Friday, June 5, 2015

Dirt City Chronicles podcast episode 23


Heartbroken boppers have seen better days, but for music curators such as myself.... times have never been better. New Mexico based musicians and bands are tagged under New Mexico with sub tags such as Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces. If you're into local music, then Bandcamp's search by location is a godsend. CD Baby employs the handy feature and I recall a time when MySpace Music and Soundclick did the same.
Albuquerque is well represented as are Santa Fe and Las Cruces. Though be advised, the Santa Fe N.M. search segues into music acts from Santa Fe, the capital of Santa Fe province in Argentina. Which is cool if you're into lukewarm latino pop and smarmy tango music. Likewise for Las Cruces where the results transition to those for Las Cruces, a Chicano doom metal band from San Antonio, Tx.

    “You'll never hear surf music again”
Slackeye Slim (Joe Frankland) a musician from Wooster, Ohio with stops in Colorado, Montana and Wisconsin along the way. Now relocated to Tijeras N.M. he's described as “a musician from the desert usually, but sometimes he lives in the woods in a gigantic bird's nest” Slim takes the whole “gothic country” thing a step further.... “cubist country” perhaps.

Frankland paints with a broad brush, recreating a wild west that is strictly a product of his own vivid imagination. Zombies, gunslingers and other nefarious western characters come to life through Slim's stylized drawl and sparse instrumentation. Cliches and conventions be damned, Frankland gets away with being goofy as hell... because cynicism made audible is a taste that we never get tired of.
                                 
Bryce Fletcher Hample's sound project, Reighnbeau is similar in style to Jeff Mettling's ELU and Joey Belville's Pristina. Ambient dream pop that builds around breathy sugarcoated female vocals. A pleasant milquetoast distraction that ultimately leaves you high and dry. Great background music for stroking the cat or putting on the dog.

Finding one's self a thousand miles from the nearest beach (Tingley not withstanding) doesn't necessarily impede a love of surf music. New Mexico's affinity for the genre can be traced back to The Fireballs (pre-Jimmy Gilmer) and God only knows how many New Mexicans were lured to the Golden State by the prospect of bitchin' waves and beach bunnies.

Self proclaimed purveyors of “high desert surf noir” Phantom Lake consists of Bud Melvin, Jessica Billey, Clifford Grindstaff and Roger Apodaca. All talented veterans of 'Burque's music scene. I hear they're no longer active, which is a cryin' shame, for they do that voodoo, that they do... so well. The Surf Lords revolve around Tom Chism's pipeline licks.... they're more authentic than Kahuna's beach shack, so believable that you'll be scanning the radio dial for surf reports


 Tina Delgado is alive, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead and this dispatch is good to go. Number one in a field of one, Dirt City Chronicles.

Don't Bury Me- Slackeye Slim
Old Mexico- The Surf Lords
Beauties Play- The Room Outside
Highways- Reignbeau
Sharkbite Girl- Phantom Lake
Keep Her Happy- Youngsville
Down South- ICUMDRUMS
Kick It- Paintings from Pictures
Dumb- Luke Carr
On to the Stars- SuperGiant
Too Busy Getting Fucked- Rudest Priest
Sic Semper Tyrannis- Arroyo Deathmatch
Sun Hit- Train Conductor
The Prince of Air- Archabald
Charming Flow- Balue
Do Not Eat- Paintings from Pictures