My favorite tune off of "swampland flowers" has a chorus which goes "THERE (ARE) WORSE FATES THAN THOSE WHICH LAY BEFORE ME" I like it for allota reasons, one being that, other than this chorus, there is practically no effort made to make rhyme (or reason) outta raw notebook scribbling, but more so, because this one bit of self conscious "poetry" ,is a staggering insight couched in a cosmic shrug of the shoulders.
Izzit understatement or pure heroism? Hipness squared or cliche cubed? Folk music renaissance ( part nineteen) or 100% original voice?
Christopher Monti has combined these and a couple dozen other artisticalistal & descriminatory dilemmas into his musical pursuits and the result is the kind of off-handed, random,free-associated truth that you mighta come to expect from the very first American originals be they folk, rock, blues country, musical or lyrical, or both-
all of whom he clearly emulates.(N no I aint gonna git specific about the voices n influences I hear here, because it would obliterate my own credibility way too quickly, n its way too eroded already)
What is much more important to stress, is that this particular artist creates his own voice outta those early voices, as if he was "sampling" the freedom of expression as well as the "existential" options of his predecessors in the genre.
Long before the hierarchs at AS22O realized that the most THEY could get from AS22O was an opportunity to schmooze endlessly and pretend to have serious work to do, the "artist owned" non-profit corporation was actually intended to offer opportunities to artists who were by nature unsuited for the commercial contexts of the world at large. Those for whom free play and expression were labors of love, or as I prefer to think of it at this pertikular moment, the involuntary pelvic contractions of the associative cerebrum.
Whatz not to love about this?
Folk music which employs the actual instruments of his kinfolk? A world-beat travelogue exploring the ubiquitous personal notebook of the north American man/boy as he pushes 30? A history of folk lore in inexplicable esoteric personal references, country n western mythology and Homeric advertisements for the life of the soul?
THen of course there are the musical manifestations:
A great fleet of sounds that are as often silent as they are furious.His Grand Ma's fiddle is an astounding presence, as are his very loquacious fangers (he plays just like talking),and all of the aspects of the fine tuned, hand crafted armada of folk couture which sails through yer ears whilst emersed in Chris Monti's musical stream of consciousness. This man is not re-defining culture,he is merely "playing" brilliantly and singing the contents of his heart.
I'm thrilled over an over by the opportunity which AS22O gives me to be privy to raw artistic love n its labors, so oft lost on others busied with the dumbass business of "living". Chris Monti n his friends n family n the musical manifestations they are layin so lovingly upon us here, is yet the latest edition of my bliss. And already readied to be eclipsed and perfected in another
theme n variations.
there ARE worse fates.....
When this group of fellers first hauled themselves into AS22O in February,the band which now calls itself THIRD STORY CONGRESS still wunt bein called nothing but "Christopher Monti & Friends" or something officially unofficial, but of course the mysteries which attend the incarnations of band names n other ritual rubrics are as mysterious as they are exclusive, so there aint much point to explorin the why & whatfore, except to say that in the time between the first show, when I got my copy of "swampland flowers", and the second show, THE "official Debut" of Third Story Congress in May, Chris and I exchanged a fair amount of E mail, Plus I spent a long stretch of time writing alot of new stuff here on line, at the same time being haunted by the record discussed above at such length.
THIRD STORY CONGRESS, as officially convened at AS22O in May, is CHRIS MONTI (OF COURSE) playing guitars and singing, GEORGE HARDY guitar/vocals ED DE MILLE on percussion and FRANCIS BRENNAN on bass.
I shot some video of them back in February mixing up their collective moosical chops with stuff from their own originals to George Gershwin standards tweaked in their own direction,and was pretty impressed by the very casual way these fellas have of doing things very well. But by the time I saw them again in May, Id spent the greater part of three months confronting the fact that when it comes to writing about music I am at a loss to do anything other than to describe what ignites my enthusiasm, in so far as what I find stylish and what seems authentic- STRICTLY IN THE VERY LIMITED TERMS OF MY OWN COMPLETE IGNORANCE OF THE TECHNIQUE INVOLVED IN PLAYING. Hence the official convening of THIRD STORY CONGRESS leaves me pretty well spent as far as the kind of authority I need to grant myself in order to declare my personal enthusiasms objective in any way.
I suggest you take a look at these guys next time they grace the beatnik league in person, this aint "scene- fusing" or the redefinition of cultural ritual, these guys just play their hearts out in a way that is quite
unique and wonderful. DID I ACTUALLY SAY JUST?
