Underground Rock Warriors, Pt. 1: J Mascis

This week's post is courtesy of a suggestion by my little brother Stephen. Being the alt rock fan that he is, he has gone for Dinosaur Jr's head honcho J Mascis.



Joseph Mascis is a native of the small college town Amherst, Massachusetts. In the early 1980s, he became exposed to the underground sounds of hardcore punk. Bands like Minor Threat and Black Flag would pass through town, inspiring young musicians to start their own hardcore groups. Mascis was no different. He and a few high school buddies formed Deep Wound. Initially he was a drummer, an instrument he would return to intermittently over the years. As Deep Wound petered out, Mascis and fellow bandmate Lou Barlow started Dinosaur. This band would combine the uncompromising sound of hardcore, with the classic structures of 70s rock, as well as the chiming dissonance of New Wavers like Joy Division, The Birthday Party and The Cure. This attention to the classic forms of writing and love of a good guitar solo allowed Dinosaur to really stand out from the crowd of noise-merchants emerging from the U.S. underground scene. The group produced three great albums before founding member Barlow left in 1989. Dinosaur continued for a few more albums before disappearing in the mid 1990s. Barlow's presence seemed to have act as the friction J needed and allowed him to produce his best work, dealing as it does with frustration and non-communication. Before Barlow left, Dinosaur released this absolute stomper on their Bug album, which perfectly distilled their sound into 3 and a half gloriously noisy minutes.

As I said before, J Mascis started out as a drummer, coming to the guitar relatively late. However, he quickly developed a highly personal style, mixing the classic rock playing of Neil Young, Tony Iommi and Jimi Hendrix with the drone style of 80s New Wavers Robert Smith and Bernard Sumner. His sound was a full-on feral blast of squalling feedback and virtuosic outbursts of Jazzmaster lead, perfectly summed up with the phrase "ear-bleeding country". He also had the knack for composing a catchy alt rock anthem. Here is one of the best.

J has lend his instantly recognisable sound to a variety of other projects in recent years. He has recorded with his solo project The Fog and drummed with metalheads Witch. Sonic Youth, Mike Watt of Minutemen, Broken Social Scene and The Hold Steady have all requested his services. He even got the old band back together, touring festivals and releasing great albums like the 1990s never happened. Mascis is the prototype for underground guitar hero, balancing unhinged lead work with a love of uncompromising punky riffage. He ccontinues to be a vital presence in today's music scene, creating great tunes in the process. This final track is from one of the Dinosaur reunion albums, 2007's Beyond.

Recommend Listening: You're Living All Over Me (Dinosaur Jr.)
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Some Key Dinosaur Cuts: Sludgefeast (You're Living All Over Me), Start Choppin' (Where You Been), Feel The Pain (Without A Sound)

Bill Frisell: Mr. Atmospherics

One of the things I adore about music is the way it can alter one's mood in an instant and take your brain on a trip to who knows where. Some musicians have this ability to conjure up a time or place in a listener's mind with the merest stroke of their instrument. Bill Frisell is such a player. That is not to say he is just provides background mood muzak for the weary yuppie. Rather his elegant playing is an evocative presence in whatever setting he appears, creating wonderful pictures for the listener. While he is considered a jazz artist, he is the consummate musician, able to turn his hand to any genre you could care to name. However, his signature ethereal sound remains constant. Once you listen to a bit of Bill Frisell, you can pick him out in a plethora of musical situations. For starters, let us hear one of his best themes, Poem For Eva.

Bill Frisell began his musical life playing clarinet in his high school band. He took up the guitar in his early teens, quickly developing a love of the jazz playing of Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell, as well as psychedelic rockers like Jimi Hendrix. His musical career did not really kick start until the early 1980s when he joined the legendary European jazz label, ECM Records. This company, synonymous with progressive, crisply-recorded jazz, proved a fertile training ground for Frisell's early avant-garde leanings. As well as producing some solo albums, he played on sessions for the likes of saxophonist Jan Garbarek, drummer Paul Motian and bassist Eberhard Weber. He also played far-out noise rock with the saxophonist John Zorn in the band Naked City. He is a sample of them live. All I will say is that it may not to be everyone's taste.

In the early 1990s, Bill Frisell released a string of albums exploring his fascination with the American popular song of all shapes and sizes. On albums like Have A Little Faith, Nashville and Ghost Town, Frisell, as well as presenting his own eclectic compositions, interpreted classic American tunes from a wide variety of genres. These include tunes by Hank Williams, Thelonious Monk, George Gershwin, Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, Aaron Copland and Madonna. He also began to incorporate traditional country, folk and bluegrass licks into his graceful jazz style with seamless effort. A great example of Frisell's uniquely fresh take on the pop song is this number, from The Wizard Of Oz, taken from Elvis Costello's Spectacle TV show.

His use of effect processors is worth noting here. With an array of reverb, delay, modulation and fuzz pedals at his feet, Frisell can go from pure bebop tone, to Byrds-esque jangle, to pedal steel-like twang to harsh heavy metal distortion at the flick of a switch, sometimes all within the same song. Whatever the setting, Frisell has a sound to go with it. Here is a perfect example of his use of colour in sound. This is his tribute to the celebrated jazz bassist, Ron Carter.

While he has produced several fine albums himself, he continues to add his stately playing to records by many legendary figures in all musical walks of life. As mentioned above, Elvis Costello has employed him for numerous musical projects, including The Sweetest Punch, an interpretation of material Costello composed with Burt Bacharach for the album Painted From Memory. He has lent his talents to recordings by Paul Simon, Marianne Faithfull, Rickie Lee Jones and soprano Renée Fleming. He has contributed to the soundtracks of movies like Finding Forrester and Million Dollar Hotel. Here is Frisell at his ambient best.

As you can see, Bill Frisell can and has turned his hand to a glut of varied projects over the years. While he has built a reputation as an artful impressionist on guitar, he is also swinging, harmonically fluent jazz player when the occasion warrants. Hopefully, his effervescent sound will continue to float across the musical landscape for many years to come.

Recommend Listening: Have A Little Faith (1992)
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Some Key Frisell Cuts: Just Like A Woman (Have a Little Faith), A Change Is Gonna Come (History Mystery), Go Jake (Nashville).

Adrian Belew: Lion Tamer Extraordinaire

There are players who wow us with great feats of speed and endurance. There are those who blind us with their melodic erudition. Then there are those whose musical outpourings of pure emotion knock us for ten. Finally there are those who make us giggle by making funny noises with their guitar. Adrian Belew falls into the latter category. That is not to take away from Mr. Belew's obvious instrumental talents. However, any person who can make elephant noises on their guitar is eh-ok in my book.



In 1960s Kentucky, Adrian Belew was a teenage guitar obsessive listening to the experimental rock sounds of Hendrix, Beck and The Beatles. He began to emulate their studio-created sounds on his solitary electric guitar, soon developing a very personal and eccentric style. In the late 1970s, he was spotted by Frank Zappa playing covers in a bar band. Zappa offered him a place in his touring act, which the eager Belew accepted. He describes his short tenure with the notoriously demanding Zappa as a crash course in music theory.

The experience he gained from Frank served him well when he joined David Bowie's band for the Heroes tour of 1978, subsequently added demented lead guitar and backing vocals to Bowie's Lodger album of 1979, the last of his Berlin Trilogy. Here is a select cut from that album, a perfect encapsulation of Belew's freaky noise workouts.



Talking Heads were the next legends to come knocking. He joined them in the midst of the arduous recording sessions that produced Remain In Light. Tracks like The Great Curve are taken into another rhelm thanks to Belew's heavily-processed solos and led to his addition to the expanded touring version of Talking Heads. He also featured on the band's off-shoot project, Tom Tom Club.  



In the early 1980s, he joined the act with whom he is most recognised. Belew and Robert Fripp had both worked on albums by Bowie, but never met. They eventually bumped into each other at a Steve Reich concert (why doesn't this surprise me?). They hit it off, and began a new project together, Indiscipline. This would eventually morph into a new lineup of Fripp's legendary prog godfathers, King Crimson. This new lineup would resemble some bizarre Talking Heads tribute act rather than the heavy-riffing art rock monsters of the mid 1970s. Here is sample of this new direction, complete with Belew's animal noise guitar.



As well as serving as King Crimson's frontman for nearly three decades, Belew has been a popular session man. Pau Simon, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner have requested his services. He has also released a steady stream of Beatles-inspired solo albums and noise experiments.

 As you have seen from these clips, Belew is naturally drawn towards bizarre noises and outlandish sounds. He seems to take great glee in washing over conventional pop songs with his distinct guitar style, the weirder the better. To finish, some more animal noises. I never get tired of this.

Recommended Listening: King Crimson - Indiscipline
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Some Choice Belew Craziness: Oh Daddy (Solo Hit), Flakes (Frank Zappa - Sheik Yerbouti), I'm Down (Beatles Cover)