Tuesday, July 15, 2008

AFS v. 185 ~ Magic Flowers Wilt the Weakhearted!


"Bob Dylan's 42nd Annual Report"--a sprawling sidelong jam on the back of Psychedelic Horseshit's Magic Flowers Dubbed cassette--drew more angry and confused phonecalls than any song I've ever played on the radio (or at least since The Most Unicorn a few weeks back). So, I guess this is a warning. You don't hafta like everything on these podcasts. Use the FFWD button if you need to!

There is some semblance of a song in between the long keyboard intro and the outro that codas the queasiest guitar riff into eternity. Me, myself...I do have the patience for this kinda stuff, and maybe I enjoy listening to it because I feel like I know a little bit about the humor of the Horseshit boys from a few hang-out seshes and catching them live several times, sometimes at their glorious best and their self-admitted worst (which was still a hoot!). But no matter how this B-side grabs you, the A-side will most likely send your hearts aflutter if you loved Magic Flowers Droned. This thing was limited to 50, so good luck!


You can download this week's show AT THIS LINK HERE! @ 192kbps
(archived for ~4 weeks)

Or, also AT THIS LINK (@ 320 kbps!!!)
(archived for ~10 weeks)

TRADITIONAL FOOLS | Valley (of the Jams) | Traditional Fools | Make a Mess/Wizard Mountain *new
SUPERSTITIONS | Chainsaw Hands | cassette #3 | Telephone Explosion *new
MATT K. SHRUGG | Tunnel Vision | The Weird Shit... CDR | no label 2007
THE PETS | Can't Keep Myself Straight | Misdirection | Static Impulse *new
LOVER | All Alone | No More Reason 7" | HoZac *new
FLIP TOPS | Looks So Scary | Dangerous Game 7" | Plastic Idol *new
STATUES | Soft Lives | Broken Hands 7" | Plastic Idol *new
LEPER PRINT | Coma | Coma 7" | Die Stasi *new
SHIT EAGLE | Girls in School | Girls in School 7" | Florida's Dying *new
HARPOON GUNS | Nanonii | III 7" | Going Underground *new
HARPOON GUNS | 15
MATT K. SHRUGG | Valleys of Hate | The Weird Shit... CDR
WARM STREAMS | Critical Boys | Camo Babies 7" | Borox *new
EAT SKULL | If I'm Insane [Psycho Sin] | Dead Families 7" | Skulltones 2007
EAT SKULL | No Intelligence
SIC ALPS | United [Throbbing Gristle] | United 7" | Important *new
VIVIAN GIRLS | Damaged | Tell the World 7" | Woodsist *new
SIC ALPS | Mater | U.S. EZ | Siltbreeze *new
LOVE TAN | Brush Your Teeth | 6-song 7" | Sweet Rot *new
HOME BLITZ | Little League | Weird Wings 12" | Parts Unknown *new
FACTUMS | Fear of Terminology | A Primitive Future: Original Soundtrack | Assophon *new
SPIDER TRIO | B2 | Live at the Rendezvous | Assophon *new
PIGEONS | Malaise | Virgin Spectacle | Black Dirt *new
ROSEMARY KRUST | Ringtone Kitty | v/a: Ladyz in Noyz 3xCD | Spleencoffin *new
U.S. GIRLS | Buzz Chant | v/a: Ladyz in Noyz
STONE PILLOW | Earth's Crust | v/a: Ladyz in Noyz
SECRET ABUSE | I Stole a Gun That Sings With Joy | Bored Fortress Singles Club split 7" w/ Inca Ore | Not Not Fun *new
SECRET ABUSE | Rib of His God
WET HAIR | Magnetic Youth | Irifi CS | Night People *new
WET HAIR | Forever Young Ever One | one-sided LP | Night People *new
PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT | Bob Dylan's 42nd Annual Report | Magic Flowers Dubbed CS | Bumtapes *new
MUDBOY | Come Home | Mudmux vol 1 7" | DNT *new
JEX THOTH | When the Raven Calls [Bobb Trimble] | Jex Thoth | I Hate 2007 *request
SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES | Pointing Bone | Hyaena | Geffen 1984
PIERRE NORMAL | Orage | v/a: Festival der Genialen Dissidenten LP+7" | Enfant Terrible *new
SPRUNG AUS DEN VOLKEN | Begehre Dich | Faux Pas 1 | Klang Galerie *new (orig 1982)
ZOLA JESUS | The Way | Poor Sons 7" | Die Stasi *new
CRISPY AMBULANCE | United [Throbbing Gristle] | Fin | LTM Publishing 1985 *request

Tonight's featured background music was from a demo CDR that Sacto's rennaissance man Matt K. Shrugg was passing around a little bit last year. His name as a solo act is just now getting known outside of Sacramento (mostly to the TermBros) thanks to Tic Tac Totally's announcement of pre-order availability of his upcoming 7". But some of us locals have known about him for a long time. And it's not like we were keeping him a secret. HE was keeping himself a secret!

I was surprised to hear how far out his solo stuff gets. My impression of him had remained unchanged since the first time I saw him. He was maybe 15-16 years old, shakin' maraccas like a crazy man during a Troublemakers show at Old Ironsides. I was surprised someone so young got let into the bar, but I had no idea that his folks owned the place. This was my first 21+ show, I think. My first taste of garagepunk in its regular habitat...I was transfixed! Then I heard later he was in a bad called The Shruggs, and they were all nerdy about vintage Vox equipment, dressing up for shows, and cultivating shaggy hair. I thought it was maybe still a little ridiculous to base your entire set of musical ideals on the Back from the Grave series, but live, these bands ripped so hard, I could never hate on it.

Then, when Matt began the Zodiac Killers band practice commute, I thought...well, for a redundant band, they sure got a punkass monster of a drummer. I thought that was a big stylistic stretch for him. Then came Th'Losin' Streaks (a fantastic live band that gets taken for granted by far too many undie-pukers around here), and it made sense as the next logical progression for him. I figured he might be listening to some jazz drummers because of the impression I was getting from some of his more unexpected rolls and fills in the Streaks.

He stepped up front to sing and play guitar for The Black Dahlias who issued a solid single for Plastic Idol Records before breaking up over some kinda drama. A little too tentative the coupla times I saw 'em. Around this time, he also lent his bashin' drumskills to Sunshine Smile, who where something like Black Flag meets Blue Cheer, but with sweet fem vox by a woman who must've learned how to sing by warbling along to Misfits tapes as a girl.

Then came The Pizzas, and I was like, cool...really dig the songs! Some of them had begun as Black Dahlias songs, but as heard on the superb 7" from Daggerman early this year, they oozed a lot more snot and drove a lot harder than before. Just after the first Pizzas show, Matt slipped me that CDR which he wrote "Weird Shit" on...first 6-7 songs sounded like the Pizzas, but the next dozen or so were kinda all over the map. Some good psychedelic songs that still retained some catchiness and his signature drumming style, yet some of the songs were pretty free and wild and noisy, yet still very good. By then, he had been showing up unexpectedly to some weird shows, asking me what I'd been listening to, and Scott Soriano had also reported he'd been snooping around Time Tested Books asking for cues about what jazz to try next, and it finally started making sense.

And ever since Matt K. published his Swingin' Creeper zine as a youth, he has been a talented graphic artist, too. His cover for this upcoming 7" exemplifies that for sure. Bottom line...dude's awesome at whatever he tries.

Now you wanna order this, right? Hurry and go here...
http://www.tictactotally.com/releases?sku=TTT-017

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I pre-ordered that shit!!!

Anonymous said...

Yarrrrgh that United cover by Sic Alps is totally amazing...

Also, I think the Vivian Girls tune is actually 'tell the world', really really good stuff.

Keep up the good work Rick!

20JFG

Anonymous said...

MKS is a madman!!! I think the mothership landed him here on earth as an experiment.

Anonymous said...

Matt K is also in the amazing Ancient Sons, where he utilizes a whole different style of drumming than he is used to playing. They just received a Best New Artist Sammie this year along with Matt K being inducted into the Sammie Hall of Fame!
oh, yeah.............

Anonymous said...

my local music awards is a sham every year, but it's good to hear that sacto celebrates their best. rick, can you get me a job there? i need outta Denver.