a guest series, courtesy of a very friendly lawyer
Warm & Fuzzy
I went for a bike ride on the beach this morning in the perfect Santa Monica weather. I couldn’t help but think about my son in freezing Berlin, my daughter and sister in freezing Brooklyn, Jim and Rachel in freezing Glasgow, and the rest of the TVV crowd freezing around the world. So I thought I’d put together a warm and fuzzy set to bring everyone a little comfort, the operative word being FUZZY.
To be fair, these tunes feature all different kinds of gain in the signal, but somehow ‘Warm & Overdriven’ or ‘Warm & Distorted’ don’t quite send the same message. But, I can verify that the effects you’re hearing are coming from the BASS, which we can all agree is any band’s most important instrument.
Spread Your Love – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Second single from the San Francisco trio’s 2001 debut, B.R.M.C.
Earthquake Heart – The Dirtbombs
Detroit’s garage-rock standard bearers take their rhythm section seriously. Behind band leader Mick Collins are two drummers and two bassists, one playing a standard 4-string and the other playing a six-string baritone with the fuzz circuit always engaged.
Stay In Your Lane – Courtney Barnett
From the Aussie wonderkind’s forthcoming LP, Creature of Habit. She’s got Stella from Warpaint playing drums now. I hope that’s her long-time bassist Bones Sloane playing the crunchy bottom line.
My favorite track from BF5‘s 1995 self-titled debut. I wish they were still together–that band had great songs and was a stellar live act. Despite the name, the band were a trio with Folds on vocals/piano, Darren Jesse on drums, and the great bassist Robert Sledge carrying the song’s melody.
The Beasties got all kinds of attention, very little of it for their musicianship. Sure, they sampled a lot and had tons of guest artists on their records, but it was always Mike D on drums, Ad Rock on guitar, and MCA on bass. On this track the dearly departed Mr. Yauch is playing through a Univox Superfuzz unit.
I’m not that into Muse, if I’m honest, but you can’t deny the chops on these guys. Chris Wolstenholme plays the crap out of this frenetic, relentless line. On YouTube there are loads of pedal shootouts comparing different fuzz pedals and this is often the song used to demonstrate each stompbox.
The Gravedigger’s Song – Mark Lanegan
Lead track from the peerless baritone’s seventh studio album, Blues Funeral, released in 2012. Bass on this track is played by Alain Johannes, of the former L.A. supergroup Eleven.
Every 1’s a Winner – Ty Segall
From the incredibly prolific lo-fi rocker’s excellently titled10th studio LP, Freedom’s Goblin. Written by disco champs Hot Chocolate, most famous for ‘You Sexy Thing.’ Featuring comedian Fred Armisen on percussion!
Volunteers of America – The Both
I was saving this song for an entry in the He Said/She Said series, but couldn’t wait because I’m desperately in love with Aimee Mann. Here the solo artist/former frontperson of Til Tuesday/goddess plays a fuzzy bass alongside indie stalwart Ted Leo.
Wannabe in L.A. – Eagles of Death Metal
From the goof rock duo’s third record, Heart On. I love this track and sometimes play it with my cover band, The Dial-Ups. That’s Baby Duck (Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age) playing a fuzzed out bass with a slide. The ‘Alain and Natasha’ name-checked in the song are the afore-mentioned Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider from Eleven, who ran 11AD Studio where the track was recorded.
Bonus Track: Apostrophe’ – Frank Zappa
Zappa must have been mentioned here at JC’s place before, but I can’t remember if any of his songs have ever been included in a post. But this one really fits the bill. This is the title track off the maestro’s fifth solo album, with none other than the legendary Jack Bruce of Cream playing fuzz bass and session drummer/convicted murderer Jim Gordon rounding out the rhythm section.
Jonny
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 