The Audiozine

I remember Somie.

Things:

1) The last show went well. Great friends came, blew bubbles, shimmied and shook to the tunes, shuddered at the noise, Springsteen and the Stones were heckled, the mic was turned off prematurely, our set nearly shut down secondary to our volume and crankiness, and the tunes were sloppy but soulful. Not perfect, but pretty awesome. Quiet My Dear played an excellent set featuring some really tight rhythmic ideas and neat prog-rocky song structures. Like the Police, but friendly. Anyway, thanks for coming to our shows and being our buddies. We loves you.

2) I will be seeing Polvo live in one week. In the meantime, Polvo associates Black Taj are releasing their second album, Beyonder. Classic rock post-Sonic Youth is the tag. I still need to snag their eponymous first album.

3) I've been inundated with a lot of great new music. One of the albums I've been totally hooked on for a few weeks now is the fresh Erykah Badu jam. Sasha Frere-Jones does a pretty good job summing up a lot of why I like the album -- i.e. R&B + noise + politics = excellent. I would simply add to his analysis that she also does a great job of incorporating the last few years' worth of innovation in the hip-hop underground into her neo-soul bag-o'-tricks.

4) Get Excited! Circulatory System! New Album Soon! When they last released an album (2001ish), I saw them at Tokyo Rose and Jeff Mangum (yes, that Neutral Milk Hotel dude, no shizz!) was playing drums for them and singing. I stood around near him, too star-struck to really pipe up and say hello. His voice was so loud, no mic was necessary. Chilling stuff.

5) Muxtape is a really cool website. You should check out Wes Webb aka Western Front via muxtape. He's been mashing up tracks and woodshedding DJ skills lately. Then peruse some of the other muxtapes and make yr own here.

Sorry for the short notice -- things have been hectic what with taking boards over the weekend -- but tonight is going to be the last Clarence Thomas Action-Adventure Unit show for the foreseeable future. It's been a great month, but Aaron's graduating soon and moving down to Atlanta so that effectively ends the band until some future rendezvous makes it work again. Anyway, the details:

TONIGHT APRIL 29th, 2008
At Miller's
$FREE $FREE $FREE
18+
Quiet My Dear [the greatest show on earth]
Clarence Thomas Action-Adventure Unit [gospel blues noise + our LAST SHOW]

I can promise you that tonight we will be bringing the necessary items so you can blow bubbles in Miller's. Other shenanigans are encouraged.

Good night,
-K

Last night we played show #2 with Bandazian and Social Viscosity. Bandazian played a strong set pulling from their newly released album, O Pioneer. It was a quieter show than their usual melodic rock bluster and let some of the funk and jazz influences through the mix.

Our set as Clarence Thomas Action-Adventure Unit was marred by technical difficulties the whole way through -- no guitar in my monitor so I couldn't hear Aaron the entire time, problems with Aaron's pedal wigging out and his guitar breaking a string mid-guitar solo, my handheld tape player giving me grief -- but even so there were some high points. Props especially go out to our friend Timberly Shull of Bandazian for playing bass on a blues that Aaron wrote. Unfortunately in the hustle to soundcheck and get the show started, we weren't able to set up the Minidisc recorder. Maybe next time, eh?

Speaking of which, we have another (final?) show coming up on August 29th at Miller's with Quiet My Dear. Expect some new material and, possibly, a more experimental direction.

And last but not least: Burial dropping a set for the DJ Kicks series and possibly "treating" some of the material, eh? Excitement builds!

1) FFFF! Satellite Ballroom's demise is imminent. And the rumor going around was that the blowout show on May 31st was gonna be GWAR. But in one final iniquity, it looks like even that won't come to pass.

2) Here's a video of Portishead playing an amazing live set of songs culled from their upcoming album, Third. Hopefully our show tonight will come within a fraction of their awesomeness.

3) Speaking of which, SHOW REMINDER:

April 21st 2008 @ 9 PM
$5 for 21+, $6 for the kiddies
Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar

BANDAZIAN
Social Viscosity
Clarence Thomas-Action Adventure Unit

Scroll down for bootlegs of our previous set at the Bridge or click here.

It's happening again. The details:

When: Monday April 21st 2008 @ 9 PM
Where: Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar
How Much: $5 for 21+, $6 for the kids
Who/What:
BANDAZIAN CD RELEASE SHOW -- New Album "O Pioneer"
Bandazian (Reigning kings of rock from Asheville NC)
Social Viscosity (I admit it: no idea who these guys are. Hopefully they rule...?)
Clarence Thomas Action-Adventure Unit (Gospel Blues Noise Michael Jackson Soul Jazz Bells Whistles)

And, in case you missed our last show or just wanna relive the [glory?], here are the rather crude Minidisc recordings of the 04/05/08 show at The Bridge:
Clarence Thomas Action-Adventure Unit Live at The Bridge 04/05/2008
01) Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying (cover of a gospel blues by Blind Willie Johnson)
02) Shy Guy
03) Madvillain/Michael Jackson/Justice Mashup
04) Home (rework of a song by Small Town Dogma)
05) Mingus/Megaphone/Samba (three songs that we blended into each other live. Aaron's guitar had gotten so knocked out of tune by the time we played Samba that he was actually having to bend the neck to keep the guitar semi-tuned during the song. the last chord he plays is a gloriously out-of-tune No Wave sounding harmonstrosity).
06) Echoes

Hey folks,

The show last night went really well, thanks for coming out. Quiet My Dear delivered a set of solid rock songs with nice melodies. Me and Aaron were delighted to play you our noise/blues numbers under the Clarence Thomas Action-Adventure Unit moniker. And Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand started out with a Krautrock-y drone smorgasbord by Mr. Smith and James Ford; then me, Steve Snider, and one David picked apart the drums and did that tribal thing over Adam and James's noisy bits. And James rounded out the night with a DJ set that was part Squarepusher part Bomb Squad Productions part middle school sock hop. The room was packed, everybody was nice, and we raised nearly 400 dollars for the Charlottesville Free Clinic. YES!

A surprisingly listenable Minidisc recording of our set was made, so that'll hit the 'zine in a few days. In the meantime, check out what Dave and the Olde English Boys are getting into:

Folks!

I have organized a benefit show and will be performing in it too. This is a rare and near-final performance by me and my frequent collaborator, Aaron Albin; and the other acts on the bill should deliver an excellent smattering of musical delectations. Here are the details:

BENEFIT SHOW FOR THE CHARLOTTESVILLE FREE CLINIC
APRIL 05th
8 PM
$5
@ The Bridge (209 Monticello Rd)

3 Bands + 1 DJ
Adam Smith + The Invisible Hand (Tunefulness + Zigging where others Zag = Cville-by-way-of-Philly Indie Rock Mainstay)
Clarence Thomas Action-Adventure Unit (me + Aaron playing guitar, vox, drums, megaphone, toy laser gun, iPod, sampler, handheld tape cassette recorders)
Quiet My Dear (Cville Melodic Indie Pop)
DJ Hummingbird Feeder (the mighty James Ford kicks out the interludes and the post-show jams. Dance party?!?!)

You can hear the other acts at their respective MySpaces. But since me + Aaron have no MySpace page, I present you with the CLARENCE THOMAS MIXTAPE, a series of tracks that are either sampled in our live act or that provide some kind of influence on what we'll be doing. Peep it:

CLARENCE THOMAS MIXTAPE:
1) Justice -- "Genesis"
2) Blind Willie Johnson -- "Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying" (an old gospel blues we cover live)
3) Madvillain -- "Accordion"
4) Michael Jackson -- "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
5) Charles Mingus -- "Myself When I Am Real"
6) AMM -- "Radio Activity" (an important avant-garde act from the late 70's/early 80's, this track comes from a radio broadcast that I got via Neil John Eric L. The track is 26 minutes long, so keep that in mind when downloading.)

Right click the above links to download any and all of the tracks. Enjoy and I hope we see you at the show this Saturday!
-K