Welcome to the second, somewhat slimline edition of Clicks and
Klangs. In an issue accidentally devoid of any editorial
balance, we appear to have partly mutated into an alt-country zine.
Not so, and just to prove it, this month's Welsh Psycho completely
avoids the subject of music altogether, covering wizards and messiahs
instead. Hope you enjoy what we've served up this time around, please
do get involved if you have something to add to what we're doing.
Response to the first issue was very encouraging, many thanks to
everyone who sent along their kind words. Please do pass on your
thoughts about Clicks and Klangs - if you have any comments, suggestions
or criticisms, or would like to get involved in some way then do
get in touch. I'd very much like to hear from you. Cheers.
Howe Gelb, front man for Giant Sand, has spent the last two decades
creating the most wayward, clattering and combustible alt-country
around. It frequently sounds as if it is going to blow up in his
face at any minute, as it sometimes does - Read
article
A profile of the reclusive country musician who, like Howe Gelb,
operates steadfastly on his own terms. As he says himself, "If
you think any of my songs are slightly off the beaten path, wait
'til you see the buildings I build!" Read
article
Miles Davis had already secured his name in the history books when,
at the end of the 1960s, he listened to Jimi Hendrix, Stockhausen,
Sly & The Family Stone and James Brown. The resultant music
that poured out of him over the next 6 years was to have a profound
influence on the worlds of jazz, rock, hip-hop, electronica and
numerous musical styles yet to be created. Post-Miles Davis, music
will never be the same. Read article
Last month Jason Gross presented Died
Too Early; a collection of musicians who bailed out at their
creative peak. This month in part two
he takes a look at musicians whose talent snuffed it long before the
actual artist did.
A regular column from the writer who brought us the acclaimed Great
Pop Things cartoons, featuring Colin's musing on whatever happens
to take his fancy or provoke his ire. Knowing Colin, we'll probably
see more of his ire than his fancy.
Colin has broken with convention after only one issue and has chosen
to ruminate not about anything musical, but about messiahs and wizards
instead:
Congratulations to Christopher Stephens of
Kobe in Japan who has a copy of Irwin Chusid's book and the companion
CD on the way to him. You were asked to write a few words about
your favourite 'outsider'. Christopher nominated The Shaggs and
wrote the following:
"In one way or another, every musician tries to create the
illusion that they are outside of some tradition or convention.
Being a true outsider, however, requires a natural flaw in cerebral
circuitry or a viewpoint so pure that it tests the belief of the
listener. With this in mind, there can be no doubt that the Shaggs
are the most perfect outsiders.
"The Wiggin Sisters were women in a men's world, rustics who
never got to the city, and savants to whom the thought of traditional
musical structure and current sonic trends never occurred. And so
far as we know, none of this was chemically inspired.
"Philosophy of the World is as profound a work as exists
in the canon of popular music. But better still, the Shaggs are
always there when you need them, so unworldy yet so knowing, offering
sisterly advice and consolation."