Roots, pt. 5: The Comfy Men

C-Mac, Marty Skeels, Alex Halatsis, Arran Rogerson, Paul Igaz

The Next four years were pretty empty musically.  There were some bands that kept the end of high school interesting that I will discuss in more detail later such as Down/B, the Hispanics, and The Tangles, but once I left Basking Ridge it almost seemed like my days as a musician were over.  That was of course until my first visit to Alameda.

The previous Summer was when that small Bay Area's music scene really began to blossom and I was lucky enough to visit Paul Igaz and Alex Halatsis in the early days and get back to playing some music.  The musicians involved were the three of us plus Marty Skeels and Arran Rogerson.  It should be by now known that the other four went onto become Flash Gilmore & The Funbeatles, one of the finest bands of our time.  This record was made in about one day, I think the second time we played together over Winter break 2007-2008.

It should be noted that the greatest inspiration of this music was not good friends, partying, or seeing "America done right" for the first time, but rather an odd invention designed by Paul:  The Manstroller.  Yes, a stroller for men.  It was constructed out of a regular shopping cart-stroller hybrid and adapted into its new form by Halatsis, Igaz, myself, and local legend Jordan Pollard.

Pollard removes a bar.

I remove another bar.

The Manstroller gave this record - like the Funbeates' Debauchery Playground, a unique 8-track piece, its title, image, and general idea.  It was recorded in Paul's basement, one of the best-sounding locations in which I have ever played music on an analogue 4-track and contains a healthy balance of original songs, improvisations, and classic covers.  The titles are, as is the band name, unofficial and I only name them for reference, and that they are widely agreed upon, rather than the nebulous and forgotten tracks on The Power of Rawk.  Other band name ideas included the Robots and my personal FAvoite, The Gadzooks.

We open with "I Don't Know" demonstrates the band's power of creating a song out of nothing and not caring if it makes sense, so long as it sounds great.  Would you believe?

Next up is the classic title track.  This has been a beloved classic of the Alameda scene since its debut and was even redone true to form by the Funbeatles. It's got some great riffs, and I think is my best work, personally on the album.

Following a cover of "You Shook Me All Night Long" is "When We're 80" a pervy creep-emo send-up about lusting for a much younger girl - especially considering this is a song by 20 year-olds.  It is also quite memorable and catchy.

We moved into more experimental territory with the next track, an improvised song with vocals I call "Where Did She Go?" and then an interesting cover of "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, pt. 1" with great synthesizer from Marty and Alex's aggressive goof-punk that define the record distracting from my sloppiness on the bass.

The record is then closed with two jams.  The first one being quite short with some crazy vocal yelps and a return to the guitar for Marty, and the second being the longest track (though still less than 6 minutes) that I would not hesitate to describe as krauty.

In a lot of ways this band never ended.  With Sam Rogerson in my old place they recorded another record about a year later before becoming the Beatles and later Flash Gilmore and the Funbeatles.  I was a fixture of their audience and played with them on occasion with this band practically reforming for the creation of their song "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" and the idea of a few more.  Then that ended and we had Sunfighter, The Comfort Creatures, The Darflers, The Perennial Babymen of Alameda, the Last Nights, and many more.

DOWNLOAD:  The Comfy Men - Manstrollin' (2008)

Next up:  Pre-Super River days in Los Angeles with Ways.

Have YOU Been to Stockholm?

Unfortunately, this month will continue to sag in posts as this weekend I will be going up North. The main reason is that for a second week in a row I will be attending a California region's second best music festival: Party in the Pines in Big Sur. I am pretty amped to not only see Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti again, but also to see a band I have wanted to for over three and a half years - Dungen.

A few months back I posted their follow-up to this album, and indisputable masterpiece. This one, originally released in 2002 made its way to the US in 2005 and in my experience stands up more than any of the following albums do. Hopefully the group's set won't rely too much on that stuff. More seventies-style psych-rock here, and quite a bit more pop-oriented than the harder, trippier Ta Det Lugnt. The album, which's translated title is "City Walks" kicks off with catchy title track that keeps your ears glues as much as the follow-up's "Panda" does. Urban tribute "Har du vart' i Stockholm?" makes it a solid one-two punch that makes the album as great a tribute to the band's home city as classics like Midnite Vultures and Marquee Moon did for Beck and Television, respectively ...and all without understanding the language!

Whereas later efforts show Gustav Ejstes trying to recapture the mastery of Ta Det Lugnt, this album is the sound of him honing his craft in creating the best vintage-style psychedelia, nay music of this decade while displaying his multi-instrumental virtuosity. His way with folkier European arrangements is remarkable as well with "Sol och Regn" being a fiddle and flute instrumental on par with the bonus disc included in the reissue of the follow-up. It is one of the album's finest tracks. Like most other music of the present half of the decade, forget about Dungen's later work - this is the next stop for them. Either way, though I am expecting a life-changing performance from the crew this weekend, and this should give anyone else who will be joining me similar expectations.


Dungen - Stadsvandringar (2002)

Don't Search for Love, Make It

There's definitely nothing like this.

Within the first few weeks of high school George Brady, a talented musician in his own right was bringing in extra large photos of his father proving that Jimi Hendrix had stolen his Caribbean look. It was pretty convincing. The saga continued two years ago as two friends of mine, while enrolled in an NYU documentary course, made a documentary (whcih I wish were online almost as much as Brady himself does) about the musician at the suggestion of one of his neighbors who was in the same group. That was when I first discovered this remarkable album art. It was about a year later, though, that I managed to hear the music, and I think it's pretty cool. My friend Sam Park strongly agrees.

Think CAN with a steel drum. That is probalby the best short description I cna give, but a strong one regardless. The steel drum is what makes this so unique and such a fascinating listen. The drum works in this psychedelic milieu much like the organ does, but with a more abrasive, organic, and exotic tone. The album kicks off really hard with "Glass House," maybe the best song on the album and the band jams out quite well, honestly, on par with a lot of the artists of the same time in West Germany. The energy on this track does not wane through the rest of the album especially on "Once Upon a Candle." The band functions well, letting Brady's unusual talents shine through while accompanying him perfectly. Brady's lyrics and vocals play a massive part into this album being so otherworldly, as his voice is not the greatest and his lyrics tilt rapidly between psychedellic psychobabble (see "Halucinodream") and stream-of-consciousness preaching. However it all works well and as hard as it would be to believe after seeing some of this documentary, Brady's "It's a Good World Outside" sounds sincere and is pretty effective.


Victor Brady - Brown Rain (197?)

Take It Easy, Jon and Miriam

This weekend I was away in Nashville (the greatest!!!) for a wedding for a friend of mine. His taste, to an extent, was reflected in what I listened to in the car, and this is one of the best examples.

It had been a few years since I had really spun this one, but at first it was a massive part of not only my life, but that of the people around me. It is one of the best psychedelic records of this decade, far and away and should not be missed by any fans of rock 'n' roll (granted I would think many of the readers here have it already, but I should take no chances here).

Dungen is a Swedish "group," though their records are made almost entirely by Gustav Ejstes who clearly excels in every instrument, composition, and in the art of sound recording. It is a pretty great album for any occasion as it can get loud and fast and also have moments of transcendently beautiful psychedelia. Some of the best exaples of Dungen's sound here are the rockin' opener "Panda," the catchy folk-rocker "Festival," and the gorgeous "Det Du Tänker Idag Är Du Imorn." What really sets the band apart is the use of Swedish lyrics, as almost every other group to acheive crossover success from that nation has used mostly English. One flaw of the Ejstes', however, is that the sound is not the most original, but at least it serves as a good anchor and I can firmly state that fans of other exotic psychedelia like Ghost, Amon Düül II, and Erkin Koray should not miss out.

Also included is a mostly instrumental bonus disc which really fits in with the rest of the album, most notably on "Jämna Plågor."


Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt (2004)

In other news, though, Jay Bennett, formerly of Wilco died on the 24th. The cause has not been announced, he brought a lot to the band and his influence is best heard on 1999's Summer Teeth.

Jay at his peak during the recording of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

"The Music From and Inspired By..." Reversed

Last evening when working with my screenwriting partner Alphonzo Stein I for the first time got the opportunity to describe the ending to one of my favorite films, Werner Herzog's Heart of Glass, which I will not spoil right now. Either way, it is maybe the most powerful end I've seen in cinema. The topic came up as I played the Popol Vuh album of the same name (albeit in French (and German to clarify?)), which has a lot of the same power as the film itself.

The music, however is hardly included in the film itself which, is more dominated musically by classical, however in the essay that Herzog wrote for the liner notes of the Popol Vuh reissues he discusses the level of inspiration he took from his closest friend Florian Ficke's music, all of which had been composed and recorded before the production of the films he scored (Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Heart of Glass, Fitzcarraldo, Nosferatu, and Cobra Verde).

Popol Vuh was one of the first krautrock groups to heavily use the Moog, but they moved further into world music in some of their later work. This album and it's building instrumentals not unlike followers Sigur Rós could only be described as "transcendent."



















Florian Ficke on the set of Herzog's The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser