stuff on my boom box while on the bus, and someone asked if it was the new Ultravox record. Then I asked -- really? They have a new record? So you not only changed your first name from Midge to Thymme... You went from Ure to Jones? And gained like 100 pounds?
I do have to give you props and kudos for the new music. Dropping 30% of the cow/bears influence and replacing it with Bauhaus and the Cure? Nice to see you getting in to the 80's music 5 years after the top 40 folks. That's called "retard garde". I even heard you guys wear black clothing and mascara. Spooky. But yeah, can't go wrong with that Cure and Bauhaus influence. The singing is actually decent. You may not even be considered "indie", what with that listenable and tuneful singing!
I saw that PH show in SF. He was good, but wow, I just checked out the RJ you gave him on your myspace site. Yeah, it was a pretty good show. Kind of short and stark. Somewhat forgettable after seeing Fish and Echolyn around that time. Good, nonetheless. Props on Cuneiform. Probably one of the best bands they've signed. They've been signing some crap bands -- Time of Crap... I've noticed your sound has become slick to fit the Cuneiform ideal. Nice. Your warr guitar player rulez. Buttondownshirts
I was recently fortunate enough to get to hear Liberace's medley of "Supper's Ready," "Soon," "I Talk To The Wind," and... one other one, I think. Mesmerizing! Those flourishes get me wet!!!
So question for Blanche -- are you really into Steve Albini's artistic output? Do you really think Shellac is an awesome band? Or do you (like me) think that the only reason anyone listens to Shellac is because Albini has a cult following of douche-bags who would buy a record of him taking a noisy crap? Even for indie-rock they are shit. And there's maybe 1 or 2 decent big black songs. Rapeman was pretty cool, more because of the rhythm section. Nautilus, indeed... Cybex makes better gear.
Quiz question: When I have I ever mentioned the band you just asked me about? Let me know if the number turns out to be more than zero. But I'm really fascinated to know your take on them!
Also, on the 80's bands that blow Cheer-Ax out of the water. Echolyn... Big time. Anyone notice the similarities between parts of Suffocating the Bloom and the Why Album? STB came out 3 years prior. Also, Echolyn do the "let's all talk at the same time" thing in live shows, but I think that is a Gentle Giant thing that both bands have borrowed. Nonetheless, from their first record to their last, Echolyn were, are, and always will be a better band than Cheer-Ax. True prog, nothing ersatz about it
No one can stop you now, Dawg, tonight you're on the loose! Damn... So you actually like Captain Beefheart? I mean, Mr. Van Vliet doesn't have prog chops. I guess that makes him ersatz prog. Believe it or not, the usage of a term like "prog chops" (who's there?) is really pretty embarrassing to folks who perhaps (just maybe?) don't wish to spend the rest of their lives trying to re-create their favorite keyboard hero moments.
I don't think Beefheart is that great at all. I've had Trout Mask for a long time now. Yes, it is really noisy... great. He was decent w/ Zappa -- Willie the Pimp and such. Maybe your pal Al Johnson has a bone for van vliet, but I certainly don't, even if he grew up 30 miles from where I did. I guess that does sort of shoot your theory to shit -- the one that I shill for the home team. See, that's called projection, because you Chicago uber-knobs are such a tight-knit community of twats.
I didn't think you liked Beefheart at all. I predicted that for you! And my "theory" about you shilling for the home team was actually a parody of your bullshit rhetoric. Get to know your spewdom better and you'll be better equipped to recognize when someone's holding a mirror up to your face. Last I heard (many years ago), Al doesn't much like Don's singing. See? Not everyone is quite as predictable as you are...
Anyone ever notice the similarity between apples and oranges? Wow, that's really of interest that parts of The Why Album sound like an album that was made three years earlier-- especially considering that most of the influences were from two decades earlier.
By the way, I finally found time to check out that (really similar) band that you were kind(?) enough to direct me toward. I checked out some of their performances at the "oldest/weakest" prog fest, and... I guess you and I just have different definitions for the word "ersatz." Watered- down Kansas/watered-down Phish, along with (and how would one possibly go about watering this down?) '70s Christian rock would pretty much epitomize my idea of what that word means. Maybe you're kidding?
Yep. I got to say a prayer with Ray Weston at Calprog. Total Christian rock and exactly like Kansas. Especially those bright keyboard sounds, very much like Kansas and totally unlike Marillion. And their violin player! Very astute observation. So much like Kansas, they got the Ramones producer to record a record for them. Kansas is like Ramones, no? I can see how Christian rock is a turn off, since your values are more in line with Ayn Rand. Thanks for the credit default swaps, asshole!
I'd be careful with the Kansas bashing. Turns out that the label Cheerax are currently on has a compilation of early recordings from Kansas. Go figure, you get signed to a prog label, and the label owner is into Kansas. I'm also not so sure how Christian Steve Walsh was during their heydey, since he did an awful lot of drugs. Kerry Livgren was the religious dude in the band. I also hear that Bach and Brahms did Christian music. Yeah, Bach in particular really sucks. Not as good as upsilon acrux.
But yeah, if the dorks at Prog Day dig you, they will buy more merch than 5000 indie rockers. You can sell them CDs, shirts, books, instructional DVDs, Cheer-Accident branded cell phones with special calling plans, karate uniforms, skateboards, curling brooms, lavosh bread, plaster-of-paris unicorns, dashboard Thymme Iglasias "Jones" figurines, individually wrapped prunes, tall tales, scrunchies, old buckets of lead-based paint, neudabranches, salamanders, sloppy janes, twizzlers, and ants...
I wonder, with gas prices going over $4, is this the end of indie rock? Let's hope so. It's co-opted crap now. For chits and giggles, check out Amazon's guide to indie rock. CO-OPTED! The great thing is, all these bands are touring. Everything from Return to Forever to Yes. I'm hoping an ersatz-prog band can afford to tour still, but I think ersatz-prog is even more marginal than prog or indie. Nonetheless, I won't shed a tear over Sleater-Kinney records... Prog is so strong these days...
...that I have a hard time deciding which shows to see. The bad thing is, they tend to be expensive -- $175 for Yes, $60 for frieken Fish! I'm hopin' there'll be some chips. Return to Forever is $75. Progressive Nation was about $80. BARF is $80 for 2 days of the festival (if only Enchant played on the same day as Liquid Tension Experiment). But yeah, there is so much prog happening these days, I don't give a chit about some indie dudes playing Slint charts while wearing neck ties. PUKE! FARTS!
A Studer! $4,000 microphones! Sounds like you have some real "insider" information there-- maybe from the same source that told you how "Introducing Lemon" was edited on a minidisc, which is why you can hear all of those "digital artifacts" when you listen to it on your monitors. In fact, it was edited on a regular ol' tape with a razor blade... so maybe you just read about those artifacts. I suppose reading about music is "close enough" to listening to it in your world.
I hear what I hear. Peter Gabriel sings on that one, no? And the whole Henry Cow team sings at the end... Wow!
Blanche, I don't read up on how Cheer-Accident records are produced, because the material doesn't exist. Even if it did, I have real work-related material to read. I don't know where you get the "mini-disc" crap from. Who the hell would edit a record on a mini-disc? My point is that these guys tend to say they are indie-povs, and record on more expensive equipment than Aerosmith?!?
Journey to the Center of the Earth is a masterpiece. Jonvanflan has a hard-on for Thymme and Jeff. It's painfully obvious. Sorry they wouldn't let you join the band but at least you got to be on a comp with them back in '99.
No. I am living in the belly of the beast. Please buy my records! I hate consumption, except when I record my art on a Studer with $4000 microphones. Then consumption rocks. It rocks like TB style consumption -- the same TB that the flea in the belly of the beast passed on.
Oh, it's the "painfully obvious" guy, what's your name, uh, Kurt Schwitters? Yeah it's the same 3 Cheer-Accident "fans" or bandmembers or partners in operation uber-knob crime. Is there a band to join? Seems more like Thymme and another guy, and some random people that show up here and there with an oddly placed "toot" o' the horn. Journey to the Center of the Belly of the Beast is even better. It's Olly Wakeman's solo record. I have one of 17 copies that exist. Who's the uberknob now?!?
So by working, you mean no one was posting anything, and this youtube portlet was a mere placeholder? Aim high! I'm gonna go checkout that skateboarding dog now... I think his name is Bony Cock. Later!
Yeah, mindbooger... If you ate a bar of soap, you probably need a new proctologist. I bet he didn't even stick his finger up there, as the soap bubbles coming out of your arse most likely scared him off. I hate how crappy this "post comment" app is. Not so much that I would stop posting. I am just not in the mood to start this next project and go on vacation in a day, and come back and figure out where I left off. So a little nonsense now and then...
Uberknobs, paunches, and prog-- Oh my!! I mean: Yawn. Sing to the tune of "The Day The Circus Of Heaven Came To Town:" I can think of a guitarist with a way bigger paunch and a socialist drummer with a way bigger bank account and yet your obsession continues its feeding frenzy in this sparsely populated neck of the woods. Yakub might be right: This could be one very special erection you're experiencing.
Not the ersatz-progressive rock stylings of Cheer-Accident, that's for sure. In fact, the chick who did the art for that comp said my tune was the best... Not everyone will take Cheer-Ax over the Flan. I'm sure there are plenty of chubby D&D playing 40-something dudes who are into the ersatz-prog-uberknob sound... So yeah, "blanche", some people actually prefer my stuff to yours, uh, theirs. I don't. I actually like Cheer-Ax better. For ersatz-prog, they are a very good band.
I don't know if they play D&D, but they do wear winter wool hats with ear flaps (even in the summer), and "old man" pants. I think I've even seen a handkerchief hanging out of the back pocket.
I would suspect they play AD&D. I never liked that. AD&D dungeon masters tend to bullshit too much. I liked the D&D beginner, intermediate, and expert sets and the published modules. The home-spun modules usually tend to be bullcrap written by some lard ass while on the potty. Like that dude from the Bad News Bears who eats fried chicken on the john. Then players tend to bs their characters -- the 47th level paladin with the vorpal sword... my ass... You'd have to play D&D for 2 decades...
Gary Gygax died recently. If I didn't listen to public radio, I would have never known. Katie Couric ain't gonna say nothin' bout that. Gygax was a Chicago native, but we all know him as the fella who put Lake Geneva on the map (the one on hex paper!). I wonder if his surname is real, or if it is something he made up, like Jones. Did you know Tim's real surname is Iglesias? He's got quite a legacy to fall back on, so I am glad to see him taking risks these days. Europe, even!
Who wears wool hats? Prog dudes? No. I have been to many a prog-fest. Prog dudes are obese, have greasy hair in pony tails, and wear the most gaudy silk-screened t-shirts with their favorite prog bands (Flower Kings, Anglagaard, Spock's Beard). Don't worry, after Prog Day, you'll know what I speak of. You can tell the musicians apart from the audience so easily, that back stage musician pass things aren't necessary. Though, Thymme should probably get one, cuz he could easily be mistaken...
Yeah... the one hot chick is Roger Dean's girlfriend or wife. She sticks out like a lovely bare-bellied sore thumb. I was like -- wow... I should talk to her. But then I see her all snuggly with Roger Dean. And who can compete against the guy who did the Yes album covers (which, as you know, are all family photos of Bill Brasky). I'd like to say prog folk are decent peeps, but they tend to be comic-book type merch-herders. That said, it's better than hangin' with indie hipsters...
Thymme wears black t-shirts with a pocket (as seen in the above video) underneath a jeans jacket. Very rarely do I see things written on the t-shirt. I recall "Fit to Win" on one of them. I don't think he's ever heard those new prog bands you mention. He's mainly into 70's prog and horn-based pop like Chicago and Herb Alpert. He's also rejected the opinion that Jeff Lynne is the greatest musician of all time.
I dig some Alpert. Taste of Honey is a good tune. Of course, since his band is from Tijuana, which is culturally part of California (Baja), I am permitted to enjoy a little Alpert now and then. Too bad he hasn't heard Anglagaard -- they use 3 mellotrons. Great music. I've been trying to get "Hybris" for a while. Oh boy, it's available for $38 now. Too bad, some of the new prog is amazing. That last Porcupine Tree record (Fear of a Blank Planet) is pretty fukken cool. Cheer-Ax should do Baja prog
Don't forget the WNUR t-shirt. That's pronounced "weiner". What is it with Chicago and piling as much shit as you can on a hot dog? Jeeze! I mean tomatoes just do not belong on a hot dog. What's up with kielbasa burritos? That's just wrong you know...
Oh, and the mate who put out the comp was the guy who turned me onto Cheer-Ax. When I first got Not a Food, I was like -- this sounds like Helmet, what's the big deal? Enduring, Lemon, etc. are pretty darn good though. But I would still have to say -- Not A Food = 5 year old Helmet tunes. Strap it off...
Just Thymme actually. He is the only prog-quality musician in the group. Jeff is a great guitarist, but doesn't have prog chops. He relies too much on the indie-noise malformed chords with arrhythmia thing. Alex is no Rufus Philpot -- I can say that with great certainty. So 1/3 prog musicianship = ersatz-prog. It's better than indie, but not as good as Saga. In the same realm as Tortoise, but better. But hey, do you think stellar musicians would want to play grab-ass all day?
Actually, I have more of a bone for King Crimson. I love some Crimson stuff, but they are the most overrated prog band on the planet. Sure, Lark's Tongues, some of Red, Starless, Lizard are good. Some of Discipline. But In The Court? People who say that is the birth of prog rock have not bothered to consider Zappa at all. Of course, I consider Zappa, because he is another home-town hero. He and Beefheart grew up a mere 30 miles from where I went to high school. No merit other than that...
And I (along with Frank Zappa, who was so completely bored out his mind with the lack of antics by his chess-playing '72 band that he had to move on to a largely new crew after touring with them) believe that stellar musicianship and playing grab-ass all day should continue to not be mutually exclusive.
I think Zappa was in a wheel chair round about then, which caused the boredom, which created great records like Waka/Jawaka and the Grand Wazoo (he had 2 band lineups in 72 -- Wazoo being a bigger band). Interesting, one of your former band mates says Zappa didn't do jazz well. Hmmm... Don't worry -- you actually need to have some fans to be pushed off the stage by one. Oh, and you also have to be able to play at a venue that has a stage tall enough. Fat chance, as you say...
speaking of fat chances, I'd imagine it would take a fairly burly guy to push you off stage. Do you know if Lou Ferrigno is a fan(atic)? I pray for you that he isn't, but because he is deaf, I fear he may actually dig your tunage, bra'...
Oh and your mate who says Zappa didn't do jazz well also thinks Adrian Belew is "the bear" and not "the rhino". Speaking of which, I recently saw Liquid Tension Experiment, and I think Tony Levin is "the turtle". Nice guy, though, and one helluva bass/stick player. He just sort of looks like a turtle, but hey, we all get old and wrinkly. He still has his chops, energy, and questionable taste in apparel and eyeglasses. The puffy medieval shirt -- it's all Levin, baby!
Does anyone remember the enigmatic noise rock non sequitur, Steel Pole Bath Tub? Turns out Flan used to play keyboards for those guys! Turns out they're the only "grunge" band he endorses! Turns out they're from his Homeland. Go-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Team!
Steel Pole Bath Tub? You mean, THE Steel Pole Bath Tub? Please tell me these guys didn't ruin perfectly good blank CDs by recording on them. If that's the case, then I have no excuse for not making a "Hell On Stilts" CD.
Yeah... They can't all rock as hard as Mount Shasta. Whew! And what kind of hat does Shorty wear? Is it a politically correct one? Sure, they're indie dudes. You know they're all living in the belly of the beast, so they're down, yo...
Dude... Flossie and the UNICORNS. Amazing stuff. And Quintron? He does like, an infomercial, cuz he is in the belly of the beast! He even "invented" a drum machine. As soon as I found that out, I melted my Haken Continuum and re-fashioned it into a harmonium -- a pickle shaped one, akin to the prize in a kid's meal from Burger King.
Yep. I love them so much, I own 2 of their CD's. That is dedication. Even living in the belly of the beast (Thymme's gut) I saved up every last shekel for those 2 CD's. Yeah, go Berkeley. Yep, that's where I live, Berkeley. I even saw Dream Theater there last year at the high school. I LOVE THE EAST BAY. Oh yeah! That's why they call me "East Bay Raoul" or something like that. Yep, east bay, stocking cap, tribal tatoos, those Mayan ear-dongles -- extreeeeemely in the belly of the beast, man...
My point with SPBT is that back in 86, 87, they were doing things way ahead of their time. Great use of cheap tape recorders as samplers. Mike Moraski shreds Phil or Jeff. Grunge? Because Darren was from Seattle and they played shows with Mudhoney? Hardly. Beyond SBPT, listen to 80's stuff from 5uu's or Thinking Plague, and they do much more than rip-off This Heat. I have to admit, those 80's Cheer-Ax "releases" aren't all that. To say they were the alternative to the alternative is alternaïve.
Yeah... So is Kansas. I love Kanasas because they are from the outside-of-sf town in San Mateo county called Kansas, CA. Nice town, even though a run down house costs a million bucks... talk about the belly of the beast. It's like the belly of that scary eagle on the cover of "Song for San Mateo County". You just know that eagle is full worms. That is one beast I would not enjoy getting into the belly of. Yessir...
Excellent work! Yes! Deutsch was his name (I couldn't remember it). I'm sure your friend has told you that there was, indeed, debate initially about including a keyboard (debate among Deutsch and Moog and whomever else), which was my original point. And I didn't mean to say (nor did I say) that there was concern for using it for classical music, but that there would be a fetishization of the classicism that already existed, as opposed to a more exploratory approach.
Point well taken, though: There is plenty of microtonal fun to be had, even with the keyboard-based synthesizers that we've all come to know and love.
One more thing before I go: I'm sure you've forgotten more about C-A than I'll ever know, but... how exactly have they "fetishized" the Moog? Some of the stuff I've heard (including, "Not A Food," which has the only Helmet moment of anything I've heard by them) doesn't even have any synths.
You have to hear life isn't like that and older stuff. Also there is some moog, opus III, etc on enduring and introducing lemon. I've forgotten more about this band than you even know...
I'm still not clear about "some moog" equaling "fetishization." And does anybody even know some of this stuff you're talking about? It seems like you maybe went to high school with 'em or something and they played you cassettes of their "jams" in their Camaro. (Is this getting you hot, by the way?) You also seem to be a bit of a technocrat: Good music is not reliant on new technology. Mmmmm... A subtle waft of classism has penetrated my nasal membranes!
They have a fetish for old skool prog rock keyboards. Moog, Opus III, Crumar (just kidding), Mellotron. Anyone who uses a Mellotron today is using it to say they use one. Yeah, you use a tape-based playback keyboard to record your latest CD which was edited on a mini-disc machine. Get a sampler. I can see someone using a b-3 and a leslie, since the leslie emulations aren't that convincing. Chris Buzby knows the deal. Great keyboard player, outstanding musician, and an excellent teacher. Indeed!
Tune in next time when we learn the difference between "fetish" and "budget." It's been two decades since the poor fellas last used a Mellotron on a recording (and that one was borrowed)! You, Flan, seem to have a fetish for the latest technology. Really, it's all about what one does with the stuff, right? Well, we (see? I'm fat!) can't wait to hear what you did with your lovely toys on Whatever Comp That Was That You Were Allegedly On. See you soon, Mr. Class And Quality!
Wow... Because I swear Salad Days and Intro Lemon use a Mellotron... I am not even much of a fan and I know this. But you guys are so avant-garde, you are already in 2020. How much does gas cost? Is everyone flying around in rocket cars yet? Yeah... all my toys. A cheap tube pre-amp and Russian mics. Oh and a 400Mhz Pentium II running Windows 95. Look out Albini! Fly away you sweet little thing, they're hard on your tail. Hadn't you heard?
intro lemon: no mellotron. actual flutes/actual violins. s daze: no mellotron. actual flutes combined with a little casio so that many years later some guy with ersatz hearing could "know" that it's a mellotron. making love to a vampire with a monkey on my knee: mellotron!!! (but van vliet couldn't afford to hire someone with prog chops so it fails miserably. if only keith emerson could have been at that session...)
Hmmm... Why do you say you used a Mellotron on the liner notes? Ted Dominick does not exist now? Do you think it is clever to lie? BTW, I no longer think Not A Food sounds like Helmet. I think King's X is a better reference, since they had that chunky sound before Helmet (well, and much more -- just a better band in all respects). Well, praise the Lord and don't forget to pray for me... good luck with prog day...
I don't know if Ted Dominick still exists, but... You're confusing "Sever Roots" with "Lemon," which came out fourteen years later. Some fan you turned out to be!
Congratulations, by the way, on your Helmet epiphany: Ya know, there was really only one part of one song (and it was, in fact, referred to back then as "The Helmet Riff") on "Not A Food" that sounded like that band in the first place. But thanks for driving that "point" home a decade and a half later!
Seems to me every other song is math rock and the other songs sound like the Cure in their earlier days. But I was wrong... King's X sounded like Helmet (well much more diverse sound) a few years before Helmet existed... Point is, it sounds like a lot of stuff that was around. Nothing wrong with that until you start bashing people that sound like Genesis or Yes. Actually, most of the neo-prog bands nowadays (Sylvan, for ex) say they don't listen to old prog, and are into Marillion, Radiohead..
Prog dudes work cheap. You think Neal Morse is charging $500/hr for session work? Heck, he will probably do a keyboard solo on your next record if you just simply pray for him. Maybe if you network a bit at progday, you can find a chubby dude that owns 15 mellotrons and has the chops. This describes about 85% of the progday crowd. Echolyn's Buzby is a high school music teacher. I bet he works cheap. He's great -- even got his "solo" record on the top 10 in Keyboard magazine.
No, because you could always use the keyboard in a non conventional way. Keyboards don't force 12-tone western music. In fact, this is what Moog was into. Deutsch is the avant-garde guy who convinced him to add the keyboard. It would have been some engineering-dork ass tone generator otherwise. There was no debate or concern over classical music dominating. Deutsch was into avant-garde, and the keyboard-less Moog was into classical.
BTW, it was Herb Deutsch who convinced Moog to add a keyboard, and Deutsch was an avant garde musician (unlike Moog, who played the piano, and was not into avant garde music). There was no concern that people would use the keyboard for classical music. See, people use keyboards for rock, jazz, and other forms of music, even honky tonk. Honky Tonk is a good name for this UnbalancedLoad/Cheer-Ax collaboration.
My friend, who is an engineer with a degree in symbolic systems from Stanford, and has worked with Moog, told me you are confused with Buchla. Moog was not the dirst synth, but the first synth with a keyboard. BTW, a keyboard does not limit you to 12 tones. If you have used any synthesizer, you can typically detune the notes to whatever tuning you want. If you want an octave to be spread across 24 keys and have odd tunings, you can do it on most synths.
Hey wow... Thanks to me you actually have some content and evidence that someone has seen these videos without running away to the toilet and exploding in a frenzy of diarreah (and then forgetting to post a comment). Anyway, if you listen to the first Crimson record, Fripp challenged Branson to a prog rock discussion. It's all been done before. Yes. On that first Crimson record. Amazing!
The funny thing is, some members of Cheer-Accident don't really know that much about progressive rock. Dylan Posa informed me that Peter Hammil has nothing to do with the history of punk rock. Hmmm... Have to wonder if he has heard much Peter Hammill?
Just goes to show, these guys are indie rawk, like Modest Mouse, but a tad more brainy.
Thymme is ready to have you on the show to discuss these comments you're making. Just let me know when you are available. It would have to be after January though.
January is busy for me. I will be debating members of Superchunk as to the artistic validity of "No Pocky for Kitty". They just ripped off the first Crimson record!!! I am working on a you tube video where I make fun of the extremely pretentious Massive Attack theme song for House MD (also used in some video game commercial). Maybe you can link to that. Anyone know what that piece of crap song is called?
Holy Crap... I just checked out the Massive Attack web site. "Unfinished Symphony" Puh-fuckin'-lease. These dude(s)/ette(s) better be cool looking hipsters to pawn off the boring crap the call music. In fact, they make Cheer-Accident seem pretty damn cool. Ok, I now have a Massive Attack of diarreah coming on, because their pretentious website is just making a beep sound over and over. Wow, how did they/he/she/it do that?!? Maybe they will set up an online conservatory?
I think Novembruary is more in my time frame. The thing that scares me about February is that there are just 29 days. That kind of shortened time frame is a bit daunting. Avril is also ok. It is a sort of pseudo punk month with, but it has a leg up on the leap year February with a whole extra day. Avril it is! Skulls, cross bones, and mascara!
5 keyboards? This guy is totally out of touch with "prog rock". Still stuck in the 70's with the Moog, Opus III and borrowed Mellotron. How 'bout Jordan Rudess, Kurzweil, and Korg? I know... MIDI is evil. It ruined music for the idiots who are too dumb to figure it out.
You mean "this guy" is serious? Because he mentioned Rick Wakeman, he really does view him as The Master Arpeggiator Of All Quasi-Classical Bombast? Here I thought it was a gag on some obscure cable show in Chicago! Thanks for the edification. And when, by the way, does the world get to hear your Miriad MIDI Masterpieces?
I don't think reducing Wakeman to a arpeggio machine is very insightful or knowledgeable. He is much more of a super talented cheese-wheel (he acts like he is in Spinal Tap and have you heard Journey to the Center of the Earth?!?) Sure, Wakeman is not my fave. I would take more modern folk like Rudess or even Orford from IQ. He's really good...
Yeah... I was on a comp with Cheer-Accident and a few others a long time ago... Back in 1999 or so. I don't think I used MIDI on that song. Bee-yatch, I have a day job -- I have to make sure doctors don't kill people, so I can't play grab ass in the practice space all day... Less these days because I have a puppy too. Gone are the days...
What brand o' puppy? And is this comp obtainable by a pretty progchick such as myself? And which track did you do? And how come you don't know if you used MIDI on that song (even though you seem to somehow know which instruments the boys in C-A used on every recording they ever made)?
Actually, he is not a puppy, but a large squirrel. I was mistaken. Either way, he is vaccinated against rabies. The phrase "Pretty progchick" is an oxymoron. Come on, we all know American prog rock fans are obese (except me), and the 10% of women who attend prog shows are morbidly obese. Thymme is just paunchy, because Cheer-Ax are not really prog. They just exhibit a fair amount of prog clichés, but they are indie rock.
My dear, dear Flan! Where have you been? We missed you. (And I say "we" because, according to the never bigoted/always immaculately pc YOU, I must weigh the equivalent of three or four homo sapiens.) It's good to see you back here after (how did you do it??) almost three days had gone by. And in seemingly good spirits, no less! Take care, Love.
Oh, bigoted because I make fun of the overweight. This is the new lifestyle choice? Great, I'm glad I get $400 taken out of my paycheck every month, so fatty can inhale 3 big macs in front of the tube, and we all get to pay for his angioplasty. But it is just a lifestyle choice, man. Cool, well let's lock up junkies and let fatties destroy the health care system and defend them in doing so. Smokers pay taxes to compensate, druggies get tossed in the can, but fatty can inhale and sloth around?
Actually, most "proggers" would say Jordan Rudess is better than Wakeman. Then again, these guys are old-skool prog fetishists with their Moogs, Opus III's and a borrowed Mellotron. Yeah, nothing like a synth that can't stay in tune, sort of like their vocals. They are not only classifiable, but hopelessly entrenched in 1970's technology -- a vintage 70s band with 80's no-wave tendencies and chunks of 90's math rock.
When the Moog was first invented, there was serious debate regarding whether or not to include a keyboard with it; apparently the concern was that uberknobs, overly attached to mundane western tunings, would bring music to a grinding halt by fetishising the classical music already in existence, rather than trying something new, which the new invention was designed to facilitate.
Hmmm... Moog grew up playing piano, and the original RCA synth had a binary only/punchcard interface (as did the first Moog). All of my research shows he was more than happy to have a keyboard interface. I'm sure people would have come up with some amazing music on punchcards. It is such a great interface for data entry. Kind of like Stravinksy and the pianola, eh? I wish I could use punch cards to program a Korg Poly-800. Maybe they could have called it the Groovemoogaroliaola.
Um, the tuning issue with Moogs wasn't intentional or some way to get around 12-semitone western tunings. The things got hot under stage lights and got out of tune. Not sure why people (like Cheer-Ax) fetishize Moogs so much. The new ones are OK, but seriously overpriced. Gimme a Korg Oasys over that crap any day.
Brilliant googling job for the last hour (an hour you could have been enjoying Filet Of Nod). Now go watch the documentary on Bob and then respond by misunderstanding me in other ways.
Better yet, I'll ask my friend who has worked with Bob Moog. I'm sure they originally wanted the synth to be controlled by a Oija board, but for some reason, keyboards made for easy switches. I know... So lazy! If only Cheer-Accident could have enhanced the synthesizer (Moog didn't invent it, and the previous RCA synth did not have a keyboard controller). Dudette, I have forgotten more about synthesizers than you will ever know.
Aren't you one of the Designing Women? I used to dig Cheer-Accident, before I heard a lot of less obvious 70s stuff. Still dig them, but they have a tendency to fill their records with nonsense. A little nonsense now and then is fine, but geeze. Even their buddies, like one named after a small mammal, says they never made a solid record. They're better then Crimson in my book, for whatever that's worth.
Yeah... You are. You are the real horny Designing Woman, Blanche Deveraux. Are you as hot as Rue McClanahan in real life? Probably not. I would guess, since this is the internet, you are probably a fat middle-aged doooood.
Actually, the guy who put me on the comp told me to check out "Not A Food". I told him they sound like Helmet. Then I liked "Enduring". But they're like Crimson -- some good bits, but a bit dodgy for the most part.
If one does not like a band, one should not stand in front and frown at them and stick their fingers in their ears like the music is crap. Go to your car and listen to death metal! That's what I do... Believe me, there's so many shitty 80's bands that open for bands that I like. I'm spending a lot more time in my car at shows these days.
---Dr. Blanche Lu
blanche805 1 year ago
Yeah, actually, Thymme Jones from Cheer-Accident turned me on to them and Cuneiform records. From that moment, I became a prog dork, and will remain a prog dork.
blanche805 2 years ago
I wish I had been listening to UZ for that long! I wouldn't have stopped playing the violin and viola, that's fer sure (I started again, about 2 years ago, mere months after "discovering" UZ).
blanche805 2 years ago
In fact -- with that 80's sound and the better vocals, one may confuse Cheer-Accident with Ultravox. What measures have you taken to make sure this confusion does not arise? Just wondering because I was playing your new stuff on my boom box while on the bus, and someone asked if it was the new Ultravox record. Then I asked -- really? They have a new record? So you not only changed your first name from Midge to Thymme... You went from Ure to Jones? And gained like 100 pounds?
jonvanflan 3 years ago
I do have to give you props and kudos for the new music. Dropping 30% of the cow/bears influence and replacing it with Bauhaus and the Cure? Nice to see you getting in to the 80's music 5 years after the top 40 folks. That's called "retard garde". I even heard you guys wear black clothing and mascara. Spooky. But yeah, can't go wrong with that Cure and Bauhaus influence. The singing is actually decent. You may not even be considered "indie", what with that listenable and tuneful singing!
jonvanflan 3 years ago
I saw that PH show in SF. He was good, but wow, I just checked out the RJ you gave him on your myspace site. Yeah, it was a pretty good show. Kind of short and stark. Somewhat forgettable after seeing Fish and Echolyn around that time. Good, nonetheless. Props on Cuneiform. Probably one of the best bands they've signed. They've been signing some crap bands -- Time of Crap... I've noticed your sound has become slick to fit the Cuneiform ideal. Nice. Your warr guitar player rulez. Buttondownshirts
jonvanflan 3 years ago
I was recently fortunate enough to get to hear Liberace's medley of "Supper's Ready," "Soon," "I Talk To The Wind," and... one other one, I think. Mesmerizing! Those flourishes get me wet!!!
blanche805 3 years ago
So question for Blanche -- are you really into Steve Albini's artistic output? Do you really think Shellac is an awesome band? Or do you (like me) think that the only reason anyone listens to Shellac is because Albini has a cult following of douche-bags who would buy a record of him taking a noisy crap? Even for indie-rock they are shit. And there's maybe 1 or 2 decent big black songs. Rapeman was pretty cool, more because of the rhythm section. Nautilus, indeed... Cybex makes better gear.
jonvanflan 3 years ago
OK.. At Action Park is pretty decent.
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Quiz question: When I have I ever mentioned the band you just asked me about? Let me know if the number turns out to be more than zero. But I'm really fascinated to know your take on them!
blanche805 3 years ago
Also, on the 80's bands that blow Cheer-Ax out of the water. Echolyn... Big time. Anyone notice the similarities between parts of Suffocating the Bloom and the Why Album? STB came out 3 years prior. Also, Echolyn do the "let's all talk at the same time" thing in live shows, but I think that is a Gentle Giant thing that both bands have borrowed. Nonetheless, from their first record to their last, Echolyn were, are, and always will be a better band than Cheer-Ax. True prog, nothing ersatz about it
jonvanflan 3 years ago
No one can stop you now, Dawg, tonight you're on the loose! Damn... So you actually like Captain Beefheart? I mean, Mr. Van Vliet doesn't have prog chops. I guess that makes him ersatz prog. Believe it or not, the usage of a term like "prog chops" (who's there?) is really pretty embarrassing to folks who perhaps (just maybe?) don't wish to spend the rest of their lives trying to re-create their favorite keyboard hero moments.
blanche805 3 years ago
I don't think Beefheart is that great at all. I've had Trout Mask for a long time now. Yes, it is really noisy... great. He was decent w/ Zappa -- Willie the Pimp and such. Maybe your pal Al Johnson has a bone for van vliet, but I certainly don't, even if he grew up 30 miles from where I did. I guess that does sort of shoot your theory to shit -- the one that I shill for the home team. See, that's called projection, because you Chicago uber-knobs are such a tight-knit community of twats.
jonvanflan 3 years ago
I didn't think you liked Beefheart at all. I predicted that for you! And my "theory" about you shilling for the home team was actually a parody of your bullshit rhetoric. Get to know your spewdom better and you'll be better equipped to recognize when someone's holding a mirror up to your face. Last I heard (many years ago), Al doesn't much like Don's singing. See? Not everyone is quite as predictable as you are...
blanche805 3 years ago
Anyone ever notice the similarity between apples and oranges? Wow, that's really of interest that parts of The Why Album sound like an album that was made three years earlier-- especially considering that most of the influences were from two decades earlier.
blanche805 3 years ago
By the way, I finally found time to check out that (really similar) band that you were kind(?) enough to direct me toward. I checked out some of their performances at the "oldest/weakest" prog fest, and... I guess you and I just have different definitions for the word "ersatz." Watered- down Kansas/watered-down Phish, along with (and how would one possibly go about watering this down?) '70s Christian rock would pretty much epitomize my idea of what that word means. Maybe you're kidding?
blanche805 3 years ago
Yep. I got to say a prayer with Ray Weston at Calprog. Total Christian rock and exactly like Kansas. Especially those bright keyboard sounds, very much like Kansas and totally unlike Marillion. And their violin player! Very astute observation. So much like Kansas, they got the Ramones producer to record a record for them. Kansas is like Ramones, no? I can see how Christian rock is a turn off, since your values are more in line with Ayn Rand. Thanks for the credit default swaps, asshole!
jonvanflan 3 years ago
I'd be careful with the Kansas bashing. Turns out that the label Cheerax are currently on has a compilation of early recordings from Kansas. Go figure, you get signed to a prog label, and the label owner is into Kansas. I'm also not so sure how Christian Steve Walsh was during their heydey, since he did an awful lot of drugs. Kerry Livgren was the religious dude in the band. I also hear that Bach and Brahms did Christian music. Yeah, Bach in particular really sucks. Not as good as upsilon acrux.
jonvanflan 3 years ago
But yeah, if the dorks at Prog Day dig you, they will buy more merch than 5000 indie rockers. You can sell them CDs, shirts, books, instructional DVDs, Cheer-Accident branded cell phones with special calling plans, karate uniforms, skateboards, curling brooms, lavosh bread, plaster-of-paris unicorns, dashboard Thymme Iglasias "Jones" figurines, individually wrapped prunes, tall tales, scrunchies, old buckets of lead-based paint, neudabranches, salamanders, sloppy janes, twizzlers, and ants...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
I wonder, with gas prices going over $4, is this the end of indie rock? Let's hope so. It's co-opted crap now. For chits and giggles, check out Amazon's guide to indie rock. CO-OPTED! The great thing is, all these bands are touring. Everything from Return to Forever to Yes. I'm hoping an ersatz-prog band can afford to tour still, but I think ersatz-prog is even more marginal than prog or indie. Nonetheless, I won't shed a tear over Sleater-Kinney records... Prog is so strong these days...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
...that I have a hard time deciding which shows to see. The bad thing is, they tend to be expensive -- $175 for Yes, $60 for frieken Fish! I'm hopin' there'll be some chips. Return to Forever is $75. Progressive Nation was about $80. BARF is $80 for 2 days of the festival (if only Enchant played on the same day as Liquid Tension Experiment). But yeah, there is so much prog happening these days, I don't give a chit about some indie dudes playing Slint charts while wearing neck ties. PUKE! FARTS!
jonvanflan 3 years ago
remember that time I held up my keys? Bloody brilliant!
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Thymme never liked the "keys" thing.
UnBalancedLoad 3 years ago
A Studer! $4,000 microphones! Sounds like you have some real "insider" information there-- maybe from the same source that told you how "Introducing Lemon" was edited on a minidisc, which is why you can hear all of those "digital artifacts" when you listen to it on your monitors. In fact, it was edited on a regular ol' tape with a razor blade... so maybe you just read about those artifacts. I suppose reading about music is "close enough" to listening to it in your world.
blanche805 3 years ago
I hear what I hear. Peter Gabriel sings on that one, no? And the whole Henry Cow team sings at the end... Wow!
Blanche, I don't read up on how Cheer-Accident records are produced, because the material doesn't exist. Even if it did, I have real work-related material to read. I don't know where you get the "mini-disc" crap from. Who the hell would edit a record on a mini-disc? My point is that these guys tend to say they are indie-povs, and record on more expensive equipment than Aerosmith?!?
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Journey to the Center of the Earth is a masterpiece. Jonvanflan has a hard-on for Thymme and Jeff. It's painfully obvious. Sorry they wouldn't let you join the band but at least you got to be on a comp with them back in '99.
Yacub 3 years ago
No. I am living in the belly of the beast. Please buy my records! I hate consumption, except when I record my art on a Studer with $4000 microphones. Then consumption rocks. It rocks like TB style consumption -- the same TB that the flea in the belly of the beast passed on.
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Oh, it's the "painfully obvious" guy, what's your name, uh, Kurt Schwitters? Yeah it's the same 3 Cheer-Accident "fans" or bandmembers or partners in operation uber-knob crime. Is there a band to join? Seems more like Thymme and another guy, and some random people that show up here and there with an oddly placed "toot" o' the horn. Journey to the Center of the Belly of the Beast is even better. It's Olly Wakeman's solo record. I have one of 17 copies that exist. Who's the uberknob now?!?
jonvanflan 3 years ago
What happened? Things were working for a time there. Maybe you need to find another doctor.
UnBalancedLoad 3 years ago
So by working, you mean no one was posting anything, and this youtube portlet was a mere placeholder? Aim high! I'm gonna go checkout that skateboarding dog now... I think his name is Bony Cock. Later!
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Yeah, mindbooger... If you ate a bar of soap, you probably need a new proctologist. I bet he didn't even stick his finger up there, as the soap bubbles coming out of your arse most likely scared him off. I hate how crappy this "post comment" app is. Not so much that I would stop posting. I am just not in the mood to start this next project and go on vacation in a day, and come back and figure out where I left off. So a little nonsense now and then...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Uberknobs, paunches, and prog-- Oh my!! I mean: Yawn. Sing to the tune of "The Day The Circus Of Heaven Came To Town:" I can think of a guitarist with a way bigger paunch and a socialist drummer with a way bigger bank account and yet your obsession continues its feeding frenzy in this sparsely populated neck of the woods. Yakub might be right: This could be one very special erection you're experiencing.
blanche805 3 years ago
Yeah, so what comp was that, anyway? And what kinda stellar music was Flan treating the world to back then?
blanche805 3 years ago
Not the ersatz-progressive rock stylings of Cheer-Accident, that's for sure. In fact, the chick who did the art for that comp said my tune was the best... Not everyone will take Cheer-Ax over the Flan. I'm sure there are plenty of chubby D&D playing 40-something dudes who are into the ersatz-prog-uberknob sound... So yeah, "blanche", some people actually prefer my stuff to yours, uh, theirs. I don't. I actually like Cheer-Ax better. For ersatz-prog, they are a very good band.
jonvanflan 3 years ago
I don't know if they play D&D, but they do wear winter wool hats with ear flaps (even in the summer), and "old man" pants. I think I've even seen a handkerchief hanging out of the back pocket.
UnBalancedLoad 3 years ago
I would suspect they play AD&D. I never liked that. AD&D dungeon masters tend to bullshit too much. I liked the D&D beginner, intermediate, and expert sets and the published modules. The home-spun modules usually tend to be bullcrap written by some lard ass while on the potty. Like that dude from the Bad News Bears who eats fried chicken on the john. Then players tend to bs their characters -- the 47th level paladin with the vorpal sword... my ass... You'd have to play D&D for 2 decades...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Gary Gygax died recently. If I didn't listen to public radio, I would have never known. Katie Couric ain't gonna say nothin' bout that. Gygax was a Chicago native, but we all know him as the fella who put Lake Geneva on the map (the one on hex paper!). I wonder if his surname is real, or if it is something he made up, like Jones. Did you know Tim's real surname is Iglesias? He's got quite a legacy to fall back on, so I am glad to see him taking risks these days. Europe, even!
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Who wears wool hats? Prog dudes? No. I have been to many a prog-fest. Prog dudes are obese, have greasy hair in pony tails, and wear the most gaudy silk-screened t-shirts with their favorite prog bands (Flower Kings, Anglagaard, Spock's Beard). Don't worry, after Prog Day, you'll know what I speak of. You can tell the musicians apart from the audience so easily, that back stage musician pass things aren't necessary. Though, Thymme should probably get one, cuz he could easily be mistaken...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Yeah... the one hot chick is Roger Dean's girlfriend or wife. She sticks out like a lovely bare-bellied sore thumb. I was like -- wow... I should talk to her. But then I see her all snuggly with Roger Dean. And who can compete against the guy who did the Yes album covers (which, as you know, are all family photos of Bill Brasky). I'd like to say prog folk are decent peeps, but they tend to be comic-book type merch-herders. That said, it's better than hangin' with indie hipsters...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Thymme wears black t-shirts with a pocket (as seen in the above video) underneath a jeans jacket. Very rarely do I see things written on the t-shirt. I recall "Fit to Win" on one of them. I don't think he's ever heard those new prog bands you mention. He's mainly into 70's prog and horn-based pop like Chicago and Herb Alpert. He's also rejected the opinion that Jeff Lynne is the greatest musician of all time.
UnBalancedLoad 3 years ago
I dig some Alpert. Taste of Honey is a good tune. Of course, since his band is from Tijuana, which is culturally part of California (Baja), I am permitted to enjoy a little Alpert now and then. Too bad he hasn't heard Anglagaard -- they use 3 mellotrons. Great music. I've been trying to get "Hybris" for a while. Oh boy, it's available for $38 now. Too bad, some of the new prog is amazing. That last Porcupine Tree record (Fear of a Blank Planet) is pretty fukken cool. Cheer-Ax should do Baja prog
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Don't forget the WNUR t-shirt. That's pronounced "weiner". What is it with Chicago and piling as much shit as you can on a hot dog? Jeeze! I mean tomatoes just do not belong on a hot dog. What's up with kielbasa burritos? That's just wrong you know...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Oh, and the mate who put out the comp was the guy who turned me onto Cheer-Ax. When I first got Not a Food, I was like -- this sounds like Helmet, what's the big deal? Enduring, Lemon, etc. are pretty darn good though. But I would still have to say -- Not A Food = 5 year old Helmet tunes. Strap it off...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Just Thymme actually. He is the only prog-quality musician in the group. Jeff is a great guitarist, but doesn't have prog chops. He relies too much on the indie-noise malformed chords with arrhythmia thing. Alex is no Rufus Philpot -- I can say that with great certainty. So 1/3 prog musicianship = ersatz-prog. It's better than indie, but not as good as Saga. In the same realm as Tortoise, but better. But hey, do you think stellar musicians would want to play grab-ass all day?
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Actually, I have more of a bone for King Crimson. I love some Crimson stuff, but they are the most overrated prog band on the planet. Sure, Lark's Tongues, some of Red, Starless, Lizard are good. Some of Discipline. But In The Court? People who say that is the birth of prog rock have not bothered to consider Zappa at all. Of course, I consider Zappa, because he is another home-town hero. He and Beefheart grew up a mere 30 miles from where I went to high school. No merit other than that...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
And I (along with Frank Zappa, who was so completely bored out his mind with the lack of antics by his chess-playing '72 band that he had to move on to a largely new crew after touring with them) believe that stellar musicianship and playing grab-ass all day should continue to not be mutually exclusive.
blanche805 3 years ago
I think Zappa was in a wheel chair round about then, which caused the boredom, which created great records like Waka/Jawaka and the Grand Wazoo (he had 2 band lineups in 72 -- Wazoo being a bigger band). Interesting, one of your former band mates says Zappa didn't do jazz well. Hmmm... Don't worry -- you actually need to have some fans to be pushed off the stage by one. Oh, and you also have to be able to play at a venue that has a stage tall enough. Fat chance, as you say...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
speaking of fat chances, I'd imagine it would take a fairly burly guy to push you off stage. Do you know if Lou Ferrigno is a fan(atic)? I pray for you that he isn't, but because he is deaf, I fear he may actually dig your tunage, bra'...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Oh and your mate who says Zappa didn't do jazz well also thinks Adrian Belew is "the bear" and not "the rhino". Speaking of which, I recently saw Liquid Tension Experiment, and I think Tony Levin is "the turtle". Nice guy, though, and one helluva bass/stick player. He just sort of looks like a turtle, but hey, we all get old and wrinkly. He still has his chops, energy, and questionable taste in apparel and eyeglasses. The puffy medieval shirt -- it's all Levin, baby!
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Wheelchairs don't cause boredom, people do! (Say, Robert Wyatt's best stuff occurred after he found the wheelchair.)
blanche805 3 years ago
this reminds me of the time that I dropped acid and ate a bar of soap.
mindburger 4 years ago
Does anyone remember the enigmatic noise rock non sequitur, Steel Pole Bath Tub? Turns out Flan used to play keyboards for those guys! Turns out they're the only "grunge" band he endorses! Turns out they're from his Homeland. Go-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Team!
blanche805 4 years ago
Steel Pole Bath Tub? You mean, THE Steel Pole Bath Tub? Please tell me these guys didn't ruin perfectly good blank CDs by recording on them. If that's the case, then I have no excuse for not making a "Hell On Stilts" CD.
UnBalancedLoad 4 years ago
Yeah... They can't all rock as hard as Mount Shasta. Whew! And what kind of hat does Shorty wear? Is it a politically correct one? Sure, they're indie dudes. You know they're all living in the belly of the beast, so they're down, yo...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Dude... Flossie and the UNICORNS. Amazing stuff. And Quintron? He does like, an infomercial, cuz he is in the belly of the beast! He even "invented" a drum machine. As soon as I found that out, I melted my Haken Continuum and re-fashioned it into a harmonium -- a pickle shaped one, akin to the prize in a kid's meal from Burger King.
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Yep. I love them so much, I own 2 of their CD's. That is dedication. Even living in the belly of the beast (Thymme's gut) I saved up every last shekel for those 2 CD's. Yeah, go Berkeley. Yep, that's where I live, Berkeley. I even saw Dream Theater there last year at the high school. I LOVE THE EAST BAY. Oh yeah! That's why they call me "East Bay Raoul" or something like that. Yep, east bay, stocking cap, tribal tatoos, those Mayan ear-dongles -- extreeeeemely in the belly of the beast, man...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
I showed your comment to some South Asians I work with and they thought it was in poor taste.
UnBalancedLoad 3 years ago
My point with SPBT is that back in 86, 87, they were doing things way ahead of their time. Great use of cheap tape recorders as samplers. Mike Moraski shreds Phil or Jeff. Grunge? Because Darren was from Seattle and they played shows with Mudhoney? Hardly. Beyond SBPT, listen to 80's stuff from 5uu's or Thinking Plague, and they do much more than rip-off This Heat. I have to admit, those 80's Cheer-Ax "releases" aren't all that. To say they were the alternative to the alternative is alternaïve.
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Yeah... So is Kansas. I love Kanasas because they are from the outside-of-sf town in San Mateo county called Kansas, CA. Nice town, even though a run down house costs a million bucks... talk about the belly of the beast. It's like the belly of that scary eagle on the cover of "Song for San Mateo County". You just know that eagle is full worms. That is one beast I would not enjoy getting into the belly of. Yessir...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
I was born with a heart of lothian, but Thymme and me, when it comes right down to it, we're just two sugar mice in the rain...
jonvanflan 4 years ago
Excellent work! Yes! Deutsch was his name (I couldn't remember it). I'm sure your friend has told you that there was, indeed, debate initially about including a keyboard (debate among Deutsch and Moog and whomever else), which was my original point. And I didn't mean to say (nor did I say) that there was concern for using it for classical music, but that there would be a fetishization of the classicism that already existed, as opposed to a more exploratory approach.
blanche805 4 years ago
Point well taken, though: There is plenty of microtonal fun to be had, even with the keyboard-based synthesizers that we've all come to know and love.
blanche805 4 years ago
One more thing before I go: I'm sure you've forgotten more about C-A than I'll ever know, but... how exactly have they "fetishized" the Moog? Some of the stuff I've heard (including, "Not A Food," which has the only Helmet moment of anything I've heard by them) doesn't even have any synths.
blanche805 4 years ago
You have to hear life isn't like that and older stuff. Also there is some moog, opus III, etc on enduring and introducing lemon. I've forgotten more about this band than you even know...
jonvanflan 4 years ago
I'm still not clear about "some moog" equaling "fetishization." And does anybody even know some of this stuff you're talking about? It seems like you maybe went to high school with 'em or something and they played you cassettes of their "jams" in their Camaro. (Is this getting you hot, by the way?) You also seem to be a bit of a technocrat: Good music is not reliant on new technology. Mmmmm... A subtle waft of classism has penetrated my nasal membranes!
blanche805 4 years ago
They have a fetish for old skool prog rock keyboards. Moog, Opus III, Crumar (just kidding), Mellotron. Anyone who uses a Mellotron today is using it to say they use one. Yeah, you use a tape-based playback keyboard to record your latest CD which was edited on a mini-disc machine. Get a sampler. I can see someone using a b-3 and a leslie, since the leslie emulations aren't that convincing. Chris Buzby knows the deal. Great keyboard player, outstanding musician, and an excellent teacher. Indeed!
jonvanflan 4 years ago
Tune in next time when we learn the difference between "fetish" and "budget." It's been two decades since the poor fellas last used a Mellotron on a recording (and that one was borrowed)! You, Flan, seem to have a fetish for the latest technology. Really, it's all about what one does with the stuff, right? Well, we (see? I'm fat!) can't wait to hear what you did with your lovely toys on Whatever Comp That Was That You Were Allegedly On. See you soon, Mr. Class And Quality!
blanche805 4 years ago
Wow... Because I swear Salad Days and Intro Lemon use a Mellotron... I am not even much of a fan and I know this. But you guys are so avant-garde, you are already in 2020. How much does gas cost? Is everyone flying around in rocket cars yet? Yeah... all my toys. A cheap tube pre-amp and Russian mics. Oh and a 400Mhz Pentium II running Windows 95. Look out Albini! Fly away you sweet little thing, they're hard on your tail. Hadn't you heard?
They're going to change you into a human being!
jonvanflan 3 years ago
intro lemon: no mellotron. actual flutes/actual violins. s daze: no mellotron. actual flutes combined with a little casio so that many years later some guy with ersatz hearing could "know" that it's a mellotron. making love to a vampire with a monkey on my knee: mellotron!!! (but van vliet couldn't afford to hire someone with prog chops so it fails miserably. if only keith emerson could have been at that session...)
blanche805 3 years ago
Hmmm... Why do you say you used a Mellotron on the liner notes? Ted Dominick does not exist now? Do you think it is clever to lie? BTW, I no longer think Not A Food sounds like Helmet. I think King's X is a better reference, since they had that chunky sound before Helmet (well, and much more -- just a better band in all respects). Well, praise the Lord and don't forget to pray for me... good luck with prog day...
jonvanflan 3 years ago
I don't know if Ted Dominick still exists, but... You're confusing "Sever Roots" with "Lemon," which came out fourteen years later. Some fan you turned out to be!
blanche805 3 years ago
Congratulations, by the way, on your Helmet epiphany: Ya know, there was really only one part of one song (and it was, in fact, referred to back then as "The Helmet Riff") on "Not A Food" that sounded like that band in the first place. But thanks for driving that "point" home a decade and a half later!
blanche805 3 years ago
Seems to me every other song is math rock and the other songs sound like the Cure in their earlier days. But I was wrong... King's X sounded like Helmet (well much more diverse sound) a few years before Helmet existed... Point is, it sounds like a lot of stuff that was around. Nothing wrong with that until you start bashing people that sound like Genesis or Yes. Actually, most of the neo-prog bands nowadays (Sylvan, for ex) say they don't listen to old prog, and are into Marillion, Radiohead..
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Prog dudes work cheap. You think Neal Morse is charging $500/hr for session work? Heck, he will probably do a keyboard solo on your next record if you just simply pray for him. Maybe if you network a bit at progday, you can find a chubby dude that owns 15 mellotrons and has the chops. This describes about 85% of the progday crowd. Echolyn's Buzby is a high school music teacher. I bet he works cheap. He's great -- even got his "solo" record on the top 10 in Keyboard magazine.
jonvanflan 3 years ago
No, because you could always use the keyboard in a non conventional way. Keyboards don't force 12-tone western music. In fact, this is what Moog was into. Deutsch is the avant-garde guy who convinced him to add the keyboard. It would have been some engineering-dork ass tone generator otherwise. There was no debate or concern over classical music dominating. Deutsch was into avant-garde, and the keyboard-less Moog was into classical.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
BTW, it was Herb Deutsch who convinced Moog to add a keyboard, and Deutsch was an avant garde musician (unlike Moog, who played the piano, and was not into avant garde music). There was no concern that people would use the keyboard for classical music. See, people use keyboards for rock, jazz, and other forms of music, even honky tonk. Honky Tonk is a good name for this UnbalancedLoad/Cheer-Ax collaboration.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
My friend, who is an engineer with a degree in symbolic systems from Stanford, and has worked with Moog, told me you are confused with Buchla. Moog was not the dirst synth, but the first synth with a keyboard. BTW, a keyboard does not limit you to 12 tones. If you have used any synthesizer, you can typically detune the notes to whatever tuning you want. If you want an octave to be spread across 24 keys and have odd tunings, you can do it on most synths.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
Hey wow... Thanks to me you actually have some content and evidence that someone has seen these videos without running away to the toilet and exploding in a frenzy of diarreah (and then forgetting to post a comment). Anyway, if you listen to the first Crimson record, Fripp challenged Branson to a prog rock discussion. It's all been done before. Yes. On that first Crimson record. Amazing!
jonvanflan 4 years ago
The funny thing is, some members of Cheer-Accident don't really know that much about progressive rock. Dylan Posa informed me that Peter Hammil has nothing to do with the history of punk rock. Hmmm... Have to wonder if he has heard much Peter Hammill?
Just goes to show, these guys are indie rawk, like Modest Mouse, but a tad more brainy.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
Thymme is ready to have you on the show to discuss these comments you're making. Just let me know when you are available. It would have to be after January though.
UnBalancedLoad 4 years ago
January is busy for me. I will be debating members of Superchunk as to the artistic validity of "No Pocky for Kitty". They just ripped off the first Crimson record!!! I am working on a you tube video where I make fun of the extremely pretentious Massive Attack theme song for House MD (also used in some video game commercial). Maybe you can link to that. Anyone know what that piece of crap song is called?
jonvanflan 4 years ago
Holy Crap... I just checked out the Massive Attack web site. "Unfinished Symphony" Puh-fuckin'-lease. These dude(s)/ette(s) better be cool looking hipsters to pawn off the boring crap the call music. In fact, they make Cheer-Accident seem pretty damn cool. Ok, I now have a Massive Attack of diarreah coming on, because their pretentious website is just making a beep sound over and over. Wow, how did they/he/she/it do that?!? Maybe they will set up an online conservatory?
jonvanflan 4 years ago
That's why I wrote "after January". Should I pencil you in for February?
UnBalancedLoad 4 years ago
I think Novembruary is more in my time frame. The thing that scares me about February is that there are just 29 days. That kind of shortened time frame is a bit daunting. Avril is also ok. It is a sort of pseudo punk month with, but it has a leg up on the leap year February with a whole extra day. Avril it is! Skulls, cross bones, and mascara!
jonvanflan 4 years ago
5 keyboards? This guy is totally out of touch with "prog rock". Still stuck in the 70's with the Moog, Opus III and borrowed Mellotron. How 'bout Jordan Rudess, Kurzweil, and Korg? I know... MIDI is evil. It ruined music for the idiots who are too dumb to figure it out.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
You mean "this guy" is serious? Because he mentioned Rick Wakeman, he really does view him as The Master Arpeggiator Of All Quasi-Classical Bombast? Here I thought it was a gag on some obscure cable show in Chicago! Thanks for the edification. And when, by the way, does the world get to hear your Miriad MIDI Masterpieces?
blanche805 4 years ago
I don't think reducing Wakeman to a arpeggio machine is very insightful or knowledgeable. He is much more of a super talented cheese-wheel (he acts like he is in Spinal Tap and have you heard Journey to the Center of the Earth?!?) Sure, Wakeman is not my fave. I would take more modern folk like Rudess or even Orford from IQ. He's really good...
jonvanflan 4 years ago
Yeah... I was on a comp with Cheer-Accident and a few others a long time ago... Back in 1999 or so. I don't think I used MIDI on that song. Bee-yatch, I have a day job -- I have to make sure doctors don't kill people, so I can't play grab ass in the practice space all day... Less these days because I have a puppy too. Gone are the days...
jonvanflan 4 years ago
What brand o' puppy? And is this comp obtainable by a pretty progchick such as myself? And which track did you do? And how come you don't know if you used MIDI on that song (even though you seem to somehow know which instruments the boys in C-A used on every recording they ever made)?
blanche805 4 years ago
Actually, he is not a puppy, but a large squirrel. I was mistaken. Either way, he is vaccinated against rabies. The phrase "Pretty progchick" is an oxymoron. Come on, we all know American prog rock fans are obese (except me), and the 10% of women who attend prog shows are morbidly obese. Thymme is just paunchy, because Cheer-Ax are not really prog. They just exhibit a fair amount of prog clichés, but they are indie rock.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
My dear, dear Flan! Where have you been? We missed you. (And I say "we" because, according to the never bigoted/always immaculately pc YOU, I must weigh the equivalent of three or four homo sapiens.) It's good to see you back here after (how did you do it??) almost three days had gone by. And in seemingly good spirits, no less! Take care, Love.
blanche805 4 years ago
Oh, bigoted because I make fun of the overweight. This is the new lifestyle choice? Great, I'm glad I get $400 taken out of my paycheck every month, so fatty can inhale 3 big macs in front of the tube, and we all get to pay for his angioplasty. But it is just a lifestyle choice, man. Cool, well let's lock up junkies and let fatties destroy the health care system and defend them in doing so. Smokers pay taxes to compensate, druggies get tossed in the can, but fatty can inhale and sloth around?
jonvanflan 3 years ago
Actually, most "proggers" would say Jordan Rudess is better than Wakeman. Then again, these guys are old-skool prog fetishists with their Moogs, Opus III's and a borrowed Mellotron. Yeah, nothing like a synth that can't stay in tune, sort of like their vocals. They are not only classifiable, but hopelessly entrenched in 1970's technology -- a vintage 70s band with 80's no-wave tendencies and chunks of 90's math rock.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
When the Moog was first invented, there was serious debate regarding whether or not to include a keyboard with it; apparently the concern was that uberknobs, overly attached to mundane western tunings, would bring music to a grinding halt by fetishising the classical music already in existence, rather than trying something new, which the new invention was designed to facilitate.
blanche805 4 years ago
So Bob Moog debated this amongst himself? Do tell...
jonvanflan 4 years ago
Hmmm... Moog grew up playing piano, and the original RCA synth had a binary only/punchcard interface (as did the first Moog). All of my research shows he was more than happy to have a keyboard interface. I'm sure people would have come up with some amazing music on punchcards. It is such a great interface for data entry. Kind of like Stravinksy and the pianola, eh? I wish I could use punch cards to program a Korg Poly-800. Maybe they could have called it the Groovemoogaroliaola.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
Um, the tuning issue with Moogs wasn't intentional or some way to get around 12-semitone western tunings. The things got hot under stage lights and got out of tune. Not sure why people (like Cheer-Ax) fetishize Moogs so much. The new ones are OK, but seriously overpriced. Gimme a Korg Oasys over that crap any day.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
Brilliant googling job for the last hour (an hour you could have been enjoying Filet Of Nod). Now go watch the documentary on Bob and then respond by misunderstanding me in other ways.
blanche805 4 years ago
Better yet, I'll ask my friend who has worked with Bob Moog. I'm sure they originally wanted the synth to be controlled by a Oija board, but for some reason, keyboards made for easy switches. I know... So lazy! If only Cheer-Accident could have enhanced the synthesizer (Moog didn't invent it, and the previous RCA synth did not have a keyboard controller). Dudette, I have forgotten more about synthesizers than you will ever know.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
I always thought these guys were more suck rock than prog rock. Oh, wait... They're unclassifiable! A veritable douching of Derrida!!!
jonvanflan 4 years ago
You "always" thought that? Or only after you had a falling out with one of their members? No pun intended!
blanche805 4 years ago
Aren't you one of the Designing Women? I used to dig Cheer-Accident, before I heard a lot of less obvious 70s stuff. Still dig them, but they have a tendency to fill their records with nonsense. A little nonsense now and then is fine, but geeze. Even their buddies, like one named after a small mammal, says they never made a solid record. They're better then Crimson in my book, for whatever that's worth.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
Yeah... You are. You are the real horny Designing Woman, Blanche Deveraux. Are you as hot as Rue McClanahan in real life? Probably not. I would guess, since this is the internet, you are probably a fat middle-aged doooood.
jonvanflan 4 years ago
Actually, the guy who put me on the comp told me to check out "Not A Food". I told him they sound like Helmet. Then I liked "Enduring". But they're like Crimson -- some good bits, but a bit dodgy for the most part.
jonvanflan 4 years ago