From the Dog’s Desk

More of the same but also different.

I collect things I like throughout the month. I flag them and put them all in their places and when I get back to my tracks, my visual diary, my datebook, and my notebook I have some picture of what’s been on my mind. Not in a Spotify wrapped kind of way like “I went to five shows, scrolled Pinterest on the toilet, enjoyed deep dives into specific music scenes in history, and told everyone I know about Shrudd ” but in a more thematic kind of way like “this month I was thinking a lot about doing things yourself, about doing things poorly and learning as you go, about doing things just as you think is the you-est way to do them.”

Listened to another couple dozen hours of psych rock, but only brought you one track (Track 15). It’s really insufferable hippie dippy totally tripped out and I mean every word of it. If you want more, may I suggest my two favorite psych mixes of the month. Linked below.

Psych rock punk rock college rock cock rock post rock I told you last month I was back into guitars. My favorite part about learning guitar as a kid was the excuse to own a guitar. I didn’t learn to play many songs, but I had a lot of fun in my room with headphones plugged into my amp pulling strings, scraping them with my fingers, seeing what it sounds like when… I saw Open Head (Track 3) play last month and one guitarist had a broken off whammy bar woven between the strings and the neck of the guitar and the other guitarist laid his guitar on a table and played it with a violin bow. I thought of me in my room, and of David Lynch in this interview in 2000, talking about playing guitar “upside down and backward, working the wham bar with [his] left hand,” and I thought, damn guitars are so cool. Lots of cool ways to play guitar.

Speaking of guitar, speaking of live music, speaking of a clear and precisely presented idea, speaking of any thing at any time, I’ll take this paragraph to talk about Shrudd (Track 6.) I saw a few pictures of these guys and was immediately on board. I saw them perform and would not shut up about how much cooler they were than I could have expected: The performance started at soundcheck, everyone had an affected precision to their asks for more of this, less of that. They changed from plainclothes to their work clothes (generally a black jumpsuit, for some a black shirt with black dickies, for one a gas mask, for another a full length trench coat) “on stage” and opened the set with a recording requesting everyone move forward to fill the gap between band and audience. The guitarists and bassist moved the necks of their instruments in sync. The “front man” (they have such a collaborative and interdependent quality, but for the purpose of discussion…) ran feverish circles around the stage. The synthesist removed the gas mask half way through and with an imp’s grin cannonballed into the crowd to kick off what remained some very respectful and enthusiastic moshing. Sunglasses stayed ON. Shrudd Lore is enigmatic, comes in pieces through song, performance, t-shirts, and Instagram posts. This is my boy band. I want to follow them around the world and go missing in a plane crash together. You can watch a 34 min performance on YouTube, lord knows I have, twice, projected massive on a wall while wearing my new Shrudd t-shirt.

I’ve been looking at scans of old QSL’s. Radio enthusiasts would trade and collect cards by way of exchanging info with other people they found trawling the megahertz. Now that the weather is nice, my neighbor stands on his front porch selecting tracks to play from a sound system for the neighborhood to hear. All these songs were made. I’m sharing this mix. I’m writing down some thoughts and sharing my version of a QSL. The point isn’t to be anything good bad or otherwise. It’s not for anyone, but it is for everyone. Creation for the sake of creation, done just this way because it’s the only way I know how to do it, and only I can do it this way. It’s simply a transmission. We only hope very much for someone to be listening.

Sonically, this mix has a lot of whirrs, beeps, static, feedback, and guttural screaming. Thematically, this mix is holding the line on being offbeat with a sense of purpose and protest. I’ve been enjoying shows on NTS from Horsegirl Sounds, A Scene In Between, Acid Memories, and Janie Jones. Song by song notes would look like: radio, static, whammy, fuck the rich, fuck the rich, work, work, fuck you, fuck me, fuck, rock, rock, shut the fuck up, fuck the rich, fuck I, rock, fuck the rich, fuck rock, radio. It’s… a little annoying. My yoga teacher might call it “agitating.” Agitation fights stagnation. Get uncomfortable.

-R

my playlist

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