Wednesday, May 13, 2009

5/13 - Bell Gardens

Kenneth James Gibson loves the sound of sunshine and Southern California. If I had to write one sentence about him that didn't contain the word "genius" at least once, that's the one. If I had to go way back on this one, I'd have to talk about being 19 years old, coming back to Austin after a dreadful and stoned summer away in Dallas, and finding that in the amount of time I'd been gone, my best friend Cathy had met this guy Ken, and suddenly Cathy, lo and behold, was playing bass in a band. Well this was all pretty dubious sounding to me until she played me this demo they'd made called "Still California." It was noisy, loopy, spacey, and dirty, but it was also a pretty good dreamy approximation of what was going through my head at that time - which was a burning desire to leave Texas and move to Los Angeles as soon as humanly possible. And I loved it.

Ken liked Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. He liked My Bloody Valentine. He loved the Beach Boys. And believe it or not, it wasn't too cool to love the Beach Boys back then. He also could make the most incredible racket with a guitar that I'd ever heard. And I'm sure he still likes all those things.

That demo made it to a 7" by their band, The Little Furry Things (later to become simply Furry Things), and later was a key track on their first album, "The Big Saturday Illusion." They were a great young band - a bunch of kids learning how to be great at what they did in front of really receptive audiences. Killing us with monstrously intentional feedback, loops of earsplitting sonic fire, and tightening it up as they went along until they found a thumping, blissful, spacey dub infused funk that blew their fellow Texan spacerockers out of the water by the time their next EP was released. It was a great band, getting better all the time, until about 1998ish. Everyone moved to Los Angeles. Ironically, California killed the band that California inspired.

Chris Michaels - 2nd guitarist, harmonies, organs/keyboard - peeled off the scene to return to the South where he found a home playing with Sparklehorse. Cathy Shive went back to school and became, incongruously, a computer programming superstar in New York. Only drummer Charlie Woodburn and Ken stayed behind to tackle LA.

Just prior to Furry Things' inception in Austin, another band was making music there that might as well have been the yin to Furry Things' yang. While Furry Things kicked up a heartswelling, moody racket, Stars of the Lid were creeping in your ears with minimalist pocket symphanies of warm chords and sad refrains. Stars of the Lid's Brian McBride and Ken are both perfectionists in their own way, and friends as well. Hearing the chorale-quality swell of Brian's music, mixed with Ken's ear for harmony and sundrenched melody only seems like a strange fit until you describe it like that. And definitely never seems a strange fit again after you hear how nice it comes together.

California is still being very good to Ken Gibson, and very good to those who love his music. Brian and Ken's new collaboration is called Bell Gardens, and they're wonderful. Unfortunately, they are also taking their sweet time to come out with a proper album of songs. But, snippets at least can be heard currently on their myspace. And of all the things these guys have done so far, I like this one the best.

http://www.myspace.com/bellgardensmusic

Also check out Furry Things, Stars of the Lid, and some of Ken Gibson's electronic and dub projects:

http://www.myspace.com/kennethjamesgibson

http://www.myspace.com/furrythings4

http://www.myspace.com/starsofthelid

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