Pure Pleasure

Down on the Farm with Plan 9

by Michael Caito

Plan 9

Kicking off the entry for the band Plan 9 in 1991's Trouser Press Record Guide (Collier) is Charles Lamey's statement: "Outside of its art college, Rhode Island hasn't exactly been a storehouse for modern rock music." Showing a flair for obfuscation, he describes their quadruple-guitar'd debut -- 1982's all-covers EP Frustration (Voxx) as a mesmerizing trek into garage-y, late-'60s psychedelia, which it was, so even at that comparatively early stage modern rock got critical props for cannibalizing the `60s. In that regard, Plan 9 were ahead of their time.

Now fast-forward from that beginning to the end of Cal Ripken's streak, here in '98. Intervening years have found various alums bolstering noteworthy Rhode Island bands like Medicine Ball (Evan Williams) and Delta Clutch (Pip). A quartet (Eric Stumpo, Deb DeMarco, Roger Vaughan, Steven Anderson), Plan 9 are now sorta based in Quonochontaug, east of Westerly, and have released Pleasure Farm (J-Bird), a nine-song album and their first since the spotty Ham and Sam Jammin' (Restless) nine years ago. While intervening years have witnessed tremendous fragmentation in the "modern rock" supergenre, they've also witnessed a decent number of Rhode Island modern rockers "outside of its art college" striving and succeeding in establishing identity and a compelling vision amid both fragmentation and the "what-have-you-done-for-me-today" mentality so rampant at major labels.

The list of bands now espousing the neo-psych sound is by now probably longer than the list of original psych bands, but still one has to wonder how Plan 9 felt about all of it, especially given the notoriety of hi-viz festivals like the original Terrastock, held in their own backyard.

Stumpo had sent Pleasure Farm in late spring, and since then has kept us posted on the fledgling J-Bird's attempts at promotion in the brave new binary world of Internet-only record-selling, their Connecticut-based label's calling card of sorts.

But that's another story. In the same few months the record never strayed far from the top of the CD pile, proving increasingly difficult to turn off before their 36-minute ride was complete. Elements of psychedelia and the garage ethos, which earned them underground hosannahs back when Antmusic commandeered airwaves, are intact but bleached fairly clean of noodling and therefore nodding, and as such don't overwhelm the fact that Stumpo and Co. still create interesting, whirling and weird worlds. The quad-guitar effect, while cool, is long gone, but Plan 9 is here aided by some fierce violin/lap steel work by longtime bud Kev Fallon (who's tremendous on the title track/first single) in its stead. The temptation to multi-track and overlay guitar parts ad nauseum isn't an issue, leaving room for DeMarco's presence on keys over a strong bottom end featuring numerous superb turns by Anderson. While guitar is still king on Pleasure Farm, Stumpo wields it with craft, coaxing mostly-dark moods which usually stop short of the nightmarish iconography suggested by R.K. Sloane on the cover art. Besides, there are far too many hooks lurking just below the surface, so feelings of vague menace suggested by enigmatic lyrics are softened by the record's listenability, and the fact that Stumpo's never been an intimidating vocalist. Given Plan 9's musical ideas have had a while to gestate, we have a right to expect an album full of tasty sonic treats. Also given the smallish yet well-chronicled neo-psych movement, they could have been forgiven for having at it once again and making a rehash record that sounds as if it could have come out 15 years ago. That they didn't, and Pleasure Farm is still as enjoyable a listen, suggests that their early influences remain valid and expressive today, but also pays an indirect homage to their own past and their ability to retain that vitality as the millennium approaches.

Bertrand Laurence: La Vie En Bleu (12-song Spooky Woogie / CDFreedom CD)
Oof -- an unexpected gem of gutbucket blues from the dapper French native who hangs around in Cambridge coffeehouses. The most obvious comparison would be to Paul Geremia (who, we hear, is a fan), and it's a comparison that suffers no wannabes. That in itself is ample reason to grab this indie debut from the finger-style bluesman who arrived in America two decades ago, and who numbers Leo Kottke and Bill Broonzy among his inspirations. Forced to select highlights from a record with absolutely no lowlights, we'd go for the opening "Coup de Blues," "Tune to Big Bill" and "Coeur de Glaise et Gueule de Bois," qualified by the fact that Laurence's phrasing and tone are unquestionable whether using six- or 12-string acoustic, Dobro slide or electric. FYI, Laurence also tours with amis Robbie Phillips (on Wombat -- his own modified washtub bass), harmonica player J. Place and Rob Rudin on washboard, as the Jellyrollers. You've been warned. Great stuff.

MANTUA TO PRAGUE. A weekend full of European intrigue and merriment, as AS220 presents Czech Republic folklore-mashers Uz Jsme Doma on Friday and the Ocean State Lyric Opera tackles a major Verdi work in their production of Rigoletto on Saturday at Vets. Evidently it's been a long while since a locally-run company has staged such an arduous piece as the Verdi, whose tale of the hunchback jester was relocated to Mantua from Venice, where the ruling Austrian monarchy would've had issues with themes of, let's say, less than virtuous male behavior, espoused by the biting A Donna e Mobile, which complains of feminine fickleness. Verdi was always an irritant to those in power and took liberties with operatic convention as well, to the point of making the villain a tenor. Uz Jsme Doma, here again supporting their domestic releases on Skoda records, utilize an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink philosophy in re-hashing many central European folkloric genres, and the evening is completed by the Frequency Lounge. Looking ahead to October, AS220's annual Action Speaks program returns, A Day Without the Pentagon celebrates the "what ifs" of re-channeling vast sums spent there on more fruitful pursuits, and the third Pataphysical Circus brings in Les Batteries next weekend. Les Batteries are essentially two drummers, Avignon, France native Guigou Chenevier and New Yorker Rick Brown, whose combined pedigrees include working with and / or within Curlew, John Zorn, Fred Frith, Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley from Sonic Youth and Tom Cora, and who had a hand in both the No-Wave scene of NYC in the '70s and what organizer JT calls the "French equivalent of Captain Beefheart," Etron Fou Leloublan. Les Batteries' '96 release Bell System (Rift) is a percussive tour-de-force, and a must-hear for all those of a beat-tweaking bent.

Also: Viva Quetzal play cuts from their excellent Hijos del Sol (Signature Sounds), reviewed here a while back, on Saturday at Stone Soup. Frank Black & the Catholics hit the Met Tuesday with Reid Paley, and Pendragon headline the Call Friday supporting their latest, the stirring Beyond Borders -- A Celtic Journey along with uilleann pipe master Paddy Keenan. Geri Verdi & the Villains hit CAV Friday and Fuego Flamenco intertwine song and dance there Sunday. Also Friday, Chan's celebrates a triple release party, featuring the talents of the North Star Jazz Ensemble and CommonGround. Chan's recently hosted Joe Beard, whose most recent work with Duke Robillard is one of many current projects the Roomful co-founder is working on. Duke teams with Lakewest's Jack Gauthier for two upcoming records for Stony Plain, Robillard's own Stretchin' Out plus the final recording of the late Jimmy Witherspoon, which finds Duke and his band in a backup role.