He says he can't read music and often doesn't play a "real" instrument, but Moe! Staiano has become a force in the local creative-music scene. His newest band, Mute Socialite, puts creative music in a nice, loud, post-punk box with a razor-blade bow on top.
Moe! does awesome solo percussion performances, and of course he leads Moe!kestra, a crazy improv/game-piece big band that I've noted here and especially here. He was also an original member of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.
In putting up a new band, Moe! went for a combination of complex composed parts and free-abandon improv. It's thick and noisy, with Ava Mendoza's guitar providing the thrust and ignition, and Alee Karim providing a throttling, ten-ton bass. On top of that, the band has two drummers: Moe! and Shayna Dunkelman, doubling up the intensity.
The music moves fast, turning corners sharply and piling on the dissonant chords. I keep wanting to call it instrumental punk, but it's more a post-punk sound with influences from the prog-metal world. Some songs go for crisp rhythms and even tuneful lines, so you can rock out and enjoy your brutal harsh noise all at once!
Exciting things are in the works for the band. In our interview during the show today (which included, via speakerphone, all four band members and new addition Liz Allbee) Moe! mentioned they've done a studio session with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum member Dan Rathbun, stuff that he's hoping to release on a 7" soon. href="http://www.sleepytimegorillamuseum.com/moe/dephineknormalmusik.html"target="new">Keep watching.
Separately: Yesterday marked my 10th anniversary of being on the air here at KZSU. (Go ahead. Look it up.) To celebrate, I kicked off the show with my favorites of the quirky pop songs I've been overplaying during the past decade.
Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)
Horizontal lines denote microphone breaks.
Bill Bruford's Earthworks -- "Bridge of Inhibition" -- Bill Bruford's Earthworks (E.G., 1987)
The Beth Lisick Ordeal -- "Hit and Run" -- Pass (DuNord, 1998)
John Lurie -- "Big Trouble" -- African Swim and Manny & Lo (Atavistic, 1998)
The first song I
ever played on-air, and for a while,
I'd launch each new quarter with it. It's got a big, dramatic sound,
with soloing free enough to hint at what's to come in the show.
Previously noted here.
Lounge Lizards -- "Yak" -- Queen of All Ears (Strange & Beautiful, 1998)
Previously noted here.
Edmund Welles: The Bass Clarinet Quartet -- "Big Bottom" -- Agrippa's 3 Books (Zeroth Law, 2005)
Leader of the Lounge Lizards, Lurie did several soundtracks in the
'80s and '90s, including some by
Jim Jarmusch.
This album collects two of those soundtracks, African Swim and
Manny & Lo. I didn't play "Big Trouble" as much as the other
songs in this program, but it's always been a fave of mine, with
Lurie doing a deadpan monologue about getting into big trouble, and
drummer Calvin Weston interjecting, "Oh no!" The second verse is priceless.
Lurie describes how one day he went driving around town naked for
no apparent reason, concluding with, "What .... was I ....... thinking."
It's pretty damn funny, and made a nice follow-up to "Yak."
Godley & Creme -- "I Pity Inanimate Objects -- Freeze Frame (Polydor, 1979)
Crazy experimental pop from the weird half of 10cc (the half that
split off and would eventually become a big video-making team during
the MTV '80s). Godley & Creme have been my go-to guys for the last
decade, especially when I wanted to throw a curve during a pop show.
The albums L, Freeze Frame, and Ismism (formerly
Snack Attack) are a staple of my pop diet. This track is
particularly wacky, with the vocals getting shifted in frequency
all over the place, often multiple times per word. Love it.
Amy X. Neuburg and Men -- "Naked Puppets" -- Sports! Chips! Booty! (Racer, 1995)
* = Item in KZSU rotation
! = Pop anomaly
? = Item not in KZSU library
-- Go back to Memory Select playlists.
-- Bay Area free/improv music calendar: http://www.bayimproviser.com.