Tag Archives: Fugazi

Poetic Memory: A Scribe Amidst the Lions (List)

San Diego’s A Scribe Amidst the Lions are a tricky band to wrap your head around. Their influences cover a wide range of genres like metal, classic rock, and even folk. And while they know their way around a lightning-fast guitar riff or signature change, their steadfast commitment to songwriting prevents their music from ever descending into metalhead self-amusement. Continue reading…

Poetic Memory: Brent Green (List)

Sundance-honored multimedia artist Brent Green will bring his film Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then to San Diego’s Museum of Photographic Arts this Sunday.

Green is a self-taught animator whose unusual tales explore the nuances of life, death, and everything in between — even Santa Claus. Gravity is his latest work, and it’s based on the true story of Leonard Wood, a man who built an entire “healing house” for his cancer-stricken wife. For the film, the ever-creative Green constructed a full-scale town in his back yard: “five houses, a handmade working piano, a huge glowing moon, and a giant, wooden, fully functioning God.”

And just as Gravity isn’t your typical film, Sunday night won’t be your typical screening. As an added bonus, Green has put together an all-star band — including Brendan Canty (Fugazi) and Howe Gelb — to play a live soundtrack to the film. Having seen Green perform on multiple occasions, I can say with certainty that the show will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced.

In anticipation of the performance, Green also told us a bit about his influences. Brent Green’s Poetic Memory is below.

Live Review: Cap’n Jazz at the Starlight Ballroom, July 24, 2010

Photo credit: Nicole Kibert/www.elawgrrl.com

In the liner notes of Cap’n Jazz’s 1998 anthology Analphabetapolothology, singer Tim Kinsella opined: “reissues…undermine our pretenses by making what was once special and precious in its rarity, somehow a little less in its convenient availability.” To Kinsella, the reissue served as a means of “getting over and past it” in terms of his own personal involvement with the highly influential Chicago band.

Now, twelve years later (and fifteen since their disbandment), one wonders what inspired Kinsella to get past getting past it; Cap’n Jazz have reunited for a handful of shows on both coasts. Supported on the eastern shows by their hometown contemporaries Gauge — who called it quits in 1994 and reformed earlier this year — both bands are giving audiences (many of whom were in elementary school during their existence) a taste of what made the music of the Midwest so important in the early 90’s. Continue reading…

Poetic Memory: Cougar (List)

Cougar

Cougar, Madison Wisconsin’s all-foxy-grandma-instrumental-post-rock band, just released their sophomore effort, Patriot. Along with it came two starkly different—yet excellent—singles,”Stay Famous” (MP3) and “Foil Épée Sabre” (MP3, EP only). “Stay Famous” plays with old-school indie dynamics, while “Sabre”, a meandering folky piece, may or may not have something to do with fencing. You can check out their catalog at iTunes, as well as other places.

We recently got together with Cougar to talk Poetic Memory, and after listening to the two songs above, it should be no surprise that their influences range from Timbalada’s “boobs” album (whose cover is NSFW, by the way), to Bach, Hendrix, and Tortoise’s TNT. If you are surprised, it’s all explained below.

They have one gig in their hometown of Madison, Wisconsin before they embark on a European tour. Tourdates are at the bottom of the post. Continue reading