Monday, February 15, 2010

the flywheel gathers impetus on the down time



My amiable and anonymous contact from Oreaganomics e-mailed me out the blue late last week to tip me off to this burnt offering by G.O.A.T., Garden on a Trampoline, a project fronted by James Eric:

"James has been actively recording since the year 2000, but started writing songs after a near-death experience left him with only one lung and a weakened immune system back in 1996 during his senior year of high school after contracting a rare, life-threatening bacteria."

- Bio, CLLCT, G.O.A.T.

Now. A word or two regarding CLLCT: both Oreagonomics and G.O.A.T. are represented by The Collective Family - CLLCT - an online community engaged in the FREE distribution of music by its subscribing artists; a selfless ethos designed to promote open communication and the dispersal of independently created music without bias.

Or capitulation to market forces. To date, CLLCT represents 712 artists, and 1281 releases. Its community is constantly expanding.


And, quite unlike superficially similar resources, CLLCT does not operate on any prerequisite engineered to capture personal details or lock its users into a contract. In short, the material hosted is available for direct download without limit or restriction.

Eric recently uploaded a new collection of self-penned material to CLLCT, "Postcards from Telstar", very loosely a paean to electronic postcards as transmitted from the communications satellite adrift in perpeptual orbit.

Most of its songs touch on a multitude of personal themes Joe Meek was never able to candidly explore. What those postcards most apparently share with Meek is the dark heart of alienation guided by an obsession with unseen forces. The gravitational pull of massive astral entities. Dwarf Stars and holes seeded with dark matter.


Lend G.O.A.T. your ear. Then proceed to the "complete BS... from way back" of "Self Assembled Martyr" by Oreaganomics: a drunken, fumbled communion in a mobile church with a jug of Thunderbird served up in the chalice. Unholy bullshit, maybe, but - lest we forget - one of Oreaganomics came into the fold after abandoning his calling. Reminds vaguely of Holy Modal Rounders and the Fugs.

Half-assed, vicarious fun.

Lend both ears. Better still, call CLLCT; 100% toll free and serving the people.

GARDEN ON A TRAMPOLINE: GOODBYE HORSES (Q.LAZARUS COVER) from "Postcards From Telstar" Digital Download (CLLCT) 2010 (US)
OREAGANOMICS: SELF ASSEMBLED MARTYR from "Apathy Is A Girl With A Penis (2nd Version)" Digital Download (CLLCT) ? (US)

GARDEN ON A TRAMPOLINE: POSTCARDS FROM TELSTAR, VIA CLLCT
PREVIOUSLY ON SIBLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS: Q. LAZARUS

8 comments:

Happy Hour...Somewhere said...

RE: "Apathy is a girl with a penis"...thank goodness they tend to have a mind of their own. Loved the cover.

ib said...

Pretty good, huh. Someday I would like to see somebody revisit the original and ally Q's vocal to a different arrangement. I like the wall of guitar on this G.O.A.T. version.

For anyone with an interest in the accompanying imagery; I overlaid a photograph of Joe Meek onto the archived portrait of William Cody I used to illustrate the original post of Q. Lazarus on SibLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS. The end result is very strange.

JasonWB said...

That GH cover, its really spectacular. I'm gonna check out more from Goat for sure

Jim Laczkowski said...

Thanks so much for the write-up and very kind review! Was this edited a bit? When I read this yesterday, you talked a bit more about the GH cover, and referenced Tedd Levine :) It made me laugh, not sure why it was taken out, or maybe I'm nuts? Either way, I am grateful for your ears, and for your excellent writing. Gratitude,

James (GOAT)

Jim Laczkowski said...

Oh, and the band is Garden on a Trampoline, not "Goat" on a Trampoline. Easy to confuse it though since GOAT is pretty much how folks are referring to the project lately :)

ib said...

Hey, James.

Yes. I have a habit of sending out the cavalry to cut swathes through my copy after the event. The only reason I did so here was the post wound up far wordier than I intended. I kind of felt the rambling through the car lot with reference to Buffalo Bill was a tad superfluous, given that I gave free reign to Ted Levine on a previous piece on Q. Lazarus.

Glad that it raised a smile, though.

Funny thing about the 'goat' on a trampoline. I kept having to remind myself it was 'garden' after reference to the abbreviation. Vaguely chilling how that alters the tone.

Maybe it was just the mere proximity to "Self Assembled Martyr" and the defrockedness of Oreaganomics.

Your cover of GH seems to be gathering applause. I hope people are sufficiently intrigued to look deeper into your own wounds.

Geronimo!

ib said...

Jason WB:

'Atta boy. Thanks for the comment.

ib said...

Damn. Still finding these goats on the trampoline. I think that's the last one...