Revolt of the ILX Brigade: New Post-Fahey Folk For PPL that post in the Takoma & Tompkin's Square Threads

oops meant to quote or italicize that top line

BTW the youtube video is blocked as "private"...

Loops try it now

That Fosburgh is nice, phasing effect and all. Must have been a good show all around, gonna go check that Garcia now as well.

i did manage to record that, here it is!

https://soundcloud.com/stpalm/dance-of-the-inhabitants-live-10114

nic was great and i thought you sounded awesome ums, sound-cutting-out notwithstanding. think the sound there is way better than at acadia tbh.

and worth reposting this if ppl haven't listened, this is seriously one of the best recordings i've ever heard of anything (Fahey live 1973 doing Dance of the Inhabitants), it is so insanely great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cTdPTrihlI

Yeah man this is the best. So damn good (that low end action around 8:30-9:45 is just so otherworldly and awesome). Really liked your version too.

i'm glad you dig it, a lot of what's awesome about it i think is the fidelity and recording quality. also live at Swarthmore 1968 (available on Delta Slider!) has some more awesome big slide stuff. (and a killer version of Some Summer Day which I think is like the heaviest thing I've ever heard)

Yeah man, the recording quality is great, just a beautiful sound. Gotta go grab that Swarthmore show as well.

Unpacking my tapes and records today after moving into a new place and glanced at my copy of 2012's "With Endless Fire" by Ilyas Ahmed. I don't know why but seemed to have not thought about his records in a while. I have no idea if he has released anything recently, anyone else a fan here? Another of his most recent ones was a collaboration with Liz Harris of Grouper. Pretty sparse, downer-inclined stuff compared to other stuff here, but it's pretty great. I don't know why we haven't heard from him in a few years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CetntS5czpw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmK9PBqVhF8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTtdSyFB-M8

Oh man, yeah here we go. His stuff like this is damn good, a solo guitar one:

Ilyas Ahmed - 'Shumsun'
http://grooveshark.com/#!/search/song?q=Ilyas+Ahmed+Shumsun

i got on an ilyas ahmed kick after discovering him a few weeks ago, thanks for reminding me how awesome he is.

good writer too, search that back-n-forth interview w/Ms. Harris in an older Yeti magazine

so! got Dance of Death from the library and finished it this weekend! Read it real quick, obviously knew the broad outline of his career/life but definitely a lot of good details (though really weird feel like he maybe didn't interview Kottke or Lang? they seemed like they could have had more input)

anyway man, I knew he was troubled but WOW he's like a compendium of all troubled musician problems: Dylan's sometimes casual cruelty to others, Townsend's childhood neurosis-grandiosity/inferiority-complex, Jim Morrison's belligerent alcoholism, Neil's sort of remote manipulativeness/impulsiveness, Brian Wilson's infantilism/weird childish idealism of love/women/relationships/at-times laziness

agreed that the later period stuff was best, if only because it was less documented...Lowenthal is definitely a fan but not blinded to Fahey's personal or musical flaws....could have been twice as long/more detailed IMO, but as is a necessary book and I'm glad I read it

one other thing:

did anyone else wonder if he was relying too much on bluegrass music destroyed my life for the childhood stuff? cuz...i mean...i was never quite sure if that "gang" of kids he was in in the great koonalaster shit was even rooted in reality or if it was total fiction???? didn't seem like he tried to fact check if any kids by those names went to fahey's school etc?

Haven't read Lowenthal's book yet, but seems like a really odd thing to rely on "How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life" for veracity/reality at all, though surely parts of it are true to Fahey's life in some respects. Hard to imagine you wouldn't fact check anything from that book if you were going to use it.

i think the main thing that that book nails is his obsession with his childhood, like even if the stuff in his bio is fictionalized, the extent to which he fixated on it is nuts, like even the act of creating a mythology about your childhood is pretty next-level weirdness.

paul metzger and peter walker were great last night. paul did his usual thing (be awesome) and peter blew me away, i hadn't ever listened to him before really. hard to believe he's 77, he was so youthful. definitely recommend seeing him, although don't know how much he tours or plays or if this was a one-off deal

Man seems like you and UMS are striking gold with shows these days. That show sounds great, would love to see Metzger live at some point.

yeah i was out of town and just got back into town sunday late afternoon so i couldn't leave the fam to go out

finally (?!) caught up with the new steve gunn and i like it -- it all sounded instantly familiar since i've heard him in concert several times this year. but i like the band sound.

i bought that william tyler EP and i have to admit my strongest feeling was "this is incredibly boring." i went back and listened to his last LP to see if it "held up" and while i was more engaged I still got boring vibes. oh well.

which, the lost colony or that blue ash montgomery one? i could see the latter being a bit boring, ya

Lost Colony is incredible to me. It's hard to imagine being bored by it.

i think lost colony rules. i admit i wasn't as taken by impossible truth as everybody, a lot of good tunes but the extra textures and instrumentation seemed a bit overcooked or something to me

I enjoy W. Tyler plenty, but his playing can come across as "just" pleasant at times because of how smoothe and effortless his playing sounds (imo). If I am not in the mood it can come off as a little toothless and send me looking for something else.

Pretty cool video of Steve Gunn talking show w/ Matt Sweeney. It is the day of Steve Gunn all over the place, as the record is officially "out" today, but this was the most enjoyable for me:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/steve-gunn-unfurls-his-acoustic-roots-young-guns-20141006

oh yeah i've gotta get that steve gunn lp today

I love these episodes! Loved watching the episode with Cass McCombs, too. Very fun to hear all my favorite musicians talk in depth about guitar playing.

I'd love an episode with Alasdair MacLean of The Clientele for one.

that's a great series. and there's a cass mccombs one? awesome!

Yeah- I guess the show got rebranded? Same thing though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thclj_CDwxs

new steve gunn is great on first listen!

seems to go a bit farther in each direction than time off, more pastoral in part and more television-gone-hippie in others....

the end of "fiction" could have gone on forever as far as i'm concerned.

dude is a seriously great player

excited, should pick up a copy at the fetus after work today

I specifically held off on buying this last weekend because I was hoping to grab one from the merch table this coming Sunday! Can't wait.

I picked up the new Steve Gunn as well today on a whim only to find that Jim Elkington plays on the darn thing!

Record is great, as well.

Hey Austin, I am pretty sure that Elkington is part of the touring band right now too. Can't wait to see them on Saturday, I have high expectations.

Wow, that Steve Gunn show was awesome! The Gunn/Elkington interplay was really good, tasteful all the way through but definitely periods where they were digging in hard and playing around the themes and tunes in really cool, interesting ways. Full band was hot too, Nathan and Jason made a completely solid and fluid rhythm section. Just a cool as hell set. The ending of "Tommy's Congo" and then "Way Out Weather" was just killer, though no duds in the set at all. Hope this band/line-up gets to play together more down the line, cause I could see it getting really special down the line.

Said down the line twice there, oh well. You get the point.

Mary Lattimore + Jeff Zeigler were also really good, drifting and mellow through most of it but great interplay and very cool "depth" to the sound. They got a lot out of that harp/synth setup.

Still, wish I could catch more of those Gunn Band shows on this tour, would like to see where they end up by the end of it. Hopefully some recordings will surface ....

Wow, that Steve Gunn show was awesome! The Gunn/Elkington interplay was really good, tasteful all the way through but definitely periods where they were digging in hard and playing around the themes and tunes in really cool, interesting ways. Full band was hot too, Nathan and Jason made a completely solid and fluid rhythm section. Just a cool as hell set. The ending of "Tommy's Congo" and then "Way Out Weather" was just killer, though no duds in the set at all. Hope this band/line-up gets to play together more down the line, cause I could see it getting really special down the line.

― grandavis, Sunday, October 12, 2014 9:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I just got back from the show in NYC tonight and was literally about to type "Wow, that Steve Gunn show was amazing!" then I read up a few posts...

I echo all of that. Applies exactly to my experience. Incredible show!

Hey Evan, glad that you got to see it. Did you see anyone there recording it by chance? Maybe NYC Taper did the right thing and rolled into that show ....

steve gunn band/solar motel band arena tour across america!!!

Forsyth and co are coming back to the Entry. It's up on the First Ave site!

nice!

Yeah man, want to catch the Solar Motel tour for the new album too. Hope both of these bands get elevated attention, they are operating on a high level.

I didn't see anyone recording... it's possible! I would be beyond thrilled if it were.

I mean this whole touring band definitely needs to be heard by everyone. Decided to check out Jim Elkington because I was so impressed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBTQ91n5kaI

yeahh, that elkington / salsburg record is very nice. think there might be a new one on the way?
he was in a band called the zincs a while back that I enjoyed quite a bit.

Is also in the Horse's Ha with Janet Bean of Freakwater / Eleventh Dream Day, etc. Great band.

I **think** I'm the official ilx Zincs fanboy.

Because, jeez, were they good.

I know I saw the Zincs live (and enjoyed it), but I am not sure I have ever checked out any recordings. Gonna have to go down that road. Horse's Ha too.

yeah haven't checked out horse's ha, tho i generally dig freakwater. zincs made me think of the sea and cake doing feelies covers, but i haven't listened in a while.
hey, i wrote about global's album over here! http://t.co/PAEROAztkQ

great write-up, thank you! surreal to see my name splashed up on there. gotten some good feedback from people resulting from the post too