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Dusted Features
Every Friday, Dusted Magazine publishes a series of music-related lists compiled by our favorite artists. This week: New Orleans eccentric Quintron and Denver duo Tennis.
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Listed: Quintron + Tennis
Quintron
You can get a good sense of how enigmatic New Orleans-based organ wiz Mr. Quintron is by taking a look at the myriad labels that have released his music; he’s found a home everywhere from Bulb, Skin Graft, and Tigerbeat6 to Goner and Crypt. His latest album, Sucre Du Sauvage (Goner), is equal parts wild garage grooves and ambient soundscapes. Recorded live in and around the New Orleans Museum of Art as part of an exhibit dedicated to the singular world of Quintron and his partner Miss Pussycat, Sucre Du Sauvage only complicates the mystery. Likewise, Quintron’s offering of nine selections for this week’s Listed are as strange, protean, and interesting as one would expect. Why only nine? ."..can I please stop singing about architecture now? Nine is enough. It is also our ward, the number of lives cat’s have, and the position of our solar system’s only kicked out planet."
1. Willem Breuker Kollektief - Self-Titled
This is Euro-Big Band meets Albert Ayler meets Fellini circus music. I have never heard anything like this band before or since. Breuker died last year I think....so sad. I saw them live a bunch of times and they were really intense. Breuker would literally stand in front of the soloists until he was satisfied that they had reached outer space and then he would bring the entire ensemble back to the song arrangement. I love this record because it sounds so, um....Dutch! Ok....I don’t know how to describe this obviously. Whose idea was it to ask me to write about music...isn’t that your job? Go find this record! It was also released as a CD called Heibel which came in a cheese box. That one has a mini opera featuring avant jazz vocalist Greetje Bijma at the end. I gave my first cassette release to the trumpet player in return for the cheese box CD. Good times.
2. Katey Red - Melpomene Block Party
New Orleans Bounce music is blowing up worldwide and the new stuff coming out right now is amazing. It just keeps getting faster and funnier and weirder but this Katey Red disc from the 90s is still the shit. I don’t care what anyone says, Katey changed the game and Katey writes better hooks than anyone. Her ideas come from a distant place and a place you probably don’t wannna go to anyways. "Punk under Pressure" has been my personal anthem since the day I heard it. All the other songs on this are great too. This is fast super electronic happy ghetto playground music. The title track has a Jackson 5 sample and some incredibly nasty chants ("Katey Red takes dicks in the bootie hole!")...for 8 minutes. Another amazing underground song in the same vein and from this era is "Chopper Style" by Chopper. No Limit signed him and re-released that song but it sucks compared to the original track on Take Fo. Take Fo records ruled New Orleans during the 90s / early 2000s....them and Cash Money. But you know all about Cash Money eh?
3. Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
DJ trick #101: If you want to move from one genre to another, no matter how extreme (Bohannon to Live in Leipzig), just mix in Phaedra (title track) and let it ride for about 2 minutes and you can go anywhere....trust me. I got this at a thrift store and the inner sleeve actually contained a birthday card with a real joint inside...from the 70s. Of course I reported it to the police and kept the record. There are reams written about this album and I’m no expert but I love love, love this. Arpeggios galore. Wind sounds. Doodledeedle doodle deedle nwrrrrrrrrrr! I wish I knew more about the ambient stuff this inspired so I wouldn’t have to be telling all you record nerds about an album that you already know about. Maybe there are some 10 year olds reading this. Check out Phaedra kids! But don’t smoke antique weed because it is totally worthless and illegal.
4. Richard Pryor - That Nigger’s crazy /Craps (after hours)/Bicentennial Nigger
These are probably the most honest, moving records on my list. A lot of great comedy dates itself quickly because comedy is cultural commentary and culture moves very quickly. I listen to Lenny Bruce and I don’t know what the fuck he is talking about most of the time. I’m sure I would have gotten it then, but not now. Richard Pryor mostly goes in for his material, not out. Absolute genius. You can really listen to these over and over again like music and you can totally visualize every scene that he is describing. He really has the gift for painting a picture with his voice. And if you grew up in whitey whitesville, this is gonna get you pretty close to an actual glimpse of "Black America." It still seems totally relevant and hilarious and kind of scary sometimes. Bicentennial Nigger actually dissolves into spoken word / character channeling poetry at the end...no more funny talk just pure hate and one masterful middle finger. Anything you can get that he put out on Laff Records is great.
5. Keith Frank - Loved Feared and Respected
Ok....the cover has three pictures of him in three different outfits being struck by lightning...I’m just putting that out there right away. This is the master of new zydeco in Cajun country. I LOVE THIS SHIT!! This is zydeco that is not for tourists, it’s for the people. It’s zydeco with 808 bass and dog barking samples and songs about haters and the internet; all kinds of country stuff you won’t understand. There is a whole huge scene of this music that hardly anyone knows about outside the region (J. Paul, Chris Ardoin, etc) but Keith Frank is the one for me because nobody can touch is accordion playing and he is a brilliant, prolific songwriter. I’m gonna cover one song from this album on our next tour but I’m not tellin’ which one. This guy is seriously one our current greats in Louisiana.
6. Harry Breuer - The Happy Moog
I would be a total liar if I did not admit to always having this in the stack when I DJ or have parties at Spellcaster. I have a lot of moog records but I like this one the best because in the hands of Harry Breuer (the "Mallet Mischief" guy who was on the cover of the ReSearch magazine book, "Incredibly Strange Music") you actually kinda forget about the novelty aspect of the Moog and really get into the songs. Harry Breuer was a great arranger and one of the best mallet players of his time. Anything with his name on it is worth getting. Harry Breuer kinda had the same whacked out jazz sensibilities as Raymond Scott. Don’t know why there are not more reissues on him.
7. Andre Williams - Silky
Full disclosure: I played with Andre many times when he was in New Orleans and on a recent record he did on Bloodshot, but not on this. Silky was recorded in Detroit by Mick Collins. It’s totally got that distorted, falling apart in your face Detroit thing about it. How do they do that there? Have you checked out Human Eye and all this new stuff coming out of Detroit right now?? Anyways, this is classic Andre and every single song is a masterpiece. "Looking down at you looking up at me," "I can tell...by the way you smell," "Pussy Stank but so do Marijuana!" He is the king of dirty lyrics with secret poetry hidden inside. Oh, and Danny Dollrod is one of my favorite guitar players on earth.
8. Fred Lane - Radio Jerome
In a nutshell: Surreal Rockabilly-ish novelty record from Alabama with musicians who (supposedly) played with John Zorn back in the day! This is a masterpiece of weirdness that never seems jokey or ham-fisted and it never gets old. Fred Lane made one other record (From The One That Cut You) which is great too. I have listened to this a thousand times and had some pretty special headphone experiences with it. God, I just don’t know what to say about any of these records except that I love them and you should take my advice and check them all out. Ok...one final pick because I like the number 9 much better than 10.
9. MC Trachiotomy - Robot Alien or Ghost
All three of the above had sex and created a rapper baby called MC Trachiotomy....the Yamataka Eye of New Orleans. Trach (a.k.a. Jay Poggi) has had a million and one psychedelic noise related projects over the years but this one kicked them all off as far as his solo stuff. So in lieu of picking favorites, I’m going with Robot, Alien, or Ghost. This is underwater party music with extremely fuzzy edges. The beats sound like farts and lasers but not in a funny way. This music truly does sound alien....way more like what alien barroom music would probably sound like than the Cantina Song from Star Wars. I’m pretty sure this was all recorded with DJ Biscuitino on an old Gemini mixer with one sample pad on it and it was bounced back and forth between two tape decks to "multi track." Dusted and definitely fucked up.
Tennis
The husband & wife duo that form Tennis, fit squarely in the whole 60s pop revivalism that has caught fire as of late (see Best Coast etc.). Their music however, (a subtle mix of harmonic vocals and catch garage jangle), comes off as far more authentic than most. Their album Cape Dory, is an inspired affair, no doubt by the couple’s storied retreat from reality, wherein they sold their possessions, bought a boat, and listlessly traveled down the East Coast. An idyllic life indeed.
1. Grandaddy - Software Slump
This album has been played more than any other. From the sarcasm to pessimistic views towards the future, this album does a great job of criticizing technology and the modern world.
2. Brenda Lee
Her voice has so much character and a childish quality that Alaina loves to emulate. Probably her favorite singer.
3. The Clean - Anthology
The simplicity in their music is amazing. Some of the most honest music you can find which is definitely a priority to us.
4. Wanda Jackson - :Singles There are not very many voices with as much power as this one. I hope Alaina will sing like her one day.
5. Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles
The first time I heard this album I felt like I hadn’t listened to music before. Jamie Stewart is one of the most up front artists and does a great job of making music more physical.
6. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
George Clinton at his best. We love how political this album can be at times even through the relentless funk. There’s really no other way to address issues like race and poverty.
7. Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star
This album creates such a perfect world of synthesizers and 70’s production. One of Alaina and I’s favorites.
By Dusted Magazine
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