Badlands

Big statements are a big deal. It's something I just said, in Poets and Prophecy. Or, rather, I said it on September 20, 2003, and it's just seeing the light of day now. But that's part of the point. It's big to understand what time means around culture, and to understand that real culture takes real time to see the light of day. And Poets and Prophecy seeing the light of day made me think about rock, and what the moments are in rock that have in-built real bigness, real largesse. I often do say that Springsteen is my favorite lyricist in rock music, for the simple reason that, for my money, he's the best at making the Big Statements that will hold up the best over long periods of time, starting from the East Coast. Badlands is a case in point. I'm not going to say too much about where America is in 2026. Except to say that it's an awfully strange time, ensconced in a strange decade. Badlands is strange, too, because the lyrics express stern resolve, but the music expresses triumphant release. The narrator is getting something big off his chest, that has needed saying for a long time. He doesn't mince words; he gets directly to the point swiftly. Where we find ourself is in the big terrain in which an individual looks at the whole of human life and earth and lays down his own set of laws. Here's how things are. Not, of course, what we want things to be. And all the steely resolve is just about telling the truth, being real. Sounds simple, but it's not. That's one reason to put some chips down on Badlands to last a long time. The other is that the sound of triumphant release, of truth springing forward, never gets old. Time will tell us. 

Love Reign O'er Me

Because it took me a number of years to piece together what became Frequencies, it was a slow build-up to understand that, in Frequencies, I might have something extraordinary. The night, in the summer of 2005, was hot and black as ink, indeed. So much was to come from what happened that night, in so many directions, some straightforward, some bizarre, that I thought only The Who in full flight could do it justice. The Who, who emerge, over a long period of time, for many of us, as the undisputed champions of rock. You play this kind of music, you don't beat The Who. So much of what seems big in popular culture is just regional in the end. Understand the map, understand The Who. And back to New Hampshire, and a piece at least partially steeped in sex and sexuality, which The Who tend not to be. Just as there is no critique which can do justice to the transcendental sturm und drang of Roger Daltrey at Live Aid, how many ways the different crescendos which built up both Mary and I as individuals in the world can hardly be counted. In the end, all of it will only matter to people who care about writing and books. The Who do, indeed, reach more people. It's also arguable that if you don't know Parts of a Story, you cannot understand this story, either. But the most special reason to pimp out a Who Live Aid video, is just to say, as I do not often say, that here's something I've done that really is itself, special, and deserves special regard. The sweat of lovers. It was dramatic that this happened, and if Frequencies doesn't announce itself in a dramatic, Who-crescendo sort of way, then I did something wrong. The ricochet inheres— 1985 to 2005, then unevenly up to 2026. The sense of the uneven there is blessed. Something a priori built into the universe, and art at its best. And rock. 

Ardent EP re-pub

That our Philly scene was no stranger to Brett Anderson and the London Suede— that's one subtext of the Matt Stevenson-created Ardent cover. Mary was in on that too, without knowing it. So, here 'tis— the re-pubbed seven-song Ardent EP, un-stunted rock from the bowels of South Philadelphia. Shake off the jinx, let in the minx.

Bullett
El Goodo
Brown Eyes Like His
Ardent
Fortis Green
Streetlakes
4 Elliott

Mix Upload: Third/Sister Lovers

Feel (I saw) remix: Eris Temple lore

In 2008, Natalie Weyes Blood performed at the Eris Temple, where I'd recorded Feel. 

Acid Dropping EP

 

A keepsake of a time and a place, and of possibilities.

Acid Dropping EP is:

I. A Clangorous Din— Speck

II. Stone the Devil— Speck

III. Viaje entre las luces— Vince El Mejor

IV. Driving Home— MalreDeszik

V. Hipsters— Falki Hoz

VI. Feel (I saw) remix— Zenboy1955

Various Positions:

On the Soundclick Jazz Overall chart, A Clangorous Din reached #15, Stone the Devil #12, Viaje entre las luces #18, and Driving Home #29.

On the Soundclick Electronic Overall chart, Hipsters, a.k.a. Ode On Jazz (3, with Falki Hoz), reached #20. Feel (I saw) remix reached #8, making it a national hit. 

Featured on Things You Heard When You Were Dead (shane p).

All tracks feature spoken word by Adam Fieled, from (respectively) Opera Bufa, This Charming Lab, When You Bit..., Ode On Jazz, and Curiosities. 

From Funtime Records, and Jamendo.  

Produced/engineered by respective artists, Eris Temple, and the Kelly Writers House. 

A Clangorous Din re-pub

Speck, in Cali, took some of the nicer passages in Opera Bufa and went to town with them. This was in '21. A Clangorous Din made a top 15 showing in the Soundclick Jazz Overall chart, and a top 10 showing in hearthis.at Electronica. Here: Jamendo's re-pub.