Kyle Gilkeson

William Elliott Whitmore

Guest Playlist: William Elliott Whitmore’s top anti-war songs

William Elliott Whitmore: Field SongsWilliam Elliott Whitmore: Field Songs (Anti-, 7/12/11)

William Elliott Whitmore: “Everything Gets Gone”

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Folk songwriter William Elliott Whitmore graced the cover of ALARM 35 back in 2009, right after he had made the jump to Anti- (read story here). At the time, he was promoting his new album, Animals in the Dark, which saw his blues-infused creations bolstered by additions of pedal steel, organs, strings, and drums. Now, he’s set to release a new full-length, Field Songs, which speaks to a uniquely American experience. Never one to hide his political beliefs, Whitmore was kind enough to share with us 10 of his favorite anti-war songs.

10 Anti-War Songs
by William Elliott Whitmore

1.  Operation Ivy: “Unity”

A bit of protest from the Bay Area’s premier ska outfit.

Rabbits

Guest Spots: Rabbits’ rat-filled allegory of cooperation

Rabbits: Lower FormsRabbits: Lower Forms (Relapse, 2/15/11)

Rabbits: “Duck The Pigs”

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Portland, Oregon-based sludge-rock trio Rabbits isn’t big on accessibility. Its music — heavily distorted, brutally noisy — is polarizing, as the extensive catalog of reviews on the band’s website reveals. Its name — generally stylized in all caps — is topped off with an inverted R on the cover of its newest record, Lower Forms. There’s not much of a back story or many illuminating interviews, so a lot of people don’t seem to “get” Rabbits. If you’re in the camp that believes you don’t really need to know the drummer’s dog’s name to enjoy its music, read on, and see what Rabbits and rats have in common.

Why Rat?
by Rabbits

Rabbits sings songs about science. Science, like philosophy (the two are difficult to disentangle and once were one in the same), is about explaining what goes on in the world. How do we explain Rabbits?  Tricky. We can tell you this: you would not even be reading about Rabbits right now were it not for cooperation that goes on in the Portland punk and metal scene. All for one and one for all. Why do you think Portland has such a long tradition of sick, heavy, scuzzy, musical weirdos? Cooperation. And science has a lot to say about cooperation.

Once upon a time, a man named Axelrod hosted a contest in a computer. You could send in a strategy to play a game called The Prisoners’ Dilemma.  The game is this: Two prisoners arrested for the same crime must each decide whether or not to rat the other out…without knowing what the other will do.  The smartest thing to do is rat if you don’t want to get totally fucked, so both should rat.  But it certainly would be a whole lot cooler if both kept their stupid mouths shut instead of both being good-for-nothing rats.

Memory Tapes

Guest Playlist: Memory Tapes’ songs to drink and resent people to

Memory Tapes: Player PianoMemory Tapes: Player Piano (Carpark, 7/5/11)

Memory Tapes: “Wait in the Dark”

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On July 5, New Jersey-based multi-instrumentalist Dayve Hawk, better known as Memory Tapes,will release Player Piano, the follow-up to his 2010 debut, Seek Magic. Like his first album, Hawk once again recorded in his home studio, playing each instrument himself, without the aid of sequencing software. With its doo-wop harmonies and synth-soul intersections, Hawk described Player Piano as “a sort of Motown suicide note.” A little dark, a little humorous — just like his playlist for ALARM: a musical exploration of inebriation and indignation.

Songs to Drink and Resent People To
by Memory Tapes

1. Chris Bell: “I Am The Cosmos”

This is where it starts…arrogance and self-doubt.

Coalesce

Guest Spot: Sean Ingram of Coalesce explains hardcourt bike polo

Coalesce: OxCoalesce: OX (Relapse, 6/9/09)

Coalesce: “The Comedian in Question”

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Kansas City, Missouri-based hardcore band Coalesce has spent the last decade in flux, with shifting lineups, hiatuses, and sporadic shows prior to a full-blown reunion that spawned a new seven-inch, a full-length, and an EP.

But just because its output and appearances have been limited, the band isn’t out of touch. The scene has simply changed, and lead vocalist Sean Ingram wanted to rediscover the magic of its early days. Now, he finds himself on the ground floor of yet another nascent, independent movement: hardcourt bike polo.

Punk Living Through Non-Musical Means, or This Bike is a Weapon
by Sean Ingram of Coalesce

There was a point a few years ago that I was completely depressed by the world I had created around myself with electronics and new media. A fellow I knew had offed himself, and it was great sport to come up with the best pun skewering his illness in the comments. A band from Japan wrecked on the highway here in the States, seriously fucking some of them up, and the response was, “Van frip, Paypar prease,” in a mocking and fairly racist manner. For whatever reason, this kind of assholery was getting to me, and I made a pact with myself that I would turn everything off, and do my best to disassociate myself from cynicism. A major task, I know. But there is only so much one can take of faceless assholes telling them what is and isn’t cool. So it was done. I was out.

Without all of this extra noise, it was easier to focus on tasks at hand. Planting an orchard, building some old-school hemp rope-swings, not knowing what someone’s done for the last week before catching up with them in person for a beer. Little things were more enjoyable. As my attitude started to ease up, and I started to take more time to enjoy the little things, I noticed some guys on some bikes with big hammers, knocking the shit out of a little ball. I spent the day by the sideline checking these guys out. It was like hockey, but on these Mad Max-looking bikes. But these guys clearly weren’t jocks. These were guys that probably heard “Skate or die, fag!” yelled at them a million times in high school, just like me. So I gave it a shot.

Coalesce