We have news of a Decemberist going it alone, at least for a home recording release and a string of West Coast dates as the Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble. The guitarist who dueled with Colbert Frampton in a battle of the shred offers up Plastic Bag In The Tree, a collection of tunes featuring mainly Mr. Funk, along with some of his Portland neighbors, featuring covers (Radiohead, Fleetwood Mac, the Pretenders, Massive Attack) and a couple of originals. No shanties here; the Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble specializes in acid-tinged instrumental folk ditties which are, as Chris jokes, “good intermittent music for NPR’s All Things Considered!” Find a taste from the record below. We like this song’s tuning, which he nicked from John Fahey; tab fiends, he “thinks” it’s a low C (CGCGCE).
Head to MySpace for a sweet cover of Massive Attack’s “Teardrop.” You can catch Chris with a veritable ensemble of support players (including Norfolk & Western’s Peter Broderick and fellow Decemberist Jenny Conlee) on a string of west coast dates. Chris booked the tour without remembering the Fahey tuning, so maybe just go to relish the potential dissonance. Take the jump for the dates.
06/01 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile
06/02 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
06/06 – Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
06/07 – San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord
06/08 – Sacramento, CA @ Blue Lamp
06/09 – Sam Bond’s Garage @ Eugene, OR
Plastic Bag In The Tree is out 5/15 on Hush.
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I’ve always kind of admired The Decemberists’ style music… this one with Flash Hawk is kind of interesting, though I wish it had words. If I had to give Chris one word of advice it would be this; ditch the gorilla mask. It makes him look like his dog. In fact, it’s an insult to his dog, more or less.
Fahey didn’t invent the open c-ish, but he did use it alot. He called it the Sun Tuning, that scamp.
http://www.johnfahey.com/TuningsPage.htm
Norfolk & Western – not Norolk & Western!
The Flash Hawk record RULES, BTW.
Been eyeing up this album since it first appeared on Hush’s website. I’d highly recommend checking out the Jeff London album when that comes out as well.
Carson Ellis is in the touring band too, for all you Decemberist illustrator fans.
Am I wrong, or is this really boring?
Am I wrong, or are you really boring?
Yeah, what?