Search Results for Richard Gehr

The dearly learned moral of Negativland’s story is simple: those who test gas leaks with lit matches encounter a lot of bad smells and occasionally blow themselves to kingdom come. The albums documenting Over the Edge, the absurdist San Francisco Bay Area troupe’s KPFA radio show (imagine Prairie Home Companion as envisioned and performed by…

Led by Joseph Shabalala — who formed the ten-man group almost 30 years ago and has been recording with it for two decades — Ladysmith Black Mambazo is one of South Africa’s most popular ensembles. For sheer vocal ecstasy, few organizations can equal its lush, comforting and sophisticated choral harmonies sung in the open mbube…

As imaginative and stimulating as he was irritating, inexcusable and vitriolic, New Jersey native Zoogz Rift (Robert Pawlikowski, 1953-2011) was an iconoclastic original, a reactionary whose paranoia has too frequently detracted from his music’s experimental pizzazz and considerable exotic charm. This might be explained by what were, for a long time, his primary intellectual inspirations:…

Formed by Denton, Texas homeboy Carl Finch in 1979, Brave Combo are witty and wise purveyors (and perverters) of polkas and musics of many nations. A highly successful tour of local mental institutions honed their chops, and each record reveals an ever more adventurous and itinerant package of sounds. By exploring and exploiting the least…

Dos — meaning, of course, two — consists of husband-and-wife bassists and vocalists Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE) and Kira Roessler (ex-Black Flag). Since Kira has also composed for fIREHOSE, several of the short compositions comprising the pair’s charming album hint at that fine trio’s signature sound. A dose of Dos entails little more (and nothing…

Crazed rockabilly-tinged remakes of “Psychotic Reaction” and two Yardbirds classics isn’t a bad idea, especially if gonzo guitar and drums like those on The Dawn of Shockabilly are brought to bear on ’em. Taking the same tack on “A Hard Day’s Night” and a country oldie, adding silly organ also makes a funny kind of…

Underappreciated and understated metaphysical comedy music comes in strange forms. This is one of them. With words by singer John S. Hall and music by guitarist Dogbowl, beefed up by Kramer’s production and auxiliary musicianship, New York’s King Missile (Dog Fly Religion) produced two uneven yet insinuating records of bellicose nubbins concerning the secret guilts…

If you’re in the market for a brilliant postmodern guitar hero, you could do a whole lot worse than Henry Kaiser. This Bay Area diver/filmmaker/musician has appeared on more than 50 records since the early ’70s, ranging from total improvisations to jazz to experimental and progressive rock. While augmenting his flawless techniques with a wide…

On his compulsive own, Eugene Chadbourne (previously the guitarist and leader of Shockabilly) has spewed forth a ceaseless stream of records and cassettes (the latter on his own Parachute label) that easily represent the oddest version of country and folk music ever. While the notable left-winger’s guitar playing is looser than clams, it harbors wildly…

One of the great diplomatic challenges facing underground rockers in the mid-’80s was how to repeal the punk era’s edict against guitar heroics (which actually did nothing to undercut the instrument’s hegemony, except to shelve it for a brief synth-pop sabbatical) without raising suspicions of cultural revisionism or unseemly nostalgia. In a gambit that proved…

What’s in a brilliant name? Some of the funniest, smartest and messed-up ultra-psychedelia ever invented. Almost all of Bongwater’s music came courtesy of Mark “Maul of Sound” Kramer, the former Shockabilly linchpin, king of the Shimmy-Disc label and in-house workaholic producer/owner of Noise New York studios. Performance artist-cum-actress Ann Magnuson contributed onstage attitude and her…

The international appeal of Senegal’s Touré brothers — Ismaila, Sixu Tidiane and Ousmane — must be attributed in large part to their soothingly mellifluous voices, tones that wash over the listener like warm milk. Of course, their sultry and tasteful integration of Afro-urban and Western dance music have something to do with it too. Like…

From nightclub singer to political firebrand, Thomas Mapfumo’s career has elevated him to near-sainthood in his native Zimbabwe. The Chimurenga Singles, recorded with the Acid (as in bitter) Band, carries an interesting disclaimer: “The quality of these tracks leaves much to be desired, but remember they were made under war conditions.” Influenced by Voice of…

Heavy and heartfelt country’n’strychnine from this hard-touring Chicago quartet. Closer to Neil and Graham than Lefty and George, Souled American specializes in low-key grooves that gurgle and bounce with songwriter Joe Adducci’s reggae-style lead bass, Jamey Barnard’s slapping New Orleans-style drums and Scott Tuma’s shimmering rhythm guitar, which sounds like pedal steel but isn’t. Sporting…

A decade younger than Fela Kuti, Nigeria’s Sonny Okosun(s) grew up on the Beatles and Elvis Presley rather than the country-western twang that influenced Sunny Adé, or the funk explosion that gripped Fela. He and his group blend highlife, reggae, funk and various African beats into an international style, an Afro-rock that dovetails nicely into…

The Saqqara Dogs’ effective drug-trance music combines onetime Factrix leader Bond Bergland’s Pink Floydish psychedelic guitars with Hearn Gadbois’ Middle Eastern and Indian drumming and Sync66’s (aka Chris Cunningham, ex-James White and the Blacks) Chapman Stick manipulations (as well as guitar, other bass, cello and organ). I find it happily reminiscent of Manchester ethno-cultists the…

Rubén Blades was the first important salsa performer to integrate rock aesthetics into his music. After a successful stint with Willie Colón, the Panamanian-born New Yorker went solo, rocketing to the top of the salsa charts with songs that avoided the music’s clichés in favor of topical narratives and carefully crafted imagery. The best of…

In a well-intentioned gesture of political unity, singer/guitarist Johnny Clegg (an English academic raised in Zimbabwe and South Africa) joined forces with Sipho Mchunu, a black South African street musician, to form Juluka, a failed experiment in combining rock with Zulu chants and the mbaqanga sound of the South African township. The results, heard on…