Chewing Pine

I Heart Lung: The New Pop

Noise is the new pop. With the advancement of Ecstatic Peace, Thurston Moore’s new album being deemed excellent despite its deviance from the classic SY sound, Parts and Labor finding gigs for three plus years as well as the sought after Lightning Bolt vinyl releases being sold used on E-bay for the same price they were when new, all point to this love of noise. Even Mission of Burma got back together for an album and a tour.

L.A.’s I Heart Lung don’t sit perfectly in this category of noise, yet they aren’t a jazz duo, nor rock. And if one were to ask about genre, either guitarist Chris Schlarb or drummer Tom Steck might guffaw that question, look off dreamily into the distance and wish that it wasn’t even asked.

Between the two that make up I Heart Lung, label boss Schlarb seems to have the more extensive musical history. Even though Steck claims to have been “ a closet drummer for about 20 years”, he wasn’t able to become involved in musically interacting with others , but he knew he’d work well with Schlarb.

“I had been a huge fan of Create (ed. a previous project of Shclarb’s), and Chris’ way of playing. I knew that we would be great together, because we approached our instruments in the same spirit. There was a fortuitous event with performance artist Murray McMillian which employed 12 improvising musicians, of which we were both selected. I knew that that would be my chance, and the synergy that followed came as naturally as I knew it would.”

Past projects of Schlarb’s range in scope from Castanets and Bizzart to the Vanishing Voice and solo guitar outings, like his impending Twilight and Ghost Stories on Asthmatic Kitty. But perhaps due to this combination, veteran on the scene and veteran behind the scenes, I Heart Lung works.

Of course there are difficult passages to get through on their latest release, Between Them a Forrest Grew Trackless and Quiet. Even though the duo has gotten press from the likes of All About Jazz and some other high brow scribes, the inclusion of this group in a conversation about a specific idiom may be confounding. Now, there is horn present on this album, navigated by Peter Chan, but does that make for easy categorization? Schlarb explains:

“Well I took to calling what we do “drone-jazz” but that’s a pretty vapid explanation. In some ways I think we are still looking into it. We never talked about what the group could or would become and Tom and I have a very natural way of playing with each other. I think our sense of rhythm is strikingly similar and that leads to some interesting passages of syncopation. Likewise, neither of us are traditional jazz musicians. We’re both musical bastards making bastard music.”

Bastard music, unlike that of Les Claypool’s (ed. see Suck on This), still garners a fan base. Even a small group of people can voraciously support and devour every exertion of effort by a band.

“We toured the country in 2005 and played almost 30 shows in as many days. We had the pleasure of playing at Tonic in New York which was a joy for both Tom and myself. We have toured subsequently albeit more modestly.”

With this kind of network set up and theoretically repeatable, Steck ruminates, “it seems the venues are shrinking. And let’s not pretend that there is any money in any of this.”

He’s correct, there isn’t monetary reward in playing free music. Again, to broadly group IHL into a category rife with jazzbos, Albert Ayler saw little or no fame during his lifetime, only to have his back catalog re-issued and highly sought out. But with the majesty of the internet, bands may have an easier time gaining fan and media attention.

Recently, a release from the Sounds Are Active label, which is run by guitarist Chris Schlarb, has garnered a bit of comment from musical pundits. “I’m glad Thurston and Byron (Coley) enjoyed the film. I don’t want to be presumptuous but I think perhaps they saw the film in the continuum of underground music and were able to connect with it on a historical level.”

The film Schlarb refers to is 40 Bands/80 Minutes. Performances are turned in by a variety of bands from the LA scene, but each is only given a two minute window in which to perform.

“Sean Carnage was the sole impetus behind the event that led to the film. He has been on the front lines of the L.A.underground music scene for years now and is a true maverick. I knew a few of the other musicians from years of band-hopping but most of the bands in the film were completely new to me at the time of the event and during the making of the film,” Schlarb continued.

Despite the fact that such a large number of bands, including I Heart Lung, performed, there is a certain amount of similarity that runs almost to the point of sameness. Can L.A., thought of as a haven of new musics and individuality, have spawned and encouraged so many like minded bands?

“In some ways it’s easy to see variations on themes after you get half-way in. However, to say they all sound the same would be to ignore a number of truly individual acts,” Schlarb points out.

He’s also pretty quick to single out HEALTH, engaged with a US tour as we speak. Schlarb makes a good point. HEALTH’s adherence to more jangley sections throughout their work, as well as a mono-tone delivery and a focus on simplistic repetition as opposed to theatrical, metallic/post-hardcore guitar parts, or just plain noise, does set them apart. But not by too much. Not in the same manner that I Heart Lung stands out from this performance DVD.

It is possible that amongst the many reasons that IHL stand out from other L.A. area bands on the DVD and beyond is the fashion in which the duo work to create their sound. The preparation that goes towards any effort of this duo might hedge towards a valid elucidation of how these excursions are created. Not to beat a dead, or dying genre, but the team of Teo Macero and Miles Davis pioneered a musical concept that basically necessitated re-thinking music. By improvisationally performing (or jamming) with a group Davis ended up creating hours upon hours of music that simply could not be released. Together, Macero and Davis began editing down sections of these epic explorations into more concise segments. Throughout the early and mid-seventies, the album output of Davis continued growing, until eventually he became a ghost and disappeared due to circumstances too intricate to delve into. But without question, his playing has left indelible marks on more musicians than not, in one way or another. When confronted with the question of, would I Heart Lung function with this type of recording process, each player took different a stance.

“I have never thought of what Tom and I do as jamming but that’s a matter of personal semantics I suppose. I actually think the set up of I Heart Lung prohibits a kind of “jam” mentality: you can’t sit on a chord progression and churn out pentatonic scales with a rhythm section holding down a grove or harmonic structure.”

“Because it’s just drums and guitar we have to move constantly. Very rarely do I feel comfortable when performing because I subconsciously assume the responsibilities of a non-existent band.”

“Our next album, Interoceans, has turned into a more Macero-like project however. We have been working on expanding and reducing a number of studio recordings for almost two years. My hope is that we’ll be done by years end.”

Taking Schlarb’s tempered response into consideration, the emotion and brevity in Steck’s answer points to the concept of opposites pushing each other towards new frontiers that neither expects.

Steck begins, “Editing after a musical experience is a kind of violence,” which is a beautiful statement about the belief in the musical interactions and the duo’s ability. He continues by clarifying, “We are not against adding layers. I don’t think we are even against editing, but the integrity of the performance is paramount.”

Performance is paramount. It is true. Creation in a vacuum obviously doesn’t stand in live situations. And the life of this band live, presented on Between Them a Forrest Grew…, is proof of that. In conversing about the life of his label, Schlarb explains that he’s always busy, working with something, some group, some release that he believes in. And for what? Certainly, he can’t receive kudos as he walks down the streets of the LBC. He works for himself , because as he admits, “I am horrible judge of what the public thinks.” Even so, with the output of IHL being what it is, and growing, the listener can conclude independently whether this is beautiful music or noise. But if it is noise, than it’s probably the new pop and no one knew.