The Embarrassing Fruits new five song EP The First Time is out now. It was recorded by the Fruits in The Owl Room Studio at the Trekky House. The release show at Local 506 in Chapel Hill was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. They had those kids head banging and slamming into one another and it left me with a giant nostalgic grin.
From Ian Miller, Independent Weekly:
While listening to The First Time EP, the Trekky Records debut from Chapel Hill trio Embarrassing Fruits, certain physical sensations drift in and out: There’s the smell of a packed club in the summer heat, the feeling of wind rushing past your ears in a roofless car and the feeling of déjà vu. But this is a welcome sort of nostalgia, a re-simplification of indie rock that harkens to early ’90s touchstones. Think Pavement on sedatives. Think Dinosaur Jr. without the feedback.
Jonas Mekas is an 87 year old experimental videographer who fled Lithuania during WWII after living in several displaced persons camps. He came to New York as a poor immigrant and established himself as a filmmaker and artist. My publisher Phong, at the Brooklyn Rail refers to Jonas as “the last bohemian”. Jonas has seen several movements of individuals through New York–
he was close friends with Andy Warhol, he made a movie about Andy and filmed the first Velvet Underground shows, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNwp4nNTeJg), Yoko Ono was his intern, etc etc. I’m reading a collection of the diaries he kept as a young man wandering around from refugee camp to refugee camp in post-war Europe called I HAD NOWHERE TO GO. Jonas lives in Brooklyn and when I see him he’s usually sitting by himself drinking wine and whiskey.
The next secret message machine cd will be done by August. In the meantime, here are some songs. The tentative title is Giants, Madmen, and Ghosts. The song Hungry Villains will be on it, but the rest of these won’t.
Hungry Villains
Greensboro
Public Displays of Hatred
Sun City Exile
the rebirth of a forgotten project, poodlestick brings the heat of the old blank_blank days(note:underscore included) in a quite refreshing and novel way.
recorded in the poodlestick fashion, two room mics into a component tape deck.
Short-lived and ephemeral band from Greensboro that played one local show over the winter at the Mimosa house and went on a two-week tour before breaking up. Aaron played drums, Helena sang, and Dan played the guitar. “Thinktank” or “side project” of the three members, formerly Sugar on Shit, Bitter Homes and Gardens, and Piedmonster. Played with big incomprehensible banners, and used tape samples from Cold War propaganda movies and a Nietzschian 50’s self-help tract called “How to Develop the Power of Enthusiasm” to try to levitate bored-looking house show audiences from their Post 9/11 fugue. Big post-music, post-america ideas widely confounded audiences looking for some ideological affirmation and feel-good subcultural entertainment. Music-enthusiasts looking for something to cling to, a stabilizing band name to be a foster-parent for them were sent back out to sea by Vacation’s momentary, blink-of-an-eye, existence. 250 Seven inches were released on Aaron’s Hello, asshole records and Travis Fristoe’s Obscurist Press( send $4 to: Travis, PO Box 13077, Gainesville, Fl. 32604-1077, USA, obscurist.press@gmail.com).
It was around midnight and we both had been drinking from glass bottles. When Matt told me he thought it would be ok with the rest of the band for me to post this album. So here it is. Let me know if you want it off.
A new band in Greensboro. Hailing from Guilford College
This recording was made at Square One some recent afternoon.
It captures their energy well.
But seeing them live is a blast
popping and hopping
toe tapping, head banging,
arm waving, loud and fast.
Jeffrey Lewis and the Jitters came and played at Square One, here in Greensboro. They put on one of the best shows you could hope to see. Jeff is also a comic book artist and makes “low budget movies”. This one is a song from the album It’s the Ones Who’ve Cracked That the Light Shines Through. Which came first the song or the movie? Either way, thoroughly enjoyable.
Kaleidoscope Death started as an idea in 2002. Chuck Chambers and a couple of friends (Steve, Neal) wanted to form a “pseudo-pretentious art rock” band. They began recording on an old boom box, but they weren’t a band for long. Eventually Chuck re-recorded some of the songs and wrote new ones, playing all the instruments himself.
As the title suggests, this album combines the first two tapes (that’s right, tapes) that were released around 2004. 70 minutes and 26 songs. There are some powerful, heavy songs as well as sparse acoustic ones. And great hooks. Kaleidoscope Death is still around today, as a solo act and band with new members.
Download The First Two Tapes of Kaleidoscope Death (93 MB)
