OPO: Mekons

Mostly the hits last night, but lots of stuff from "Curse of the Mekons," not just the title track and "Wild & Blue," which they do all the time, but (with a guest horn section) they did "Blue Arse" and "100% Song," too.

Finally got to the album, though still not the video or book---but it def stands on its own while invoking not to mention flaunting associations with other media, starting with that in-your-face-duh title, Existentialism, ooo-wee. Hear now the brainy Brechtians of Bloodshot ((also shouting out "Adventures In The Skin Trade!" for Welsh homeboy Dylan Thomas and their own claimed exploits, of course): it's rough and slick, theatrical as hell., a series of scenes linked by grabby nuanced mood and attitude and tone, mainly of voice, since this is mainly voices z rhythm section with other sounds coming in on cue, but zinging by: what xpost Josh said about the dub thing, also kind of a skiffle feel at times, and other old rock tie-ins, from the Caribbean influence, and punk---this is all stuff the Clash liked too, and the male voices sometimes make me think of Strummer (and this set reminds me that the Mekons contributed to The Sandinista! Project. wherein many different artists took different kinds of adapt re-shots at the Clash's sometimes chops-challenged three-LP adventure).

So they're still doing what they can to make existence worth continuing, and/or killing time, providing sing-along entertainment on the train, in the lobby, maybe the hipster rest home (ending with, "You seen it all, but ya don't---remember!" But then ya do, then ya don't, and a mention of history at the very end). Getting under my skin, among my nerves at times, but in a gooood way, and also "Bucket" seems like it might be a Masked Marauders-type parody: bootleg f that time of Marianne Faithful met the Mekons, while "Nude Hamlet" has smoked the Complete Basement Tapes and the Clash continuation, before killed in his youth (short-ass track for such a killer, damn) by "These are our orders, sir!": hearty action-packed pagentry of "1848 Now!" and "Simone On The Beach" is "riding naked through the town to expiate the burden of her guilt", tell it Sister!

It all seems like the latest stage, with more immediate appeal, as I hear it, of what they were up to on Natural, where, as xgau put it, death songs come alive--not just Tom's dismal opener and Jon Langford's can't-come climax and everybody's desert prophecy, but the animal fables, the mystery history, the agricultural workers' carouse, the unplugged teeter-totter for the digital age. Except now it's not quite unplugged, they've got some reloadable cards, some kind of budget for incremental juice. Also Sally and Susie and Lu ride through often enough.

I meant "voices x (not z)rhythm section", also "adept (not adapt) re-shots", although those are adaptations too, o course.

"These are our orders sir": a perhaps approximate quote from "1848 Now!"

Their set at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (at just past noon!): http://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/2016/webcast/?mrid=106719

I missed it, having gone to the show the previous night, which was excellent and hilarious as ever. They seem to have a greatest 'hits'/career overview setlist pretty well worked out, though they did play a couple from the new album. Only song I was expecting and didn't hear was "Ghosts of American Astronauts." Susie told an impressively terrible joke after much coaxing. They're pretty much all that gives me hope about aging.

but revenge is not ours
it belongs to those
who seek to destroy us
how much more is there left to lose?

this sounds like a blast

https://www.mekonville.co.uk/home/

That does sound awesome -I need to win the lottery and fly over there for it

and then an ILX bus

lineup incl Bonnie Prince Billy

https://www.mekonville.co.uk/line-up/

For anyone in Seattle, Langford's doing an art show at Hazlewood in Ballard and then an acoustic retrospective thing next door at Hotel Albatross on 4/20.

He's presenting at the Pop Conference too - I'm bummed I'll be missing it.

Haven't taken in all the words, though or maybe in part because they fit perfectly, but this is rich, robust, good and bad time music, with Nashville, Muscle Shoals, Chi and El Lay cats, also splendid female vox, sometimes singing lead. "Four lost aouls! All ablaze as they vanish down the stairway." Kinda wish he'd saved some of this material for a Mekons record, but can't imagine they could perform it any better.

https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/sites/default/files/styles/featured_image/public/pages/images/bs255_cvr.jpg?itok=NkEARCe0

Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls

(released on September 22)

Four Lost Souls was recorded over four days starting on November 8th – the day after the 2016 election – at the NuttHouse in Sheffield, AL. The album originated in 2015, though, 100 miles north in Nashville where Jon Langford (Mekons, Waco Brothers) produced artwork for Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City, the long-running exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Fate had it that one of those Nashville Cats, bassist and producer Norbert Putnam, was so enamored with Langford’s paintings and piratey singing, he invited the stranger to come record in the Shoals.

A year after the album’s beginnings the Welsh-bred, Chicago-based musician and visual artist Langford is in that studio with many of the musicians who put the region, as well as renowned FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, on the musical map. Among them, members of the Swampers, David Hood and Randy McCormick—world famous players who have performed on all the songs you ever loved. Together they dutifully crafted a project brimming with images of killing and hope, Faulkner, the Natchez Trace, and the sea.

READ THE FULL STORY WITH ANNOTATIONS HERE (good pix too)
https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/four-lost-souls

https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/tours-events/178

Was just in Muscle Shoals for the first time (at Fame and MSS) and this looks like its worth checking out

Americana legend Jon Langford and journalist Mark Guarino unveil new musical play, Take Me, at Strawdog Theater May 10th - June 22nd

On Friday, May 10th, Americana songwriting legend Jon Langford (Mekons) and veteran journalist and playwright Mark Guarino are debuting the world premiere of their new musical TAKE ME, which opens at Strawdog Theater in Chicago.

Inspired by true events, TAKE ME is the story of Shelly, a woman trapped by the trauma of a husband in a coma, a missing son, and the chaos that followed. Looking for solace, she finds herself pulled in to the realm of wild alien conspiracy theories. Voices from the sky tell her the answer to all her problems is to build an alien themed amusement park in Roswell, New Mexico. TAKE ME is a comic fantasia, a story about having faith in a world where there are more questions than answers.

Strawdog Theater is one of the longest-running theaters in Chicago. Founded in 1988 and now in 31st season, Strawdog is home for its celebrated ensemble to work and play with the most sought-after artists in Chicago theatre along with the best emerging talents in the city’s theater scene.

TAKE ME is directed by Strawdog co-Artistic Director Anderson Lawfer, who is an actor, writer and director with decades of experience in Chicago and his hometown of Louisville. TAKE ME features ensemble members Nicole Bloomsmith, Kamille Dawkins, Carmine Grisolia, Michael Reyes, Kristen Alesia, Megan DeLay, David Gordon-Johnson, Loretta Rezos and Matt Rosin. The show runs Thursday-Sunday. Visit strawdog.org for ticket prices and online ordering.

Running through June 22nd, TAKE ME is the first musical featuring all-new original songs by Langford written specifically for the show. However, it is the second collaboration between Langford and Guarino since the success of ALL THE FAME OF LOFTY DEEDS, produced by The House Theater of Chicago. That show, which played to sold-out audiences throughout its run, featured reinterpreted songs from throughout Langford’s long career.

According to Sound Opinions Co-Host Greg Kot, LOFTY DEEDS “explores what that means, in all its swaggering ambition and self-destructive complexity. It’s a work befitting a singer-songwriter-artist who has spent his adult life merging art, music and politics. Guarino’s play makes it a highly entertaining and thought-provoking one.”

Mary Houlihan of the Chicago Sun-Times called it “a show for anyone who loves good music, good art and good storytelling.”

Chicago Tribune Theater Critic Chris Jones called LOFTY DEEDS a show that “could well fill a void in New York and beyond.”

Posted by Langford:

Trying to raise some money for the staff at my favorite Roadhouse FitzGerald's in Berwyn IL which had just burst brightly into a fabulous new era only to be forced to close its doors; thwarted by this tragic pandemic - basically this Saturday at 4pm I'll be playing solo and highly sanitized in a pickup truck crawling majestically through the side streets around the club at least 6 feet from wherever you are...
Here's the good word from the nice people of FitzGerald's:

"(Don't) Join us this weekend for the first ever FitzGerald's Stay-At-Home Concert w/ Jon Langford. On Saturday, April 4th, our mobile concert experience will feature Jon Langford cruising the neighborhood, bringing live music to our community at a safe distance. Take this opportunity to get off the screens and raise a glass as you step onto the porch for some essential live entertainment."

FitzGerald's is a few blocks from, I'm totally down for some mobile Langford

Can’t his wife or someone stream it on Facebook too

New album Friday!

Wha?!

https://www.facebook.com/jon.langford.161/posts/3258442717541440

Wha?! (2)

"How Many Stars" is basically my OPO at this point, at least if not for "I Am Crazy"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb1OxUPU-eY&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb1OxUPU-eY

This is fun. Up for 48 hours, I think:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=786070228865165

(Timms and Langford doing a typically hilarious set a the Hideout last night, I believe, with no people but costumes and banter etc. )

Sally’s voice is always great, and those costumes were something

yeah that was fabulous

https://www.gofundme.com/f/joe-camarillo-family-support-fund?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1&fbclid=IwAR3u0bzjd71TzsoTvKdeGnE4dy-2O38L7Kk1XnyEpSK-13Pjj7WyNuw04EI

RIP Waco Brothers drummer Joe Camarillo . Langford & others did a tribute tonight in Chicago on the street near the club Metro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x49JaE-kuo

And while I'm at it, I just saw this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Mtai7z7h0M

The full version of “This Funeral is for the Wrong Corpse” is a lot stronger than the album version, even if it might be ripping off “Paradise City.”

that 2019 Seattle show was so transcendent.

my OPO has gotta be "Lyric" with a bunch of other Curse tracks close behind. That album is special.

From the five albums I've heard, my one pick might be... "John Barry"?

OPO - OK it's probably Where Were You but that doesn't need any help so gonna say Teeth since nobody else has

"Teeth" is absolutely top tier, good call

yeah, both the original and the Punk Rock version are great.

have a hard time not sticking with "Last Dance," which I decided was my favorite song at age 16 or so. But "Hard to be Human Again" is amazing to see live, and "Orpheus" is probably my favorite of their many self-referential songs (plus it sounds like they've been reading lots of Russell Hoban).

I was listening to Ancient & Modern a couple weeks ago, it's an interesting album, not the first album i'd recommend to people, but quite worthwhile and "Geeshie" is really wonderful.

youtube.com/watch?v=-TSQ1q6u1hw

meh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TSQ1q6u1hw

xp I was SO EXCITED when I saw "Orpheus" in the setlists that I was checking out as the tour progressed, I couldn't place it's origin at first but it's on that amazing art book/CD they did (Mekons United).

Interesting that this thread pops up — I was just thinking earlier this week that the Mekons seem to have disappeared into a black hole as far as cultural relevance; some years ago, people would talk about them much more frequently and now I never see them mentioned as a favorite band, an influence, or anything else. They just seem to have dropped off the radar. Am I wrong?

Well, they were never popular, and they haven't been fore of critical mind since their major label days, I'd say. They've put out a ton of stuff since then, but they don't/can't do a lot of touring, and they don't get a lot of promotion, etc. That they exist at all is miracle enough for me/most.

There was a documentary film made about them which possibly helped explain them to those who didn't already know.
I wonder if they are not well-served by the streaming era, because (to me) they are not necessarily the type of band where you hear one song and feel you have to hear more right away. In other words, it is the concept and history of Mekons which would potentially bring in new listeners, and that aspect is not really fed by hearing one song on a playlist or compilation. (I consider myself a minor, not a major fan, but consider them unique.)

Maybe? Their best stuff is pretty immediate, imo. Recently they've been kind of willfully obscure or high concept, more akin to the shaggy early days. But a couple of the Quarterstick albums are as good and "accessible" as anything they've done.

Shot this on the hottest day of the year at a small backyard festival in Rhode Island in 2019. Sound is crap, but I was practically on the stage. I kept waiting for Tom Greenhalgh to knock the phone from my hand, as I was right up in his grill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTeL5EgCiJk

I guess it was too hot for him to do his high kicks.

This past Sunday I was in Evanston visiting a friend and we went out to get lunch, next to the restaurant was a little alley with a little stage getting set up & a couple of people strumming acoustic guitars. As we are walking up I am loudly mentioning how much I love getting a bite and listening to live acoustic folk music in the afternoon, we realize the place we wanted to go to is closed, so we turn and walk back past these two suburban folkies who are just staring daggers at me at which point I recognize them as Sally Timms and Jon Langford.

Every time I've seen the Mekons, Sally is staring daggers. I think that's her resting face.

Hah, Sally and Jon are the nicest people.

LOL, absolutely. Also, they were just playing acoustic shows around NYC (like earlier this month) - they get around fast!

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/244521540_2072035062957097_117436574389308295_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=A8c48bjH4TQAX9tR9hO&tn=nMaCpl2pu4gQQq4y&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=8f1400515a1f78a9e04cd4bba809e44d&oe=61807186