Jason Molina
On March 16 the man who we named this site after, Jason Molina, leader of Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co, passed away due to organ failure.
It’s been a pretty huge bummer to the Risky Fuel household considering the many, many hours we’ve spent with his music over the years.
I wrote an obituary on Molina which you can find over at Spinner. For one that’s a little deeper and more meaningful, do consider checking out our sister site Awesometism.
Filed under Music, Shameless Promotion
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
This is my official Top 10 album list for 2005:
1. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Howl
2. Kid Dakota The West Is The Future
3. Magnolia Electric Co What Comes After The Blues
4. The Raveonettes Pretty In Black
5. Mando Diao Hurricane Bar
6. The Bees Free The Bees
7. The Coral The Invisible Invasion
8. Dead Meadows Feathers
9. Buck 65 Secret House Against The World
10. Ladytron The Witching Hour
When I look back on this list I find it very satisfying because I still like almost everything on it. It’s the order that’s probably imperfect.
Looking back, putting Black Rebel Motorcycle Club‘s Howl at number one feels a bit like an act of style over substance. I mean, at the time they were super-cool, and still are to me, but Howl, the album, is one I rarely go back to despite having a number of great songs on it. In hindsight, this is probably a low top ten choice now.
Kid Dakota‘s The West Is The Future remains a brilliant, magnetic work for me. This dark narrative album takes you on a number of journeys — all articulated with thematic album art by Will Schaff — which leave you more than just a little bit unsettled. I’m not sure why Kid Dakota has remained so relatively unknown. Maybe it’s having recorded on small labels, maybe how intense the songs are (it’s clear to me most people don’t like intense… unless it’s by Bruce Springsteen or Thom Yorke), nonetheless, this album deserves to be heard. (Also, while writing this Sarah just reminded me that we once had a theory that this was Bill Priddle having secretly recorded a “crazy” album to free himself from his past.)
My love for Jason Molina’s music is well documented on this site and Magnolia Electric Co‘s What Comes After The Blues dutifully filled that spot in my heart for something new from him at the time. I know these songs off by heart from having listened to this album and the various live bootlegs of it non-stop, but it’s not the MEC/Songs: Ohia album I reach for first despite having songs I adore like “Hard To Love A Man,” “The Night Shift Lullaby” and “Northstar Blues.” Maybe it’s so much in me I don’t need to listen to it all the time.
Man, between The Raveonettes, BRMC, & MEC there was a lot of magic records happening at this time. I’ve definitely cooled on The Raveonettes recent recordings but this remains a pretty solid set.
If there’s anyone on this list that gets the Rodney Dangerfield no-respect treatment it’d be Mando Diao and their Hurricane Bar album. In fact, it wasn’t until writing this that I even realized I hadn’t imported the album into my iTunes. That’s probably a fair indicator that Hurricane Bar should be lower than it is, but something in the back of my head says no. I’m going to listen to it right now and consider it… annnd… alright, in a post-Strokes world it’s still pretty great. And because I haven’t listened to it in so long it’s like discovering a new album.
The Bees Free The Bees. The world is stupid for not knowing and loving this band and “Chicken Payback” is the best rock ‘n’ roll dance/party/Animal House song of the last 10 years. With a brilliant video that pre-dates “Gangnam Style” by years.
I still really like The Coral and feel they’ve made some amazing singles over the course of their discography, but I’m less invested in The Invisible Invasion than I used to be. I think perhaps my love of this album had something to do with grasping at the last wave of great Brit-pop and yearning for those days of Oasis, Blur, Supergrass and the like.
Dead Meadows Feathers. I don’t really feel this album any more. This one’s clearly a trend record that got lumped in-between BRMC and Raveonettes. I haven’t ripped it into my iTunes either and feel far less urgency to do so. I still like “At Her Open Door’ though.
Is Buck 65 still underground? He works at the CBC after all. And he was on a major label. That’s probably technically above-ground, but he still remains remarkably bold and avant. Secret House Against The World
is the album he made with Tortoise while in that I-hate-hip-hop period he had. The album has aged incredibly well and I still enjoy listening to it, but some of his future experiments were even more interesting to me, so this one suffers a bit not against its 2005 competition, but against Buck’s own discography.
When Ladytron first broke they were the shit with their coquette Depeche Mode thing. For The Witching Hour they dropped that act for a Sisters Of Mercy-girl goth electro thing. This hits a lot of my buttons, but upon relistening the songs aren’t quite there and if I had to redo this list this album would be at risk of being bumped.
Filed under Music, Recollections
The Dears No Cities Left
This is my official Top 10 album list for 2003:
1. The Dears No Cities Left
2. Songs: Ohia The Magnolia Electric Co
3. Metric Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
4. The Coral Magic And Medicine
5. Sixteen Horsepower Olden
6. Danko Jones We Sweat Blood
7. Gord Downie Battle Of The Nudes
8. The Organ Sinking Hearts
9. Radiohead Hail To The Thief
10. Geoff Berner We Shall Not Flag Or Fail, We Shall Go On To The End
I must say, this is a mighty great year.
My #1 record this year was No Cities Left and it still holds up just as well all this time later. “Lost In The Plot” was the big single, a signature song which I love, but it was the double-shot epic tracks “Expect The Worse/Cuz She’s A Tourist” and “Pinned Together, Falling Apart” which really did it for me. They’re epic, sophisticated and they rock, all while maintaining their uniquely “Dears” narratives. These two songs done live at the time were particularly amazing, as they’d get stretched out into trance-like adventures. “Don’t Lose The Faith,” “Warm And Sunny Days,” “Never Destroy Us”… I know these songs inside out. Within the confines of “Canadian rock” or “Canadian indie” or whatever descriptive you want to use this remains one of the best records of the last decade.
The Dears “Pinned Together, Falling Apart”:
It would’ve been a heated internal debate for me at the time to put Songs: Ohia The Magnolia Electric Co. at #2. This was the transition record where Jason Molina, the mostly one-man band as Songs: Ohia became Magnolia Electric Co., a down-to-earth trucker-rock band in the vein of Crazy Horse. The change was weird to take at first, but over time the songs on this album emerged and they’re heart-striking works. There’s an internal struggle going on in this album that’s both intimately personal and universal to the human experience.
I love the playing around with the classic song trope of John Henry doing something. Songs: Ohia “John Henry Split My Heart”:
Ah, Metric’s Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? We were so young and innocent and unaware of Emily Haines’ prickly fits back then. It was all about dancing along to “Dead Disco” late at night. If time had stopped and Metric never did anything else ever the world would’ve probably been a better place.
Metric “Dead Disco”:
The Coral’s Magic And Medicine remains a totally slept on record here in the North of America. This record’s so hard to define. It’s sort of triangulated by the works of The Boo Radleys and Space, but at the same time remain totally outside of their worlds.
The Coral “Talking Gypsy Market Blues,” their slight Dylan return:
Clearly 2003 was the year I finally understood Sixteen Horsepower. Olden was a compilation record made up of a few different EPs, which usually makes for uneven listening, but I was completely shook and I now follow the works of band leader David Eugene Edwards closely. Olden is also one of the records that has helped me become more self-aware about the music I like. It’s not necessarily about genre anymore, but rather about intensity, purpose, gravity. I no longer care about half-measures and comfortable singalong songs. If I can’t see through to your soul in your music you’re just a circus performer.
Sixteen Horsepower “American Wheeze”:
It takes a lot for me to consider a song a match for the best of the Thin Lizzy catalog, but for simple balls-out rockers Danko Jones’ “I Love Living In The City” from We Sweat Blood is right up there.
Danko Jones “I Love Living In The City”:
My affection for Gord Downie’s solo work would continue with Battle Of The Nudes. It wasn’t quite the speak-to-me album that Coke Machine Glow was, but I still consider it a bold and brave work, complete with Sonic Youth moments and weird punk diversions. Downie could easily play out his career doing cash register rock in The Tragically Hip, but he continues to go for it. These are the ideals I respect in musicians.
Gord Downie “Pascal’s Submarine.” Not my favourite track on the record, but this album’s not well-youtubed.
I’m kinda bummed The Organ didn’t quite rule the world like I thought they would, but Sinking Hearts is still solid in a hey-it’s-the-girl-Smiths way. Haters on this EP were weird. It may not be perfect but it’s got passion.
Radiohead Hail To The Thief at #9? I think I let myself be run over by the hype train on this one. I never listen to Radiohead anymore and if I do, it’s certainly not this album.
Geoff Berner We Shall Not Flag Or Fail, We Shall Go On To The End was a pretty unexpected inclusion for me because, well, let’s face it, I’m not known as a klezmer-punk kinda guy. How We Shall Not Flag gets me is with the storytelling. “Volcano God” is brilliant and beautiful and “Maginot Line” is a valuable life lesson.
Geoff Berner “Maginot Line:
Filed under Music, Recollections
Jason Molina
Two years ago Jason Molina, the leader of Magnolia Electric Co./Songs: Ohia and titular inspiration for this site, disappeared.
Considering Molina’s prolific recording history and road warrior touring ethic, the totality of his vanishing act had a profoundly disturbing effect on his fans. In the Magnolia Electric Co bulletin board there were vague allusions to some serious health issues, but mostly there was uncomfortable silence punctuated by the occasional “Where’s Jason?”
Now we know why. Molina has surfaced. Sort of. And the reason for his time away has become clear, according to a statement from the Molina family:
Many of you have inquired as to Jason’s whereabouts and well-being since he canceled his tours with Will Johnson in 2009. Over the last two years Jason has been in and out of rehab facilities and hospitals in England, Chicago, Indianapolis, and New Orleans. It has been a very trying time for Jason, his friends, and his family. Although no one can be sure what the future holds, we feel very encouraged by the recent steps Jason has taken on the road towards becoming healthy and productive once again. Unfortunately, because he has no medical insurance, he has accrued substantial medical bills. We are asking all friends of Jason’s music to come together with a showing of financial support for him. Please consider a contribution to his medical fund. Feel free to forward this to any and all appropriate parties. We are hoping to raise whatever funds we possibly can for Jason. He is currently working on a farm in West Virginia raising goats and chickens for the next year or so, and is looking forward to making great music again. Please also show your support and well wishes by sending letters and postcards to:
Jason Molina
P.O. Box 423
Beaver, WV 25813
If you do not wish to use paypal, please make donations out to Ashley Lawson at the same address.
With our sincere thanks, The Molina Family
It’s not like Molina fans couldn’t see the cry for help barely sublimated in his music — “The Dark Don’t Hide It” from What Comes After The Blues, the line “while you’ve been busy cryin’ about my past mistakes, I’ve been busy trying to make a change…” from the song “I’ve Been Riding With The Ghost,” the confessional descent into depression that is the whole Didn’t It Rain album.
Now, I may be destitute and marginally employed myself, but I think it’s only fair that I help how I can considering how much Molina’s music has given me over the years. If you’re a Molina fan, consider doing so, too.
Filed under Music, Relationships
What I Call Music
A couple weeks ago I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down to record a podcast for What I Call Music, the home base for my good friend and one of the most musically knowledgeable cats on the planet, Paul Kehayas.
We ended up talking for a verrrrrrrrrrrrryyy long time, so Paul had one helluva time shrinking it down to something of a dignified length, but for anyone curious I think it’s solidly entertaining. As such, if you’re bored, please give ‘er a listen HERE.
Some of the things we discussed were:
* The origin of the name Risky Fuel.
* Sloan still being credible 20 years later.
* Songs: Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co./Jason Molina.
* How I used to make my own music charts as a kid and my related favourite song of 1988.
* The infamous story of seeing Brian Jonestown Massacre play in a bush at the Wilderbeat Festival during the Blackout of 2003.
* The cultural awareness built by discovering The Clash’s Sandinista album.
The playlist includes: Songs: Ohia, Black Sabbath, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Clash and Raphael Saadiq.
Filed under Concerts, Recollections, Shameless Promotion, The Misadventures Of
