Recent Stories with tag screaming trees

Three albums into an initially very surprising collaboration, the sandpaper-and-velvet duo of Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan is finally cozy enough to play live in the U.S., including a stop at Neumo's on October 26. The third album, Hawk—following the acclaimed Ballad of the Broken Seas (2006) and Sunday at Devil Dirt (2008)—hits shelves August 24, but can be streamed via Campbell’s Facebook page now.

If you know Lanegan from his days fronting Ellensburg's Screaming Trees and have (ignorantly) tuned him out since, these atmospheric, South-souled songs will surprise you. If you're familiar with his eclectic, smoky solo catalog and/or work with the Soulsavers and Greg Dulli (as the Gutter Twins) or Campbell's Snuggie-soft voice (going back to 1996 with Belle and Sebastian), you'll be pleased. Either way, their latest work, though similarly fit for a long-forgotten, remote Texas tavern, is even more of a sonic—and somehow almost tactile—joy. (Campbell, the musical pants-wearer of the duo, produced.) Think salted caramel ice cream. First you wrinkle your nose, then you lick your lips.

Here's a quickly-penned reaction/review of Hawk's thirteen dusky, scene-setting songs, eight featuring Lanegan's awesome rasp, two surrendering the mic to young folkie Willy Mason (not actually featured on the Garden State soundtrack; more on that below), and one with fretwork from former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha.... (more)

What time Mark Pickerel hasn't spent behind drum kits and guitars, he's put in behind counters and cash registers. The former Screaming Trees and Truly drummer and current Praying Hands frontman and musician-about-town owned and ran Ellensburg's Rodeo Records from 1991 to 2005. After a five-year break, he's splitting stage and retail time again as the co-owner and well-coiffed face of Belltown's Damaged Goods. Days ahead of a Facebook-fueled grand opening of sorts—which featured free beer, wine, homemade margaritas, and a shopful of old-school scenesters and new-school browsers—I spoke with Pickerel about his new venture, its future, and what it means for his other career.

So what brought you back to retail?
When I closed Rodeo Records, I was frustrated with the current state of music retail, but I hadn't given up on it entirely. So some friends of mine who just moved here from Los Angeles mentioned that they were interested in finding a space to open up a gallery. They wondered if I might be interested in running retail space out of the same spot, in the hope that I would attract some foot traffic and generate interest in the place. It just happened to coincide with me needing some income—I became a stay at home dad a couple of years ago, and I'd found it more and more difficult to make a living as a musician while being distracted with my daughter most days of the week. [Laughs] They found this gallery space right next to Roq La Rue, which is one of my favorite galleries. We met with the building manager the next day. So literally within 24 hours of imagining getting back into retail, I confirmed that we'd be moving in by January 1.... (more)

This creepy vid for the Soulsavers' "Unbalanced Pieces," off Broken, their newish (available digitally since August; the physical release date in the U.S. is still on the horizon), second effort featuring former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, is entertaining in a Debbie-Downer-on-downers kind of way. So if you’re feeling up and want to go even higher, just listen.

 

Hear that other, higher-pitch voice twining around Lanegan's softened growl through the chorus? Whispering in the background? Turing the s-sounds in "unbalanced pieces" into a honeyed serpent's hiss? That’s avant-awesome, Faith No More/Mr. Bungle/Tomahawk/etc. mastermind Mike Patton.

Lanegan's previously done the duet thing, to wonderful effect, with Isobel Campbell. An album with Mr. Patton could be equally amazing. Perhaps more so. "Unbalanced Pieces" only hints, and beautifully so, at what their affinities for darkness and weirdness could produce.

The beautiful, moody Broken and whatever the enigmatic Lanegan does next will have to do till then.