As promised, this week we take a look at some of our
favorite songs of 2008 so far. But
instead of me blathering on about how great these songs are, I brought in some
ringers: my dad and his band, Koots, in their studio
in San Bernardino, California.
¾ of Koots and I played jukebox jury (their bassist, Larry Brown—no
relation—was not present.) I played them some songs and they told me what they
thought of them. But first, they gave me a little background:
MARLIN BROWN: We
started in college. We had a jug band
group.
DON SILL: I was
playing with a couple of other people at times.
MB: I had been
playing with Toni Driver, a girl out in the desert, and she would come out here
to Cal State and we would play hootenannies.
DS: We’d be playing
at the same concert.
MB: Right. And then Robin would come in and stomp his
foot and click around and thump his guitar and do his thing, and we were real
impressed with Robin.
ROBIN STRAHAN: I was
the new kid in town.
MB: So that’s how we
got started. Larry, Robin and I started
trying to shop our music around. We
ended up going into A&M studios and recording some stuff there that never
went anywhere. I can remember being on
the top floor of Capitol Records with our tape, sitting there with one of their
A&R guys.
DS: I remember
putting huge hours into a tape, getting it done and handing it to
somebody. And never seeing it
again. And nobody ever listened to
it. I mean, I don’t know what happened
to it. But, you know, you’re twenty
years old. You do that kind of stuff.
RS: Well, Larry knew
somebody that knew somebody that knew somebody.
DS: Right, that’s
always who you gave your tape to.
MB: …and then life
went on, and we all went our separate ways with marriage and kids and… And then four years ago, Robin and I went to
the Guitar Center to look at the vintage guitars.
RS: And they were us.
MB: [Laughing.] We realized we were the vintage guitars.
RS: Then we sort of
dared each other to buy new guitars
MB: We started
pluckin’ around. We’d do Simon &
Garfunkel, and we’d do Buddy Mondlock.
RS: Then we started
writing our own stuff, and decided we liked our own stuff. Marlin bought some recording equipment.
MB: [Laughing] And
the rest is history.
RS: We put out our
first album, and Don said “I want to be a Koot.” He joined midway through recording our second
batch of songs.
MB: And then Larry
said “I want to be a Koot.”
THE FACTUAL OPINION:
If it keeps up, you’ll double the number of Koots after each album. Have you guys always been interested in
music in general?
MB: Since high
school. I think Don, too.
RS: I used to go to
sleep listening to Hank Williams sing.
DS: I liked
performing more than I liked the music.
I picked up the guitar and in about twenty minutes I was ready to go on
stage. I learned a song and I went up on
stage and played. Then, they said, “I’ve
got a request,” and I did the same song again.
TFO: That’s very punk
rock.
RS: Back in the day,
if you played guitar and sang on stage, you met a lot of people of the feminine
kind.
DS: I showed up with
a guitar and a bottle of Boone’s Farm I don’t know how many times.
RS: There were
ulterior reasons for playing guitar.
DS: It wasn’t even
ulterior, that was the primary reason.
MB: I’ve got a
picture of myself sitting on the Atlantic Ocean coast, sitting on a picnic table playing guitar, this kid is at my feet, and
all these girls are standing around.
DS: It doesn’t get
better than that.
RS: Let’s do that again.
TFO: What kind of
music do you guys like in general? What
gets your attention?
RS: I like to be able
to understand the lyrics. I really,
really, really like Counting Crows. I
know they’re not cutting edge.
TFO: What is it that
you like about them?
RS: I like that
they’re a throwback in a lot of ways. I
like their lyrics, they’re meaningful.
DS: I like a little
intellect coming through the words.
MB: Crosby, Stills
& Nash; The Beach Boys; obviously The Beatles; Spanky & Our Gang. When you listen to the crossover between folk
and jazz, it’s incredible. The first The
Mamas & The Papa’s album was a jaw-dropper because of the four-part
harmony. I like sound-scape music as
well, when they paint an image with the songs—Enya or Sigur Rós. When we record, that frustrates the hell out
of these guys, because that’s what I go for.
TFO: All right, let’s
listen to the first song.
Fleet Foxes – “White
Water Hymnal”
MB: I think that’s
great. I like the rhythm, I like the
harmony, I like the a cappella at the beginning, I like the rounding.
RS: I thought to
myself, “Marlin is going to like this.”
TFO: I started you
guys off with a little bit of a softball, because I knew that this particular
song is in your wheelhouse.
DS: I thought it was
okay, but I’m waiting for the story. I
need the story in the song. So it was
okay, but I’m waiting for something to happen.
It’s not mine.
MB: Is it something
you would buy?
DS: No.
MB: I would explore
this group based on that. I would say,
“That’s really neat.” I might go on line
and see what else they had.
TFO: Well, thumbs up
for Fleet Foxes.
Santogold – “Lights
Out”
RS: I like the sound
a lot. I can’t understand enough of the
lyrics. Reminds me a little of The
Cranberries.
DS: It sounds cool.
MB: It’s a dance
beat.
DS: It’s not exactly
what I… I’m a Koot!
MB: It reminded me a
little bit of Cyndi Lauper. Just a
touch.
DS: Yeah, and I like
Cyndi Lauper. But I like Cyndi Lauper
better.
MB: I do too, because
you can hear the words. Robin has a
thing about… we were talking about selling music, and doing stuff that would go
into a lot of the TV shows, that you hear in the background and stuff. So we deliberately try to write what that
might sound like.
RS: I can hear this
very much as a TV soundtrack, or a movie soundtrack.
DS: Somebody’s
running through the park.
RS: I wouldn’t be
surprised if it’s been used already.
TFO: A lot of money’s
being made these days on licensing, because the record industry’s falling
apart.
MB: We want to get in
on that.
Sigur Rós – “Gobbledigook”
DS: I like this the
same way I like Joni Mitchell when she doesn’t make sense. I trust her.
MB: I like the
rhythm. I recognized Sigur Rós right off
the bat. I’m sitting here trying to
figure out the timing. I think it’s 6/8.
DS: It’s 4/4. It works.
RS: Although it might
be 8/4.
DS: It’s a multiple,
and they’re doing a lot of backbeats on it.
MB: It’s really
effective. This isn’t typical Sigur Rós,
though.
TFO: No, no. That’s exactly what I like about it. I was really delighted about this song,
because I feel like they’ve been doing the same thing over and over again for
the last 10 years, and to have something that’s such a new direction that still
retains what they’re good at is really awesome.
RS: Most people like
that, to see bands change and evolve over time.
TFO: Some bands can
get away with making the same album over and over again, because they can
sustain it. But most bands who try to do
that end up diluting their sound.
MB: [To Don] Exactly!
TFO: Which is why
[Koots’ upcoming single] “Spank Me, Jesus”…
MB: …is gonna be a
hit!
Air France - "No Excuses"
RS: It sounds like
something composed at the computer.
DS: It sounds like,
“I need one of these, I need one of these, I need one of these, and let’s crank
it up.”
MB: I have one in the
works right now that’s the same thing, just made up of samples. That’s what that is, all samples. They just take a bar and repeat it, repeat
it, repeat it. I think it’s fun to
do. I enjoy stuff like that.
RS: And we expect you
to enjoy putting out an album like that.
MB: I see what
they’re doing. This is a dance tune for
a club following, and it’s listenable.
It’s contemporary elevator music.
DS: Fast elevator
music. Freight elevator.
MB: I can make that
music pretty easily.
TFO: Yeah?
DS: Not with us
around.
MB: Don is much more
of a “Give me a guitar and a voice and don’t mess with any of that other
stuff.”
RS: I like it guitar
and vocal driven.
DS: I think Robin and
I are on the same wavelength on that.
MB: And I’m the stick
in the spoke.
TFO: Do you think
that’s because you’re fascinated by the technology, or do you like the kind of
music that produces?
MB: We go through
this all the time. This is our
discussion when we’re working on a song.
When we’re doing something, I hear it almost as a completed piece. I hear what the sounds should be. I hear what needs to come up underneath
it. I hear the different parts, and I’m
willing to experiment to get it to that type of sound. I think Robin and Don probably hear, “I
really like the guitar here, and my voice needs to be a little bit louder here,
and, wait a minute, the guitar needs to be turned up just a touch.” But I think that the computer gives you
opportunities to do things… Well, first of all, it creates a democracy of the
music, which allows anybody to tap their creativity, more than ever
before. Because if you look at the stuff
we did when we had reel-to-reel tape recorders…
DS: Oh jeez, that was
painful.
MB: I had to build a
4-track tape recorder to do those first songs that Robin and I and Larry used
to do. Anybody can do that on the
internet now. What it’s changed, is now
the talent has to be there. You can do
anything with a computer. What really
makes the difference is what you put into it.
DS: It’s way more
inclusive. It’s a democracy now.
TFO: And the good
stuff rises.
RS: Sometimes. Sometimes other stuff.
MB: I having a saying
about everybody being in a band.
Everybody’s in a band.
RS: But everybody’s
not in a good band.
MB: You either have
to have a niche that you’re shooting for, or you have to be incredibly lucky.
Portishead – “Machine
Gun”
[Don and Marlin look at one another and laugh.]
RS: I’d really have
to read those lyrics for a while to find out the justification for that
particular percussion, because I find it distracting and annoying.
DS: Yeah. Why?
TFO: Well, the track
is called “Machine Gun.”
RS: I picked up on
that.
MB: It’s what I’d
call experimental music. Although, she’s
got a beautiful voice.
DS: I’ll give her the
benefit of the doubt, she’s just headed in a direction that I’m not in on. She has talent, and she’s not wasting her
time, but she’s not reaching me. So,
it’s probably my fault, not hers.
MB: I can see where
she’s going.
DS: I’m just
wondering why she’d want to go there.
TFO: The idea of the
dueling drum machines is either brilliant or idiotic.
MB: It is brilliant.
DS: But that lasts
about ten seconds.
MB: I would have
mixed that differently. I wouldn’t have
emphasized the drums as much.
RS: When I listen to
music, I like to like the music I listen to.
You may like this, but I don’t see anything to like. You might appreciate the effort and the
intellectual thought behind it, but I don’t find it enjoyable.
MB: It’s like Mahler. Wagner and Mahler I don’t like listening to,
but it’s technically wonderful music.
DS: Well, it might be
very difficult to insert a big toe during a kiss, but I don’t see why you would
do it.
TFO: I couldn’t
handle that song the first couple of times I heard it. Then I caught it one time and it blew my
mind.
RS: I didn’t like Bob
Dylan the first time I heard him.
MB: I think what
happens is, your brain starts diminishing the effect of the drum, and you start
listening for the lyrics. At least,
that’s what was happening with me. I was
feeling the rhythm, but not…
RS: I guess I’m very
suspicious of what I consider to be theatrics in music.
The Dodos – “Fools”
DS: I like it a lot
more than you’d think I would.
RS: They’re not
Australian, are they?
MB: They’re not
Russian, are they?
RS: I like this one a
little better than the one a little while ago, because this one has a little
more of a traditional musical theme in it.
MB: Again, you’re
going back to some of the African roots of rhythm, with some of the sticks, the
blocks.
RS: They’re also
doing something… I can’t quite get it, but I thought they had one time
signature at the beginning, then they changed into a different one, then
perhaps they’re doing two of them and meshing them together very well.
TFO: I think the
drumming on this whole album, actually, is the best part of it.
DS: I would go back
and listen to it.
Lele – “Breakfast”
[All three guys look at each other and laugh.]
MB: Let’s go to Don
for this one.
DS: It’s like a mean
spirited Flight of the Concords. I love
Flight of the Concords, and if they had an attitude, that’s what they’d be
writing.
RS: To me, this is
not music at all. It’s beatnik poetry.
DS: Performance
art. He’s painting an interesting
picture, but I got the whole thing real quickly.
Re-Up Gang – “20K
Money Makin’ Brothers On the Corner”
MB: I think I can
speak for all of us…
RS: Lay it down for
us. What’d you think of this?
DS: “Shit,
bitch. Sure I love you”
MB: When I hear this
I wonder what I’m not getting. First of
all, I admire when you see the kids do this, and I’ve seen them do it
spontaneously, when they can do the rap stuff and rhyme, I think that’s really
a talent.
RS: I thought it was
mass hypnosis.
MB: How they pull it
off so quickly.
RS: The first thing I
thought of was my daughter’s old Sesame
Street clock.
It went bad over time. It wore
down. It used to be Big Bird, and in the
beginning, you’d set the alarm and it would say, “Wake up! It’s time to get up! This is Big Bird, and it’s time to get
up!” But as time went on it slowed down
and became very menacing, to the point where we were all afraid of it. At the end, it would say, “Iiiiits tiiiiime
toooo guuuut uuuuuuuuuu. Thuuuuus
uuuuuus Buuuuuug Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd.”
MB: This doesn’t move
me in the least, and I’m always amazed that people can listen to this and it
does something for them.
RS: Well, this is one
of Martin’s favorites. We’re listening
to your top 10. What do you like about
this?
TFO: Some of it’s
production. The effect you’re talking
about—I like that about it. The lyricists
on it are really great. It’s a little
unfair. This year has been a really,
really weak year for rap music. So, this
song—I like it a lot, but it’s not totally representative of the best of rap
music. You know, for this Shakespeare
program I’m doing, we’re taking a poetry class where we bring in stuff that has
nothing to do with Shakespeare. I
brought in a rap song called “The F-Word,” because I feel like there’s a lot of
similarity between what rappers do and what Shakespeare was doing. He was inventing words, and switching words’
meanings, and he has such a love of language and playing with language.
DS: And you’re
getting that out of the rap, too?
TFO: Absolutely. If you listen to a great rap song, they’ll
say lines with two or three meanings, they’ll invent words, they’ll twist the
pronunciation of words, and it’s all crystal clear. The metaphors and similes they use can be
really clever. There’s a hunger and curiosity
about language that’s virtually nowhere else in our culture. And then you’ll get deeply personal,
autobiographical stories. A lot of it
does get obscured by the stuff that’s enormously popular, which is mostly
two-dimensional. But a lot of the stuff
that’s out there is really great.
RS: Then, is it music
or poetry?
TFO: It depends on
your frame of reference. I like what you
said about “Breakfast” being performance art.
But I think rap is… Sometimes
it’s all merchandizing. But at its best,
it’s definitely music. The best
producers know their music theory, because right now a lot of the top hip-hop
producers are crossing over into pop music, and in order to do that they need
to know their shit, and they do. So when
you get a really good producer working with a really good rapper, it’s great
music.
RS: Once again I notice
that every reference you made was about lyrics, and nothing about melody. I would probably be more attracted to it if I
were reading it as poetry.
DS: I feel like I
have to take a beating to listen to it, and if you just wrote it down I’d be
fine.
TFO: But then it
doesn’t quite translate to being written down, either. It’s almost its own thing.
RS: Perhaps the beat
provides the meter.
TFO: It does. It’s all about form.
RS: It’s just totally
lacking in melody.
MB: It’s all
repetitive. Again, they just have a
sample. I would doubt they spend more
than 15 minutes figuring out if there’s a melody line at all, and it’s all just
repetitive.
RS: Well, I haven’t
given 15 minutes of thought to rap in 15 years.
MB: It must be
striking some chord with a large audience, that at first, obviously, was
black. But there must a lot of
cross-over, because it sells.
TFO: Well, it’s the
dominant form of music right now.
MB: It moves people
in some way that it’s not moving me, which I find interesting.
Gnarls Barkley –
“Going On”
RS: I would perform
it differently, but I like it okay.
DS: I like his voice.
MB: It’s almost like
it’s a hybrid.
RS: It almost sounded
like it had Irish pipes in it.
DS: A penny-whistle
in the background.
MB: The rhythm is
very computer-driven, but some of the recording techniques they use are
70’s-ish.
DS: Like The Four
Tops meet electro.
TFO: This is a
perfect example of a hip-hop producer crossing over.
MB: You can certainly
see that.
The Mountain Goats –
“San Bernadino"
MB: It’s a hit!
RS: I would say, out
of all the songs you’ve played, I really like this. I like it.
TFO: This is a group
called The Mountain Goats.
MB: Very classical
influence.
RS: Thoughtful
words. You can hear the lyrics. The synthesizer is restrained.
MB: He uses the bow
as the rhythm. There’s no drums. Does a wonderful build using very simple
parts. Sounds like two cello parts. Very effective.
DS: I like it.
RS: So we all like
it. The Mountain Goats? I’ll tell you, that’s the only name I’m going
to try to commit to memory.
MB: I like this song, I liked the Sigur Rós. I certainly remember the “Machine Gun.” I think this was a good cross-section of
current music.
TFO: Any closing
thoughts?
MB: I’ll tell you, I
think what’s happened in modern popular music is wonderful, in terms of what
tools are out there now to give young performers and composers a wide variety
of music. This piece of equipment you’re
recording on is 32 tracks of double CD resolution. 20 years ago, you could never have… This
would have been a major studio, right here.
But to put this in the hands of some of the major artists… Sigur Rós,
I’m sure, when they started out were not using much more than this. I can tell by the quality of their first
album, that it was fairly low quality recording. They over-sampled so much that you’re sort of
surprised. This computer made it
possible for anybody with talent and not talent to create music that was almost
impossible.
Koots’ latest album,
Buffalo Dreams, is available on iTunes.
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