|
the deadly snakes: I ATE THE DOCTOR'S LETTERS
by Sean
Please note: MP3s are only kept online for a short time, and if this entry is from more than a couple of weeks ago, the music probably won't be available to download any more.
The Deadly Snakes - "I Can't Sleep At Night". I first heard the Snakes at a "rearing, frenzied, soulful" show as part of last year's bluesfest. And here they are on record with that same bat-wild energy - the stomping rhythm&blues riffs, the thudding drums, the rooting sax. Max ("Age Of") Danger is one of the band's two vocalists, here presenting a fantastically cracked croon, a persuasive-but-crazed shout. As one of their labels puts it, "Maybe they're the mongrel sons of 1960s Stax soul, Them era Van Morrison, The Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indian Band, and The Band backing Bob Dylan. But that?s just what I think. Ask the boys, and they probably think they?re the Stones." This song is red-eyed and raw, fuelled by an insomniac's madness. There's an exhilerating delirium in the chorus, as the band yells back and forth to each other: "Hey!"/"Hey!"/"Hey!!". Everyone spins and tumbles into an unconscious heap. The Deadly Snakes - "Oh My Bride". Also from Ode to Joy, "Oh My Bride" is punched through with handclaps and even more group hollering. This time it's Andre Ethier on lead vox, crying out a moonshine-soaked blues. He's kicking himself in the pants, rolling his eyes, feverishly grabbing at pills. There's a gospel fervour, shaking arms, and an electric guitar's vigorous, commanding yell (BOOM BOOM BOOM go the drums). If the White Stripes recruited a gang of ne'er do wells, turned in guitar hooks for gnashing, ebullient raving. Andre Ethier - "She Will Never Be Your Girl". A short clip from Ethier's solo album, released this year on Sonic Unyon. The record (which is burdened with a stupidly lengthy title), wanders away from the Deadly Snakes' garage soul and towards Dylan, Waits, and other drunk-but-clomping singers. "She Will Never Be Your Girl" is a bittersweeter number, Ethier's plain voice above a flimsy ukelele strum, piano notes like drops from a tap in an empty kitchen. The lyrics are fast coming, with fine rhymes and an accelerating, resigned sadness. "And even Jesus Christ himself / would be loosening his belt / and even Stalin in his tomb / would rise inside her womb. / But she's never been a girl." It's enough to break a drunkard's heart. (I mean it.) Did I mention that they're from Comments
What's going on with the "strikethrough" everywhere? End tag needed? Posted by turbulent priest at May 7, 2004 7:41 AMThe Deadly Snakes are indeed great, but Ode to Joy is their 3rd record, not the debut. Love Undone was first, followed up by one I can't remember because I don't have it. I do know it has Greg Cartwright (Oblivians, Compulsive Gamblers, Reigning Sound, etc.) on it as a member instead of just producing like he did with Love Undone. Posted by chachi at May 7, 2004 8:13 AMstrike-through is creepy. have you been hacked? Posted by scandal face at May 7, 2004 9:01 AMit displays properly in mozilla firefox, but looks like IE didn't turn off your strikethrough tag. yay microsoft! Posted by justin why at May 7, 2004 9:55 AMNot only IE, but Opera 7.5 as well :( Posted by Ronan at May 7, 2004 10:08 AMstrike-though is this like some new Ottawa thing?? heh Posted by bw at May 7, 2004 10:32 AMthe Snakes kill me, and the Ethier solo's even better. The Band comparison is really really apt on the Ethier solo record, and Chris Sandes' playing is just fantastic on it. Absolutely uncanny Dylan impression. Posted by tim at May 7, 2004 10:52 AMYikes! That strikethrough should be fixed now. Forgot to properly close a tag, but it got closed all the same on Camino (which I use). Sorry for the confusion. And thanks for that clarification, Chachi. I had no idea they had other records (I guess I shoulda). I'll have to hunt them out! And yeah, Benjamen, strikethrough is like the national capital of HTML. :) Posted by Sean at May 7, 2004 11:12 AMThat Andre Ethier track's fantastic.. It's like the finale of Devendra Banhart's Michigan State but fed through a lifetime's world-weary depression. What's the rest of the album like? Posted by kieran at May 7, 2004 3:01 PMThank you for those riotous Deadly Snakes tracks. They're perfect background music to watch Donald Rumsfeld get raked over the coals to. He's being bombarded by questions right now live on CNN & it looks like Bush is going to be shopping for a new Defence Secretary pretty damn soon. All is well in the world. (Well, not in Iraq or all those despotic countries, but at least we're removing some Deadly Snakes from the U.S. Gov't. Posted by Jeremy Brendan at May 7, 2004 4:16 PMThe Snakes second record is entitled "I'm Not Your Soldier Anymore" and well worth one's time and dollars. Each record is more fully realized than the last. Kieran, I wouldn't say I hear much Devendra in the album proper - he's really trying to follow the tradition of Dylan at his booziest, or Tom Waits at his kind of greyest. It's good, but not as incredible as I had hoped (to be honest). Posted by Sean at May 10, 2004 1:13 AMJust for a contrasting view, I agree with Sean about the sound (I say Basement Tapes, Chris Sandes agrees) but I think it's more incredible than I hoped and one of my favourites of the year. Posted by tim at May 10, 2004 8:27 PMThere is another few Andre Ethier tracks available for free download off the Sonic Unyon press downloads site that I noticed last night. Click on the Andre Ethier logo at www.sonicunyon.com/press Posted by Raven at May 11, 2004 9:34 AMPost a comment |
 about said the gramophone
this is a daily sampler of really good songs. all tracks are posted out of love. please go out and buy the records!
to play a song in-browser (flash required), click the  . to download a song, right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'
all songs are removed within a week or two of posting. said the gramophone launched in march 2003, and added songs in november of that year. it was one of the world's very first mp3blogs. if you would like to say hello, find out our mailing addresses or invite us to shows, please get in touch: montreal, canada: sean toronto, canada: jordan montreal, canada: dan please don't send us emails with tons of huge attachments; if emailing a bunch of mp3s etc, use a service like MailBigFile. if you are the copyright holder of any song posted here, please contact us if you would like the song taken down early. please do not direct link to any of these tracks. please love and wonder. "and i shall watch the ferry-boats / and they'll get high on a bluer ocean / against tomorrow's sky / and i will never grow so old again." we are a member of MBV.
about the authors
Sean Michaels lives in Montreal, where he is writing a novel. His work also occasionally appears at McSweeney's. Follow him on Twitter or reach him here.
Dan Beirne is an actor and writer living in Montreal. He writes fiction fiction fiction on here. It may feel true, but it is never True. He is most proud of his most recent project The Bitter End. Email him here Jordan Himelfarb lives in Toronto, where he is editor in chief of The Mark. Jordan's posts appear at Said the Gramophone only on the last Wednesday of every month. Email him here. Site design and header typography by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet. The header graphic is randomized: this one is by . 
search
Archives
elsewhere
our favourite blogs
(◊ means they write about music) Back to the World La Blogothèque ◊ Fluxblog ◊ Weird Canada ◊ Juan and Only ◊ Passion of the Weiss ◊ Destination: Out ◊ A Grammar (Nitsuh Abebe) ◊ Ill Doctrine ◊ Petites planètes ◊ LPWTF? ◊ Endless Banquet Torture Garden ◊ Gorilla vs Bear ◊ Herohill ◊ Clouds of Evil ◊ The Dolby Apposition ◊ Awesome Tapes from Africa ◊ Molars ◊ Mile Endings Daytrotter ◊ Matana Roberts ◊ Pitchfork Reviews Reviews ◊ i like you [podcast] Musicophilia ◊ Freedom Blues ◊ Nicola Meighan ◊ radiolab [podcast] plethoric pundrigrions Wattled Smoky Honeyeater ◊ The Clear-Minded Creative Hungry Oyster Horses Think White Hotel Then Play Long (Marcello Carlin) ◊ Uno Moralez Coming Up For Air (Matt Forsythe) ftrain my love for you is a stampede of horses It's Nice That Marathonpacks ◊ Song, by Toad ◊ In Focus AMASS BLOG Inventory Waxy WTF [podcast] Masalacism ◊ The Rest is Noise (Alex Ross) ◊ Goldkicks ◊ My Daguerreotype Boyfriend The Hood Internet ◊ things we like in Montreal eat: st-viateur bagel café olimpico Euro-Deli Batory le pick up lawrence au pied de cochon mamie clafoutis tourtière australienne la paryse ripples bilboquet vices & versa + paltoquet, cocoa locale, idée fixe, patati patata, qin hua dumplings, momoi, meu-meu, romodos, patisserie guillaume, patisserie rhubarbe, kazu, maison du nord, cuisine szechuan &c shop: phonopolis drawn + quarterly + bottines &c shows: casa + sala + the hotel blue skies turn black montreal improv passovah productions le cagibi cinema du parc cinérobothèque (maga)zines The Believer The Morning News I (Heart) Music McSweeney's State The Skinny community ILX |
