HYPOCRITE IN A HIPPY CRYPT - AN INTERVIEW

Emerging from Bloomington, IN, Hypoctite in a Hippy Crypt is a solo project with an interesting name and even more intersting music. Tweaker in the Park, the debut for the legendary Gulcher Records, is like an updated version of Chris Bell's I am the Cosmos: it's a strange mixture of Elliot Smith's intimacy and Syd Barrett's trancendental meditations, at once folky and psychedelic, a shamanistic attempt to meld the music and the lyrics into some sort of strange communication that intermingles with the stars and the drunken points of no return that all heaven's dissent may or may not be trying to overcome in a His Name is Alive sort of way. It's indiepsychefolkedelia for the masses but really just for one guy and whatever demons and mastodons he'd confronted - the same one's we all face but don't have the courage to face.

A sample lyric from "A Little Late":

"And now you're trying all your best,
To bite the tears an not confess,
The broken toys and broken dreams,
Behind your bedroom door,
Now's the time you realize,
All the time's you've compromised,
Who get's player one,
And who's guarding the door.."

It's rambling without structure and always tripping over itself - it's Bright Eyes without the artifice, and wrapped in a cushy dreamsicle that's both sickening and sweet, something you crave and hate yourself for craving - like heroin or, well, a Katy Perry song.

HIAHC continues:

"Never quite on top,
But never inbetween,
You're always there,
But you're never ever seen..."

You can't resist that. I was lucky enough to get HIAHC to answer a few questions.

ME: Ok so where does the name come from?

HIAHC: The name came from Kurt Cobain's diary, something about the imagery of it all just kinda stuck in my head after i read it. Its a funny thought really.

How did you get hooked up with Gulcher Records?

I was recording some songs to help out a friend with his music school application, then next thing I knew I had an album, and through the magical internet pixie fairies, Gulcher heard the album and was interested, and they were crazy enough to offer me a deal.

Influences?

Hmm, the big ones would have to be Weezer and The Beach Boys. Rivers Cuomo is a melody mastermind, along with Brian Wilson. They have the kind of songs that make me replay a 20 second section of a song 30 times or so. Their melodies and how they are constructed just blow my mind some times.

Of course, the Beatles. John Lennons vocal techniques have always fascinated me. Syd Barrett's whimsical lyrics are have been huge as well. Elliott smith is also a pretty big influence, his guitar skills along with his vocal styles gives me chills, and lyrics that make a small puppy cry along with the person throwing it over a bridge. Throw The Unicorns, Beck, and Bob Dylan in there too. A lot of weird music has shaped the way I write.

Here's a question, and by all means, feel free to tell me to fuck off if you feel like it on this one, but, lyrically, are you singing to someone in particular on this album?

Ha ha. I won't comment on this. Next question.

Can you tell me about how the album was recorded?

The album was recorded in the basement of my friends dorm, so it kinda has a lo-fi intimate feel. He used some cheap studio mics. He has his own label, Tree Machine Records that he was starting up at the time. Is that the answer you were looking for?

Also, At first only an acoustic guitar was used, then we went back and added some electric guitar, and some shaker, and of course some drums durring mixing. any questions about the songs or anything?

What are "The Crazies"?

The crazies.... are just the crazies. There is a women who roams around the streets and library of my hometown yelling at people giving looks that could kill Satan. She screams about voices in her head, and will scream at anyone she deems interferes with her psychotic delusions. I have had encounters with the mystic creature, its half humorous, and half spine chilling.

What's the story behind "William J Harris"?

No Comment. Sorry.

I'm probably off base on this, but is "Tweaker in the Park" kind of, I don't know, a sort of concept album? I mean, are all of the songs interrelated in some way?

There are definitely topics that could shift from song to song, and themes or ideas that are present more than once and through out the album. It's weird because a good number of people have asked me that. Would love to hear peoples interpretations of it.

Any plans for a second record?

I hope to record another album or an EP over the next few months, I have alot of songs to choose from, and have several track lists and ideas written up in my sketchbook..... or i could never make another song again. It changes daily.

What about playing live? How do the songs sound live?

The songs take on a more electric vibe when live, but it's for the better. Improvisation always makes it fun. One can expect dual cannon Yogo launchers to launch yogurt into the crowd. As well as caged animals of various types.



Here's a preview of the album - you should go to the Gulcher Records site and buy it.

Review: Crystal Antlers: "Two-Way Mirror"

Crystal Antlers, Two-Way Mirror, Recreation Ltd., 2011

There's an air of desperation that emanates from Two-Sided Mirror, the sophomore full length effort from Long Beach, CA's Crystal Antlers. From the chaotic expulsion of sound that kicks off the opener "Jules' Story", Mirror careens and caterwauls through thirty four minutes of post psychedelic blank-core, shivering and shaking with the a sort of drug addled spirituality that's at once horrifying and infectious. It's like the whole album is chasing after something, reaching and grasping for an object dangling just out of reach that scrapes against the fingertips and bounces away frustratingly into the dark as the band is trying everything they can think of to reach it. As a result the album is disjointed and disconnected, full of false starts and incomplete ideas, a mix of genres and influences that sees Fugazi, Converge, Dead Meadow, and Arcade Fire all turning to say, "Wait. What?". It's a miasma, a complex trigonometry question trying to read basic poetry while pieces of all sorts of things fly all over the place in distraction. And every song has at least ten seconds of absolute brilliance rattling around inside of it, but it's wrapped around a smoky deception that's short of breath: these guys don't have it all figured out, though everyone was hoping they did.

And that's the great fury of the day - the new album was supposed to be so much more. But maybe we see the trees and not the forest. Maybe we've been looking for lipstick and tight leather and are disgusted to find cracked lips and pajama pants and a hand outstretched for spare change, and when the band sounds exactly like 764-Hero or any of our other indie faves from ten years ago ("Fortune Telling") we get upset and push them and parts of ourselves away. A lot of critics have been saying that this album is missing something, criticizing the instrumental interludes ("Way Out") as superfluous, some even hinting at a sophomore jinx. I hate to get personal, but I don't agree. I think that this is where Crystal Antlers needs to be - honest and true, showing both their genius and the pretension and "everything I do is fucking awesome" swagger that comes with genius and I do not think that there are any accidents in Mirror. In fact, I think that everything about this album is carefully planned out and I think that it is a great album, essential in many ways, but not for the reasons that the members of Crystal Antlers probably think it is. I've said that Mirror is an album of desperation, an experiment in reaching and trying to touch things that might or might not be real. And it could be that what Crystal Antlers are chasing their own tail. Or it could be that the band is grasping at the ultimate secrets that rock and roll still has hidden away. Either way, the next album should be amazing.

Fuck .Yeah.

Just thought that ya'll might enjoy some great car art. Truly inspired.

B-R-A-N-E-S!!!!!!!!!!

"You know that movie, SLC Punk? There were no punks in Salt Lake City and it smelled like farts."

So says Ivy Slime, one half of the Portland based chaosynth outfit B-R-A-N-E-S, of the opening leg of the band's cross country tour. The band is slowly making it's way to Topeka, where they will appear at The Boobie Trap on Friday, July 8 with Primary Colors, an upstart industrial project from Oakland, CA, and locals Stand by for Radio Silence.

"Now we're in Wyoming and there are a lot of hoodoo rocks and that's cool because we love geology."

Yes, B-R-A-N-E-S loves geology. And theoretical physics. In fact, the band is named after a strain of thought which posits that the universe is comprised of 11 different dimensions known as membranes (or something like that, I'm not sure, they offered to Google it for me, but I decided to do it myself, which was a mistake: now I have a headache). But more importantly, at least for our temporal purposes, B-R-A-N-E-S also loves to make the sort of post-provocative, freak out industrial music that's at once hard to listen to and impossible to resist. Comprised of Slime on vocals and Susan Subtract on synths, the band came together in a strange way.

"I was bedridden in-between hospital stays for a mutant kidney condition and heavily medicated when I finally decided to start writing songs for the dark dance anthems that Susan had been writing on his keyboards for years," says Slime.
Equally influenced by the spastic experimemtations of Devo, the deviant derivations of The Birthday Party, and classic hardcore gothic ruminations, the band has developed a unique sound which they describe as "Batcave Wave / Wicked Noodle Music", which, of course, requires further explanation.

"As dark as a batcave," says B-R-A-N-E-S. "And just as upside down. We have entered the era of 'Generation Spaghettification'; BRANES is music for wicked noodles."

As far as what one can expect from their live show B-R-A-N-E-S are a little vague.

"Twitching, lasers, STI's, 'surprises'," says B-R-A-N-E-S.

But I would expect more than that. In fact, I would expect to see one of the most interesting nights of experimental music Topeka has seen in quite some time on Friday. Primary Colors sounds like quite the sonic experience, plus I think they just played with Zorch, who are awesome.And Standby for Radio Silence rarely disappoint.



Listen to their stuff if I haven't convinced you: B-R-A-N-E-S
Primary Colors: Here

The Driftwood Singers

"Pearl Charles and I met two years ago through a mutual friend who knew that we both loved country music and how rare that was in Los Angeles," says Kris Hutson, one half of The Driftwood Singers, a Los Angeles based duo who will bring their unique brand of traditional Americana to The Boobie Trap on Tuesday night.

"The day we met we both went back to my place and tried to sing some songs together and realized that our voices blended together well so we got to work immediately," Hutson continues.
What they got to work on was crafting a sound so traditional that it might sound foreign to modern ears. Made up of nothing more than two voices, a clumsily strummed acoustic guitar and an autoharp, their music has been described as "old timey", reminiscent of the dustbowl era, and, by the band itself as, the "stripped down kind of folk that one might have heard on front porches in the south in the 1930s", all of which work as fine descriptions for their sound. But the funny thing is that though the band is well schooled in the music of the past (they do a stirring version of the classic "Knoxville Girl"), they play original music. And their music is both basic and complicated, ancient and hyper modern. It seems to say "OK, so we've gone this far with rock and roll and everything, but what if we went the wrong way. Let's look back and see if maybe we missed something."

But that's what I say about every band I like, right? My babbling aside, Hutson has a more coherant description:

"Though we might occasionally throw some cover songs in the mix, we primarily play original songs which often comes as a surprise to people because we like to write songs that draw from all genres of American music. You can come to see the Driftwood Singers play and hear songs that might draw from Stax era soul songs and others that might draw from 40's honky tonk music."

Their debut EP "LOOK!" was recorded at home on a hand held cassette recorder. An unconventional choice, of course, but one that seems perfect for the duo. As Hutson explains:

"Most 'legitimate' recording studios are dark rooms with no windows. When we tried to do our EP in one of these studios, it seemed like everything just fell flat. There was no urgency or life in our performances because we were in an enclosed space that seemed so far away from any of the places and circumstances that the songs dealt with. We ultimately ended up simplifying our recording process so much that we started using a handheld cassette recorder with just a built in microphone. The fact that we were in our own living room, where the songs were written, without a bunch of microphones in our faces, freed us up to focus more on the performance of each song."



I wanted to ask Mr Hutson several more questions, but The Driftwood Singers are currently on tour, heading south from the appearance at the North by Northeast Music and Film Festival in Toronto to Topeka on Tuesday, June 29th. Hopefully they're not travelling by horse and buggy because it should be a great show.

Get "LOOK!"
The Driftwood Singers dot com
The Trap

NEW BACKLASH ALBUM

I'm planning on writing a more in depth story about this later, but I wanted to put something out now just to (hopefully) get a few people excited. Despite the fact that Backlash is "officially" broken up, the band is releasing a final album of original material (and by original, I mean manifestly different from anything you've heard from them before - if you're a Backlash fan you will be surprised by this album, to say the least, and if you're not a Backlash fan you probably will be if you buy this album) titled Circling the Drain which will be out in a few weeks. Singer/guitarist Shawn Ames says that the band is done after this and that they almost definitely will not play this album live, which is unfortunate because, well, of every local band I've seen/talked to or whatever in the last year, Backlash seems to be doing the most interesting stuff.

Backlash, of course, has always been known for being a straight ahead rock and roll band. While they have dabbled with piano based balladry in the past, the bread and butter of the band has been balls to the wall rockers like "Bad Monster" - songs about drinking beer and rockin' out - songs that they thought their fan base wanted to hear. But the new album sees the band branching out and finally resorting to exploring their own interests. In my conversations with Ames, both for this story and personally, there was a strange sparkle in his eye as he talked about the album coming together. He continually mentioned The Beatles as a major influence on the album and Ames later said that the vocal harmonies on the new album are "pretty reminiscent" of Abbey Road. Ultimately he likens Circling the Drain to Backlash's version Sgt Peppers. As a result, though Ames says that the band has maintained their standard influences like The Who and Alice Cooper, the band has begun to explore other areas of influence that are not usually associated with your common bar band.

"We've completely gone over the edge with this stuff," says Ames. "The new album starts out as straight up the middle Backlash. Then it gets into stuff that sounds like we went into Pakistan or we went down to New Orleans. It's insane!"

Also, this is the first Backlash album to be created with only current material.

"This is the first record that Brian and I didn't cull from old material," says Ames. "We didn't go to something that I wrote five or six years ago. All of this is from October 2010 to literally this last Saturday (note: this interview was done on March 3, 2011). There's a lot that I did just this last Saturday that creeped the hell out of me. I don't know where it came from but it's creepy."

About the recording of the album, Ames insists "it's just like a regular band". Songs were written and presented to the other band members and no one said "that sucks" so Ames went with them. The songs are a mix of straight ahead Backlash style rockers with titles like "My Old School (Wants to Kick Your New School in the Ass)", to "Shake It" an infectious acoustic rocker done "completely on the fly" with a riff that "came out of nowhere", according to Ames. "Circling the Drain" is a fucked up Willy Wonka boat ride sort of experiment that will make your skin crawl, and the five layers of vocal harmonies that backbone "The Quiet Life" will make you realize why rock and roll was once important.

But it is the twists and turns in this new album that will make it worthwhile listening. "Cheap Thirlls" is an epic song that breaks from a straight ahead rock and roll song into a miasma of psychedelic exploration reminiscent of Pink Floyd. And the masterpiece of the album, "A Deeper Understanding", which Ames describes as "his baby" will blow your mind. It's full of backwards guitars, sitars and shit like that, and the breakdown of the song is like the sun bursting over the trees at dawn.

"It's about as un-Backlash as you can get," says Ames. "There's just too much stuff on here that separates us from every other band in this town."

Check it out, when it comes out, April 29th, 2011. Here is their Myspace.

On the Obovoid and other Places of Interest

A major part of my job here is to link you guys and girls up with great deals around town. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I've recently had the good fortune of getting my old job at the much ballyhooed (at least in these pages) Murphy's Liquor Exchange, so I'll no longer be able to freely expound upon how great that store is, so you'll be hearing a lot more about the rest of the great deals around Topeka, Lawrence, etc, in these pages from here on out because I don't plan on leaving Murphy's for a loooong time. And, all of you who've emailed me have an open invitation to come there between the hours of 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday and talk beer (or whatever) with me. I'll be the guy trying to look busy.

And that's a good thing. Sean Murphy, who owns Murphy's, knows his shit - he knows and respects good beer and, like all great connoisseurs, opts for quality over quantity, emphasizing how good a bottle or a six pack is over it's name brand. But there are a lot of places around town that simply have no idea what their doing - managers and owners who either order everything just because they can or who stock something because a salesman gives them a good deal. And that's where I come in. It may take a bit of time, but eventually even the most stern-fisted 25% markup asshole will come around to the 'just get rid of it state of mind', and relegate some great treasures into the dusty markdown bins of their stores. This is gonna be fun...

Listen. Obovoid. Grattidge Liquors is a small store on the east side, located in the CaliforniaCrossing shopping center at 29th and California. It isn't a 'destination' store, but offers a nice selection of somewhat crafty sort of stuff. A small cooler of mishap, really, some Sam, some Flying Dog, some of that ridiculous Ed Hardy stuff, nothing Indiana Jones about the place. No risk taking. It has a great location, on the way to the lake, so if you're headed out to Shawnee for an afternoon or some lame party, rather than resorting to the paltry selection at The Dock, that horrid place, you should check out Grattidge. They sell a limited amount of singles (located in a cooler at the end of the wine), most out of season (but not outdated) stuff that doesn't seem to have been mistreated or abused at all. I've recently purchased several winter brews there that tasted just fine. The best buys are by the register, which is where they put the stuff they've seemingly given up on. Currently several bottles of those wonderful St Peters brews are gathering dust for under 5$, but the most intriguing find is the numerous bombers of Obovoid nestled amongst the forgotten stuff for $2.99 - this is surely a find worth mentioning.

I've been looking for a reason to write about Obovoid since it was released back in 2008. If you've never tasted or even heard about the Void here's some background. It's an oak-aged oatmeal stout clocking in at 40 IBUs and 8% ABV in a 22 oz bottle (there are six packs out there somewhere that list the ABV at 6.8%, I've read reviews but never seen them anywhere). It's brewed by the Boulder Beer Company in (duh) Boulder, CO and began as a release in their vaunted "Looking Glass" series, the progenitor of such memorable brews as Mojo Rising, but has become their fall seasonal, though it's rarely seen in Topeka for whatever reason.

Regularly priced in the $6-$8 range at $2.99 the Obovoid is an absolute steal. It's a complex beer, a bit intimidating in appearance, but surprisingly smooth in execution. Pours jet black with a head of nearly the same color which subsides quickly leaving a beautiful graffiti of lacing on the glass. A lot of oat-stouts can be overwhelming, too robust to enjoy, almost like eating a sandwich. The Void resists this temptation, though it definitely approaches the precipice and you can tell that the masters at Boulder, who've been making craft beer since 1979, held back, opting to make a beer you'd rather drink than talk about, my favorite kind.

Speaking of good deals, I hate being the harbinger of bad news but if you're expecting one

on the new 30th anniversary stuff from Sierra Nevada, you're going to be in for a terrible surprise.

They're being offered to stores in the Topeka area in absurdly limited quantities. From what I've

heard the north east quadrant of the state is allocated only four cases. One salesman I spoke to

(well, eavesdropped on, actually) had only four bottles to offer his clients. Take away at least a

case for the inevitable store owner confiscation of a bottle or two and I estimate only about thirty

six people in our area will be lucky enough to buy one of these babies. Hopefully some of you will

share.

Oh, yeah, and the asking price? It'll probably be around $15-17 bucks for a bottle, which pretty much counts me out unless someone from the SN camp wants to toss a 'donation' my way (and, really, I'd take a few ounces delivered via USPS in a sippy cup, I'm not picky). If you haven't heard about it then, not only are you shopping at the wrong store, but be prepared to be blown away: it's a collaboration between Ken Grossman (of SN) and Fritz Maytag (of Anchor). It's a monster, snifter appropriate stout, that weighs in at 9,2% ABV. Early reviews have been excellent, receiving an A- from Beer Advocate reviewers, though you'd have to think that at least some of that is due to the enthusiasm surrounding this release.

The one bit of good news surrounding this whole release is that it is a series. There will be four releases all together, all collaborations between pioneering brewers like Charlie Papazian and Jack Mcauliff, with the exception of the final release, an oak-aged blend of Bigfoot, Celebration, and Pale Ale that is perhaps the most mouthwatering concoction I've ever heard of. This is the one I'm saving my money for (I've stepped up my use of the curse words at home specifically so I can put change into the 'swear jar") - and I don't think I'd be out of line or premature in crowning this monster 'Beer of the Decade' this early in the going. Even if it lives up to 5% of the hype it's going to receive (it won't be released until October, so we probably won't sniff any of it until late November round these parts) it'll be an amazing achievement, setting the standard for the rest of the decades.

That's about all I got right now. With the warmer weather these days, brewpub road trips seem imminent so be on the lookout for me if you're behind the bar at Hank is Wiser or LB Brewing since you're tops on my list of places to visit. I'd also love to do a story on a local home brewer, not only for the opportunity to try your beer and bullshit about beer but I know dick about home brewing (except for the fact that I SUCK at it) so it would be nice to learn a thing or two. And again, you're all welcome to stop by Murphy's and shoot the shit about all stuff beery, or the Royals if you're so inclined. As always, drink safe, drink smart, drink well and share. Cheers!

Brew News - Spring, 2010

There are a few things that all of my drinking buddies know about me. First, I practically had to rush home and change my pants when I noticed that thirty packs of Iron City cans had arrived at my favorite store (Murphy's, 29th and Topeka). The moment I saw them my mouth began to water with visions of hours of lakeside drinking unhindered by clumsily hiding bottles at the sound of a park ranger's truck. I'm not saying IC is the nectar of the gods, but it's a huge step up from the High Life I'm usually forced to drag with me to the lake, or the occasional dusty case of Yuengling I track down if I'm out of town.
Another thing my friends know is this: I ain't no hophead. Never been one. I've tried. Hell, I've even faked it, to no avail. It's just something about my pallette: almost every high IBU concoction I bring to my lips turns out to be a mistake, and the gnarly shape I somehow contort my face into after the first drink is (I'm told as I've never seen it) both comical and terrifying - an otherworldly cross between the Elephant Man and Jim Carey that defies logical explanation and is worthy of National Enquirer consideration. I've always defended myself by saying things like "I don't put flowers on my steak, why would I want them in my beer?", and "I'll take a Heather Ale over an Imperial IPA anyday", which is ludicrous and untrue. To me, hops are the meat of a beer, the part a patron can really sink their teeth into, and an overly hopped brew is like a steak or slab that's been burned beyond recognition, one dimensional and bland.
That said, I still get excited whenever a new huge IPA hits theshelves, and, though reluctantly, I'll usually end up buying it, dragging it home and forcing myself through it in the hopes of being pleasently surprised. I like being pleasently surprised. It's pleasent. And so, predictably, on my last run to the store I nabbed a few singles that looked promising and sat down determined to approach them with an open mind. Here we go...

Ranger India Pale Ale, New Belgium Brewing Compnay, Fort Collins, CO

Honestly, you could see this coming a few years ago when New Belgium released the Mighty Arrow Pale Ale in their sampler 12 pack. It was obvious that they were testing the water for something new and you could tell that a simple pale ale, while good, wasn't their ultimate goal. The funny thing is, I spoke to a very nice representative at New Belgium about the Mighty Arrow at the time of it's initial release and she told me very enthusiastically that it was "The big one, a whopping 35 IBUs!" which, at the time was quite high for NB. After all, I got a little pissed when they drastically raised their prices during the hop shortage a few years ago because Fat Tire and Sunshine Wheat aren't exactlyhyper hopped brews, so what gives? But bygones are bygones and I dropped my ill-advised boycott of NB a while ago and I'm glad I did, otherwise I would have missed out on Ranger.

At 70 IBUs and 6.5% ABV Ranger is pretty ambitious for an American Belgian style brewery, particularly one as high profile as NB. Ommegang has nothing like it. Even Boulevard's Single Wide is only 59 BUs, so Ranger seems like a great leap forward. It's like if Anheuser Busch came out with some sort of slightly hoppy ale or dumped a bunch of lime juice into Bud Light.... Oh, yeah, nevermind.

I fell in love with Ranger pretty quickly after pouring it into my trusty Old Style mug. It's a beautiful looking beer, strongly copper in color and sporting a fluffy pillow of tasty foam that laces the glass with crinoline etchings of delicious residue as the beer sinks sip by sip. It's incredibly drinkable, and while the hop presence dominates the smell and taste of the beer it doesn't attack the pallette. The bitterness is slight, just a mild tingle towards the end of each sip that tickles the back of the tongue. Hops are the dominate taste, but Ranger doesn't fray the tastebuds with a shocking hop bath. Instead, due to an intense dryu hopping with Cascade hops, it's almost like a hop flavored amber rather than a typical IPA. It's a fun beer to both to drink and look at, and surprisingly sessionable - exactly what I've come to expect from NB.

Something unexpected, however, (at least for me) is a enjoyable Imperial IPA. Unlike a lot of people, I've never been impressed with the "Imperial" tag brewers have been slapping on their brews. To me, it's a great example of the nauseating self-propaganda techniques ad-execs use to make a quick buck, but hey, there's enough simpletons out there to make it profitable, so whatever. To me, it ain't Imperial unless it's wearing white armor and walking around the Death Star. That said...

Hop Czar Imperial IPA, Bridgeport Brewing Company, Portland, OR

It would be unfair to say that I was underwhelmed by the Czar. But it is Bridgeport's fault for calling it Imperial. When I hear Imperial expectations are raised. That's the point of calling it Imperial. I get prepared for an experience. It's irrelevant, really, whether it's good or bad - I'm looking for something memorable. Which is not what you get with the Czar. Don't get me wrong, you get a great beer, one that you'll want to drink regularly. And at 7.5% ABV and 85 IBU's you can drink three or four of these a night a few times a week and be perfectly happy. Fulfilled even. But you're not going to be blown away.

In many ways Hop Czar epitomizes Bridgeport itself. It's a great, flavorful beer that doesn't over-achieve or over-shoot it's boundries. It's recieved good reviews but nothing stellar, and provides a nice back bone for a style that's been plundered and pillaged like a Viking conquest over the last ten years. The IPA and Imperial IPA may be close to running it's course and it's nice that both of these powerhouse breweries have finally contributed their two cents to the conversation.

Well, that's it for now. Be back next month with a few more thoughts and such, and maybe one of those brewery visits I promised last time. Cheers! - jack

Reasons to be Good - A Short Conversation with Ryan Davis, State Champion of Kick Ass New Bands

I first stumbled upon Louisville, KY newcomers State Champion while bumming around music geek message boards one night and didn't think much of them.There was a buzz about the band, but something about their crunchy, guitar driven alt country just didn't sit right. The songs seemed confused and sloppy, the country punk seemed romanticized at best and contrived at worst. A few days later I gave hem another chance and I don't know, maybe it was the right combination of a few Pabst Blue Ribbons and the early evening light of a long and frustrating day, but it just hit me, the music clicked in my brain and I 'got it'. Since then I've listened to their first full length, Stale Champagne, about a thousand times, played it for every friend I have, found myself humming the tunes while doing the dishes, and relished the fact that I've reserved a spot for myself on this bands bandwagon before they get 'big', which is bound to happen any day now.

The band is the brainchild of Ryan Davis, a Kentucky bred art student turned songwriter who spent the better part of the past decade writing songs in a flat in Scotland and ploughing the fertile fields of the Louisville underground to piece his band together. Unlike most bands, which develop naturally through a core of bud's and beers, State Champion went through countless changes in lineup and arrangement, from Davis performing solo, to a two piece, to Davis solo again, etc.

"I struggled for a long time with what it meant to perform solo," he says. "If it was the kind of music I was intending to make or if it was only reflecting my laziness and lack of resources. I eventually hit a wall performing alone and began collaborating with anyone I knew with an instrument. Whether he or she was worth a damn or not was entirely secondary."

"Some were better than others," he continues. "Some were more interested than others. Almost all of them were friends, roommates, borrowed musicians of more established bands. I eventually arrived at a group of folks with whom I clicked enough to consider keepers. They were committed enough to tour and understood the songs well enough to make up for my shortcomings."

Exactly what those shortcomings are is a mystery. On record the band is nearly flawless. Unabashedly blending endearing lo-fi sensibility and polite farm boy twang with 90s-ish guitar heroics, Champagne is a major power surge for a scene which has been thirsting for authenticity since everyone starting pretending Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was a masterpiece. The songs that make up the record have a natural and honest feel to them, and they're possessed with a 'love 'em or hate 'em so what, we're not trying to impress anyone', attitude that's undeniably, well, impressive. More than being a genre record, it's a record of the Midwest, a record of experience, from influence to execution. Davis cites songwriters like Will Oldham, Conner Oberst and Jason Molina as major influences, but it's more than that.

"You grow up in Kentucky with this warped view of the world, wishing you were from New York City or somewhere in California," Davis says. "You listen to Nirvana and Jesus Lizard growing up, anything to avoid what came long before you, historically. I remember buying a Misfits shirt in 5th grade before I'd ever even heard them because I knew it was good. Then I went to the mall and bought Collection II and was like "What the fuck? This sounds like Elvis!" Took me a minute to wrap my head around it."

"When I was in Glasgow, alone in that flat with an acoustic guitar that I barely knew how to play I was coming from a year in American art school," Davis says. "I was having new bands shoved down my throat. Le Tigre, Animal Collective, all this wacky shit. But when I sat down to write that first batch of songs, it came out kind of sounding like country music. I didn't understand it, but I guess there is something inherently Southern that was just sort of boiling over the years, soaking in it for so long.

"Now that this record has been getting a little press, people talk about how we are paying homage to the greats of alt-country. Bands like Uncle Tupelo and Drive By Truckers and I have never heard a single one of these bands! Just makes me wonder if dudes like Jeff Tweedy and Ryan Adams started writing songs like that for the same reason I did. Because they loved both The Byrds and Black Flag, and that's just how their brain chose to deal with it."

Check out State Champion at their MySpace: myspace.com/iamstatechampion
Buy Stale Champagne here: http://sophomoreloungerecords.com/records.html

Running Down Paul Schneider

On the Corner
Support Local Music
by Jack Partain

Sitting in his office in Rundown Studios, producer and engineer Paul Schneider seems less like a geeky recording tech than an ambassador for the craft as he explains the philosophy of his studio.

"I’ve had bands of my own." he says. "But the main thing that I was never happy about is that most studios if you’re a struggling band you’d go record and they’d just give you a rough mix and if you wanted a pro mix then you’re talking $700 hundred bucks a song and most people can’t afford that."

"So I opened this studio with that in mind, trying to provide a professional level mix with-out as much cost."

Intelligent and articulate, Schneider, who is also a local fireman and veteran musician, knows the importance of quality recording for a young band.

" I will do demos for people," he says. "But I really don’t like to. I think it’s detrimental to the band. If they’re gonna record they might as well just go all out. People make a decision within the first 15-20 seconds and if it sounds like it was recorded by the band people don’t even give the song a chance. But if it has that polish and production on it people will give it a chance. The body and the message of the song will have more of a chance to come through."
Discreetly located in a converted central Topeka storefront, from the outside Rundown Studio's is doesn't seem like the hip spot for local musicians it is quickly turning into. But inside, the building seems like the perfect place to get the creative juices flowing. Comfortable and lacking in pretension, Rundown is different from a lot of other studios in that it doesn't flaunt it's hipness. Perhaps because it reflects the personality of it's creator.

"I started construction in July 2008 and I built the whole thing myself," Schneider says. "It was just an empty space."

After officially opening in January, 2009 Rundown has pro-duced an interesting array of artists including hard rock (Come Ascendancy, Brass Knuckle Betty, Another Day Gone) emotronic (Lawrence's Shout it Out Loud!) and classical/celtic (Kansas City's Rehtaeh). A major reason for this popularity may be Schneider's hands on approach to production.

"I pretty much do everything from engineering right on up to producing," he says. "So when a band comes in, I’m the guy setting up the mic’s, I’m the engineer, I’m the guy picking what pre-amps we go through and how it’s mic’d and how it’s played and then of course I do the mixing and then I also do the mastering.

"I’m one of those guys that Iikes to do everything," he continues."I'm kind of a control freak."

Largely misunderstood by the listening public, paradoxically the producer is often overlooked in the recording process, many times thought of as little more than a knob turner sitting in a dark room pushing buttons. Schnieder says it's more than that.

"As an engineer I’m able to apply everything that I know about music and really delve into things," he says. "Take it to an art form level which is what a lot of producers don’t do. They never delve into 'If I take the EQ on a guitar and dramatically change it, what does that do?'

"Everybody’s different in how they produce, how they mix, how they record," Scheider says. "I’ve got my own little way to do things, a little bit of a unique sound, even though in todays market a lot of bands, most bands will come in and say that they want a live sound, but when you get down to the finished product they want what they hear on the radio and a lot of the time what they don’t understand is that takes a lot of backend work and of course you have to get what you need on the front end. My philosophy, the way I do things probably might be different from some peo-ple but, most of the time, the music comes out with the feel of what the band is doing."

And like any great producer, Schneider says it's easy to see himself as part of the band he's working with.

"That’s one of the fun things about it," he says. "Yes, you do become just like a member of the band. They joke around with you and you have your place in the band. What you’re doing is taking all the elements of the band and bringing them together to make a specific sound. So a producer or mix engineer ends up being very important to the group. If you stick with a person then that’s what defines the final sound. And a lot of major bands, that’s what they do, they get a producer and they stick with it."

And sticking with it is something Schneider knows something about. Music has always been a part of his life.

"I played guitar, piano and drums since I was a kid but I al-ways played other peoples stuff," he says. "I was a big Van Halen fan."
"When I was thirty I started writing music and put out a CD called Movin On. When I listen to it now it’s about the most horrible production I could think of. But it still sells on iTunes. I don’t understand why – Europeans have a weird taste for music."

And his experience in production is lengthy and nearly obsessive.

"I’ve been mixing for fifteen years," he says. "But as far as producing other people, probably the last four or five years since I’ve had a band come in and I feel comfortable giving what I consider the best for the song in my opinion."

"I’ve always loved music," he continues. "Production gives me the ability to go so far inside music. There so many things, so many sides of it, from a production side. This year I've probably spent a good thousand hours in here."

In the next year Schneider plans on focusing even more on his work and finding new bands to work with.

"I spend so many hours in here," he says, without complaining. "It’s hard for me to go out and listen to bands and approach them and say I’d like to produce you. I’d like to be able to do more of that."

But what about getting rid of that pesky ghost? Artists at Rundown have reported sightings of ghostly activity within the studio, and Schneider has photographic evidence. Paranormal fan or haunting critic?

"It's not a mean ghost," Schneider says. "A lot of bands hear about it and are like 'Yeah, that's cool'."

Visit Paul's MySpace for more info: myspace.com/rundownproduction

Artists that have recorded at Rundown Studios:
Shout it Out Loud!, Emotronic, myspace.com/shoutitoutloudks
Another Day Gone, Metal, http://www.myspace.com/anotherdaygoneks
Rehtaeh, Celtic/Classical/ Gothic, http://www.myspace.com/rehtaehsmusic
Tiger Team Eleven, Metal, http://www.myspace.com/tigerteameleven
Jerrod Guth, Acoustic, http://www.myspace.com/jarrodguth

From the Vaults #4

Witch, Witch, Teepee Records, 2006


From the Vaults
Witch is a Vermont based doom metal band featuring Kyle Thomas on vocals and guitars, Dave Sweetapple on bass, Asa Irons (Feathers) on guitar, and guitar hero J Mascis (Dinosaur JR) on, um, drums. Anti-climactic? To say the least. While it is hard to believe that the old fart resisted laying down a single lick on the bands self-titled debut, especially since metal is the one genre of sub-rock which has never devalued or mocked the majesty of the lead guitar, Witch is a grand album that revels in metal tradition without being regressive.
They might tell you it sounds like Sabbath but it doesn’t, Witch is a great deal less focused. Their compositions are tangled, hazed out mantras that drift strung-out and lazy through the subterranean echoes of Witchcraft’s sonic spelunking, and Dead Meadow’s winding chaos. But this ain’t stoner rock and there ain’t none of that southern rock nonsense metal bands get distracted by too often these days. Mascis does a respectable job on the kit abusing the skins, and Iron’s astounding resume, from the avant folk to lo-fi whispers and now metal may just prove him some sort of genius. Or the band could just be a big joke; its still to early to tell. -Jack
From the vaults is a regular series compiling the previous output of our fearlessly fearful, constantly on my ass editor/boss/friend Jack Partain. For those who don't know, Jack spent ten masochistic years toiling in the wonderfully tedious and poverty worshipping world of rock music criticism, writing inspired reviews of bands no one would listen to before he decided to tell everyone to get fucked start doing his own thing, which he should have been doing all along.
We're going to publish some of these things here from time to time in the hopes that someone will actually buy these albums that he loves. Some of these things may not even be legal to print due to copyright restrictions, which is why, in case your some lawyer asshole, we're not going to mention where they were actually printed first. So good luck tracking it down through all the indie rock detritus if you want to sue us. Oh, and when you do, tell the editor to send that check he promised. Whatever. Rock on, fuckheads.
Much love,
-marshall

End of Year / End of Decade Best of Lists!

The end of the year is time to give thanks to the hardworking souls who write the stuff you read here in The Point. These folks sit at their desks for hours, staring at glowing monitors, battling hangover induced writers block and urges to just go fuck it all and get that job at WalMart their mothers keep telling them they should have, just to move a little love into the world in the form of an honest, well thought out review, interview, or editorial. Ironically enough, here at The Point, gratitude is shown with copies of The Beatles Remastered box set (which none of us could afford and were to afraid to steal online) and the option to do end of year lists instead of actually write something. This year, being the end of the decade, allows for an added bonus - best of the decade lists. Sure they're annoying and cumbersome, pretentious and forgettable, but please indulge us for a minute or two. Speaking of which... For those you out there who think that music journalists aren't an integral part of your "scene": I don't care how many hits you have on your MySpace, or how much "the industry is changing", no one is going to take your shitty band seriously for long without friendly writers to tell them why they should listen to you. Good music + good journalism = rock stars and underpaid journalists. Just keep giving me the free records and I'm happy. - Stacks

Magnus Cooper. Contributing writer, expert on noise rock and pretentious indie rock, leader of the second wave of 'spock rock'.
Best of 2009
No surprises here, guys. I like what I like, hate what I hate. Can't kill the fuzz. Kill the fuzz. Happy new year, everyone!
1. The Paper Chase, Someday this Could All Be Yours, Kill Rock*s
2. Lightning Bolt, Earthly Delights, Load Records
3. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavillion, Domino Records
4. Raekwon, Only Built for Cuban Linx... Pt. II, EMI Records
5. Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca, Domino Records
Faves, 2000-2009
1. Black Dice, Beaches and Canyons, Domino Records, 2002
2. Bright Eyes, Lifted (or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground), Saddle Creek, 2002
3. Radiohead, Kid A, Capitol Records, 2000
4. Lightning Bolt, Hypermagic Mountain, Load Records, 2005
5. Lightning Bolt, Earthly Delights, Load Records, 2009
6. Panda Bear, Young Prayer, Paw Tracks, 2004
7. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago, Jagjaguwar, 2008
8. Cheveu, Cheveu, Born Bad Records, 2008
9. Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca, Domino Records, 2009
10. Converge, Jane Doe, Equal Vision Records, 2001

Marshall Stacks: Music editor, The Point, last true Ramones fan, pain in the ass.
What a year, what a decade (sigh)! I'll give it a try...
2009
1. Neil Young, Archives Volume I, 1963-1972, Reprise Records
2. The Beatles Remasters, Capitol Records
3. Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Sign of the Three Eyed Men (Box Set), International Artists
4. Wolf Eyes, Always Wrong, Sub Pop
5. The Thermals, Now We Can See, Kill Rock *s
Decade (Note: The Avett Brothers would have been higher if not for their last release...)
1. Ramones, Ramones (Reissue), Sire / Rhino
2. Ramones, Road to Ruin (Reissue), Sire / Rhino
3. Ramones, Leave Home (Reissue), Sire / Rhino
4. Ramones, Rocket to Russia (Reissue), Sire / Rhino
5. The Exploding Hearts, Guitar Romantic, Dirtnap Records, 2003
6. Radiohead, Amnesiac, Capitol Records, 2001
7. Tom Waits, Alice, Anti, 2002
8. Television, Adventure (Reissue), Elektra, 2005
9. Neko Case and Her Boyfriends, Furnace Room Lullaby, Bloodshot Records, 2000
10. The Avett Brothers, Introducing... Emotionalism, Ramseur Records, 2007

Jack Partain, Editor, The Point. AKA, "the guy that isn't going to let Marshall write smart ass comments about him here".
'09
1. The Felice Brothers, Yonder is the Clock, Team Love Records
2. The Flaming Lips, Embryonic, Capitol Records
3. The Mountain Goats, The Life of the World to Come, 4AD
4. Vic Chesnut, At the Cut, Constellation Records
5. Assjack, Assjack, Curb Records
Decade
1. Godspeed You! Black Emporer, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antenna's To Heaven, Constellation Records, 2000
2. Sodastream, Looks Like a Russian, Trifecta Records, 2000
3. Whiskeytown, Pnuemonia, Lost Highway, 2001
4. Sun Kil Moon, Ghosts of the Great Highway, Caldo Verde Records, 2003
5. The Mountain Goats, Tallahassee, 4AD, 2002
6. Red House Painters, Old Ramone, Sub Pop, 2001
7. The Great Lake Swimmers, Ongiara, Nettwork Records, 2007
8. Royal City, Little Hearts Ease, Rough Trade, 2004
9. The Avett Brothers, Introducing... Emotionalism, Ramseur Records, 2004
10. The Mountain Goats, The Coroners Gambit, Absolutely Kosher, 2000

Bring Your Chainsaw To Work Day - Local Dance Artist Amber Proctor on the Mysterious Art of Belly Dance

From Volume I, Issue 3, December, 2009

"Belly dance is largely misunderstood," says Amber Proctor, a local dance artist and advocate of artistic dance.
"Dancers are highly sensitive and very serious about developing and maintaining the integrity of the art form," she continues.
"In the West, it's frequently confused with stripping or burlesque and this confusion is dangerous... I always want the dance to be portrayed as the positive force that it is."
Proctor, who has been practicing and teaching the art of belly dance for four years, says that despite these misconceptions, belly dance actually serves a vital purpose for the women and men that indulge in it's mysteries.
"Belly dance stirs deep emotions for women bringing out joy, sisterly love, and self love," she says. "I'd like to make cameos at high school physical education classes so I could catch young women as they are forming their adult identities and promote self esteem, feminine unity, and a knowledge of the most ancient dance form in the world."

"Belly dance was, once upon a time, part of becoming an educated woman," she continues. "A woman would learn this dance form along with academics. Learning to gain control over the body was a key component of education. This is little known and long forgotten."

Attempting to reverse this trend, Proctor recently launched her own production company, Chainsaw Shimmy Productions, with her partner Thomas Pfeiler, and has been making appearences throughout the area. In the past she has worked with groups suchas Tara's Grace Belly Tribe and the Maya Zahira School of Belly Dance, and worked as an instructor through parks and recreation programs. She has performed at spots all over north east Kansas, including Kansas City's Midland Theater, to appreciative audiences.
"I've been known to dance at community events, coffee shops, night clubs, art exhibitions, senior centers, and parades, she says. " I've also volunteered at the Breakthrough house here in Topeka and it's even been suggested to me by a prison employee to come in and teach belly dance to inmates."
Proctor also makes sporadic spontaneous appearances at local bars and nightclubs, crashing dance floors in an attempt to bring the dance to the uninitiated, generally receiving a positive reception.

"I go out in half costume to clubs and live shows every other weekend," she says. "Larger events in Lawrence or Kansas City tend to provide a friendlier crowd, but even Uncle Bo's in Topeka is great."
That reception, however, is not exclusively positive. A few places are less than friendly.
"A few months ago, I was bar crashing in half costume, just going anywhere I could find music," she says. "My boyfriend and I were kicked out of Skinny's after I drew attention on the dance floor."
"People were taking pictures and videos and talking about me," she consintues. "One of the owner's minions approached me and told me that he had several complaints and that I had to leave. I attempted to contact the owner and eventually reached him. He informed me that they don't like to see people dancing alone. The bottom line is that a professional dancer got kicked off an empty dance floor where there was a Dj and an advertised evening of dance."
Proctor specializes in a type of belly dance known as tribal fusion. A fairly recent off-shoot of traditional belly dance, tribal dance allows for a great deal of experimentation by it's practitioners. It combines modern and popular dance forms such as Cabaret and hip hop with traditional elements of dance to create a unique form. As with traditional belly dance, tribal dancers wear lavish costumes, but many of these costumes incorporate elements of street wear and vintage clothing into their appearence, reflecting the personality of the dancer. Proctor's personal touch, for example, includes chainsaws, thus the name of her production company, Chainsaw Shimmy.
"I like to leave the chainsaws a mystery," she says. "While I have many reasons for using the chainsaw, I'll forever let this element affect audiences on a subconscious level."
Despite, or perhaps because of the mystery, Chainsaw Shimmy Productions is "really taking off", acording to Proctor. She'll be performing several times before the end of the year in Lawrence and Topeka.
"Our intention is to bring belly dance into night life as art and entertainment, rather than entertainment alone," Proctor says.
And like all forms of art, the nature of belly dance is social as well as personal.
"I started belly dance when a friend passed me some instructional DVDs," Proctor says. "After I had my daughter, I gained a lot of weight and was feeling unhealthy and unhappy. I tried traditional exercise, but was disappointed with the results and was also terribly bored.

"A chiropractor informed me that running was destroying my knees," she continues. "So I dragged out the old belly dance videos about five years ago, dusted them off, and got really dedicated. I soon began to enjoy the mental and physical benefits of belly dance, renewed confidence and all over body toning. I also lost about fifty pounds during that time."
Furthermore...
"While weight loss was a personal goal for me in my dance, it is not this way for everyone," Proctor says. "There are plenty of voluptuous women who are perfectly happy with their bodies out there practicing and performing belly dance. Belly dance moves look different on different body types, which is, in my opinion, part of the beauty and diversity of the dance."
For more information on Amber and Chainsaw Shimmy Productions visit: myspace.com/chainsawshimmy