Take Me To The Top!

Wow! What a month, what a last few months, what a year!
Is it that time again? Yes it is! God Dammit! It is! It's time for another God damn update!!!!!! Hellelujah!
And what a last few months it's been! Fan-freaking-tastic! Just when I think I've become old, jaded, and crusty I come across something that kicks my ass and makes me feel young again! It's even weirder when it happens a few times a year.
It's been so long and we've seen so much cool stuff, it's been a treat my friends.
As my friend Zach used to say, "Take me to the top!"

A few days, weeks, I don't know, it seems so long ago (OK about 2 weeks) I had the distinct pleasure of catching the amazing canadian post-psychedelic rock outfit Caribou at the B72 here in Vienna. If you haven't checked out their newest recording "Andorra" I humbly suggest you give it a spin. It's one of the best things I've heard all year. It's a bit hard to describe, it's definitely psychedelic music, but somehow filtered through 30 years of punk-post punk-new wave-post hardcore-electro-post rock-and-electronica. Somehow Caribou manage to avoid all the clichés and pitfalls of psychedelic pop and make some great tunes. Their live show is what was really fantastic, they really put on a great live set. I'm happy to say they tour as a full band, with main-man Dan Snaith doing the multi instrument change-aroo during almost every song, often playing two instruments at once. Of course, what impressed me the most was when Dr. Snaith (the dude just got his Ph.D in mathematics!) was playing the drums, and Caribou had the dueling drumsets. It was a far freaking out, man!

So, you know, I was burrowing through the series of tubes we know as the internets, and I stumbled across Charley Harper. This guy must be the most influential illustrator that, it would seem, no one has heard of. OK it turns out he's a bit like Norman McLaren, and he did enjoy a bit of fame and fortune back in the day, but as time passes on, he's become a bit obscure. I've been influenced by Charley Harper without even knowing it. I've tried to draw/design simple and stylized animals for years, and it's hard to imagine Don Pendleton/Alien Workshop, Ryan McGinness, or Geoff McFetridge haven't all been heavily influenced by Mr. Harper!
It turns out that designer extraordinaire, Todd Oldham, has been slaving away making a book featuring Charley Harper's work, and that big, heavy, and expensive book arrived in the mail yesterday. When Anna and I got home, we started looking through this huge book and had a sense of amazement with the turn of every page. And on the next page there was something more amazing than what we had just seen, Harper's work is so clean, geometric, minimal and iconic, but it's never stiff. Hats off to Todd Oldham, who's Laissez-faire graphic design let's Charley Harper's work stand out. This book could have very easily become horribly and gratuitously over-designed, but Mr. Oldham let's Harper's work speak for it self. Amazing stuff.



And in the Holy-f@cking-sh!t category, we had the rare opportunity to see the meastro himself, ENNIO MORRICONE, live in concert. Now in his late 70's and having composed the soundtrack to some 400 films, Ennio Morricone has decided that he should take his show on the road. We were lucky enough to catch his show here in Vienna, and it did not disappoint. Having over 40 years worth of work to choose from, Morricone tended to stay away from his, shall we say, quirkier soundtracks and really put the orchestra to work. It was amazing to watch Morricone conduct a 100 piece orchestra and and additional 80 peice chorus, the music was beautiful and sublime. Of course, he played the "big hits" such as the main score from "The Good The Bad and the Ugly" and "The Mission" as well as lesser-known works such as "Indagine Su Un Cittadino Al Di Sopra Di Ogni Sospetto" and "Queimada." When they played "The Ecstacy of Gold" it gave me goosebumps! Needless to say, the crowd enjoyed it, and il Maestro came out for 7 encores! Leaving the concert hall, I wondered if we had just watched the Mozart or Beethoven of our time? What would movies and music be like without the music and influence of Morricone?

CHEETAHS NEVER WIN: Out Now!!!

Cheetahs Never Win, No. 1 is out now.
It's 36 pages, B&W, Color Cover. $5.
Right now it's available at the MOTMOT shop.

UPDATE!
Cheetahs Never Win No. 1
Will be available in November at Atomic Books in Baltimore, MD. and at Quimby's in Chicago!
I am still interested in shops in YOUR area. Let me know!!!
It is also available NOW through mailorder in the Motmot online shop!!!
Online orders will receive an exclusive cheetah badge!
AND!The Cheetahs Never Win! Release party will coincide with the Murmel Comics 27 release party!
Murmel 27 will feature an all new comic by me! (As well as a gang of other fine comic artists!)

Friday November 9th. 9 PM
At: Fluc
In Vienna
Live: Rotterdam, Fantas Schimun, & the MurmelDjs

Be my friend on Myspace!
http://www.myspace.com/cheetahsneverwin

Random Record Reviews

Here are some quick reviews of some new things I picked up. Not really a review, but more a heads up. Enjoy!

THE EAT were a punk rock band from the sunny state of Florida. Hence the silly title. Apparently, their original 7' releases are these incredibly obscure and over-priced collectors items. The fine folks at Alterntative Tentacles have graciously re-released the original Ep's, as well as a ton of extras: A cassette-only release, an album, and a heap of live songs!
The songs are kind of funny, lyrically, it sounds like these guys weren't dumb, and knew how to make a decent string of words into (often) funny lyrics.
It's kind of Lo-Fi, but not too Lo. A comparison to the Angry Samoans might not be too far off, and a number of reviews compare the Eat to the Angry Samoans, but I think it's not quite the case, the Eat are more melodic, less retarded, and the tunes are more memorable.
And the tunes are what is so great about this CD. This band was able to walk a fine line between raw punk and melody. The songs are pretty raw and tinny but these guys were able to put together some great rock and roll. It's raw, it's great, you can hum along to it.
...
Silkworm were one of my rock and roll mainstays during the 90's, they were real meat and potatoes rock. A three piece of Bass, Guitar and Drums. Rock music stripped down to it's most basic components. They always put on a great show, and were always friendly and talkative with their fans. For anyone who doesn't know their music I would recommend checking out "Italian Platinum." Sadly, after 15 years as a band, Silkworm called it quits in 2005 after the untimely death of drummer Michael Dahlquist.

Well, a few years have passed and and the other members have regrouped and are performing and recording under the name: Bottomless Pit. Their first record is coming out, Hammer of the Gods! You can listen to mp3's of four of the eight songs that will appear on the album.
I reminds me a lot of Silkworm, but somehow older, wiser and more contemplative, or maybe I'm just reading into it.
They've shuffled their line up a little bit, Tim Midgett has moved from bass to guitar, and they have a new rhythm section. Musically, it's similar to Silkworm, but they sound a little bit tighter, more fucused, and completely fantastic. I've been listening to the Mp3's non-stop. Andy Cohen is still one of the most amazing guitar players I have ever heard.
The album is a double 45 rpm LP, and also comes with a CD version of the album, so you have no excuse!
Bottomless Pit

Jams Run Free

Hey! We saw Sonic Youth at the Arena in Vienna. Man, they were just as awesome as always, I'm beginning to think it was the best I have ever seen them!!! I'm always a little bit leery of big rock shows, big crowds tend to bother me, and I always like it when a band can remain accessible to their fans. But it's an imperfect word, what can you do?
They played a set heavily based on their excellent new record "Rather Ripped" and a lot of stuff from "Daydream Nation." They played my favorite song of theirs "Hey Joni!" Which I have never heard them play live. It seemed like most of the singing was done by Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo, which is kind of a cool treat.
They ended with "The Trilogy" from Daydream Nation, which was completely fuckin' awesome.
Man, their live guitar sound was just so loud and otherworldly, so, uhhh, Sonic! The sound just fills up the space. You can really forget how different the live sound is compared to the recorded version.

I do find it interesting that they hardly played anything from their 90's era, they skipped over: Dirty, Washing Machine, EX Jet Set, and A Thousand Leaves. And they didn't play anything off of their last two records, Murray Street and Sonic Nurse (Both of which are also great!)
I'm just kind of wondering about this band, are they like the Grateful Dead of Indie rock? Are they the Beatles of indie rock? Or are they really some kind of avant-noise-rock band that managed to stick it out and stay creative? Probably a bit of all of the above. I have to give it up to the band, they have managed to stick around for over 25 years, with almost no line up changes and no backsliding. If only Thurston Moore would have signed Royce's bottle of Paul Newman brand salsa... but that was a long time ago, and now, i think I can forgive you Thurston!

I'm still here...

We're just having a little "working vacation" in the South Tyrolean alps.
I'll post more later, but here's a weird little thing we found in the Italian grocery store.
For the baby that enjoys the finer things...

I've had a pleasant enough time watching some Swiss TV. Austrian and German TV are abysmally bad, but Swiss TV is pretty good. And they broadcast some shows in English and German. (If a movie is originally in English, they will send one signal in German, and one in English!) The other night they broadcast (uninterrupted and unedited), Anchorman, Secretary, then the Pretenders in Concert. A few days later they showed a great documentary on Elvis Presley.

Libraries are for Nerds

An actual post about life in Vienna! Sort of, kind of.
I've mentioned to a few people that I pick up quite a few CDs from the Vienna public library.
The library itself is interesting, it is a huge brick and mortar monstrosity placed right above the subway line. It has a never-ending number of stairs that lead to a restaurant, and a nice view of the city. If you look at it just right it looks like an upside-down Jawa Sandcrawler (sandcrawlers are always good!)
It's nestled in a comfy spot not far from inbetween work and home.
I normally don't spend much time in libraries, even if they look like they were built by Jawas.
The books are mostly in German, (duh!) so not much for me there.
But real deal is the amazing Compact Disc collection. They must have some cool people buying their music; I've never seen a library with this good of a music selection, not even my college library. Even after CSUF rebuilt their library, their shelves just seemed to have "library" music. (e.g., zydeco compilations, e-z jazz, Harry Smith's anthology of folk music, ZZ top, more jazz, and Gato Barbieri.)
The library will let you actually take 12 Cds home, for a whole month (with very modest late fees!) (CSUF, didn't let you take anything home, and the Cerritos Library let you take it home for a week, but with hefty late fines! I still owe the Cerritos Library a fortune!)
Last week I made it over to the Library and here's my big score.

1. Fela - Beasts of No Nation
2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues + The Lyre of Orpheus
3. Godspeed You Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
4. Linton Kwesi Johnson - Poet and the Roots
5. The Donnas - Spend the Night
6. Kraftwerk - Autobahn
7. Desmond Dekker - You Can Get it if You Really Want
8. Brian Eno - Ambient 1 - Music for Airports
9. Brian Eno - Ambient 4 - On Land
10. 20 Years of Dischord Box set!
11. The Temptations 2 CD set

Not to mention all the other stuff I've found: Shellac, Fugazi, Ian Dury, RFTC, Ethiopiques, Philip Glass, Melvins, Can, Faust, Steve Reich, XTC, and countless number of Lee Perry CDs. And they seem to keep current, I've picked up (or seen) stuff, by the Futureheads, Go! Team, Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire, etc...
They also have CDs by your favorite Austrian, German, and Turkish pop stars.
They have a pretty good Jazz section, and an intimidating classical section.
I wonder who is buying the cool stuff.

Cheetahs Never Win!

Hey folks, It's been nearly a month. I just wanted to drop by and mention we're having a great summer, we're having a great time with lots of friends visiting, and we're having an all around bitchen summer! (And lots of work to keep us busy! The Motmot shop is bustin' loose, and we've got some new shirt designs ready for action!)
But I really wanted to mention, that I have come up with a definite title for my upcoming comic. Drum roll please......

CHEETAHS NEVER WIN!

Here's the cover art, I'm expecting a mid-late summer release date.
Around 36 photocopied pages of wacky-mad-cap comedy and foul mouthed animals in crisis and despair! Fun for the whole family, expose your kids to life's harsh realities at an early age, it's gonna happen eventually, why not in the form of a comic!
Available some time in mid August.
It's really happening!

I'm Giving it Away

Here's a sneak preview of one of my one-page-gag-strips.
This comic appeared in Murmel Comics # 25.
A slightly different version will be appearing in my upcoming comic collection titled "Run Like Hell!"
But here you can see the original!

Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire!

Wow, less than 6 months between posts, I'm on a roll!
I don't know why, but I just haven't posted much of my comics, or other hi-jinx, on this blog. And I think I really should, I blab about everything else; but then I think, it's such an egotistical thing to do. But then I think, ya' gotta hustle, and a blog is a pretty egotistical thing anyway...
Time to toot my own horn, so, here goes.

1. Rosebud Magazine, Number 6. is out now! I've seen it in finer shops in Vienna, and I saw it in London. It's probably in New York, and L.A. and who knows where else! I have a series of color-Xerox collages, taking up 6 pages of this gargantuan (400 pages!) book. Check it out, there is a preview page, (with two of my pieces!) the design is amazing, the whole thing is awesome. Those folks at Rosebud do great stuff!

2. Murmel Comics Number 26 is out now (although extremely difficult to find outside of Austria!) The theme of the issue is "Lying." I drew up a few pages, throwing light on a few of the best yarns I've ever spun. Like the one shown above, now you know the truth about poor Tom Marley!

3. If you know me, you know I've been contributing to Murmel Comics for a while, and a few of my friends have been curious to see what I've been doing. So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I will be collecting all my Murmel contributions, and a lot of new stuff, and rolling it into my own comics zine. It should be around 32 pages, and should be out some time in the summer! It's still in production! I didn't give up, not yet, at least! Will be available in the Motmot shop, as well as a few other fine outlets!

-have a bitchen summer, K.I.T.-Steve

Bummer school

Hey friends! Here's a quick run down of what I've been up to and in to.
1. I've been taking a German class again, after 3 years of struggling with this stupid language, and I have to say that things are finally beginning to click. I also picked up a great book called "English Grammar, for Students of German." It breaks down German grammar and explains the quivalent in English grammar (or points out when it's just different!) I thought cases didn't exist in English, I never knew that word order and pronouns are how we express them (in German, cases are expressed using articles and conjugation, and word order is flexible. Yowza!)

2. Anna and I did a presentation on "Radness in Graphic Design" and we did a screenprinting workshop at the Johanneum in GRAZ, Austria. It was interesting working with graphic design students, because we normally work with High School kids. I was fun to give a little lecture on skateboard and punk graphics, because I'm sure they haven't seen any of this stuff.

3. Soho in Ottakring, is the annual arts festival in the 16th district in Vienna. (AKA Ottakring) There was some good stuff, but I was seriously blown away by a short film called "While Darwin Sleeps" by an English film maker named Paul Bush. An amazing piece of animation, that reminds me of Stan Brakhage but Paul Bush takes his Brakhage influence and goes somewhere new with it.

4. Ted Leo's "Living with the Living" I think it's his best so far, I think it's his "London Calling." I seriously think he should be as huge as the Clash were in 1983! Right now the world needs smart and politically informed music! Ted Leo is a rocker for sure, but he's all over the place on this record, punk, power pop, reggae, and even a little folk, make this a great mixed bag of music.
Hey! he's playing in Vienna in June!

I enjoy actually having time to get some of my art and graphics finished! It looks like we might have some new shirt graphics, and the comics zine, might actually come out on time!

Bis bald-Steve

Their Greatest Hits

Today, Thursday, May 3rd. 2007, I feel as if I have somehow come full circle, or at least a very-small and minor chapter of my life has come to a close. But still, it's something that's bugged me on and off for 15 years!
What's the big hubub?
It all has to do with a band called Trusty. Trusty, a pop-punk band most of you have never heard of.

Yep, this is gonna be a long-ass record review, but one with a unique personal twist.

Let's set the way-back-machine to around 1990-1992. That's about the time I started driving, going to punk shows and hanging out at Zed records. One day I walk in and Big Frank Harrison is listening to a bunch of demo tapes various bands have sent to him. He hears one, isn't too thrilled, and he asks me if I want it!
I take the cassette and I'm pretty thrilled with it, it's good melodic punk rock, but with a real power-pop twist. Punk music that's really poppy and catchy, but it's loud and still has balls. Maybe if the Misfits and the Beatles teamed up.
Slowly, I become enamored with this demo tape, and want to find out more about this band, Trusty. Little information, I don't even know the names of the songs, I just got a tape with "TRUSTY" written on it!

So time goes on, and in a fanzine (probably Flipside, remember, this is pre-internet!) I read a review of a record by Trusty, and I find out that they are from Little Rock, Arkansas! (Punk from Arkansas, whoooooaaaa, that fat guy running for president is from Little Rock, right? (O.K. so it turns out they were hometown heroes, and there was a ragin' music scene in Little Rock, AK.)) So, I order the record from a label called Truant Records, a few weeks later, I get this weird looking record, it's orange, with a big T and it's got some ants drawn on it. I put it on, ...it rocks... it's pretty good....I get to the end...and..the...demo tape songs...aren't on it???
I pick up a few more Trusty discs over the years, some of which are amazing, and some of which are just O.K. Then I hear that Trusty have moved to Washington D.C. and are making some good tunes.

(Here's where I gush about this band.) Their song "Capitol Hill" appears on a comp called "Echoes From the Nation's Capitol." Which I picked up on cassette, of course! This song starts out sounding like the Misfits, and ends up in a chaotic crash of powerpop oohhs and aaahhs, with a little piano thrown in, and an extended chorus/outtro. Exactly two and a half minutes of power-punk-pop bliss After nearly 15 years this is still one of my favorite songs. Their Kathy's Keen EP on Desoto records is not far behind, both songs are really rocking punk anthems. This is some of my all time favorite music.
Their best stuff appeared on singles and compilations. It seems as if they gave their best stuff away, and when they made their proper albums on Dischord, they didn't have these incredibly strong songs anchoring side A and side B, respectively. As a result their records on Dischord never floored me. Maybe they're a great singles band, the Buzzcocks and XTC's best stuff are their singles. O.K., no biggie, I digress, Trusty were a great band. They put out another record did some touring, moved back to Little Rock, then split up in 1997. I never did get to see them play live.
....
Fast forward to 2007, I threw out almost all of my cassettes ages ago, the Trusty demo and "Echoes..." cassettes (along with hundreds of others) were lost in a endless shuffle and eventually I threw out boxes and boxes of tapes. I had been looking for an MP3 of "Capitol Hill" for ages, turns out my friend Royce had an MP3 of "Capitol Hill" and "Kathy's Keen!" I don't think Royce realized the treasure I had just found (thanks Royce, you will be rewarded in punk-rock heaven!) So I rock out to Trusty all over again, and I begin to wonder about those long lost demo-songs, Keep in mind, this is something that has been nagging at me, for like, 15 years!

I do a little searching on the internets, and find a CD called "The Paul Years" which is their first album as well as a few demos and compilation tracks, and it has also been out of print for almost 10 years! I manage to track down a record seller in Germany who has it, and when I receive it, it's like the first time I got the debut Trusty record; as I go through the songs, I realize that those precious demo tracks are absent! I start thinking; I imagined the songs, or maybe I didn't remember them correctly or something!?!?
After a little more internet researching, I find out that Trusty have dusted off their guitars, and recorded a few new songs, and along with the new songs, the new CD has a bunch of "lost" songs never released!
So I place an order.
Which arrived this morning.
Finally.
As I go through the songs, I realize the two new songs "Sugar Smack" and "Gone" are Trusty classics, and again they put two fantastic songs on an EP! Along with a 15 year old demo! Then, when song number 3 comes on, I hear this tinny demo tape sound, and it's sounds pretty familiar (I always thought my copy of the tape was of poor quality, but it was the recording itself!), then when I get to song 7, it clicks, and everything is exactly how I remember it.
I've got the names of the songs! Passive Spy, The Greatest Hits, 10th and Rock, as well as others!
I thought they said "the Brain is Dead!" It turns out they say "The Greatest Hits!"

What's interesting, is that, in the liner notes, they explain why these songs never saw the light of day, and were never properly recorded! (It's a long story, but basically they were going to be re-recorded and released, but their indie-label (Skene! of all labels!) folded and the band distanced themselves from this era of songs. Then the tapes were thought to be lost, and then eventually, were found.) I wonder what would have happened if Big Frank had liked the tape and contacted the band?

But what's interesting for me, is that at least one loose end in my life has been tied up. Let's call it a wrap, the mystery of the Trusty demo has been solved, let's go get some Scooby snacks. It's like being reuinted with an old friend, finding a lost heirloom, or stumbling upon some old photographs that you though were lost. Closure isn't the right word for what I'm trying to describe. To extend the "old friend" metaphor: it's like meeting an old friend and finding out what they've been up to, discovering that you still have something in common, and realizing that they've been wondering about you too.

Trusty's "Sugar Smack" CD is available at MaxRecordings.com. A fine distributor of all things Little Rock!
More Trusty available from Dischord

It's Springtime

Wow! It's Springtime, time to dust off those old shelves, throw out all those unwanted X-mas gifts, and update this biographical-log. Whew.
That said, the weather's been exceptionally beautiful, and I don't feel all that compelled to sit in front of a computer all day, I would rather be at the beach, or something (no beaches in Austria!) But, here I am, pluggin' away, because my job needs me to sit and watch a shop, and do stuff with a computer! So here we are, sorry, I haven't updated since November, but I've been sorta busy. Busy doing what you say? Well we've been slaving over a hot computer day and night to bring you the motmot online shop!!!!
Check it out: motmot shop.
You can finally get our stuff.

And I've been slaving away with pen and paper, to try to bring the world my first comics-zine. I've been contributing stuff to Vienna's own Murmel Comics for a few years, and a few friends have wanted to see the stuff, but it's impossible to get in the USA and 95percent of the comic is in German (except my stuff!) So, I'm collecting my contributions, as well as a bunch of other things I've been drawing the last few years, into a heaping 40 page tome! You can get existential with foul-mouthed dinosaurs, nihilist dodos, Sad-sack Shark, surly beavers, pissed-off elephants, and a host of others. Loads 'o laffs. I've been toying with different titles, so far it's either "RUN LIKE HELL!" or "THIS PLACE SUCKS!" It should be out sometime late spring/early summer. Available in the Motmot online shop, as well as Quimby's in Chicago, and Needles and Pins in San Francisco. You can help, by letting me know of a cool/easy going zine shop in your town!

Top List
1. "For Cal" compilation. I feel lucky to be able to call one of my personal heroes, J. Robbins, a friend. The whole Jawbox/Burning Airlines gang have always been really sweet people and have been really great to their fans. It's really sad to say, that J. and his wife have a very sick baby boy. The nice people from The Cultural Society and Catlick Records have put out an amazing 2 CD compilation. Arcwelder, Channels, David Grubbs, Joe Lally, Jawbreaker, Life and Times, and MISSION OF BURMA, are just a few bands that have contributed! It's great to see so many great bands throw down for a good cause. Go get it!
2. Trans Am: Sex Change. A return to greatness from a band that never really went downhill, but it's one of their best!
3. Trusty: A great band that lots of people never heard of, great power-pop-punk.
4. Flamin' Groovies: Shake Some Action! A classic!
5. Smoking Popes: Destination Failure. This record is 10 years old, where was I when this came out? Good poppy punk slightly-emo, but we'll let it slide because the songs are so great.
6. This American Life TV version. Exactly what a TV version of this American Life should be like, it will be interesting to see if they can really make it something new for television.
7. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: Living with the Living. Possibly Ted Leo's finest to date!
-Steve