New Album of the Week; No. 3Head Carrier- The Pixies (Release Date; 30th September 2016)
"I can hear the buzzing modulations of the universe
But you're the first to make me feel it
I love all the universe, I love all the listeners
Watch it! Here's 50,000 watts of goodwill!"-
Bam Thwok, The Pixies
When The Pixies came back in 2004; it was a download only song written by Kim Deal. In the middle of a tidal wave song; it disintegrates and what replaces it is a fairground calliope; one of those steam driven wheezing burping contraptions that, itself, sounds like it is about to explode; like most of the machines at a fair are supposed to. The calliope steadies and the song bursts back in with the chorus; "I can hear the buzzing modulations of the universe". I really think Kim Deal could hear it. 50,000 watts of goodwill is the sound of the Deal bass guitar. The tension between Frank Black and Mrs Deal is in every song on four albums; before Black's black dog overwhelms "Trompe le monde". Even as late as "Bossanova", it is typical to hear Deal lead off a song, as in
Is She Weird, where what Deal and Loveridge are doing is in balance with voice and guitar; creating a mini opera of ghoulishness. Tension creates space; Joey Santiago's guitar modulates in those spaces; the twenty other vibrations in one chord have room to find the walls and push them back; impossible epicity in every two and a half minutes.
Frank Black? Like Morrissey, I never cared for Frank; two of my favourite bands and I had it in for the lead singer? Listening to pop and rock songs and actually rooting for the guitarist to win? Adoring Johnny Marr's noodling and disdaining the foppish Wildean air? What I found myself exploring; listening to "Head Carrier" was..."Is this a Frank Black album or is it a Pixies recording". A couple of times it was a Pixies album. Why is the bass player in The Pixies a woman? What a sexist line!
So lets talk sexual politics through the medium of the band formerly known as The Pixies. The tension between Deal and Black was entirely unsexual; but Deal's tutting presence in a Pixies song; her eyerolling reaction to the typical histrionics of male rock bands; Black's irritation; responding with lyrics about sexual diseases, boys own sci fi and horror movie fanboyishness; like a middle finger stage left; the sweetness of the "Gigantic" vocal, the gaspy lead out to "Tony's Theme". Replaced on "Head Carrier" by a girl who could be his daughter (!), who is singing in an imitation, not of Deal, but of Black! Ooh how confusing; but I would interpret it as another move in the continuing war of the sexes between man-boy Black and life-loving mother figure Deal...."Oh boys" tut tut. This psychoanalysis is best left to the music. Tensions in a band aren't at all unique. Lock people in a room or a car or any small space( server based or otherwise) and no amount of "gee whiz youre great" will stop natural tensions; the attempt will turn that sweet smile to a rictus; lock yourself in your own head and go silently weird...hence the greatness of writing; express that tension in strange and beautiful ways that leave "you're ok I'm ok" like a blanket of ash on the ground. Whilst The Pixies were a volatile mix their art was transcendent; leaving the pettiness of real life "who didnt wash their dishes" behind far below.
Black's first solo albums were storming and then he lapsed towards aggressive acoustic guitar posturing ("I thought that if I had an acoustic guitar......"). The first Breeders album is another favourite. I think Black needed Deal more than vice versa. Deal's soul is retained on "Last Splash". Once Black had finally destroyed his toys his solo work suffered. Mummy wasn't there to tell him to put them away and come to dinner. So the sexual politics are as suitably weird as any of their songs.
I'm not asking for the clock to turn back 26 years. I'm asking for a (The) Pixies album not a Frank Black album with Santiago and Loveridge in the backing band. For reasons explained earlier, without Deal, Santiago's guitar has no space to play into. Dave's drumming isn't as crisp but he's a bit older now, and his drumming used to be akin to the tiniest cracks in time, letting anti-matter into our universe to explode later. A couple of tracks levitate (me) towards Pixies songs, but their albums weren't filler stuffed. The EP sets were much more aggressive, as a deliberate aim; The Pixies used to be openly confrontational without trying very hard...that tension allowed it. Where I started with this thought was that, if Frank Black continued as a solo artist, it would be natural; in the way Paul Weller or Morrissey (him again) have a solo entity, unrelated to their former bands. If The Jam or The Smiths reformed, it would beg similar questions and comparisons that are impossible to avoid. The solo artist may continue; possibly unheard, but there's a faultline in the concept of the reformed band; in it for the cash grab; on a nostalgia kick; "is it better to flame out or fade away?" I didn't have these thoughts with the last album maybe because Yello always seemed old to me. I can't escape it with The Pixies, but Deal is a massive component, to be bereft of; an engine with any spark plugs still works if its a diesel; chug chug um chagga lagga. A calliope crashed to the ground.
Bam Thwok was one of the tunes I turned to after "Head Carrier"; the others were
No 13 Baby and
Blown Away. Of course, listening to a band's new record shouldn't set off a nostalgia fest; but this is more about going to specific tunes that explained why "Head Carrier" didn't work. The Pixies have probably made much more money in this latest form than they ever did back then; I don't begrudge them and I look forward to seeing them play again. I know I'll be watching Frank Black and Friends, not The Pixies. Nothing they do changes their greatness, established before the 90s began; somehwere in the crackling ether between Frank Black Francis and the divine Mrs Kim Deal.
Top Tracks;
Oona;
Might As Well Be Gone{this is working as well as the books marathon. Art begets writing and the desire to write encourages engagement with the art, a virtuous circle}