OPO: Mekons

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

Freakons is a supergroup of sorts, a pairing of Jon Langford and Sally Timms from long-running UK punk rockers The Mekons and pioneering Kentucky-based alt-country outfit Freakwater’s Catherine Irwin and Janet Beveridge Bean. After first connecting nearly a decade ago, Freakons is releasing its eponymous debut studio album this Friday on Fluff and Gravy Records.

...The concept is explained surrealistically on “Dark Lords of the Mine,” the opening track on Freakons.

“There’s this crazy thing on YouTube of [legendary actor] Richard Burton on The Dick Cavett Show, this rambling, fantastical monologue on his family’s experiences mining in Wales and that there’s this thread of coal that runs from the Bay of Biscay, through Wales, and all the way to Appalachia,” Irwin says. “We were like, ‘Is this true? I don’t think it is.’ It’s so deranged. But Jon pulled ideas for the lyrics from the interview.”

...In using coal as a narrative thread, Freakons examines its history and its future. The group tells the stories of men and women who sacrificed their health and safety by working in the mines, but also looks ahead to what’s next for workers who are viewed as obsolete in the face of a rapidly evolving society.

“No one really knows what to do if mines become a generational thing of the past,” says Langford. “It’s an existential thing; a whole way of life is going to be changed. There’s a whole group of people who haven’t been taken care of. Trump whipped them up and said he’d bring back coal, but he didn’t. Governments haven’t shown a plan or worked on training or providing jobs in greener industries.”

https://www.nodepression.com/freakwater-and-the-mekons-unite-as-the-freakons-for-rich-vein-of-songwriting-about-coal/?utm_source=No+Depression+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a6b20ada1b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_3_22_22_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_659325596f-a6b20ada1b-226384157&mc_cid=a6b20ada1b&mc_eid=b850f832a1

Sounds like the Mekons just finished tracking a new album in Spain. Why Spain? Who knows! Will it be another high concept album? Who knows!

I think that was their recording plan for 2020 that got postponed.

They've been sharing a few pics of the recording sessions on Facebook

Maybe it's my non-audiophile old school Koss over-ear headphones, but I've found that listening to the Freakons on free version of YouTube Music while reading lyrics on Bandcamp to be the ideal experience. Words are imaginative enough, without getting(too) arty-gimmicky extending realism through good turns of phrase that streak the coal dust on faces passing through once again, as the compelling music and the people in it push against limits of their situation, which are also limits of the Freakons' basic take: once again, as usual, the miners get reduced, by sympathizers as well as their bosses, so that we get no sense of what made this way of life bearable, and for some, seemingly inevitable--even desirable, financially and otherwise, even while knowing the risks and odds involved----Steve Earle & The Dukes' Ghosts of West Virginia is the only album I know of that speaks to and of this complexity.
But Freakons tunnels through it, for sure, with a tenacious vitality and recurring rowdiness. The women do most of the upfront vocal work, but Langford pitches in back there, and provides a very satisfying closer.

The Mekons’ Jon Langford & Sally Timms and Freakwater’s Janet Bean & Catherine Irwin are joined here by the stellar string and vocal harmonies of Jean Cook (Ida, Tara Jane O’Neil, Skull Orchard) and Anna Krippenstapel (The Other Years, Joan Shelley, Freakwater), along with special guest, the beloved guitar genius Jim Elkington (Jeff Tweedy, Richard Thompson, Eleventh Dream Day, Horse’s Ha, Skull Orchard, Freakwater, The Zincs).

Belgian painter Jo Clauwaert created the album’s intricate gatefold cover. Images from song lyrics and related history emerge and recede again in this gorgeously illustrated artistic fever dream.

Thanks for the reminder. I need to listen to Freakons

Saw the Waco Brothers last night in Washington DC. Last show of a 6 night East coast tour. Langford sounded good, and was entertaining and funny with his between song chat. They did a fair amount of songs from their latest album ( and some of those I liked). They also covered Undertones “Teenage Kicks” and Bobby Fuller 4 ( done Clash like) “I Fought the Law” plus a Small Faces song

Langford is going to do some gigs with Will Oldham in the fall ( pr says it will be like a pandemic show they did together earlier)

Saw Langford tonight with Bonnie P Will Oldham. Good show although a bit too much cutting up and goofy sing alongs with audience. I liked when they did Mekons songs. Oldham was in good voice at times. Langford sang one song from the recent Jon Langford and the Men of Gwent album “Lost on Land and Sea”