Needles & Grooves AotM /// Vol. 44 – February 2023 /// Pavement – Wowee Zowee

Interlude #8: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Kassi Valazza – Dear Dead Days

If you're not a fan of classic country from female singer-songwriters, you can probably pass on this one. On the other hand, if you are and have yet to hear Kassi Valazza, time to dig in. Her voice, the lyricism, the songs, images and stories evoking the Western landscape, even the guitar playing...she has it all working on this one, her self-issued debut.

Kassi has been part of a talented crew of acoustic musicians playing shows at the Laurelthirst Public House in Portland for years. Dear Dead Days was the sound of her serving notice that she was on the cusp of breaking out to a bigger audience. She has pressed three small runs of this album on vinyl, and each one has sold out within a day or so. When the next press comes around, don't hesitate. Kassi recently signed to Portland's Fluff & Gravy records, and her debut with them is due to arrive sometime this spring. Expect to hear more soon.



 
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Interlude #9: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Silver Jews – American Water
silverjews.bandcamp.com

American Water, by Silver Jews

12 track album
silverjews.bandcamp.com silverjews.bandcamp.com

There are many entry points for David Berman, including Purple Mountains – the project he launched shortly before he took his own life in 2019. As @Dead C mentioned, Silver Jews are often referred to as a side project of Pavement – formed in 1989 by Berman, Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. Over the course of six albums, the Silver Jews were clearly Berman's project, with Malkmus and others backing into occasional support roles. The Silver Jews played their last show in 2009, with Berman asserting: "I always said we would stop before we got bad. If I continue to record I might accidentally write the answer song to Shiny Happy People."

Berman was continually tortured by his relationship to his father, a powerful, uber-conservative lobbyist. He once wrote of him: “My father is a despicable man...he attacks animal lovers, ecologists, civil action attorneys, scientists, dieticians, doctors, teachers. His clients include everyone from the makers of Agent Orange to the Tanning Salon Owners of America. This winter I decided that the SJs were too small of a force to ever come close to undoing a millionth of all the harm he has caused.”

Berman had actually attempted suicide previously. In 2003, he walked into the Nashville hotel in which Al Gore watched the 2000 election, requesting Gore’s suite – wanting to die where American democracy had done the same. In 2019, just a few days before Purple Mountains' first live performance, he was successful in ending his life.

When it comes to the Silver Jews, American Water is the high water mark for me. I can't really describe it – it's somehow conversational in nature, and continues to open up with each listen – even years after the initial discovery. PItchfork called it “the pinnacle of a certain strain of indie rock: smart but unpolished, grounded but opaque, the down-home sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival and the country side of the Rolling Stones executed by college boys raised on punk.” Malkmus sings on a few tracks, which is fun. But on the whole, it's an understated masterpiece by an artist that deserves your attention.

RIP David – hope you were able to find some peace.

 
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Interlude #10: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Alright, gonna get the rest of these out there in the next day or so, than pass the baton to @TenderLovingKiller® for the March pick.

Bill Callahan is another national treasure. Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is probably my favorite of his albums. This one goes in and out of print at Drag City (with prices spiking in between), but it's available at the moment. A good time to check it out and/or add to the collection, if you dig.



 
hatfieldpdx said:
Interlude #10: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Alright, gonna get the rest of these out there in the next day or so, than pass the baton to @TenderLovingKiller® for the March pick.

Bill Callahan is another national treasure. Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is probably my favorite of his albums. This one goes in and out of print at Drag City (with prices spiking in between), but it's available at the moment. A good time to check it out and/or add to the collection, if you dig.



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Another favorite.

For anyone that checks this out and enjoys it, I'd also recommend Apocalypse and A River Ain't Too Much To Love, under his SMOG moniker.


And if you do the same with American Water and enjoy that, Bright Flight is another great Silver Jews album
 
hatfieldpdx said:
Interlude #10: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Alright, gonna get the rest of these out there in the next day or so, than pass the baton to @TenderLovingKiller® for the March pick.

Bill Callahan is another national treasure. Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is probably my favorite of his albums. This one goes in and out of print at Drag City (with prices spiking in between), but it's available at the moment. A good time to check it out and/or add to the collection, if you dig.



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When did you get into Bill’s music? I got into him with his last Smog album A River Ain’t Too Much To love and then went backwards from there. While I enjoy his post moniker change. I still prefer his smog albums a bit more. I am assuming, based on your previous write ups that you were likely a fan of his earlier work too but just curious where you got on the Bill Callahan wagon so to speak.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
When did you get into Bill’s music? I got into him with his last Smog album A River Ain’t Too Much To love and then went backwards from there. While I enjoy his post moniker change. I still prefer his smog albums a bit more. I am assuming, based on your previous write ups that you were likely a fan of his earlier work too but just curious where you got on the Bill Callahan wagon so to speak.
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Yes, A River Ain't Too Much To Love is another favorite. I'm not quite as fond of his more recent albums, but Dream River is another great solo release (along with Apocalypse). I would heartily recommend any of those.
 
Also, wanted to tell a story, probably more for myself than for anyone else but just wanted to get it out of my headspace since I have been thinking about it a bit with the discussion of Silver Jews and and now Smog. Back in the mid 2000s when MP3s and music blog culture were still a thing I was just using my favorite P2P file sharing program, SoulSeek and downloading some albums that had been generating buzz amongst Pitchfork and other indie music blogs I am not sure which album it was in particular but when you go to download off of someone, they can see who is downloading what and essentially send them a direct message. On that day whatever I was downloading was met with some unsolicited recommendations of other artists I would likely enjoy by a woman that went by the handle twinklebell, in chatting a bit I found out she was roughly the same age and from Croatia. Anyways we didn’t chat often but when we did it was mostly about music and I credit this random person from Croatia with introducing me to many of the artists that have shaped my musical taste over the past 17 years give or take. Amongst those artists that I credit her helping me explore were The Silver Jews, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Smog, Songs: Ohia, Cat Power, Nick Cave, The Dirty Three, and more than a few others. I was aware of many of these artists prior but hadn’t explored their music much at all up to meeting her. After awhile understandably we lost touch but I just find it interesting how a random encounter online can lead to a meaningful musical discovery that I may have missed had I not decided to download an album off of a Croat with impeccable taste and a speedy bandwidth.
 
hatfieldpdx said:
Interlude #10: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Alright, gonna get the rest of these out there in the next day or so, than pass the baton to @TenderLovingKiller® for the March pick.

Bill Callahan is another national treasure. Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is probably my favorite of his albums. This one goes in and out of print at Drag City (with prices spiking in between), but it's available at the moment. A good time to check it out and/or add to the collection, if you dig.



Click to expand...

I almost chose a Bill Callahan album for my month last year, too! (Probably Dream River, an all-time fave, but Sometimes was my first encounter with Bill.)
 
hatfieldpdx said:
Yes, A River Ain't Too Much To Love is another favorite. I'm not quite as fond of his more recent albums, but Dream River is another great solo release (along with Apocalypse). I would heartily recommend any of those.
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His newest reminds me very much of the sound of the latter two you mentioned, with the mature family man perspective of Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest and Gold Record. Really like it.
 
Interlude #11: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Margo Cilker– Pohorylle

Although she recently relocated to Washington State, Margo and her husband lived for years in Enterprise, Oregon – a small community at the foot of the Wallowa Mountains in the northeast corner of the state. Framed by a spectacular mountain range to the south, and Hells Canyon to the north and east, there is only one way in (and out). It's a remote little corner of the Pacific Northwest with a talented local crew of singer-songwriters that have forged their own sound.

Pohorylle, produced by Sera Cahoone, is emblematic of that sound. A singer-songwriter genre, somewhere in the blurred lines between country and folk. Margo is a great storyteller, and the lyrics evoke the character of the landscape. This album came out a year ago, and it was easily one of my favorites of 2022. I was lucky enough to see Margo and her band play live three times last year. In fact, at Pickathon I gave them all a ride out to a remote stage in a Gator (my annual volunteer gig at the festival), and got to see them record "Flood Plain" in the Pumphouse (not much bigger than a closet – here is Big Thief playing in the same space). Keep an eye out for that Margo video, maybe later this spring?

In any case, it sounds absolutely nothing like Pavement, but I definitely recommend giving this one a listen.



 
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Interlude #12: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Built to Spill – Keep it Like a Secret

I'm going to close it down with Built to Spill. One of my all-time favorite bands. I've seen them live dozens of times over the past 30 years, in countless configurations. I've also seen Doug (Dug) play solo shows in backyards, tiny venues, and other random locales. It's tough picking a favorite album (part of me wanted to choose Perfect From Now On, or There's Nothing Wrong With Love), but Keep It Like a Secret is just endlessly brilliant.

Here is a video of the band playing "Carry The Zero" in Portland about a year ago. The latest configuration of the band, with Melanie Radford on bass and Teresa Esguerra on drums, is one of my favorites. They both play with such a joyous, positive energy, and it seems to bring out the best in Doug. Catch the solo at 5:50 on this one (it goes on for about 3 minutes).



pitchfork.com

Built to Spill: Keep it Like a Secret

I hate talking about press kits, but I'm gonna drop the rule this time\n\ around. Press kits, for ...
pitchfork.com pitchfork.com
 
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hatfieldpdx said:
Interlude #11: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Margo Cilker– Pohorylle

Although she recently relocated to Washington State, Margo and her husband lived for years in Enterprise, Oregon – a small community at the foot of the Wallowa Mountains in the northeast corner of the state. Framed by a spectacular mountain range to the south, and Hells Canyon to the north and east, there is only one way in (and out). It's a remote little corner of the Pacific Northwest with a talented local crew of singer-songwriters that have forged their own sound.

Pohorylle, produced by Sera Cahoone, is emblematic of that sound. A singer-songwriter genre, somewhere in the blurred lines between country and folk. Margo is a great storyteller, and the lyrics evoke the character of the landscape. This album came out a year ago, and it was easily one of my favorites of 2022. I was lucky enough to see Margo and her band play live three times last year. In fact, at Pickathon I gave them all a ride out to a remote stage in a Gator (my annual volunteer gig at the festival), and got to see them record "Flood Plain" in the Pumphouse (not much bigger than a closet – here is Big Thief playing in the same space). Keep an eye out for that Margo video, maybe later this spring?

In any case, it sounds absolutely nothing like Pavement, but I definitely recommend giving this one a listen.



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Such a fantastic record!
 
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