LC Messinger, aka When Girls Collide

I’ve been meaning to write about LC Messinger of When Girls Collide for quite some time.  She’s been a good friend for many years and is the person most responsible for reigniting my own musical fire after convincing me to record some guitar tracks on her Hit Me With Your Tailwag CD a few years back.  Since I began writing this blog I’ve been waiting for some news from LC to share with y’all.  Problem is, she’s been so busy producing Brian Lambert’s debut CD Spell For Happiness this past year that she hasn’t had time to do anything particularly noteworthy on her own.  

Well, now that Lambert’s CD is complete, Ms. Messinger is back in the studio working on remixes of some of her previously released material, along with a new video for the song “Girl” from her Wasted Ladies album.  Actually, LC and I are collaborating on the video, which, fingers crossed, will be hitting YouTube and other online venues mid-June.  I’ll keep you posted as the process progresses.

Messinger has been making music for some time now, most notabley with her band Unknown Gender in the early-to-mid-80s.  UG was a pioneering all-girl post-Punk band that once dominated the European music scene, particularly in Germany and Scandinavia.

Unknown Gender

Over the past decade or so Messinger has been developing her solo act When Girls Collide.  Although LC  once characterized WGC as Industrial Cabaret, since moving from the San Francisco Bay Area to Austin, TX three years ago, her sound has evolved into what she now describes as “KD Lang on acid in a barnyard full of loud animals” and “Spaghetti Western guitar meets a warehouse rave.”  In truth, LC’s sound is difficult to pin down.  It is eccentric, eclectic, whimsical, occasionally atonal and often just plain weird.  Her songs are typically rhythmic and danceable, spilled across a musical landscape colored with electronic doodles, unexpected guitar tweaks, percussive blips and unnerving vocal mutations.  As for her voice, it is filled with an androgynous ambiguity that is at times smooth and smokey, others brazen and screeching.  She is also a formally trained multi-instrumentalist, most notable for her innovative guitar work.    

Currently, WGC has three song collections available at Amazon and iTunes.  You can also sample LC’s music, including a few of her new remixes, at her MySpace and Reverb Nation sites.  

S.

 
Amazon.com     iTunes


Amazon.com     iTunes

Thursday Morning, Filled with Thoughts of Shame and Supplication

OK, so I admit it, I haven’t been the most consistent blogger these past couple of months... I’ve had the best of intentions, but between my ongoing health problems, continual computer issues, work and social demands - as well as a tediously endless list of other impedances to my personal and creative time and energy - I have failed to live up to them.  And I know that you’ve noticed, whoever you are... because, according to my various site counters, you’ve stopped visiting my blog almost entirely.  

This makes me very sad, but I have only myself to blame.  I’d like to promise that I’ll make my blog a greater priority in the coming days and weeks, that I’ll post frequent new entries and that they will be full of insightful observations and droll repartee.  But the best I can do is promise to try.  I’m still embroiled in computer issues that have prevented me from recording any new music - or even working on production of already recorded material.  As music production is my #1 priority, I need to get that house in order before dwelling here in blog-land.  I feel a polemical diatribe re: Apple Computers and M-Audio studio recording products brewing in the next day or two... But I won’t bore you with my woes any longer this morning.

What I will do is leave you with a video clip that proves I don’t spend nearly enough time trolling around YouTube for the many compelling oddities and spectacles available there.  I had to find out about young Greyson Chance through a friend on Facebook.  This kid is so amazingly talented that I just had to repost his performance below.  Two things I want to mention up front:  

First, When I watched this yesterday for the first time I read a viewer comment claiming the performance was a bit shaky in places.  I tried to go back this morning and find the exact quote, but sifting through the millions of comments proved to be that old futile needle and haystack cliche.  But I wanted to reply to this ridiculous observation anyway:  

The kid is in the 6th grade.  He’s like what, 11 or 12 years old?  Give me a freakin’ break - shaky in places, sheesh!  He’s a goddamned savant.  I’d argue that perhaps about 0.001% of anybody living today could come even close to displaying this sort of talent, and that's without limiting him to just children his age.  I’d like to say something even nastier to the unlearned buffoon who posted such moronic drivel, but then I’d be just like every other jerk on the internet with a computer and a personality disorder.  So I’ll leave it at that.

Second, I fear for this very talented young man’s future.  The entertainment industry eats kids like him for breakfast and then spits them out, post-puberty, into drug rehabs, jails and tabloid feature articles.  I don’t need to belabor the point... just go rent Amadeus if you want evidence of the long, tragic history of the exploitation of young prodigies. 

But beyond that, happy viewing! 

S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDlC7YV5is

Sean Burford

For my second installment of local desert musicians/recording artists I’d like to present Palm Springs resident Sean Burford.  Burford is a multi-instrumentalist who brings a variety of influences and styles (industrial/electronic, psychedelic, progressive, classical, lounge blues/jazz, even a hint of bossa nova here and there) to his music, which he adeptly blends into something fresh and original.  His songs, like so much of the music that really grabs my attention and that I find comment-worthy, are both complex and accessible, full of irony and humor, yet also haunting and ethereal.    

Before my unfortunate pinched nerve incident while in Austin last month, Sean and I exchanged emails re: his musical approach.  Here’s how Sean describes his work:

“My music project, Hymnself, consists of a post-religious prophet who connects with the cosmos to deliver the message of the universe. Because of this connection, the one that communicates with the stars and all matter develops human emotions. As a result of this, our chosen voice begins to stretch the boundaries of egotism. Seeking inspiration from various mediums including nature itself, my hope is to create an experience that will develop into a harmonious and a heck of a good time. This will only be so if those that seek enlightenment do so with an open heart and open mind.”

According to his Reverb Nation bio, Sean has been writing and recording for over 15 years.  He used to build guitars from old car speakers, fishing line and 2x4s and recorded his music by overdubbing on multiple 2-track tape decks.  He was trained as a brass instrumentalist, but is pretty much an autodidact in terms of his multi-instrumental performance and recording skills.

From what I understand, Sean does not currently have any music available for sale, however he does provide free downloads at his Reverb Nation page.

S.