haha and my wife. and my friends' wives. I know a lot of female Silkworm fans actually!
*waves* Hey there!
― Nathalie (stevienixed), Thursday, 4 March 2010 13:53 (fourteen years ago) link
consistently surprised how most people prefer later silkworm to the joel phelps era. i don't get it.
― shite new answers (cutty), Thursday, 4 March 2010 14:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Both eras were great.
Hey remember when Andy Cohen was a member of Bush?
― Andy K, Thursday, 4 March 2010 14:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Man every single time I play Lifestyle I'm...
Yes. Their best record. It was irritating that it didn't make any best-of-decade lists because surely it's one of the best guitar rock albums of the last 10 years.
Right now I'm really into their cover of Let's Kill Saturday Night.
― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 4 March 2010 14:21 (fourteen years ago) link
aww damn i missed a skwm lovefest last night i see
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 4 March 2010 14:32 (fourteen years ago) link
my contrib: tracks 1-6 of developer is my favorite sequence of music ever.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 4 March 2010 14:34 (fourteen years ago) link
i guess i have to reevaluate their later work. really liked bottomless pit, though.
― shite new answers (cutty), Thursday, 4 March 2010 14:40 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah! bottomless pit is great. i hope they put out some more stuff.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 4 March 2010 14:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Fuck, now I'm stuck at work and badly want to dig out their recs and play'em
― Nathalie (stevienixed), Thursday, 4 March 2010 14:54 (fourteen years ago) link
Again, I really loved the Congress EP. Anybody else feel like Bottomless Pit have melodically for fleshed out songs than Silkworm? I love both.
― Evan, Thursday, 4 March 2010 14:54 (fourteen years ago) link
I need to check out Bottomless Pit, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
― you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 4 March 2010 14:56 (fourteen years ago) link
agreed that bottomless pit continues to improve, i like both but yeah "Red Pen" off congress is so amazing..
listened to Blueblood, Lifestyle, and Italian Platinum last night.
goddamn what a band.
michael was such a great drummer ;_;
i think his death is the saddest rock death ever to me. so unfair.
also...cohen is such a weird/awesome lyricist:
There are kike jokes and then the street mimesIn times like these no one seems to mindBut just you wait ‘til the pendulum swingsToward the inevitable decline
Crossed-eye talk and a halting walkBlind Willie is down the blockHe will never see again
― om nom nom nom de plume (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Right after the thread action last night I was going to the gym and I put every Silkworm album I own on my ipod to listen to on shuffle, it was great.
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:24 (fourteen years ago) link
THE GREAT SILKWORM LOVEFEST OF 2010
thank you bookmark function
― shite new answers (cutty), Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:25 (fourteen years ago) link
xp otm--i think recognizing how incredible cohen's lyrics are was a major turning point for me and silkworm
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:25 (fourteen years ago) link
rocking "empty elevator shaft" right now, a favorite & the one I would cover if I could find that passing chord in the second half of the verse
― Lee Dorrian Gray (J0hn D.), Thursday, March 4, 2010 12:09 AM (15 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
j0hn...
i was thinking of this last night and if i may humbly suggest...maybe you could try "Roots" off lifestyle...i could kinda hear that in your steez.
― om nom nom nom de plume (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:26 (fourteen years ago) link
so many killer choruses too
"Was it YOU-OOOOO-OOOoooOOooOOoO-OOOO? You were WOOOOORLD PROOF!"
― om nom nom nom de plume (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:28 (fourteen years ago) link
you guys ever see the video of them doing LR72 with no drummer after dahlquist was killed? chilling, really sad.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:30 (fourteen years ago) link
OMG yes! Particularly my favoritest lyrical bit on the whole album:
There's a Puerto Rican in this bar, she's thinking about San JuanIf I could, you know, I'd wave a wand and send her homeBut first, you know, I'd send myself back where the river flowsBut I can't even see that road, "When" is a secret, and that means nobody knows
For as awesome as the drumming and guitar work is, sometimes it seems people forget just how funny, clever, and genuinely affecting their lyrics could be.
― you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:32 (fourteen years ago) link
isn't andy cohen a lawyer now or something? am i crazy?
― shite new answers (cutty), Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:35 (fourteen years ago) link
yes he is
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:36 (fourteen years ago) link
i think he was a lawyer for a lot of the time skwm was a band?
that was my impression
― om nom nom nom de plume (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:37 (fourteen years ago) link
he would lawyer onstage between songs iirc
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:38 (fourteen years ago) link
jewish lawyers in rock
― shite new answers (cutty), Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:43 (fourteen years ago) link
when i saw these dudes open for Bikini Kill, he wore a big gold Star of David on his chest--the show was a Friday night, as i recall
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:44 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.jrp-graphics.com/jb/covers/LawyersInLove.jpg
― you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 4 March 2010 15:44 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm really trying to put a finger on why I love Silkworm so much, and the nearest I can get is this:
I really grew up on my Dad's records...the Stones, CCR, Neil Young, etc. There's a certain part of me that – although I have grown to love all sorts of music - weird post punk, hip hop, electronic stuff, noisier rock, punk, metal, world music, jazz, etc etc - there's a certain part of me, way down in the lizard brain, that loves classic rock in a way that that stuff can never touch..
just thinking of stuff like "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere" or "Lodi" by CCR or "Rocks Off" by the Stones...like music that basically gives you that "Four beers deep" feeling J0hn mentioned upthread, where you feel a something in your chest and you just want to rip your heart out cuz it's so anthemic and real and makes life seem so awesome and rocking
But at the same time, you can't just be stuck in those songs because there aren't any more of them being made, and any band that tries to be *actual* classic rock is going to fail. Those days are gone and it just seems fake and it won't even sound like those records sound.
So I guess for me Silkworm was a band that gave me those feelings of real "bro" classic rock, but at the same time they acknowledged and used influences from all the other stuff that changed how i viewed rock music - fugazi and mission of burma and sonic youth and the minutemen and gang of four etc – they were a part of that world two, the whole lineage of the "this band could be your life" era
they were able to combine the strange angles and skronk and sorta impenetrable lyrics and sometimes odd sounding chord changes and rhythmic hiccups in a way that still felt as anthemic and huge and heartfelt and full of everything as all the old music did.....but they weren't pretending to be like "hey we're a throwback to the old days" either like kings of leon or dudes that have a whole "let's bring OLD TIME ROCK BACK" jive.
basically they were exactly what i need out of rock, or at least a big part of it.
also a lot of the stuff i just posted might not make total sense when you read it, but i makes sense when i feel it.
(this also figures into why i think Lifter Puller was a great band and Hold Steady is only a good band)
― om nom nom nom de plume (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 4 March 2010 16:20 (fourteen years ago) link
great post
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 4 March 2010 16:23 (fourteen years ago) link
I was about to ask where Lifter Puller/Hold Steady fit into this! That's a really nice summary of a personal aesthetic, M@tt.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 4 March 2010 16:24 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, nice post M@tt. Funny, though -- there are a *lot* of bands who try to invoke that classic rock feeling and fail miserably. Like, uh, any band I've been in. It's a weird fine line to tread, and Silkworm do a great job of it. I don't really like the Hold Steady at all, but it seems like I should.
― tylerw, Thursday, 4 March 2010 16:34 (fourteen years ago) link
Great post M@tt. Thanks for sharing that.
― you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 4 March 2010 16:35 (fourteen years ago) link
listening to Lifestyle rn
― dmr, Thursday, 4 March 2010 16:59 (fourteen years ago) link
re: bottomless pit. a different (but not totally different) animal, and man, I love love love it.
I got deep into that congress ep last year as well. "red pen" is epic.
― original bgm, Thursday, 4 March 2010 18:40 (fourteen years ago) link
listening to bottomless pit hammer of the god atm
"dogtag" is such a brilliant, oblique and not cheesy tribute to a fallen friend.
― om nom nom nom de plume (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 4 March 2010 19:21 (fourteen years ago) link
interesting thing abt bottomless pit to me is that cohen seems to be doing his thing, as ever, while tim midgett is really kinda pushing the sound forward with the four-piece lineup.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 4 March 2010 19:58 (fourteen years ago) link
i've really needed silkworm this week, it's been a helluva week.
― om nom nom nom de plume (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 5 March 2010 17:40 (fourteen years ago) link
how do you guys feel about the crust brothers record?
― mizzell, Friday, 5 March 2010 22:04 (fourteen years ago) link
actually never owned that that but always meant to, is it good? i heard it a bit a looong time ago but don't remember
― om nom nom nom de plume (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 5 March 2010 22:07 (fourteen years ago) link
it's just the live thing right? i love their version of
GOIN TO ACAPULLLLCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
― Mr. Que, Friday, 5 March 2010 22:08 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, it's just a live show. has a pretty good vibe, they're just having fun cruising through these songs. wish there was a bit more variety (as opposed to mostly basement tapes tunes) cause i really love the version of tuesdays gone.
― mizzell, Friday, 5 March 2010 22:21 (fourteen years ago) link
And all men knew itThen God came to take you.So I said to myselfI would bring that glass of beer.Thus we used to doFor everyone to see.So I brought along this beer to give you, to drink.
― iiiijjjj, Friday, 5 March 2010 23:01 (fourteen years ago) link
that dude needs to finish that documentary!
― iiiijjjj, Friday, 5 March 2010 23:02 (fourteen years ago) link
the lyrics for LR72 are pretty remarkable
― dmr, Saturday, 6 March 2010 23:31 (fourteen years ago) link
love that song. such a weird song in a way but it really gets me
― dmr, Saturday, 6 March 2010 23:32 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEW3hsNVF9M
― iiiijjjj, Sunday, 7 March 2010 04:04 (fourteen years ago) link
Joel R.L. Phelps mini-collection posted over here (they're all out of print and all pretty great)
Bummed I missed the thread revival!
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 23:50 (fourteen years ago) link
wow, thanks, on it.
bottomless pit playing at schuba's in chicago on april 19th, opening for monotonix, which seems like an unlikely pairing but whatever. thinking about making it down for this, if any chicago people wanna meet up for a minifap.
― iiiijjjj, Thursday, 11 March 2010 00:48 (fourteen years ago) link
the great indie mag Puncture published a Joel R.L. Phelps profile back in the day that I remember being really heartbreaking. All about him working with disabled kids or something and then playing shows at night and no one really paying much attention.
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 11 March 2010 00:52 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.joelrlphelps.com/
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 11 March 2010 00:53 (fourteen years ago) link