Ghostfinger
So this weekend's travels had me in Murfreesboro, TN, at the wonderful Grand Palace Records complex on Church Street. Grand Palace is a fabulous space with a record store, recording studios, a live room, and a screen printing shop all in-house. Basically, it's every music-loving indie kid's wet dream. I'll also add that while their music store is small, it has the best selection per square foot that I have ever seen. While I was there, I asked about M'boro artists of note. It went something like this:
Rich: What's local and kicks ass?
Clerk 1: Ghostfinger!
Clerk 2: Ghostfinger!
Random customer: Yeah, Ghostfinger!
Rich: Well, alrighty then. I'll get that.
So, I bought Ghostfinger's 2005 release, These Colors Run, on Set International Records. Then I listened to it on the way home to Atlanta. Several times.
Ghostfinger's sound is difficult to succinctly define. They can sound like thrash-loving punks one moment and like descendents of Little Feat in the next. There's surf guitar, pedal steel, organ solos, NASA chatter, and multiple songs about the joy of rocking the fuck out. Richie Kirkpatrick's vocal is reminiscent of classic Stones fused with Stephen Malkmus, although the music is derivative of neither. To further confuse matters, the Nashville Scene called Kirkpatrick the city's "best reincarnation of Prince" in a recent piece. Basically, this is a really fun record by a trio of lads clearly having a great time and not taking themselves too seriously. I think this album will move into my regular rotation. A couple tracks (with some NSFW lyrics [the f-bomb], by the way):
Ghostfinger - Shine a Light
Ghostfinger - Rock
Three more songs are available for download on their MySpace page. These Colors Run is available from Amazon.
On another note, I just read Kim Cooper's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea book and rather enjoyed it. Any suggestions on the next book in the 33 1/3 series I should pick up? Information on the series can be found here. At this point I'm leaning toward the Pet Sounds volume. Brian Wilson is fascinating.
posted by Rich at 1:45 PM
6 Comments:
I really like your posts about going to other towns and asking who the best local bands are. So if someone came into YOUR record store from out of town, what would you recommend to them? The Selmanaires? Luigi? Anna Kramer? Tough choice.
Thanks for adding a link to my blog!
10:34 AM
i really have to read that book! I hear it mentions the house I used to live in when I was in Ruston...the good ol' Monroe Street House...ahh the memories
2:35 PM
thanks for the tip, i like these guys!
3:31 PM
Jon, I guess I'd have to make that call based on their tastes but The Selmanaires, Anna Kramer, and A Fir-Ju Well are probably at the top of my list for Atlanta. I haven't heard near enough of Luigi, but they're at The EARL this Friday night.
Shannon, it sure does. It was a good quick read as well -- one thing that surprised me was that so little text was actually devoted to the songs on the LP. It's a good condensed history of E6 too but mostly focuses on Jeff M. and his interactions with other E6 folks. Any idea if anybody's actually writing a full-length E6 book? I haven't heard of such a project but it just makes so much sense.
5:57 PM
Thanks for coming up to the Palace. It was cool to have out-of-town guests for such a great show, We had an awesome time that night. Contact us on myspace about trading show-tapes...we're going to have a podcast up and running real soon, so be on the look out for that, too.
I'm glad you dig on Ghostfinger, they're my boys and they fuckin rule. They'll be in Atlanta sometime in May, so be on the look out-the live show makes the album look like a slow night at the funeral parlor...
10:23 PM
Sean, glad you found this place. You guys were great hosts. Grand Palace is fantastic. I'll def be in touch. Good to know Ghostfinger is gonna be in Atlanta! I'm still really tempted to come up and see that triple bill with How I Became the Bomb and The Clutters over Memorial Day weekend. From what I've heard of The Bomb and Clutters (and Ghostfinger), that seems like a HELL of a show.
11:17 PM
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