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Unknown Instructors
Unknown Instructors are an all-star improvisational rock outfit that features the former rhythm section of Minutemen and fIREHOSE, bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley; Saccharine Trust members, guitarist Joe Baiza and vocalist Jack Brewer; and vocalist/saxophonist Dan McGuire. They have been described as "an all-star reunion of alumni from the SST stable of yore" and Henry Rollins called it a dream lineup. Their first album, ''The Way Things Work'', was released in late September 2005 by Smog Veil Records. In October 2005, they returned to the studio to record a second album, this time with Pere Ubu's David Thomas and artist Raymond Pettibon as added participants. The finished product, '' The Master's Voice'', was released in March, 2007. A third album, ''Funland'', followed in 2009. In 2019, the fourth album entitled ''Unwilling to Explain'' was released with J Mascis on guitar. It was the first Unknown Instructors album that wasn't improvised. Discography *''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minutemen (band)
Minutemen were an American punk rock band formed in San Pedro, California, in 1980. Composed of guitarist/vocalist D. Boon, bassist/vocalist Mike Watt, and drummer George Hurley, Minutemen recorded four albums and eight EPs before Boon's death in an automobile accident in 1985; the band broke up shortly thereafter. They were noted in the California punk community for a philosophy of "jamming econo"—a sense of thriftiness reflected in their touring and short, tight songs as well as their eclectic style drawing on hardcore punk, funk, jazz, and other sources. History Formation Minutemen began when D. Boon and Mike Watt met at age 13. Watt was walking through a park in their hometown of San Pedro, California when Boon, playing a game of "army" with other boys, fell out of a tree right next to him and found that his friends, one named Eskimo, must have ditched him. Both boys shared a passion for music; Boon's mother taught D. to play the guitar and suggested Watt learn to pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smog Veil Records
Smog Veil Records was a Chicago, IL based independent record label. In addition to standard CD, DVD, and vinyl distribution, Smog Veil also distributed its media via digital channels, including Napster and iTunes. History In business from 1991 until 2021, Smog Veil Records focused primarily on underground, challenging, unknown, and/or bombastic rock’n’roll from artists based in Northeast Ohio and Cleveland. Co-owner Frank Mauceri stated that the company had a green initiative, and that its headquarters were powered by wind and solar energy. The label closed in December 2021. Artists * Agitated * Amoeba (raft boy) * Amps 2 Eleven * Axemaster * Broke * Buzz Clic/Bold Chicken * California Speedbag * Cheese Borger and The Cleveland Steamers * David Thomas and 2 pale boys * Defnics * Dissidents * Face Value * H.G. Lewis * Idiot Humans * Les Black and the Amazing Pink Holes * Lurid * New Creatures * Numbskull * Offbeats * The Pagans * Pere Ubu * Pink Holes * Pi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unwilling To Explain
''Unwilling to Explain'' is the fourth album by American improvisational band Unknown Instructors, featuring Mike Watt ( The Minutemen, fIREHOSE), George Hurley (Minutemen, fIREHOSE), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), and Dan McGuire. It was the first Unknown Instructors album that wasn't improvised and the first to feature Mascis on guitar instead of Baiza. The recording took quite some time with Watt recording bass tracks in 2011 and Hurley laying down the drums the following year. Mascis' guitar work was recorded three years after that with Dan McGuire's vocals following. Reception David Arnson of ''Music Connection'' called it "truly interesting" but warned "Your mileage may vary on the Tom Waits- and Bukowski-influenced bop narration. The real take- away is Mascis’ fluid and expressive guitar work." ''Razorcake's'' Michael T. Fournier praised it saying it "hangs together better than any of the group’s other records I’ve heard." Mark Hughson of ''Jersey Beat'' said "If you’ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Funland (album)
''Funland'' is the third album by American improvisational band Unknown Instructors, featuring Mike Watt ( The Minutemen, fIREHOSE, The Stooges, Dos, Banyan), George Hurley (The Minutemen, fIREHOSE, Red Krayola), Joe Baiza (Saccharine Trust, Universal Congress Of), poet/saxophonist Dan McGuire. The album features guest vocals by David Thomas (Pere Ubu) and artist Raymond Pettibon. The album was recorded at the same time as the previous album, '' The Master's Voice''. Track listing #"Maji Yabai" #"Those Were the Days" #"Later That Night" #" Frownland" ( Captain Beefheart cover) #"Door Of No Return" #"Afternoon Spent At The Bar,Sunny" #"C'mon" #"Chicago,Illinois" #"Lead!" #"No Words" #"No Chirping" #"Last Waltz" Musical Personnel * Mike Watt - bass, vocals on track 1,8 * George Hurley - drums * Joe Baiza - guitar * Dan McGuire - vocals * David Thomas - vocals on track 6 *Raymond Pettibon- vocals on track 9 Reception Mark Kemp of ''Rolling Stone'' gave the album three out ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creative community of New York City. It ceased publication in 2017, although its online archives remained accessible. After an ownership change, the ''Voice'' reappeared in print as a quarterly in April 2021. Over its 63 years of publication, ''The Village Voice'' received three Pulitzer Prizes, the National Press Foundation Award, and the George Polk Award. ''The Village Voice'' hosted a variety of writers and artists, including writer Ezra Pound, cartoonist Lynda Barry, artist Greg Tate, and film critics Andrew Sarris, Jonas Mekas and J. Hoberman. In October 2015, ''The Village Voice'' changed ownership and severed all ties with former parent company Voice Media Group (VMG). The ''Voice'' announced on August 22, 2017, that it would cease p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Big Takeover
''The Big Takeover'' is a bi-annual music magazine published out of New York City since May 1980 by critic Jack Rabid. History Establishment Jack Rabid and Dave Stein began publishing ''The Big Takeover'' in May 1980 as a fanzine dedicated to New York punk band the Stimulators. The pair had formed a garage band the previous month called Even Worse, originally playing mainly punk rock cover songs. Even Worse was quickly tapped to open a show for the Stimulators, and the publication followed."New York: Part One: Jack Rabid — 'Encyclopedia of Punk,'" ''Flipside,'' whole no. 37 (February 1983), pp. 47-48. The interview was conducted in Whittier, California on December 31, 1982. Rabid, an intense music fan, ended up taking over the project, which evolved into a general punk rock fanzine. In a 1983 '' Flipside'' interview, Rabid recalled: "I'm a genuine fanatic, there's probably a good 3 or 4 or 5 in every city. Just love the music, that's all it is, I love the music. i try to f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
J Mascis
Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. ( ; born December 10, 1965), better known as J Mascis, is an American musician who is the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. He has also released several albums as a solo artist and played drums and guitar on other projects. His most recent solo album, ''Elastic Days'', was released in November 2018. He was ranked number 86 in a ''Rolling Stone'' list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists", and number 5 in a similar list for ''Spin'' magazine in 2012. Biography Mascis was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, the son of a dentist, and grew up in the same area together with his sister Patty and older brother Mike. His mother, Theresa (an avid golfer), died in 1985 while his father, Joseph Sr., died in 1993. Mascis became a music fan and drumming enthusiast at the age of 9. He later joined the jazz ensemble in school as a drummer. At 17, Mascis joined the short-lived hardcore group Deep Wound with Lou Barlow, Scott Hellan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitchfork (website)
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working at a record store in suburban Minneapolis, and the website earned a reputation for its extensive coverage of indie rock music. It has since expanded and covers all kinds of music, including pop. Pitchfork was sold to Condé Nast in 2015, although Schreiber remained its editor-in-chief until he left the website in 2019. Initially based in Minneapolis, Pitchfork later moved to Chicago, and then Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Its offices are currently located in One World Trade Center alongside other Condé Nast publications. The site is best known for its daily output of music reviews but also regularly reviews reissues and box sets. Since 2016, it has published retrospective reviews of classics, and other albums that it had not previously review ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Master's Voice
''The Master's Voice'' is the second album by American improvisational band Unknown Instructors. The core quartet of Mike Watt ( The Minutemen, fIREHOSE, The Stooges, Dos, Banyan), George Hurley (The Minutemen, Firehose, Red Krayola), Joe Baiza (Saccharine Trust, Universal Congress Of), and poet/saxophonist Dan McGuire reconvene on the album, with guest vocals on three tracks by David Thomas (Pere Ubu) and on another track by artist Raymond Pettibon. In addition, Watt also contributes a vocal of his own. The album was recorded at Total Access Studio in Redondo Beach, California, the same studio where Black Flag recorded many of their classic mid-80's album releases and where Watt and Hurley's The Minutemen had recorded '' Project: Mersh'' in 1985. Recording According to Dan McGuire, the previous album '' The Ways Things Work'' was recorded in one day and came off jazzier because of it. With the rhythm section more familiar now, McGuire wanted a harder edged album this time. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond Pettibon
Raymond Pettibon (born Raymond Ginn, June 16, 1957) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. Pettibon came to prominence in the early 1980s in the southern California punk rock scene, creating posters and album art mainly for groups on SST Records, owned and operated by his older brother, Greg Ginn. He has subsequently become widely recognized in the fine art world for using American iconography variously pulled from literature, art history, philosophy, and religion to politics, sport, and sexuality. As Holland Cotter noted in ''The New York Times'': Early life The fourth of five children born to R.C.K. Ginn, an English teacher who published several spy novels; his mother was a housewife. Pettibon grew up in Hermosa Beach, California. He was raised Christian Scientist. He earned an economics degree from UCLA in 1977 and worked as a high school mathematics teacher in the L.A. public school system for a short period, before pursuing and completing his BFA in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Thomas (musician)
David Lynn Thomas (born 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and musician based in Great Britain. He was one of the founding members of the short-lived proto-punkers Rocket from the Tombs (1974–1975), in which he played under the moniker "Crocus Behemoth," and of post-punk group Pere Ubu (1975–present, intermittently). He has also released several solo albums. Though primarily a singer, he sometimes plays melodeon, trombone, musette, guitar or other instruments. Thomas has described his artistic focus as being the "gestalt of culture, geography and sound". Common themes crop up throughout much of his work, such as the US Interstate Highway system, images of roadside or "junk" tourist culture, Brian Wilson, AM radio, and many others. Thomas has a distinctive, high pitched voice; Emerson Dameron described Thomas's singing as "James Stewart trapped in an oboe", and Greil Marcus writes, "Mr Thomas's voice is that of a man muttering in a crowd. You think he's talking to himse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pere Ubu (band)
Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their debut album ''The Modern Dance'' in 1978 and followed with several more LPs before disbanding in 1982. Thomas reformed the group in 1987, continuing to record and tour. Describing their sound as "avant-garage," Pere Ubu's work drew inspiration from sources such as musique concrète, 60s rock, performance art, and the industrial environments of the American Midwest. While the band achieved little commercial success, they have exerted a wide influence on subsequent underground music. History 1970s Rocket from the Tombs was a Cleveland-based group that eventually fragmented: some members formed the Dead Boys, and others The Saucers, while David Thomas and guitarist Peter Laughner joined with guitarist Tom Herman, bass guitarist Tim Wri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
