Michael Wohl-Moonfeeder/Songs of Impermanence 7" (2013)

 As the Valdarno heats up, a nocturnal lifestyle is becoming more and more appealing: the daytime here is so hot it's like walking into an oven when I go out to buy a beer, so the day's become night and nighttime, like Fogerty said, is the right time.

Just in time for the Tuscan summer comes this bit of spartan folk from Seattle. As on Wohl's 2012 demo, this is barebones, standalone guitar music. In many ways, the demo was a tribute  to the blues and Americana influences that Wohl proudly wears on his sleeve. These two songs, however, find him starting to work out his own idiom within that tradition. His playing is thoroughly indebted to Fahey, still, but "Moonfeeder" is more measured than Fahey's spry, even effusive, plucking. The guitar is almost melancholic at times, without being heavy-handed. Wohl ends the tune with a flourish of upbeat plucking, though; an overnight train journey and not an all-night bender, perhaps, is the setting.
"Song of Impermanence" sounds like a tighter, more coherent reworking of the loose, improvised "Melatonin Blues," my favorite tune from the 2012 demo. The piece is a bit of lonesome midnight solitude crafted in a jaunty form. Around 4:21 the song soars off into ethereal heights, closing on a note of perfect, spacy elegance.

The musos among my readers will enjoy this two-song EP for the masterful guitarwork. The rest of us can get into it for the mood. Either way, give this a spin next time it's 5 am and you're too wired to sleep. Also, the cover is gorgeous and it's fun staring at it when you're stoned stupid.

Physical copies of the EP will be available in August, stay tuned. 

Michael Wohl-demo (2012)

John Fahey is one of the great under-appreciated American folk heroes. He was more legit and had more integrity than any of the British Blues assholes whose whole careers were based on ripping off Robert Johnson, and he was probably a better guitar player than Clapton (fuck that guy anyways.."tears in heaven," my ass!). He's probably my second-favorite guitarist after Django Reinhardt.

So it's refreshing to hear a new take on the Fahey sound on this 4-song demo by Mike Wohl, who hails from Seattle by way of Chicago. I don't really have the musical vocabulary required to intelligently discuss this-Mike's work, like a lot of Fahey's, is so intricate that it's hard for a musical illiterate like myself to describe; this review is mostly imagistic. But I enjoy this thing, which is more important for those of us not as steeped in the blues and Americana as dood is.

"Long After We are dead" is a spry piece of cheerful guitar work. It conjures up an image of walking down a dirt road somewhere in Mississippi or Alabama in the July heat, smoking a hand-rolled cigarette, on yr way to pick blueberries. Which I've never done, but it sounds delightful, and "Long After We are Dead" is a sunny idyll that'll set you off down the dirt road (blues). "No Ticket Blues" is slightly more meditative, lilting along in a way that reminds me of Skip James; to my completely non-technical ears, it sounds like a more upbeat re-working of "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues." "Poor Boy Long Way from Home" is, of course, a blues standard: Fahey adopted it from Mississippi John Hurt. Wohl does as good a job as anyone alive in 2012 can. He uses the heavier strings to effectively create a rhythm, plucking minor notes to fill out the song's pattern; at times he's hitting the strings so hard and crisp, it sounds like there's a very quiet drummer in the background.

The coolest song here, as far as I'm concerned, is "Melatonin Blues/Fever Dream." It's a sprawling, ramshackle 6-minute collage of found chords, improvised patterns, and desultory riffing. It's a collage of various pieces that didn't fit into complete songs, but brought together, they create a compelling ambiance all their own that's great for getting fuckin' weird to.

Listen to the demo here. 
The demo is great for spring, when you can move around outside, but I've found it's also a great accompaniment for watching the rain at 1 am, chainsmoking and drinking gin.

Mystery Ship-S/t EP (2012)

Back when I was a teenage wasteoid punkrocker, I hated classic rock, to the point of yelling at friends who liked Led Zeppelin when we'd get drunk. But with age comes wisdom, they say, or in any case maybe more self-consciousness. Somewhere around 20, when I started smoking weed, I decided Neil Young was a'ight, and since then I've even been known to countenace "Immigrant Song" on the jukebox.

Enter Seattle's Mystery Ship, a buncha dudes blasting out unpretentious good times rock. What immediately leaps out at you when the needle drops is the watertight song construction: the guitars are perfectly in tandem, the vocals phrased just right, and the rhythm section is solid (Travis'* drumwork demonstrating just how important tight drumming is to a band's overall sound).

"Lady from Alexandria" is built around a massive guitar lead and lockstep drumming, with Alex singing about, uh, scientists, I think...they are called Mystery Ship, after all. It's the guitars that set this apart, with the bridges worthy of Sabbath.

"Medusa" is more heavy rock, swaggering along while Alex completely nails the Neil Young tone. "Wide Eyed Girl" is my favorite song here: a driving, old-time rock 'n' roll raveup perfect for arrhythmically dancing around your room in an alcoholic daze, while "King Frong Blues" goes in for heavily baked electric blues.

Most of the music I listen to doesn't come close to the production quality and songwriting capabilities of this EP, which is all the more impressive since it's a DIY release.

Check out Mystery Ship if you're in the Northwest; if not, listen to EP, and get a copy, here!

*Apologies to Travis for originally calling him Tripp. Whoops. 

BornDead/Consume split 12" (2003)

Anarchopunk is a drug like any other: You come home feeling like shit. As you do every day. So you put on that [insert bad, vaguely political band name here-"Riot _," "Anti_" will suffice] record. As the trashed guitar notes and d-beats begin, you start to feel a rush of pure, self-righteous anger. It's a sea change from that futile, impotent fury usually following a normal day.

This self-righteous anger feels good. THEY are the enemy, it's THEIR fault, fuck THEM! We're gonna FUCKING OVERCOME, COMRADE! After all, you're just an oppressed wage slave tryna make it through the day, right?

Pretty soon, you're dancing around your room in a paroxysm of self-righteous indignation, shakin' yer fist and promising yourself you're gonna finally sit down and read that Bakunin reader gathering dust under your Aus-Rotten LPs.

But all good things must come to an end, and when the needle lifts on side B, you start to come down...aw, man, you've still got all those boring, non-political, very un-self-righteous problems you had before putting on your studded leather jacket-bills to pay, girl/boyfriend troubles, hate yer parents...fuck man...

Oh, this album? It's great. Easily one of the best political hardcore albums of the '00s. Fuck it. Anarchopunk is a great drug. I just prefer crushed Adderal and cheap beer, these days.

God save the queen.... This should still be available from here. Will, from Born/Dead, does a really sweet blog, Cold War. Check it out.