Starry Eyed and Wooly Brained
“Only those things are beautiful which are inspired by madness and written by reason.” ― Andre Gide
I recently came across a beautiful boxset that Merge Records released this year celebrating the career of the majorly influential band The Tall Dwarfs. Titled Unravelled: 1981-2002, the boxset does a deep deep dive into the career of what was once one of the most enigmatic bands to grace the college radio airwaves. The Tall Dwarfs came out of New Zealand led by Kris Knox and longtime collaborator Alec Bathgate (who both played in the art punk band Toy Love prior). As The Tall Dwarfs the pair created homemade music that sounded completely outer-worldly and delightfully strange….some refer to it as “lo-fi” music…some as experimental pop. But like The Swell Maps in England (who came before the ‘Dwarfs by a few years), the music they made, many times releasing just a few songs at a time on limited edition singles, found its way into fanzines and local record shops internationally.
And thus, the Tall Dwarfs found a fanbase…young people needing the assurance that it was ok to sound truly original and handmade: to make music on your own terms. Bands like Guided By Voices, Mudhoney, Neutral Milk Hotel would talk about Kris Knox and the Tall Dwarfs…that is how I originally heard of them in the early 1990s…and the release of 3 eps on Flying Nun records in 1994, which yes, collected three of their choice past releases, became how I first got to hear a chunk of their recorded output. The joy of their music…the great melodies framed by such innovative arrangements and unexpected sounds so expertly handmade…sometimes intimate as if the band is whispering in your ear…sometimes a swirling journey through a sonic forest….3 eps is a true mad-hatter teatime feast. And ever since taking that first sip, I have been on the hunt to find original releases by this band, whose artwork more often than not featured covers created by Knox..and the covers wonderfully added to the fresh and playful quality of the music.
Chris Knox suffered a life-altering stroke in 2009, unfortunately pretty much ending The Tall Dwarfs and slowing his artistic output. But, I was speaking to my friend Scott Booker about the Tall Dwarfs boxset and he told me that Knox was selling his paintings on-line. Any ‘Dwarfs fan knows his signature messy beautiful style, and the paintings that are for sale showcase his artistry at its peak…some paintings done within the year.
For those interested in digging into the Tall Dwarfs, I DO recommend the 3 eps release as a starter but for those who want a deeper dive, that Tall Dwarfs boxset is a fantastic, beautiful thing to own, truly celebrating one of the great musical outsiders, Chris Knox.
Happy Monday!
Folklorist John Vlach 1948-2022
John Vlach is one of those incredible folklorists that you might not know, but whose work over the past five decades has helped us understand the international intersections of art…of architecture…of humanity. The obituary does an amazing job walking you through his life and accomplishments…I DO love this bit of his early history when he seized upon a true and unusual opportunity: “He served as a research assistant to his anthropology professor Daniel J. Crowley, who had been paralyzed by polio and needed a strong companion to push his wheelchair through Togo, Senegal, Mali, Liberia, Haute-Volta (now Burkina Faso), République du Dahomey (now Benin), Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, and The Gambia.”
Isaac Bashevis Singer Boulevard: Like Its Namesake, at the Center of the Upper West Side
Today is IBS’ 120th birthday. One of my fav. authors, while thinking about him I found this interesting piece published just a few months ago about the street named after him in New York’s upper west side: ‘In the first Singer biography, The Magician of West 86th Street, Paul Kresh poses the question, ‘What is Isaac Bashevis Singer?’ His answer, in part: ‘He is a man of many paradoxes and contradictions, yet withal a man, like Whitman’s poetical self, large enough to ‘contain multitudes,’ reconciled to the war of forces within himself and somehow at ease with himself.’”
‘All you have to do is participate’: how the Shotgun Seamstress zine made space for Black punks
Long live the zine! “In 2006, Osa Atoe picked up pen and paper and began to write herself into history. She had decided to create a fanzine, titled Shotgun Seamstress, with a simple manifesto: to support ‘Black people who exist within predominantly white subcultures, and to encourage the creation of our own.’ She went on to produce eight issues, and now those lovingly crafted pages have been compiled into an anthology that celebrates her zine’s status as one of the most iconic subcultural documents of the 00s alt-rock scene.”
Famed Japanese artist Rinko Kawauchi wins prize at Sony World Photography Awards 2023 (click on headline to go to story)
Kawauchi tells such huge stories through her photography: “Kawauchi's works are ephemeral as she captures snippets of everyday life with a unique luminosity and sense of poetry. She's influenced by the Japanese religion of Shinto in which adherents believe everything has a spirit or energy called ‘kami’. This is captured through Kawauchi's lens via shimmering lights reflected in a mirror or sunbeams trickling through a forest canopy, for example.”
The Flaming Lips at The Warfield: A Quick Review
The Flaming Lips dazzled at the Warfield this past weekend, playing very different sets for each of the two nights. The band has never been better—-driving, tight—featuring a new bassist who adds such energy to the double drums rhythm—and the production itself….the lights, the confetti, the lasers, the never-ending blown up giant objects…is pure wonderful spectacle. I watched my kids with wide eyes and mouths agape with happiness taking in the bright pounding lights and colors. This is not a greatest hits set, but more of a march through the deep cuts of the Lips’ more recent records however the way the band presents each song, with arrangements that seem created as ear candy for the audience are so powerful that they bring you along ecstatically. They are even playin music from one of my favorite new-period records, The Terror. Yes you get Yoshimi…you MIGHT get a great cover of Madonna’s Boarderline…you might even get Love Yr Brain from their second LP Oh My Gawd…but what you will definitely get is surprise after surprise in a live show that is wild and fantastic.
Elegy For Circus Attractions
By: Mykola Bazhan
