Friday through Sunday are the Grand Discovery Days commemorating the launch of the Loop. Monkeyclaus will host a tour of our studio and live recording demo from 11 -1 pm Saturday, June 12. Local Guitar Aficionado Miles Pearce will raise the level of quality sound with classical guitar most likely influenced by he recent incarnation as the lead in the local Flamenco Fusion Group Bosque.

There are a bunch of other exciting open houses and tours on the Bluewall Media Developed Interactive Website and Don't Miss the Square Dance happening tonight at the Rockfish Valley Community Center.

For any additional information please refer to the Nelson Scenic Loop Website.

We hope to see you there!

10 Facts About the LOOP

* 50 Miles Long
* Consists of 4 Scenic By-Ways
* Traverses Three Ridge Mountain Watershed
* Rises from Elevation 850 - 4050
* Bisected by Rockfish and Tye Rivers
* Blue Ridge Parkway is 75 Years Old
* Monticello Fish Hatchery is 80 years Old
* Nelson County founded in 1807
* Wintergreen Resort Contains 10,000 Acres
* Appalachian Trail Runs the West Border

The mission is simple. The vision is universal. The travel will be medicine.

With the gift and talents Creator has given us, we will embark on a journey throughout Turtle Island to highlight and help the creation of peace that’s already formulating amongst our young brothers and sisters. Through music, poetry, singing, M.C.ing and dialog we will help raise the consciousness and offer inspiration to the movers of those communities.

The short term objective is to know that everyone of us is taking responsibility for the healing of ourselves, our families, and our communities; through determination, respect, love for life, dialog, creativity and remembering to live as one, once again.

The long term objective is a generation of intelligent coherent spiritual human beings–always remembering their responsibility to our Mother Earth and the respect for all other living beings.

With this vision we will continue to live and evolve to where we came from.

Check The SIte CLICK OUT HERE

Richmond Flowers Five is guitarist Joseph Zehner with Jeff Melkerson on drums "The name includes Melkerson's characteristic mix of the historic and absurd. Richmond Flowers was the Alabama Attorney General that supported the Civil Rights movement in the '60s." This was heavy, unaffected, low guitar strumming with heavy handed drumming and no vocals whatsoever. The performance was meditative and sophisticated, in contrast with several past Melkerson freakout moments that have taken place in the Tea Bazaar. (The other wily avatars of the Melkerson rock beast.) Bravo!

The Dodos are an groovy Californian duo. They brought a beautifully effected guitar-scape-crystal wash of color. A new weird Americana, pop psyche potion, guided by cosmic rhythms, and polished with ethereal shoe-gaze vocals. Catch the Dodos as they continue traversing the nation, on the road with Jennifer Gentle, and later with Akron / Family. Their recent release, "Beware of the Maniacs" is a killer record.

After a lengthy soundcheck, trying to wrap their heads around the Tea Bazaar's tiny minimal PA system, and arranged carefully on the small tatami stage, Jennifer Gentle proceeded to charm the room with their homespun blend of carnival music and acid-pop. One could tell the band was a bit less than totally comfortable as the set began, but grooved their way into the zone. After the show I told lead singer and songwriter, Marco Fasolo, how much I enjoyed the show and he told me he didn't have such a good time himself. When I inquired about why, he told me he had such a hard time hearing himself sing. I said the singing was spot on and although he didn't enjoy the show I was glad for the chance to see them. He smiled and told me that for him, not being able to hear himself sing was like, "F*cking with 25 condoms on..." Whoa, who else says things like that! This band gets more likable by the minute. If this was an bad night for them, a good night must be pure magic. Enjoy this taste of Jennifer Gentle's sound, and for further investigations try to catch them live somewhere or check out their fantastic new record "The Midnight Room" recently out on the Sub Pop imprint. According to a Sub Pop press release, "Marco (Fasolo) wrote, performed and produced the entire new album alone in his Ectoplasmic Studio, a rambling old house lost in the foggy plains of Northern Italy, infamous for its previous owner’s suicide by rifle."

It was intriguing to hear the fruits of Marco's imagination manifest with a live band. Beach Boys-esque three part harmonies came to life, punctuated by playful trap kit playing, mind melded guitar, bass and keys.....and the occasional kazoo howl. Marco's unique, high register vocals wove convoluted tales of myriad subject matter, disguised in a pantheon of styles, flavors and moods. The experience was the sum of many influences from rock history, swirling in a good dose of Italian psychedelia (ala Fellini or Morricone), and all the weird vibes of the fun house at the carnival. Overall very cool and original music and a very talented live band.

Enjoy these recordings! Peace!

Words by Matthew Clark
Live recording by Simon Jolly

!!! and Maserati blew the roof off the Satellite Ballroom, in Charlottesville Virginia on May 29th 2007. Folks came in droves and came to dance. Asses even shook to the psyche-drenched grooves of Maserati, who kicked off the show. It was refreshing to see such love offered up for an opening act, and one of a slightly different ilk, than the main event !!!. Maserati and !!! share a certain continuity, in that both outfits are based around driving beats, and in fact share the same drummer. Gerhardt Fuchs is the powerhouse drum machine (man machine) behind both bands. His beats are inspired by a lineage of bad-ass drummers, and find a niche in Maserati which harkens to Meddle era Pink Floyd or the kraut-magic of CAN. !!! employs Jerry aka "the regulator" for disco-dance punk-house-new/no-wave grooves which can mutate and explode in manifold directions.

Maserati at sattelite Ballroom
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

With Maserati, Jerry's kit, a vintage blue Vistalite, sat front and center. Guitarists Coley Dennis and Matt Cherry flanked the stage with their echo driven guitars, and touring bassist Chris McNeal hung center stage behind the drum kit. Maserati is a well oiled machine. Blending lush atmospherics with exciting momentum, the fellows tear flawlessly through show after show. (I've seen them dozens of times over the years, most recently sharing stages with them on a three week European jaunt.) This show was particularly interesting, as it featured songwriter and sometimes touring band member Matt Cherry, who is more often replaced by the ultra-capable Josh McCauley for extended road missions. Maserati manages to captivate and charm crowds better than most instrumental bands, likely because of the hypnotic pulse they create. Their recent signing to Temporary Residence Ltd. places Maserati in a more visible position, and within a league that they certainly belong. Their new record shreds hard.

For the !!! set Jerry moved towards the back half of the stage to a different, as the front filled with tons of gear and a 9 person band. On tour, Shannon Funchess, becomes the bands secret weapon, and sole female presence. Her passionate delivery of vocal hooks and stage antics, fed off main vocalist and fellow crowd-tamer, Nic Offer, and added dimensionality that softened the testosterone laden grooves. The rest of the band laid back and delivered, bobbed heads, and tapped along to the beat, as Nic and Shannon went ape-shit to fuel the dance frenzy.

Nic, told me when I asked for permission to stream the recording of the show, that "a recording can never capture the energy and excitement of a show". He explained that for him live recordings never were satisfying and that I would have been better advised to just post away without permission. He continued saying that the internet is so sprawling and out of control that nobody can really manage what is posted on the web anyway. (Monkeyclaus never wishes to post recordings against the artists wishes, as we exist largely to positively support bands we admire, and to help connect fans with unique sound experiences.) In the end, Nick gave me license to decide if the recordings were engrossing enough and admitted that it was a really fun show. As a result I chose two live cuts that really transmitted the feeling of the night, and left in some banter which was a crucial element to the band-audience connection which was obviously flowing in abundance that night.

Asses shook like crazy. Nearly all folks in attendance were moving and sweating. The band devilishly cut off the AC as they took stage to provoke that "Nellyish-it's getting hot in here vibe." !!! recognized that playing in a college town, after school lets out for the summer, leaves behind a special breed of "partier nerds" and served up their jams accordingly. All shapes, sizes, and sexes mixed it up as the band raged through a lengthy set. The music attracted a very diverse demographic to the Satellite Ballroom. Apparently, it is easily agreed that shaking your shit to the pulse of New York's finest and most talented touring dance machine is a well spent evening. In the end it was the hi-hat machine that connected all the dots.

!!! Website

!!! on Myspace

Maserati on Myspace

Super Exclusive Maserati/Ostinato Tour Photos from Spring '07

Photo by Chris Makarsky

Text and Recordings by Matthew Clark

“Retro” would be an appropriate word for describing Maryland three-piece Trans Am. “Post-modern” would be a more academic abstraction of their methodology. With countless young bands cherry-picking vintage sounds from ‘60s garage to classic rock to new wave, such adjectives might evoke a sour taste in the mouth and a skeptical role of the eyes. Trans Am, however, has seventeen years and eight full-length albums to separate themselves from any passing revival fad. While many new bands attempt to pass off lackluster music as something original and serious, Trans Am possesses a more friendly and honest relationship with their influences.

This positive connection exudes itself in the band’s carefree stage presence. At their Satellite Ballroom show on April 11th, drummer Sebastian Thomson donned a large metal chain around his neck as he pounded away, while keyboardist/guitarists Nathan Means and Philip Manley smiled and chugged out melodies. The band started off with “Conspiracy of the Gods,” a tune from their most recent album Sex Change, before Thomson threw down a massive drum solo that transitioned into vocoder-heavy “Futureworld” from the album of the same title.

With sometimes cheesy or clichéd riffs, Trans Am flirts with irony. Ultimately, though, veteran prowess proves that they are not joking around. Whether they are venturing into the territory of classic New Order or ‘70s prog, they move through time with a sense of appreciation rather than mockery.

Zombi, who took the stage before Trans Am, radiated a similar vibe, but with the throwback focused more at progressive wanderings. The Pittsburg-based group consists only of A.E. Paterra on drums and Steve Moore on bass and synths, but with the help of loops and Paterra’s amazing drumming, they put forth a very compelling sound. The results are spaced-out jams that bounce between Kraftwerk arpeggios, precise math rock rhythms and Philip Glass soundscapes.

The heart of Zombi’s music comes from the aural telepathy that is only possible with a two-piece. Paterra and Moore are matching gears in one well-oiled, kinetically charged music machine. With some underwhelming mainstream bands calling themselves progressive, it’s great to see a band like Zombi carrying on the meticulous, hardworking ethos that the original innovators of prog rock forged.

New York’s Psychic Paramount, who opened the show, stood out from the retro feel of the other two bands, but in an entirely good way. While they explore territory that is distant from the precise orchestration of Trans Am and Zombi, they still share the prog spirit. Instead of the programmed intricacy of the other two bands, Psychic Paramount embraces chaos and noise and sculpts the resulting decibels into jagged but beautiful terrain.

The three-band line-up of Trans Am, Zombi and Psychic Paramount was like a long thunderstorm in early summer. Though you sense having been through it before, the experience is fresh and comforting. You don’t mind sitting back and listening to the familiar sounds. You remain in place, but you are keenly aware of the atmosphere around you and of times past.

See Photographs from the Show and Other Shows from Contributor John Ruscher of Nailgun Media.

The recent Akron/Family show in Charlottesville, Virginia at the Satellite Ballroom, was a heartwarming and curious spectacle. It was a marathon set, cosmically infused, and chocked full o' "schizo-frenetic" delights. After local openers, The Great White Jenkins, delivered a sweet and contemplative set, the house music quickly changed over to vintage Michael Jackson classics form the Quincy Jones era. The Akron fellows bounced all around the club, setting up their gear and preparing to rock, while constantly dancing and laughing.

As they settled into performance mode, the mood shifted once again to a quiet mantra sung in four part harmony in the tradition of American roots music and spirituals. After droning on the chorus, "Love and Space" the band then turned the lone vocal mic they were all four singing into towards the audience, letting them carry on the song and sentiment. This was the first signal that their show was meant to be an experiment in group dynamics, and something to participate in rather than merely observe. Over the course of the next two hours, the moods and sounds that sprang forth from the stage shifted often and spontaneously. Different songs carried grooves reminiscent of the myriad elements of musical lore. The band conjured heavy riffs, brought loud ambient drones, crooned sensitive acoustic ballads, burst into moments of free jazz madness, and evoked thoughts of esteemed comrades such as Neil Young, Frank Zappa, CCR, and the Dead.

Akron/Family have a presence on stage which is very relaxed and enthusiastic. They talk nonsense about things such as "wylde tigers" and channel "dolphin energy". They improvise musically within songs, and within the flow of the entire event. The Akron approach is one that is completely devoid of any "control freak". The horn section of The Great White Jenkins was invited on stage on a few different occasions to amp up the overall sound and add more spontaneity into the mix. One such endeavor mutated into a floor stomping, hootin' and hollerin' gospel-esque jam with saxophone leads soaring above it all. It is hard to tell at times if things are meant to be comic or earnest, but surely the band doesn't waste too much time worrying about external perceptions and just carries on, obviously having immense amounts of fun. The show climaxed with dozens of folks on stage, full horn section, folks playing the drums, shakers, noise making stuffed animals, recorders and whistles, and singing while the band was dancing through the crowd and ad-libbing some crazy shit, yelling about this and that. It was a very soul-elevating experience.

The Akron/Family is Seth Olinsky (various instruments, vocals), Miles Seaton (various instruments, vocals), Dana Janssen (various instruments, vocals), Ryan Vanderhoof (various instruments, vocals). They released their third album "Meek Warrior" last year on M. Gira's Young God Records and have been touring semi-constantly for years.

Check the band's internet presence here and here for tour dates, to hear songs and buy records.

Peace!

Matthew Clark March 2007

art by nico and photo by konstantin sergeyev

The Casa de Chihuahua is an upscale bed and breakfast in Chihuahua Mexico. Ironically, it's also the name of the New York City / Nelson County, Virginia "street-grass" kingpins and queen. The band plays bluegrass music soaked in a punk aesthetic, and affected by urban surroundings. "The Chihuahuas" as we affectionately call them, conjure an earnest and cohesive sound from divergent places, the squats of New York and the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. Their live shows have become legendary whether it be as busking or on a stage. They have a certain captivating charisma and charm that won't allow folks to ignore them.

The Chihuahuas are now heading out on tour, in Monkeyclaus' Dirty Bird, a 1964 diesel full size bus. The Dirty Bird was the noble chariot of Virginia's Hackensaw Boys for many years and many thousands of miles, and has been passed along to Monkeyclaus and then lent out to the Casa de Chihuahua for their current adventure. A whole novel could be written about the saga of this bus alone, which after years of inactivity has been brought back to life by band manager "Ray Ray" and family / friend "Bones". The tour will take them from Brooklyn, through Virginia, and to points south until they reach the SXSW festival and leave their mark. Highlight's of the tour will include a gig at legendary dive-bar, the Abbey, in New Orleans (where the booze supposedly never stopped flowing throughout the whole Katrina fiasco) and a huge gig with close friends Leftover Crack in South Carolina, and of course the SXSW madness.

Check out a video Ray Ray made of the Chihuahua's kicking up dirt behind the studio.

The reason, I proclaim the Chihuahuas to be considered dangerous, is that they are a wild wrecking crew, who tear through cases of PBR like rabid dogs. They proclaim this to be their "Virginia Jihad" tour, a name appropriated from close friend and album collaborator Bobby St. Ours. There is danger also in their intensity and lack of pretension. Watch out SXSW. Music this passionate and real can hardly be contained. The Chihuahua's could really give a sh*t about the record business and corporate America itself who they proclaim to be a "reckless cunt." Whoa! Did i mention that they are also really sweet and endearing. You can't write tunes this sweet without a heart of gold.

In their own words the band explains themselves thusly, "Casa De Chihuahua was born in a heat lightning filled blizzard on 2/11/06 at Rockstarbar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The Blownout Boot Boys were supposed to play but Piggy got lost on the L train and Nico showed up out of nowwhere and joined the band. The name had to change cuz she's not a boy at all. Didn't had boots neither and they were'nt blown out. The band plays lots of quote unquote "gigs" and makes persons dance. They sing about trains and apocolypses or apocolypsi or whatever and enjoy taking long walks on the beach, going to the theatre, and f*cking."

The band includes, Nico Ramirez: washboard and vocals, Morgan O'Kane: banjo and vocals, Raphael Wintersberger: acccordian, dobro and vocals, Piggy: washtub bass, howls, and percussion, Zack Orion: vocals, guitar, harmonica, suitcase and tambourine and Bobby St. Ours lent his talents to the record on fiddle and vocals. For the current tour and beyond, the band is now joined by Jay Ridgley on drums for a fuller sound. Their album is called "Amat Victoria Curam" which translates to "victory favors those who take pains". They recorded at Monkeyclaus this past autumn. In the words of Nico, "We spent 4 days in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, located in beautiful Nelson County, Virginia...Many of us would say that the days spent there were amongst the best in our lives; the ones who say otherwise are probably lying for various reasons. What can be agreed upon is that we poured our souls into this one." Yet, another recording that has made the monkey's breast swell with pride.

TOURDATES

March 2nd @ Trash Bar in Brooklyn

March 3rd @ Starr Hill in Charlottesville, VA w/ Holy Bear and Accordion Death Squad

March 5th @ Gourmet Perk's in Asheville, NC

March 6th @ Ground Zero in Spartansburg, SC w/ Leftover Crack and Citizen Fish

March 9th @ The Abbey in New Orleans, LA

March 10th @ Dragon's Den in New Orleans, LA

March 16th @ SXSW Australian Cattle God Records Showcase in Austin, TX

March 17th @ SXSW TBA

March 31st @Starr Hill with Jim Waive and the Hackensaw Boys!

more dates coming soon....

Brooklyn's Issue Project Room played host to a month long celebration of adventurous rock and improv, throughout January called "The Independents" festival. The space itself is incredibly unique. Two round structures, which in a previous life were oil silos, stand like sentinels in a compound, next to the Gowanus Canal. The spot is reminiscent of some art-vortex in the Netherlands. The mystique of the premises is furthered by a mysterious covered boat which made me think of Miami Vice, and a stand of young trees which made me think of Scandinavia. The performance space is located on the second story, up an exterior metal staircase. The round room had dozens of far-out speakers hung from the ceiling like houseplants. The capacity was limited to around a hundred folks at most, and the audience was often asked to sit on the floor.

Presented in cooperation with Tennessee-based Front Porch Productions, the festival featured showcases by Ecstatic Peace, Table of the Elements, Locust, Tompkins Square, XI, Pogus, and Family Vineyard. I was lucky to catch an evening during the final weekend which consisted of Neptune, Lichens with Alan Licht, and the Rhys Chatham Guitar Trio, presented by The Table of the Elements.

Unfortunately, I missed Neptune in this space but I was lucky enough to see them twice in 2006 in two other, very unique venues. The most memorable was in a 200 year old stone chapel at the University of Virginia on April 13th 2006. I can imagine how bad-ass their set was at Issue Project Room. Neptune has been around for over ten years, making their own electronics, homemade drums, and hand-welded Road Warrior-esque guitars. Now a trio, after many incarnations, Neptune has really hit their stride and continues to seem more inspired each time they play. I have included a recording of Neptune at the chapel on this page for listening pleasure.

The collaboration of Chicago based Lichens aka Robert Lowe (of the 90 Day Men) and minimalist guitar composer Alan Licht was striking and enveloping. Rob's voice was heavily processed and soaring above Licht's drone and ambiance. Sometimes reaching for falsetto registers, Lowe used his voice in a way seldom seen or heard, as he himself became a complimentary human drone. The audience sat rapt and attentive throughout the subtle shifts of the piece.

The Rhys Chatham's Guitar Trio All Stars featured Rhys Chatham with Ernest Brooks III (Modern Lovers), David Daniell (Jonathan Kane's February, San Agustin), Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth, Free Kitten), Jonathan Kane (La Monte Young, Jonathan Kane's February), Alan Licht (La Monte Young, Jim O'Rourke), Robert Longo (famed visual artist, feature-film director), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Colin Langenus (USA Is a Monster), Byron Westbrook (Rhys Chatham's Essentialist) and Adam Wills (Rhys Chatham's Essentialist, Jonathan Kane's February). They performed the same piece twice, once with a hi-hat dominated rhythm, and a second time with more expanded drumming and layers of stunning black and white slide projections provided by Robert Longo. A building, overlapped with a shadow of a running man, a woman and her child, horses led thru a field, a plane and a lighthouse, light streaming down from the heavens, all stacked with thoughtful aplomb were perfect accompaniments for the piece. These images were from his 1979 series, Pictures for Music.

Each time the movement began with Rhys droning on a chord then one by one working from the outer edge of their semi-circular configuration, bringing folks in with a nod from side to side in stereo until eventually all eleven folks were droning the same chord in rhythmic variations. Accents and meters created phasing, discord, playful counter-rhythms, syncopations, and cacophony and eventually a very unified blissful wave of sound. The event had the feel of something unique and provocative, and I felt honored to be there.

folks of the Rhys Chatham Trio performance...note Mr. Lee Ranaldo's arm, far right, of course

Drone Army

Matthew Clark February 2007

The show began with Insect Factory, a drone outfit from D.C., featuring members of the psyche collective Kohoutek joined for this show by prolific out-rocker Mike Tamburo. Their command over the atmosphere was immediate and unrelenting. It was a fruitful, beautifully haunting drone, accented by an array of bells and cymbals. The static hum was varied with occasional abstract guitar leads as a slow flux unfurled.

Alexander Stimmel, aka Apothecary Hymns was up next. Alex taps into the more lyrical elements of the psychedelic legacy. His recorded works, for Locust Records, are much more epic (with full band and complex instrumentations) than his solo set, but no message was lost as Apothecary Hymns is all about story-telling. The intimate presentation of these songs worked well and continued to enchant the audience who was barely half-way through this epic evening.

Label mates Function, were up next. (See previous feature for details and interview with Function's Matt Nicholson.) They were completely captivating.

The final act of the night, Arbouretum, capped the night off with apt ceremony. Their sound was thick, heavy, dark, ominous, folky, a bit trippy, and very authentic. I thought once, during the set about the Book of Revelation. Recently alligned with the Thrill Jockey label, Arbouretum is a Baltimore, Maryland super-group. David Heumann, is the primary vocalist and "frontman". He is also in the band Human Bell and has worked with the Anomoanon and Bonnie "Prince" Billy in past. All members of this band are vastly talented. We found out late night after the venue closed that guitarist Walker Teret is a complete shredder on the banjo and picks and sings mountain music with uncanny grace and beauty.

As a confirmed "musiholic", or addict to live and recorded music, I can say without doubt that this quadruple bill was one of the best fixes I've received in quite a long while.

Matthew R. Clark January 2007