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Music to hear: Sevens
Posted by D-Rock on 07/27/07 (Music)
Since the demise of G7 radio, we’ve had no venue with which to share with the world music we like, but have no affiliation with. Consider the silence broken.
In the mid-90s my friend Jon lent me a CD by a band from Washington D.C. called Sevens. Be it that at the time I listened almost exclusively to straight-edge and political hardcore, a band consisting of pseudo-Pagan hippies slinging jazzy riffs (with bongo accompaniment) seemed an unlikely match for me. But somehow the quartet (consisting of brothers Mark and Bobby Sullivan, Josh Larue, and Chris Farrall) managed to capture my attention. They were products of the punk scene who were creating something unlike anyone else was creating. Vegan jazz? Who knew.
Not too long ago, after not listening for many years (to anything), I found the album in an archived folder of MP3s on ye olde hard drive and put it on. 10 years later, this shit still grabbed me (which is more than I can say for, say, Youth of Today or even Struggle). I found it online (at Dischord) and scooped it up. (It appears now to be unavailable to buy? Where’s the download store Dischord?)
If you can deal with some “spiritual” passages, you can get to gems like “I get my D from the sun. I get milk from the seed.”
Anyhoo, check out “Life Comes From Life” …
32 fragments of dialogue thus far ...
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Comment by Spencer on July 27th, 2007 at 8:39 pm:
(It appears now to be unavailable to buy? Where’s the download store Dischord?)
Well, unlike you respectable and commendible folks at G7 who actually stick to your principles a bit more and managed to have the ingenuity and willpower to keep things autonomous and DIY on the old “interweb,” Dischord opted to have their catalog sold through the iTunes Music Store. Talk about lame and disheartening. What was that, Ian? “We put ourselves up for sale”? Yes, indeed…
More to the point of your post, SEVENS is great, but not as great as RAIN LIKE THE SOUND OF TRAINS. That LP with Bobby Sullivan on it, and the “Waiting for the Water” EP are fucking brilliant.
Comment by falcore on July 28th, 2007 at 12:04 am:
hey d-rock i don’t think this is what you are looking for but maybe pass it on to Chris
http://www.thesevens.org/index.html
hehe
Comment by mikea-change on July 28th, 2007 at 4:13 am:
great tune indeed.
Comment by Vod on July 28th, 2007 at 9:08 am:
That’s a good song, but I hope you’re not setting us up for a let down, by which I mean the rest of the album isn’t as good?
Comment by Spencer on July 28th, 2007 at 10:38 am:
Also, Seven League Boots (the band which preceded Sevens) is also worth checking out. It does border on being Lenny Kravitz-esque at times, though… but in a good way?
Comment by guirtz on July 28th, 2007 at 6:25 pm:
I fucking HATE LENNY KRAVITZ! knee jerk reaction sorry.
decent tunes. Rad feature yous doing this.
Ps I am not decided on the whole (previous blog topic) thing just worried about it all. sorry.
Comment by Tony UK on July 28th, 2007 at 6:32 pm:
The music sounds like The Minutemen I think. Pretty sweet. The lyrics are quite literal though, might take a bit of listening. Its a bit shit when bands you used to listen to don’t do it for you anymore, feels like you have to let them go. Derek, I believe playing Mogwai on the show was your choice? Fuck me, astounding band. Are you a big fan? You should check out Hood. Well worth sitting with.
http://www.myspace.com/hooduk
Like Mogwai, they capture the true feeling of being from the UK and wanting more from life than Coldplay.
Comment by dtrain on July 28th, 2007 at 9:05 pm:
sounds alright. you know what’s shaking my balls around lately? the new don caballero.
Comment by pooptrick on July 29th, 2007 at 4:44 am:
i don’t quite understand why someone would get down on dischord for not living up to some artificial requirement for being principled. if you hate itunes, then you can get their stuff from emusic, a site which also carries the entire g7 catalog. dischord records, and the maligned folks who run it, have continued to produce quality releases and print “fair” pricing on the packaging for many years. this chastisement is as ridiculous as the complaint against the propagandhi dvd wherein someone asked about a vegan dvd player. the world doesn’t change on the spot. g7 is forging a new path by eliminating waste. perhaps we should encourage others to follow rather than bitch about their affiliations with DRM garbage merchants.
oh… and, yeah, that sevens album is pretty good.
Comment by Sebast on July 29th, 2007 at 11:14 am:
Wow…
That’s what I call a radiKal new twist on radio podcasting. Everything in a .htm and .swf format, and this just after your announcement ’bout e-store-mp3-selling business.
Bravo, bravo.
Now, if you excuse me, i’m going to jump out the window (of this no-floor building).
Comment by Jon UK on July 29th, 2007 at 4:05 pm:
Cool. Sound good, man.
Haha, Youth of Today. Edge as fuck…
Comment by dumdiddee on July 30th, 2007 at 11:07 am:
Not bad, funk daddy. Makes me wanna get stizzled out of my gizzle. However, it shouldn’t be called “jazz” … j/k ;-)
Comment by stevie on July 30th, 2007 at 1:14 pm:
Chris’ interest in this shows why he was willing to release that fucking Consolidated CD so many moons ago.
Comment by D-Rock on July 30th, 2007 at 1:37 pm:
Regarding the above commentary on Dischord, G7 also has our catalogue up on iTunes, eMusic, and many, many other services. My lament was that they don’t offer their own download store, where titles such as this could be had (and in high-quality format). it should be pointed out though, that Dischord did no release the Sevens CD, but they distribute it on their site …
Tony: thanks for the link to Hooduck - not grabbing me really, but I will give it a whirl. I am indeed a big Mogwai fan.
stevie: Why do you think Chris is interested in this band? And for the record, “that fucking Consolidated CD” is brilliant and criminally-underrated. harumpfh!
Comment by Tony UK on July 31st, 2007 at 6:13 am:
I work in a charity shop where people donate alot of records, and Consolidated’s “Play More Loud Music” came in not long ago. I don’t know much about them but its pretty rockin, sounds like Public Enemy in parts. And that track from the G7 comp is a fuckin Wu Tang banger haha. I always fear political bands are gonna break my heart though by yknow, making Vans shoes, but I’m certain these boys aren’t flakes (though aren’t they split now?) Y’know Mogwai took a sponsership deal from Kappa once, I don’t know if you get Kappa in Canada, but its a label all the scruffy kids used to wear in the UK haha. Pretty funny. For some reason the tracks on that Hood myspace are a bit weak, but if your gonna check out an album get “Cold House”, they made it with Doseone and Why? from avante hip hop group cLOUDDEAD, its a classic. So can you recommend some stuff for a fellow Mogwai die-hard, maybe Canadian bands? I can post you a copy of that Hood album if you want, but I’m sure you have super duper interent jagging access. So what about Come On Die Young eh? Sheesh.
Comment by tom on July 31st, 2007 at 4:49 pm:
woah, did somebody just shaft consolidated? i gotta fully agree with D-Ho on this one, i just started listening to Dropped again and really began to regret not bringing this CD with me to Winnipieg. This album has everything a priviledged hetero sexual white male could ever want: a dose of honestly. quite a large dose. the music is tight and the kind of blues that makes you dance and cry at the same time.
the ONLY questionable thing about that record is how FUCKING DANCEABLE the incest/child abuse song is. it’s a mind blowning fucking paradox, and including that, Dropped is fucking dangerous and soothing, and i’m gonna order one for my friend(s).
second note is Chris Hannah you may have came in second but you are the worst canadian currently alive. confuckinggratulations swipe, i always knew you had it in you.
Ward Churchill is a human being who shouldn’t be fired for expressing his ideas.
Comment by adam on July 31st, 2007 at 9:52 pm:
okay, so I almost died yesterday when they mentioned Hannah on the goddam 5 o’clock news on CBC radio yesterday. did anyone else hear it? it was amazing!
Comment by DickShit on July 31st, 2007 at 10:51 pm:
Say, if one liked ‘police state’ and basically every other song on Dead Prez’s Lets Get Free, what other DP album might a zitty white boy with his hat askew be interested in? Hows about The Coup, are they cool too?
While I did kill myself after g7 radio died, and no farting came in the prop dvd, I suspect this could help put the wind back in my pants so to speak.
p.s I agree with D(ouche)-Ho too, ‘One Way Out’ on Consolidated’s Dropped blows my fucking mind.
p.p.s I hear Chris’ coming in second helped Churchill in coping with his pathetically unjust situation. McCarthyist, Fascist, Democracy-hating, Fart-hating fucks…
Ska is a trend that must be eliminated
Comment by D-Rock on August 1st, 2007 at 6:11 am:
DickShit: I would recommend Dead Prez’s “Revolutionary But Gangsta” and The Coup’s “Party Music”.
Comment by stevie on August 1st, 2007 at 10:32 am:
D-Rock: I thought Chris was interested in this band because I didn’t take the time to see who actually made the post as I’m very important and therefore very busy.
Oh, I’ve heard all the pro-Consolidated-CD arguments.. strange they always came (and come) from the G7 office.
Comment by Tony UK on August 1st, 2007 at 8:07 pm:
D Rock, did you not think Revolutionary but Gangsta was a bit heavy on gun promotion? Seemed a bit less thought out than Lets Get Free in my opinion. There’s been alot of Gun Crime where I live recently, the whole “Real Big Guns” and “Ready to Bust Gats” thing in the booklet? Can’t get my head around what they’re trying to do with that…
Comment by D-Rock on August 3rd, 2007 at 10:39 am:
Tony: RBG is indeed way into the phat gats, and so forth. The gun culture in hip-hop is stupid and insane, and I would hope that conscious rappers would try to transform it (see someone like Saul Williams, who is also awesome).
However, I would say that from Dead Prez’s perspective, they are part of a community who are literally under siege by the police - in that police incarcerate and kill members of their community every single day, and have been for decades. What DP are doing is attempting to take a counter-productive gun culture that exists, and transform it into something used to fight those who would kill them. “Turn drive-bys revolutionary”, as they say.
That’s the philosophical argument anyway. It doesn’t do anything to quell my utter distaste for the culture of guns and violence, no matter where they happen to be pointed.
Comment by Belinda on August 3rd, 2007 at 4:38 pm:
I’m so stoked for Jamaica Plain. I’ll admit, I laughed at first, but now I want to get it the first day it’s out.
Comment by Mark on August 4th, 2007 at 9:03 am:
RBG is awful compared to Let’s Get Free. As far as political hip hop I would much recommend Immortal Technique and Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides. Of course Public Enemy and KRS-One.
Comment by Mark on August 4th, 2007 at 9:06 am:
And lest I forget, Minneapolis’s own Brother Ali http://www.myspace.com/brotherali and Los Nativos http://www.myspace.com/losnativos
Comment by Yaniv on August 4th, 2007 at 10:14 am:
As an addendum to the list of hip-hop “artists” listed and recommended above by D-Rock, I would have to include Immortal Technique, Talib-Kweli, Mos Def, and old KRS-One.
I’m wondering, though, does anyone know of any rapper(s, besides Dead Prez, that promote vegetarianism and ideas of animal liberation through their music?
Comment by D-Rock on August 4th, 2007 at 10:33 am:
Re: Immortal Technique, the dude is unabashedly homophobic unfortunately, and while paying lip-service to “respecting our women”, his lyrics are littered with sexist language as well (beyond the now ubiquitous “bitch”).
Comment by Tony UK on August 5th, 2007 at 3:56 pm:
Immortal Technique. It’s like speaking to an uncle at a family wedding. He “respects” the fact that your a vegetarian, and he’s into music, so you think your gonna find some common ground. Then he starts talking utter shite about asylum seekers, and gays, and women and you can’t really understand why he’s so angry, but you secretly think it’s some complex hes got about the size of condoms he purchases.
Brother Ali hasn’t been off my stereo, he is great. Also the Beastie Boys, they’re still outstanding.
Yaniv - if you’ve not already, check out Sage Francis http://www.sagefrancis.net
and also, have you heard any of the Anticon Records stuff? Ch-ch-check it out http://www.anticon.com
They’re a collectively run hip hop label, alot of the stuff is experimental/avante garde style hip hop, but stupid labels like that don’t do them justice. All of the stuff I’ve heard from them blows me away anyway, don’t think theres so much animal liberation content, but some artists are politically charged and its always intelligent. I’d recommend checking out Sole’s album “Live From Rome”, its a blinder.
Comment by Belinda on August 7th, 2007 at 10:07 pm:
Someone suggested Ramallah Underground quite a while back, and it seems pretty good, if you take not understanding most of the lyrics. If I am correct, it is Palestinian hip-hop?
http://ramallahunderground.com/
Comment by punchpidge on August 14th, 2007 at 9:28 am:
The band that is floating my boat at the moment? Battles. Both their EPs and their full length, Mirrored, are pure genuis.
Comment by saoirse on August 15th, 2007 at 8:16 am:
It is indeed Belinda, but they collaborate a fair whack with others (including english speakers). During my over-enthusiastic “I’m going to learn Arabic” phase I tried to translate some of the lyrics without much success but the English ones (specifically with paracat (aka bobby whiskers) are pretty amazing too. Not sure they’re still on the site though :/
Talib Kweli is decent too - I actually only got in to him thanks to RU and I believe he then popped up on Pick A Bigger Weapon by The Coup [which incidentally, I think d-rock is a little harsh on - its definitely not as good as party music but I want “I’m here to laugh, love, fuck and drink liquor” on my grave!]
I think I have made my views on Immortal Technique quite clear already so I’ll keep it zipped this time but I WILL repeat D’s recommendation of Saul Williams, the anti-Immortal Technique and generally fucking awesome guy. Saul Williams is fantastic.
Comment by DickShit on August 17th, 2007 at 12:24 am:
I picked up Days of Rage at The Rebel Spell show at that resistence festival the other day, and I got to say, I haven’t stopped listening to the fucking thing. It’s really hitting the spot for me right now (not that spot you baphoon!).
Granted, I haven’t spent anytime reading the lyrics (yet), and the clever “Homes not Games” shirt Todd (not the rod, mohawk) was wearing was made in some country I couldn’t pronounce (ex. China, Mexico or something) - I know ’cause I wanted to get one - but I do concur with the assertion that these guys are ‘onto something’.
Not to mention they’re a good looking band and the song I am a rifle sounded fucking amazing live.
Aside from that, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, 3 inches of blood’s latest record “Fire Up the Blades” is the album of the summer, period.
Fuck the Fat Mikes, Nader for President…