Unpiano | Music Blog

Some places just have a “sound” and San Francisco is one of them. Its not just a group of related people consciously borrowing from each other, its a subtle line of connectivity that transcends generations and scenes and finds its way into recordings, most of the time without the musicians even noticing. There’s something about smokey voiced S.F. folky Norma Tanega’s first LP from 1966 that I hear in everything from The Aislers Set, to Romeo Void, to Deerhoof, to Jefferson Airlplane, to Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, to the Sic Alps and so on. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, its a sound, a small guitar lick, a chord progression, a quirky lyric, but as the record moves from track to track I find myself thinking “that sounds like (insert any S.F. favorite here)”, and even more so, “that sounds like a wall of fog pouring over the Golden Gate into the bay”.

Norma Tanega – Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog
Norma Tanega – A Street That Rhymes at 6 A.M.

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A respected figure in Michigan’s folk and rock scenes during the 60s and 70s, Ted Lucas released his self-titled solo album of home recorded psych-folk in 1975. With the gentle delivery of an acid-headed Nick Drake or a more-stoned-than-crazy Skip Spence, Lucas puts forth thoughtfully sparse, beautifully subdued folk arrangements, with the occasional room-noise tinged blues jam or fingerpicked ragga for good measure. Never capturing much more than local notoriety, this psych folk obscurity was unearthed and reissued last year. Definitely worth a spin on a hot, stoney summer day.

Ted Lucas – Plain And Sane And Simple Melody
Ted Lucas – It Is So Nice To Get Stoned

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I got turned onto Andy Bown’s Gone To My Head last weekend by a visiting friend who raved about scoring a copy at the L.A. Amoeba. Not a day later did I pick up my own copy at the dollar bin dump by my house. Bown, far right in the photo above (I tried to find the shot of him stoned out of his gourd on the inside of the LP sleeve but no dice, so I had to use this shot of him in The Herd, featuring a young Peter Frampton, my least favorite musician of all time), is probably best known as the keyboardist for British invasion/Nuggets faves the Status Quo, but initially made a name for himself in England in the mod/psych bands The Herd and Judas Jump, later doing session work for Frampton, Pink Floyd and others. In the early 70s Bown started recording a series of solo albums, the first being Gone To My Head, a perfect slice-of-the-times that falls somewhere between the jammy post-psych of the Grateful Dead and the fragile acoustic work of Elliot Smith.

Andy Bown – And If My Love Wants To Know
Andy Bown – Open Your Eyes
Andy Bown – P.S. Get Lost

Bonus:
The Herd – I Can Fly (video)
The Herd – From The Underworld (video)

Jackson C. Frank discovered music at the age of 11 while in a hospital recovering from injuries caused by an explosion and fire in his school (which killed a heap of his classmates). Later he moved to England and rubbed elbows with some folky bigwigs (his only album was produced by Paul Simon, and his songs were covered by everyone from Simon & Garfunkel to the Fairport Convention to Nick Drake). Despite his amazing talent, he was marred with physical and psychological scars, resulting in an endless spiral of depression, bad health and bad luck. Cheery little story for a Monday morning eh? Seriously, from the loss of his son to cystic fibrosis, to health problems and ballooning weight from his childhood injuries, to being shot in the fucking eye while waiting for a bus in New York, dude could not catch a break.

Jackson C. Frank – Blues Run The Game
Jackson C. Frank – Tumble In The Winds

Woah.. slow down there Benoit Pioulard. Your last record was so happy, skippy and awesome that you should probably make your new single really a really slow downer that makes me want to sleep all day. Ha.. just kidding, this new song is fucking amazing. I was just upset that it’s a one-sided UK import 7″ that costs $8.99 (that’s a lot when you’re broke). No biggie, I just recorded it with my increasingly mediocre record player, re-sealed it up and returned it to Amoeba (whoops).

Benoit Pioulard – Maginot

A friend asked me what I thought of these records and I said I hadn’t decided yet. Its been a few weeks, and I still haven’t decided yet. Its kinda nice, like a lot of stuff on Kranky. Sort of folky, sort of spacey, sort of electro. I’m still sort of undecided though, which means it could be heading towards “music I put on when I’m vacuuming or trying to get my wife’s goddamn cat out of the goddamn neighbor’s yard again”.

Benoit Pioulard – Triggering Back
Benoit Pioulard – Parlimend
Benoit Pioulard – Sous la Plage

The rambling, ramshackle country-folk of Seattle’s The Dutchess And The Duke has been a good soundtrack to the hot summer nights we’ve been having. A departure from their previous punk outfit The Flying Dutchmen, Jesse and Kimberly pull together a record of rootsy, familiar hooks and lyrics that smack of sincerity without being cheesy. Its not a happy record, but not a hopeless one either.

The Dutchess And The Duke – Reservoir Park
The Dutchess And The Duke – Mary

Thom Yorke – Reckoner (acoustic)

It’s from a set Thom Yorke played during Jonathan Ross’s show on Radio 2. You can listen to the original version by clicking here.