Archive of What We’re Listening To…

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”
~ Hunter S. Thompson

Instead of rhyming off all of the obvious and not so obvious artists, labels, recording engineers, idiots, etc. that have somehow “made it” in this cut-throat “business” and influenced a band of dying dogs like us, here are some lesser known artists who we currently find intriguing and encouraging.

Seasick Steve

It’s always inspiring to hear about someone who lived in relative obscurity for most of his life (for a while he was a migrant worker before touring and collaborating with other musicians in the 1960s) only to suddenly find a larger audience late in his career (in the UK of course – seems that roots music is largely on the margins in North America these days). Seasick Steve proves that you don’t need the latest equipment to make compelling music. His favourite instrument’s what he calls the 3-String Trance Wonder (check the video to quench your curiosity).

John Paul Jones

Okay, so JPJ is not really a “lesser known” artist – what with his status as bass player in Led Zeppelin and his latest resurgence as one of the three heads of Them Crooked Vultures. However, this unassuming man doesn’t just play bass. Aside from playing instruments live and in the studio such as the mandolin, lap steel guitar, and violin he has done production and orchestration. We can’t help but revisit Zeppelin these days to isolate his parts in the mix. If you haven’t, you have to check out the Austin City Limits performance of Them Crooked Vultures (http://video.pbs.org/video/1397479116/). In the meantime – check this out!

Les Breastfeeders

Some people may have checked this straight-up rock and roll band from Montreal at the Canadian Music Week. It’s always refreshing when a real rock band comes to Toronto. The beautiful thing about music that is delivered passionately and that is written well is that it doesn’t matter whether you can understand what the musicians are saying (although if you understand French you’ll probably get a kick out of their lyrics too).

Tom Waits

Okay, again, this man is clearer not “lesser known” but god damn it this man defies conventional wisdom on what sells within the music industry. He does his own thing, gets inspired by forgotten music and delivers it all in a style that is unmistakeably his own. And the best thing, he doesn’t give a rat’s ass whether you like it or not.

Ike Turner

Ike Turner probably invented ‘rock and roll’ as we conceive of it today, when he walked into Sun Records in February 1951 and led his band through ‘Rocket 88’. This recording is considered by most to be the first recorded use of (intentional) distortion on a guitar. Ike actually played piano on this track, and the distinctive guitar part was laid down by his friend Willie Kizart. Once the song became a hit (under Jackie Brenston’s name), Ike eventually made the move to playing lead guitar, so that there would be no doubt as to who was the band leader.

Due to some unfortunate media portrayals, he will likely only be remembered for spousal abuse, but the fact remains that he was one of the most innovative and unrestrained guitarists of his era. Most of the stuff he was doing would become standard guitar techniques in the years to come, but at the time they were entirely new and revolutionary the idea of electric blues guitar. His use of the whammy bar alone is distinctive and unique; he uses it to punish and strangle notes, rather than just bending them slightly. In the great lineage of rock guitarists, Ike is like the biblical Noah- we are all his descendants, whether we know it or not.

Check out this 9-minute medley of blues riffs, ‘All The Blues, All The Time’:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s5GlYKxLVA

J Mascis/Dinosaur Jr

Although they’ve had a resurgence lately, there was a time when it seemed J Mascis and Dinosaur Jr would be lost to the static of time. Great rock and roll bands and artists are timeless, and it is precisely that quality that this band and it’s leader embody. Great songwriting, bone-rattling bass and drums, and guitar solos will never go out of style, especially with these cavemen around. J Mascis remains as one of the most staunchly traditional and independent of the rock stars of his generation. And his guitar playing is amazing: searing, brutal, laden with distortion and feedback, and yet he makes it all seems so effortless. The best technical guitarist of his era.

Both Dinosaur Jr’s newest album Farm and J’s solo record Several Shades of Why are excellent- check out this track from Farm called “I Don’t Want To Go There”:

Jackie Shane

Just an amazing singer, and a truly remarkable story. From www.queermusicheritage.us:

Lounge singer Jackie Shane was considered very risque during the more subdued Toronto club era of the early 1960′s. As a black androgynous soul singer, often backed by Frank Motley And The Hitchhikers (featuring saxophonist King Herbert) at the Sapphire Club, Shane commanded overflow crowds as much for his silky smooth voice as for his flamboyant effeminate stage persona.

With constant club engagements throughout Canada and parts of the US as far away as California and Hawaii, Shane was able to release his one and only hit record, “Any Other Way”, in April 1963. The song reached No. 2 in Canada and sustained itself on the charts for 9 consecutive weeks.

To capitalize on his popularity he also recorded a live album but by the late 1960′s drifted into obscurity. Many rumours have circulated over the years about his untimely death, but none have ever been confirmed, and he was last heard from in 2005, apparently living in Nashville.

The Stormalongs want to cover this song so bad it hurts. If this tune doesn’t move you, you have no soul: