When Endless Boogie appeared out of nowhere in 2008 borrowing the title of Johnny Lee Hooker’s album from 1971, and retooling the old Captain Beefheart concepts, they were a complete mystery. Very little presence on line, virtually no reviews, the word about the band literally was the word of mouth. In the meantime we found out that their bass player Mark Ohi played with Naked Raygun and that their singer Top Dollar works in New York City as a dealer of used LP records. The grassroots fan-base was waiting for the second album with great suspense. It came this year and it lifts off where the previous album ends. Or maybe the previous album never ended? The endless groove simply spilled over the physical boundary of a CD into the new release. The full on energy is only interrupted with the title Slow Creep that builds up like a foggy night and chills out the spine. Endless Boogie is not only the most fun band in the past five years it is also band with the strongest concept which they stick to without a compromise.
Tag Archives: Captain Beefheart
Flashlite #105 – Tribute to Captain Beefheart
Sad news came on December 17th this year. Don Van Vilet, better known as Captain Beefheart passed away after a long battle with various kinds of complications due to multiple sclerosis. This disease was also one of the reasons for his withdrawal from rock’n’roll scene and the whole world for the most part in the eighties. In those “retirement” days, he lived alone in a desert, mainly concentrating on painting. But before that, Captain redefined rock’n’roll, blues and avant-grade music the way nobody saw it coming. Recently, radio show Down on The Corner (Dole na uglu) pronounced Captain Beefheart as the greatest American blues rocker. You may think that this is an odd title in company of more conventional blues rockers that we know. But still – when you think about it harder, Beefheart took the good old blues format and stuck to it, but he also took it where the idiom never went before. And it will remain in that place. Bands like Endless Boogie, Black Keys, Dirtbombs, Mark Lanegan, Electric Six, Gori Usssi Winnetou… know where that place is and they call us from there every now and then. But now it’s time to say goodbye to Don Van Vilet, Captain, blues rocker, painter and magician…
Captain Beefheart – Sure ‘Nuff ‘N Yes I Do;
Captain Beefheart – Zig Zag Wanderer;
Balancing Act – Zig Zag Wanderer;
The Roger Sisters – Zig Zag Wanderer;
Captain Beefheart – Dropout Boogie;
Captain Beefheart – Electricity;
Sonic Youth – Electricity;
Captain Beefheart – Safe As Milk;
Painted Willie – Clear Spot;
Mark Lanegan – Clear Spot;
Captain Beefheart – Clear Spot;
Captain Beefheart – Abba Zaba;
Captain Beefheart – Plastic Factory;
Blacktop – Here I am I Always am;
Captain Beefheart – Here I Am I Always Am;
Captain Beefheart – Obeah Man;
Captain Beefheart – The Buggy Boogie Woogie;
Captain Beefheart – I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby;
Captain Beefheart – Frownland;
Captain Beefheart – Moonlight on Vermont;
Captain Beefheart – Sugar ‘n Spikes;
Captain Beefheart – Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles;
The Black Keys – Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles;
Buckwheat Zydeco – Too Much Time;
Captain Beefheart – Too Much Time;
Captain Beefheart – You Know You’re a Man;
Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart – Debra Kadabra;
Captain Beefheart – Magic Be.
Mark Lanegan: Bubblegum
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When Lanegan left us early this year with his mini album called Here Comes The Weird Chill it was just for a brief period to quickly hint what might be a creative peak of his career. On this new album he took only one song off of the Here Comes The Weird Chill (Methamphetamine Blues) and added a busload of new ones. Sonically, Bubblegum is an immediate continuation of Here Comes The Weird Chill, but with even more focus and even more great songs. His past solo albums were all somehow downbeat and it seemed that the crazy rocking days of early Screaming Trees (where he was a singer) were long gone. But, this one changes it all! If songs are not raw full with energy a-la The Stooges, then they are full of suspense, waiting to burst out of your speakers. Production is raw and Mark did it himself. I can’t help thinking that Mark was influenced by the new blues scene and all those crazy garage rockers from Memphis along with obvious influences in Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart. But don’t be scared – this album is good for everyday listening in every place, every occasion, suitable for any mood – bubblegum in one word! Another interesting appearance is backing vocal of PJ Harvey. I was never too impressed by her solo albums, but whenever I heard her as a backup singer (here and recently on Giant Sand and Gordon Gano records), I totally love it. http://www.marklanegan.com/ is his official site, but much more interesting stuff is on his fan page http://www.onewhiskey.com/. His label streams his latest video on-line – it’s really worth checking out.