Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Grubbs Returns to DC

Although I am tempted to wonder where 'Bluto' Blutarsky, he of the famous acoustic guitar smashing scene in Animal House, is when you need him, I'm thrilled to see David Grubbs still kicking even if his music makes people sit down on the floor now.

Grubbs was one of the most interesting and approachable musician-songwriters kicking around DC in the mid-80's after all and his work with Gastr del Sol and Bastro as well as the avant-garde/experimental end of things has been incredibly prolific and not entirely unexpected.

Squirrel Bait's thrashy debut EP was, I think, the first release he played on and its is in the current box (freshly scrubbed) waiting to be blogged in the near future.

He has a new album out that's available at Insound (available in LP and CD) - unfortunately my entertainment budget for new stuff is busted for the next few months as I pay off my credit card bills.

The Washington Post's Mark Jenkins reviews David's recent show at the Black Cat:

As a finger-picking guitarist who performs songs with titles like "Family Plot, Mayfield, Kentucky," David Grubbs is heir to the Appalachian folk tradition. Yet the Chicago-based musician is also a punk-rock veteran with connections to contemporary composers as diverse as Tony Conrad and Luc Ferrari. Grubbs's latest album, "A Guess at the Riddle," downplays his experimental interests, and so did his performance Monday night at the Black Cat. Still, it wasn't exactly a hootenanny.
Read the whole thing here (middle of the page; lame but relatively painless registration required).

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