Bogs Visionary Orchestra: press

Music Profile: Bogs Visionary Orchestra

Bogs Visionary Orchestra – Mean Old World (Modfa Records)

If you like Jad Fair or Daniel Johnston, it is pretty safe to assume you will like Bogs Visionary Orchestra. If you like the Shaggs, it’s even more likely. There are only maybe 135 people in the world who really like Jad Fair, Daniel Johnston, or the Shaggs (and don’t just say they do because they heard it was hip – that would account for maybe 20), and I’ve heard that 14 of the 135 died this year.

I am writing this review because there is no worse, more futile loneliness than that of making art with no place to go. And while BVO is known for jubilant around-NYC performances, it has a right to have its stories told to a wider audience. To me this is partly because the group in no way, shape or form seems to have set out to do anything that anyone beyond those 135-or-so people would like or understand. There is a purity to this which appeals to me.

However, having worked through about 80 percent of my masochistic tendencies, I would not make myself write about BVO if I didn’t like the way it sounds. Because to write a review about anything, you have to listen to it (well, a real review – I tend to eschew sound bite reviews, i.e., “Like Madonna if Beyonce were stepping on her foot in an industrial club at three a.m..”)

Other than, perhaps, Bali, there are few countries that are particularly supportive of visionary orchestras, but BVO has still mustered the energy to make another CD about the world that is so disinterested. That’s good, because downing a Xanax cocktail, then lurking in bed for 20 hours at a time is only fun once in awhile, and should be a punishment for something really bad, not a lifestyle.

Even before A. Bogs and his musical buddies coughed up this new recording they reminded me of my old poet friend, Sparrow, who does things like running for the U.S. presidency by standing on first one foot, then the other, in Tompkins Square Park (sparrowforprez.com). About 15 years ago, he and his wife made a recording, Foamola, that flew much further under the radar than even BVO. Although most of it was untenably dry, I became peculiarly attached to a track entitled, “May I Take A Bath?” I liked it so much that occasionally, when a new friend seemed unusually open-minded, I would reveal this to them, much as a liberal in a crowded supermarket might have anxiously shared their intention to vote for John Kerry five years ago.

“Isn’t it great? Isn’t it funny?” I would say, watching my friend’s face for the hoped-for delighted reaction. Or I would say nothing, hoping that Sparrow’s zen/existentialist brilliance would speak for itself. “I mean, don’t you like the Fugs?” I might add, knowing the battle was already lost.

Hardly anyone I’ve ever met has enjoyed “May I Take A Bath?” as much as I, but then, I also get a charge from these releases called Incredibly Strange Music, Volume One of which includes a version of “Flight Of the Bumble Bee” played at such a screeching-tire velocity, the guitarist must have been downing double espressos, 24/7, for weeks.

 

I could try and lure Iron and Wine fans by pushing the fact that two of BVO’s central members have dark, thick beards, appearing somewhat likely to stare for a long time at their shoes. However, those people would then be angry when they realized that, other than the beards, BVO isn’t anywhere near as dull as Iron and Wine. Also, a lot of Bogs’s music is really lively. It even sounds like the members are having fun.

“I Believe,” which starts Mean Old World, has rather Beatlesque harmonies and seems to be about longing for justice and other nice things, and this having something to do with believing in a god; which is rather Daniel Johnston-ish. Along with nearly everything else here, it shines with a knowing innocence — BVO is able to chuckle ruefully at its own idealism. On tracks like “Can’t Stop Wearin’ A Gun” the group flirts with uneasily resolved conflicts — to me, one of the most interesting directions for art and thought.

How these people are different than Jad Fair and Daniel Johnston: There’s a darker, prettier room in the BVO house, because of the harmonium and cello on some songs, and generally richer tonal inclinations. Most songs are framed in seminal country-western, dance hall, and folk structures. More than the many contemporary groups who do so with less sincere ingenuity or humor, BVO at its dance-hall best recalls at least echoes of the sublime Canadian duo, Fraser & Debolt, whose LP With With Ian Guenther reemerged from out-of-print obscurity two years ago (http://fraserdebolt.com/audio.html).

 

“Forlorn” sounds like it could have been on the Ballad of Cable Hogue soundtrack. “Jesus” wistfully and rather eerily whispers: “Who’s fighting in the war/Who’s dying in the war/Who’s protesting the war/Jesus, Jesus…/Who’s the peddler on the street/Who’s the stranger that you meet/Who’s the liar who’s the cheat.” By the time a chill curls up your spine you have been lulled irretrievably forward.

“Unemployed” is a sprightly little circa-1900-style composition expanding on the possibilities in the situation. Its ragged/bouncy lilt recalls some of the earnestly strange approaches to folk, especially one by the Residents, on a sublime Ralph Records compilation, Potatoes (no link here, as I recommend hunting down the out-of-print LP version). “No Escape (from doom)” which veers surprisingly close to Band territory, is lovely. So I’m hardly surprised when the next track, “Homeless On The Street” — is as quietly compelling as some of John Lennon’s post-Beatles songs.

I think I could actually get a new friend to listen to this CD. Of course, most of the people who are drawn to me think I’m pretty different. “Different than what?” I sometimes wonder. But what I hope they want is that sense that something genuine and possibly unexpected might happen, then be followed by a nice Sunday dinner, after which we will watch a film, perhaps Me and You and Everyone We Know, that leads us to reconsider several things we previously thought we knew.

One of the tracks on this recording — “Forlorn II” has the kind of heels-in-the-air joy the Roots festival lost a few years ago, when all the old timers got too old or dead to make it and started to be replaced by people too cool to be so uncool they’re cool. That’s something I don’t even know how to explain, but if any of this sounds good to you, you probably understand, and might even like Mean Old World, which is a bit more country dance-hall than its slightly more Emo/contemporary predecessor, Maladroits Union, which I also like very much.

The only thing keeping me from all-out raving is the scratchy vocals, which are part of the reason for comparisons with Johnston and Fair – an acquired taste, for those willing to listen beyond surfaces. There’s also some room for sonic maturation, perhaps to include a greater merging or expansion from basic structures. BVO have not made a great record, but they have made a very good one, which doesn’t sound exactly like any other at the moment.

Every now and then you come across a CD that is lyrical, incisive, humorous, and biting all at the same time. 

This CD is it.  It's the equivalent of hitting a grand slam in baseball.  This CD is worth listening to.

    A. Bogs has the special ability of combining two things that are often incompatible in artists:  sincerity and irony.  The title of the album is "Mean Old World," but the first song is the most honest song of praise, in the broadest sense of the word, that you can imagine--"I Believe."  Just when you think you know where the CD is going, you listen to the second song:  "Can't Stop Wearing a Gun."  You may guess where this song leads, but be careful.  The song will stay in your head for weeks.  "I can't stop wearin' a gun livin' my life on the run/Like a flower chasing the sun I can't stop wearin' a gun."

    The songs build on each other.  The next two songs are sad in almost a Biblical sense.  The following composition, "Little Worm" could be understood in a number of ways, and moves from a self-mocking intro to a vast understanding of humanity.

     With some of the great writers in our history, like Chaucer, or even like Jane Austen, one must sometimes ask, "When does the writer stop laughing?"  Is the writer laughing at himself, at society, and maybe at us?  I believe the composer of this CD keeps you guessing.  By the time you get to the song on Jesus, you know it won't be what you expect:  "Who's fighting in the war/Who's dying in the war/Who's protesting the war/ Jesus, Jesus."

    The Roman orator Quintilian in the first century made a compelling comment.  He said a good speaker is simply a good person who speaks well.  A. Bogs is a good person who sings well.  For years, he has been quietly involved in Christian communities that help the homeless and those unattended by others.  Yet his songs, like "Unemployed" and "Homeless on the Street," are neither maudlin nor sentimental.  He is a poet and also a prophet, and to me these songs sound more like a Woody Guthrie than anything else.  And along with his praise and love songs, you see that it really is a mean old world:

 

I can see the pale white rider

 With sickle and with scale

Followed by a prophet

Who is trapped inside a whale

Oh this nation's filled with blessings

A flood about to swell

The damn we built to keep it in

Might damn us all to hell

 

    I'm telling you, these songs are worth listening to more than once.  On top of it all, the songs are memorable.  The tunes stay in your mind.  You find yourself singing them at odd times and in odd places.  At least I did.  The songs are a window into a world that calls for more than just a music review.

It is an interesting point Kluun raises in his essay God is Crazy - The Dictatorship Of Atheïsm. And he is right of course, faith (religion) is anything but hip. Therefore it is nice to get acquainted with the music of A. Bogs, a New Yorker who is quite unconcerned about that. Mean Old World (self released) of Bogs Visionary Orchestra begins with I Believe. God is alive, he's not dead. He asked me to live, to live instead. He asked me to live, he asked me to give. This Bogs is anything but a narrow-minded soul converter. The artist who recently moved from Brooklyn to Rochester believes in the power of art. This makes life more pleasing. And why shouldn't you sing about those things that keep you busy with the very nice tunes you are composing? And why shouldn't you sing also about a Little Worm. On CD Baby the collective describes itself as Daniel Johnston meets the Carter Family at an Allen Ginsburg reading. How does that sound? Curious and different and yet also folk and country, but then meant for a yellow submarine packed with children and urban hippies. Jesus, with somewhat classical violins, quotes in the oohoo Imagine of John Lennon. Unemployed is a heartwarming song about unemployment and also Homeless On The Street is particular sympathetic. Bogs Visionary Orchestra consists in total out of thirteen people on this cd. Just like Red Rooster they have their own entire view on rootsmusic.

 

MODFA

Presents:

Bogs Visionary Orchestra

Representatives of the Celestial Land

Jesus Freaks for the New Millennium

Step right up Ladies & Gentlemen! Believers or not! Feel all the joy & despair of the American Gothic fairground! Be amazed by Sideshow Freaks! A Brood of Vipers! Whitewashed Tombs! Eccentric Performers! Medical Marvels & Mutants! Anatomical Oddities & Weird Appliances! See Optical illusions! Strange Tattoos & Piercings! Curios & Curiosities!

 

A. BOGS

Once Seen & Heard, Never to Be Forgotten!

He Makes Beautiful Things for God on His New Album:

MEAN OLD WORLD

Here are exquisite & realistic songs of Tragedy & Comedy expressed in glorious sound. A. Bogs believes in Grace, Justice, & Love, even when everything points to the contrary. He’s a bone-aching murder balladeer who can’t stop wearing a Gun. He left Vacation Bible School with Hank Williams whispering in his ears, & sees his world drowning in tears. Harmonicas mourn & lap steels weep as he walks around forlorn. Watch as a world-eating little worm wriggles around him. A. Bogs loves his beloved his lover his love. He sees Jesus in a fetus, he sees Jesus in fighters, dying people, & protesters. He sees Jesus in beggars, strangers, liars, & cheaters. Everything falls to pieces when he’s unemployed. Followed by a pale white rider & a beach-bleached prophet, he helps people on the street.

 

Members of the Maladroit Union:

Bobby Antosca & Art Baguer play bottom-feeder Bass;

Jill Pittman sings Angelic Backing Vocals;

Jose Delhart Motherplucks Lap Steel, Electric Guitar, Banjo, & Acoustic Guitar;

Elisa Flynn means no Harmonium;

Timothy Dick plays forward-moving Drums, Piano & Toy Piano;

Lydia Velichkovski plinks on the Piano;

Ernesto Gomez gets black & blue on the Harmonica;

Sean Hagerty soars on Violin & Electric Violin;

Kareem Goubran blows the trump of god;

Ero Gray: Soul claps & hits your cabeza with the Cabasa

 

IT’S THE MOST MAGNIFICENT PAGEANT

in the history of the colony!

Come as you are! Be forlorn again! Art is for folks!

 

Admission: All yours for a friendly donation!

“So there you have it folks, a visual artist with a musical mission to create and not just consume! Do yourself a favor and pick up Maladroits Union, Bogs Visionary Orchestra’s latest relic that is as eccentric as it is beautiful.”

 

 

“If you like Jad Fair or Daniel Johnston, it is pretty safe to assume you will like Bogs Visionary Orchestra. If you like the Shaggs, it’s even more likely. There are only maybe 135 people in the world who really like Jad Fair, Daniel Johnston, or the Shaggs and I’ve heard that 14 of the 135 died this year.”

 

 

 

“…But “Mews Too” most perfect moment comes from new-comers, Bogs Visionary Orchestra. Their song "Everybody's Broken" is vibrant and leaves me wonderstruck. This is what great comps are all about - finding a gem you'd never hear otherwise."

 

 

 

“A bunch of people came up to me wanting to know the name of the third act, Bogs Visionary Orchesta. BVO is an act to keep an eye out for, with Danielson-esque kooky, banjo-y, bluegrassy songs and a tempo that makes it impossible to stay sedentary.”