Live, Big Troubles kick up such a sandstorm that it’s hard to remember that the band began as a bedroom recording project — or, rather, two separate bedroom recording projects, two hermetic hearts that began beating as one when high school buds Alex Craig and Ian Drennan got together last summer and decided to start a band. When the duo rolled up to Newtown Radio last Thursday, the station — recently fitted with a deluxe leather couch and a fridge filled with junk food and sodas — felt homey enough to bring us back to the days when the guitar-playing and songwriting half of Big Troubles had yet to round out into a full rock line-up.
Alex and Ian played out of the same guitar amplifier, sung out of the same mic, and babbled away in the kind of half-English vernacular you probably remember sharing only a few times in your life with one or two very close friends. They couldn’t seem more like two peas in a pod — which is why I was slightly disconcerted when, following the set, Alex presented us with a hand-drawn Venn diagram designed to represent their friendship: two giant circles labeled “Alex” and “Ian,” with only a tiny sliver of overlap at the center. I can’t remember what they said the middle part represented, but I think it had something to do with food. Whatever the reality of the situation may be, I like to think of the Venn diagram as a nice metaphor for the way their instruments interact in the episode you hear below: two runaway orbs of screaming guitar noise, colliding here and there into the shape of a song. At times they overlap a little too much, sharpening into points of feedback — but that’s kind of where the magic begins.
For those of you who tuned in for the first hour of last week’s show and were a little freaked out to discover a rambling discussion between a man with a heavy French accent and a panel of small children, please be cautioned: we don’t know why or how, but Underwater Visitations was hacked! Luckily, we were able to rescue the true-blue episode from the Newtown Radio archives — including a first hour of jams by Ari Stern and yours truly, and a Big Troubles-spun spool of semi-mainstream ’80s gold, which we proudly did not decide to censor.
“Underwater Visitations Episode #4: The Big Troubles Episode”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download the entire episode here .
Playlist after the jump.
DJ SET BY ARI AND EMILIE
J. Barry – Midnight Cowboy Theme Song
Real Estate – Basement
Silver Jews – Send in the Clouds
The Byrds – I Knew I’d Want You
Frank Zappa – Filthy Habits
Tim Hecker – Palimpsest II (Excerpt)
Ariel Pink – Hobbies Galore
Deerhunter – Game of Diamonds
Brian Eno – The BIg Sky
Roches – Hammond Song
Galaxie 500 – Another Day
Pavement – Stop Breathing / (Jumpskip to) Unfair
Amon Düül II – Green Bubble Raincoated Man
Michael Bundt – Neon
Lester Brown – Feed Me Sea Weed
Public Image Ltd. – Flowers of Romance (Instrumental)
U.S. Girls – Lunar Life
Mutual Benefit – Night Bike
Pure Ecstasy – Alexandria
Popol Vuh – Aguiire II
BIG TROUBLES IN-STUDIO
Jim Ferraro – On Air (Excerpt)
BIG TROUBLES DJ SET
Polvo – Enemy Insects
Big Country – Inwards
Prefab Sprout – Moving the River
The Lucy Show – Come Back To The Living
Simeon – Wizard Child
Aztec Camera – Jump (Loaded Version)
Headtime – Have You Heard
Devon Williams – Sufferer
St. Johnny – Scuba Diving
Guided By Voices – Surgical Focus
The Byrds – It’s No Use
Ariel Pink – Phoebus Palast
Yellow Magic Orchestra – Firecracker
For more of the Big Troubles experience, kindly check out their “Freudian Slips” 7 Inch on Blackburn Records and “Drastic and Difficult” 7 inch on Olde English Spelling Bee — not to mention the band’s debut l.p., which should be dropping from the OESB labs within a matter of weeks.
To find out what happened to Underwater Visitations Episode #3: The Lost Episode, and why it did not appear on this blog, please consult the very confusing AIM conversation recently published on the Underwater Peoples bog.
Words: Emilie Friedlander
Tags: Alex Craig, Amon Düül II, Ariel Pink, Aztec Camera, Big Country, Big Troubles, Brian Eno, Deerhunter, Devon Williams, Frank Zappa, Galaxie 500, Guided by Voices, Headtime, Ian Drennan, J. Barry, James Ferraro, Jim Ferraro, Lester Brown, Luka Usmiani, Michael Bundt, Midnight Cowboy, Mutual Benefit, Pavement, Polvo, Popol Vug, Prefab Sprout, Public Image Ltd., Pure Ecstasy, Real Estate, Roches, Sam Franklin, Silver Jews, Simeon, St. Johnny, The Byrds, The Lucy Show, Tim Hecker, U.S. Girls, Underwater Visitations, Yellow Magic Orchestra