Three on the Ones and Twos

From Rick Moore, our longtime friend and guest on the show: "The first time I saw John Reis play was around Thanksgiving ‘95. Rocket from the Crypt at Midtown Music Hall. It was the best show I’ve ever seen. Circa Now was the record. Blue sparkle were the shirts. Well spanked Les Paul Customs and well vented 100W JCM 800s. Hot Snakes in Nashville a few years ago was almost as good. I don’t follow much new music, but I can count on Reis for steady content that’s always good and relevant. It’s extraordinary talent, occupying a significant place on the map for 35 years. It should be heralded".

Thanks Rick for your great pick, and go see Skin Jobs whenever they are playing in town!

De La Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising is a very personal and important album to us – in fact anyone coming of age in the mid to late 80s should have a special place in their heart for this music they created back in 1989. It was fun, it was creative and groundbreaking, it was everywhere. But unlike Paul’s Boutique, It Takes a Nation of Millions or Low End Theory, Three Feet High and Rising was lost to time. It did not stay in the public consciousness to be rediscovered by later generations as the albums have been out of print and unavailable for streaming, and this is one of the tragedies for a group that was so amazing and influential. We have wanted to talk about this album since the very beginning of Three on the Ones and Twos, but there was always another that somehow took precedent. Then we heard the catalogue was coming back into print and would be available for streaming, and we got really excited again. But sadly Trugoy the Dove (Plug Two) did not get his victory lap, passing away less than three weeks before these albums were given a new life. Every person between the ages of 45 to 55 who grew up on these albums revisited a part of their childhood on that weekend of March 3rd, and we wanted to celebrate this album and a group that meant so much to all of us. Enjoy the episode!

From James Joyce (Three on the Ones and Twos Cohost): DEVO is one of my favorite bands of all time – in fact, I don’t even consider them a “band” but really an artistic movement, philosophy and way of life. These five weirdos from Ohio created a place for themselves as true artists, making music, videos, graphic design that has lasted an entire lifetime, all of this both inside and outside mainstream culture and business worlds, with a great sense of humor, absurdity and fun. They are truly subversive in so many ways and massively influential - everyone has a picture of DEVO in their mind, but when you really pay attention to what they are truly saying and doing, you see how deep and profound the message becomes. And their message of De-Evolution only gets more and more relevant as time goes on – no other band has prepared us for modern times more than DEVO. De-Evolution is Real - Duty Now for the Future!

From Cassy (Three on the Ones and Twos Cohost): This one is really special. Devo is one of those bands that a ton of music we love wouldn't be the same without. There's no denying their legacy is imperative to the formation of new wave, electronic and even performance art as we know those things to be today. In Episode 56, Me, Tom and James (aka 1499) sit down with good friend, musician and Three on the Ones and Twos team member, Brian Kincheloe, to discuss the first release from this iconic band, the incredible Q: Are We Not Me? A: We Are Devo! The Mothersbaugh brothers, Casale brothers along with Alan Myers on drums had such a unique perspective right out of the gate - backed up with the talent needed to execute it -  that the likes of legends Iggy Pop, Robert Fripp, David Bowie and Brian Eno (who won out in the end) vied for the opportunity to produce their debut record. That's crazy impressive! The end result is this phenomenal masterpiece which we enjoyed discussing immensely. Watch until the end for the Cameo video from Jerry Casale that Sue got James a year and a half ago for Christmas along with a short clip of Devo's fantastic performance from last year's Cruel World festival. And in the famous words of the man himself, de-evolution is real! Cheers!

From our good friend and guest on today's episode, Jon Phipps: "Reckoning is the first R.E.M album I truly fell in love with, top to bottom. This record was the American Fab Four's thumbing-your-nose at the notion of a 'sophomore slump.' Every song on this evergreen, crystalline and beautiful record has its own unique brawniness and mood and story all behind it. This record grabbed listeners by the ear and made them realize that this quartet from Athens, Georgia was nothing to be fucked with."

During the pandemic two friends, Andy Gish and our Episode 8 guest, Kim Ware, created the Kimono My House Facebook page for musicians to have a platform to perform during quarantine. Tom thought up an idea of a show on KMH which would include sets by Blake Rainey, Lars Nagel and himself. Dubbed THE BLT show, it quickly became a regular weekly thing with incredible rotating musicians from all over the country. As quarantine slowly and safely let up and venues reopened, that same community of musicians and music lovers began playing shows together in person.
 
A few weeks ago, at the Star Community Bar, a fantastic lineup met for BLT Fest 2 (you may remember BLT Fest 1 at Waller's where we had a wonderful conversation with our Episode 39 guest, Daniel Gay from Worcester, Massachusetts) and we again took the opportunity to sit down with a couple guests from out of state to discuss their record picks. First up is our friend, Vic Burgess, aka Chattanooga Vic, from, you guessed it, Chattanooga Tennessee. Vic gave us several great record choices and we settled on the fantastic No Depression by Uncle Tupelo, which inspired the creation of the alt-country periodical of the same name and helped define a genre. Here's what Vic had to say about the experience:
 
"A great quality about music, and art in general, is how perspectives can change when discussed and evaluated by a group of friends. One outside observation can turn a song or a whole album on its head. Discussing this album with my friends who had different takes on it opened my mind up to different angles that I hadn’t thought of before." - Vic Burgess
 
We couldn't agree more, Vic! We're so excited to have finally had Vic on as a guest and to share the awesome conversation we had about this iconic record which kicked off the legacies of Wilco and Sun Volt, took inspiration from both punk and country, then blended them together so seamlessly the album title is sometimes used as a synonym for the entire alternative country genre. No Depression by Uncle Tupelo is a true gem and if you haven't heard it yet you should definitely put that on your list. James couldn't be at the Star Bar the Sunday of the BLT Fest but he will be back for Episode 56. Be sure to check out Vic's band, The ExLaws, and some of his solo work at the links below. Cheers! – Cassy
 
https://www.facebook.com/TheExLaws/
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/vicburgess/a-fool-and-his-money-will-soon-party

From our guest on today's episode and our good friend Mike Shina: "I heard this album from my friend Tal Bayer, he turned me on to Dexys but this record changed everything. It's soul and gospel and spiritual. I met Tom Cheshire, he was living in Tal's laundry room. We were discovering so many things and discovering us and becoming artists ourselves. This record was the soundtrack of all of it. It's beautiful and religious and flawed and perfect."

Our guest today is Travis Thatcher - here is what he had to say about Dubnobasswithmyheadman by Underworld: "This was the first album of the re-invented form of Underworld with Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, eschewing their prior new wave pop for a more focused electronic sound. Working with a young Darren Emerson (who went on to a huge career as a DJ), dubnobasswithmyheadman established the archetype of Underworld’s future releases and received high praise from the music press at the time. I discovered Underworld through the Wax Trax (US) single release of Cowgirl which also appeared on the Hackers movie soundtrack. Thankfully the tune and the record it came from have aged far better than the movie (hack the planet!). As a teen growing up in Eastern PA, I had never heard anything that sounded like them. I was immediately hooked and closely followed their subsequent output. Learning more later about their background in the group Freur and the earlier new wave incarnation of Underworld, their evolution made a lot of sense to me. Dubnobasswithmyheadman was one of the records that Ben and I bonded over when first forming Judi Chicago. Karl Hyde’s vocal delivery is a really great example of using voice as an instrument - you can focus on the texture and timbre and get just as much out of it as you can from his words. Mmm Skyscraper is also a big favorite. The stream of consciousness lyric style is something I am always able to get lost in. I also always dug how much guitar was on this record and how the guitar parts are treated and mixed so seamlessly with the electronics." 

From our guest Ben Coleman: In London and the surrounding area in 1994, Jungle music was the most exciting thing around, experimental, multicultural, utterly new and totally local. “Jungle Mania 2” encapsulates the moment that this underground scene erupted from the clubs and pirate radio stations of London into the national consciousness (and childhood record collections) of Britain, after the top 40 breakthrough success of “Original Nuttah” by UK Apachi & Shy FX.

The details of the release speaks to this underground/mainstream tension: it was released on Telstar, who specialised in compilations and telemarketed major artist compilations like Slade’s “Crackers (The Christmas Party Album)” (1985), “Morning Has Broken (20 Religious Favourites)” and (setting a dancefloor precedent) the popular pop/rave “Deep Heat” compilations of the late 80s and early 90s.

Evidently, Telstar were fairly agnostic about the content of their releases and were just giving the kids what they wanted, and they wanted “35 Of The Most Cantankerous, Ruffneck Jungle Ryddims Ever”! Jungle Mania 2 album was duly advertised on commercial TV and was available at Woolworths, and I will go out on a limb and say it was probably the double cassette that was rocking most bedroom stereos.

The sleeve notes give some indication as to where all of this art has sprung from. The ‘licensed in association with…” section is an extensive list of 25 labels, some of whom are legendary in the breakbeat scene: Aphrodite, Ibiza, Ganja, Moving Shadow, Reinforced, S.O.U.R., Suburban Base. These were the roots of the scene, a totally grass-roots, London based phenomenon that sprang from the ashes of acid house and hardcore rave, fusing breakbeats with dub basslines and ragga MCing to spawn a new, darker dancehall hybrid. At this time the scene was resolutely DIY- a good portion of the artists featured on this compilation owned and managed the labels releasing the music, or worked in the record stores selling self-released white label 12”s, or DJ’d on the many pirate stations that were proliferating across the tower blocks of the city. This is truly Underground music, but packaged by the people who brought you “Rock Legends (12 Timeless Rock Classics)”, and with a funny googly-eyed face on the front.

For the “full-on live experience” the sleeve notes advise that we “check Jungle Mania events in the London area”. Jungle Mania was (and still is, 30 years on) one of the biggest and best promoters of Jungle events in the UK, and were perfectly positioned to be the brand name for these compilations.

What to say about the music? To this day, for many die-hard listeners and collectors, Jungle (and its more straight-faced twin sibling Drum and Bass) has never topped the 1994-95 era, during which the clash of cultures and styles exploded in black plastic shards of brilliance, experimentalism, hilarity and rhythmic innovation. For more reading, I highly recommend “Generation Ecstasy”, by Simon Reynolds, and check out my own project “Can’t Stop the Pirates” here, where there is loads of links to documentaries, and an amazing archive of pirate broadcasts from back in the day: https://www.bencolemansounds.com/pirates

Ben Coleman
www.bencolemansounds.com
Redline Artist

When my friend Joana Fernandes texted me to say she’d be in Atlanta I couldn’t miss the opportunity to have her as a guest on the show. I knew she’d come up with some awesome record choices to talk about but I wasn’t sure what they’d be. Out of all the fantastic choices she gave, Tom, James and I decided to go with Kick by INXS. Four of the twelve tracks were top 10 hits - the record dominated the charts at a time the three of us were figuring out who we were and what direction we wanted our lives to take. Kick came out the year I moved from a relatively small town in Wisconsin to the San Francisco Bay Area and the world opened up to me - a new sensation. I couldn’t have picked a better record to talk about with a dear friend from my high school days; the songs could be heard everywhere the year our worlds collided. Thank you, Joana! I love you and I’m so happy you’re our 50th episode guest, just in time for your next 24th birthday. We had so much fun shooting this episode and reminiscing about our idyllic teenage years in late ‘80s Marin, I forgot to mention one of the most interesting things I learned about INXS in my research for this episode. Did you know they briefly considered being a Christian band? It’s true! Be sure to watch to learn more fun facts and, if you don’t already, get to know my friend Joana a little bit. She’s pretty spectacular. This episode is dedicated to the loving memory of our high school friend, Samay Israel. - Cassy

Denise Medow has worked behind the scenes in production on Three on the Ones and Twos since its very first episode. She does not want the limelight. She won't even let us take a picture of her. She just believes in being a team player and doing everything that is needed to get the job done. We asked her if she would be a guest on the show. We've asked her several times. She has said no every time. Then a couple of months ago she came to us and said she didn't want to be a guest but there was a record she wanted to hear us discuss.  She wanted us to discuss Operation Ivy, the Energy album. She was smiling but dead serious and said "this is my go to record, it brings a smile to my face, it makes me happy, it makes me want to dance, it makes me want to celebrate all of the good things in life, love and friendships."

Thank you Denise.
Tom Cheshire - Co-Founder, Three on the Ones and Twos