On April Fools' Day 1994, Patterson Hood moved to Athens, where he wrote an album's worth of songs called Murdering Oscar (and other love songs). He recorded them on a boombox in a friend's bedroom and gave out the results via self-dubbed cassettes, but if you weren't lucky enough to run into the Drive-By Trucker back then, no worries: 15 years later the collection's due 6/23 via his Ruth St. Records. In this week's 'Drop we debuted standout "Heavy And Hanging" and asked Hood a couple questions about it. He responded honestly and about swinging parties and Kurt Cobain's suicide. Because we had (and are having) some technical issues, you can read his thoughts and download the track, even if you aren't a Drop subscriber:
Patterson Hood - "Heavy And Hanging" (MP3)
STEREOGUM: What inspired the narrative for "Heavy And Hanging"? It starts out like an Everyman tale, but grows more sinister.
Patterson Hood: It was actually written in the spring of '94, about a month after Kurt Cobain's suicide and around the time of the OJ Simpson murders and slightly after the River Phoenix OD. All of that figured into it. The first verse was from the POV of the guy who found Cobain's body. I think he was there to fix the alarm or the cable or something.
STEREOGUM: The sinister feel makes you want to read more into the title: hangdog, our heavy times, but also an actual hanging, etc. What's it referencing?
PH: All of the above. Sword of Damocles, swinging parties, all that shit. I had just moved to Athens and my life was turning around rapidly and positively but I was still working through a lot of shit from the previous few years too. I wrote a lot of this album at that exact time, then wrote the other half in late '04/early '05 right before my daughter was born. Two times of massive life change ten years apart. The two POV's point/counter point each other back and forth.
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This week, we also offered the chance to win a Korg Kaossilator Dynamic Phrase Synthesizer courtesy of Matt & Kim. One winner takes home (and hopefully makes good use of) the Kaossilator. Not sure what it does exactly? Let Korg explain:
The Kaossilator is a new pocket-sized sketch pad that puts a world of sounds and effects in the palm of your hand. Instantly create and play phrases by simply tapping or sliding a finger across the touch pad. And infinitely stack phrases to create musical works as simple or complex as you desire! The portable, travel-friendly Kaossilator runs on batteries or a 4.5v adapter. Use the Kaossilator as a multi-instrumental musical instrument, sample source, live rig addition, or just a fun way to get your groove on!
For those of you who do better with pictures, here's a picture:
Matt & Kim are no strangers to Korg. Of course, when Matt & Kim went out and got naked, they didn't have any Korgs with them, but Matt had the following to say about the company's products:
When I was a kid, before I ever played keyboards, I once heard a Korg Poly 800 in a friend's basement. Seven years later, when I started playing keyboard, I still remembered how bad ass and thick it sounded, so I bought my first Korg. Since then, we've used one on almost every song we've recorded.
You can learn more about Korg at the official site and you can enter to win the Korg Kaossilator here. There's also still time to win three cool indie rock t-shirts.
CONTEST ENDS 06/17/09 AT 12PM EST.
