Paul Hamann worked as the recording engineer at Suma Studios in Painesville, OH. The first time I saw his name was back in my old home town, when I was reading the liner notes to fIREHOSE album fROMOHIO. But, when I spoke to him about that record, it was just one of many that he did. His breakthrough happened with the first Pere Ubu album The Modern Dance. In the following years, Hamann recorded almost all Pere Ubu records and many of the essential Cleveland underground records: The Girls, Human Switchboard, Pagans, Pressler Morgan… Hamann had a way to capture raw power from almost any band that asked for his services. Part of it is an excellent set up at his Suma Studio, but also, his ear and unmistakable instinct to press the recording button at the right time. That was recognized by many of the Alive Records bands, who used his services. Black Keys made another huge mark on modern rock’n’roll and a large part of it was due to the spirit of Suma embodied in Paul Hamann. His departure is leaves a big void in the recording world. This episode of The Little Lighthouse is dedicated to his work.
fIREHOSE – Riddle of the Eighties
Pere Ubu – Non-alignment Pact
Pere Ubu – Modern Dance;
Pagans – Street Where Nobody Lives;
Pagans – Whats This Shit Called Love;
The Girls – Jeffrey I Hear You;
Human Switchboard – Prime Of My Life;
Pressler Morgan – You’re Gonna Watch Me;
15 60 75 – Here In The Life;
The Trees – Happy to See You;
fIREHOSE – In My Mind;
fIREHOSE – Time with You;
fIREHOSE – Some Things;
fIREHOSE – Understanding;
Brimstone Howl – Bad Seed;
The Black Keys – Strange Times;
Left Lane Cruiser – G Bob;
Mondo Drag – Fade Out (Into Space);
This Moment in Black History – Forest Whitaker;
The Safeties – No Fun;
Scarcity Of Tanks – Over And Done.
We lost Grant Hart about a week ago. Grant Hart was a man who lived his life with curiosity of a wide-eyed kid. His poetic and abstract way of writing stood as a counterpoint to the calculated and equally strong songwriting of Bob Mould in Husker Du. His post Du records gave him an opportunity to further explore history, demons and angels, future of man kind. And some records were simply disarmingly beautiful collections of songs. Grant Hart was unrepeatable. This collection is a mixture of odd stuff he has been creating throughout the years and some are rare live recordings too. Maybe this is the kind of obituary he would put for himself, or maybe not. It’s a selection of tunes that I just needed to put together.
We of with two new interesting records form two ladies. Hayley Thompson-King kicks off with a surprising mixture of americana and europeana, and Lilly Hiatt who steadily provides great sounding records. Tall Juan is a new name from Queens, New York City, and in some ways, it does pay a tribute to the original pride of Queens, The Ramones. Lost Baloons come from Wisconsin and they had an excellent show in Cleveland, so we hear them in our live segment and we also check out their new album. Smog Veil record label mailed me a big box of records, and sifting through them, I picked The Prisoners and The Robert Besnick Band for this show. And, as an exclusive preview, we hear a brand new track from Cheese Borger and his Cleveland Steamers. Today’s show is dedicated to Holger Czukay of Can and Walter Becker of Steely Dan, to guys that indebted rock’n’roll in great, although very different ways. They died within two days from one another in early September.
This show starts with Paint Fumes from Charlotte, NC. Then we check out the new album by Ty Segall, done to support the American Civil Liberties Union. His friend over in California, Kelley Stoltz is also back with the new record. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard must be the busiest band in the world, along with Ty Segall. They already published their third album this year, and it’s a collaboration with another Australian band called Mild High Club. King Washington is a new trio from LA and Edgar Jones comes to us from UK. Andy Gabbard has a new record called Plenum Castle. Last week we heard David Nance with is take on the Beatles, and this week we hear his own epic tune called Ambulance.
Today we have the new music from Ben Vaughn, who covered an old Randy Crowell song, When Losers Rule The World. Honeymoon Disease from Sweden are back with the new record, and so are The Forty Nineteens, out of San Francisco. We also introduce the new band from Tim Parnin (also in Cobra Verde and Sweet Apple), called Falling Stars. Their new recordings are produced by Mitch Easter. Sprinters come from Manchester in England and David Nance comes from Omaha, NE. Today’s show is dedicated to Glen Campbell who we lost on August 8 this year.
Today we have new music from Ray Wylie Hubbard and The Yawpers. Mark E. Smith and The Fall are back with one of their most controversial albums to date. Cindy Wasserman and Frank Drennen from Dead Rock West also have a new album. We introduce Todd Adelman from Boulder CO, Powerline Sneakers from Melbourne, Margo Price from Nashville TN and Gotobeds from Pittsburgh. They were also live in Cleveland.
Today we start of with the new music from Guided By Voices and their former band mate Tobin Spout. Then we hear new music from Jenny Don’t, this time with her band The Spurs. Kelli Halliburton from The Pierced Arrows is also there. Jake Xerxes Fussell hails from Columbus, GA and he covered an awesome Jimmy Lee Williams song in a manner similar to Ed Crawford tribute to Elizabeth Cotten long time ago on a fIREHOSE record. Paul Kelly is back with the newest record and we also introduce Rahill Jamalifard and her band Roya. Jason Look of Part Time Lover is live in CLE with a Gene Clark song.
Today we have Julie Doiron from Canada returning to the playlist with her new band Julie and The Wrong Guys. Also from Canada, The Wasted Potential that we played some time ago through a series of contemporary Hüsker Dü covers are back with a new tune dedicated. The DTs come from Bellingham WA, and hail from Hidden Volume, the same label that also brought us Gorilla* and The Improbables this year. Katy Cole and her Last Daze keep putting out new songs and we are anticipating the new record with great hopes. And we also wait for the new Dream Syndicate record. Meanwhile they are putting occasional tracks from their upcoming album on Youtube. Derrick Anderson from Toledo, OH teamed up with The Bangles for his new single. We also check out Handsome Jack from Lockport, NY live in Cleveland. Brinsley Schwartz lost album It’s All Over Now is finally properly released, so we check that out too.
Today we introduce several interesting relatively new names on the female songwriting scene. Katie Von Schleicher comes from Brooklyn and Esmé Patterson is from Denver, CO. Nicole Atkins from New Jersey is particularly interesting because she teamed up with Tommy Stinson of The Replacements and Bash & Pop for her upcoming new album. Tommy is also out touring with Chip Roberts as The Cowboys In The Campfire. They stopped by at Cleveland’s Blue Arrow Records and played a few new tunes. We hear one of them today. Talking about Cleveland, Matthew Wascowich is back with his Scarcity of Tanks. They have a new album called Garford Mute, inspired by growing up, and it contains a stellar line up of Pere Ubu and Terminal Lovers bands, plus Doug Gillard and the legendary Steve Mackay, the Stooges sax player with his posthumous appearance. We also check out the new music Left Lane Cruiser and and introduce two new heavy bands, ’68 from Atlanta and Gorilla from UK.
Today we introduce a few new names in this show. Freak Genes, two guys from Manchester, Male Gaze from San Francisco, and we introduce Rod Bryan from Arkansas. Rat Columns from Perth are back with the new record and so is Benjamin Booker. My Buddy Moose from Rijeka are finally out with the new record which was nearly two years in making. Supergroup Sweet Apple is also back with the new rocking record (with members from Cobra Verde, Witch and Dinosaur JR). Danny And The Champions of the world, an Americana band from the British isle, is also back. Today’s show is dedicated to Aleksandar D. Kostić Kosta, legendary journalist from Belgrade who influenced me a lot. He passed away this week at a young age of 55.