Slovenly - Thinking of Empire

Hey kids!
Welcome to the first installment of Sounds From The Cave. Each week I will dig up a long-forgotten album from my record collection and attempt to rescue it from obscurity. Now, I've gone the extra mile and posted song clips from these records. I say "extra mile" because I had to convert them to mp3's, upload them to on online storage site, and then stream them to this blog. It's tedious work, but I think you (and the records) deserve it; after all, it's probably the only way these hidden gems will ever get heard. So without further ado, let's get started with this week's selection: Slovenly!
Slovenly were one of the great, underappreciated bands of the 80's. Despite being on the same label (SST Records) as higher-profile acts like Husker Du, Black Flag, and the Minutemen, they never gained much of a following and have since remained a mere footnote in the history of underground rock. Part of the problem can be attributed to a phenomenon I like to call Annoying Singer Syndrome (ASS). This occurs when an otherwise decent band is hampered by a singer who irritates the living crap out of you, something that fans of Modest Mouse and Joanna Newsom are all too familiar with. Sometimes ASS can totally ruin one's listening experience; in other instances, the band is so good that the singing doesn't really matter, as was the case with Slovenly. Their singer's melodramatic vocals and pretentious lyrics were only a minor distraction from the otherwise amazing music. And music really was the focus of this band, particularly the interplay between the musicians. The two guitars, bass, and drums locked together in a way that formed tight patterns and grooves. The result was music that was full of tension yet still melodic and enjoyable. Thinking of Empire, from 1986, was their best album in my opinion; although it was never released on CD, the vinyl worth hunting down if you have the patience. It's solid proof that something that sounds like ASS can actually be pretty darn good. Here's a song from it:

Caveman Rock

Happy New Year! I hope all three of you had a wonderful holiday season. As you can tell, I treated myself to an extended break from blogging, and now I feel re-energized and ready to get back into the swing of things. This year I am introducing a new column: Sounds From The Cave. Let me explain.

Recently, I decided to create a personal space in the basement of my house where I could indulge in all of my manly obsessions. Many people call this modern phenomenon a "man cave," and I will refer to it as such from now on. But whereas most guys use their man caves to watch sports, play video games, and drink beer, I will be using mine to listen to records. I have a large collection of indie rock LP's from the 80's and 90's, all of which have been neglected for several years. Well, I just dusted off my turntable and now I'm ready to rock. The side-effect of this is that I will be writing about various albums in my collection, and each post will focus on one record that I consider to be noteworthy in some way. If this sounds like an idea I ripped off from Mad City or Quest For Manuka...well, it is. The difference is that each album I discuss will be out of print. What's the point of this, you ask? Well, I realized that some of my favorite albums have been virtually forgotten in this modern age of mp3's and iTunes. And that's a shame. These records are like hidden treasures, or as my wife cleverly called them, "Concords in the rough". My goal is to give these albums the credit they are due. Any idiot can go over to Pitchfork.com and learn about all the cool, new bands out there. But today's music listeners are being deprived of hearing some of the great, lost sounds from the pre-internet days of indie rock. Sure, you won't be able to find these albums on Amazon.com, but if you're motivated enough you can track them down in your local used record store. Stay tuned, dear readers, your ears are in for a treat!

Smoke It

Holy crap! Has it really been almost a month since I last wrote? Even after I said I was going to blog like once a week or some such nonsense? I have no excuse- I've been home from work for the past few weeks- so all I can say is, well, I got lazy. Okay, now we can get down to business. And this week's business is cheese. That's right, you've waited nearly a month to read a blog post about cheese. But there is a reason why this is important. I spent previous blog posts raving about Concord grapes, pastrami, and homemade bread- each of them a supreme example of three of the four major food groups, covered in detail by yours truly. That leaves one food group for me to tackle: the cheese group.

I'm sure you've all heard of buffalo mozzarella. It's one of the classic cheeses of Italy. Have you ever wondered how it's made? Like, are the Italians milking buffalos to make cheese? Can you even imagine anything more ridiculous? I'm not going to explain the process (that's what Wikipedia is for), but I am going to say that there is no longer any reason to eat it. That's because of something called smoked mozzarella. Smoked mozzarella is like buffalo mozzarella except that it's about ten times as delicious. My current obsession is Cucina Fresca smoked mozzarella ravioli. This is the best store-bought ravioli I have ever tasted. It hits all of the umami-specific taste buds on my tongue, and it hits them hard. You can put a jar of the worst pasta sauce on it and it will still taste fantastic. It must be noted, however, that I have tried other brands of smoked mozzarella that were nowhere near as good. So you have to be careful. But once you find the good stuff, there's no going back to the buffalo.

Daddy Daycare

Hello Friends,

Today was the first day of my six week long paternity leave. Yes, one of the benefits of having a baby (besides, of course, the baby itself) is taking a bunch of time off work. The last time I had that much time off at once was before I started my job- 13 years ago! I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with my family during this extended break, as well as doing a little traveling to see relatives during the holiday season. But if you think I'll be sleeping in 'til noon, playing video games, drinking beer, and watching Oprah...well, guess again. I've got a baby to take care of, folks. And it just so happens that Mrs. Concord went back to work today, so it was just me and the baby. This wouldn't normally be a difficult situation, except that Baby C does not like bottle-feeding. If she doesn't get the breast, she gets teary-eyed, starts screaming, and flails her arms around (come to think of it, I do the exact same thing). Given these circumstances, the day went by better than expected. Yes, Baby C did get upset, but milk was ingested, wills were broken, and progress was made. I only have two more days to get through (Mrs. C is quitting her job to spend more time with the baby), and then I'll finally be able to kick back and relax. Oprah, here I come!

I ♥ Gluten

Dear readers,

Is there anything more satisfying than a warm, freshly baked loaf of bread? I mean, besides a giant bowl of Concord grapes? I don't think so. As many of you know, I am obsessed with bread. It is by far my favorite of the four food groups. And I feel lucky that we as Americans are currently living in a golden age of bread. Every city has a bakery that bakes high-quality loaves and sells them at grocery stores all over town. But it was not always like this. When I was a kid the grocery stores stocked only pre-packaged sliced bread, and it was pretty mediocre stuff. But sometime during the past two decades European-style artisan bread became more common. Although it wasn't sliced, it had a much crispier crust and heartier flavor, a welcome change from the bland, mushy bread of my youth. It was, quite literally, the best thing since sliced bread. Nowadays, there is no excuse for not enjoying a delicious, crusty loaf. And yet, this wondrous thing has recently gotten a lot of bad press, and for no good reason. Several years ago, the Atkins diet craze swept the nation, and suddenly anything with a carbohydrate in it (e.g., bread) was the enemy. Of course, it was just another fad diet that came and went, but some of the stigma remained. Additionally, there has been a recent movement in some food circles towards gluten-free products, and this has once again has given bread a bad name. Now, I have nothing but sympathy for people with celiac disease, but that condition is pretty rare and doesn't justify the increasing popularity of gluten-free products. There's no reason for the vast majority of Americans to deny themselves the pleasure of yummy, gluten-packed bread.

Probably the best way to enjoy bread is to make it from scratch in your own home, which is exactly what I did last weekend. The house smelled wonderful while it was baking, and the bread was amazingly fresh, warm, and tasty. And just tonight, Mrs. Concord baked two loaves of brioche (pictured above), and it was even more incredible. This sort of thing is time-consuming, however, and it's not something that most people have time to do on a regular basis. If you're not up for baking your own bread, then you can still buy a nice, freshly baked loaf for a few bucks at your nearest grocer. And if that's not available, you can always settle for this: the Alexia Garlic Baguette. This is, in my opinion, the best frozen garlic bread (or frozen anything) of all-time. It is so good that I could eat a whole one in one sitting, which is something I've actually done. You see, there are so many ways to enjoy bread, and I've just scratched the surface. Gluten lovers of the world, rejoice!

Goin' Down South

Dear friends,

People often ask me what kind of music gets played around the Concord household. The answer is not as simple as you may think. While much of what we listen to falls squarely within the category of indie rock, we do like to mix it up every now and then. You know, a little Raffi here, a little Barney the Dinosaur there (just kidding- Baby Concord hasn't learned how to control the stereo yet). Lately we've been listening to a bunch of CDs from the fine folks at Oxford American. This is a literary magazine that focuses on writers from the South, and every December they put out a music issue that includes a compilation CD. Now, I'm not going to pretend that I have any interest in Southern literature (in fact, I never actually read the magazine), but that CD is a must-have. Each year the writers and editors put together a wide-ranging selection of songs from musicians with Southern roots, spanning several decades and genres of music. As you would expect, there's a lot of old country, blues, and rock & roll that fills the disc, but the choices are never obvious and usually interesting in one way or another. It's like a really good mixtape made by someone with an amazingly eclectic record collection. And they always manage to throw in a few truly oddball songs- Van Dyke Parks' weirdly catchy "G-Man Hoover", for example, or a cheesy 70's-era tune by Muhammad Ali. Mostly, though, it's a fascinating trip through the roots of American music, as represented by some of its lesser-known artists. A new one comes out next month, so take Uncle Concord's advice and pick up a copy at your local newsstand- you'll be glad you did.

Lil' Lillian

Hello friends,

I am thrilled to announce the birth of my new niece, Lillian! She was born yesterday morning to my sister Christine and her husband Jonathan. Everyone in my family has been overjoyed with the news. And it's cool that my own baby now has a cousin, and I am now officially an uncle. We visit my sister pretty often, so it'll be great to see the two girls grow up together. Say hello to the next generation of Americans: Generation C (for Concord, of course)!