Doom & Gloom Dispatch #59: The Meaning of Feeling Good
Spencer Zahn, Bootlegs 2023, Interviews Etc 2023, Expressway To Yr Skull
Friends, we’re coming to the end of 2023 and I’m taking next week off — thank you for reading the Doom & Gloom Dispatch this year, whoever you are! And I may be getting off of Substack entirely because uhhhhh … It’ll still be cool, I promise. Onwards!
Spencer Zahn - Statues I / Statues II
Available as standalone downloads or a lavish double LP, multi-instrumentalist Spencer Zahn’s latest is a minimalist marvel. Statues I features Zahn alone at the piano, dreaming up a series of Harold Budd-esque reveries. The melodies and playing are meditative and inviting, but not without a certain restlessness that holds your attention. Statues II is one of the best so-called “ambient jazz” recordings of the year, with Spencer adding synths, saxes and woodwinds to the mix. While some of it has a Jon Hassell / Fourth World flavor, it drifts very nicely into its own unique zones. In spite of the title, these pieces are anything but static; they breathe and morph into new and unexpected shapes. Two halves that make a beautiful whole.
BOOTLEGS 2023
The year is winding, so it’s time to look back at the last 12 month’s crop of live tapes. Crowd noise, tape hiss, distortion, murk … and plenty of magic, people! As I do this year after year, I ask myself: “Why do I do this year after year?” I guess it’s a habit I can’t break. But I do love something about these cloudy recordings — the immediacy, the imperfections, the possibilities. Each bootleg, no matter how lo-fi, contains a glimmer of hope, a potential for beauty and transcendence. The fact that not all of them (few of them, in fact!) really deliver on that promise is part of the deal. The search continues!
Anyhoo, here’s a sampling of the Doom & Gloom goods from 2023 to get you caught up … thank you to the tapers, the archivists, the fans, the innocents.
Sonic Youth - #SonicSummer (Live 1981-2011)
Mazzy Star - The Mint, Los Angeles, California, July 15, 1993
Television - Max’s Kansas City, New York City, August 28, 1974
The Flying Burrito Brothers - Altamont Speedway, Tracy, California, December 6, 1969
Damon & Naomi - Best Video Film & Cultural Center, Hamden, Connecticut, May 12, 2023
Sandy Denny + John Martyn - Sundown Theatre, London, England, October 26, 1972
John Fahey - Carnegie Hall, New York City, Sept. 21, 1973
Prairiewolf - Paradise Found Records, Boulder, Colorado, July 1, 2023
The Band - Wollman Skating Rink, Central Park, New York City, June 30, 1971
PJ Harvey - McCabe’s Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, California, September 25, 1993
Van Morrison - Harvard Square Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 14, 1974
The Velvet Underground - The Playhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 1, 1993 (Soundcheck)
Loose Fur - The Double Door, Chicago, Illinois, May 14, 2000
Stephen Malkmus - Mr. T’s Bowl, Highland Park, California, August 13, 1998
Yo La Tengo - The Grotto, New Haven, Connecticut, October 23, 1987
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Town Hall, New York City, October 9, 1976
The Cramps - Toad’s Place, New Haven, Connecticut, February 20, 1992
The Dream Syndicate - Crystal Ballroom, Somerville, Massachusetts, September 18, 2022
Gram Parsons - Max’s Kansas City, New York City, March 9, 1973
Tom Verlaine - The Roxy, West Hollywood, California, October 17, 1981
Lou Reed & The Tots - Humpin’ Hannah’s, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, January 20, 1973
Elizabeth Cotten - Euphoria Tavern, Portland, Oregon, February 19, 1975
Sonny Rollins and his Jazz Ensemble - East River Park Amphitheatre, New York City, August 7, 1962
INTERVIEWS ETC 2023
I sometimes talk to people! Going back over the last year, I had some nice conversations with some very cool people. I like doing interviews, but they definitely stress me out a little bit. I suppose it’s good to get out of your comfort zone from time to time, though … So yeah, here are a few of those interviews, in case you missed ‘em the first time around.
HEAD VOICE (James Jackson Toth, Ben Chasny, Donovan Quinn)
Donovan Quinn: There’s one aspect of process which is like a user manual. You know, turning on a machine, how you control the bass or whatever. But then there’s a part of process which is more of our terrain, where it’s kind of a story. An artist or a group of artists is interacting with all these elements — each other, gear, inspiration. With each of our pieces in Head Voice, we’re getting little bits of that story.
With my record, I’ve seen people reference Loren Connors, which is great — I’m a huge fan of Loren Connors. But I’m always comparing it to something like Bill Fay, maybe in an emotional sense. Or like, Neil Young — how do I make “Cortez The Killer” … but not just copy it. One of my favorite Coltrane tunes is “Alabama.” Those eternal favorites you always come back to. How can I make something that feels like that without just doing that, right? I’m not interested in copying it, I’m interested in transmuting it, making it fit into my weird perspective of the world.
As an artist, [Lou] was a “transformer,” and everybody has their own version of who he was. What they want him to be, what aspect of his character they wanted to take in. I tried to show them all. I don’t know if they all morph into a single, intelligible human being. But maybe that is part of what was endlessly fascinating about him. He was all of these things simultaneously and they didn’t all necessarily add up.
I think it’s radical to have fun. And to be silly. It’s not meant as escapism or denial, but the world is dark and weird. And it keeps getting darker and weirder. It’s radical for an artist to afford an audience joy or pleasure. I mean, I love a lot of that solemn, serious, foreboding electro-acoustic music. There’s incredible stuff, obviously. But I wanted to make something that felt fun. And accessible! That’s radical, too, I think.
Andrew Bernstein: We’re trying to make things that sound interesting to us, first and foremost. But we’re also hoping that the music and the way we operate spurs the listener to think differently. Every act is political, and our decisions might make someone reconsider how they make music or how they go about their lives.
“The Obedient Atom” at White Eagle Hall was really special. That was one of the original Willies songs and it never got recorded. It was one of those songs that was always left behind for one reason or another. To finally play it out just felt incredible … and then the fire alarm went off and everyone had to evacuate [laughter]. There’s something about that song! Surreal. The atom wasn’t so obedient that night.
Further reading: Bill Million on the Feelies’ live tribute to an Underground legend
GUIDING LIGHT: A TOM VERLAINE APPRECIATION
Alasdair MacLean: I also think of some of Stephan Mallarme’s phrases – “the musician of empty nothingness.” Verlaine seemed to be working in parallel: “Watching the corners turn corners;” “Lightning struck itself.” The language turns in on itself, like the guitar solos. He obviously knew those poets back to front. I imagine lots of other people have tried to do this since, but all of them have made fools of themselves. Verlaine never did.
Further reading: Tom Verlaine - 20 Great Tracks
When we first started talking about rehearsing, I was like, “We’re probably going to be playing the same 20 songs. Let’s just pick another 15 songs that we know we can bust out.” Eventually, we finally came to that point…but then in rehearsals we ended up playing probably like 60 songs [laughs]. I’m like, “Oh my god!” That was just for the two Primavera shows, so it was like “Come on!” It took a while to re-learn all of that stuff.
Sonic Youth - Expressway To Yr Skull (1985-2010)
We closed the book on our #SonicSummer trek last week. Or did we?! Here’s a feedback-laden coda — a 2+ hour live megamix of one of Sonic Youth’s signature songs, “Expressway To Yr Skull” (AKA “Madonna, Sean and Me” AKA “The Crucifixion of Sean Penn” AKA one of the best jams ever). A quarter-century of finding the meaning of feeling good! Obviously, this is the perfect thing to play over the holidays when you’re visiting with loved ones.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s Neil Young in 1992:
Obviously I like Sonic Youth. They are definitely a modern rock ‘n’ roll band in my eyes. They make some beautiful music. Have you heard “Expressway To Your Skull”? It’s unbelievably good. So beautiful! It’s classic.
Yeah! The only real complaint you could make is that Neil himself does not make a guest appearance on this mix. But imagine that! It would be cool.
The details:
“Expressway To Yr Skull” (Hollywood 1985) / “Expressway To Yr Skull” (Baton Rouge 1986) / “Expressway To Yr Skull” (Paris 1987) / “Expressway To Yr Skull” (Los Angeles 1991) / “Expressway To Yr Skull” (Hartford 1992) / “Expressway To Yr Skull” (Mountain View 1995) / “Expressway To Yr Skull” (Paris 1999) / “Expressway To Yr Skull” (Amsterdam 2004) / “Expressway To Yr Skull” (Chicago 2006) / “Expressway To Yr Skull” (Paris 2007) / “Expressway To Yr Skull” (Denver 2010)
From the Doom & Gloom Archives
Frozen Fingers :: An American Primitive Holiday Meditation
Released in 1968, The New Possibility: John Fahey’s Guitar Soli Christmas Album kicked off a long-running micro-tradition of American Primitive holiday efforts. “I was in the back of a record store in July and I saw all these cartons of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas albums,” a typically cynical Fahey said of the LP’s origin. “The clerk said it always sells out. So I got the idea to do a Christmas album that would sell every year.” But there’s more to it than mere avarice.
Fingerpickers can’t seem to resist uncovering (or just plain inventing) the folk-blues roots of these timeworn melodies — just this year, Anthony Pasquarosa and Mark McGuire threw their hats into the ring for the VDSQ label. Whatever the motivation, it’s always nice to have an alternative to the treacly seasonal music that is inescapable this time of year. Frozen Fingers is playlist of (mostly) acoustic wintry music that’ll put a little wonder into the most wonderful time of the year…
Currently Reading: The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones by Charles Neider
Thank you for these posts. I’ve always thought about compiling an Expressway to yr Skull mix. The summer that album came out, I was a counselor at a Christian church camp and hooked up with another counselor and that was our makeout song. Music and it’s memories, don’t remember her but will never forget that song and the experience.