|
|
NEGATIVLAND
Thursday · Southgate House
To identify Negativland as a band is like calling Salvador Dali a painter; it’s technically appropriate but sorely lacking in descriptive depth. The band will occasionally display the trappings of a traditional Rock band but that is almost certainly only an underlying context to anything that bears the Negativland name. Beginning as a high school collective in late ’70s San Francisco, the band released a series of underground albums on their own label, Seeland Records, utilzing a unique cut-and-paste audio sample collage technique that would become mainstream within a decade and a half. In 1987, the band gained attention for Escape From Noise, their most visceral and focused release, and they showed their disdain for the media when they issued a mock press release claiming that their song “Christianity is Stupid” was the trigger for an actual mass murder in Minnesota. News outlets all over the country ran grave reports about Negativland and their “killer song,” none subjected to any sort of verification process, giving the band the last laugh and tons of free publicity, which they traded on spectacularly with their next album, Helter Stupid.
Negativland’s most infamous project came in 1991 when they released the single “U2,” featuring parodies and samples of actual U2 songs. Island Records put the band in a legal headlock, forcing them ultimately to settle out of court and destroy all remaining copies of the single (which is still illegal to sell in the U.S.; it remains available for free download at negativland.com). Four years later, the band released a book/CD package entitled Fair Use, expanding on their obvious interest in copyright law and detailing the U2 incident in particular. In 1997, Negativland released the brilliant Dispepsi, an unflattering look at the business rivalry between Pepsi and Coca-Cola and followed it a year later with the Happy Heroes EP and its centerpiece, “OJ Simpson and His Personal Trainer Kill Nicole and Ron Goldman,” featuring manipulated excerpts from Simpson’s workout video. Last year, Negativland released the inflammatory No Business, made up entirely of found sound and not a single note played by the band, accompanied by an extensive essay with their further thoughts on the fair use concept (and a whoopee cushion emblazoned with the copyright symbol).
For over 25 years, Negativland has been challenging the industry, other bands and even their fans to rethink the idea of what constitutes art in music … do you hear what they hear? (Brian Baker)
STARS OF TRACK AND FIELD WITH TWILIGHT SINGERS
Friday · Southgate House
When losing their bass player early on, Portland band Stars of Track and Field simply forewent getting a new four-stringer and dove deep into the world of samples, keys and other programming, in the process becoming a reimagined band entirely. Their new digital direction didn’t suck the warmth out of the band’s lush, melodic sound; it simply forced them to explore ways to retain that element while incorporating the slinky blips and burbles that computer enhancement brings. The group’s first release (the 2005 EP, You Came Here For Sunset Last Year) was made for a measly $2,500 (another perk of readily-available technology) and the trio sold thousands of copies of it on their own. SOTAF drew attention at the 2005 South By Southwest festival and bloggers raved about the band online. By the time this year’s SXSW rolled around, several labels came courting and — despite an indie deal with Sidecho Records — the group cozied up to a seemingly odd mate, chart-blazing Radio Rock label Wind-up Records.
The Stars’ debut full-length, Centuries Before Love and War, is almost strong enough to make you forgive Wind-up for plaguing the earth with Creed, Evanescence and Seether. (Almost.) The group is at its most engaging when injecting the electronics deep into the soul of a song, like on the ambient, chilly “Centuries” and the choppy, collage-like “Lullabye For A G.I./Don’t Close Your Eyes,” where the band spins in the same orbit as The Postal Service’s trickling, melancholic Pop or Thom Yorke’s solo effort. The vocals have a cozy, honey-dripping quality and the music often recalls a blending of Secret Machines, Doves, Chris Martin and Nada Surf.
The band only misfires when the electro elements are banished to the backseat and the Big Rock Guitars take charge — the Coldplay-esque “Movies of Antarctica” sounds like a contrived attempt to not scare off commercial radio with those “crazy” computer blips. Thankfully, those moments are minimal and the dynamic guitar work is more often a driving textural enhancement than not (most bands that mix guitars and electronics skew too strongly to one side or another, but SOTAF has one of the better balances of that equation around). Centuries Before Love and War (which is available as a download now, with the hard-copy due in stores springtime next year) is largely a satisfying, magnetic Digital Pop album slathered in dramatic, spine-tickling melodies and timely, non-heavy-handed lyrics about the mindset of love and life during wartime. (Mike Breen)
DOSH
Friday · alchemize
I remember seeing SynthPop star Howard Jones a long time ago (opening for Eurythmics at Riverbend) and being baffled by — but strangely drawn to — his stage set-up, which basically consisted of a large circle of electronics that made him look like he was singing in the middle of an appliance store. He had no band and while it seemed fairly processed, Jones’ energy and stage presence made for an entertaining show. These days, with technology advancing at such a furious pace, people are less likely to flinch at the prospect of a one-person band relying on modern tricks and tools. Purists will always decry the perceived lack of a “human” element, but it’s all about how an artist utilizes his or her tools. If it’s a creative enhancement, it can often be endlessly fascinating; if it’s a crutch masking talent deficiencies, you can always sniff that out with a cursory listen (just ask Ashlee Simpson).
Like Jones, artists like Imogen Heap have been using banks of electronics in their live shows, but, going for something a little more spontaneous and “real,” several solo composers and songwriters have taken to creating layers of backing sounds by utilizing looping, where an artist will physically play a sound, then instantly “sample” it for a cyclic backdrop. Performers like Keller Williams and Andrew Bird have found success with the approach, and Minneapolis’ bread musician/composer Dosh deserves to be mentioned near the top of the list of artists who have used loops to concoct mesmerizing soundscapes successfully.
An adventure-seeking musician who approaches music like a wild-eyed abstract painter approaching a naked canvas, Martin Dosh studied Jazz and drums as a teen and those experiences (and influences as varied as New Order and Run DMC and Prince) seep into Dosh’s stream-of-conscious, emotionally rich (despite being largely instrumental) compositions, which first came to light on his self-titled 2003 debut, released on the mostly Avant Hip Hop imprint, Anticon.
His third Anticon release, The Lost Take, includes the biggest guest list yet for Dosh (who mostly handles keys and drumming duties), as artists like Bird, Tapes ‘N Tapes guitarist Erik Appelwick, his wife Erin and the young students he teaches drums to in the Twin Cities add sonic snippets. But, while the album has the fluid, Jazz-like glide of a “jam session” (with some ghostly melodies occasionally hovering in the Post Rock stratospheres), the album is actually heavily “remixed,” as Dosh chops and sautés the sounds to create noisy but often gorgeous atmospherics.
Live, Dosh’s mad chemist experiments are even more compelling, as he plays every instrument, then runs them through looping machines which create a hypnotic, layered ambiance. Watching him gracefully move from drums to xylophone to various keyboards is like watching someone juggle fire, bowling pins and cats all at once, never missing a beat. For a peek at some of Dosh’s solo musical acrobatics before Friday’s show, check his MySpace page at myspace.com/doshanticon. (MB)
This article appears in Nov 1-7, 2006.