When the Sky is Full of 0’s and 1’s
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So much for starting this in the hopes that it would force me to post more regularly. Think of it as 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. But, even so I picked and recorded this 7 inch last week. Oh well, it’s not like anyone is reading this anyway. On with this weeks 7 inch. It comes from those wonderful spaz-rock san fransicians Deerhoof and is titled The return of the wood m’lady . Had the price sticker not had deerhoof written on it I would have skipped right over this sleeve:

(Apologies for the poor quality, I should really get a scanner) Its hard to see but in the bottom picture there is a small bubble that states the band and title of the 7 inch. Other secrets revealed on very close inspection is a thank you list, random strings of words, info that it was recorded at kzsu, and the statement that deerhoof are interested in doing soundtrack work for films or plays. If there were to be a play set to the 3 songs on this 7 inch it would have to be a very dark and spooky horror film, with great acting and plot written by David Lynch. I said 3 songs, but only 1 song per side. Its a riddle. No! Always looking for new tricks, Deerhoof has recorded 2 songs on the second side, one in each channel. Its really tough to describe each song, so all I will say is all 3 songs are nothing like what I have heard from them before. The songs slide toward the free jazz/noise arena, showing deerhoof in a loose and atmospheric form. Luckily, I have done the work for you and split each channel of the second side into separate tracks. So here they are. Enjoy

ishi sister [side 1 stereo]

sunbug deergod [side 2 left channel mono]

knew knees [side 2 right channel mono]

As a disclaimer, I make no money off this blog. These posts are purely fun. If you are in the band that I have put up here and dont want to be here. Post a comment or email me “cinchel @ gmail dot com” . No hard feelings, I will understand. Thanks

I spent the whole week looking forward to this show. How often is it that you get to see a band that has traveled all the way from Africa for the first time. According to this page they have been making music like this in the area between the Congo and Angola for 25 years. The album is a great piece of work and does the best job one could expect for capturing this music on tape. This really is something that has to be experienced live for full effect.

The Eternals opend the show. They are a 3 peice from right here who’s music spans the distance between funk/pop, hip-hop and synth. A fun band, the lead singer was very captivating, a definite showman. Though, the 2 guys backing him up could have been a bit tighter, the set was enjoyable and got the crowd ready for Konono no. 1.

Konono no.1 played over 2.5 hrs with no more then a total of 5 minutes of down time. The main instruments are really the 3 make-shift amplified likembés (lead, middle and bass) which create a fast and unique rhythmic melody while a snare drum, beat up car hub cap symbol, 4 homemade cowbells, and 2 large hand drums form the real foot moving, hip shaking poly-rhythms. There was one male lead vocalist and one of the likembé players and a woman also sang in a call and response style. Now I know its a bit cooler in Chicago then it would be in their native land, but I was still shocked to see the lead singer wearing a full winter coat for the first 20 minutes or so, the woman wore a bright orange wool ski cap the whole time, and the manager who I could see running around in the background also wore a heavy winter coat indoors. They brought all their instruments, even the to large cone speakers, but rented guitar amps for the likembés which sounded really good. The only sound problems were some squealing microphones which I point toward a lazy sound guy, which didnt distract from the music to much but seemed to bother one of the members on stage quite a lot. Other wierdness included a woman jumping up on stage about 1 hr in and putting dollar bills on each member of the band, while they were playing. She was escorted off stage but not before dancing with the lead singer for a few seconds. A completely engrossing evening, one I am sure will not be repeated for a long time.