Fuck yeah.

I just had practice earlier today with the reunion lineup of Fetal Pig that’s going to be performing at Vaudeville Mews July 23rd. The lineup is the brothers Hutchison and myself (interestingly, this same lineup has performed as Why Make Clocks once, at The Replay Lounge in Lawrence). It was awesome. Des Moines old-skoolas ought to get your asses out there for this show — Going To Grandma’s will also be doing the reunion thing on that show (same Hutchisons are involved).

Just yesterday, I put out How To Decompose: The Best Of Exit Drills on Bandcamp. Exit Drills, originally named E.D.I.T.H., was a band I formed with Stacy Peck, Matt McGuire, and Josh Schneiderman in 1999. We had a nervy, angry noise-punk sound that’s still quite unlike anyone else I’ve heard, but if can imagine a cross between Mission Of Burma and Pussy Galore doing a snarky take on themes of paranoia and social disconnection, you might be in the general neighborhood.

So a couple years ago I thought it would be cool to compile an album of the best versions of as many Exit Drills songs as I could, pulling from various recordings, including live versions. A good chunk of this CD in fact comes from our set at a “battle of the bands” thing that The Reverb put on in March 2003, because I think we really nailed that set. The band lineup at that time was myself, Josh, and Peter Vanderwall, who some of you may remember as the drummer of A Is Jump before Phil Sterk. In Exit Drills, he was on bass. So I selected tracks, burned up a few CD-Rs and printed some covers, thought I’d put them in with my own CDs on the merch table at my shows.

Well now you can get it as a download. As with all my stuff that I put out on Bandcamp for download, it’s a name-your-own-price deal with no minimum, which basically implies that it’s free (just enter 0 for the price) unless you just happen to be feeling generous. However, be advised that any money you put in there goes straight to me personally. It might pay my web hosting bills, I might buy beer with it. If by some weird trick of fate it starts selling like mad, then I’d have to start thinking about Stacy’s cut, and Josh’s, and Peter’s, and Matt’s, and Kevin’s, and Aaron’s.

Every member of Exit Drills or E.D.I.T.H. during its history is heard on here somewhere. There are tracks from our very first show, and one from our very last. There are tracks from the recordings we did with Brian Cox in Cedar Rapids, one that we recorded with Joe Terry of The Poison Control Center (who started out with an actual poison-control-center theme similarly to how Exit Drills started out with a fire-safety theme, by the way), some of our own homestyle recordings, and a whole lot of stuff off of board tapes from gigs.

While you’re over there, you may want to check out my solo stuff too. Both of them include some remakes of songs that Exit Drills did first.

Albeit an acoustic one, I suppose. Details on their blog.

Got this in my inbox from Jason Kruger:

Subject: Ambient Funk Playwright Society seeks participants for show

I would like to thank you for your help in promotion for our show. We are only sort of organized in getting the word out right now and have revved up our word getting out now. Here is some more information for you to consume how you wish.

The show will be an alternative arts fest with music, art, and speaking and food. It runs at the same time in Cedar Falls as the College Hill Arts Fest. Anything people could do would be appreciated. People could even do a piece or pieces specifically for this or a collaboration and participation could always be used on a resume or something. If you can’t make it to the show then we have people who could transport stuff there and back. There are no charges for participation, but we do ask that participants donate a work or documentation to the AFPS Archives. Donated works will not be sold for ten years but may be a part of future shows without further approval of the artist, though we will do our best to contact the artist using contact info provided by them.

previously.

If It’s True!’s self-titled album sounds unusually accomplished for a debut full-length, it should come as no surprise. According to a news article I caught on the web site of some Omaha paper, this lineup came together on account of Adam Hawkins having impressed enough people with his songwriting and voice through low-key performances at places like O’Leavers that he was eventually able to rally some of the city’s top instrumentalists behind him.

This delightful set of pop songs starts off in a dreamy waltz-ballad vibe (introduced by the same lovely la-la-la harmonies that impressed me so the first time I saw this band perform live), and then stays there for three songs. In less skilled hands, such a sequence of tunes would be in danger of sleepy monotony, but Hawkins and his band have great ears for detail, (as well as dynamics, as evidenced by the tension-building bridge of the gorgeous “Nothing Like”) so when the pace finally picks up with the straightforward rocker “As Long As We’re Together,” one has no complaints that the shift in mood didn’t come sooner.

It’s True aren’t averse to sonic gimmicks like the vocoder in “No Sense,” (which also boasts a soaring, rootsy bridge built around organ and country-rock guitar solo) but anyone who’s seen earlier incarnations of the group or heard the Slo-Fi Records double-EP There, There, Now../I Think It’s Best… (If I Leave) knows they needn’t lean on them, having heard a number of these songs pulled off with little more than acoustic guitar and boom-box production and suffer little for it.

“What Have I Done” is definitely the darkest thing I’ve heard from It’s True!, jarringly so in fact, and illustrates that while Hawkins and company may choose a gentle touch most of the time, they’re definitely not lightweight. Hawkins slides effortlessly between his characteristic croon and a deeper tone appropriate to the song’s heavier moments, and even escalates it as far as a metal roar momentarily as the song hits it climax. The more brooding mood of this section of the album carries on through the epic build-up of “Honestly,” a nice prelude to the chilled-out closer. If I had any complaint, it would be that I might have liked to have the album end with something closer to the blues-shuffle version of the final song, “I Think It’s Best (If I Leave)” that was on the Slo-Fi disc, with its touch of Jack White swagger. But the psychedelic space excursions of this version are pretty sweet too.

I had been anxiously awaiting this album, to have on CD the big arrangements I’d heard performed live, and It’s True! have delivered on the promise of those live experiences. They are currently on tour supporting this record and you are well-advised to get out and see them. They’ll be at these places:

• The Riot Room in Kansas City tonight
• the 400 Bar in Minneapolis tomorrow night
• the Ames Progressive Office in Ames on Saturday night
• Duffy’s in Lincoln next Wednesday
• The Yacht Club in Iowa City next Thursday
• Ronny’s in Chicago next Friday

After which they’re heading out West early next month and working their way back to the Midwest by late June. Check the full list of dates on their MySpace.

Just wanted to remind you that Coolzey’s song-and-video-every-week album Coolzey and the Search for the Hip Hop Hearts – Volume 1: He’s the DJ I’m the Rapper is still going on. It’s up to three songs now and going strong and you should head over to the Public School Records site to check it out and keep up on it. Also, RapReviews did a really cool interview with Coolzey about the project.

Just as soon as they finish with this tour, and this EP, etc.

You may have heard that I like Zoroaster a bit. I have yet to get any of their stuff on Cd; I have a tendency, when I think I’m likely to try and see a band live, to wait to get a CD at the show. But it looks like I won’t be catching Zoroaster on their upcoming tour, as their closest approaches to Des Moines are Kansas City on July 3, and Minneapolis on July 4, which coincide with 80/35 fest.

Anyway, here’s a sweet promo video for their upcoming album Matador:

Also, quick note: Last night’s Baroness show at Vaudeville Mews kicked ass. That’s all the review it needs.