What's up with US Maple?

i loled at "roomy ashtrays"

Hah yeah. He was on Twitter for a moment, then he was gone. There is some live footage of him somewhere above doing a solo performance/reading.

saw Dead Rider over the weekend and they kinda reminded me of like, i dunno, El-P fronting the Minutemen? the drummer had a somewhat pronounced jazz-funk feel and they were all wearing different hats. they also had a fog machine.

the bass was not as Minutemen-y as the drums iirc

No fog machine at the show I saw a couple of months ago, but there's video of much of the set here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfu6shiyD_Q

I'd just go with Bowie + US Maple as the best summation. Really like these guys. Great video. The influence of Al Johnson hangs heavy on their live attitude...

Invisible Things album is fuckin incredible

I need to re-visit Dead Rider - kinda bummed I missed that show. The thread always gets a LHi3S listen outta me.

http://pitchfork.com/news/61509-tortoise-return-with-new-album-the-catastrophist-share-gesceap-plot-tour/

"The album features vocals from Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley (on "Yonder Blue") and U.S. Maple/Dead Rider's Todd Rittmann (on a cover of David Essex's "Rock On"). "

The album cover is horrifying

I saw Dead Rider the other night, now pared down to a trio, they remain the greatest band currently active.

seeing invisible things tonight with the ex
whee!

How was it La Lechera? Should have been a good pairing!

Amazing show!! A guy I know is friends with the invisible things drummer (Jim?) and told me he is a professor and specializes in a particular type of Sri Lankan drumming insert heart eyes emoji here !!! <3 I'm really tired now but super great show.

Awesome!

This is one of those weird things, because everyone knows David Bowie and almost nobody knows Dead Rider, but the overlaps between what they've been doing and what Bowie is doing now are kind of major. This live video, btw, is seriously fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkgl_N91bU4

It's time to go down the U.S. Maple listening hole again. This is awesome:

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

― grandavis, Wednesday, 8 January 2014 18:32 (1 year ago)

YES

I can't remember what originally compelled to click this thread and start listening to the music, but US Maple has to be one of my favourite ILM finds of the year and possibly fave ILM find full-stop. Been listening to Acre Thrills and Talker on near-enough constant repeat over the last few weeks. Their whole approach feels so fresh to me at the moment.

They are a treasure that only grows more wonderful with the passage of time. A true wonder of a band.

We're only talking five relatively short albums, but there's something in them that keeps me thinking there's even more (that I missed the last time) when I go back to them, despite playing them many times. It's not that I'm missing anything specific, but they have that quality that suggests so, keeps them fresh IMO

Interviewed Al years and years ago, just dug up a couple of great quotes:

A lot of people who may come see the band but who haven’t heard the records may think it’s improvisation. I really want to get away from that. It may sound silly, but in my heart of hearts, I would like U.S. Maple to be taken in as a Black Crowes song can be taken in, on some levels.

I don’t think we’re that complicated. We continue to go back to the still to generate this liquid that has the same ingredients as early Journey. I’m telling you, they’re there. The difference is the arrangements. They’re just presented in a different way.

!!!!!!!! acre thrills documentary surfaces online

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loni6SVagbw

so cool to hear them talk about songwriting and how they worked as a band...and Country Kitchen and Hardee's namechecks

Pretty sure this is the same thing that's been up for a while. Still great, but I don't think anything has been added.

Purple on Time is literally a masterpiece

New Dead Rider album in September: https://deadrider.bandcamp.com/album/crew-licks

greatest band!!!!!!

I still rock a Purple on Time era Maple shirt and man not many people recognize it but the ones that do it's like we are BFFs

actually was at the May Day parade and met a woman who went to college we Shippy she was like "Why are you wearing my friend's band's shirt?" I didn't get the sense she knew they had gotten much acclaim

Holy shit @ the Grateful Dead cover on the new Dead Rider album!

there's a new shippy ensemble album out too
https://billingtonshippywyche.bandcamp.com/album/billington-shippy-wyche

just make your bedroom GODDAMN GREAT!

high SCHOOOOOOOOOL

did US Maple and Jesus Lizard ever play any Chicago doubleheader sets where David Yow & Al Johnson did a band swap? that woulda been pretty neat, they shoulda done that

there's still time

who's sitting on the bailey / maple tapes?

I know a few Jesus Lizard fans who absolutely hate US Maple, go figure. I don't remember them sharing a bill, since they only overlapped a little, but I guess it was possible? I wouldn't want to be any band opening for the Jesus Lizard.

From an oral history:

DENISON We played a bit with a few different bands, but not that much in Chicago. Pegboy or U.S. Maple or (John Forbes's band) Dirt—which later became Mount Shasta—or Tar. Eventually those bands developed their own things and played their own shows.

In my experience Maple had a unique ability to alienate audiences that loved very abrasive or noisy music because those audiences (JL for example) were totally fine with dissonance as long as the music rocked in a pretty conventional way but Maple's rhythmic weirdness and refusal to coalece into a groove you could nod your head to really drove ppl nuts (and Al's whole thing being a lot weirder than Yow who was still in line with an assaultive hardcore template in many ways)

Cows maybe the only other band of the era who could be so uniquely unsettling (in a their own way)

the state of US Maple is bad

US Maple is never bad

I dunno man, Dead Rider went nowhere, I haven't seen Al since 2004, what's even going on? What are we left with?

I liked that song they did where it sounded like it was falling apart

Shippy has been making lots of music in Chicago but I haven't seen him pop up since covid

Yeah I like that trio Shippy has with Ben Baker Billington and Daniel Wyche, though I have only heard the one release on Astral Spirits. Nice to hear his playing in that kind of context though, and they are all very good players.

"What are we left with?": all of the great records that U.S. Maple made. I get the sentiment though hah hah. Very little else like that particular sound.

Right, but I was just summoning Left

Aw, Dead Rider is certainly no patch on US Maple, but I dug Crew Licks. Never did get around to hearing that record with Paul Williams though.

saw Dead Rider last summer at a fest in Iowa, absolutely amazing

just bought Talker on vinyl off their Bandcamp, what a record

Whoa, cool! May have to grab a copy of that myself (no idea where my CD is).

yeah I don't know why, I wonder if they found a couple of boxes in a closet

Huh, they have copies of "Acre Thrills" too. I mean Drag City has copies of stuff I am often surprised by, so they must occasionally just put stuff back in print when it is sold out (maybe?).

Drag City reissued Talker last year
https://www.dragcity.com/news/2019-07-25-talker-returns-to-the-conversation