(Throw On) The Hazard Lights. Slaves' Graves. Slaves' Graves. Grandfather's Hanging. We Are Swaddled. Hazard Lights (Reprise). A Labor More Restful. Ladies, You Have Exiled Me. Because Your Light Is Turning Green. Obscure Wisdom. This Weather. Since I Opened. This is a new, unopened CD in its original.
The prolific experimental pop collective the Dirty Projectors return with Slaves' Graves & Ballads, their third album in a year. Originally, the album was released as two EPs early in 2004, but despite the high-concept nature of each of the EPs, all of the songs fit together well, making the album cohesive as well as diverse. The first half of Slaves' Graves & Ballads features Dave Longstreth backed by a ten-piece chamber group he founded called the Orchestral Society for the Preservation of the Orchestra. While this could seem pretentious coming from many other artists, the sense of drama the chamber group brings to Longstreth's distinctive crooning and cryptic lyrics ('the way a logo is different from an icon') actually makes it more immediate than some of the Dirty Projectors' other music. The combination of the sweeping strings, woodwinds, and brass with Longstreth's small, keening voice throws each element into even sharper contrast.
The mix of majesty and intimacy in songs like the oddly alert, anticipatory 'On the Beach' and 'Slaves' Graves' may be theatrical, but it's distinctly emotional too; '(Throw On) The Hazard Lights' and 'Hazard Lights (Reprise)' recall the primitive grandeur of The Glow, Pt. 2-era Microphones, with even more fraying around the edges. As with all Dirty Projectors music, things feel like they're on the edge of collapse. Acoustic guitars waver between delicate plucking and atonal strumming, woodwinds recorded far into the red take on feedback-like qualities, percussion punctuates the songs at unexpected moments, and Longstreth's often-garbled warbling can tend to grate. Still, the orchestral arrangements on Slaves' Graves feel like a natural resting place for the Dirty Projectors' lyrical and musical voice.
The second half of Slaves' Graves & Ballads takes a very different tack, stripping the arrangements down to mostly just Longstreth's voice and guitar, with the odd bit of playful multi-tracking here and there (which works especially well on the lovely pop of 'Because Your Light Is Turning Green'). This approach isn't as immediately striking as Longstreth's earlier orchestral experiments, but it does highlight the strangely soulful, timeless feel of his melodies, especially on 'A Labor More Restful,' 'Ladies, You Have Exiled Me,' and 'Obscure Wisdom' - a song title that sums up Longstreth's aesthetic well. The Dirty Projectors are still something of an acquired taste, but Slaves' Graves & Ballads is proof enough that Longstreth's twists and turns are worth following. Heather Phares.
If the left can politicize everything, than goddamn it, so can I! Below is a video of the Monks performing their classic “Boys Are Boys and Girls Are Choice.” The song is from their 1966 LP, Blank Monk Time, one of the many fine additions to the more obscure cannon of 60s rock, right along side The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of Contemporary Protest, Point of Views and General Dissatisfaction and The Fugs by the Fugs, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators and Easter Everywhere by the 13 Floor Elevators, The Seeds and A Web of Sound by the Seeds and Here Are the Sonics!!! And Boom by the Sonics.
You can read all of the Monks’ biographical trivia at their. The important thing to know is that they dressed like monks when they performed, and they had a unique approach to the two and half minute song formula that focused on rhythmic hooks and utilized the fun “chinka-chinka” sound of Dave Day’s banjo, somehow making the songs so stupidly catchy that there are times when I could listen to Black Monk Time on repeat for days at a clip. Also their sound influenced the deliberately repetitive “vamping” of German “kraut rock” bands like Can and Neu!, and the Fall site the Monks as a huge influence and have covered several of their songs. Now, obviously, there’s nothing political about the song “Boys Are Boys and Girls Are Choice”; it’s just a song about the joy of being a guy going after a girl (presumably when it was more fun and wouldn’t get you accused of rape). But in the current year, when “transgender” freaks are pushing an agenda that says a person can now choose his, her or its gender, rather being ASSIGNED a gender at birth by, ya know, having a set of cock ‘n’ balls or a wet, oozing vagina, the song BECOMES political. On top of that, it celebrates heterosexuality; I mean, if you’re a straight guy, girls are choice, aren’t they? Provided they’re not fat or ugly, that is.
And don’t get mad at me for saying that; being fat and ugly are problems that are relatively easy to fix. Ironically the people at Light in the Attic records, who released phenomenal vinyl and CD reissues of, probably think I’m a “transphobic” bigot for writing this piece. Or maybe they secretly believe in the song’s message and are trying to push the Monks’ evil and vile agenda. With some BernieBro “pulling an A-Team” – my new colloquialism for firing a lot of rounds at no particular target and hitting almost nothing – on Majority House Whip Steve Scalise and the recent outrage surrounding Kathy Griffin and her holding a prop of what looked like Donald Trump’s bloody decapitated head, liberals have been feigning outrage, claiming, “GAWSH, they don’t represent US!!! We may HATE Donald Trump and any politician with an ‘R’ by his or her – actually it’s zhe’s, fascists! – name, but we certainly don’t advocate using violence against them!” I believe that these people are 100% sincere in their claim, and I also believe that they’re sincere when they say things like “I may not agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” In fact, I have several friends who identify as liberal, leftist and even “left-leaning” who know I voted for Donald Trump and don’t think I’m the antichrist for doing so. We have many fine conversations about a variety of topics from films, music and the arts but, when it comes to politics, many of my liberal or left-leaning friends balk and guffaw at certain claims that I make.
Some of their choice responses include the following: “Fine, Edwin, if leftism is a mental disorder, than I guess we’re your mentally ill friends!” “Yeah, SURE, the Democrats JUST want to take your guns! I’m still taken aback when people act surprised when they find out that Johnny Ramone was a Republican. Make no mistake; John “Johnny Ramone” Cummings, the down-strumming, ax-slingin’ guitarist for what many consider either the first or the most influential punk rock band of all time, was an unabashed Nixon and Reagan supporter, a staunch proponent of the death penalty (“they should put it on TV for everyone to see”) and a practicing Catholic, and he wore “Kill a Commie for mommy” and “Kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out” t-shirts under his black leather motorcycle jacket; all while playing the often copied guitar riffs that appear on every Ramones album and were played at every Ramones gig. He even admitted he played his guitar as if it were a Commie blasting machine gun.
People are even more surprised to learn what Johnny Ramone’s OTHER obsessions were; baseball cards, comic books, horror movies and serial killers. Okay, they’ll concede that, between going to church, attempting to outlaw abortion and finding ways to screw poor people, all while hypocritically preaching about family values and the need to quell inner city crime, members of the GOP CAN be fans of baseball cards, comic books and horror movies but serial killers?! What would Sean Hannity think?
Or Pat Buchanan? How does one allegedly support God, mom, apple pie and family values while obsessively reading about the exploits of Ed Gein and John Wayne Gacy? When Johnny Ramone started the Ramones, he said very plainly that the group’s formula was to write two minute songs with loud, buzz-saw guitars, catchy pop melodies and “sick” – as in morbid, twisted, weird, unusual, dark, disturbing – topics. And did they accomplish this task? Being on the right and being into punk rock but those things can’t POSSIBLY go together? Or so I’ve been told by a handful of people who recently called me a poser, saying I remind them of Ian Rubbish, the singer for a made up band called the Bizzaros (not, of course, to be confused with ), that was featured on a and whose Johnny Rotten-esque singer – played by Fred Armison – praises, rather than denounces, Margaret Thatcher.
Well, yeah, England COULD use another Margaret Thatcher no matter how many songs. But, what’s interesting, aside from how people found it hilarious to compare me to this Ian Rubbish character, is that people said I CLEARLY missed the message of punk as espoused by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, the Lennon/McCartney figures of the Clash (well except that Mick Jones is a guitarist, but that’s besides the point). Clearly YOU, Mr./Mrs. Know-Nothing-About-Punk-Rock, missed the message of punk as espoused by THESE songs: “Well there goes a girl and a half/she’s got me going up and down” – “Peaches” by the Stranglers “I don’t really wanna dance/Girl, I just wanna get in your pants” – “I Need Lunch” by the Dead Boys “You’re wild, and I’m wild about you” – “Wild About You” by the Saints “I got a new rose, I got it good/I always knew that I always would” – “New Rose” by the Damned “Gonna smile, I’m gonna laugh/you’re gonna get a blood bath” – “Glad to See You Go” by the Ramones.
“Why don’t you get raped?” – “Get Raped” by Eater (my last ex REALLY liked Eater by the way.) “You tried it out for once/find it all right for kicks/and now you find out that it’s a habit that sticks/you’re an orgasm addict” – “Orgasm Addict” by the Buzzcocks So there you have it. Punk rock stands for girls and a half who make you “go up and down”, while wanting to get in a girl’s pants, who you are wild about and who might be your new rose, all while laughing before giving someone a blood bath or telling a girl to get raped; oh, and of course jerking off. How did you people, who know so much about punk rock, miss THOSE messages?! But what’s really ironic is that these people, who claim that I missed “what punk’s about” because I don’t follow whatever Marxist/leftist nonsense that the Clash espouses – and which Kathy Schaidle, the adorable punk rocker turned Takimag columnist who told me to check out the, called – apparently missed what it’s about as well. At least according to the anarchist band Crass, who spits on the Clash, their phony labor-leftist pose and their being signed to CBS-fucking-records for crying out loud. They said that we were trash, Well the name is Crass, not Clash.
They can stuff their punk credentials Cause it’s them that take the cash. They won’t change nothing with their fashionable talk, All their RAR (rock against racism) badges and their protest walk, Thousands of white men standing in a park, Objecting to racism’s like a candle in the dark. Black man’s got his problems and his way to deal with it, So don’t fool yourself you’re helping with your white liberal shit. If you care to take a closer look at the way things really stand, You’d see we’re all just niggers to the rulers of this land. Oo, almost got a Jim Goad vibe going there err, maybe not Of course, I think Crass and the Clash are both retarded. But THEN, I read the lyrics to the Clash song “Safe European Home”, and I had a “what the fuck is THIS shit?” moment!
I’m nearly getting a boner at telling the modern day, Clinton supporting, corporate leftists that their “anti-racist, left-wing” proletariat heroes are pretty much about as racist as Skrewdriver. Don’t believe me? Okay, let’s see Well, I just got back an I wish I never leave now (Where’d ya’ go?) Who that Martian arrival at the airport, yeah?
(Where’d ya’ go?) How many local dollars for a local anesthetic? (Where’d ya’ go?) The Johnny on the corner wasn’t very sympathetic (Where’d ya’ go?) translation: I just arrived in Jamaica, and I REALLY feel like an outsider. None of these guys even want to sell any drugs to me! I went to the place where every white face Is an invitation to robbery An’ sitting here in my safe European home Don’t wanna go back there again translation: I’m white, Jamaicans will rob me, this place is scary and I want to leave. Wasn’t I lucky, wouldn’t it be lovely? (Where’d ya’ go?) Send us all cards and have a lay in on Sunday (Where’d ya’ go?) I was there for two weeks, so how come I never tell now? (Where’d ya’ go?) That natty dread drinks at the Sheraton Hotel, yeah?
(Where’d ya’ go?) translation: I’ve been here for two weeks, and this place still sucks. They got the sun and they got the palm trees (Where’d ya’ go?) They got the weed and they got the taxis (Where’d ya’ go?) Whoa, “The Harder They Come” and the home of ol’ Bluebeat (Where’d ya’ go?) I’d stay and be a tourist but I can’t take the gun play (Where’d ya’?) translation: I thought I would like this place because of the sun, palm trees, weed, taxis, and bluebeat, but I’m a white guy who can’t handle all of the crime in this country. Okay, that’s not as bad as Skrewdriver and their, “they come here to this country from the jungles and the trees”, but it’s still not the leftist, politically correct, “power to the people” crap that people typically associate with the Clash. I mean, the group is blatantly saying, “Jamaica is a shithole, and as a white person, I probably don’t belong there.” Hey, don’t yell at me! I didn’t write it! I prefer non-racist bands who talk about banging broads and killing people.
Of course, knowing punk fans, they’ll probably rationalize it and say that I’m totally mistaken and misread the lyrics. OR, maybe I can get the leftists at Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll to denounce the Clash the way they did with the Anti-Nowhere League for THIS song.