A Very Special Jam

That sounds kind of like a weird Charlie Brown Christmas special, but it's true. I am very very excited to announce a special free show tomorrow, happening in New York City at the Lisa Cooley gallery.


City Center is playing a special set of new material and also new takes on older songs. There's a possible collaborative visual element, but it's very low key. There will be a short performance, refreshments (booze? booze!) and if I feel especially academic maybe a spoken explaination/question and answer portion. The entire event is free, and it's always really amazing to be part of a show in a non-traditional (aka sometimes boring) show setting. Please come out and say hello, enjoy the sounds and hang on a sweet September Sunday.

Info is below, please e-mail me or call me if you need anything else.

Much love,
Fred
City Center

Lisa Cooley Fine Art
34 Orchard Street
New York, NY 10002
212-680-0564
Directions: Orchard between Hester and Canal
Subway: F at East Broadway

Show begins at 7pm, but the gallery will be open for milling about and hanging at 6pm.


Totally free. Don't bring money, I won't sell you anything. The artist's bio page and Lisa's gallery website is here.
The piece pictured above is by Alex Flemming.

Nervous Sooner Changer

Fall Mix #2
Thinking of a sound (or an instance) that goes on forever and holds you in it's weird spell but then when it's gone you can't remember ever experiencing it.
Albert Ayler "Desert Blood"
Belong "Girl From New York"
Jandek "Know Thy Self"
Toru Takemitsu "Munari By Munari" (excerpt)
From a really amazing record of percussion pieces by Japanese composers. I have no idea where or when I got it. This one was composed in 1967 and recorded in 1978.
Darkthrone "Transilvanian Hunger"
Pharoah Sanders "Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah" (excerpt)
This is perhaps the sound of all sounds that could go on forever and never feel bad.
The Fall "Pay Your Rates"
Dead Milkmen "Where The Tarantula Lives"
Still on some serious Dead Milkmen moments. Realized I have been into this band and a total dork for 20 years!!!! If Shadow Ring had been in-between the Fall and this song, it would make more sense as a logical progression/ family-tree-of-influence segue into...
Grateful Dead "Touch Of Grey"
I wanna make a mix sooner or later of the shittiest, most depressing songs ever recorded. This song, I actually think of as genuinely rad and uplifting, but another song from this 1987 comeback kid LP, namely "Tons Of Steel" is perhaps the worst, most depressing shit ever conceived. Such amazing garbage it almost needs to be checked out. Maybe when I have more free time or am more depressed, that mix will materialize.
Dead Moon "Diamonds In The Rough"
George Winston "Thanksgiving"
More history and inside joke vibes about this song than any blog has room for, but I also do love it deeply. It's an amazingly simple and sad jam, and one that, though it should never be dj-ed out, I sometimes would work into my sets and KILL THE PARTY INTO A GRINDING, USELESS HALT.
Total Running Time: 49min 15sec
Download the mix here.........................................................!!!!!!!

Future Feelings

Here's a new mix for the fall, trying to capture some of the uncertain glory of the time. This one is kinda weird, all from vinyl, done kinda quickly, almost as a reminder to myself that I can just listen to records sometimes and not freek the fuck out about everything. I hope you get something out of it. I feel like it's the first of many for the fall. Monumental things ahead, friends.

Fall Mix #1:
Cameroon Villagers "Psalm 88"
From an old Folkways record of weird psalm chants. This one is hyper repetitive and meditative.
Rolling Stones "Can You Hear The Music?"
Warn played this jam in the car when we were working on mixes. I think we both forgot it was our favorite stones jam at a point. A lost fucked classic from "Goats Head Soup".
Anne Briggs "Go Your Way"
Such an autumn sound.
Incredible String Band "You Get Brighter"
Linda Lewis "Love, Love, Love"
From the very spotty "Not A Little Girl Anymore" record, which was never released on CD and has a ton of filler. This song reminds me of the P.P. Arnold songs the guy from Small Faces wrote. Hippy soul akin to that late 60's/early 70's vibe.
Man Is The Bastard "Gourmet Pez"
Hand to god, and somewhat confusedly so, I started to cry when I read the lyrics to this song. Not sure what it means, but this one hit me. Lyrics are: In our age this poison is called materialism, bank account full, truly poor, spiritually emaciated, money as a means not an end for you to worship, your whole drive to live, unexamined, always scamming to protect your shit, all you love is sin, always worried how much you can get, this philosophy, always thinking someone is out to steal, abomination's son, all possessions hiding what is real, same with everyone, in truth i must deny, i examine and must ask why, know the truth and it will set you free. follies of the rich fucking the lives of human numbers, possessed by possessing kept by keeping, crushed by your own grasping hand, living non-attached, constant fun, mental children, giving til it hurts is the solution, total peace in this compassion. all your money wwill it buy you love? peace? hope? salvation? i say fuck your money. give us gourmet pez.
Dead Milkmen "Violent School"
This band is perhaps the most influential and important band to me, ever. NO JOKE. They came into Dave's Comics in Ann Arbor when I was like 12 and I almost shit my pants with glee. No one has ever been this band since, which is a shame, because they filled a space that the world could really use again presently. Maybe it's up to us to make geek punk happen again.
Vivian Girls "I Believe In Nothing"
Kevin Boyer "Something's Gonna Come Up"
Me and Kevin (now frontman for Tyvek recorded this and many other jams in my basement at Wade's house in 2002. It was a cool fun project. A few weeks ago a dude came into my store and was like "I pressed a 45 of that stuff you and Kevin recorded way back. Not sure if it'll ever come out, but I have a test pressing." I remember once in Chicago me and Grace got in a fight because she was ripping on how bad the recording was without knowing I recorded it. WHO'S LAUGHING NOW???? Just playin. I think this song still sounds rad, though, and I hope the 45 sees the light of day sometime.
Dead Moon "Don't Burn The Fires"
Growing "Wrong Ride"
Indeed.
Oren Ambarchi "Girl With The Silver Eyes"
Flying Saucer Attack "At Night"
Falltime 1997.

Total Running Time: 52min 2sec
Download the mix here.
Enjoys!

Sounds Like Misery

I'd like to say the reason I've been updating this blog less than usual is because I've been in an intensely productive creative period, but sadly that's just false. I had a really amazing weekend with Silk Flowers a little bit ago cruising up and down the east coast in Avi's dad's towncar and jamming full-force with them, but since then I've worked every day non-stop and have been surrounded by spiritual noise and no new jams. Boo. However, I've got today off and I'm going to work on music for awhile and then go see My Bloody Valentine, which is a sentence I never thought I'd type. More to follow.

Three Thoughts

Village voice ran a harsh review of Growing's new record "All The Way" a few days ago, which is probably par for the course, but totally wrong and moronic. Record is really good, and if not leaps forward, totally getting to an amazing place. More interesting to me is the almost granted Black Dice comparison. It's totally legitimate to note Growing has gotten more dicey, but in this weird way that sometimes happens when something gets retroactive respect or classic status, and it's just kind of spoken about like it was always common knowledge. When did "Beaches & Canyons" slip in the backdoor as a must-hear masterpiece, when five years ago a lot of people kind of wrote it off as "hippy noise" or what have you. A lot of people also lost their shit about it at the time of it's release, but it seems like in a world where Fuck Buttons sell more records than B&C ever did, a lot more people have come around recently.




At some point I went off on a nut to Ryan about how Sabra hummus was the best in the world and there was none better. I think I might have even started slapping strangers and making proclamations to god about it. I liked the stuff that much. However, since I quit smoking, it just doesn't taste that good. Kinda nasty, even. Is it possible, by some strange chemical equation that my nerves, deadened or compromised by nicotine and tar recognized different flavor worlds that just weren't there? Or is it a bad batch at Sabra HQ? Anyone with a similar experience or some inside knowledge, please come forward now, cause this is really the heaviest issue I have to deal with these days.


I was heavily bummed at my show on Tuesday when seconds before I played I realized that my iPod, with a bunch of backing tracks for my set, had gotten rained on through my bag and was completely destroyed. This was harsh for so many reasons, but mainly because I was so stoked about the show and wanted to play a fully realized, good set. I ended up doing some off-the-dome improv stuff with samples, percussion and voice loops, but it was a pretty much song-free set, and I felt very upset about it. I doubt anyone else noticed or cared, but it was a bad feeling. I think the lesson here is multi-fold. Be careful with expensive, fragile electronic stuff and maybe get another sampler so you can do everything live. Or just go all pre-recorded and not show up for your own shows. Or maybe just eat better, sleep more, move back home and write books instead of songs. Or.....

Nick sent me this mp3 of my set at Helsing straight from cassette. His set-up sounds awesome, and I can't wait to go back to Seattle and record with him someday. Thanks Nick!!!
City Center
Helsing Junction Sleepover
Rochester, Washington. August 17, 2008
1.Intro
2.This Is How We See In The Dark
3.Because
4.Bleed Blood
5.Cloud Center
6.Water Message
7.Summer School
8.Young Diamond

Glass Execution

City Center "Glass Room"

There's A Storm On The Way

Did you see that movie "Taxi Driver"? I think of that movie sometimes in New York, cause it's so intensely getting into one dude falling apart as a result of being a small piece in a seemingly endless, worthless mass a.k.a. big city breakdown/post-youth existential UH OH! There's the part where the mayor gets in his cab and he starts talking about how someday there'll be a "real rain" to wash all the garbage and grime away. Maybe it's in a different part, I can't remember. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I just think of it because apparently there's the remnants of a hurricane coming through tomorrow, and I wonder what it will be like. Still kind of freaking on this post-tour-blues, and it's getting me down more than coconut water can cool off, for now. But there are a few good things to report...

Next week there will be a brief East Coast tour with City Center and brand new band Silk Flowers. Silk Flowers is a new sound from Ethan (my main dawg, Carclutch, BARR, Corpsekisser, Emergency, We Forgive Us, many other rad bands of yore) and Avi & Peter (formerly of Soiled Mattress & The Springs). Their very first show is on Tuesday at Death By Audio with me, Katie E (from Young People), Hard Bop & Brendan Fowler (f.k.a. BARR). This promises to be a lot of fun, or at least strange. I know I played DBA last Tuesday, so I am working on a completely different set as not to bore the fuck out of anyone who's gonna check it out part two. Here's all the information for the shows:
Tues. Sept 9
Brooklyn, NY. Death By Audio.
(info on flyer above) All Ages.

Fri. Sept 12
Baltimore, MD. Golden West Cafe w/ Bear and Pieces
1105 W. 36TH ST HAMPDEN. All Ages

Sat. Sept 13
Providence, RI. Sprague Street Complex w/ Russian Tsarlag, Rainbro.
11 Sprague St. All Ages.

Sun. Sept 14
Purchase, NY. SUNY University Sudent Center.
735 Anderson Hill Rd. All Ages.

If you're nearby any of these spots, please come say hello and witness the new jams before they either evaporate or take flight to a new layer/land/landfill/landmine/coalminer/cola minor.

The aforementioned last-Tuesday DBA show got filmed and posted by Matt on his radical video blog Acid Marshmallow. If you missed the show, you can peep a facsimile right here.

I'm also really thrilled to be doing a very special performance at the end of September at the Lisa Cooley gallery. Lisa and Alex have been working on curating a more performative or non-traditional art-world element through a series of live lectures, installations and other various performances. I am so honored to have been asked to be a part of it, and if you live in the New York area, you should really check it out. It promises to be very special. Full info is up here.

And here's a song I made last night, so so unfinished, so so glad to be.
City Center "BIDKY (Unfinished)"