Notekillers: Clock wise [1978]
Notekillers: Spaceland chant [1980]
Since I first heard of the Notekillers on Alex Ross' blog, it's not difficult to imagine their widespread appeal among music lovers. According to guitarist and co-composer David First, the Notekillers had two objectives, the second of which was "that the music be equidistant from (and therefore equally close to) every vital type of music in the history of the world. The Notekillers music was created with one thing in mind - that it should be able to follow any record on my turntable - Marley, Ayler, Pistols, Fahey, or Reich, raga, pansori, tea house, snake dance or son - and the threads would be clear."
Here's some sick footage from a 2006 gig at Tonic:
This is one band you definitely want to support by purchasing some music here.
And after you support the Notekillers by going to the above URL and purchasing their music, you will find new music from them here. The new stuff is going directly into my mp3 player. Thanks for the link df!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
Knockout post, Mike ! 100%. I actually can't believe i've never heard the Notekillers prior to this as it touches virtually every base dear to me from Mayo Thompson & the Red Crayola right through to Pavement.
It's hard for me too to reconcile that this is from 1980. In fact, the resemblance on both these tracks to stuff from Kim Deal's Breeders and Steve Malkmus's Pavement is so strong i am prepared to accept i might have undergone a memory leak somewhere down the line. Both "Clock-wise" and "Spaceland Chant" are seriously eerily familiar.
Regarding yesterday's comment on you standing in the parking lot of a Pixies concert to listen to P.I.L., might i add that "Surfer Rosa" is one of my favourite albums of all time, though it's kind of hard for me to listen to it now, so inextricably bound to that period in time it is for me. I sort of lost faith in them, though, after "Doolittle" ; "Bossa Nova" onward was a little too polished for my taste.
This band though definitely warrants further investigation. Fantastic.
Unfortunately the link at the bottom of the Notekillers post leads to the extent of their oeuvre.
The story goes, apparently, that a few years ago Thurston Moore was interviewed in some magazine and praised the band. At the time basically no one knew anything about the Notekillers, but David First read the interview and decided to contact Thurston. Then, not surprisingly, the linked album was released with Thurston as the Exec. Producer, and the Notekillers reunited for some very well-attended gigs in tiny clubs.
That's the story as far as I know it.
Mike, i just did a quick search and discovered that "Clock Wise" was originally the b-side to "The Zipper", a single (their only) originally released in 1978 ! it just gets better.
I need to establish if the version posted is from the original reels, and not a reworking. I should have registered the Sonic Youth tie-in.
Incidentally, the first time i saw Pavement perform live was as the support to Sonic Youth in Belgium, on their "Dirty" tour. I was fortunate enough to be allowed to observe from the wings and take photographs, but the camera i was using was new to me the film was unusable.
I will update the year... thanks for that bit of information. Great story about Sonic Youth too! I am very jealous...
I am pretty sure the version posted is the original reels. It sure sounds that way.
You're right, Mike, just as i'd hoped: "Eleven tracks taken from 2-track reels, dusty casettes and an actual 8-track."
This has really made my day ! Thanks.
Wow! That seriously is ahead of its time. I hear the Pavement resemblance too, but that's prolly cuz Pavement is kind of the only band I ever listened to in this genre. I'm sure one could name a million other indie guitar bands of the 90's who sound like this.
I would listen to 6 more albums of this.
Hi There!
Usually try to mind my own business regarding peeps writing stuff about us, but somebody saw this and I thought I'd make an exception...here's a link to a single we put out last year. We're currently working on a full-length for near future release...
Thx for the nice words!
-df
c/o
nk's
http://www.notekillers.com/new_single/
Excellent. Thanks for checking out ArtDecade and the link to the new single, df! I love the new tracks and hope to see the nk's the next time they come around NYC.
Thank you very much, David First, and thanks again, Mike.
The last time i experienced this prickly-necked, cable-jawed sense of privelege was when a close friend played me Television's "Little Johnny Jewel" for the first time, many, many Marquee Moon's ago. And yes it was on vinyl.
no prob guys...there's live tracks/other videos lurking around our website & myspace page. Also I'll add yr address to the nyc show mail list...
-d
So David... if you are still lurking... what are you listening to these days?
Is it still called lurking if you've posted twice:)?
Ya know, I don't think your heroes ever change...but of the stuff I've heard since I started more or less paying attention again to pop/rock/youth music/whatever-you-wanna-call-it, I've heard a few interesting/new things. Lightning Bolt are pretty amazing. PGSix are cool. Child Abuse. Dragons of Zynth. Christmas Decorations. There's a lot of bands that are talented and creating catchy tunes, but I reckon the above are twisting things a bit. But I'm sure there's a lot of stuff I ain't heard, if you wanna recommend something...
-d
Thanks for this list, DF. Great band names! I'll definitely be checking these out. BTW I just came up w/a punk band name, in case anyone needs one: "Aggressive Depressive"
David, just on the off-chance you check back in on this, is the CD shipping online only ? I really want to get this, but i have a problem with credit cards.
I'm not familiar with those bands you namechecked. You still in Philadelphia ?
Been in NYC since 1984 - Greenpoint, Bklyn since '04. The other guys still live in Philly and that's where we still rehearse. If you wanna know what I've been up to after/before the NK's, here's some links:
http://www.notekillers.com/
http://www.davidfirst.com/
and of course:
http://www.myspace.com/notekillers
http://www.myspace.com/davidfirst
and here's a nice article that also has some mp3 links:
http://www.newyorknighttrain.com/zine/features/200608/index.html
You can probably order the cd from your local cool record store, otherwise, yeah, ecstatic peace.com or surefire is where to go. Or come to a show. There ain't many left so don't wait too long!
-d
Thanks for the info, David. And the links.
I would love to come to a show, but i live on the other side of the Atlantic, so that's gonna be a problem...
Glad to hear the CDs are shifting fast - you guys deserve it more than most, i think. I will definitely find a way to get my hands on it. Legitimately, i mean. Hope the new release slated near future comes through soonly.
I will check in on those URLs regularly to keep up to speed with what's happening. Cheers.
Post a Comment