#doug shaw

[musickickztoo]

RIP Doug Shaw

[dustedmagazine]

Weak Signal — Fine (12XU)

Weak Signal has been my pick for “best rock band you never heard of” for a few years now, and this fourth full-length only strengthens the argument. It pulls their clanking, grinding VU-ish drone in new and intriguing directions—an acoustic blues folk a la Aquarian Blood, a guitar-heavy clangor akin to Crazy Horse—without sacrificing any core competencies. It adds some guests, including Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, Doug Shaw of Gang Gang Dance and Cass McCombs, without diluting the locked in synchrony of its three founding members.

To review, Weak Signal is a three-piece led by Mike Bones who is linked to some cool NYC noises via an association with Endless Boogie and a stint with Soldiers of Fortune (Kid Millions is also a member). Sasha Vine plays mostly bass, but also a little violin and sings. Tran, the drummer, also sings. They’ve been a band for about seven years, and Dusted has favorably reviewed two of the three previous albums, 2021’s Bianca and 2022’s War on War.  

Fine is an advance for Weak Signal but not a shock. Though most of its songs sound very much in line with previous albums, it diverges in some fruitful ways. Both “Out on a Wire,” and “Baby” begin in a frenzy of feedback and improvisation, beginning side one and side two of the vinyl edition in exhilarating freefall.

“Out on a Wire” coalesces eventually into Weak Signal’s trademark vamp, a dissolute cousin to “Peter Gunn” that slinks and struts and smirks and all but has a lit cigarette dangling from the corner of its mouth. And yet, it’s pure rock and roll, this cadence, full of menace but also vibrating with heart and vulnerability, talk-sung with bracing cynicism but sweetened by boy-girl harmonies.

“Baby” is more of a surprise, because once the din lets up, a softer aesthetic emerges in jangling folk acoustic chords and soft lyricism. It’s an appealing shift, and it continues through “Terá Tera,” a fragile, pretty but deeply felt cut that puts me in mind of other unplugged psychedelic garage rockers: Aquarian Blood, The Duchess and the Duke and the Gris Gris’ Greg Ashley’s solo work.

The best cut, though, is “Wannabe,” a blown-out guitar-psych tune with shades of ragged glory. That’s the one where Cass McCombs guests, and if it’s him letting the long notes fly at the beginning, they should consider offering him a full-time gig. If Weak Signal’s songs have had a flaw up to now, it’s been a certain dank claustrophobia. This cut blows the doors down and lets some light in.

Weak Signal entertainingly imagines life as a Brian Jones-style figure in “Rich Junkie,” tapping into a pre-digital fantasy of rock ‘n roll excess (and financial rewards). Though spiritually part of a strung-out but brilliant lineage, Fine will likely never buy a mountain villa for anyone involved. It’s just another good one from a band you ought to know but probably don’t. Why not fix that right now? You owe it to yourself.

Jennifer Kelly

[dustedmagazine]

Geologist and DS — A Shaw Deal (Drag City)

Brian Weitz (aka Geologist) is a sound sculptor, not a traditional musician. His tools are synthesizers and samplers, which he uses to mine others’ music to create unique soundscapes from the raw ore. On stage with his band Animal Collective, he is seen hunched over a myriad of electronic gear, wearing a headlamp to see, assembling a glorious cacophony in real time from his bandmates’ elemental emanations. Weitz is the unheralded conductor of that mutant orchestra, taming the energy of the group into something coherent for the listener to digest.

On A Shaw Deal, Geologist ventures away from the Animal Collective pack, finding his muse in the guitar playing of longtime friend Doug Shaw (White Magic). Shaw’s string sound stems become resonant fodder for Weitz’s electronics rig to digest.  Unlike Four Tet and Boards of Canada, who use guitar sounds in service of languid, beat-driven electronic music, Geologist weaves Shaw’s guitar into dense, droning electroacoustic compositions that resemble sparkling slurries of tone.

The two musicians, who have known each other for decades, are collaborators even though they operated independently. Shaw posted his music publicly to Instagram, and Weitz downloaded the sounds, slowly working them into songs. Geologist’s surreptitious mangling of Shaw’s guitar highlights a subconscious bond between the two. A Shaw Deal is a work borne of the love between friends. The guitarist’s music seeped into the crevices in Weitz’s grey matter, sparking the creative impulse in him and driving him to experiment.

Each of the album’s seven tracks bears a distinct emotional hue, ranging from dense clusters of electronic fireworks to dark, brooding washes of greasy tone. Weitz allows each piece to flow into the next, creating a harmonious blending of psychic energies. A sped-up gamelan orchestra washes against the rusted husk of a floating barge as the effervescent “Route 9 Falls” segues into the spooky “Wit of the Watermen.” The former welds dense drones to sprightly strings, while the latter is replete with jump scares and uncanny echoes. Elements from each permeate the entirety of A Shaw Deal, which plays out like Altman’s Short Cuts and its intertwining narratives.

Later tracks “Petticoat” and “Knuckles to Nostrils” have distinct shapes, as Weitz reveals the miniature stories that comprise the overarching dramatic logic of Shaw’s playing. The concept of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts plays out here in multiple ways. The team of Weitz and Shaw have a camaraderie and collaborative spirit that shine through in these recordings, and the individual tracks taken together reveal multiple facets of the pair’s friendship. Working apart, but spiritually together, these two reflect platonic love in musical form.

Bryon Hayes

[anco-pics]

[joeygallagher]

Mira Billotte and Doug Shaw backstage at The Luminaire, London (2008)

Sad to hear the news, Doug was always a good dude to hang with and I was lucky enough to run into him in London, NYC and Los Angeles. Rest easy Doug 🕊

[shiningother]

[arte-factos]

Steve Gunn na Galeria Zé dos Bois (31/05/2016) Enquanto o Presidente da República andou de visita pela Alemanha a dar música aos políticos alemães, Steve Gunn, guitarrista (ou explorador da guitarra, se se preferir) norte-americano com curta carreira mas prolífera obra, esteve de visita a Portugal nos últimos dias.

[dibbly]

I love me some Doug Shaw and in this video he covers, or really reimagines, the classic reggae song Oh Cherry Baby by Eric Donaldson.  This is fantastic.