Sunday, February 6, 2011

Sieg Howdy


All right folks, this is my first post here so I thought I would kick things off with an album that is not only one of my favorites, but also one of the most joyfully deranged, darkly humorous, absurdly catchy and disgustingly overlooked records of all time.
Dory Tourette and the Skirtheads were a little-known late-'90s, early-2000s Oakland punk entity on S.P.A.M Records associated with other like-minded bands such as Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children Macnuggits, The Rabbis, and Fleshies. Dory Tourette (né Dory Ben-Shalom) was the band's singer, songwriter and guitarist, a drug-addled troubadour who subverted the best parts of Bay Area punk, twangy country and oldies à la Buddy Holly in order to craft melodic gems glorifying malt liquor, crystal meth, pedophilia and essentially everything else your mom told you was wrong. Unfortunately, the band's stint as resident accidental geniuses was as temporary as it was miraculous. They released an LP, an EP, and a song on a S.P.A.M compilation before Dory tragically passed away in October, 2007, at the age of 28, a victim of his longtime substance abuse.
DT&tS's aforementioned LP Rock Immortal was produced by none other than Matty Luv (shortly before his tragic death) in something like 1999, and it might just be the best album you've never heard. Listen deeper than its offensive, often cynical surface and you'll hear a very human--and humane--look at just what it means to be down on your luck and at odds with society. Equal parts existential crisis and celebration of life outside the norm, it is at turns wistful, vile, ecstatic, raunchy and truly beautiful.
Rock Immortal is very dear to me. It has helped me through some hard times and made many good ones that much better, and I can think of no better way of starting my tenure in the blogosphere than by sharing it with you.

Download: Rock Immortal!

-Aaron

P.S. As far as I know, the only place to buy this album is at Thrillhouse.

4 comments:

  1. :) love that album, i play it everywhere i go

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  2. Dory was an amazing kid, a natural musical genius and an extremely awkward house guest. I miss him.

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  3. I really miss Dory.
    You did an amazing job at reviewing that album in the way it should be. It is everything that you said and more. The EP and the song on the comp are equally amazing. Everything musical Dory did was amazing. So many people just didn't "get" him and the way his mind worked. I think a lot of them actually thought he WAS a pedophile, but in fact he told me that he became fascinated with what would posess someone to do that after a neighbor (or maybe it was a friend's neighbor) was arrested for pedophilia when Dory was in his very early teens. Plus he liked to provoke people, which is funny because he was one of the least hateful people I've ever met. He had been doing so well off the drugs and it is so sad that his life ended the way it did. Sometimes I wonder if he was just one of those mad geniuses who just wasn't meant to live to become elderly. But then I think that is all a load of crap. Who knows? I just know I miss him. We had a lot of crazy adventures together and shared many experiences and conversations that I will never forget. I can still hear his voice and his laugh...

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