I Call The DJ Frank
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Track:You're Not My Boy
I was going to tell you about Ben Wardle and his wonderful blog, but today he shut it down. Like a drummer who can't work out the beginning to "Rock And Roll", my timing is off. Ben has been in A&R, management, run a record label (he released Joe Strummer's work) and is now a journalist. I've never figured out how freelance journalists with a family to support can make a living from writing and now I know: Ben is getting another career. However, in a recent blog he mentioned a book of album covers he is producing, one that concentrates on the not-so-well known, people like Burt Goldblatt, a prolific designer of moody Jazz covers, as The New York Times obituary put it. What caught my eye, though, was mention of "a design historian who specializes in record albums". Imagine that! You and I marvel at album covers and use them to roll jazz cigarettes; someone else is getting paid cash money to drop wisdom about them. I wish I had that job.
I was going to recommend Ben because besides being a literate raconteur (there's a pun in there) his music taste is unexpected and excellent. For me, he was/is a trusted source, a rock and roll pimp. But not THE Rock 'n' Roll Pimp. That Southern gentleman has an entirely different taste, likewise excelent, and nothing he's pimped has grabbed me more than The Cliks 'Dirty King'. A trio from Toronto, they've made (to me) the best rock record in a very long time. Singer Lucas Silveira mines a deep emotional seam to write and create multifaceted songs that variously strut, dismiss, seduce and bleed. His voice reminds me of Chrissie Hynde in his ability to both snarl and confess, though he's a much better guitarist. He'd better be, in a trio. The rhythm section as well are just want you want all groove riders to be: a well-tuned Detroit V-8. (Doesn't matter what the style is, as long as it throbs.) The icing on the metaphors is that it's an analogue recording, full of air and atmosphere - and real strings! Imagine that. These days we get such a diminished recording palette that a string section is something to shout about. You need to hear 'Dirty King'. Yes, really. And give them your money when you acquire it. They need it so they can make an even better record.
The Cliks - Dirty King (official) from departement on Vimeo.
I've had an intern working for me over the summer. She's 17, studying music at college and knows either the newest of the unsigned or pensioners like Buddy Guy and The Who. She won me over when she started rhapsodising on the merits of "I'm A Boy". One day we were doing a Hornby, listing the great soul crooners, causing me to observe that they're all bedroom voices, the barometer by which you can tell if you're with a lover or just another guy. "Or worse," she laughed, "someone who plays George Michael." That really happened? Her lip started to curl. Out the door? She nodded. "I told him to mail me. I'd send him a playlist."
As for the title of these rambles… Club DJs always seem to have a catchy "marketing" name: Grooverider. Judge Jules. Skream. Vanilla Hardcore. I was walking through the local arcade, the one with the collector record shop, goth jeweller and tattoo parlour, and a benefits-blonde woman of a certain age was talking to her friend about a recent night at the disco. As I passed, she earnestly said, "Well I call the DJ 'Frank'." That should keep his ego grounded.
Comments (11)
Lovin' it!
Great piece with many tidbits of greatness. I never read that fellas blog, but his sentiments about leaving the record biz fit directly in with mine. cool stuff all around.
I try not to make predictions about current music, but it twenty years I'll be glad to drop my "expert" opinions on it:)
You can always call me DJ Frank - Frank the tank is also all right with me.
And also apart from that a quite enjoyable post.
the Cliks huh?
i'll hafta check em out :)
i am honored good sir
Yeah, this group has a pretty cool sound. Once MOG works again, you can check out my previous post with 3 more tracks.
RAWK
me n the PIMPETTES been pushing em from day one
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THOSE LOVELY GURLS?
@ Pimp - They joined my Harem
GOT DAMN IT
THATS WHERE THEY WENT!!
A problem solved. But not our loneliness. Hey IR: let em out some times, ok?
Frank-ly...great post, All props to Ben and, of course, the Pimp of pimps. Clik. Clik. BANG!
Is your intern available to give Miss Ivylander lessons? In what, I'll figure out later....