FIVETOOLS.com » franklin bruno

Mountain Goats Tour Over: Time for More Shows!

peter — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:04:17 +0000

Attention New Yorkers: if you didn’t get enough of me last week with the Mountain Goats, you can come to the Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night where I’ll be playing with Franklin Bruno, opening for the Fiery Furnaces. I’m told that we go on at nine. We’ll be doing a bunch of the songs we recorded last summer for Franklin’s next full-length and an oldie or two, should be fun. See you there?

Progress Report

peter — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:04:39 +0000

A phrase from my youth I seem to remember only being used paradoxically; being sent home from school with one invariably indicated a lack of progress, and usually meant you were in trouble. I report to you now with a similar sheepishness, having promised more frequent updates than have been forthcoming, but whatever: this is NOT that kind of progress report! There is progress!

Most importantly: the Fangio album is finished. More on this soon. For now, check out the fucking awesome Ratti goggles I scored on eBay.

Second most importantly: I’m playing a show during CMJ, October 21 at Union Hall. I’m first of four; Franklin Bruno is headlining and celebrating the official release of Local Currency, and I’ll be playing with him, too. Action starts at 7, so get there early.

Tons of Mountain Goats stuff going on, too, obviously: new album is out Tuesday and we’re performing on The Colbert Report to mark the occasion (!). You can preview the album on the Colbert site, too. Full band U.S. tour to follow in November so come out and say hello if you can.

Finally, lots of how-I-spent-my-summer-vacation type stuff over on Firebird Man, the one place I have been updating somewhat regularly over the past several months. Check it out if you share my fascination with awesome old race cars, gawdawful customs, and unlikely third world treasures.

Funkyzeit mit [Franklin] Bruno

peter — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:24:52 +0000

I don’t have my copy yet (cough, cough), so I can’t testify that the artwork I put together for it this past spring came out as intended, but according to this post on Fayettenam’s myspace, Local Currency, the Franklin Bruno singles compilation, is now available via direct order along with an Easter basket full of extra goodies I’ll leave it to label impresario Scott Jacobson to tell you about. The CD itself does us the considerable favor of collecting Franklin’s seven-inch EPs of the ’90s—Hermetic Geometry, The Irony Engine, A Sand Dollar Relief Map, and La Radia—and a large helping of compilation appearances from the same era all in one place. These songs, the Hermetic Geometry ones in particular, were my introduction to Franklin’s writing, and a big part of the reason I spent most of a decade playing in a band with him. (The other reasons were the women and the money.) (What?)

I was reminded of, and exasperated by, this same songwriting brilliance more recently when I headed down to New York City to play bass on a bunch of new Human Hearts songs, the moniker Franklin’s adopted as his 21st Century nom de rock. The thing about Franklin’s songs, and perhaps the thing that’s kept them from reaching the audience they deserve, is that they conceal much of what makes them amazing, both lyrically and musically; they’re like ingenious puzzles, seamless on the outside, wondrously complex on the inside. Working up my parts I realized again that this was truly the only way to fully appreciate them: to sit down and actually learn these songs, figure them out, bring their secrets to light. If you’re a musician, try it. If you’re not, ask a musician friend, watch as he’s driven crazy trying to figure out what’s going on, then behold the look of admiration and satisfaction that spreads across his face when he gets it. Or she, of course. Franklin’s an equal opportunity enigma.

On the drive down I reacquainted myself with maybe my favorite Franklin album ever, band or solo, 2002′s A Cat May Look at a Queen. In its seeming simplicity and directness it defies much of what I’ve said above, but here’s the song during which my girlfriend, Patricia, not a huge music person and one not generally given to overstatement in any context, turned to me and said solemnly: “Your friend is very talented.” That he is.

[audio:05%20Tired%20Of%20The%20West.mp3]