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1. July 30, 2017, Jane Weaver, Justin Bieber, Starcrawler

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(Steven J Wilson)


This week I’ve been sampling a lot of music. Sampling in the old school sense, that is. 


 Jane Weaver is a British artist who’s been around in one group or form or whatever for over twenty years. Her recent solo work has become beloved of the psych-folk crowd, the same people I suspect who get giddy over Joanna Newsom, Meg Baird, and whatever. Her new album is World Kosmology. Whoo, there’s a title that any self-respecting punk in 1997 would have called pretentious twaddle. But these are more generous and inclusive times for fans of outsider music. Boris fans may be Margo Price fans may be Kendrick Lamar fans. Weaver combines trippy analog synths, motorik beats (4/4 time, but rigidly mechanical, favored by Krautrockers), chiming electric and strumming acoustic guitars and her own ethereal vocals. It all works because the songwriting is fetching. Give it a chance and it charms. It probably sounds great fucked up on pot, although I haven’t tried that yet. 

I hear Justin Bieber has come to Jesus. That is all. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXPhANmnAdM (Starcrawler video - they wouldn't let me download directly. Poo.)

Starcrawler rule. Two minute songs. They sound like the Little Killers to me, but with more Rodney-glam influence. They take songs and verses at chugging punk tempos, throw in Thunders-y solos, then throw down a Black Sabs bridge (half-time, nasal, minor sounding). If they aren’t the greatest thing since the Ramones, maybe they’re the greatest thing since the first Broncho album. Fill in your own superlative. Three guys and a girl, Arrow De Wilde (… noms de rock, just like Poison!), who sings with bored assertion in a voice with indeterminate gender. Free to be you and me. Starcrawler are, on the basis of the two songs I’ve heard - “Ants” and “Used to Know” - the greatest rock ’n’ roll band in the world. 



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The god/doglike genius of Asako Ota ... Meet the Maltese!

(Steven J Wilson)
I wouldn’t know a damn thing about the Maltese were it not for my friend, Todd Newman. Todd is a wonderful singer-songwriter himself with a pretty sweet recorded legacy, including one record, Too Sad for Words, that I co-produced. Todd is a devotee generally of the best of J-pop. He’s especially a fan of an artist named Asako Ota. She’s the driving force behind the Maltese. Previously, she led another band called the Dog Hair Dressers.   I’m not sure what her fixation on canines is about, and I’ll damn sure never know from listening to her music, because all the lyrics are in Japanese, which is Greek to me.   What I do know is that she’s a damn fine songwriter, singer and guitarist. Her singing is gracefully tuneful, never overpowering, her playing strong and accomplished, but never showy; everything Ota does is dedicated to her really, really good songs. The music she makes is loosely categorizable as power-pop, and the Maltese isn’t twee; they’re not afraid of the po...
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Hello and welcome.

(Steven J Wilson)
 I wrote a column called  DITB (Down in the Basement)  for the Tornado , the greatest community newspaper ever with a four-month lifespan. I didn’t exactly write reviews. I had other people do that; I edited them. Nope, I just kinda went on about whatever was on my mind at the time related to popular music. DITB was probably the first place outside of New York or London where someone raved at length about the Strokes. I went on for a few hundred words about Weezer once. I have no idea what inspired that.   DITB did follow the rules of journalism. I did my best to research shit. Fact check. Include details. I guess that is where SPEW will divert from DITB . For SPEW I fully intend to forget names, get facts wrong, neglect to give complete titles, and otherwise write irresponsibly.   Reverberations is the name of my music blahg. Reverberations dates from my days at the KC Free Press, the best online KC news and culture resource ever with a four-month...
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Keene Kovers

(Steven J Wilson)
I don’t get out much anymore. I try. Hell, I’m a club crawler for a guy my age. But still, measured against my knock’em-back youth. And there’s so much shit on Netflix.   So no, I didn’t make it to Knuckleheads to see Matthew Sweet and Tommy Keene, even though I meant to. I about had my kid talked in to it, but he dropped out because of “homework,” Ya think? But I did listen to music by those guys preparatory to (not) seeing them. In the process I finally dove in to a collection of Tommy Keene’s that I’d never really explored. It’s called Excitement at Your Feet, a reference to the Who’s “See Me, Feel Me.” Just in case you thought it was a collection of songs about foot fetishism. There’s even a Who song on here - “Much too Much,” which is pretty ace. It’s all pretty ace.   A video of that Television cut, "Guiding Light." Some songs are better suited to Tommy’s plaintive aggro than others. I’m not thrilled with his take on “The Puppet” by Echo and the Bunnymen...
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