Mike Watt - Hyphenated-Man
 

Okay, I posted about this on the 2010 thread, but it deserves its own thread, this album is just fucking excellent, I'm going to buy a copy of it asap. It reminds me a LOT of captain beefheart (specifically doc at the radar station era); oddly anthemic but fractured clean guitar lines, tom/hat-happy unconventional drums, and obviously a brilliant bass presence. The musical interplay is topnotch.. unbelievable. The vocals pretty much just consist of Watt yelling in a constipated voice (mean that in the nicest way possible), and they sound awesome!

I actually like this album better than any Minutemen album (!), or any previous album Watt has appeared on. GREAT album.

i didn't realise this had come out,getting now. i'm kind of iffy on his solo work, i don't like the middle stand very much

IMO, it doesn't really sound like ANYTHING he's ever done -- and I'm pretty familiar with most of his work -- it's closest in sound to Minutemen's weirder material, meets Captain Beefheart... but even that doesn't describe it.

Favorite album of the year.

He's basically created a completely new musical language on this album, in my opinion. Every instrument is played extremely unconventionally, yet still retaining a sense of deep and rewarding musicality; I don't think any song except for 2 pass 2 minutes, yet all the songs feel so full, complex, complete, and.. GOOD. They're all like miniature epics, with so many little changes and fills. Just brilliant.

This really is a big departure for him. Why is NO ONE talking about it? He manages to put so many great structures and riffs to work in a short space of time without making things claustrophobic. I nabbed it off a blog but I'm gonna buy it. He plays every instrument?

This is way better than the new Trumans Water. Obviously an entirely different band, but this album is hitting the receptors that I hoped the TW album would have.

i listened to this earlier and yeah i really like it, definitely got a Beefheart sound going on. i will buy it too, might wait and see if he's selling copies at ATP.

i noticed beefeartness on probably ten tracks, i don't think it's that different from his other work, but the way the different instruments layer together is rather unconventional

he didn't play all the instruments:
The Missingmen are a punk rock trio fronted by Minutemen/fIREHOSE/Stooges bassist Mike Watt. The band features Watt, guitarist Tom Watson (Slovenly, The Pair Of Pliers, The Jom And Terry Show, Red Krayola), and drummer Raul Morales (FYP, Killer Dreamer, The Leeches, The Secondmen).

Great post, as are many of the recent posts. It sounds way different than his other stuff because he said he listened to Minutemen for the first time since they disbanded and was inspired by them -- though, really, it doesn't sound that much like Minutemen, imo, but it has the same general rule (short, fast, unconventional interplay, highly musical, these neat little punk epics that aren't what we think of when we think of "punk").

I dug the new Trumans Water but I thought the songs on it were samey. I think it's a fair comparison, since that album and this one are both going for mostly short sexy little complex compositions.

I bought a copy myself. I love this album.

i heard it once will need to hear it again.
it is really great, but i would hardly say that it invents a new musical language. it seems to combine the minutemen's aesthetic with that of his other solo albums.
that is all i can say until i hear it a few more times.

I'd say I've personally never heard a rock album like it, it's a continuation of Beefheart's (and I hate to keep namedropping Beefheart but I can't help but let's face it, Beefheart is my favorite musician ever and he played this sorta skewed rock stuff at times and Watt is kinda doing it but in his own style and better than ever) rockier stuff and Minutemen without being "punk" really. The rhythms, the interplay.. very inspiring. Everything pulling apart but coming togther. Brilliant. I've listened to it 10 times. There's nothing else like it around right now.

bump

thanks!

in October Watt/Missingmen toured with Tera Melos during the Japan stint supporting this album, I thought that was pretty fucking cool.


beak-holding-letter-man
fumblin' for footin' on fuckin' ice skates funnel full of folly fitted firmly to head the message, the message is held in the beak speak?

Lost a bit of intrerest in watt solo after the last one,,,I'll have to check this out...thanks.

Whoa, you can only get it from japan? Surely Watt wouldn't have a hard time finding another label to release it for further distribution???

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003X5SX1M/sr=8-2/qid=1291992170/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1291992170 &sr=8-2&seller=
wtf £45.49 from Amazon! :eek: i know cds are more expensive in Japan but is that right?

did anyone see this for sale at ATP?

didn't find any there, sadly.

is this what he was playing at ATP?

yeah he did play some tracks from this album but i missed alot of the set

i only caught a few songs, it wasn't my cup of tea, too proggy

it was announced to be the performance of his 3rd opera and because there was almost no time for appreciation in between, i guess it was.

i really liked it. beefheartian stuff!

in the last the watt from pedro show, watt tells us he wants to tour Europe in the fall with the Hyphenated Man opera.

looks like it's out in the usa in march

http://www.amazon.com/Hyphenated-Man...7835582&sr=8-1

in this dutch webstore too: http://www.bol.com/nl/p/muziek/hyphe...334/index.html

listen to it:

http://www.spinner.com/new-releases#/12

http://www.mediafire.com/?hzqimwymymx

anyone heard this? I think it's oop. It's the DOS cd which combines the first two DOS vinyl releases. Interesting stuff. It's Watt and kira from Black Flag, his ex-wife. So yeah it's two basses and both of them singing. It's really interesting stuff.

I'm a huge Watt fan. Big musical influence. Seems to be a supernice guy too, I emailed him to let him know how much HYPHENATED MAN blew me away. He seemed very grateful and appreciative. I mean, what an amazing musician. On HYPHENATED MAN, listen to the guitar riff 47 seconds into track 2. So good! Man I could go on and on about that album in particular, so many little gems, the way the instruments interplay is beyond genius.

Anyway...

by the way, this FINALLY got a us release:

http://www.ziarecords.com/rel/v2_vie...pc=09362495881

it's on vinyl for those who were waiting

I want to talk about DOS again. Very very strange listening experience but really entertaining. They actually do a cover of PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY!

uh yeah and I'm talking about them again.

Uno Con Dos

BLOWS MY FUCKING MIND

You will not believe the bass interplay on this album. FUCK.

STU, PAULY.. you guys would eat this shit up.

i kept forgeting to grab this but i'm getting it now, thanks!

listening now and i love it, thanks for continuing to going on about this! ;)

I was going to miss the Missingmen when they came through Milwaukee since it's a 21+ show and I'm just 20 but fuck that there's no way I don't show.

Show last night was GREAT! Got to talk to Tom Watson for a bit during the opening act. He was chillin in the crowd with everyone. Met Mike Watt. Got a pic with him but you cant see anything cause it was taken on my phone. Pisses me off. I did get a few good pics of the show. These turned out the best

watt's account of sharing bill with northampton wools and how it felt to play for Thurston's mother-scroll down to his April 5 entry. I'm going to his chicago gig next week.
http://hootpage.com/hoot_hyphenated-...2011diary.html

i saw Watt last night. awesome. what a great show, by a bunch of great people.

playing toronto on saturday

thanks for the photo, it's very nice, a lotta personality there