Author Archives: othersideoflife

CROPPED OUT is a WEEK AWAY!

We’ve got one week until the first day of this year’s CROPPED OUT festival, beginning next Friday, September 28th (which, coincidentally, is my birthday!), so let’s take a look at this year’s lineup, schedule, and tomfoolery. Firstly, if you haven’t seen this preview video yet, what planet are you from? Well, you better get in your saucer and get here soon! Check it out:

The entire schedule, broken down by venue, is available here: http://croppedoutmusic.com/cropped-out-2012-schedule/. Let’s take a look at each day’s offerings, shall we? Our “picks to click” are in bold:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28th at the TURNERS CLUB —
Turner Tavern:
SHE MIGHT BITE, MICROWAVES, THE SEDIMENT CLUB, TWIN SISTER RADIO, TV GHOST, CHAIN & THE GANG
Scully Alley: DISCO DOOM, GANGLY YOUTH, BUCK GOOTER, LANTERN, EUGENE CHADBOURNE
Phreedom Hall: THE RITCHIE WHITE ORCHESTRA, JANDEK, STREET GNAR, SLUG GUTS

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29th at the TURNERS CLUB —
Turner Tavern:
BINARY MARKETING SHOW, CAVE BEARS, GRAY/ZERANG DUO, COOL MEMORIES, SHAVED WOMEN, DAVID LIEBE HART, R. STEVIE MOORE
Scully Alley: WET, KARK, GLOBSTERS, WHITE WALLS, NEW MOTHER NATURE, GUERILLA TOSS, NEIL HAMBURGER
Phreedom Hall: BLACK KASPAR, RAW THUG, CRYS, PC WORSHIP, MERCHANDISE, LIL B
Spooky Beach: ASHCAN ORCHESTRA

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29th at the WORKHORSE BALLROOM —
PAPA M, WOODEN WAND, JOZEF van WISSEM

Wait, you want more? Well, we’ve got more for ya! How about a DOWNLOADABLE MIX of lots of this year’s CROPPED OUT performers, put together by CROPPED OUT homie James Ardery? Sound good? Well here it is! And here’s the tracklist:

1. Jozef van Wissem, “Lux Divinitatis”
2. PC Worship, “Tides”
3. Wooden Wand, “Servant to Blues”
4. CRYS, “Pass on the Third”
5. Shaved Women, “Circles”
6. Eugene Chadbourne, “Wine Me Up”
7. Globsters, “Roll You Up and Smoke You”
8. White Walls, “The Milk of a Lonely Man”
9. Microwaves, “Hammerspace”
10. Lil B, “Still Cookin'”
11. Guerilla Toss, “Breeding Snakes 4 Variety”
12. Buck Gooter, “Consider the Grackles”
13. Merchandise, “Time”
14. Wet, “Wetter than Wet Pt. 2: Pink Pearl”
15. Gangly Youth, “Jangly Youth”
16. The Ritchie White Orchestra, “Matt Says 2”
17. Chain & The Gang, “If Only I Had Your Brain”
18. R. Stevie Moore, “Schoolgirl”
19. Lantern, “Dreammine”
20. The Phantom Family Halo, “Black and White Magic”

It’ll only be up for a limited time, so grab it like it’s hot. Yeah. And enjoy.

Of course, a wealth of information, including tickets, is available at www.croppedoutmusic.com. Don’t miss what promises to be an awesome weekend! And we’ll see you there, by some bonfire, tellin’ jokes or something…

UPDATE, 9/27/2012: CROPPED OUT IS A DAY AWAY!

Some lineup changes to note: DAHM is unfortunately sick, so he will be missing this year’s CROPPED OUT. Get well, Dahm!

In his place are not one but two doozies: 90’s power-violence pioneers SUPPRESSION (from Roanoke, VA) and FAT HISTORY MONTH (from Boston, MA; on Sophomore Lounge).

Lots of food trucks and vendors and whatnot will be there too, so don’t forget the tomfoolery!

São Paulo Underground Tomorrow at Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft

LEO Weekly ran my preview today of tomorrow’s upcoming São Paulo Underground concert at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft (scroll down to Thursday’s entry):

Thursday, Sept. 13
São Paulo Underground
Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
715 W. Main St.
kentuckyarts.org
$5-$10, 8:30 p.m.

Living in Chicago in the 1990s, it was nearly impossible to miss trumpeter/cornetist Rob Mazurek’s many projects. Whether he was gigging with Tortoise, workshopping at the Green Mill, or playing with drummer Chad Taylor in Chicago Underground Duo, Mazurek’s signature style (reminiscent of Dark Magus-era Miles Davis) was inescapable. After adding electronics to the mix, Mazurek’s sound got even bolder, charting a new course that wasn’t quite jazz in the traditional sense but was exciting in its boundary-crossing openness. After moving to Brazil, he started São Paulo Underground with Mauricio Takara (drums, percussion, cavaquinho, electronics), then enlisted Guilherme Granado (keyboards, electronics, samplers) and Richard Ribeiro (drums). The result is a smoothly rendered Brazilian/American melodic hybrid, held together by a fluid rhythmic sensibility. This rare performance — part of KMAC’s “Storytelling As Craft” exhibit — should not be missed. —Joel Hunt

I actually will miss the concert, due to work. Don’t be as unlucky as me. Read more about São Paulo Underground, and listen to a killer track, here: http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/saopaulo.html.

R.I.P. Byard Lancaster and Tom Bruno

Inexplicably, the music world lost two great jazz musicians yesterday. Byard Lancaster, a multi-reedist — who would be revered if the only cool thing he did was appear on Sunny Murray‘s self-titled ESP-Disk album, but managed to also lead and collaborate on some great titles including his own It’s Not Up to Us — died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 70.

Additionally, Tom Bruno, a drummer best known for his work in the quartet Test with Matthew Heyner, Sabir Mateen, and Daniel Carter, died yesterday.


(Photograph of Test by Michael Galinsky — from left to right: Daniel Carter, Tom Bruno, Matthew Heyner, Sabir Mateen.)

They will both be missed.

Jason Noble, R.I.P.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jasonnoble

The Louisville musician, artist, collaborator, and all-around fantastic human being Jason Noble died today. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family.

UPDATE, 8/5/2012: A number of tributes and obituaries for Jason have been appearing across Facebook and in other parts of the internet. One of the most moving ones we’ve read is by Louisvillian Syd Bishop, over at the Never Nervous blog. Thanks, Syd.

Official obituaries have been published by Billboard and Pitchfork. A number of YouTube clips from Jason’s various musical projects over the years are available at each.

Also, the web site actualblood.com compiles a number of Jason’s works. And a few of Jason’s columns for LEO Weekly are available at http://publicnoise.blogspot.com.

CROPPED OUT 2012 ANNOUNCED!

Hey people! Most everybody’s favorite completely-DIY, underground-ish music festival for Louisville’s weirdos is back and… hey… wait a minute… DOES THAT SAY JANDEK IS PLAYING IN LOUISVILLE?!? HOLY SHIT!!!

SEPTEMBER 28-30, 2012 IN LOUISVILLE, KY, USA.

You read it right, folks! The time is yet again upon us. Cropped Out’s annual extravaganza is back for 2012. This Fall (September 28th-29th), we will be taking over the American Turners Club — our home for year one, as a few (literally, a few) of you might remember. Last year at the Crummy Den was not only a blast but also a milestone for us as an organization. However, as fun as it was watching Scratch Acid play in a crowded warehouse shortly after cops accosted them at gunpoint, having mistaken them as armed robbers, we decided it was time to take our festival back to more…”welcoming” grounds of operation.

As always, we’ve carefully chosen a solid stash of local, national, and international performing artists to spotlight in our hometown of Louisville, KY. There will also be a familiar face or two from festivals past, along with the usual “tricks up our sleeve.”FRIDAY + SATURDAY: Our third year kicks off at over 30 bands spread across 3 days (two main days with an unforgettable closing party on Sunday, 9/30). A short list of attractions lined up for Friday (9/28) and Saturday (9/29) include the proto-doo-wop sass of Chain & The Gang led by DC legend Ian Svenonius (The Make-Up/Nation of Ulysses), a very rare performance from elusive Texan blues/folk outsider Jandek, the silky lo-fi New Wave croon of Tampa, Florida’s Merchandise (ft. members of the late great Cult Ritual), the bitingly sour, self-deprecrating social stabs of “World’s Funnyman” Neil Hamburger, live music by David Liebe Hart of Adult Swim’s “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job,” and as always, plenty of organically grown, freshly picked, fairly traded locals like Twin Sister Radio, Gangly Youth, and Kark, just to name a few…
FEATURING PERFORMANCES BY:
Ashcan Orchestra (Brooklyn, NY)
Binary Marketing Show (Little Rock, AR)
Buck Gooter (Harrisonburg, VA)
Black Kaspar (Louisville, KY)
Cave Bears (Providence, RI)
Chain & The Gang (Washington, DC)
Cool Memories (Chicago, IL)
Crys (Indianapolis, IN)
Dahm of Phantom Family Halo (Brooklyn, NY)
David Liebe Hart Band (Los Angeles, CA)
Disco Doom (Zurich, Switzerland)
Eugene Chadbourne (Greensboro, NC)
Gangly Youth (Louisville, KY)
Globsters (Hazard, KY)
Guerilla Toss (Boston, MA)
Jandek (Houston, TX)
Kark (Louisville, KY)
Lantern (Philadelphia, PA)
Merchandise (Tampa, FL)
Michael Zerang/Darin Gray Duo (Chicago, IL/St. Louis, MO)
Microwaves (Pittsburgh, PA)
Neil Hamburger (Los Angeles, CA)
PC Worship (Brooklyn, NY)
R. Stevie Moore (Nashville, TN)
The Ritchie White Orchestra (Louisville, KY)
The Sediment Club (Brooklyn, NY)
Shaved Women (St. Louis, MO)
Slug Guts (Brisbane, Australia)
Street Gnar (Lexington, KY)
TV Ghost (Lafayette, IN)
White Walls (Cincinnati, OH)
& others to be announced!
FIND OUT MORE: Stay tuned for all sorts of exciting updates to come at http://croppedoutmusic.com/.

Holy CRAP! I could not possibly be any more excited! Never in my life did I think I’d get to see THE REPRESENTATIVE FROM CORWOOD in my hometown, on my birthday weekend to boot! The rest of the artists and bands booked, at least the ones we know, are pretty awesome in their own right, too. And with lots of names I haven’t heard of, it’ll be another great opportunity to hear some new sounds as well.

Last-Minute Show TONIGHT: JASON AJEMIAN and the HIGH LIFE at the Nach Bar, 10 PM, FREE!

JASON AJEMIAN and THE HIGH LIFE play at the Nach Bar in Germantown tonight. What are they like? Well, check out their site for some free tunes, and this description:

Formed at the Harold Arts Residency in Ohio, Jason Ajemian pulls all of his previous conceptual musics together under a solid roof with the HighLife.
Ajemian creates scores for the band in the architectural drafting program AutoCAD.  Titled Motion Maps, these scores guide the musicians through spaces and hallways of musical structures. His blueprints dictate the flow and motion of a musical set, opening the performers up to visual and descriptive influences, while leading them through a diverse musical landscape consisting of Ajemian’s orchestrated poems, American folk forms, Native American chants, Canadian sea shanties, Orbison, jazz expressive motion and balladry — all filtered through the creative/improvised process in a unique communication of the moment.

There’s a Facebook invite here, too: http://www.facebook.com/events/366962806710107/. Did I mention it’s FREE?

A BENEFIT FOR TOM CARTER with SAPAT, TROPICAL TRASH, SHEDDING, and KEENAN LAWLER at Zanzabar, Thursday, August 16th

Cropped Out and The Other Side of Life are proud to present:

A BENEFIT FOR TOM CARTER


(photo of Tom Carter by Stephan Laackman)

with

SAPAT (on Siltbreeze; from Louisville, KY)
TROPICAL TRASH (Louisville, KY; on Loin Seepage/Sophomore Lounge)
SHEDDING (from Louisville, Kentucky)
R. KEENAN LAWLER (from Louisville, Kentucky)

Thursday, August 16th
at ZANZABAR
2100 S. Preston
9 PM, 21-and-over
$5 entry fee; additional donations encouraged
100% of all proceeds will be donated to The Robert Thomas Carter Irrevocable Trust.

ABOUT TOM CARTER:

While on a tour of Europe this spring with his band Charalambides, the Brooklyn based guitarist Tom Carter was hospitalized in Berlin, Germany for serious complications of pneumonia. In mid-July, Tom was transferred to a medical rehabilitation facility in Germany, near the Baltic Sea. Tom will receive medical care, monitoring and physical rehabilitation at the facility until the end of July. His doctors are also recommending that Tom not return to employment and normal levels of pre-illness activity until January 2013. This recommendation will be periodically reevaluated, but it seems to fall in line with common recovery projections for people who have experienced pneumonia at this level of seriousness. It is still unknown whether Tom will be able to return to New York immediately after the rehabilitation, or if it will be necessary for him to, instead, reside elsewhere with his family for a time. Although his condition continues to improve, Tom is still weak and his condition must come closer to what his normal baseline health will be, in order for doctors to assess what type of further treatment he will need in the US. It does seem to be certain that Tom will require follow up care once back in the States.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE:

Tom Carter is a tremendous musician, and a caring, compassionate individual who will need long-term help to recover from his illness. Cropped Out, The Other Side of Life, and the musicians playing the benefit are joining forces with a number of promoters, musicians, and concerned friends of Tom all across the South to curate benefit shows during the middle of August. This unique situation of multiple forces across an entire region presents a rare opportunity to help a friend who has given us so much over the years — his music, friendship, and encouragement.


(Photo of Sapat by Ginger Goss, from Loin Seepage.)

Spawned from the formidable Louisville, KY collective known as Black Velvet Fuckere, SAPAT resides as the centrifugal force in this Midwestern psychedelic madrigal set in the psychosexual backwaters of the mighty Ohio River. For the entirety of the ‘00 decade, members have kept busy collaborating with and/or massaging the egos of various and sundry avant-pontiffs such as Robert Fripp, Magik Markers, Dead Child and Eugene Chadbourne – when not honing the orgone energy of SAPAT.

TROPICAL TRASH have caused quite a stir with their new 7″, Fear of Suffering, on Sophomore Lounge. Still Single describes TROPICAL TRASH as an “Excellent combination of thrashing energy and solid ideas that break apart and recombine in novel, tuneful ways.” They’re just as thrilling live as on record, so don’t miss this opportunity to rock out with ’em!

SHEDDING has been a solo vehicle for Connor Bell since 2001, and has released several items over those years available at Ocio and Hometapes. SHEDDING‘s music is meditative and still, eerie and unsettling — yet with a spectacular sense of melody.

R. KEENAN LAWLER is a musician and sound artist based in Louisville Kentucky. For over 25 years his musical journey has taken him from early experiments with reverb tanks, noise and tape decks to all manner of avant-garde, “new” music, psychedelia, electro-acoustic, drone, ethnic and sampler-based work. LAWLER is best known for developing a highly personal and exploratory language for the metal bodied resonator guitar which Baltimore’s John Berdnt called “Cosmic, monolithic and deeply American.” Primarily a solo performer, he is also known for collaborative work. His guitar playing is also heard on releases by Paul K., Jack Wright, My Morning Jacket and on Matmos’ The Civil War. He has collaborated or performed with a wide range of forward-thinking musicians and mavericks including Rhys Chatham, John Butcher, Eliott Sharp, Charalambides, Ignaz Schick/Perlonex, Kaffe Matthews, Burning Star Core, Jason Kahn, Ut Gret, Thaniel Ion Lee, Ed Wilcox, Ramesh Srinivasan, Kevin Drumm, Arco Flute Foundation, Helena Espvall, Ian Nagoski, Connor Bell, Andy Willis, Alan Licht, Taksuya Nakatani, Tom Carter, Bhob Rainey, Aaron Rosenblum, Joe Dutkiewicz, Evergreen, Eric Carbonara and Joseph Suchy.

Check out helptomcarter.org to see other ways that you can help contribute to Tom’s recovery!

Find the Facebook invite here: http://www.facebook.com/events/428050753912799.

To join our email list, send an email to hstencil@gmail.com. You can also join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/232825523444477/.

UPDATE, 8/17/2012: Hey Louisville! We raised $475 last night to benefit Tom Carter and help with his recuperation from pneumonia. Thanks again to everyone who attended, played, or otherwise helped with the benefit, and thanks again to Zanzabar for hosting it.

R.I.P. İlhan Mimaroğlu

One of our favorite composers, İlhan Mimaroğlu, died yesterday at the age of 86. His Wikipedia page offers a short biography:

He was born in Istanbul, Turkey, the son of the famous architect Mimar Kemaleddin Bey depicted on the Turkish lira banknotes, denomination 20 lira, of the 2009 E-9 emission. He graduated from Galatasaray High School in 1945 and the Ankara Law School in 1949. He went to study in New York supported by a Rockefeller Scholarship. He studied musicology at Columbia University under Paul Henry Lang and composition under Douglas Moore.

During the 1960s he studied in the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Center under Vladimir Ussachevsky and on occasions worked with Edgard Varèse and Stefan Wolpe. He is an electronic music composer, and also was the producer for Charles MingusChanges One and Changes Two, as well as Federico Fellini‘s Satyricon. He was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition in 1971.

He worked as a producer for Atlantic Records, and created his own record label there, Finnadar Records,and collaborated with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard on a moving anti-war statement, Sing Me a Song of Songmy in the same year.

His notable students included Ingram Marshall.

In tribute to him, we’re making a few of his albums available for download.


İlhan Mimaroğlu & Freddie Hubbard, Sing Me a Song of Songmy, a Fantasy for Electromagnetic Tape (Atlantic, 1971)


Outstanding Warrants
(Southport, 2001)

Missing Pieces (Earlabs, 2003)

SAPAT, BLUES CONTROL, PARLOUR, and WET at the CATHOUSE, Thursday, July 26th


(Flier by Ryan Davis.)

Black Velvet Fuckere, Cropped Out, and The Other Side of Life are proud to present:

SAPAT (on Siltbreeze; from Louisville, KY)
BLUES CONTROL (on Drag City; from Coopersburg, PA)
PARLOUR (on Temporary Residence; from Louisville, KY)
WET (from Louisville, KY)

Thursday, July 26th 2012
at The Cathouse
747 S. Preston
All Ages! Doors at 8 PM, $5


(Photo of Sapat by Ginger Goss, from Loin Seepage.)

Spawned from the formidable Louisville, KY collective known as Black Velvet Fuckere, SAPAT resides as the centrifugal force in this Midwestern psychedelic madrigal set in the psychosexual backwaters of the mighty Ohio River. For the entirety of the ‘00 decade, members have kept busy collaborating with and/or massaging the egos of various and sundry avant-pontiffs such as Robert Fripp, Magik Markers, Dead Child and Eugene Chadbourne – when not honing the orgone energy of SAPAT.

Don’t lose control — dig BLUES CONTROL! Following a circular path in order to access the unknown, Russ and Lea nab chaos in a plastic cup and crush rock into diamonds, or something that looks like them anyway. Valley ho! Their new record, Valley Tangents, “is like drugs for your ears.”

Watch the video for BLUES CONTROL‘s “Love’s a Rondo” here: http://youtu.be/BlUyUvSaZKo.

PARLOUR originally began as a solo project from Tim Furnish following the mid-90s dissolution of CRAIN – the seminal Louisville rock group he co-founded in the late ’80s. Currently playing with new drummer (Greg Morris) and synth player (Brian Sweeney), Furnish’s PARLOUR evokes “A unique combination of interweaving guitar shards… driven by a dark, relentless rhythm section.” Their most recent album, Simulacrenfield (released on Temporary Residence), was one of our favorites of 2010.

WET is an electronic outfit comprised of three Louisville high schoolers (Hank Paradis, Evan Booker, and Jeff Bryant) who began playing in 2010. Together the group uses an array of electronic, acoustic, and self-made instruments to find humor in their common fears as young people — fears of excessiveness, ignorance, and estrangement that perhaps cannot be destroyed, but absorbed and released again in a series of musical elations. WET’s full-length debut Wetter Than Wet is now available for free download at: http://thewet.bandcamp.com/album/wetter-than-wet.

Find the Facebook invite here: http://www.facebook.com/events/121230094685490.

To join our email list, send an email to hstencil@gmail.com. You can also join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/232825523444477/.

UPDATE, 7/25/12: Read this great interview with BLUES CONTROL in today’s LEO Weekly:http://leoweekly.com/music/spiritual-station-blues-control.

PUJOL, ANIMAL CITY, and MOTE at ZANZABAR, Friday, June 29th

Cropped Out and The Other Side of Life are proud to present:

PUJOL (from Nashville, on Saddle Creek/Infinity Cat/Third Man, etc.)
ANIMAL CITY (from Chicago, on Sophomore Lounge)
MOTE (from Louisville)

Friday, June 29th
at ZANZABAR
2100 S. Preston
9 PM doors, $5, 21-and-over

PUJOL’s new album United States of Being was released on June 5th.  PUJOL formed in 2009 as a last ditch effort to appease the Sarlacc Pit of Life with adeptly crafted songs based firmly in meaningful lyrical content. It’s these motives and songs that have taken PUJOL from the basements of Middle Tennessee to stages across the country and have garnered notice from more than just those with their ear to the ground. Following a plethora of singles and cassettes, PUJOL finally has an official debut full-length ready for unveiling. United States of Being continues on with PUJOL’s doctrine of trying hard everyday and ventures lyrically to a place that most contemporaries fail to reach. Addressing the current status of twenty-somethings in America’s present and capturing their shared dispositions, the album throws the brakes on “catharsis,” and begs the listener to decide for themselves how to answer the robot’s last question, “What is love?” With riff-oriented guitar playing reminiscent of greats like The Replacements and Beetlejuice-esque earworms, PUJOL now sits atop the fringes of the rock and roll and DIY vernacular.

ANIMAL CITY is finally a full band. After adding two of the funniest Jewish cousins that the music world has had to deal with, the longtime two-piece is an upbeat and funky version of itself, without ever abandoning its long-loved, lo-fi aesthetic. New adaptations of older songs make the old songs seem new and the new songs sound newer (because they are newer, duh). Transcending film, music, and social-chameleonism, the prolific four-piece is starting a creative parade on the streets of ANIMAL CITY. Won’t you join them?

MOTE are a rather mysterious, relatively new, totally rockin’ new band from Louisville. What more do you need to know?

CHECK IT OUT: Our friends at Backseat Sandbar are giving away tickets + merch for the show, but ya gotta get in by tomorrow, June 27th! Click here for details: http://backseatsandbar.com/2012/06/25/win-tix-media-bundle-pujol-animal-city-mote-zanzabar-629/.

And of course, here’s the Facebook invite: http://www.facebook.com/events/212685365519622.

To join our email list, send an email to hstencil@gmail.com. You can also join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/232825523444477/.