Blood oranges / Quincy's Quorner of Vice I
I think the Alvarius B album Blood Operatives of the Barium Sunset is the album I always wished Greg Dulli could put together post-Whigs. Granted, it's a bit cheekier in some regards then the beat up brick building balladry (booya!) of "true" addiction-era Afghans (Gentlemen, natch). But the differences in lyrical topicality aside, not to mention that them Bishop boys sing a tad bit more unhinged then Dulli tha Ashtray Crooner, the general tone of this thing makes me wanna walk on some train tracks in the dark and go tressle jumping the same way Gentlemen did back when I was working at a box factory for a summer in northern Wisco. This is spine lubricating sin on wax, just the way I like it. Hurt, pissed, and ready to fuck.
I ain't even heard Powder Burns by Dulli's Twilight Singers yet. I mean, I fucked with all his output in a major way for years. I remember first hearing the Whigs in a van after the black-clad chuggapunk band I was in at the time (ain't ever been to Jersey City but I guess that I'm a Saint there...) played at O'Cayz Corral but a short time before it burned down. And yes I'm just dropping names now (for posterity). It was one of those ultra-rare blammo moments where some new angled perspective on yr sonic life suddenly pans across the charred vestiges of "The Crap You Used To Listen To" and you realize that you are NOTHING and have NO TASTE blah blah blah.
Gentlemen was quickly snatched up and became my most listened-to album of that summer. I'll still stand by it as near perfect for driving around shithole one horse towns at 11:30pm on a Wednesday night, when the populous is either at home in bed or on the strip of bars that constitutes a downtown. I think you get special points if one of the major means of employment in the given hellhole town is a Harley plant. Moonlight, bikers, abandoned parking lots... hey man, Quincy rarely waxes nostalgic. Gimme this one time. Hell, I think I started smoking because I thought it might help me rasp like Fat Dulli. Black Love, Congregation, Up In It, even 1965... I went through these and wanted more, more, more.
I remember liking Twilight as Performed by the Twilight Singers well enough, though it may have been mostly a result of my fanboy-boner nature. I do get like that, sad to say. Realize, now that all of this stuff had been released prior to my having become familiar with the Whigs. I was strictly on some post-breakup appreciation. I started hoping to find something to fill the void left by knowing no Whigs material was forthcoming. Dulli's tales of self-loathing romance started to feel directed at me... "you want more? You ain't gonna get it. Now pour me a drink." Something like that. Then he started putting out new Twilight Singers material. I bought Blackberry Belle immediately upon its release at 10:00am on a Tuesday, on my way in to wait tables. It was okay. Pretty good. Some of the hooks gave me a bit of the ol' spinal twitch that Milez Iz Dead, Be Sweet, or My Enemy can still provoke. Certainly no Weezer-sized abortion. My crush continued... I finally got my chance to see the legendary Dulli live in Chicago, and yeah it was pretty fucking awesome. He really is an entertaining frontman and shit talker. But after that... things kinda started to fade. I didn't really feel that covers record much, and I know that the solo Dulli was more of an odds-'n-sods thing. But with these tossoffs coming at a higher pace then the meat-n-potatoes hate/love rock/soul that I loved so much, I started moving on. I know that real fans of bands stick with 'em through thick and thin... Dylan, Reed, blah, blah, blah all put some crap out. I've read that Powder Burns is a return to Dulli-form... that he was battling addiction. I've read that it rings hollow, which I wouldn't doubt... much of the Twilight Singers catalog does to me. I've read that I should think for myself and form opinions based on my own experiences as opposed to what some critic douche wrote on Pitchfork. Well, whatever. I'm tired. Critical influence be damned, this Alvarius B record is pretty much all I need. Alan Bishop has been around forever, too, and he certainly don't seem tired. Hell, the Sun City Girls do so much of the singing-in-tongues shtick that I don't think he could repeat himself if he wanted to, not that he would try. Now pass the needle before this fix wears off.
I ain't even heard Powder Burns by Dulli's Twilight Singers yet. I mean, I fucked with all his output in a major way for years. I remember first hearing the Whigs in a van after the black-clad chuggapunk band I was in at the time (ain't ever been to Jersey City but I guess that I'm a Saint there...) played at O'Cayz Corral but a short time before it burned down. And yes I'm just dropping names now (for posterity). It was one of those ultra-rare blammo moments where some new angled perspective on yr sonic life suddenly pans across the charred vestiges of "The Crap You Used To Listen To" and you realize that you are NOTHING and have NO TASTE blah blah blah.
Gentlemen was quickly snatched up and became my most listened-to album of that summer. I'll still stand by it as near perfect for driving around shithole one horse towns at 11:30pm on a Wednesday night, when the populous is either at home in bed or on the strip of bars that constitutes a downtown. I think you get special points if one of the major means of employment in the given hellhole town is a Harley plant. Moonlight, bikers, abandoned parking lots... hey man, Quincy rarely waxes nostalgic. Gimme this one time. Hell, I think I started smoking because I thought it might help me rasp like Fat Dulli. Black Love, Congregation, Up In It, even 1965... I went through these and wanted more, more, more.
I remember liking Twilight as Performed by the Twilight Singers well enough, though it may have been mostly a result of my fanboy-boner nature. I do get like that, sad to say. Realize, now that all of this stuff had been released prior to my having become familiar with the Whigs. I was strictly on some post-breakup appreciation. I started hoping to find something to fill the void left by knowing no Whigs material was forthcoming. Dulli's tales of self-loathing romance started to feel directed at me... "you want more? You ain't gonna get it. Now pour me a drink." Something like that. Then he started putting out new Twilight Singers material. I bought Blackberry Belle immediately upon its release at 10:00am on a Tuesday, on my way in to wait tables. It was okay. Pretty good. Some of the hooks gave me a bit of the ol' spinal twitch that Milez Iz Dead, Be Sweet, or My Enemy can still provoke. Certainly no Weezer-sized abortion. My crush continued... I finally got my chance to see the legendary Dulli live in Chicago, and yeah it was pretty fucking awesome. He really is an entertaining frontman and shit talker. But after that... things kinda started to fade. I didn't really feel that covers record much, and I know that the solo Dulli was more of an odds-'n-sods thing. But with these tossoffs coming at a higher pace then the meat-n-potatoes hate/love rock/soul that I loved so much, I started moving on. I know that real fans of bands stick with 'em through thick and thin... Dylan, Reed, blah, blah, blah all put some crap out. I've read that Powder Burns is a return to Dulli-form... that he was battling addiction. I've read that it rings hollow, which I wouldn't doubt... much of the Twilight Singers catalog does to me. I've read that I should think for myself and form opinions based on my own experiences as opposed to what some critic douche wrote on Pitchfork. Well, whatever. I'm tired. Critical influence be damned, this Alvarius B record is pretty much all I need. Alan Bishop has been around forever, too, and he certainly don't seem tired. Hell, the Sun City Girls do so much of the singing-in-tongues shtick that I don't think he could repeat himself if he wanted to, not that he would try. Now pass the needle before this fix wears off.
posted by Quincy Hoist at 6:09 AM
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