The Record Exchange is really excited about the new, soon-to-be released Brett Netson album, especially after hearing a couple preview tracks on RX Manager John O.‘s Grouched Bitterstream blog.
John O. is writing the liner notes for the album, and his words, reprinted below from their original posts on the Bitterstream, offer poignant perspective into Netson’s new songs. Go HERE to read the original posts and hear the music.
“We Should All Be Commended”
It’s
important, like our freedom.
Ruminative, semi folkish, plaintive. Intimate sounding, so it’s good in the headphones. Half recitation, but not rapped. Well, not really. It’s a murder mystery, but there are no cops left to protect and serve.
They are monsters, and they love us.
It starts with silence, and ends with silence. Life is always a struggle. The days can be long. Sometimes it seems like nothing is happening. But, something is always happening. Always. Soon you will have to pay attention.
Keep your head above the water .
The only information he gave me about this song was
“This was for the death of Chalmers Johnson.”
Keep the Elevators clean.
The words are felt as much heard, and it takes some work to pick them out. Disquieting imagery emerges upon repeated listening to this song. Your cousin isn’t the greatest person who has ever lived.
Cancer comes like an angel, And crawls in our beds for no reasons .
Things could be different. Death could mean release. Life could be harder. Don’t take it for granted. Be ready for what could be happening.
It may not be happily, but it is forever after.
“Someone Else”
It’s harder than it looks.
Even with the kids gone, you are no longer as cute as you once were. Perhaps you were never cute, but that’s not true. Young people are cute. They are fresh. They believe in shit just to believe. Or they don’t believe in anything because they think it matters. They don’t think about mortality, but if they do, it’s very melodramatic and angst-y.
It’s cute.
But the lifer, the grinder, the guy who doesn’t give up, who never stops creating things, who has the spark, can overcome the barrage of nay saying do nothings who never were and never will be. He can, I know he can.
Because I have proof. It’s here. The voice, The unmistakable voice of someone who just does not have it in him to let you off easy, who has to say it. Even when it’s wrong. It’s HIS voice. And you HAVE to listen. You NEED to listen to this. Because, while it won’t save your life, (that’s YOUR job, fucker,) it won’t hurt to listen to this. You will not regret one second.
The grind, the riff, the voice, it’s all here, and the danger. The danger that you might, for one second, be tuned in to some real shit, by a real person, who creates this glorious, thudding, wallop of sound which insinuates itself into your conscious mind.
Just like the great ones who have come before.
There are other tracks I might or might not put up here, but rest assured. They are all great. They go off on unexpected tangents which will surprise people familiar with this man’s work. Who think it’s all about the big messy clusterfuck of the great Caustic Resin thud. It’s an expansion of that. And this album will kick your ass serious.
No joke.
It’s harder than it looks.