I've been calling the action of men letting their wives carry kids + bags while they do nothing "garfunkeling", which is a term coined by Pat Finnerty in his little stinkers about locash (formerly locash cowboys) wherein one man of a duo does nothing but sing while the other plays the guitar and sings back up. It feels like such a perfect way to describe one half of a partnership who does much less than the other half. As a word, it has similar vibes to 'befuddled' or 'buffon' and other such silly yet negative words that really nails how dumb and disrespectful men who make their wives do everything are.
Walnut Brain is a Philadelphia noise/experimental duo made up of electric guitarist Steve Heise and diddley bow player Alina Josan. Their first full-length, Weird Wire, came out earlier this year on Petty Bunco records, full of jangling half-percussive, half-melodic metallic string vibrations that sounded like blues from outer space. In her review, Jennifer Kelly wrote, “The sounds that Heise and Josan make are far removed from the Delta tradition, consisting largely of staccato banging on strings, a rain of notes from both instruments that morphs and changes in the air, finding strange harmonies, dissonances and complementarities on the fly.” Here's what's in heavy rotation for them right now.
France — Destino Scifosi
We have been playing this one on repeat for many months. A live recording from the masters of the one chord jam with plenty of hurdy-gurdy screeching and shredding. The bass player and drummer show tremendous restraint and never stray from their initial simple groove.
Didona — PIZMA
This is a great Romanian noise pop group that sometimes reminds us of Fugazi in the best possible way. The cassette label it's released on, Beach Buddies, is putting out some really interesting and challenging music from Eastern Europe and beyond.
Nowhere Flower — Heat Dome
Really cool murky songs with distorted drum machines and twangy guitars. The lyrics are pretty much indecipherable which is how we prefer them.
De Vlaamse Primitieven — Lucht Van Een Andere Planeet
You can tell these guys are really good musicians. But they don't overplay. Instead, they use simple riffs and repetition to create these great hypnotic acoustic pieces.
Group Inerane — Marhajan Bianou
Many years ago, I (Steve) obsessed over live videos of Group Inerane on YouTube. Then a few months ago out of nowhere Sublime Frequencies released this album of live recordings from some of those very same live shows. Some of the best guitar rock jams out there.
Bohannon — Disco Stomp
A perfect song that's somehow both mellow and a foot stomper. We listened to it a lot this year. Heey, Philadelphia!
David Nance and Simon Joyner — Bedspring Symphony
David Nance has made a ton of great music since this one but it's hitting the spot these days. Originally released under a different name; one look at the art and you'll figure out what that was. Some of it sounds like soulful singing from the bottom of a well, some of it like raucous one-take rockers: perfect. Really looking forward to the return of his Astute Palate.
Marlen Haushofer — The Wall
This is a novel that we both read in turn this year and loved. Survival in the post cataclysm world while getting to better understand animals is going to be bittersweet.
Lale Westvind — Void Packer
Lale's phenomenal Grip is still one of the best comics I've ever laid eyes on along with her many others. Those beautiful drawings and stories have real power, electricity and humor. It's been a treat to wait for issues of Void Packer (what a great name!), now four in number, and see the main story take shape along with shorter ones that are dystopian and hopeful in turn.
Pat Finnerty — What Makes This Song Stink
Pat Finnerty videos are evergreen for us. We've watched each video many, many times. Pat is doing the real work of dissecting the worst music out there. We eagerly await the next episode.
I am watching the newest Pat Finnerty (how's it goin) video on the fucking lonely road song by mgk and 8 other songwriters and the music video is fucking bad.
In one scene one of the singers and their girlfriend or whatever are receiving a diagnosis for infertility with a closeup shot of the report.
When I saw that I was like "hold up. That slip of paper looks familiar". Then I realized that they did not bother to design a fake diagnosis report or ask a doctor to give them a blank one but instead they printed out the first page of the paper "Infertility Diagnosis and Management" because it has "Infertility Diagnosis" in big bold letters??????????????????
Ah yes I love it to when my medical report has a written abstract and a DOI and is also published in the Beni-Suef University Journal of Applied Science????????????????????
Twas the night before Halloween, when all through the studio
Not a note was stirring, not even a banjo
Until a moment where guitars and drums were ringing
It was the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with Pat Finnerty singing
A truce jam was heard throughout the room
When all of a sudden when the lights went out, followed with a boom
There lies Pat Finnerty, laying down with his Soul Squire
Natural causes? Rick Rubin hypothesized gunfire
With only the band and the FD remaining on their Instagram feed
The watchers must question if one of them is the killer indeed
As a very rushed halloween thing here's a mystery for you to solve, Use you midi investagive tools to figure out who shot the Pat. A raw midi is provided here, for you to download and find out who is the killer??? Who knows...there MAY be a prize tomorrow :)
