Take Five: Hunker down and catch up
Life left an opening to explore a few long-deferred things, and that plus the usual keeping up with the world led to Julien Baker and Torres, the Terrascopædia, SUSS, the Bad Plus, some jangle-pop
“Take Five” is posted each Friday, and offers five things I spent some time with over the course of the previous week. No criticism, no in-depth analysis, just a few things I think you might be interested in checking out. When the spirit moves me, I’ll post other things at other times.
This was an odd week, with unexpected intrusions and a taste of hermit-like existence. That allowed me to get to some things I had been stockpiling for just such a time, while still trying to keep up with what was happening out in the wider world.
1. Julien Baker and Torres — ‘Sugar in the Tank’
When I heard Julien Baker and Torres were going to put out music together, this was not what I had in mind. Though each usually offers intense, moody rock, when combined the result seems to be sweetly sentimental twangy roots music. Whatever the formula, it works. Baker is best known as one-third of indie supergroup Boygenius, where she is joined by Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers. That group makes music that sounds like what one would expect of its members. With only this first track, "Sugar in the Tank," as a guide, it seems these two are trying something new. It's a good fit, their voices harmonizing well on this love song. Iowa City-area readers have a chance to see the two perform as headliners at this year's Mission Creek Festival. That festival's 2018 lineup was where I first saw Baker perform, and her coiled intensity was captivating. It has been nice seeing a goofier side to her artistry in Boygenius, and better still to hear a different aspect of her talent here with Torres.
2. Terrascopædia
If you were to design a product that pushed many of my buttons, you would likely come up with something like Terrascopædia. First, it's about esoteric folk and psychedelic music. Second, it's published infrequently and in limited quantities. Third, it is printed on a 99-year-old letterpress onto thick, handcut paper1. The publication is the work of Phil McMullen, who ran the magazine Ptolemaic Terrascope2 from 1989 to 2004. My evolving tastes and that publication's remit aligned late in its run, so I lamented its demise as I was just discovering its wonders. McMullen returned with the Terrascopædia in 2012, and I rediscovered it a few years later. "The music discussed is released on vinyl or on cassette; most of the bands organise their own tours and release records on independent labels," Phil writes on the publication's website. "We have nothing against the internet or digital music as such; we do however believe that there is still a place for the printed page, the smell of fresh ink, and the touch and feel of hand-made paper." The latest issue to hit the mailbox for the most part offers interviews with people I know of — some quite well — like Jeffrey Alexander and Ben Chasny. But there always are people from the darkened corners of the folk and psychedelic world — in this issue, that is Henry Parker — who I don't know but usually fall for once I've read more and then tracked down the music to listen. This issue, like all of the others, immediately sold out, so if this sounds of interest, contact McMullen to get on his email list.
3. SUSS — ‘This Land is Your Land’
Sometimes hearing something in a different context can unlock some facet of it that was previously hidden. Such is the case with the new version of "This Land is Your Land" by SUSS. Everyone is familiar with the song, perhaps too familiar. Even though most know there are later verses that are not quite as positive — rendering this a sort of proto-"Born in the U.S.A." for the way it has been co-opted by the very people it critiques — it has devolved into a sort of bland anthem. However, in the hands of the band SUSS, an ambient country music combo, it regains its strength as a protest song. Recast in minor key and lacking vocals, the haunting instrumental has an edginess to it that mirrors what many of us feel as we worry about what the next four years will bring. “Music more than almost anything else can evoke the emotions of a time and place. As we find ourselves again in a time of challenge and uncertainty, we reach for solace in the same places as those who came before,” said pedal steel player Jonathan Gregg. “Whether it’s a hymn, a battle cry, or a simple folk song, music is at the ready to bring us together and remind us that we have been here before, we are still here, and always will be as long as we remember.” Woody Guthrie is having a moment thanks to the “A Complete Unknown” film about Bob Dylan. SUSS drags him into the 21st century with a shot of topical relevance.
4. The Bad Plus — ‘Anthem for the Earnest’
Checking out the latest album from the Bad Plus, the late 2024 release Complex Emotions (recommended!), I nosed around on Bandcamp and realized the band had released a couple of non-album singles in the past couple of years that had escaped my notice. The band changed significantly when pianist Ethan Iverson exited in 2017. He was replaced by Orrin Evans for two albums, and then the band underwent a seismic shift when Evans left and was replaced by guitarist Ben Monder and saxophonist Chris Speed. Bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King anchor the unit, and the music has a similar if more expansive feel. The reconstituted quartet issued a 2022 self-titled album prior to Complex Emotions. The singles that are sandwiched between are outtakes from that earlier session, and one in particular highlights the change in sound. "Anthem for the Earnest" was a highlight of the band's 2005 album, Suspicious Activity, Iverson’s piano offering a melodic counterpoint to the rhythm while adding a percussive element that drives the song forward. The new version is different, of course, a bit less melodic, a bit more propulsive. Monder and Speed often play in unison, mimicking Iverson’s piano lines. When they break off in their own directions, the song takes off. Both are worth hearing. The piano trio version is above, the new version is below.
5. ‘We Didn't Get Famous: The Story of the Southern Music Underground 1978-1990’
I’m a digital hoarder, bookmarking articles, websites, and videos for later, amassing more than I could ever hope to read or watch in a lifetime. But every once in a while I come across one of those links and am rewarded by past-John’s optimism. Such was the case when I watched “We Didn’t Get Famous: The Story of the Southern Music Underground 1978-1990.” The 35-minute film by Camilla Ann Aikin, was a master’s thesis for her degree in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi. For the piece, she interviewed several people whose music has been important to me, including Mitch Easter of Let's Active, Tim Lee of the Windbreakers, and Peter Holsapple of the dB's. Though it’s now 13 years old, it still offers a nice low-key look at the development of the parallel music scenes across the South that birthed those bands as well as the B-52s, R.E.M., Pylon, and more. It led me back to a great compilation released in 2020, Strum and Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987, and to pull a book off the shelf that has been gathering dust for a couple years, Lee’s cleverly titled I Saw a Dozen Faces… and I Rocked Them All, which chronicles his time in the Windbreakers and more. That unfortunately named band embodies the “jangle” so associated with this music, never so much as in the Lee-penned gem below. I’ve spent a lot of time with this music of these acts over the decades, and this was a rewarding multimedia immersion that rekindled my interest this week.
Yes, Iowa readers, this should remind you of Tim Fay’s late lamented Wapsipinicon Almanac, another beautifully rendered letterpress publication.