MONDAY OCT 29, 2018
David Nance Group
David Nance, Omaha veteran of warble and hiss, returns with Negative Boogie, his new concoction of chug, throb and greasy swagger. For Boogie, Nance trades in his beaten up Tascam 488 for the bullet-proof, glass walls of A.R.C. Studios. Where else can you brew the negative boogie? And what exactly is the negative boogie? Well, it's a bit like Canned Heat but with Pere Ubu's queasy rhythms and someone playing five finger fillet with Swell Maps. Ensconced in his ivory tower and soundproof rooms, Nance reached for unlikely weapons to tear down his own lofty experiment. He had his pick of rare guitars, cowbells, steel drums, vintage amps, Crazy Horse microphones, mellotron, and the restless but indefatigable rhythm section of Kevin Donahue and Tom May. They started at sunrise and recorded 15 songs by midnight. Maybe it's his Midwestern work ethic, maybe he's a sonic cheapskate. Maybe it's just the sound of negative boogie. True to habit, Nance built on scraps and scrapes as his starting point. “Some songs were unused for half a decade, some songs were changed the day before recording and some songs were recycled and reinterpreted from the last album leftovers," he says. And yet, bits and pieces, false starts and vicious jams, all came together like the cover art collage suggests, to make something he's never done before - a rock epic. These songs stab and flow into one other like a perfectly orchestrated classic. The songs are drenched with Nance’s most biting and comic lyrics to date, peaking on “D.L.A.T.U.M.F. Blues" (Don't Look At This Ugly Mother Fucker Blues). And ripping through the entire thing is the cracked power he yanks out of the guitar, a veritable The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of riffage. This is a departure for Nance. It's bigger and grander but it's far from easy music. It's his Plastic Ono Band, his For Your Pleasure, his fever dream of Rocket from the Tombs. Shredders sit with jangling rockers, manic energy spills into depressive torpor, providing the ultimate record experience: one of power, nuance and emotion. But this of course is only a press release, written by a team of robots using words programmed to seduce you. You knew that, right? Did it work? Whether you are nodding yes or shaking no, it's safe to say that we are all dancing the negative boogie.
David Nance, Omaha veteran of warble and hiss, returns with Negative Boogie, his new concoction of chug, throb and greasy swagger. For Boogie, Nance trades in his beaten up Tascam 488 for the bullet-proof, glass walls of A.R.C. Studios. Where else can you brew the negative boogie? And what exactly is the negative boogie? Well, it's a bit like Canned Heat but with Pere Ubu's queasy rhythms and someone playing five finger fillet with Swell Maps. Ensconced in his ivory tower and soundproof rooms, Nance reached for unlikely weapons to tear down his own lofty experiment. He had his pick of rare guitars, cowbells, steel drums, vintage amps, Crazy Horse microphones, mellotron, and the restless but indefatigable rhythm section of Kevin Donahue and Tom May. They started at sunrise and recorded 15 songs by midnight. Maybe it's his Midwestern work ethic, maybe he's a sonic cheapskate. Maybe it's just the sound of negative boogie. True to habit, Nance built on scraps and scrapes as his starting point. “Some songs were unused for half a decade, some songs were changed the day before recording and some songs were recycled and reinterpreted from the last album leftovers," he says. And yet, bits and pieces, false starts and vicious jams, all came together like the cover art collage suggests, to make something he's never done before - a rock epic. These songs stab and flow into one other like a perfectly orchestrated classic. The songs are drenched with Nance’s most biting and comic lyrics to date, peaking on “D.L.A.T.U.M.F. Blues" (Don't Look At This Ugly Mother Fucker Blues). And ripping through the entire thing is the cracked power he yanks out of the guitar, a veritable The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of riffage. This is a departure for Nance. It's bigger and grander but it's far from easy music. It's his Plastic Ono Band, his For Your Pleasure, his fever dream of Rocket from the Tombs. Shredders sit with jangling rockers, manic energy spills into depressive torpor, providing the ultimate record experience: one of power, nuance and emotion. But this of course is only a press release, written by a team of robots using words programmed to seduce you. You knew that, right? Did it work? Whether you are nodding yes or shaking no, it's safe to say that we are all dancing the negative boogie.
Arbor Labor Union
"Arbor Labor Union play post-punk guitar rock in such a tried-and-true mold that you almost want to resurrect the term “college rock” — now defunct and totally meaningless — just for them. Born “from a peach tree in Georgia in the American south,” according to their bio, the quartet combines the droning jams of Luna with the tender tension of Ought (and the squealing yawps of Meat Puppets frontman Curt Kirkwood) on debut album I Hear You, one of the most satisfying full-band records of 2016’s first half. The tracks are long, the six-strings are loud, and the grooves are absolutely transfixing. Though the feeling they produce is old, the songs themselves feel new, just the latest in a proud lineage. The band offers in comment to SPIN: “We hold these truths to be self evident: This is now music of the modern era. No genre revival. If a voice within whispers “Listen” you must respond I Hear You. As did we and will continue to do. I love you." -ALU
"Arbor Labor Union play post-punk guitar rock in such a tried-and-true mold that you almost want to resurrect the term “college rock” — now defunct and totally meaningless — just for them. Born “from a peach tree in Georgia in the American south,” according to their bio, the quartet combines the droning jams of Luna with the tender tension of Ought (and the squealing yawps of Meat Puppets frontman Curt Kirkwood) on debut album I Hear You, one of the most satisfying full-band records of 2016’s first half. The tracks are long, the six-strings are loud, and the grooves are absolutely transfixing. Though the feeling they produce is old, the songs themselves feel new, just the latest in a proud lineage. The band offers in comment to SPIN: “We hold these truths to be self evident: This is now music of the modern era. No genre revival. If a voice within whispers “Listen” you must respond I Hear You. As did we and will continue to do. I love you." -ALU