Carl Abraham Zimring wrote:
> One last post on rock/alt.country instrumentals and then I'll shut up.
> The body of work by several Chicago and Louisville-based rock musicians
> spawned by punk and post-punk bands such as Squirrel Bait, Bastro and
> Bitch Magnet includes a lot of acoustic instrumental work. This is a
> pretty big tent definition of alt.country, but Jim O'Rourke/David
> Grubbs/Gastr del Sol do a lot with John Fahey's American acoustic guitar
> stylings. It's at least alt.Americana if not alt.country. The Pullman
> record we brought up last summer (featuring members of Tortoise and
> Come) also fits into this style.
Everytime I'd hear some of this stuff on the radio (college radio, that
is), it would bore the pants of me. It all sounded like when my
guitar player and I would get baked on hash, turn our vibrato and
reverb up to 9, and play an E chord for an hour. Am I listening to
the wrong stuff or am I just right in thinking a lot of this stuff is
uninspired noodling suckage? I dig experimental/ambient stuff
when it's done well, I'm just not convinced that O'Rourke and
Grubbs are the cat's pajamas that everyone makes them out to be.
Dave
***
Dave Purcell, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Northern Ky Roots Music: http://w3.one.net/~newport
Twangfest: http://www.twangfest.com
