No Neck Blues Band & Offshoots

[Rajamaki]

On and off over the past couple of years I've been interested in the No Neck Blues Band and their various offshoots. There was a time a couple of years ago whereby their rarer releases were passing hands for crazy amounts on eBay but a recent look shows that this may have calmed down and a few limited but intriguing records/cds might finally be available at sensible prices. I've been looking at a few things recently and wondered if anyone could offer an opinion.

Firstly I noticed this listing, alledgedly for the rare wooden box edition of 'Sticks & Stones'. I say allegedly as there is no picture evidence to actiually back that up - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/No-Neck-Blues-Ban ... 500wt_1126

I have the NNCK offshoot LP on Siwa by K-Salvatore. It's an absolutely gorgeous record with some beautiful sounds to be found. I managed to get one of the limited wooden case versions which is probably the most amazing piece of art in my record collection. I've had a look around for other K-Salvatore works and found this (which is definitely of the WTF pricing variety) - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/K-SALVATORE-3xtap ... 622wt_1109

I also found this, which is an interesting listing in itself as it's got a couple of decent looking Wolf Eyes and Sightings DVDs as well as Menstruation Sisters and Peter Wright all in the one auction with no reserve. It was the K-Salvatore CD that caught my eye - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 518wt_1109

[mudd]

the sticks and stones first pressing on revenant records did indeed come in a wooden box. it's a little hard to find, but not terribly rare, there were maybe 500 or so of them made? the box is a little shoddy, there's a paper band around it that falls off easily. nothing that's gonna put the cd at risk but the lack of picture on that listing doesn't inspire confidence.

never seen the k salvatore triple tape for sale before, nor have i heard it. i've certainly heard of it, though. i imagine that seller is someone associated with the band.

and the cd in that lot is called 'head spinning slowly (spinning freely)', it's pretty good but fairly easy to find if the rest of the lot doesn't interest you.

m

[Rajamaki]

One of those sellers has also listed this -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 870wt_1109

Which contains a No Neck Blues Band disc I hadn't heard of and the Jason Meagher disc I have heard of but haven't been able to track down before. Two decent Sunburned Hand of the Man efforts in there as well.

Are NNCK a lot less prolific these days? It seems like their output has slowed down and the likes of Meagher are concentraring on Charles Speer & The Helix.

[mudd]

the collective imaginings is pretty good, i think they released it in conjunction with their appearance at the victoriaville music festival. as far as i know it might still be in print, but that lot is cheap.

haven't heard the jason meagher, but i don't much care for coach fingers or his other solo/side stuff.

nnck was always slow apart from maybe 3-4 years in the middle 00s. i think they've withdrawn back to a pretty reasonable release volume, though i can't really say what it means. most recent thing i've picked up is 'languid red marchetti', which i enjoyed but the recordings are pretty old.

m

[jon abbey]

I used to have that Meagher CD, I think I sold mine a while back. I remember it as pretty nice, though, singer/songwriter type stuff.

[cheerios]

But hasn't the output from noise bands diminished quite a bit recently in general? Am inquisitive about this.

[mudd]

"noise bands" in general? no. you may need to look into cassettes, though.

m

[nobye-noaloha]

i don't know if nnck is officialy dead (nothing from them is official) but they had a lp planed for years on a label (i don't remember the name) and even the label owner has no news from them.
Dave nuss is doing lot of things out of nnck (sabbat assembly, dendoshi...), jason meagher own a studion and works a lot for that (http://www.blackdirtstudio.com/)
for the others, i don't know...
I'm afraid to say that nnck are dead or almost dead.
there are 2 lp on siwa by k salvatore
http://www.discogs.com/K-Salvatore-Four ... se/1166412
and
http://www.discogs.com/K-Salvatore-The- ... se/1259587
(that's this one that have awooden limited edition)

[mudd]

nnck members have had side projects and side activities all along, though. i don't think it's indicating any sort of a problem that those activities are currently drawing more interest from the band members.

and presumably the LP you have in mind is "gitanjali and the nascent stigma" set to be release of ri be xibalba? yeah there doesn't seem to be much momentum from the band on that one, but i'm sure it will show up eventually.

m

[nobye-noaloha]

nnck members have had side projects and side activities all along, though. i don't think it's indicating any sort of a problem that those activities are currently drawing more interest from the band members.

yeah, i hope you're right.

and presumably the LP you have in mind is "gitanjali and the nascent stigma" set to be release of ri be xibalba?

yes

yeah there doesn't seem to be much momentum from the band on that one, but i'm sure it will show up eventually.

i hope so, usually this label pressed limited edition with the regular one. The limited is often really beautiful....

[james]

I forget which side it is...I want to say side C on Qvaris...is a favorite.

[piege]

I am alone in never having "gotten" NNCK and their ilk (JOMF, sunburned) too? just that stoned jammy branch of so-called "new weird america"... i don't quite understand the "magic".

[mudd]

i'm sure you're not alone, but it's actually music, not magic.

m

[piege]

^^ very funny. by magic i meant appeal.

[faster]

I am alone in never having "gotten" NNCK and their ilk (JOMF, sunburned) too?

No, I never really got into any of it. Heard/saw NNCK live once & that was interesting, though.

[Rajamaki]

I was definitely unsure about No Neck Blues Band (and other big band 'New Weird America' improv troupes like Jackie-O-Motherfucker and Sunburned Hand of the Man) until I saw them live. NNCK at Le Weekend in Stirling was a bit of a game changer and revelation and since then their recordings have taken on a bit more of an interesting dimension.

I bid on some of those NNCK items listed above on eBay but was unsuccessful, however the seller has just listed his motherload of interesting records, quite a few I'm keen on including three Double Leopards LPs (I wasn't aware of the Qbico picture disc, can anyone tell me if this is any good and if that's realy Graham Lambkin artwork) - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 500wt_1156 Also quite interested in this Nmperign LP which I've heard good things about - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 500wt_1156 He has a Enos Slaughter LP and K-Salvator The Zahir LP which are quite interesting but probably most keen on this little Qbico side, which again I didn't really know about so can anyone verify how true it is with regards to it being limited and hard to find - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 738wt_1139

[mudd]

that double leopards LP does indeed feature some fine graham lambkin artwork. i remember the music being ok but not as compelling as their first couple of LPs. also a lot of them were coated in cat hair, which doesn't really matter all that much unless you're really allergic.

the nmperign LP on siwa is one of my all time favorite records, for sound, packaging, the whole deal. siwa products are just gorgeous, and the vinyl is really lively. plus the name of one of the tracks is 'i am sitting in a fucking room'. it's not sold out at source, though, which i consider pretty embarrassing. worth having but don't chase the bid too high.

the enos slaughter is presumably 'come sunday', which is ok. 'the zahir' is not my favorite k salvatore, but it's a pretty fine record. been a while since i've heard it i guess. in fact all of this stuff is very 2003 to me, i guess that's where my interest in nnck and various offshoots peaked - i wrote a review of the nnck performance at the freedom from / de stilj festival in minneapolis that is posted around here somewhere. it's basically my best explanation for why i still dig nnck. in fact i just heard their contribution to the jack rose memorial compilation 'honest strings' a couple hours ago, and i was pretty into it.

i haven't heard the doyle/drake lp on qbico. qbico stuff is genuinely hard to find, but not really the best quality control once you do find it. i wouldn't pay a lot of money for a chance to hear that record.

m

[piege]

I was definitely unsure about No Neck Blues Band (and other big band 'New Weird America' improv troupes like Jackie-O-Motherfucker and Sunburned Hand of the Man) until I saw them live. NNCK at Le Weekend in Stirling was a bit of a game changer and revelation and since then their recordings have taken on a bit more of an interesting dimension.

Hmmm willing to give them another try, but I did see NNCK live and it was just a sloppy stoned messy blob, to be frank.