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photo & text by nacrowe
throughout the LAYNE STALEY era of ALICE IN CHAINS's career there was a cycle of releases whereby after a studio album there would be a stopgap EP before the next major release. this was initiated by SAP (COLUMBIA, 1992) before the release of DIRT (COLUMBIA, 1992) and was mirrored by JAR OF FLIES (COLUMBIA, 1994) before the release of ALICE IN CHAINS (COLUMBIA, 1995).
SAP is often overlooked in the stunning catalogue of ALICE IN CHAINS releases during both phases of the band, but its importance cannot be overlooked. it basically established their ability to have CREATIVE FREEDOM, which when looking at the work of their peers during this period you soon realize that not everyone was successful transforming or evolving their sound (like METALLICA). with this DOWNCAST and DOWN-TEMPO EP release full of acoustic dirges that had little to do with the energetic punchiness of their debut, ALICE IN CHAINS made their fans aware of their range and their FEARLESNESS in pursuing whatever sounds caught their ear. SAP effectively established the parameters of what the band could pull on record. the title came from a dream that drummer SEAN KINNEY had during recording, which took place during a session for the song "WOULD?" for an upcoming soundtrack to the CAMERON CROWE film SINGLES (WARNER BROS, 1992). the band essentially having the studio fit the bill for several extra songs being demoed during that same session. standout tracks include "GOT ME WRONG" and "BROTHER" but as is the case with their entire discography, there is no bad track that can be found. guest vocals throughout are provided by fellow SEATTLE luminaries CHRIS CORNELL (SOUNDGARDEN), MARK ARM (MUDHONEY) and ANN WILSON (HEART). my favorite song off the EP has long been "AM I INSIDE" which is beyond haunting and really showcases the EMOTIONAL RESONANCE and POWER of STALEY's voice, as well as his own sense of DESPERATE ISOLATION. the songs still affects me every time i hear it. if you are unfamiliar with the SAP EP, it is well worth discovering and checking out. just dont expect walls of distortion a la FACELIFT, DIRT or ALICE IN CHAINS. it is its own animal. 
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sometimes you watch and listen to music from other cultures and quickly realize you dont know the half of it. such is the case with CHILE's MON LAFERTE whose music has deft pop sensibilities infused with subtle textures and rhythms from traditional LATIN fare like CUMBIA, SALSA and BOLERO.
but such seems to be a smokescreen for her fierce REVOLUTIONARY POLITICS and bold personal stances, famously culminating in her going topless at the 2019 LATIN GRAMMYS with the message "en Chile torturan violan y matan" written across her chest. this translates to "in Chile, they torture, rape and kill." holy shit indeed. this was an anti-government message in support of protests against SOCIAL INEQUALITY and in support of minimum/LIVING WAGE guarantees. these protests were controversial at the time since they resulted in the burning of subway stations. again, you listen to music by an artist, especially one from another culture, and you learn that you in fact no very little about the original context. at the very least MON LAFERTE is an artist worthy of further investigation and you should definitely check out her music. 
parodies by nacrowe
yes i went there
check out HERE this recent streaming video episode of DEER GOD RADIO celebrating the music of controversial HIP HOP rapper / producer / entrepreneur / contrarian KANYE WEST! past episodes of DEER GOD RADIO are available here at the DEER GOD website as well as in the MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC archives. and if you haven't done so already get the FREE PHONE APP for IOS/ANDROID and enjoy listening to MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC 24/7 at your convenience! 
photo & text by nacrowe
i have this distinct memory of hearing the FOO FIGHTERS's track "THIS IS A CALL" coming from my parents bedroom alarm clock during the summer of 1995. i was 11 and we were still living in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA at the time. there was a kinetic energy and a contagious passion to that song that caught my ear and made an immediate impact. it just sounded like fun. at the time i had no idea that this band was fronted by the drummer from all those NIRVANA records i adored. so in a sense i heard the FOO FIGHTERS eponymous debut album FOO FIGHTERS (ROSWELL, 1995) from a fairly innocent standpoint. so naive was i that for several months i thought that the name of the band was FOOD FIGHTERS.
and for the record: i still think FOOD FIGHTERS is a great name. just saying. famously the FOO FIGHTERS began as a quick studio project for DAVE GROHL to keep his my mind on something productive months after the shocking and tragic demise of bandmate KURT COBAIN and the end of NIRVANA. there was no plan, just a quick week of recording sessions with his friend BARRETT JONES at a local SEATTLE recording studio (ROBERT LANG STUDIOS) a block away from his house with songs written before and after GROHL's time in NIRVANA. even the name of the project was made plural to disguise the fact that this wasnt a group, but in fact GROHL on every instrument. the project only became a focus after GROHL declined an offer to join TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS, and made a small series of FOO FIGHTERS tapes that he passed around to close friends and industry colleagues. this led to a major label distribution agreement which laid the foundation for the ongoing ALTERNATIVE ROCK juggernaut that is the modern-day FOO FIGHTERS. actually the project, unlike NIRVANA, had a steady build up to where they are now over a nearly 30 year career playing mostly straight-ahead ROCK N ROLL. probably the most astute move GROHL ever made was starting ROSWELL RECORDS and owning his own recordings. he is part of a short list of notable recording artists (METALLICA, U2, RIHANNA, JACK WHITE, JAY-Z, etc.) that own their own material. it has allowed him the freedom to make his art minus the industry bullshit most have to consider when recording an album. its interesting to think of whether or not those pressures would have served COBAIN well if he had equal control over his catalogue. obviously like much concerning him, it is impossible to say. standout tracks on FOO FIGHTERS include the aforementioned "THIS IS A CALL" as well as "ALONE + EASY TARGET," "BIG ME," "I'LL STICK AROUND," "FLOATY" and my personal favorite, "FOR ALL THE COWS." sonically and compositionally, these songs are all anthemic and radiate a light-hearted optimism that is pretty much indistinguishable from the public persona of GROHL. needless to say, this tone is in sharp contrast to that of NIRVANA, which always seemed psychologically and emotionally complex and heavy. this debut is indebted to bands like THE MELVINS and BIG BLACK in terms of its sonic palette, but in essence these songs serve as a popular bridge to a deeper catalogue of 1980s INDIE ROCK. that was my experience at least. getting into NIRVANA and later FOO FIGHTERS begot interest in PIXIES, HUSKER DU, THE REPLACEMENTS, DINOSAUR JR, SONIC YOUTH and so on. this is not the best FOO FIGHTERS record, the follow-up THE COLOUR AND THE SHAPE (ROSWELL, 1997) is in my opinion, but it is a great transitional record by an iconic musician at a consequential crossroads in his career. it is pretty incredible what GROHL was able to accomplish the and since. definitely worth checking out. 
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the mythical figure of LEE "SCRATCH" PERRY for me was always this seemingly inscrutable, opaque persona where in interviews he would constantly speak in terms of PROPHECY and claims of DIVINE PROVIDENCE that got in the way of me deciphering a route of connection and understanding to a producer that created some of the most compelling music of the 20th century.
as the documentary THE UPSETTER: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF LEE SCRATCH PERRY (PERMANENT MARKS, 2008) illustrates, he is largely responsible for the transition of SKA into REGGAE and was instrumental in the careers of many of JAMAICA's most famous cultural exports, including BOB MARLEY. to some extent he took a back seat in terms of his public persona, preferring to be a behind-the-scenes figure who controlled the boards and the contracts. in the documentary he speaks of MARLEY as "the king" and himself as "the prophet," which is as apt an analogue to the relationship between artist and producer that ive ever come across. what i found particularly interesting was how his relationship with REGGAE and the community around it broke down. essentially he was being harassed by the police and the local community on a daily occurrence for money at the legendary home studio, the BLACK ARK, that he worked out of. being of generous heart, his home was largely open to the public given his optimistic outlook on people's motives given his RASTAFARIAN beliefs. this was a mistake and he lost everything, his studio, his wife and his connection to a community. the unhinged and impenetrable public persona he carried with him largely until his passing was his guard against intimacy in a sense. if people thought of him as a madman and left him alone, then that is what he wished to be. its a pretty sad story given that one of the celebrated touchstone talents the elevated JAMAICAN music to a worldwide audience saw such notoriety and fame as something to be feared within the context of his local community. at the time before he burned the BLACK ARK and was being extorted by the police, he had to hire soldiers to provide him security. he was a literal prisoner. there is a moment in this documentary when an unnamed off-camera interviewer in the early 1980s asks him he felt about the passing of his former collaborator MARLEY and his response was that now he was free. he was free from being extorted by his entourage and his fame. he was free from the community that sprang up around his music and depended on him for sustenance and work. its a pretty heart-wrenching sad state of affairs that fame equals being a target for extortion by both familial and power structures in JAMAICA, but such is the case. it makes total sense to me how FELA KUTI in NIGERIA built a literal armed compound (KALAKUTA REPUBLIC) in LAGOS to guard against outsiders and the police while he was working in his home recording studio inside. same sad state of affairs. watching this film definitely helped me better understand the history of an enigmatic cultural figure whose music ive long cherished. i dont think it is essential to understand one's biography to appreciate their music, but with the case of LEE "SCRATCH" PERRY and his idiosyncratic public persona i think it doesnt hurt. it was seemingly a deliberate smokescreen to ensure his personal safety and to push away those that sought to exploit him. THE UPSETTER: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF LEE SCRATCH PERRY is worth investigating for anyone interested in REGGAE and the history of JAMAICAN music. highly recommended. 
photo & text by nacrowe
there is so much to be impressed by with the life and career trajectory of legendary screenwriter / director BILLY WILDER whose singular filmography includes the likes of SOME LIKE IT HOT (UNITED ARTISTS, 1959), DOUBLE INDEMNITY (PARAMOUNT, 1944), THE APARTMENT (UNITED ARTISTS, 1960), STALAG 17 (PARAMOUNT, 1953), SABRINA (PARAMOUNT, 1954), ACE IN THE HOLE (PARAMOUNT, 1951), THE LOST WEEKEND (PARAMOUNT, 1945), THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH (20TH CENTURY FOX, 1955) and SUNSET BOULEVARD (PARAMOUNT, 1950). towering of his achievements in my opinion was his preternatural capacity as an GERMAN-speaking AUSTRIAN emigre to pick up on the cultural nuances and subtle inflections of the AMERICAN DIALECT and seamlessly spit them back out at us, all within a decade of arriving on stateside shores in the early 1930s.
in his definitive biography ON SUNSET BOULEVARD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BILLY WILDER (HYPERION, 1998), film scholar ED SIKOV very much digs into the creative and linguistic marvel that was WILDER, especially with his early run of hard-nosed films that take together made a sober, unblinking assessment of AMERICAN culture and society in the post-WWII period. it really is quite the achievement considering he was essentially passing judgement on his new home when he was still very much an OUTSIDER. and it is that unique mix of unmatched talent (of which he put to use beforehand when collaborating with the likes of GERMAN directors ERNST LUBITSCH and ROBERT WIENE) which allowed him write and direct with authority, as well as his status as an IMMIGRANT that makes his films so unique. he is in essence able to assess our culture so accurately in part because of his OUTSIDER status. i read ON SUNSET BOULEVARD and several other books on WILDER (and FILM NOIR in general) back in my undergraduate years as part of a senior thesis on his early cycle of noir films which included DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE LOST WEEKEND, SUNSET BOULEVARD and ACE IN THE HOLE. in my opinion, ACE IN THE HOLE is his masterpiece as it caustically and unflinchingly calls out a then-nascent media culture that sought to exploit human suffering by creating media events that would garner media exposure and thus profits. it is a prescient film that is beyond relevant to today and has not lost its edge in the last 70s years. it was also a commercial flop and the last film he made with any sort of imbedded conceit or claim about AMERICAN culture and society writ large. it was the last film he made that had any real stakes. as someone who after completing this undergrad project went on to teach overseas for several years, experiencing cultures as an outsider, it was the example of WILDER that i largely took to heart. i believe that when AMERICANS move overseas they feel an understandable need to impart judgement on their new unfamiliar surroundings. my thought was always to gather as much information as possible and engage with the local community. only after gaining their trust and understanding would i ever voice an opinion on states of affairs. i choose to believe that WILDER did not assimilate like he did without a genuine sense of innate curiosity and wonder about his new home. its very much an expanding of one's consciousness as anything else. the example of WILDER showed that such a seamless ASSIMILATION could be done and at the very least, my experience as a newcomer is valid and gives me a unique PERSPECTIVE. not the only perspective, but a unique one. 
photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
i honestly couldnt tell you why i watch the LIFE UNCONTAINED channel on YOUTUBE, but it has been a consistent ritual of mine watching their weekly uploads for the past year or so. and its funny, because i honestly dont remember how i came upon this channel, and i am certainly not a fan of cable television home design/decor/remodeling shows in the slightest or the OFF-GRID LIVING movement that has become fashionable with millennials (much like VAN LIFE) over the past decade seeking a debt-free existence.
that being said, i think what LIFE UNCONTAINED offers at its core is less about the nuts and bolts of building a home from scratch, and more about the art of LISTENING and SELF-REFLECTION. the channel follows a FLORIDA young married couple moving to TEXAS and building a home (and a family) on a plot of land with two shipping containers and what strikes me is not their gumption and RESOURCEFULNESS (which is impressive), but their ability to COMMUNICATE with each other through obstacles and (most importantly) LAUGH at themselves and their mistakes. i cannot stress how endearing it is that they feel that level of comfort with themselves (and by extension their audience) to put themselves out their like that when they mis-measure a wall panel installation or realize they need to reinstall a toilet for the up-teenth time. there is so much out there in our culture at the moment that finds us nipping at each other and striking one another down. i just find it interesting that an online channel, albeit extremely well-edited, about SELF-RELIANCE and COMMUNITY feels so REFRESHING and even novel. makes me think that there is potential in all of us to listen and learn a little bit more before judging one another. or at least laugh at our own shortfalls and misgivings beforehand. again, LIFE UNCONTAINED is an unexpected pleasure and i wish them nothing but the best as MACKENZIE and SPENCER continue to grow their family. 
photo & text by nacrowe
i know it is beyond lazy and cliche to view everything STONE TEMPLE PILOTS-related through the prism of SCOTT WEILAND and his addictions, but in retrospect it is nearly impossible not to see their debut album CORE (ATLANTIC, 1992) as a testament to what the band was capable of with their wildly gifted frontman at his most determined and sober. before that tour with THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS that led to WEILAND's downfall. oh and what a debut it was.
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS always had great singles, but their real knack was for fusing together disparate elements of CLASSIC ROCK, PYSCHEDELIA, METAL and POWER POP into a potent mix that arguably none of their ALTERNATIVE ROCK contemporaries could pull, nor wished to. while singles like "PLUSH," "SEX TYPE THING" and "CREEP" where fixtures of my SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA youth listening to KROQ 106.7 FM our of LOS ANGELES, the songs that stuck with me where the more experimental and dirge-y numbers like "WICKED GARDEN," "WHERE THE RIVER GOES," "PIECE OF PIE" and especially "SIN." in my estimation, there is no weak moment on this debut. i think with later records the band branched out a bit with their songwriting chops by conceiving of songs with ever more disparate textures, tempos and song structures, but that is no knock on the debut. its kind of like knocking the early BEATLES albums for being more derivative than than THE WHITE ALBUM (APPLE, 1968). my memories of this album are related to a trip my family took in the mid 1990s to SPAIN where i was able to get a copy of this record an EL CORTE INGLES. so my teenage impressions of this record are filled with backseat visions of the SPANISH countryside through towns like AVILA, SEGOVIA, CORDOBA and SALAMANCA. in era of great ALTERNATIVE ROCK frontman like LAYNE STALEY, CHRIS CORNELL, EDDIE VEDDER and KURT COBAIN, i'd put SCOTT WEILAND right up there. like all those aforementioned frontman (aside from VEDDER), its still tragic that their collective output was hampered by personal issues related to ADDICTION and MENTAL ILLNESS. i think empathy is in order and i for one am grateful for the gifts they gave the world. rest in peace SCOTT. 
photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
METAL by its vary nature is a conservative musical genre with a limited palette of sounds and textures regarded as kosher by a staunchly obdurate and increasingly niche audience. id argue there is actually a disincentive for innovation in the genre, which makes the concept and sound of SWITZERLAND's ZEAL & ARDOR that much more remarkable. they are in essence an unlikely blend of AFRICAN DIASPORA SPIRITUAL and call-and-response GOSPEL traditions with BLACK METAL.
and yet somehow it works beautifully. there is a depth of SOUL and authentic pain being channeled that dwarfs the childish operatics, lame fantasy narratives and masturbatory virtuosic stylings that have long plagued METAL for much of its history. ZEAL & ARDOR is a revolutionary band that sound like none i have come across before. cant wait for their new record next month. needless to say, they are most definitely worth checking out. 
parodies by nacrowe
check out HERE this recent streaming video episode of DEER GOD RADIO celebrating the music of BRITISH singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist PJ HARVEY!
past episodes of DEER GOD RADIO are available here at the DEER GOD website as well as in the MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC archives. and if you haven't done so already get the FREE PHONE APP for IOS/ANDROID and enjoy listening to MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC 24/7 at your convenience! 
photo & text by nacrowe
PUBLIC ENEMY is the ultimate HIP HOP group in my opinion. the only group that comes close is probably the WU-TANG CLAN. what makes them so innovative and revolutionary is the extent to which they are a self-drive, self-determining, self-contained unit.
at the core is the towering figure of CHUCK D, arguably the most polemical figure in HIP HOP history. i almost see him outside of the context of music and in the vein of great political writers like THOMAS PAINE, JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU, FREDERICK DOUGLASS, THOMAS JEFFERSON, HENRY DAVID THOREAU, BERTRAND RUSSELL, JOHN LOCKE, or ABRAHAM LINCOLN. he is the very blueprint for all conscious HIP HOP that followed including Q-TIP, TALIB KWELI, ICE CUBE, BLACK THOUGHT, COMMON and so forth. his gift is his ability to both methodically and viscerally convey an effective unadulterated viewpoint concerning the BLACK EXPERIENCE in AMERICA. the dude holds no punches on tracks like "911 IS A JOKE," "ANTI-NIGGER MACHINE," "WELCOME TO THE TERRORDOME" and most famously "FIGHT THE POWER" off their epochal release FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET (DEF JAM, 1990). the man is righteous and has done immeasurable good in galvanizing his fans to think for themselves and question the authority of AMERICAN political, cultural, economic and policing systems that are innately corrupt. he also has helped educate WHITE, suburban kids like myself without watering down the message. in my eyes he is a leader and a prophet, as the vision of AMERICA painted here feels more alive now than ever before 30 years after the release of FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET. part of the reason CHUCK D is so effective is the in-house production team THE BOMB SQUAD, which created a sonic palette of jaggedly juxtaposed samples, synths and beats that dont careen and soothe, but rather rip and slash their way through your senses. its an abrasive and infectious sonic aesthetic that synchronized with the political intent of the lyrical content perfectly. years later RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE would appear and take this sense of dynamics and translate it into a ROCK context to similarly great affect to antagonize and uplift listeners with a matching SOCIAL JUSTICE lyrical bent. the importance of THE BOMB SQUAD cannot be understated in the effectiveness of PUBLIC ENEMY's cultural standing. they effective laid the aural groundwork for CHUCK D to push his audience to new levels of consciousness. which brings me to FLAVOR FLAV. since PUBLIC ENEMY is so intense and so politcally charged, it would be very easy for them to come off as joyless nad stubbornly monotonous in tone. what FLAV brought to the table was a sense of comic relief without diluting the intent and message itself. it is a fine line he walks as some have even singled him out as an example of modern-day minstrelsy. i disagree categorically. his gift to the group is a sense of emotional levity, allowing for their to be a moment of contrast before the listener dives right back into the thick of causticly righteous rhymes about society's ills and the corporate structures that serve to undermine us as individuals. without him, the message would not be as effective. he is not a distraction in this sense, he is the glue that keeps the music engaging and effective in its ability to jolt us from our waking sleep. FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET is an iconic record by an iconic group that hasnt aged or become irrelevant in the least. in fact it is a testament and a siren to today's ascending technocratic hellscape run by corporate structures that aid and abet WHITE NATIONALIST agendas. dont believe me? watch the news. welcome to the terrordome, indeed. 
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rapper M.I.A. is a revolutionary figure. i should just get that out of the way from the get-go.
she's revolutionary because of her background as a first-generation immigrant daughter of a founder of the TAMIL TIGERS (an ethnic SRI LANKAN separatist group in open conflict with the corrupt national government). she's revolutionary because she is outspoken about her experience as an immigrant, a status that is universally derided, discarded and intentionally misunderstood by first-world inhabitants. she's revolutionary because she is unafraid to speak her truth. and i wont lie, her flipping off the camera at the SUPER BOWL was probably the greatest thing ever on such a telecast (right up there with PRINCE's rainy performance). what made her documentary MANTANGI MAYA M.I.A. (CINEREACH, 2018) so compelling is how you see this cultural behemoth finding her identity through 22 years of archival footage shot by MATHANGI ARULPRASAM herself. most interesting is her initial trek to SRI LANKA as an adult, seeking to learn about a struggle she was separated from and the disconnection she felt. as a THIRD CULTURE KID myself growing up in NIGERIA and KUWAIT, i can relate to being stuck between cultures and continents. my whole life i felt disconnected from AMERICAN life which has only been exacerbated during the TRUMP era. i can relate to the experience of being tied to an identity of which you have little control, as an AMERICAN who lived abroad for years in NIGERIA, ALBANIA, KUWAIT, VENEZUELA and MYANMAR. that dilemma definitely hits home. and i believe part of my reason for having so much respect for M.I.A. is her fearlessness in speaking her truth in spite of intellectual charlatans like LYNN HIRSCHBERG and BILL MAHER and the tired conservative media and corrupt political interests they facilitate in effectively silencing and putting down BLACK and BROWN people. its that idea of speaking up for a forgotten population and not shutting up when the WHITE adults in the room tell you to shut up. honestly fuck them. i dont know how one doesnt respect her fearlessness and moral clarity. this documentary is also the type of film that makes me uncomfortable in that it showcases the triviality and shallowness with which of our national discussion regarding war and human suffering. i was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to teach secondary english at an international school in MYANMAR a few years back and was taken aback by the dismissive tone by western journalists when discussing the suffering of the ROHINGYA population. apparently AMERICAN blood is more precious. the pain and suffering of BLACK and BROWN people was less newsworthy. same here with regards to SRI LANKA. again, i am glad for her voice and look forward to her new album. cant wait to see what she chooses to address this go around given the state of the world. i think deep down she knows she has the respect and admiration of her people, so being deliberately smeared by western media conglomerates isnt her worry. it comes with the territory. it proves that she is dangerous. that she is a revolutionary. 
photo & text by nacrowe
memoirs written by musicians are funny things. there is always the question of motive for presenting such a personal narrative to the world and what agenda is being bolstered or spurred by such an effort. oftentimes it is a rehashing of the salad days of an artist or worse, "correcting" musical history. the better memoirs, and what comes immediately to mind is THE DIRT (review linked HERE) by NEIL STRAUSS / MOTLEY CRUE and LIFE (review linked HERE) by KEITH RICHARDS, often tend to celebrate a bygone era. the movers and shakers of the past contextualize the decisions of the artist and are very much on equal footing structurally and emotionally in the narrative. the artist themselves serves almost as a conduit or representative of a larger whole or particular scene.
i'd put PORCELAIN: A MEMOIR (PENGUIN, 2016) by noted DJ / PRODUCER / MUSICIAN and animal rights activist MOBY in that later category. his memoir is very much a celebration of the downtown MANHATTAN club scene of the late 80s and early 90s from the perspective of an economically-depressed HARDCORE kid from CONNECTICUT who was conflicted with his talent, ambition, self-doubt, social awkwardness and immense intelligence. in that 80s club scene he found a inclusive community that was very much about living in the moment and celebrating and supporting on another, and the upbeat music and drugs of that period reflected such. what i found particularly interesting about this memoir was how MOBY's career tracked with the evolution in ELECTRONIC MUSIC in the early to mid 90s when harder drugs like heroin and ketamine took over and darker down-tempo music became more prevalent. it was as if the carefree atmosphere of the scene had sobered into a walking nightmare. now i am going to completely out myself here. i am familiar with AMBIENT groups like APHEX TWIN, ORBITAL, THE BLACK DOG, BOARDS OF CANADA, AUTHECHRE and SEEFEEL, ELECTROCLASH groups like LADYTRON, FISCHERSPOONER and LE TIGRE and POST PUNK groups like DEPECHE MODE and NEW ORDER, but for the most part i am a neophyte when it comes to the HOUSE MUSIC that this book gets into. such is why i decided to read this book. i am mostly familiar with MOBY's later more subdued string of records such as PLAY (MUTE, 1999), 18 (MUTE, 2002), HOTEL (MUTE, 2005) and LAST NIGHT (MUTE, 2008) that came out after the time period covered in PORCELAIN. which is basically saying i only knew him after he gained worldwide success with his PLAY album and his genre-crossing hits like "BODYROCK," "NATURAL BLUES," "WHY DOES MY HEART FEEL SO BAD?" and, of course, "PORCELAIN." i say all this because its very interesting to learn at the close of the book that it was this sense of being resigned to failure that led to his biggest success as cliche as that sounds. KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR in one of his memoirs talks about the fact that athletes die twice, once when they pass their athletic peak and the other when they pass on like the rest of us. during the making of PLAY, MOBY has lost his mother to cancer and had begrudgingly come to terms with his own irrelevance in a scene that had moved beyond hm. those songs from that breakthrough record, came from that mindset which to me is endlessly fascinating. this book covers a lot of other subjects such as MOBY's relationship with FAITH and CHRISTIANITY, as well as SEX and ALCOHOL. seems fitting that those two sets of obsessions are continuous throughout and are never resolved. makes sense to me. i shouldnt be surprised that a musician so well composed and thoughtful in his interviews would not be capable of writing such a well-considered memoir, but there you have it. i highly recommend this memoir whether or not you are a fan of his music, which is probably the highest complicated i can make. enjoy. 
parodies by nacrowe
check out HERE this recent streaming video episode of DEER GOD RADIO celebrating the ever-expanding genre-defying music of AFI!
past episodes of DEER GOD RADIO are available here at the DEER GOD website as well as in the MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC archives. and if you haven't done so already get the FREE PHONE APP for IOS/ANDROID and enjoy listening to MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC 24/7 at your convenience! 
photo & text by nacrowe
when i moved to NIGERIA in 1996 there were dubbed tapes passing around amongst my middle school peers of this band with a funny i hadnt heard of before called THE SMASHING PUMPKINS. those two albums were MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS (VIRGIN, 1995) and its immediate predecessor SIAMESE DREAM (VIRGIN, 1993). my first impression of the band honestly was that voice. frontman and main songwriter BILLY CORGAN has a distinctive whine that is both his limitation and his identifying signature. to me its interesting how so much of his persona as an awkward genius is derived from that voice.
with 1990s ALTERNATIVE ROCK there lots of nontraditional front-people who broadened what was culturally acceptable. my thoughts immediately go towards that of PERRY FARRELL (JANE'S ADDICTION / PORNO FOR PYROS), RIVERS CUOMO (WEEZER), TRENT REZNOR (NINE INCH NAILS) and COURTNEY LOVE (HOLE) who are all singularly identifiable and effectively one of one. but when i think of CORGAN the figure i am presented with is that of a gangly yet supremely talented midwesterner who is always seemingly slightly outside the mainstream looking in. his band is a neo-PSYCHEDELIC, fuzzed-out POWER POP band with PROG ROCK tendencies as if KING CRIMSON and THE RASPBERRIES had a lanky, colic child and dumped it somewhere outside CHICAGO in the late 60s. tracks such as "TODAY," "ROCKET," "MAYONAISE," "CHERUB ROCK," "QUIET" and "DISARM" showcase a broad songwriting and musicianship range matched by few of their peers. they also present CORGAN as a disaffected figure who stands outside society, the most perfect encapsulation of GENERATION X dissatisfaction this side of fellow peer KURT COBAIN. during this period it seemed that these projected feelings of PERSONAL ISOLATION and SOCIAL DISCONTENT were directed at those elements of society that sought to restrict youth culture, i.e. the CHRISTIAN RIGHT and REPUBLICANS. this is why in the age of TRUMP it is so disappointing and just disorientating that CORGAN came out to support those neo-FASCIST elements of the ALT-RIGHT. its as if we as an audience had misread his music and creative output for most of our lives. we mistook his intentions and mistakenly took him as being someone with like-minded values. i was wrong. i am a proponent of separating that ART from the ARTIST but with CORGAN that is extremely difficult due to how much his music affected me as a teenager. i looked up to him in no small part by how great SIAMESE DREAM was and what it represented to me as a teen and now i feel a deep sense of betrayal at his actions. which makes it difficult to listen to his music in general and i have to say, ive largely avoided it in recent years. i find it better to just stick with NIRVANA, PAVEMENT as well as most of the SEATTLE ALTERNATIVE ROCK and INDIE ROCK bands of the same era and beyond since at least with those i have a sense of security in knowing that they would never support an autocrat like TRUMP. 
photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
i just love how SAN FRANCISCO INDIE ROCK band POW! takes the best the nervous, skittish rhythms of POST PUNK and marries them with the synth-ed out madness of classic NEW WAVE. it is such a refreshing sound that doesnt attempt to hid its experimental nature without sacrificing melodic pop hooks. it is quite the balance and really quite an achievement.
POW! is most definitely worth checking out. 
parodies by nacrowe
check out HERE this recent streaming video episode of DEER GOD RADIO celebrating the HIP HOP music production career of cultural icon PHARRELL WILLIAMS!
past episodes of DEER GOD RADIO are available here at the DEER GOD website as well as in the MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC archives. and if you haven't done so already get the FREE PHONE APP for IOS/ANDROID and enjoy listening to MAKERPARKRADIO.NYC 24/7 at your convenience! 
photo & text by nacrowe
the narrative has long been that after OZZY OSBOURNE's firing from BLACK SABBATH for vague reasons revolving around alcohol and drug abuse, that the band began a steady decline towards cultural irrelevance while the OZZ man began one of the great solo careers in ROCK N ROLL history.
METAL fans know that is a crock because OSBOURNE's immediate replacement, the legendary RONNIE JAMES DIO of RAINBOW / ELF fame, absolutely crushed it on BLACK SABBATH debut in HEAVEN AND HELL (VERTIGO, 1980). i remember the first time i heard "NEON KNIGHTS" being absolutely floored by how powerful his operatic voice sounded with some truly inspired riffage from TONY IOMMI that i hadnt witnessed since first hearing "INTO THE VOID" off of MASTER OF REALITY (VERTIGO, 1971). that said "NEON KNIGHTS" is one of my favorite BLACK SABBATH tracks from any album and any era of the band. also noteworthy are the tracks "CHILDREN OF THE SEA," "DIE YOUNG" and "HEAVEN AND HELL" which collectively showcase the vocal, lyrical and emotional range of DIO. its almost impossible to listen to HEAVEN AND HELL and not find yourself comparing DIO to OSBOURNE. i think where OSBOURNE channeled his everyman persona into direct hard-hitting lyrics and performances that spoke intensely to a working-class audience that viewed his vocal limitations as badges of AUTHENTICITY, in DIO you have the opposite. his operatic range allows him the opportunity to have equally outlandish and over-the-top lyrical flights of fancy, often describing dream realms and FANTASY-based morality tales. the fact that both approaches worked so well within the same band lineup just goes to prove the meddle of all musicians and singers involved during both eras. this was only further cemented decades later when the namesake band HEAVEN AND HELL reemerged later in DIO's final years. if you are unfamiliar with HEAVEN AND HELL, definitely check it out. its a gem of an album that many look past due to it not being an OSBOURNE record. they are missing out on something special. R.I.P. RONNIE JAMES DIO. 
photo manipulation by nacrowe
THE EPITAPH STORY (EPITAPH, 2003) is an interesting mini-documentary i found online about the legendary independent SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUNK ROCK record label EPITAPH RECORDS that was originally issued as an add-on to a now long out-of-print PUNK-O-RAMA DVD. obviously its an EPITAPH-produced film released by EPITAPH about themselves so clearly their built-in bias is to be expected, but what i found interesting was the band-centered ethos that the label was founded on.
you get the sense listening to label founder BRETT GUREWITZ (of BAD RELIGION fame) the impetus was for bands to have a label that supported and worked for them, not financially screw them as had been the practice dating back to ELVIS PRESLEY. helping sell that point are notable interviewees FAT MIKE (NOFX), FLETCHER DRAGGE (PENNYWISE), and JON WALL (CLAWHAMMER) as well as long-time label management and employees in ANDY KAULKIN (PRESIDENT), JEFF ABARTA (ARTIST DEVELOPMENT) and RHONDA JESSEE (PRODUCTION / MANUFACTURING). also included is the noteworthy under-the-radar CANADIAN recording engineer DONNELL CAMERON who co-owns the recording studio WESTBEACH RECORDERS, where the second coming of the label was based out of. where i feel this documentary succeeds is how it puts you in the business mindset of GUREWITZ, especially with the risk involved in putting up capital to front the manufacturing and warehouse costs of upcoming records. and i am specifically talking about the mid-1990s when landmark, best-selling records by the likes of THE OFFSPRING, RANCID and PENNYWISE came out. its crazy to think that when the iron was at its most scalding, he had his home put up as collateral in the mix to front those costs. that could not have been a fun experience, nor the same decision-making on follow-ups. for a documentary about an iconoclastic record label that defied business logic, its ironic that the most interesting aspect of it is the talk of their actual business strategies. i was not anticipating that, especially given that having a successful PUNK ROCK label must have been such long-shot for being profitable. it is a bit mind-boggling, but obviously it sparked a cottage industry in its wake. i thought it was interesting that there werent more interviewees from the likes of RANCID, THE VANDALS and THE OFFSPRING participating or even then-emerging label-mates such as THE BOUNCING SOULS, MILLENCOLIN or GUTTERMOUTH. probably more of an omission was the lack of any mention of the emerging threat surrounding piracy and digital file-sharing, which was years-old at that point. i know this was more a celebratory homage to themselves but it seemed like a lost opportunity to predict how a community that defines itself by authenticity and individuality would respond to the concept of free product. being that the label is still around means that question has been answered over the intervening years. the idea of PUNK ROCK guilt surrounding major labels is laughably an artifact of its time. i wonder aloud now what the PUNK ROCK ethos means now in our current cultural climate dominating by online bullying, corporate micro-targeting and social media trolling. seems to harder than ever to be a kid these days. i wonder what this documentary would like if it was made today. what aspect of the company would they choose to celebrate? if this topic interests you then definitely check out the excellent recent BAD RELIGION biography DO WHAT YOU WANT (review linked HERE). 
photo & text by nacrowe
i grew up on GENE WILDER films.
his MEL BROOKS collaborations on iconic films like THE PRODUCERS (EMBASSY, 1967), BLAZING SADDLES (WARNER BROS, 1974) and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (20TH CENTURY FOX, 1974) have transcended entertainment and have become touchstone moments of family lore that my brother and i share with our father. when i think of the cultural impact of WILDER (not only in relation to BROOKS but also his buddy films with RICHARD PRYOR and, of course, his seminal role as WILLY WONKA) i think of an idea of a MASCULINITY defined by EMPATHY and COMPASSION. even when his characters are in manic or morally corruptible mind-states, there is still that sense that this is a character acting out of LOVE. KISS ME LIKE A STRANGER: MY SEARCH FOR LOVE AND ART (ST. MARTIN'S GRIFFIN, 2005) was a tender memoir that WILDER wrote about his life journey late into his career around the time he stopped making films. it cleverly utilizes his counseling session dialogue with his long therapist as a means of structuring his life into various vignettes showcasing key moments in his personal life and professional career. you learn about his need to please his mother and his compulsion towards over-thinking situations and meaning of his relationships with classmates, family and potential romantic interests. this compulsion leads him to acting as a means of expression, as well as recognition, and he is taken by theatre from an early age that he shares with his older sister CORINNE. the memoir gets into the technical aspects of METHOD ACTING per the teachings of KONSTANTIN STANISLAVSKI which he studied in NEW YORK CITY at the HB STUDIO under HERBERT BERGHOF and UTA HAGEN, and later the pretigious ACTORS STUDIO under LEE STRASBERG. METHOD ACTING utilizes SENSE MEMORY to enhance ones performance by looking to one's one experiences for analogue touchstone moments to relive and bring and emotional depth to a performance. its interesting to know this background given WILDER's legendary penchant for comedic roles, but there is a sense of real PATHOS in his characters. a real drive and emotional core that makes them so endearing as they feel like genuine people making absurd decisions. the memoir also touches on each of his four marriages, including his time with legendary comedian GILDA RADNER, who sadly passed from OVARIAN CANCER in 1989. there is a real INTIMACY in how he speaks of their relationship, with him often beckoning her to treat him with the same respect she does complete strangers. from her perspective, that neediness and selfishness she displays towards him is a form of INTIMACY, as he is the only one she can treat in that manner. she doesnt have to put her guard up with him. its a totally neurotic yet deeply touching dynamic and just shows how complicated and IDIOSYNCRATIC human relationships really are. again, i am such a admirer of GENE WILDER (since childhood) that i would have loved anything written by him even if it wasnt cleverly constructed, heartfelt and genuinely bittersweet concerning a life well-lived and well-loved. that it was a touching story that really shows the depth of his love and appreciation for past collaborators and relationships only makes me want to go back and rewatch his catalogue again. KISS ME LIKE A STRANGER is well worth seeking out and reading and if you havent seen his work in THE PRODUCERS, BLAZING SADDLES or YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, then stop what you are doing this weekend just take it all in. and youre welcome. 
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