#kid-congo-powers

[golikehellmachine]

thanksgiving playlist extravaganza, pt. 1

i got busy last week with work and with life, and didn’t get around to putting together a friday playlist, which bothers no one other than myself, and doesn’t bother me that much, either.

but, since thanksgiving is coming up this week in the united states, and i’ll be spending a lot of time in the kitchen, i thought it might be fun to make a larger list to keep you company while you mash your potatoes or stuff your turkey or just stock up on wine and order takeout. 

this is part 1 — tumblr limits you to ten bandcamp links per post, which seems reasonable, so i’ve broken it up into three lists with the occasional youtube link when bandcamp fails me. next edition on tuesday, final edition on thursday. 

***

charlie megira | tower of tongues

CHARLIE MEGIRA has always seemed a little tragic to me; he was always a man out of step and out of time. he’s hard to pin down, genre-wise, because he jumped around a lot, which wouldn’t have been a problem today, but in the pre-streaming era, could make it tough for people to discover and stick with you. this particular song is from his post-punk era, and until listening to this record for the first time in months, i did not realize how much of modern post-punk (e.g., soft kill) you can hear in this. 

creature party | digital addiction

CREATURE PARTY are locals here in portland who we caught the other night, playing in the basement of the shanghai tunnel bar, which may (or, as it turns out, mostly like may not) have been the site of countless abductions, a gateway to a dangerous and unpleasant life of servitude at sea. in reality, most men who were sold into servitude were just drugged and then defrauded. 

i don’t have a good transition here, i just wanted to clear up a common misconception.

creature party were a delightful riot live. sound-wise, they’re very definitely a pacific northwest band, and you can hear the usual indie influences there (sleater-kinney is probably the easiest and laziest reference i can think of), but there’s plenty more to like here, because there’s just as much weirdo, lo-fi, fuzzy B-52s in this sound as there is pacific northwestern indie. 

laura jane grace | lolo 13

approximately 5,700 years ago, i lived next door to AGAINST ME! in a triplex across the street from gainesville punk greats BITCHIN’ and caddy corner from former floridian lumberjack and all-around man of bellows, CHUCK RAGAN. the late 90s were a pretty wild time to live in gainesville, florida. i would not have predicted LAURA JANE GRACE would’ve become who she’s become at that time, but i’m not sure i would’ve predicted anyone from that time would be doing anything they’re doing now — caroline from BITCHIN’ was in RUSSIAN DOLL! 

i haven’t really kept up with LJG in recent years because i’m just not huge into acoustic folk-punk anymore, but this record has a lot more depth than i thought it was going to, and i consider myself corrected and reminded to stop writing things off just because i think i know what they’ll sound like. 

surface to air missive | rosy

these folks (or, well, this folk) is new to me, but i really enjoy SURFACE TO AIR MISSIVE. there are plenty of influences you can hear here, and plenty of influence-influences you can hear, as well — not only can you hear some of THE SMITHS or even NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL here, you can hear the bands who influenced them. i don’t know much more about this band beyond knowing that it’s a one-man show, which is impressive. normally, one-person bands tend to fall apart when it comes to drums, but these are solid throughout. 

katie morey | trial by fire

i bought this record earlier this year, and keep coming back to it as a recommendation, even though i have a hard time pinning down exactly what i like about it. it’s got a specific sound which i nonetheless can’t quite put my finger on, but it definitely comes from the early 1970s. lots of heavy reverb, electric piano and quietly competent drumming. it’s a fantastic sunday morning record all the way through, which i can’t recommend enough, even while being unable to explain what, specifically it is that grabs me. 

kid congo powers | peanuts

KID CONGO POWERS is a legend who has played with so many underground greats and who it’s nice to see is finally beginning to get a little more recognition. he just released a book, which is on my christmas list, documenting his time through THE GUN CLUB, THE CRAMPS, NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS and more, and anyone who comes out alive on the other side of a history like that is definitely worth listening to. further, kid congo’s got a unique perspective as a gay man who was out and proud from very early on, even when the punk and underground scenes were nowhere near as tolerant as they’d eventually become. you can definitely hear his CRAMPS years in this track, but kid congo’s got his own thing going on that’s worth considering on it’s own.

sea power | be gone (demo)

SEA POWER (formerly british sea power) have picked up a lot of new fans in recent years because of their score for disco elysium, which is undeniably great, but, for me, open season is always going to be the record to beat. the original release is pretty unassailable, but, as is their way, sea power also tends to release their demo and early versions, and they’re always a delight to pick through. this version of be gone has the lovely melody of the original, but is quieter and doesn’t have the same bombastic, big sound that the initial release did. if you like listening to how songs can evolve for a band from when they’re written to when they’re recorded, this one’s a great example. 

lee fields | i should have let you be

LEE FIELDS IS BACK! LEE FIELDS IS BACK! 

of course, he didn’t go anywhere, but we’ve lost so many soul and R&B greats in recent years that it’s always a relief to see one continuing to put out great work. fields got back together with daptone records this year to release this, and the whole record is fantastic. this song has his signature sound with a really interesting, almost beatles-esque bridge right in the middle of it. the whole record’s fantastic and a well-welcomed return and i can’t recommend it enough. 

reigning sound | falling rain

i’ll never not be bummed out that cartwright called an end to the REIGNING SOUND before i got the chance to catch them live, though cartwright’s an industrious and restless guy who’ll have something new and exciting to check out soon enough. this one comes from shattered, which wasn’t my favorite record when it came out, but has really, really grown on me. i mean, i recommend literally every single one of their records, but if you’ve got to start somewhere, shattered isn’t a bad place to start. 

murder by death | my evergreen

given that it’s a thanksgiving playlist, a few christmas songs are bound to find their way in, and, well, would you look at that, here’s one of them! MURDER BY DEATH are one of my all-time favorites, and it’s entirely in character that they’d put together a christmas record. all of it is fun, but this cover of the SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS my evergreen manages to take what was, originally, a good-enough christmas effort and elevate to something profoundly nostalgic, bittersweet, and lovely. my partner and i have a hard rule about not playing this one until after thanksgiving, but i feel like we’re close enough that you should get to start working it into your holiday playlists now. 

that’s it for this list; i’ll have another one up on tuesday to continue the thurday cooking extravaganza. 

[undergroundrockpress]

The Cramps - The Left Bank, Mt. Vernon NY. - 5/9/1981

Photo by Ed Steinerts.

[guerrilla-operator]

THE CRAMPS

[reality-detective]

BREAKING NEWS: Congo is currently going through a genocide. Millions of people are being killed so for the benefit from its natural resources.

More than 60% of the world’s cobalt reserves are found in Congo, used in the production of computers and smartphones. The DRC is home to what some believe to be the world's biggest lithium deposit. Which is used for batteries of all sizes including electric cars.

European countries are providing financial military aid to invade regions filled with reserves and in the process millions are getting killed and millions homeless.

Multinational mining companies are enslaving people especially children who never had the chance to enroll in school to mine. With the talks of Ukraine and Palestine, meanwhile the Congo is being ‘cleansed’ 🤔

[all-rock-and-roll-is-homosexual]

The Cramps in New York, 1982

📸: Curtis Knapp

[jgthirlwell]

08.18.24 Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds rock out at Union Pool in Brooklyn

[disease]

SIOUXSIE SIOUX & KID CONGO @ DISNEYLAND [PHOTOGRAPHY: DONNA SANTISI | early 1980s]

[iamdangerace]

1985

The year in which Kid Congo Powers and Patricia Morrison (then both still members of the Gun Club and tired of Jeffrey's antics) formed Fur Bible and played backup for the Legendary Stardust Cowboy at an Amsterdam show.

[theunderestimator-2]

Sally Norvell singing "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" on her punk stage debut as captured by Will Van Overbook back in 1978 in Austin, Texas, with Cold Sweat, a band that led to the Norvells.

Sally Norvell is an actor, director, writer and producer and most Wim Wenders fans may remember her appearance in "Paris, Texas" (1984) as 'Nurse Bibs' on a rubber horse behind the mirror of the peep show but her curriculum vitae also lists her as a frontwoaman who was central to Austin's punk history right from its inception. Having been one of the early punk rebels that attended the San Antonio show of the Sex Pistols (a game-changing moment for Austin's scene which basically sparked out of conversations between future pioneers in cars heading back to Austin from Randy's Rodeo in the wee hours of Jan. 9, 1978) and also having one of the best female punk voices according to the revered historian of Austin's music scene Margaret Moser, she fronted various bands who all shared members and gigs as an entwined entity, starting with Cold Sweat -who actually opened for The Huns during the notorious Raul's gig that turned into a riot after their singer Phil Tolstead kissed a cop on the lips-as well as The Violators, if I'm not mistaken, and followed by Motor Men, The Gator Family and The Norvells.

An important musical figure in her own right by this point, she spent the '80s leading the revisionist-swing combo Prohibition (also featuring members of Scratch Acid, Poison 13, and Glass Eye) and the '90s in the Congo Norvell, a long-lived partnership with Kid Congo Powers.

(via, via, via, via, via, via, via, via & via)

[musickickztoo]

Kid Congo Powers  *March 27, 1959

[boxforblackpaul]

The Cramps

[tagmusicblog]

?????? 🤨🤨🤨🤨

(from kid congo's book, A New Kind Of Kick, regarding his time in the Bad Seeds)

[undergroundrockpress]

Gun Club / Kid Congo Powers and Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Sydney, 1983. Photo : David Laing.

[bitter69uk]

Happy 65th birthday to iconic Mexican American punk musician, former guitarist in The Cramps, The Gun Club and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, author, raconteur and perennially suave mofo – Señor Kid Congo Powers (born Brian Tristan, 27 March 1959)! I haven’t read his memoirs Some New Kind of Kick yet – but I clearly need to. Pictured: Powers with The Cramps photographed by Curtis Knapp in New York, 1982.

[saramencken]

[queerbauten]

Kid Congo Powers, Nick Cave, Blixa Bargeld, and Roland Wolf, c. mid-1980. Photographer unknown, because people online would rather die than credit photographers. (If you have any leads—help, bitte!!)