Friday, Oct. 19 Sic Alps
Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
715 W. Main St. kentuckyarts.org $6-$8; 8 p.m.
Sic Alps have a not-unpleasant tendency to sound like scraps of an overheard conversation interrupted by a 10-car pileup. To perhaps understand the stops and starts, the utterly lo-fi, heavily fragmented style, know that frontman (and only constant) Mike Donovan drives a cab in San Francisco when he’s not touring. On their new album, the new lineup ditches noisy home recording techniques in favor of a clear, crisp style (including some string arrangements), and the result is like graduating from The Crying of Lot 49 to Gravity’s Rainbow. While former versions have been mystifying, enjoyable and unique, this new recorded version is more cohesive, expansive and epic — without being yawnsome “epic rock.” However, expect a white-hot live performance — their set at the 2010 Cropped Out festival was one of the more blazing moments. —Joel Hunt
Not sure why mention of Lexington’s excellent CROSS was excised, but they’ll be opening the show. Their new album, Die Forever, is now available from Sophomore Lounge.
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:
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!
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 SAYJANDEK 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!
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.
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.”
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.
Tuesday, April 3rd
at ZANZABAR
2100 S. Preston
8 PM Doors, $8, 21-and-over
(Photo of The Phantom Family Halo by David S. Rubin)
Since their relocation to Brooklyn, THE PHANTOM FAMILY HALO have announced the release of two recordsin 2012 on Knitting Factory Records – a “dark” and a “light” album. When I Fall Out is the first of the releases, issued on February 14, 2012. The second of the albums will be released in the fall of 2012. THE PHANTOM FAMILY HALO has shared stages and/or toured with Slint, The For Carnation, Guru Guru, Hawkwind. Black Angels, Black Mountain, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and Roky Erickson, and are about to commence on a tour with Acid Mothers Temple. Read an interview with THE PHANTOM FAMILY HALO here: http://leoweekly.com/music/phantom-family-halo%E2%80%99s-future-now.
BALACLAVAS are from Houston, Texas where everything is eternally blistered, chemically altered, and forlorn. They are a band in the realest sense — they come on like a gang, play with one mind, hunt in one pack, party and fight together in a flat wild nowhere. Unlike the common livestock being unloaded into music, this is a band of predators. Perpetual outsiders; there will always be a wrong side of the tracks and they’ll always be from it. Ennio Morricone and scratchy noise guitars on storm-dub rhythms like if the heaviest incarnation of 1970s Pink Floyd were a future punk band invested by Jodorowsky to score Dune. You can hear storms approaching and sandworms underfoot. It’s an evil dance they’re bringing.
(Alcohol Party photograph by Bryan Volz)
Conjuring an intense, claustrophobic ‘more is less’ framework where every moment is scarred with pummeling bass, jagged guitar and ADHD drumming, ALCOHOL PARTY is a three-headed noise rock project from Louisville, Kentucky.
Saturday, March 31st
at ZANZABAR
2100 S. Preston
9 PM, 21 and over, $6
(Photo of The Ladybirds by Eddie Dant)
THE LADYBIRDS masterfully balance a mean juggling act. The Louisville, KY-based five-piece -Jaxon Swain, Max Balliet, Anthony Fossaluzza, Brett Holsclaw, and Sarah Teeple, articulately summons greasy garage rock and lush Spector pop sans kitsch or tribute act fluff. Their main influences are the years 1954 to 1973, when it was just about fun and swingin’ grooves, not the droll, heavy-handed, over-serious approach to songwriting oft employed in the contemporary American underground. Their 2007 debut, Whiskey & Wine, was well received in the region, and saw the group sharing the stage with the likes of Wanda Jackson, Dex Romweber Duo, Heavy Trash, The Greenhornes, and many more. The Ladybirds’ sophomore album, Shimmy Shimmy Dang, as demonstrated in the title, is truth in advertising. Flavors of surf, rockabilly, doo wop, and dusty retro bubblegum pop all take a front seat. Yet, as Jaxon explains “we’re all punk rockers in the end.” And that’s what separates THE LADYBIRDS from a simple nostalgia offering – modern and original twists on familiar sounds, influence by the genres the band describes as “rock at its most authentic.”
Summer 2009 Wez ate brownies had a vision. He told big black Zack and called Seth 3 times. They started the Nashville-based three piece rock band called NATURAL CHILD. Maybe known as much for their incessant rambling on-stage banter as their unprecedented pure rock sound, NATURAL CHILD are often described as “the greatest rock n’ roll band in the world”, a title which the trio has worked mercilessly hard to gain… and they have the balls to show for it. NATURAL CHILD want to play in Jamaica and want to play at the pyramids. They have a plan that involves Jack White to befriend Keith Richards and be the opening act on Rolling Stones farewell tour, thus having “the greatest rock n’ roll band in the world” torch officially passed on to them. Not Jack White. These guys love to party. And they love to ride in that van. Oh man.
Watch NATURAL CHILD cover “Born to Be Wild” in Louisville here:
Cropped Out and The Other Side of Life present:
The Distonal.Com Launch Party with…
PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT (Columbus, OH; on Fat Cat Records) NATIVES (Louisville, KY; on Rad Tantrum) WET HAIR(Iowa City, IA; on Night-People/De Stijl) TROPICAL TRASH(Louisville, KY; on Loin Seepage/Sophomore Lounge)
Tuesday, March 6th
at HARLEY’S MAIN STREET TAVERN 122 W. Main (between 1st and 2nd Streets)
8 PM, $6, 21 and over.
This is the launch party for a new Louisville-based web publication called Distonal (from the creative forces that brought you the recently retired Decibel Tolls). In the words of the head honcho himself, Michael Powell:
Distonal is an online magazine spread across an anchored open source WordPress home and an accompanying Tumblr that will cover… well, whatever I feel like writing about. It’s the opposite of The Decibel Tolls in that regard, and it’s hard to say what will end up there, which excites me. The thread that binds everything, though, will be thoughtful and attitude-laden writing from myself and others (to be announced) that reaches toward broader universal topics, as well as articles that retain a strong commitment to the happenings of my native Louisville. I’ll still be reviewing records and photographing shows, but I may also drop some secret Bloggins curry recipes, March Madness picks, gastropub critiques, absurd manifestos, and my thoughts on the body politic. Distonal promises to be fluid and freeform, while brandishing a distinct voice all the while. It should go live sometime in late February, or early March at the latest. It’ll be a fun ride, and I hope you’ll follow me over there.
Holy smokes, folks! Time flies when you’re… working, eating, L-I-V-I-N’ in the Louisville these days. CROPPED OUT is nearly upon us! That means what will be Louisville’s best weekend of music (like you thought I was gonna say “Forecastle?”) is just a week away! (You can read our previous preview here: https://othersideoflife.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/cropped-out-is-coming-up/.)
There is some slightly bummer news as we hear that Detroit garage weirdos HUMAN EYE had to cancel (thankfully for us that means there will be no weird stains on our living room rug). But hey, there’s still lots more musical excitement for your listening pleasure. Here’s the whole lineup (our “picks to click” a la Hawk Harrelson in bold):
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11th — MV + EE, DOPE BODY, SUN ARAW, SAVAGES, MOUNT CARMEL, NATIVES, CHRISTMAS BRIDE, ANWAR SADAT, COUGH COOL, SHIT & SHINE, SHEDDING, ALCOHOL PARTY, AXEL COOPER, LEARNER DANCER
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12th — BILL ORCUTT, GUARDIAN ALIEN, PYGMY SHREWS, THE DREEBS, ANGEL OLSEN, CHAT LOGS, JOHN WESLEY COLEMAN III, NATURAL CHILD, LAST YEAR’S MEN, SAPAT, TROPICAL TRASH, MAYOR DALEY, THE MEN, FAT HISTORY MONTH, CIRCUIT DES YEUX, JOVONTAES, ANGELS IN AMERICA, ARCANE RIFLES, CROSS, VIDEO DAUGHTERS, BLACK GOD
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13th — SCRATCH ACID, YOUNG WIDOWS, COLISEUM
The Other Side of Life 