Festwca

I don't know any of the groups you mentioned :(

:D

Pretazzo, "spiel" is the word that the Minutemen used to refer to their sermons. It’s part of the jargon they more or less invented. Boon would recite and read political commentaries in the square; those were the spiel. // Iride, let me tell you about some record labels that I think are putting out some really interesting stuff. Nasoni/Elektrohasch (70s psych-rock also influenced by Kraut -- definitely check out Colour Haze), Southern Lord (drone-doom and related -- Wino’s latest work just came out, noteworthy), Freebird, Crusher, Ipecac. Notable emerging bands in the last 1-2 years: Causa Sui, Toner Low, On, just to mention the first three that come to mind. There’s plenty of music out there; you just need to look.

History Lesson is not a spiel. The comparison with Bob fits in political sermons, precisely because they are political sermons, not because of the tone of voice.

Nooo, a cent for Ginn??? I really think Ginn sucks, seriously. I mean, it's all based on the devastating power of distortion. And when he moved on to do other things (The Process of Weeding Out is one of the first math records and My War one of the first sludge), he just proved that he can't do it. Joe Baiza, on the other hand, is a genuine jazz noise improvisation guitarist, someone who learned to play at 30 but had music in his blood for a long time.

I also have the three albums by fIREHOSE (the Minutemen in melodic indie-rock version, not bad) and the three solo works by Mike Watt. Of course, there's no comparison with the original band. So how do we comfort ourselves today? True, genuine American independent rock has been dead for a while (Nevermind?), but there’s still plenty of good stuff out there in other fields. Post-2000, I mainly listen to things from the stoner/doom/psycho scene. In Europe, there are quite a few interesting bands.

So, the first DVD is the story of the Minutemen. Told by Mike Watt, following the chronological order of the albums released and connecting various events and characters. It is interspersed with brief impressions from several people in the scene. As far as I can remember, there are Grant Hart, Milo from the Descendents, the guitarist from Saccharine Trust (a great guy, but I can't recall his name) trying to imitate D. Boon’s style (hilarious), Greg Ginn, Henry Rollins, Ian Mackaye, J. Mascis, Thurston Moore, and dozens of others whose names escape me right now. The second DVD features three concerts in more or less complete versions. One is among the first they did, and it’s interesting because the audience just didn’t get them. Booing, people continually unplugging the microphone, Dennes truly disheartened. In the end, they had to stop and leave. The second one captures them at their peak (1984 or 85, I believe), and they really rock, in their own way. At one point, the drums go kaput and while George Hurley is fixing it (stage trick or reality?), Mike and D. improvise a killer jam. The third concert is acoustic (done for TV or something like that), D. and Mike on two guitars, George Hurley on bongos. An even more intimate version of the Minutemen.

By the way, I agree with your entire comment. And in my opinion Minutemen >> Fugazi. By a lot.

Feel free to ask.

Pretazzo struck me right away too. Sure. But before 43 songs, all so different, can get into your head, it takes some time. Moreover, they all have the exact same sound, three-instruments-three, no distortions, effects, or strange pedals; you can't deny they all SEEM the same. The guitar always has the same sound, the bass does too, the voice (both Boon's and Watt's) is always the same and doesn’t even try to sing much (rather, it recites their political slogans in a manner reminiscent of early Dylan - the "spiel" of the Minutemen is an updated new wave version of Dylan's talkin' blues). The beauty lies there as well; they didn't use any "tricks," yet they composed 43 different and fresh gems within their sonic homogeneity.