Noise Pop asks today's most innovative musicians to share the music that is on their stereos, mp3 players, and walkmans. Hear for yourself what these cutting-edge artists are listening to and find out how it affects the music they are making.
Adam's Selections
• Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley - Tip Out Tonight (1928)
"there are only four known tracks recorded of Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley playing together. they used to tour around the south playing in medicine shows, entertaining the crowds on and off in sort of a vaudeville fashion. it's easy to tell from listening to their music that they were employed to keep one's attention. they are some of the most lively recordings from the period that I know of. they were masters of call-and-response, a style that was born in the church and the field and developed in the juke joints into an interactive style of storytelling. this song in particular is almost on a level of perfection. hearing music that I consider perfect has an affect upon our music and upon my opinion of our music. "
• Bob Dylan - I Ain't Got No Home (1961)
"this is a Woody Guthrie song that was covered in Minnesota on Bob Dylan's first visit home after finally meeting Woody in new jersey. I suppose he had already made somewhat of a name for himself in the Greenwhich Village scene mostly for his raw unkempt style and because he was one of the only young folkies with at least the appearance of sincerity. the whole east coast folk revival pageant was kind of a polished pop joke except for a few people like Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Bob Dylan, and maybe Catherine Hester, who actually came close to the reality of the songs they were covering. for the most part the older folks, most of whom had been living that reality in obscurity for twenty years, were the only ones playing traditional music like they understood it. in my opinion this version is far more honest to the contents of the song than even Woody's was."
• The Kinks - All Of My Friends Were There (1968)
"this song kind of falls through three emotions like spastic running through dirty avenues of anxiety, and then rising into the sky on little white shards of embarrassment, and then finally reaching the breezy plateaus of indifference just to start all over again. no one seems to acknowledge The Kinks any more and I am not quite sure why. Lionel Richie gets more respect. I think The Kinks strayed further from writing songs about absolutely nothing than The Beatles were willing to go. they were at times even dangerous. I first really heard The Kinks from Holy Ghost Revival and those boys are cutting edge chaps, every last one of them."
• Immortal Technique - The 4th Branch (2003)
"now, I don't really listen to hip-hop or the so-called style of music that I still prefer to call "rap." whatever I do hear of it is usually just the crap they play on mainstream radio. most of those songs are about constantly living large as though growing up in the projects is really really fun and if there ain't a party in here than there's a party over there and we're all going over there 'cause everybody in the ghetto sells a million records every single day. a lot of these folks made it big just to gargle Hennessy and spit it in the face of the poverty they left behind them. I don't necessarily fall in line behind everything he raps about, but all I know is that Immortal Technique is saying things you're not aloud to hear and that no one else is really willing to talk about. MTV and Clear Channel are not about to play music with seditious content because it doesn't sell and if they did it would be too scandalous. instead, as major mediators of opinion they choose to either fall in line behind the latest war without question or to distract public awareness away from any issues of relevance."
• Sleepy John Adams Estes - You Shouldn't Do That (1941)
"this is a song that was played pretty extensively throughout the south just before the blues, for the most part, moved north to get electric and perverse to the point that all the emotion was sucked dry. Sleepy John Estes grew up in Brownsville, Tennessee. he recorded in the 30s and 40s and then he returned to sharecropping in the south until the northern college students "discovered" him and a lot of other musicians that had been working other people's fields or sweeping the streets of Memphis for twenty years. there is some kazoo playing by a fellow named Son Bonds on this recording that will mess you up. "
Tyson's Selections
• Tommy Johnson - Lonesome Home Blues
"I came across Lonesome Home Blues on a collection of Tommy Johnson's recordings that were put out by the Document label. Tommy Johnson recorded twice in his lifetime, first around 1928 and then again around 1930 in Wisconsin. This song was taken from the latter. Believed to have been from Mississippi, Johnson is said to have been among the group of early Mississippi Delta musicians that set a precedent of expression and the blues. This song really struck me, at the same time, in its quiet beauty and its abrasive feeling of the alone... as the song grows from the sounds of a quiet defeat, to a convicted embrace of what he is feeling ... the alone? It is simple, but expressive and complex, all at once."
• Blind Roosevelt Graves and Brother - I'll Be Rested (When the Roll Is Called)
"This song, and the album it comes from, I have been listening to almost everyday. The album is called American Primitive Vol. 1: Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-36). It is a collection of 26 songs (all with focuses related to the theme of the title), of which John Fahey (below) had a big part in compiling. This song: the embrace, earth, death, life, the spirit, music and creativity... the trials of the everyday, the hollers of the throat, the calling of the roll... the celebratory."
• John Fahey - Requiem for Molly - Part 1
"John Fahey changed my life. This song comes from an album of his named Requia. His music is mostly all instrumental. Here, sounds build, alleviate, stress, obstruct, waltz in and out, and combine as a searching guitar broods and wanders, feelingly and pensively."
• John Coltrane - Countdown
"I received Giant Steps from a friend a couple years ago. This album, and the John Coltrane Quartet opened my ears and chest to jazz. Countdown, which is the third song on Giant Steps, was the catalyst. The song has a spirit, an aggression, and it flows as it builds, and as each musician steps in, at first in tandem, and adds to the song, till when they are all playing together, the group then feels out the conclusion."
• Nirvana - Even In His Youth
"Even in his Youth is one of three songs on the Smells Like Teen Spirit single, that I found in the 8th grade. There is a rawness, honesty, a spirit (haha) to the sounds in this song that I think, though time has passed, stands strong and understandable."
About the Band
Two Gallants are Adam and Tyson, two youths originated in San Francisco.
Together they are drums, guitar, vocals, harmonica, and piano when the
house provides. They have known each other since they were five, have
been in bands together since they were twelve, and have been Two Gallants for a little more than a year. Two Gallants have been classified as 'garage-folk,' 'countrified-alt-punk,' 'gutter country,' 'hardcore candyman,' etc. Their influences range from backcountry blues musicians of the 20s and 30s like Skip James, Charlie Patton, and Blind Willie McTell to more recent local punk bands like Hickey and Operation Ivy. All this under the constant imposition of John Fahey, Arthur Rimbaud, and Bob Dylan.
In December 2002, Two Gallants went on their first tour through the Northwest and since then have been constantly gigging at home or on the road. In September 2003, they completed a nine-week 60-date tour out to New York and back. Along the way, Two Gallants were invited by legendary producer and musician Jim Dickinson (Big Star, North Mississippi All-stars, The Replacements, Mudhoney) to his studio in North Mississippi to lay down some tracks. In one day, they recorded eight tracks and hope to work with him again in the future.
The spring of 2003 found the band playing mostly dates in the Bay Area.
From the beginning, there were always free shows in public spaces. From
street corners and BART stations in the Mission District, to parks and
house parties came playing local venues like Cafe Du Nord, Elbo Room,
and Bottom of the Hill. In the fall of 2003, once again Adam and Tyson
self booked a tour of the U.S. Highlights are well-attended shows at the
Mercury Lounge and CBGB's in New York as well as a string of shows in
the Pacific Northwest with friends Holy Ghost Revival. Upon return this
time, they had sold over 1000 of their CDs.
Prior to the summer tour, they recorded some songs for The Sound of San Francisco, a compilation released on Alive Records (Black Keys,
Warlocks, Brian Jonestown Massacre). After a performance for the CD
release party in Los Angeles, the label offered a deal to put out their
first record.
Recording began in January 2004 at a studio in Berkeley owned and
operated by Jeff Saltzman. The record, entitled The Throes, was
released May 18, 2004 after they returned back from their third full U.S. tour
again with Holy Ghost Revival. Upon return, they played a sold out
headlining show at Cafe Du Nord. One month later, the record release
party was held at the Independent in San Francisco with over 400 people
in attendance. The Throes reached #29 in sales the following week at
Amoeba Records and positive reviews from local and national press are
coming in.
Expect to see Two Gallants on the road through the Fall.
Links
• Two Gallants -- group (at twogallants.com)
• Alive Records -- label (at alive-totalenergy.com)
highlights
noisepop mix tape
aquarius records' sound mind
about KQED
