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Issue No. 3
| Features |
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Steve Wynn
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There are few artists who speak to me like Steve Wynn. Ever since that fateful day in 1985 when I picked up his old band The Dream Syndicate's The Days of Wine & Roses on vinyl at Wee Three Records in Pottstown, Pa I have been an admirer and student. His piercing lyrics that combine poetry, pulp and the everyday plight of the everyman have been a part of my landscape my entire adult life. I realized one of my ambitions as a music journalist recently when Steve agreed to indulge me a lengthy set of questions covering his entire career. Following are his thoughts on The Dream Syndicate, his solo career, the recording process, influences and romance.
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Milton Mapes
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Milton Mapes is one of the most fascinating bands making music today. Combining the intensity of Joy Division, the new gritty Americana of Woven Hand and Drive-By Truckers and the painterly lyrical quality of Neil Young and Tim Buckley. Their latest release The Blacklight Trap out now on Undertow Music is a revelation. A harrowing, yet beautiful trip through the long dark night of the soul
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Lydia Lunch
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Since she nearly single-handedly spearheaded the No-Wave movement in 1976 by forming Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Lydia Lunch has been a performance artist stunning in her creativity, confrontational vision, and longevity. In the 80’s she collaborated with such underground legends as Richard Kern, Nick Cave, Foetus and Die Haut, and recording some classic solo work such as Queen of Siam and In Limbo. The 90’s found her continuing her collaborations with such luminaries as Exene Cervenka and Kim Gordon as well as kicking her spoken word assault on the world into high gear. This new century finds her working on installations, illustrated word and a new record Smoke in the Shadows featuring Nels Cline, now of Wilco. I spoke to Lydia Lunch this past spring from LA and she had quite a bit to say.
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| Interviews |
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Sleater-Kinney
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Sleater-Kinney are a power combo from Portland, Oregon.
The twin guitars and Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker
combined with the snare pummeling of Janet Weiss have
made for some of the most intense and moving music to
come from the pacific northwest over the last ten years.
Their latest The Woods is being hailed everywhere (including
here at MagnaPhone) as a bona-fide classic. I got a
chance to briefly chat with Carrie Brownstein this past
May.
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| Profiles |
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Roullette
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A year ago a cassette tape found its way to my door.
I had been flyering for my kickoff party and about an
hour after I returned I found a brown envelope with
a cassette, some pictures and note. The note was from
Chante Brown, lead singer of Roullette asking me to
check out a recording of a recent party gig. I dug what
I heard: Loud, angry, straightforward metal. Riffs and
growling, no gimmicks, no pretensions. It was raw and
needed work but I knew this was an act I should follow.
It's a year later and MagnaPhone has taken in a couple
of Roullette gigs, with two very different persepectives.
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| Live Shows |
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Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
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The only thing worse than a hellish day of disaster,
is a hellish day of disaster where I get what I want.
Everything worked out yesterday, but nothing went smoothly.
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Deerhoof
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It would have been too easy to see Deerhoof in Philadelphia.
Tying my shoelaces and skipping over to the First Unitarian
Church to squeeze out a soporifically pedestrian review
is not what I want to do to people. I think you deserve
better than that, my fellow Magnaphone readers. I checked
out Kill Rock Stars' website for an alternate plan,
and two nights at NorthSix in Brooklyn jumped out at
me like a housewife on speed holding a knife at my throat.
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Angels of Light
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I don’t want to get old, and I don’t want
to be alone. I don’t go to bars too often and it’s
not because I don’t drink; I have a half-gallon
jug of Absolut vodka here at home. No, it’s because
the sounds and the smells and the atmosphere only remind
me that someday I’m going to die, and it’s
probably not going to be with six beautiful young women
looking after me on my private island in the tropics.
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