Welcome to the second issue of the Finding Datura Report. I had a little bit of trouble putting this issue together since I radically depleted my reviewable music collection on the first issue and school is really beating me down. However, I’ve reviewed a good handful of zines, so I hope you can forgive me. There were a million things I planned for this zine but never happened. I wanted to write up a detailed review of a recent Low concert but never got to it. I wanted to try a hand at writing a column of my own but school and work drained me of any energy and inspiration required to do the job.
But we do have some great content for you this issue. Sarah Wefald has provided us with another great and lengthy interview, this time with the Dresden Dolls. Destro von Doom gave us a good talking to and I was able to read all four CrimethInc books and write down just a few of my thoughts on each book. And then there are the zine and music reviews. I hope after this issue we can get more people to submit their stuff for review. Remember, we will review anything!
Alright, that’s all from me for now. Enjoy the issue! - Rob Monroe
Destro Von Doom is the mastermind behind the psychotronic/horror punk band, the Von Dooms. We were able to call him out from his tomb to answer a few questions concerning his recent activities.
Finding Datura: You’ve got a lot of stuff going on, so let’s start with the band. Who are the Von Dooms?
Destro Von Doom: Right now they are just me. When the Von Dooms started up (around '99) there was a full band together, and for about a year and a half we would play shows infrequently. I had a lot of trouble finding people who were dead-icated to doing this type of band, and since I was getting really into the recording side of things, I started playing everything myself. At first it was out of necessity, but now it's become something that I really enjoy. That's how it's been since then, but 2004 might be seeing the return of the Von Dooms as a live band.
FD: The meaning of the term “horror punk” is fairly obvious, but what is “psychotronic rock?”
DVD: Well, to me it basically means concentrating on making the music have a "spooky" sound. I love punk and I want the band to always have that sound, but I want the music to be as creepy as possible.
FD: There is a difference in sound and style from the cassette release, From Beyond, and the more recent, I’ll Be Lurking for You. The newer material is recorded much clearer and there are more “interesting” guitar sounds. What inspired this change?
DVD: Part of it is just having access to better recording stuff, but the different guitar sounds are all a part of the psychotronic thing. I like to use phase effects on my lead guitars to give it a "ghosts run wild" type of sound.
FD: Do you ever want to sing about something that doesn’t ooze and kill?
DVD: Probably not. When I first started writing songs I'd occasionally try to do a non-horror song, but the inspiration just isn't there.
FD: Finding Datura was planning a compilation inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and his works and the Von Dooms were the only band we were able to get signed on before tanking the idea. But now you’ve organized a weird fiction/horror inspired compilation on Valiant Death Records. Tell us about it.
DVD: Finding Datura really did give me the idea for it. I wanted to find bands that have done songs about Lovecraft and his contemporaries, but as I started my search for them, I discovered that there really aren't that many. So the comp ended up having a few songs based on Weird Fiction thing, and a lot more that are just general horror. I think they all fit together pretty well though, most of the music is horror punk oriented, but there are a few songs that have a more metal sound and a horror surf song as well! The Von Dooms will have two songs on there, a new one called “Black Corridor,” and a re-recording of “Coffin Rock.”
FD: What’s your favorite Lovecraft story?
DVD: That's a tough one to answer; I really like all of them. I'd probably have to go with “Rats in the Walls,” I love the way that the story builds up, and the eventual devolving at the end is amazing. There is a real sense of "cosmic horror" present there, and that's something that I try to infuse into most of the Von Dooms songs.
FD: Do you like any of the Lovecraft inspired movies? What stories do you think would make great films?
DVD: I guess the most obvious would be the Reanimator movies; I've really enjoyed them over the years. I liked From Beyond, even though it had little to do with the story. Dagon was a decent translation of “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.”
But there have been many, many others that were done horribly, which is a shame.
I don't think that a lot of great horror films are really being done now, but if I had to pick one of HPL's stories to be adapted, I'd probably go with “The Horror in the Museum.” It was written in collaboration with another writer whose name escapes me, but since it takes place in a wax museum, I think there would be a lot of great visuals. “Mountains of Madness” might be an interesting choice too, but it would take a budget of millions and millions to pull it off right.
FD: You’ve published a zine called Gorehound, which focuses on horror rock. Is this your first adventure in zines? What’s in store for Gorehound?
DVD: Yeah this is the first zine I've attempted. I'm not really sure what's going to happen with it in the future though. #2 will definitely be coming out, but I haven't whether I want to continue it or not after that. I guess the problem is that there are only so many horror bands that I'm really interested in. I'm sure I'll dig up more though. I'll probably keep it going, even if it's only one or two issues a year. As far as I know, it's the only one of its kind (aside from online ones).
FD: Any interesting Von Dooms related happenings in the future?
DVD: The Weird Fiction horror compilation should be out soon through Valiant Death Records. Also, it looks like I'll be doing a split 7 inch with a really great horror band out of VA called Monster a Go-Go in early to mid 2004, also released by Valiant Death. 2005 will probably see a new Von Dooms CD coming out. I also give out a CDR of demos called "Demos From the Dead" for free to fans, just write me through the Von Dooms website Anyway, til next time, keep a torch burnin' in the graveyard, and a corpse in yer coffins
Anyone who says that all the new music sounds the same hasn’t heard the Dresden Dolls.
The self-described Brechtian punk cabaret duo of Amanda Palmer (vocals, piano) and Brian Viglione (drums) recently released their debut album to widespread acclaim. They dress their emotional songs in compelling theatrics that draw the listener in, and no matter how sad the song, it makes them love every second of it.
They’ve taken the spotlight in their native Boston, having been voted “Best New Band in Boston” in 2003 by Boston Magazine. A little more recently, they won practically every award they were nominated for in The Noise’s Maxie Awards: Best CD, Song, Female Vocalist, Drummer, Keyboardist, Stage Presence (Individual-Amanda), and CD Cover art.
They’re pretty well-known out here in Massachusetts, and starting to create a buzz across the country. After falling completely in love with their album, I was lucky enough to sit down and interview them for my radio show before they performed at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA early in December 2003. The following is a transcript of the interview as it aired on WMHC on Dec. 5th, though admittedly edited and translated a little from spoken interview to written Q&A.
Sarah Wefald: Thanks so much for doing this. We really love the band at the station. I know you have been getting a lot of attention lately, and that comes with a lot of work since you’re doing all this yourselves. How do you feel about everything?
Amanda Palmer: Well, it’s really exhausting, and it’s really hard, mostly because we don’t have a manager. I’m still the band’s manager, which means that everything, from every envelope that goes out and every e-mail that comes in and every phone call, is me. We’ve got someone helping us with our booking, and we’ve got someone that is basically like the label manager who takes care of the orders and stuff, but every question about the band and everything is dealt with by me. Brian helps out, but mostly I spend my entire day running an office and not doing a whole lot of music, which doesn’t make me very happy lately, but I know it has to be done. I’d rather be doing it myself and making sure it gets done right than just giving up control because the work is too hard and signing my soul away, which we could do, [but] it’d be a stupid mistake the way things are right now in the industry, especially with everything collapsing.
SW: The first thing I looked at when I got the CD into the station was dresdendolls.com, and it’s probably one of the better websites in rock. It’s also extremely...comprehensive, I think the word would be. So, you guys have done all that yourselves?
AP: Yeah. We’ve been extremely blessed, though, [because] I live in an incredible arts collective in Boston, and I live with a web designer, who’s fantastic, and a filmmaker, who’s fantastic, and they’re both dear friends and fans of the bands, so we've been spoiled by having these incredibly talented people working around us and working for the cause for close to no money, because, you know. It’s also a great way for them to showcase their talents, everyone helps eachother out, it’s fantastic. We’ve just been lucky. But yeah, all the content, there’s no one else compiling that. That’s me in my bedroom in the middle of the night.
SW: That’s extremely impressive. *laughs* Changing gears a little, you have a lot of live videos on the site, and there’s your “Crotch Light”...Do you want to tell me a little about the Crotch Light?
AP: Actually, that’s the first time I’ve had to think about the origin of the Crotch Light. Like, lighting in rock clubs is so bad generally, and even good rock clubs often have poor lighting. And even if it’s good, it’s not very dramatic--it’s very bland. I think at one point I got the idea of bringing clip lights to the show to try and light us, so that we’d have a little bit more dramatic lighting instead of the little halogen bulbs coming from the ceiling, and in my quest to find a good place to attach the clip light, the keyboard stand stood out as an obvious choice, so I tried it and i thought it was hilarious, and I kept it. *laughs* Just like the night I [first] put on whiteface I didn’t think it would stick, but it did, and so it did, and there you go. If it works, you know, use it.
SW: You’re also a performance artist, right?
AP: Yeah...loosely defined, performance artist.
SW: What do you think about the connection between what you do as a performance artist and what you do in this band?
AP: That’s a huge, long question. I can think of ten answers to that. But I think Laurie Anderson is a great example--she was a performance artist, but her performance art was music, and she’s known as a musician, but what she does is a perfect hybrid between performance art and music, and it’s beautiful to look at, and it’s beautiful to listen to. I think I get tagged as a performance artist mostly because it’s a pretty easy term to describe how I made my living up until the time I had to devote myself completely to the band, which was as a living statue and street performer. Most people would call that performance art, but when I’ve really stood back and looked at it and thought about it, having that job and doing that for so many years, standing still in the street all painted up, standing completely still and relying on the goodwill of other people to pay my rent, actually has really had a huge impact on me as a performer onstage. Any busker in the street who plays music for money out in public would probably say the same thing. It gradually instills a kind of fearlessness in you, so that playing on a stage in front of an audience actually feels very benign and safe and unthreatening, whereas when you’re playing out in the street year after year, you deal with so much bullshit from people, and so much attitude. The reactions you get from everyday people walking by are sometimes so aggressive. I think you just learn after awhile after you’ve had to deal with it, the pressure of being exposed to the general populace, it just steels you as a performer. If I had to say anything about how my performance art has affected my music, it’s less creatively and more fundamentally in what it did to me psychologically as a performer and how I feel in front of a crowd of people. It’s not that I ever had stage fright, because I never did, but it definitely changed the way I felt about the idea of what are performances? What’s important, and how do I connect with an audience? It really helped.
SW: When you’re not being a Dresden Doll and doing everything that comes with that, what do you like doing?
AP: Uh...lately? Everything’s relative...lately I spend so much time just working and slaving and networking for the label that honestly, my free time probably doesn’t look very interesting to anyone. I like to read, drink tea, go for walks [laughs], and doing things that involve very little effort and very little talking. I like to just chill out and do yoga, and most importantly I like making time to spend with people who I love, which didn’t use to be a luxury and now sort of feels like it is. If I want to spend time with someone I really have to try hard to spend time with that person. It becomes an event. It’s so funny how your priorities get shuffled around as soon as your life is slammed. Everything changes.
SW: What are you reading right now?
AP: I’m reading a couple of books right now. I’m reading a fantastic book by Steve Hagen called Buddhism is not what you Think. It’s a really cheesy title, but he’s a fantastic writer. It’s the second book I’ve read by him, and he has this fantastic way of describing the basic, fundamental tenets of Buddhism in layman’s terms. He has a great sense of humor. I’ve always been really interested in Buddhism, so I’m often reading books about that. And I’m reading the classic industry Bible All You Need to Know About the Music Business by Donald Passman. And...god, am I reading anything else? I just started Art and Lies by Jeannette Winterson. I just finished a book and I can’t even remember what it is now, but whatever it is it was good. [laughs] Oh! It was The Tipping Point, which was awesome. Now I forget who it was by, but it’s this fantastic book about trends in marketing, and it’s got all these fascinating statistics and psychology experiments and stuff.
SW: What do you love? [laughs] Like, what makes you happy?
AP: Musically, or just in the grand scheme of things?
SW: Both? In general.
AP: What do I love...huge question. I love making people happy. It’s probably just because you got me thinking about street performing and doing the Eight Foot Bride, which I haven’t had time to do much anymore, but there’s something that I miss about that a lot, which is the experience of being out in the street and creating this seemingly random and unimportant event in someone’s life where they all of a sudden sort of wake up and are distracted form their nagging thoughts and just see something beautiful and are happy for a second. I love that. I miss that. I love love, when it happens. And...I love all of this. I think it’s fantastic. It’s just fascinating to me. All of this, like everything, like the light bulbs and the fake plants in the dressing room and the sun and the sky. I’m just mystified every day. It’s incredible that we’re here, period. [laughs] I love all of it. I love it even when I hate it. I think it’s great.
SW: I guess my last question for you is, with everything going on in the band, what’s the next step for the band or for you as a person?
AP: Well, it’s hard to say. Right now, the major decision facing us is whether we’re going to sign [to a record label] or not. I have a feeling though that whether we sign or not my life is probably going to remain a sort of logistical nightmare for awhile of organizing and plans and stuff and people and networks and contacting and phone calls, and on and on and on and that kind of thing. So I think either way I have to learn how to balance that with going back to being a songwriter, which I’ve missed being for awhile. The amount of time I actually spend behind the piano lately is appalling. It’s almost none. I’ve looked at this last few months and even the past few years of my life as kind of sacrificing my creative side to push the band forward so I can go back to being creative, and I’m starting to realize slowly that it’s not going to be this magical thing that sort of happens and all of a sudden I get to go back to being creative. I’m going to have to start being really greedy with my time and literally saying no. Instead of pushing the band forward in the world, I’m going to have to pull it back and do creative things and sacrifice opportunities and sacrifice meetings and sacrifice people to meet and sacrifice doing radio interviews and say “No, I’m going to write a song instead.” I’ve always held on to this delusion that someday it’ll just magically happen and I’m starting to realize more and more that I’m going to have to steal it, and I hope that happens soon because, you know, if that doesn’t happen then there’s no point in any of this. We have to keep making music, because that’s the important part. I want to grow more musically. The last couple years of my life have basically been a crash course in the music business, and it’s great, and I’m really good at it and I love doing it, but it’s not what I wanted to do, and it’s not what I do want to do. So I want to go back to listening to my records and listening my influences and thinking about what I want to write, because there’s so many things in my head all the time that I don’t have the time to put down and I want to go back to putting them down. And we’re going to be touring a lot, to answer the practical question, we’re going to be touring our little butts off, for god knows how long. We’re probably going to hit the road and never come back in a couple months.
At this point in the interview, Amanda tag-teamed with Brian, trading places with him upstairs to do yet another interview. By the time I was through talking to Brian, they had done three interviews in about as many hours--all before soundchecking and setting up for that night’s show. My, they keep busy. But since I had been expecting to speak to them together and not one-on-one, my questions for Brian could be called ‘Variations on a Theme.’
SW: How do you feel about all the attention you’ve been getting lately?
BV: It’s wonderful to see such a positive response [to the record], obviously. The touring is very exciting, and all the attention the band has been getting is a just a good sign. I mean, I’m in this for the touring, and for the playing, and for the live performance, so it seems like all good signs for me as far as I can tell, that if people out in California are writing and saying “We saw your website and all the press you guys are getting and it looks wonderful and we want to book you out here!,” then great, we’ll go out and play some shows and meet some new people and that sort of thing. So, it’s wonderful.
SW: When you’re not doing stuff with the band, what do you like to do?
BV: I can’t really say I have too many hobbies right now. My focus of what I’ve always been doing has always sort of centered around music, and a lot of self-education in terms of whatever books...I love reading rock biographies and jazz biographies and that sort of thing. It’s always been really interesting [to me]. I have a great circle of friends and people right now that are constantly throwing new records my way. I guess as far as hobbies go I’ve always tended to just find other weird musical projects to be involved in, not that I want to be this single-faceted person that doesn’t do much else [laughs], but I don’t often go for long walks on the beach and hiking in the woods and that sort of thing. I’m not big on TV, or movies really. Good films I am [though], in fact I’ve just met a friend that’s turned me on to some good films. But it’s mostly been centered around being around whatever good people, and very sort of simple pleasures. I love to cook and that sort of thing, and have meals, and when I get the time to throw big dinners and that kind of thing, so, you know, very simple sort of homey pleasures, and then the rest of the time, I spend trying to rock the world, I guess [laughs].
SW: What sort of music are you listening to right now?
BV: There’s this great band called the Tin Hat Trio that I really love, who I came to know about through this band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and the violin player Carla Kilstead has this group called the Tin Hat Trio and they do just beautiful instrumental music. Carla plays violin and maybe viola and cello, and their guitar player plays obviously acoustic guitar and upright bass, and they have a piano player who also plays the drums, so there’s a great mix of sounds. It’s sort of mixed in with that John Zorn kind of strange world, but very beautiful, atmospheric records, and great playing.
I’m a huge jazz fan too, I have a lot of John Coltrane stuff that I listen to. I wouldn’t say I’m this aficionado that knows all the obscure things like that. There’s tons of different musicians that I love to listen to. Also, Jann Tiersen, who is one of the guys that they used a lot of music for the film Amelie. He’s a French composer and he’s got some really beautiful stuff that I’ve just recently been turned on to. It’s nice to hear some new music.
SW: You mentioned that you’re just starting to get into some good films... what are they?
BV: Uh, maybe I spoke too soon. Well, nothing that I’ve actually seen yet, so maybe skip that question [laughs]. It’s mostly that I’m just reconnecting with my social life. I’ve been pretty much cut off from being afforded sort of hang out [time], and this is just something I’ve been able to do over the past month or two, so it’s nice to meet a few new people who are like “Hey, why don’t you come over and we’ll do this or watch this or go out to see this thing,” because the past year or so has been so consumed with practice and gigs and that sort of thing.
I played last fall with several other musical projects, so when you have up to six rehearsals a week and that sort of thing and trying to fill your days with making money by doing whatever sorts of weird pick-up work . I was babysitting, and landscaping, and I still teach drum lessons. I sort of have to rediscover what I’m into, and it’s kind of interesting.
SW: What’s your favorite part of being in this band?
BV: That’s a deep one. My favorite part of being in this band...I guess being given so much opportunity to grow and express myself and sort of plunge the depths of what’s out there musically for myself, and to be in a creative process with someone else who I enjoy working with so much [and] feel like I have such a symbiotic relationship with in this very complimentary sort of thing going where we pick up eachother and it’s a very yin-yang sort of scenario where we balance eachother out with strengths and weaknesses, and getting to deliver such a great fun live performance and having feedback from people saying “That really moved me tonight. Thanks, that’s just what I needed,” and getting to feel like you can be a small part in making someone’s day better.
We get a lot of very sincere thanks and beautiful sorts of gratitude from people saying “My kids love your band, and we’re so into you guys”...it’s this very bonding, loving community of people that we have around, and it feels good to be promoting this feeling of positivity. A lot of times bands can get caught up in their “scene” and/or certain kinds of egos and all kinds of weird head trips that come along with being around musicians and that sort of thing. It’s a very open and inclusive atmosphere that surrounds the Dresden Dolls and our fans, and the whole exchange between we as the band and those guys, and the fact that our crowd is so diverse and that sort of thing. I guess the best thing about that is the feeling that you can bring so many people together one sort of good feeling and one cause and feel so much personal gratification from it, too.
SW: I guess this is my last question...what do you think will be the next step for you as a musician? As far as this band goes and the other bands that you’ve worked with go, what do you think might be the next thing you do?
BV: That’s interesting, that’s something that’s been weighing heavily on my mind right now, because we’re at the beginning of a new cycle where we’ve completed this one batch of songs. We’re a very new band, and all this has happened very quickly for us , so we’re finding we have to learn how to work together and start writing but also evolve and progress, and that’s something I feel very focused on right now, especially in our rehearsals. When the new songs come in, saying “Okay, I feel like we have a pretty good sense of what our sound is. How do we refine it and grow and really push the boundaries of what we’ve been doing so we don’t wind up just repeating ourselves, or getting comfortable with certain devices that get used?” because it can be very easy to do that.
When you have only one songwriter in a group, it can be easy to fall into certain patterns, and I’ve always admired musicians like Miles Davis who have constantly reinvented themselves as they’ve gone on and say “We’ve done this, how to we push it and grow and go as far as we can?” That’s sort of what we’re doing now, and I’m really excited about working with other great musicians. We’ve had a lot of great people come through over the past couple of years that have come sit in with us for our records and at the live shows, and I hope we continue that and continue to expand that musical community and bring in other people from other bands and just watch the whole thing go.
Interview by Sarah Wefald
CrimethInc is a loosely organized anarachist collective with operations all around the nation. They are one of the more outspoken and significant anarchist groups today, and on way they spread their message is through publications. As of the writing of this article, CrimethInc has published four books and has two main zines distributed, but there is no doubt more publications are on the way. All these books are available are http://www.crimethinc.com and many other DIY/anarchist friendly distributors. You can even order Evasion through walmart.com! CrimethInc also offers many of their past publications in pdf format though the website.
Books:
Days of War, Nights of Love by the CrimethInc Workers’ Collective
So far, I’ve seen this book described as a novel and a graphic novel. It’s not “less of a novel and more of an exploded manifesto.” It is a manifesto! Written by several different authors, this book lays out the basic belief system of the CrimethInc collective. Issues addressed include capitalism, love, work, sex, and many others. Overall the book is very easy to understand, even when the writers seem to loose control and fill pages with romantic anarchist rhetoric. The reader should keep in mind that these are the ideas that represent an anarchist collective and not the anarchist philosophy in general. This is important when reading the chapters on sex, hygiene, and the “anarchist equals atheist” argument. But the basics are here and presented very well. I would defiantly suggest this book to anyone interested in anarchist thought, but I’d warn the reader against totally agreeing or disagreeing with the book as a whole. Take from the book what you need to come closer to true freedom.
Evasion by Anonymous
I think that the people who review CrimethInc books are a bit confused by literary genres. This book is not a “novel-like narrative,” and is much closer to a memoir than a novel. But this book refuses to fall into either category since it lacks one crucial element: a plot! Yes, I have some hang-ups on the format and organization of this book, but that’s all trivial given the subject matter and spirit of Evasion. This is the story of a young man who takes up a life of unemployment, homelessness and vagrancy, and loves every minute of it. The author explores subjects like dumpster-diving, shoplifting, and hopping trains in great detail, so much so the reader will be aching to try it out for themselves. The major flaw of this book is the voice of the author. He is constantly restating his philosophy of vagrancy (sometimes it seems that every paragraph ends with a conformation of his adventurous life) and the conversational tone, like, gets out of hand sometimes. Because of these voice issues, it takes
a while for the book to get really interesting (64 pages for me!) but when it does kick into gear, Evasion is thrilling and inspiring. Thanks to this book I have a new respect for hobo and bums, and I’ll never have to worry if I get an unexpected eviction notice.
Stone Hotel: Poems from Prison by Raegan Butcher
This collection of poetry tells the story of a man who has been sent to prison for armed robbery. The poems are straight forward, not muddled by heavy metaphors and rhyme schemes. This is poetry worth reading. I especially enjoyed the novel-like cycle of poems, beginning with his capture and ending with the hopelessness of captive life. Beautiful work.
Off the Map by Kika Kat and Hib Chickena
It is very easy to compare Off the Map with Evasion. Both are about young people in search of life outside the confinements of employment, rent, and consumerism. However, the comparison ends there. Off the Map is the story of two women traveling over Europe in search of life and dreams, not criminal excitement. Kika and Hib capture the wonder and magic of a modern dream quest, engaging the reader in a way Evasion could not. Why it would be nice to be able to tell which of the women is writing without depending on contextual clues, the book is organized very well, including a climax and resolution. I’d suggest this book over Evasion for those more interested in stories than a how-to guide.
Zines:
DIY Guide 2
The topics addressed in this guide include shoplifting, hopping trains, herbal abortion, sewing, black and white photography and much more. Like the first DIY Guide, this little zine makes you want to try out every activity described (well, perhaps you shouldn’t take this approach with the herbal abortions). If you’re interested in DIY ethics, you’d want to check out this zine, and the best thing is it’s free from CrimethInc.
The Walls are Alive!
This zine is a detailed guide to graffiti. Everything you want to know about tagging and urban art is included. Personally I’m not one for graffiti, but after reading this zine I’m pretty sure I could pull it off without any hassle. There is also a chapter on wheatpasting for those poster enthusiasts out there. Also free from CrimethInc.
Dead Chretiens
WEATAX
The Chretiens take pride in not having an internet presence at all, forcing people to find the band through zines and word of mouth. What to be found is greatly different from most punk rock and borders on absurd home-taping from a cabal of Canadian who just don’t give a fuck. This cassette tape is truly hardcore DIY, with no fancy labels, photocopied inserts and is no doubt dubbed on a boom box. The music itself ranges from fast, super lo-fi punk rock to loose, noisy chaos. The eight tracks clock in at 15 minutes, giving room for the album to be put four times on the hour-long cassette. Honestly, I cannot claim to have understood a single lyric on the tape, but from the titles I can assume that the topics of hobos, welfare taxes and some fucker named Scott weigh heavy on these boys’ minds. This is rude, in-your-face, unapologetic stuff!
Kinski/Acid Mothers Temple
Split
I saw both of these bands live in Cleveland a year ago and I never thought what it would be like if these two space rock monsters collaborated. If I had, I think my head would have exploded. Acid Mothers Temple are the masters of neo-psychedelic rock and with Kawabata Makoto at the helm, they can do no wrong, I mean, the man can play guitar with his shoe! Kinski is the new kid on the block, specializing in slow forming epics that climax in layer distorted guitars for maximum rock-out. This split EP is where the two meet. Each band gets their own track and collaborate on two other tracks. Kinski’s offering, “Fell Asleep on You Lawn” is better than anything from their album Airs Above Your Station, following the space rock formula without coming off as dull and predictable. The first collaborative track, “It’s Nice to Hear Your Voice” is a beautiful example of what the groups are capable of when they tone things down. An ethereal classic! “Planet Crazy Gold” has more of the guitars Kinski is famous for, but the ethereal sensibilities of Acid Mothers Temple still take precedence. The final track, Acid Mothers Temple’s “Virginal Plane 5:23,” is a twenty-six minute freak out from the masters of the genre. While it’s not as interesting as the tracks from the recent Electric Heavyland it remains true AMT.
Low
Murderer
Every Low release borders on perfection and this 10” EP is no exception. After hearing the title track I began to wonder if Low isn’t really a band but rather a trio of prophets channeling the voice of God into signals audible to the human ears. They are that good. The three tracks on this EP fit right into Low’s evolution as a band. There is an obvious hint of folk influence in the mix, while the general mood varies from frustration to nostalgic melancholy to awe inspired joy. “Murderer” is the real standout track for me, containing some of Alan Sparhawk’s best lyrics. The other tracks, “Silver Rider” and “From Your Place on Sunset” are also wonderful tracks, but are much more somber compared to the bold “Murderer.” If you’re one of those poor souls who prefers music perfect for suicides, find this release before it is gone!
Pelican
Australasia
When I first saw Pelican play as a 7000 Dying Rats show, I thought they were a doom metal band. Their brand of metal was extremely heavy, slow and menacing. This album captures that mood perfectly. While I stick to the assertion that Pelican is a doom/stoner metal band, they are not a traditional one. The average track time is ten minutes, so Pelican takes their time unfolding their songs, often switching keys and toying with dynamics. This isn’t all doom and gloom, there’s plenty of major key riffs to prevent any tedium. Because of their strung out tracks and musical prowess, I’m quicker to compare them with bands like Kinski than Black Sabbath. Australasia features some great balls-to-the-wall metal but any fans of smart instrumental music will find this greatly enjoyable.
Silver Mount Zion
This Is Our Punk-Rock, Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing
Silver Mount Zion is part of the large musician collective focused around the seminal experimental rock group Godspeed You Black Emperor! and the connections between the bands are very apparent. Both write extremely long tracks, usually broken up into two or more sections, and both approach songwriting with an unfolding technique, massive walls of heavenly sound evolving from basically nothing. That’s where the similarities end. Unlike GYBE!, Silver Mount Zion makes use of vocals to add more context to their music’s political nature. Also, the instrumentation is considerably softer and more ethereal on this release. The vocal duties are filled by Efrim, the figurehead of the collective. The first thing the listener will think when she hears Efrim is, “Man, this guy can not sing.” It’s true, the vocals are not the most traditionally pleasing, but the strain and humility in Efrim’s cracking voice lends beautifully to the album’s melancholy.
The Calvin and Hobbes Guide to Daily Life
I was never a very big fan of Calvin and Hobbes. I think this comes from the length of the comics and the retirement of Bill Watterson while I was still young. Since its removal from Sunday funnies, my only exposure to the cartoon was from crude drawings of Calvin pissing indiscriminately on various corporate logos but never as an expression of anti-consumerism, but rather a Faustian pledge to singular brands. I wonder what Bill thinks of that! In any case, this zine totally redefined my perception of the comic. Hidden in games of Calvinball, snow forts and imagined fighter jets are hints of subversion, anarchism, and anti-consumerism. Scratch that! There are explicit subversive messages in this comic! Editor Robin Banks picks out some of the finest Calvin and Hobbes strips and provided insightful commentary (though the comics often speak for themselves). Topics addressed are school, work, the environment and the media. Any fan of Watterson’s classic comic should get a hold of this.
½ page, photocopied | Free | CrimethInc Urban Pirates, PO Box 2133, Greensboro, NC 27402
Heart Vs Brain #1 & #4
This is the zine that got me into perzines. From the very first words of the first entry of the first issue, I was hooked! Aubrey is an amazing writer and her way with words makes me genuinely feel close to her. This is some of the most confessional writing I have ever read, reminding me much of Sylvia Plath, and like Plath, Aubrey’s prose constantly borders on poetry. This is the real deal. Issue #1 is a basic introduction of the writer through journal entries with the overall theme of love and the need to express it. The fourth issue is a short and sweet introduction of Jane and Nora, the two alternative personas Aubrey created for herself. While the style is quite different from #1, the quality of the writing is maintained. Heart Vs Brain is a prime example of what a great personal zine is and I hope Aubrey never puts down her pen.
½ page, photocopied | ???? | Aubrey H., PO Box 6375, Portland, OR 97228-6375, USA
I Just Wanna Live My Life
This is the first issue in the I Just Wanna… series and is the first zine authored by Bucky of Valiant Death Records. Bucky writes about his band, social observations and the war on Iraq. He reviews only two CDs, but the reviews are in-depth and blend with the personal tone of the zine. It’s a quick read and a good first effort. I look forward to the next issues.
¼ page, photocopied | $1.00 | Valiant Death Records, 3337 Poplar Drive, Smithfield, VA 23430 | http://www.valiantdeath.com
Legends Magazine #138
I guess Legends Magazine is much more of a goth e-zine than a print zine and this print copy only reinforces this idea. While a lot of the content is pretty good (super-detailed book and music reviews, interview with goth band Distorted Reality) some of it is just terrible, namely the short story that reads like a lame rip-off of a lame urban legend. Accompanying this story are CGI illustrations what just look bad with the low contrast, black and white printing job. The reviews are pretty good and really detailed, but they are scattered all over the zine without any sort of organization. Also, the book reviews are only for ultra-obscure sci-fi pulps that no one has any chance of finding a copy. Add a few very unfunny cartoons and you have a pretty boring music zine. I can’t believe they get this professionally printed and charge $3.50 for it. Check out the website and save your cash.
professionally printed? | $3.50 | www.legendsmagazine.net
Minderheit #1
This photo zine covers shows in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas. The bands featured are Of Death, Reaver, League of Struggle, Akkolyte, Phobia, The Locust, Pretty Little Flower, Fast Times, Bread and Water, and Resist and Exist. The pictures and layout is great and the excitement of the shows is well represented. The Locust, the biggest act in the zine, gets more space than the other bands, but that’s forgivable. Contact info for each band is provided.
½ legal, photocopied | $1.00 or 3 stamps | Andrew and Jack, 6325 Lange Circle, Dallas, TX 75214
National Sleazographic #1 & #2
I picked up these zines at the cult video shop, Plan 9, in Bloomington, IN. The majority of the content is reviews of various cult movies like The Baby, the Sinful Dwarf and Spider Baby. The reviews are very detailed and knowledgeable and make use of a rating system that addresses factors of sleaziness, entertainment, and technical quality. There is also a guide to the alternative video stores in the Bloomington area. If you find yourself in Bloomington, stop by Plan 9 and pick up these zines for a quarter each. While you’re there, rent Battle Royal. It kicks serious ass.
The Perfect Mix Tape Segue #2: Brutal Honest Tea
What I liked the most about this perzine is the unity of the writing. The author focuses on one subject for most of the zine instead of jumping all over the place like many perzines do. The author, Joe, finds himself questioning his accomplishments (or lack there of) and examines his place in the DIY community. Anyone interested in the underground music/zine community should find this zine of importance since these feelings of inadequacy are inevitable. Also included are “roommate reviews,” which adds a rather lighthearted end to a serious zine.
4 ¾ x 4 ¾, photocopied | ???? | Joe, PO Box 14332, Portland OR 97293, USA | www.microcosmpublishing.com
Retard Riot #3 & #4
The main draw to Retard Riot is Noah Lyon’s brilliantly insane artwork. These small zines are filled with absurdist art, both drawn and cut-n-paste. My personal favorite is crude drawing of a man shooting the head off a cat in issue #4. Issue #3 contains some poetry and a product review of Nyquil. I suggest you send a SASE to Mr. Lyon and get you daily fix of inanity.
1/8 page, photocopied | SASE | Noah Lyon, 67 Barclay Road, Clintondale, NY 12515, USA
Stolen Sharpie Revolution 2nd Edition
You know that saying of how the first Velvet Underground record didn’t sell that well but for every copy sold a band was formed? I see this zine/book as doing the very same thing. This is the second edition of an already very influential one-shot zine. Author Alex Wrekk gives the zine an overall make over and adds a few more sections of great DIY advice. Everything is addressed in here! There are templates for zines (helped me make an address book for a Xmas gift) and homemade envelopes. There’s a great section on DIY crafts that covers silk-screening, block printing, making your own recycled paper, book binding with twine, and much more. Try some of the tips on finding/promoting/trading zines. There’s even some info on starting up your own zine distro. Really, this should be required reading for anyone interested in making a zine. I keep my copy on with me at all times, if not for reference, then for inspiration.
perfect-bound book | $3.00 | Microcosm Publishing, PO Box 14332, Portland, OR 97293, USA | www.microcosmpublishing.com
Visual Thought #1 & #3
From the creator of Tiki: Girl Without a Cause and Escaping Suburbia, these zines are nothing but art. The fact that the zines have only drawings as content makes them a little hard to take seriously. The art is of the stereotypical anime variety and is quite derivative at times. The artwork in issue #3 shows improvement over the fist issue, with the artist using different subject matter and styles. Really, I cannot see how this zine would appeal to many people, but fans of Tiki: Girl Without a Cause may show interest. While I did not enjoy the artwork alone, Visual Thought has sparked my interest in the author’s other projects.
¼ page, photocopied | ???? | Jen, 11 Ascot Ct, Welland, ON L3C 6K7, Canada | tikijen@hotmail.com
Whizzbanger Guide to Zine Distributors #7
The title says it all. This nicely made zine offers self descriptions of 55 distributors with the author’s own input added. There are also listings of zine stores, zine libraries and dependable reviewers. This is a pretty good resource for zinesters, especially if they put out poetry zines, which a typically harder to move than prose based zines. Half of this zine is an extremely detailed catalog of Whizzbanger’s other zines. Highly recommended.
Full page, spiral bound | $5.00 | Whizzbanger Productions, PO Box 5591, Portland, OR 97228, USA