A True Artist

What is the meaning of artistic integrity? I guess if art imitates life then this concept must at least appear to be the same as its societal partner, just plain old integrity. When we think of the word integrity, I wonder if the composer Frank Zappa would come to mind? He sang about big penises and weasels ripping flesh. He dropped every dirty word in the book in his songs. His kids called him Frank. He believed parental warnings shouldn't be allowed on album covers. So why on the subject of artistic integrity do I immediately cite the brains behind some of the zaniest, most controversial, sexually suggestive, and outright dirty music of the 60s, 70s, and 80s? The answer is simple: the man was who he was, and stayed true to himself from the day he walked into a big, cigar chomping record execs office with a copy of his 40 minute long avant garde composition "Lumpy Gravy" until the sold out performances of his orchestral chamber piece "The Yellow Shark" shortly before his death.

America, like any other nation, is a country of contradictions and questionable values. We hold The Jonas Brothers in the highest esteem for their purity rings, when in reality, there are millions of dollars of Disney money behind the brothers' decision to make a "stand" for abstinence. For their part, the Jonas brothers are thrusting their pelvises, shooting white foam on their audiences, and making sexy poses for little girls' posters.

Zappa wouldn't have liked the Jonas Brothers. He would have considered them just one of the many moral failures of our culture. What is the psychological impact of a group like the Jonas Brothers dipping their big toes in the pools of sexual suggestion while at the same time encouraging abstinence with their million dollar rings versus a hairy, big nosed (actual) song writer who says "look this is what sex (or drugs or rock n roll) is - take it or leave it."

I grew up in a generally liberal household: my parents didn't try to hide anything from me or scare me into abstaining from sex or drinking or drugs. The result was that I now have a responsible and realistic attitude towards all those things. Frank Zappa was a cynic. He had a way of making the listener look at any hot button issue and just chill out or have a bit of a chuckle about it. That's the power and integrity of comedy: when you're able to have a laugh about something, it's much easier to approach the situation with an open mind and a spirit of cooperation and reason. From that point of view, any problem can be easily solved.

What I've Been Getting into Lately

We're Only in it for the Money - The Mothers of Invention

Every genre needs an album for phony hippies to listen to. Zappa and his mothers have the perfect thing. A combination of psychedelic pop, prog, new age synth, R&B, and classical with a ton of hilarious and innovative soundbites in between, this 1968 classic lampoons everything from cops, to the government, to dirty hippies and their indulgent drug abuse. Coasting the edge of social suicide, The Mothers isolate themselves from every trend and establishment in 1960s culture and counterculture to provide biting social commentary and cynical observation. The message? Just chill out, be who you are no matter how weird or crazy, and do the right thing whether in a suit and tie or with long hair and a beard. Beyond the album's social concepts and ideas, it contains a great deal of musical innovation as well. Even the Beatles were influenced heavily by The Mothers to produce the album "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" often mistakenly billed as the world's first concept album (Zappa produced one a few years before and there were many even before that). Strange, exciting, lyrical, melodic, annoying, like nothing you've ever heard, it's no wonder "We're Only in it for the Money" was recently included in the Library of Congress' "National Recording Registry."

Noteworthy tunes: Who Needs the Peace Corps?, Mom and Dad, Flower Punk, Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance, Lonely Little Girl, What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?

Zack Attack is Dead!

So in the spirit of Noel Gallagher finally breaking off from Oasis, my band Zack Attack has decided to disband and immediately reband under a different name. We were quite seriously complexing over what name to use, but finally, we decided to honor of the humorous Japanese mispronunciation of our former lead vocalist Ruth Kingdon by naming the group "Loose Kingdom." The name also seems to suggest the nature of our band: a group of fine musicians inspired by a wide range of musical influences might find it difficult to be as one. But our task is to use our diversity as our strength to create a united kingdom (not THE United Kingdom") of great music, loosely held together as it may be. Well, enough about deep meanings and symbols, just filling everyone in on the change.

Anyway, from now on as a way of motivating me to write more on my blog, I have decided to review one album every week. Some music is new to me, other old. However, it will always be an album I've been getting into over the course of the preceding week. I've decided to call this section "What I've been getting into this week." So here goes:

What I've been getting into this week...

White Pepper - Ween

This album from Pennsylvania's Indie rock legends is so eclectic, it's impossible to pigeon-hole their style into one genre. Whether its jazz, power punk, country, psychedelic music, or even Kenny Loggins-esque yacht rock, one never knows what to expect next. The concept behind their musical ADD seems simple. Signaled by their offbeat, often funny or cynical lyrics and the use of bizarre sounding voice and guitar effects, Ween takes aim at the entire idea of genre. The album, much like a Tarantino film, dissects each genre it presents, taking the pomp and glitter away and allowing the listener to think about the basic foundation of the style being presented. The best example is "Bananas and Blow" which sets the innocent, overproduced calypso singer/songwriter style of the late 70s against the theme of sitting around doing cocaine with no particular direction. The contrast seems to suggest the entire genre had little more aim than to set a melodic backdrop for rich, white people to ride their yachts and indulge in cocaine. Throughout it all, Ween manages to keep a cohesive sound, which only on rare moments might make the passive listener wonder if "White Pepper" was a compilation album of various different groups. This method of album construction challenges the listener to think about the system of genre and categorization (i.e. rock, jazz, blues) which exists in the music industry and wonder if such characterizations truly have any utility in understanding the essence of a group. In the case of Ween, at least, it certainly does not.

Noteworthy Songs:
Every song on the album is good, but I found The Grobe, Pandy Fackler, Back to Basom, Stay Forever, and Falling Out to be particularly outstanding compositions.