Shing-a-lings

CD reviews by Mr. Shing-a-Ling



The Go Find: Miami (Electronica, Lap-pop) 
 
When you flip on the radio these days and turn to the popular stations it is seriously depressing at how the overall quality of pop music has plummeted to the deepest of depths. And certainly pop music has for some time now been regarded as predictable and disposable and those craving more innovative interesting music turn to other genres such as Jazz, World, Classic and contemporary symphonic music, avant-garde or whatever.
The MTV music of the 80's (Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, Toto, all those gems) which was at the time scoffed at, made fun of, and even dispised, now seems quite listenable (new word) in comparison to what's being offered by the big record companies. Pop has quite simply become crap. You can probably trace the roots to the serious decline in quality to the advent of MTV and the physical image of the artist becoming a huge part of the whole thing.
Well. For those who miss quality pop music we're in luck. Riding on the wave of the newly dubbed "lap-pop" music scene popularized by such artists as The Postal Service and Junior Boys, a new pop project comes to us out of Belgium calling itself The Go Find. Here we have all of the elements we miss from good pop music. Spacious studio layering of altered guitar lines, rich vocals with nice harmonies, sputtering electric and acoustic percussion, and a whole lot of lap top enrichment all coming together and making this release an extremely enjoyable one. They've managed to create a CD with 10 songs that are very dyanamic and at the same time catchy. These are songs to drive to. And if needed....sing to.
Suprisingly, there is very little known about this band even in the indie circles. When I heard it, I thought, "This is the stuff that should be gracing the airwaves nowadays." It's a shame that it's not. Bad music for the masses means bad minds all around. Good music is good nourishment, Sha-shing!!!!!!!! Grade: A-
 

 

Adem: Homesongs (folktronica, it's own thing)
 
Adem is Adem Ilhan from the collaborative experimental unit Fridge. Fridge spawned the increasingly popular Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet. Fridge was one of those groups that were making it harder and harder to file Cd's in their respective catagories at places like Tower and Virgin Records. Is it Rock? Electonica? Folk? Porno Music? What!? Fridge used all acoustic instruments: guitars, basses, bells, even xylophones and children's voices and then went to town with the lap top manipulation. Their 2000 album Happiness was one of my favorites of the year. Then Mr.Hebden went off and did his Four Tet thing which had some things in common with the Fridge sound, but really much more programmy and loopy.
Now we have Mr.Ilhan doing his thing. Homesongs is just that really. A collection of tunes made at home with plenty of overdubbing. Again everything but the blender in the kitchen is used here. All sorts of bells, strings, percussion, and voices. One big difference that Adem has in regards to the Fridge sound is vocals and lyrics. Quite honestly I was turned off a bit at first thinking the vocals took away from the experience of Fridge's instumental sound. But then I quickly realized that this wasn't Fridge. This is a guy making his own sounds. And the album has grown on me alot. Aden's voice couldn't be called "a nice voice" really. He has that sort of almost Kermity the Frogity quality at times, but theres alot of emotion in his voice and it really does go well with his music. This is not an excellent album but it's a very promising debut from the guy. A few songs are very cool..they sound like nothing I've ever heard before: 'There will always be room at my table for you', 'Ringing in My Ear', and 'One in a Million'. On other tracks you get some decent music but nothing that'll really turn your ear. Grade B-

Episode 3

Poe Blog
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

Welcome to Poe Blog w/Peter Francis.

"Hmmm...This is starting to sound like some people I know."

-Peter Francis

Promethean Books presents

Episode Three of

"DIDDLING:

Considered as One of the Exact Sciences"

(continued from March 13th)

Ingenuity:- Your diddler is ingenious. He has constructiveness large. He understands plot. He invents and circumvents. Were he not Alexander he would be Diogenes. Were he not a diddler, he would be a maker of patent rat traps or an angler for trout.

Audacity:- Your diddler is audacious. -He is a bold man. He carries the war into Africa. He conquers all by assault. He would not fear the daggers of the Frey Herren. With a little more prudence Dick Turpin would have made a good diddler; with a trifle less blarney, Daniel O'Connell; with a pound or two more brains, Charles the twelfth.

Nonchalance:- Your diddler is nonchalant. He is not at all nervous. He never had any nerves. He is never seduced into a flurry. He is never put out- unless put out of doors. He is cool- cool as a cucumber. He is calm- "calm as a smile from Lady Bury." He is easy- easy as an old glove, or the damsels of ancient Baiae.

(to be continued)

Episode 2

Poe Blog
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

Welcome to this Sunday's Poe Blog w/Peter Francis.

"Wherein Poe describes three key ingredients of a good diddle. Enjoy."

-Peter Francis

Promethean Books presents

Episode Two of

"DIDDLING:

Considered as One of the Exact Sciences"

(continued from last week)

"Diddling, rightly considered, is a compound of which the ingredients are minuteness, interest, perseverance, ingenuity, audacity, nonchalance, originality, impertinence, and grin.


Minuteness: -Your diddler is minute. His operations are upon a small scale. His business is retail, for cash, or approved paper at sight. Should he ever be tempted into magnificent speculation, he then, at once, loses his distinctive features, and becomes what we term "financier." This latter word conveys the diddling idea in every respect except that of magnitude. A diddler may thus be regarded as a banker in petto- a "financial operation," as a diddle at Brobdignag. The one is to the other, as Homer to "Flaccus" - as a mastodon to a mouse - as the tail of a comet to that of a pig.


Interest: -Your diddler is guided by self-interest. He scorns to diddle for the mere sake of the diddle. He has an object in view - his pocket - and yours. He regards always the main chance. He looks to Number One. You are Number Two, and must look to yourself.


Perseverance: - Your diddler perseveres. He is not readily discouraged. Should even the banks break, he cares nothing about it. He steadily pursues his end, and

Ut canis a corio nunquam absterrebitur uncto,

so he never lets go of his game."

(To be continued...)

Shing-a-lings

CD Reviews



Arovane: Lilies (IDM, pastoral electronica, ambient)
 
This recording which was released early last year just doesn't want to leave its spot in my antiquated 5 CD-go-round player. In a time when technology is taking over music and most electronic music you hear sounds like it was composed by cold calculating machines or pre-pubescent ecstacy fueled ravers, it's a joy to hear a release such as this that brings together the machine and mind in a flowing seamless manner. Arovane is Uwe Zahn from Deutschland and he's been at it for some time now. His previous 2 or 3 efforts have been interesting but with Lilies he really has taken it to a new level. The feel of the album is very nostalgic with its use of bells, harpsichord, chimes, strings and keyboards all delicately laid out over sparse deep resounding grooves. So the result is more of an organic experience than a synthetic one.
Zahn is in no rush letting his wintery pieces evolve. The opening track, Ten Hours sets the mood of the CD with an extremely lush string arrangement, and beautifully recorded harpsichord resounding ethereal passages over the top of it all. Behind it all you will hear a field recording of muffled voices and what sounds like passing ships. I'd have to say this CD is pretty damn nice to chill out to. But it never gets sentimental or New-Agey. Mr.Zahn apparently travelled to Japan before recording this one and bits and pieces of sampled material from Nihon comes through in the music. And a Japanese vocalist, Kazumi appears on one track. Rating: B+
 



Archer Prewitt: Wilderness (post-rock, indie acoustic pop)
 
Prewitt comes to us from the Chicago-based, post-rock band The Sea and Cake. And this new solo release of his happens to be on the same label, Thrill Jockey, home of post-rock dieties, Tortoise.  If you are familiar with the sound of The Sea and Cake you know how difficult it is to slap a label on their music. This CD falls into the same elusive area. But, whereas The Sea and Cake use acoustic and electronic means to produce light but progressive rockish music, Wilderness goes down a more Americana even countryish avenue. But don't get turned off by the sound of it. Prewitt along with Mark Greenberg, Dave Max Crawford, and Chris Manfrin are drinking deep from the well of psychedelica and sun-drenched folk. The overall sound of the CD is very earthy. Prewitt's lyrics reflect a sort of deeply personal interpretation of nature and love. His voice is a lovely tenor which goes nicely alongside his warm acoustic strumming and plucking. In addition to the good ol' guitar many other instuments are employed including piano, mellotron, vibes, organ, stylophone and trumpet. All of the tracks are nice on this. Standouts include: Leaders, Think Again and the title track, Wilderness which wraps up the whole thing. Simply put, Archer Prewitt has created a album chock full of feeling. You might feel nostalgic listening to this as I did, and then also think that you've never quite heard anything like it before. Rating: B

Paul Westerberg and His Only Friends kicked ass @ House of Blues!

pwprom
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

"The devil's in my blood
and there's nothing I can
do about it."

"Sha-shing!"

A scam legend, "Mr. Shing-a-Ling" to his friends, has come home to roost here at "Ask the Scam Oracle". He'll be reviewing CD's and hopefully sharing some of his own sweet sounds.

Stay tuned.

Part II: The Case of the Diddled Daguerreotype

Field Ops
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

As if by design, once solved, the mystery remains a mystery, but here goes.

February 7th, during an episode of "Antique Roadshow", increasingly popular among the RV set, a rare daguerreotype of Poe surfaced in the possesion of a perfectly benign old goose from the Nebraska heartland.

Sally Guest supposedly ran accross the old-time photo while foraging through a junk shop in the burgeoning Iowa antique belt (or black market as it were), and purchased it for 96 bucks. She claims to have had no idea of the subject.

This lady should serve as juror on the Michael Jackson case. If she doesn't know who Poe is or even looks like, she's certain to be impartial to Jackson's plight. Christ, short of Old Glory, there is nothing more recognizable to any blue-blooded American than Poe's bulbous forehead.

It's dificult to believe, but that's what she said, and when Antique Roadshow's announcer set the pricetag at a whopping $30,000 to $50,000, Sally's response was simply, "Wow."

Hmmm...

"Clap, clap, clap..."

But that's not the end of the show, folks.

You don't cash in on a picture of "the devil himself"* and then go quietly about your business. No, indeed!

It turns out the photo was lifted from the Hampden-Booth library located inside The Players, a stodgy Manhattan theatrical club founded in 1888 by none other than actor, Erwin Booth, the brother of legendary Lincoln assassin, John Wilkes Booth!!!

Creepy.

The story whirled round and round and round again into yet another association with "Poe Blog" when it was blown wide open by Michael Deas, New Orleans postage stamp artist, creator of Sony Pictures "Lady Columbia", and oddly enough, author of "The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allen Poe" circa 1988, an exhaustive study of every rendering ever of the literary giant; painted, daguerreotyped, or otherwise.

I'm afraid ol' flim-flamin' Sally "Pump Handle" Guest is playing with the big boys now. Time will tell if her corn-fed education will deliver her from this mess. They say her phone has been disconnected since the shit hit the fan.

Again- Hmmm...

Of, course the mystery we are left with is- How did this rare daguerreotype find its way from a Manhattan theatre of some significance to the meaningless antique bazaars of rural Iowa?

Was Edgar Allan Poe actually flexing his ectoplasm in homage to "Poe Blog w/Peter Francis", spinning one last mystery from beyond the grave for a couple of fellow scambibblers? Or is this old bird full of shit, and she really kyped the picture years ago during her psychedelic tenure in the Village, with hopes to parlay it into an early retirement many years down the road?

You decide.

*Charles Dickens of Edgar Allan Poe

Botched Premiere

Thanks to a lot of angry viewers* and my own impassioned verbal attack (with subsequent hasty apologies and deft back peddling), the conclusion of "The Case of the Diddled Daguerreotype" will be aired later today. Furthermore, our underwriters have lifted all programming restrictions on "Field Ops: Notebook". This means that from now on- EXPECT FIELD OPS UPDATES ANY DAY, ANY TIME!

All bets are off. I'll be tapping brass, squawking out the street beat on the old HAM radio; in short, doing whatever it takes to get the word out. Be ready.

*To those of you just tuning in, all the hoopla concerns yesterday morning's botched premiere of "Field Ops: Notebook", my new street level minispheries documenting the pitfalls and controversy involved in taking the Scam Bible's puzzling message to the people.

The Case of the Diddled Daguerreotype

Field Ops
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

"daguerreotype -n. early photograph using a silvered plate and mercury vapour. [Daguerre, name of its inventor]"
-Oxford

One day we're scraping the bong; next day we're smoking mendo and sipping fine bubbly. That's show biz, folks. We were flying on a wing and a prayer and now it looks like we're headed straight to the top. I want to thank all the literati out there that tuned in for the pilot of our first minispheries, "Poe Blog" w/Peter Francis, on Sunday night. Those guys really have a tiger by the tail. Best of luck.

Now, on a more occult note, and a grandiose one at that, Sunday's broadcast was chimed in by a metaphysical visitation from the Master himself. I won't even pretend to fathom the details of how or why. Suffice to say, I'm floored, honored, and completely fu!#ing mystified.

I wasn't aware of it at the time, but the next morning it hit me like a ton of bricks...

9 AM at the "Field Ops" booth in the New Orleans French Market. I spy P.Francis waving the morning paper and trucking down the A row with the Devil at his heels.

My guess is Poe Blog made the headlines, but Pete does me one better.

"Say, Ol' Chap," I ask "Why the sudden bug up your ass?"

He's breathless and stuttering,

"Uh..p...p...p...Poe...(pant)...(pant)...uh...p...p...(sniff)...Poe was here! ...HERE!!!"

What the...? I thought for sure they'd gotten to him, but then he shoved the mangled Pycayune in my face.

The next thing I remember I'm looking up at Peter's shit-eating, maniacal smile as he fans me with the paper, and Ali, the friendly senegalese purse vender, daubs my forehead with a moist hanky.

To my utter disbelief, wafting back and forth, smack dab on the front page of the Times Picayune, is none other than Edgar Allan Poe.

(To be continued...)

Episode 1

Poe Blog
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

Welcome to this Sunday's Poe Blog with Peter Francis.

"In the year 1843 Edgar Allan Poe penned the first American Scam Bible and shocked a child-like nation. Now, over 150 years later, the text remains a cornerstone in the education of aspiring "Diddlers" the world over. Enjoy."

-Peter Francis


Promethean Books presents:

Episode One of

Edgar Allan Poe's


"DIDDLING


Considered as One of
the Exact Sciences

"Hey, diddle diddle,
The cat and the fiddle."

Since the world began there have been two Jeremys. The one wrote a Jeremiad about usury, and was called Jeremy Bentham. He has been much admired by Mr. John Neal*, and was a great man in a small way. The other gave name to the most important of the Exact Sciences, and was a great man in a great way- I may say, indeed, in the greatest of ways.
Diddling-or the abstract idea conveyed by the verb to diddle - is sufficiently well understood. Yet the fact, the deed, the thing diddling, is somewhat difficult to define. We may get, however, at a tolerably distinct conception of the matter in hand, by defining - not the thing, diddling, in itself- but man, as an individual that diddles. Had Plato but hit upon this, he would have been spared the affront of the picked chicken.
Very pertinently it was demanded of Plato, why a picked chicken, which was clearly a "biped without feathers," was not, according to his own definition, a man? But I am not to be bothered by any similar query. Man is an animal that diddles, and there is no animal that diddles but man. It will take an entire hen-coop of picked chickens to get over that.
What constitutes the essence, the nare, the principle of diddling is, in fact, peculiar to the class of creatures that wear coats and pantaloons. A crow thieves; a fox cheats; a weasel outwits; a man diddles. To diddle is his destiny. " Man was made to mourn," says the poet. But not so: -he was made to diddle. This is his aim - his object - his end. And for this reason when a man's diddled we say he's "done."

*The allusion is to John Neal's "The Yankee"; and Boston Literary Gazette," a periodical whose No.79 (July, 1829) contained a picture and eulogistic notice of Jeremy Bentham with a motto from Bentham's writings.

(To be continued...)

"Can-Opener Chefs" & "Potemkin Health Plans"

Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

Flossy's glassy stare will haunt me for eternity. She was that fagged-out old industry moll from the play the other night.

She wouldn't stop wailing about "The Industry! The Industry!", and how she couldn't bear to see anyone slap her pimp in the face after 30 years of devoted service and so forth.

"Sorry Flossy, but the emperor wears no clothes. Your pennies are falling out of your pig's ear."

I'd worked in the business too long to buy into her gin-soaked fantasy.

Where I'm from, bussers swipe your tips...owners waste your time and money on worthless Potemkin health plans...the place is infested with tragic, incompetent floordicks trying to hump everybody one way or another... cracked up waiters and bartenders hose down the House, "teabag" the guests, and shake down their fellow workers... the establishments are encyclopedias of archaic labor, health, and safety violations... "can-opener" chefs march around in pope's hats, drooling and clapping their hands like slap-happy idiots as they mix and match Sysco's lincoln logs of irradiated, hormone-injected menu items...and of course- NOBODY WASHES THEIR HANDS!

Oh yeah...whoops! I almost forgot the dear old customers (hee hee hee). Rest assured, it goes far beyond DNA and diuretics. I've seen waiters slap the tarshit out of deserving 'guests' who forgot that they were guests.

It's a rich tapestry of human weakness and depravity, and you'd better laugh to keep from crying or you won't last. In my opinion, the Pump Handles are a breath of fresh air in that dreary crowd. At least someone's making the bastards pay, not to mention providing us all with some cheap entertainment.

I'm afraid I was brought up on the other side of the tracks from Flossy's Emerald City, but alas, that's my only perspective and any other spin would be less than truthful. Anyone who doesn't like it is welcome to write their own book from their own perspective. Personally, I don't have any interest in helping to maintain the milky-white veneer of "The Industry". Although, I am willing to discuss a large sum of shut-up money. Let's talk.

Until next time, this is insider, R. "Chip" DeGlinkta, with "In the Eye of the Industry".

Have a nice day.

Field Ops: Notebook w/R.Chip DeGlinkta

Field Ops
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

"Taking it to the f@!*#n' people."

Tune in Wednesdays @ 9am, CST

Poe Blog w/Peter Francis

Poe Blog
Originally uploaded by deglinkta.

"Hey, diddle diddle, The cat and the fiddle."

Tune in Sundays @ Midnight, CST.

Oracle Program Guide

You heard right. We're finally going to dummy up with some reliable commercial-free programming. Los Jefes were beginning to send a lot of menacing emails down the pipes at us and frankly, I think they were starting to wonder if they hadn't lashed themselves to a sinking ship. All the sudden spending their last dime to produce a book by two failed waiters/wannabe Pump Handles seemed a little loco. Duh!

Imagine the look on their faces when, at the last possible moment, just as they were perusing the bankruptcy agreement, we trapsed nonchalantly into the executive suite without so much as a nod to the secretary and plopped a couple of fully produced minispheries down on the desk!

"T...T...T...Touche, Yup!"

(Gulp!)

So until further notice, here's the new Program Schedule for Spring 2005:

Every Sunday by Midnight, CST- "Poe Blog" with Peter Francis

Every Wedensday by 9am, CST- "Field Ops: Notebook" with R.Chip DeGlinkta

Of course, we will continue to provide the usual unscheduled programming. Thank you and stayed tuned for previews of coming attractions.

FloorDick can't even spell "Lexicon"!

But that's not his beloved little nickname's fault. On it's own merit, "FloorDick", New Orleans' popular term for a restaurant manager, made its first appearance in a lexicon outside the Scam Bible.

Waiterblog.com, a clean-cut canadian website, entered the word into their lexicon of restaurant vernacular in December 2004, defined as follows-

"A derogatory term for a restaurant manager or floor supervisor who isn’t very popular among his/her staff."

Not bad. A little shy on the etymology (yard boss, house dick, etc.). Also, I often hear it used as a blanket term for any restaurant manager, popular or not. But if usage varies from person to person, it is bound to vary even more so from one country to another. The Canadians are by and large a friendlier people, and more tolerant of their restaurant managers. I think it's because they have easier access to better reefer, but that's only a theory.

It isn't often that we have the opportunity to assist a word in its ratification from lingo to language. With the aim of elevating and preserving the Pump Handle's hilarious vernacular, I call on all waiters, bartenders, and even restaurant managers (those willing to set aside their foolish pride for a higher calling) to submit the term "Floordick" far and wide to every obscure lexicon and authoritative compendium of verbage in existence- online, in print, on the walls or stalls of public bathrooms, wherever! So that someday, future generations may ruffle the pages of Websters or Oxford and crack a smile as they peruse a light-hearted tidbit of our unique experience.

If you score an entry, drop me a line at deglinkta@prometheanbooks.com and I'll post it here on the Oracle with your information.

Stay tuned.