Tonight’s selections from Mazzy Star’s debut album, She Hangs Brightly.
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Halah [1990]
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Artfully and delicately proceeding from Velvet Underground drone and folk-rock strum, California’s Mazzy Star makes music that can be either spellbinding or soporific. As a member of the Rain Parade, guitarist David Roback was a central figure in the “paisley underground,” a loose community of Los Angeles bands that gave psychedelia a post-punk revival in the early ’80s. After folding the group, he formed the short-lived Clay Allison with ex-Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith. That band evolved into Opal, which combined textural folk and spacey feedback on 1987’s moody Happy Nightmare Baby.
Smith left Opal in mid-tour to retire (she later returned to action as a solo artist), and Roback began playing with sullen-sounding Los Angeles singer Hope Sandoval as Mazzy Star. Sandoval’s voice is chillier than Smith’s — chillier than just about anybody’s, actually — but Roback’s neo-psychedelic style remains largely the same as it was in Opal. Still, most of She Hangs Brightly is absolutely haunting. On melodic songs like “Blue Flower” and “Ride It On,” Sandoval’s eerie voice draws the listener into Roback’s gentle swirl of feedback. — Trouser Press
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Blue Flower (Live ‘94) [1990]
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Give You My Lovin' [1990]
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Sandoval, who is in her early 20s, doesn't like to explain her lyrics--which often revolve around desire and doubts in relationships--any more than she talks in detail about her background. She does say she was born in East Los Angeles, where her parents worked in a factory and she was the youngest of 10 children.
Her shyness during the interview eventually led Roback to begin sounding more like a manager or a publicist than a musical partner.
"I think Hope deserves a lot of attention," he said. "I think she is a great singer and a great songwriter. When I first heard her, I though she could be someone like Bob Dylan, someone who could speak for a lot of people her age."
If she felt uncomfortable talking about themes, Roback finally offered an interpretation of Mazzy Star's music.
"I see a lot of hope in her songs," he said. "It's like that movie . . . 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.' Something nice can come out of a very caustic environment. . . . Something that tells you all isn't lost."
Roback paused, as if reflecting on his own, long musical journey.
"At times, I felt like the music world was on a dead-end street, that everyone was simply rehashing the same old ideas. . . . But rock is still a potentially great art form.
"No matter how down you are, there may be a light in a song that gives you strength . . . something spiritually regenerating. To me, that's the goal of a musician--to find that light."
- Los Angeles Times
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Taste of Blood [1990]
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WHO’S TALKING TO WHO?
Jimmy Kimmel: Riz Ahmed, Norah Jones
Jimmy Fallon: Blake Shelton, Ana Gasteyer, Rachel Dratch
Stephen Colbert: Mahershala Ali, Jason Reynolds
Seth Meyers: Paul Rudd, Jared Harris, Nate Smith (R 11/18/21)
James Corden: Bill Burr, Glenn Howerton, Meghan Trainor
Trevor Noah: William Jackson Harper
SPOILER WARNING
A late night gathering for non serious palaver that does not speak of that night’s show. Posting a spoiler will get you brollywhacked. You don’t want that to happen to you. It's a fate worse than a fate worse than death.
Croydon, England’s relentlessly psychedelic Loop, with a long but satisfying track.
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Loop :: Burning World [1986]
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