Interview with Louis Fowler of “Damaged Hearing” on KRFC FM

As a thank you to a good friend who has helped me immensely by playing my music on terrestrial radio, I’m working on a profile of Louis Fowler, a radio host and media critic in Colorado, for Big Hollywood. This is the full raw transcript of his side of the phone conversation I had with him to prepare. It was just too delightful not to share.

on starting a “zine”

I was a nerd- kind of a fat nerd- never made it with the ladies. And so I figured, what was the best way to get revenge on society? It was either start a punk band or start a zine, and I chose the loser way out and started a zine. In the ’90s, the zine boom was really huge; it was really a fun, fertile time for that type of stuff.

All the zines at the time were personal zines; they were diaries of girls with issues and punk guys talking about how much they hate Ronald Reagan and how much they hate cops, and that just wasn’t what I was about, so I wanted to do a magazine that made fun of movies and pop culture and stuff. In high school, I started a pop culture magazine called Damaged that I used as a way to rebel against pop culture, which wouldn’t accept me.

At the time, I ran a pretty positive review of Roger & Me, because I grew up very poor. My dad and my mom tried to instill in me never to take money from the government– never to borrow money, never to take money– always work and get it for yourself. But at that time, when you’re a teenager, you’re trying to rebel against everything your parents teach you, so it was “Come on, it’s like the Haves and the Have Nots, man! Roger & Me teaches the truth, man!” And then, I wrote a list of the top 10 hottest women, and it was 1995, and I think #1 was Kim Deal of the Breeders. So it was truly an embarrassing time.

The first issue had nothing but immense hatred for Green Day. Every single page was just a slam on Green Day, and I didn’t realize just how truly prophetic that hatred would become.

Music Highlights: Discovered in April 2011

Now, I love me a good joke or two about sexy sax music, so one of the biggest musical surprises of my month was discovering Destroyer, a laid-back but affecting (correct usage, I checked) amalgam of slower-paced ’70s disco, ’80s new wave, and ’90s adult contemporary music, featuring sexy sax/trumpet/flute, sparse electric guitar, and a backdrop of sometimes-sexy, sometimes-ethereal synths. Singer-songwriter Dan Bejar sounds a lot like the Weakerthans’ John K. Samson taken down to a plaintive whisper, drawing us into the wistful world of his innermost thoughts. He takes his time between chord changes and keeps his melodies minimalistic, allowing for plenty of breezy licks from whatever solo instrument is best for the moment. The songs can run long, up to 9 or 11 minutes, but Bejar keeps things rolling so you can either focus intently without getting bored or just get lost in the atmosphere of a song.

The clincher for me with Destroyer really is the sax. Who in the indie music world would think to indulge in a style that virtually demands hipster mockery– to indulge in it with such sincerity and emotional vulnerability? Bejar deflects any hint of detached irony and gives us pure beauty that you can tell he’s genuinely passionate about, and that’s something that should be celebrated.

Disasteradio is the work of Luke Rowell, a one-man MIDI wrecking crew from New Zealand with no shortage of enthusiasm or ideas.  I found his single “Gravy Rainbow” at a site for viral music-related videos, and through the magic of Bandcamp, I was able to stream his whole album, which should be retroactively inserted into my Top 10 albums of 2010.

Opener “You Win” had me thinking of Weird Al deep cuts; it’s an unadulterated major-key joy ride with fatty drums, octave-hopping bass, and unapologetic, unironic retro synth voices. Rowell isn’t the strongest singer (make no mistake, it takes one to know one), so tracks like “Gravy Rainbow” are actually the exception to his style– using a vocoder– which often works best with the songs, anyway. Disasteradio’s energetic, playful tone is infectious, like Andrew W.K. with a Roland X6, and its lightheartedness and brisk pacing allows for many repeat listens. In a world where even our Top 40 pop stars are trying to be “dark” and “edgy,” this kind of manic, playful energy is rare and fragile; we must cherish and support it.

Deastro is the kind of music I would make if I could translate it exactly as I imagine it in my head. It’s electronica full of bright, warm synths and 16th-beat drums pitter-pattering underneath singer Randolph Chabot’s quite capable voice. I would classify the music’s tone as emo– the good kind. Instead of mopey whining, Chabot has the kind of longing– even desperation– you heard on the first two Weezer records, or Superchunk and Sunny Day Real Estate. He’s a young (my age) liberal who wants to change the world, and you can’t help but be won over by his sincerity and empathy.  Deastro can be a bit exhausting, especially as full album listens, but in my book, it’s better to be overwhelmed by true beauty than by pretentious mimicry and mockery of beauty.

So, this month, it appears the theme of my picks is that the artists have taken “classic” concepts and sounds and embraced them without hipster irony and derision. Works for me.

An Open Letter to House Speaker John Boehner

Dear Mr. Boehner, I am reading initial reports that your talks with President Obama and Harry Reid are breaking down, as well they should. The “concessions” and “deals” proposed by Democratic leadership would be laughable if they weren’t so economically dangerous, and we the people need and will appreciate a stand by you and Congressional Republicans for fiscal responsibility. We will stand with you and educate our friends and family why you are making the right move. However, as you well know, many Americans receive their news from a journalistic world that would like nothing better than to demonize and caricature you and your colleagues in the worst ways possible. What’s at stake with this upcoming government shutdown is how the truth will be skewed to blame your party for the budget breakdown, and we’ve already seen how Democrats are trying to paint your efforts to face our debt crisis as “extremist” Tea Party ideas infecting the GOP.

Conservatives are already on board with these cuts. You will not need to pander to us with buzzwords about “Constitutional principles” or “fiscal responsibility;” we get it. The battle right now is for the heart of independents, and you must stress to them what is at stake in their personal lives if the federal government continues to spend almost 50% more than what it takes in every year.

You must do everything you can to stress the extremist, obstinate, out-of-touch refusal to accept the will of the American people that Barack Obama and Harry Reid are displaying. You must tie it back to the health care debate; virtually every poll taken about the 2,000+ page monstrous health care law showed that a decisive majority opposed it, yet the President used every dirty trick imaginable to pass it. And now while he adds waiver after waiver to his political allies so they don’t have to be burdened by it, you’re trying to give a permanent waiver to every American, and he selfishly refuses to give up his pet legislation despite the overwhelming vote against it in November and the legal decisions against it in federal court.

You must stress how, despite President Obama’s campaign promise to review every government agency and go through the budget with a scalpel, eliminating whatever does not work efficiently, he is only content with cuts amounting to $33 billion for this year alone, which is only .86% of this year’s projected spending– only 2% of this year’s projected deficit! In a country that already has a multitrillion dollar national debt, that is unacceptable by any standard. You must stress this to any reporter you speak to. You must not kowtow to their sob stories and anecdotal accusations that so-and-so will suffer because of X or Y spending cut. You must bring it back to the big picture, that even if X or Y program is kept, soon the federal government simply will not have the money to pay for it anyway.

We, your supporters, will use social networking sites and conversations with friends and coworkers to try to explain this to those who are not politically involved and may not understand why the government is shutting down, but you must do your part as well to use what exposure you have through broadcast media to get this message out, as well. This a critical point that will greatly affect the outcome of the 2012 election, and we are rightly worried about how the GOP will handle the messaging of this precarious situation. Please, Speaker Boehner, do not let us down in this. We support you fully for taking this stand, but we need you not to drop the ball where it counts the most. You must go on the offensive to get the truth to the American independent voter, because you will be facing an openly hostile press corps.

UPDATE: Thanks for folding like a cheap accordion, Johnny.

CPAC, Legsaw Chafe, and The Telephone Pole of Destiny

Ah, CPAC. I bask in its awesome. *basks*

I finally got to meet all the people that have legitimate credentials for blogging about politics and media.  My editor, John Nolte of Big Hollywood, was particularly fun to be around, as well as his sweet wife, who was much more soft-spoken than his tweets make her out to be.  Larry O’Connor of Breitbart.tv and the Stage Right Show was exactly like he is on air, trying to fit in as many mentions of “ass” as he could (best line: “Kim Kardashian has an epic, epic ass”) but working hard while he was on air.  Holly Bacon of Tony Katz’s show was my guardian angel, showing up almost wherever I went and guiding me around to different events.  I met lots of great Twitter personalities, such as the effervescent Dina Fraioli, and I also met a lady who was a fan of my writing and freaked out when she recognized who I was.

I chose not to take tourist pictures at CPAC. This is a Google Images result for "Ezra CPAC."

I finally got to meet the blogfather himself, Andrew Breitbart, and though our time was brief, he thanked me “for fighting.”  It was a very appropriate comment; the Breitbart blogs are the place where blogging is also conservative activism that achieves real-world results.  Whilst hovering around the man a few times, I got to meet more of his posse:  singer Jon David, business partner Larry Solov, awesome lady Liberty Chick, et. al., and it’s really cool to feel like a bigger piece of such a tight-knit bunch (and I think I may have enlisted myself for videography work when his network of cameramen need someone near Philly).

Deerhoof Vs. Me

Every time I get to feeling that guitar-based rock is dead, Deerhoof or the White Stripes announce a new album.  I should feel that way more often.

The majesty of Deerhoof is their apparent inability to rest on laurels.  Each album, they’re working with exactly the same sonic palette:  grungy guitars, high-pitched Japanese lady singer (& indie-falsetto man singer), and hyperactive, loose, but technically perfect drumming, plus some synthesizers and glockenspiels to round out the high end.  Yet within these confines (given the possibilities for digital music production, these are actually rather severe), they are always drawing out arrangements that are new and surprising– not just shoveling a chunk of icing from one side of the cake to the other, but mixing and baking a whole new flavor of batter.

#DanielsonFamileCon

Today, I “make it” as a music writer.  As a Christian, there’s no artist out there that’s inspired me as much as Daniel Smith of the Danielson Famile (now just Danielson), and I get to interview him.  It’s not a PR piece assigned to me; it’s an interview I was able to request and schedule through a publicist.  It’s as though I’m closing a sale, winning a new client.  I am a nobody from Pennsylvania with zero credentials in music or writing, and I am able to access international recording artists by virtue of the organization I write for.

It just boggles my mind.  I was given this opportunity purely out of the goodwill of John Nolte, my editor at Big Hollywood.  He has entrusted the reputation of a million-hits-per-day website to a screwup like me.  It’s just like God has done with life itself– not just existence, but eternal life.  I get it not because I deserve it, but because of His generosity; people get it wrong when they say that suffering is unfair.  It’s life and peace and comfort that are unfair to receive, considering what we’ve earned.

Back to the point; this man is a genius:

And I can’t wait for his next one.  The vibe I’m getting from the first single “Grow Up” is more along the lines of Fetch the Compass Kids, his first masterpiece before 2006′s sprawling, magisterial Ships.  As that record had a consistent lineup of musicians and didn’t experiment too much with different instruments and sounds, the Famile had an unpredictable jam session going on with tons of earworm-y hooks packed into each song.  “Grow Up” has that same air to it– loose, bouncy, and unpredictably fun.  Daniel’s still got his signature squealing vocals, and his guitar riffs have this really deep quality– crunchy without distortion, so you feel the presence really well without them taking up too much of the mix.

So watch for my interview with Daniel Smith to hit Big Hollywood sometime in February, and in the meantime, play, share, and comment on the video for “Grow Up,” cuz if you don’t, you’re a dirty Birther Socialist yeti.

Back. With Tobacco.

Greg Gutfeld of the awesome show Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld posted a blog today under the pseudonym Greg Gutfeld at my alma blogger, Big Hollywood.  As disappointed as I was to find that Big Hollywood commenters yet again proved themselves a bunch of #getoffmylawn know-nothings, Greg had some pretty cool stuff in his piece.

I listened to Matthew Dear real quiet-like one day at my work, and it was some pretty good, dark dance music.  I keep hearing all this hype about Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, and even though he’s on Animal Collective’s label, I really can’t get into him.  Round & Round, despite its catchier moments, is just so long and sluggish.  This is pop music; tighten it up, man!

However, I was absolutely blown away by Tobacco (pun?).  This is the exact kind of electronic music I’ve been searching for over the past, say, 10 years.

The fuzz!  Not just distortion, but a subtle filter to give it an analog feel that’s just potent enough to be noticeable but doesn’t give itself away– like catching special effects in movies where it looks too real to be CGI but seems entirely impossible to create without CGI. Plus, there’s a sense of retro playfulness that doesn’t turn into mere imitation of old ’80s music, and a healthy dash of dark undercurrent-ing that gives it even more of an edge.  Now, cue the Double Dragon remake/reboot, and get Tobacco on soundtrack duty.