Category: suckdog

Costes tours the US with demonic S&M opera

Jean-Louis Costes is among the most uncompromising musical and performance artists to come out of the '90s DIY scene, as remarkable for his legendarily self-destructive tours with Suckdog as for his surprisingly poignant self-released music.
 
Costes was featured in the anthology "Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed," and his 1992 "End of the Trail" is available for download at lostinthegrooves.com, along with other great, neglected albums. Writer Bengala called EOTT: "an homage to his breakup with indie icon Lisa Suckdog Carver, and a more moving love letter has never been recorded. Splatters of filth and sonic mess hide the sentimentality, but the beauty shines through, triumphantly sad beneath layers of disgust and ugly noise. It is the document of modern humanity as representative of his era’s id as Gainsbourg was of his. Lauded by the likes of Thurston Moore, Costes remains virtually unknown, even in his own country, a special gem without genre."
 
Costes has just begun one of his rare US tours, with a new performance piece called "Les Petits Oiseaux Chient" ("Little Birds Shit"), co-starring Lisou Prout, with support on most dates by Mr Natural. It's among the most highly-anticipated noise tours of the year. Costes' 2003 presentation of "Holy Virgin Cult" thrilled his long-time fans and earned him a legion of new listeners. After surviving malaria, the Paris riots and the authoring of his first book, this legendary cult figure now plans to survive the USA.
 
Costes says: "'Little Birds Shit' is the story of an ordinary couple.  They meet… they flirt… they fuck… They make a baby.  Gradually they find themselves falling into the trappings of normal existence. Working to make money becomes their new focus. As they grow weary from the struggles of life, they find solace in bizarre acts of S&M sex. Yet cruel, earthly fates conspire to keep them down. The couple must finally come to the logical conclusion of this journey, finishing in Hell."
 
Radon presents:
COSTES USA Tour 2007: "Les Petits Oiseaux Chient" or "Little Birds Shit" starring: Jean Louis Costes and Lisou Prout with support act: Mr Natural  (on most dates)
 
FEBRUARY
Fri 9 : Johnson City, TN @ Heather's Hideaway
Sun 11 Hickory, NC    @ Chez Marque w/ Mr Natural
Mon l2 Chapel Hill, NC @ Nightlife w/ Mr Natural, Klang Quartet, Jason Crumner
Wed l4 Jacksonville, FL @ Yesterday's Pre-Party International Noise Conference
w/ Mr. Natural and 15+ artists from the INC line-up
Sat l7 Miami, FL @ Churchill's Hideaway (International Noise Conference)
Mon l9 Tallahasse, FL @ OAF w/ Realicide, Rotten Milk, Mr Natural
Tue 20 Atlanta, GA  @ Eyedrum
Fri 23 Houston, TX  @ Superhappy Funland w/ Mr Natural, Rotten Piece + Richard Ramirez, Concrete Violin
Sat 24 Austin, TX  @ Scoot's Red Inn
Wed 28 Los Angeles @ The Smell w/ Captain Ahab, Mr Natural
 
MARCH
Thu l Oakland, CA @ 21 Grand
Sat 3 Portland, OR @ Someday Lounge w/ Mr Natural
Sun 4 Seattle, WA @ Rebar w/ Mortii, Mr Natural
Wed 7: Rapids City. SD @ tba
Thu 8: Sioux Falls, SD @  Dischordia w/ Question, Thrash Wave
Fri 9: Winonna, MN @ tba
Saturday 10: Minneapolis  @ The Church w/ Cock ESP
Sunday 11: Chicago @ 3219 s morgan st w/ Cock ESP, Panicsville, Mr Natural
Tue 13: Columbus, OH @ Skylab w/ Mr Natural, Cock ESP
Wed l4 Pittsburg, PA @ Smiling Moose w/ Plastered Bastards, Cock ESP
Thu l5 Rochester, NY @ The AV Room w/ Cock ESP, Mr Natural
Fri l6 NYC  @  Paris London New York w/ Cock ESP, Rubbed Raw
Sat l7 Boston @ School of the Museum of Fine Arts w/ Cock ESP, Mr Natural
Sun l8 Providence, Ri @ InZane Gallery w/ Two Dead Sluts One Good Fuck, Mr Natural
Wed 21 New Brunswick, NJ @ Plum Street
Thu 22 Philladelphia, Pa @  Pageant Gallery w/ Rubbed Raw
Fri 23 Washington  DC  @ Velvet Lounge
Baltimore, MD tour finale party tba
 
More info available at
www.costes.org
www.radoncollective.org
www.glkweb.com

Attention, DJs and journalists: Costes is available for interview. Contact Scott at Radon Booking. 

Best of Suckdog (Drugs are Nice/Rape GG)

Best of Suckdog (a compilation of tracks from Drugs are Nice/Rape GG) is a Lost in the Groove exclusive. Click to sample the music or purchase.

Suckdog
Drugs are Nice
(self-released, 1989)
 
Forget the hilarious GTOs. Forget even the mighty Shaggs. Suckdog (which isn’t really a band on this record, just a gathering of drug-addled friends conducted like an alley-cat orchestra by Lisa “Suckdog” Carver and her friend Rachel Johnson) captures adolescent female adrenaline-fueled angst and aggression like no recording artist I’ve heard before or since.

This is not a record for the squeamish; in fact, I have used it myself (in one of my most prankish moments) to disturb and annoy random passersby by shooting its screams and hoots down to street level from a safe rooftop perch (dare I say “sonic terrorism”?). If you want to hear the raw, primal energy of raging puberty, you won’t get any closer than this LP. It manages to create a sonic landscape which is scary, funny, outrageous, and poignant all at the same time, much as Ms. Carver’s later output in the small press world (which includes Rollerderby magazine and several underappreciated books) did with words and images.

It is not by mere happenstance that Spin magazine proclaimed this record “one of the top hundred records of the eighties.” Drugs are Nice certainly changed my life, as did seeing Ms. Carver perform a semi-nude roller skating opera with minimalist indie-rocker Bill “Smog” Callahan and French noise guru Costes in 1990. What makes the world of Suckdog work so well is that it never descends into pretension, or anything other than pure geeky life in its most frightening, silly, ridiculous extremes. And that, for me, is the best kind of art. (Russ Forster)

End of the Trail

Costes’ End of the Trail is a Lost in the Grooves exclusive. Click to sample the music or purchase.

Costes
End of the Trail
(Self-released, 1992)

Costes is the ultimate DIY rocker of the French Underground. He’s vile, prolific, poignant, crazy, unlistenable, pop. End of the Trail is the seventh of his releases and his third album to be recorded in English. While some would argue that Lung Farts is an equal masterpiece, End is a nineteen-song homage to his breakup with indie icon Lisa Suckdog Carver, and a more moving love letter has never been recorded. Splatters of filth and sonic mess hide the sentimentality, but the beauty shines through, triumphantly sad beneath layers of disgust and ugly noise. A classical sonnet will dissolve into layered muddle punctuated by overblown vocals, only to be reduced a moment later to a vulnerable whimper as a multitude of schizophrenic emotions battle for dominance. Costes plays, sings, manipulates, produces and destroys every track in utter solitude, shining through on borderline narcissistic tracks like “King of Rock’N Roll, Sort Of” and “I Don’t Want to Be a Souvenir on a CD Player.” His music is from necessity; he cannot help himself. It is the document of modern humanity as representative of his era’s id as Gainsbourg was of his.

Lauded by the likes of Thurston Moore and the odd rock journalist, Costes remains virtually unknown, even in his own country, a special gem without genre. (Costes has claimed Daniel Johnston and GG Allin as musical kin, though he resembles neither.) He has been shunned, sued and attacked for his uncompromisingly viscous aesthetic. Still, at the time of this writing he has over thirty recordings to his credit and he shows no signs of slowing. (Bengala)

“20 new things to be learned on every page” (Electric Review)

Scram magazine, housed in Los Angeles, California, pays homage to all the players too eccentric or obscure or off-beat to find a home in the Madison Avenue media machine. Scram is truly a resource for those musicians just outside the windows of top-forty-land, those songwriters and guitar slingers looking for an outlet for their own particular brand of art. Accordingly, Lost in the Grooves takes up where Scram leaves off — a compilation of ruminations from 75 critics and music aficionados detailing their favorite slices of the scene: "Jandek is a flat-out weirdo. No one knows who he is, and the guy is either making up his own chords or just doesn’t care how his guitar is tuned. Jadek is like an alien trying to play music after hearing it described to him once. Blind Corpse is his masterpiece…His lyrics reveal a man suffering from a pain so oblique that the listener must simply allow him to revel in his misery. Jadek doesn’t need us for comfort…" (Hayden Childs — Page 120) These little known stories about the sometimes shadowy figures of the music world are a hoot to discover; more than anything, this book is like picking an old Rolling Stone and reading for the pure enjoyment of the ride. However, Lost is important for another reason: as a diary of the hidden streets of the American Music scene, the pieces come together to give true historical perspective to the influences behind the echoes shedding light on the faces behind the old ghosts. Just as much as all the big-time dollar bands, these unknowns serve to bring shape and continuity to the history of our sound: "Forget the hilarious GTOs. Forget even the mighty Shaggs. Suckdog captures adolescent female adrenaline-fueled angst and aggression like no recording artist I’ve heard before or since. This is not a record for the squeamish…" (Russ Foster — Page 228) Lost in the Grooves is not a book for fans mad about one band or one particular singer. Instead, this is a book for the serious music fan, for those serious students of the art form curious about who-influenced-who and what sound rose out of what region. Like turning on a radio station and listening to a feverish wounded-voiced DJ tell you the reason behind every record you never heard, there’s 20 new things to be learned on every page here. Recommended to all libraries in the public sector and at the college level as general reference text. Also will appeal to serious music fans of all generations – there’s some new stuff here for all tastes. & thanks to Routledge for perhaps forsaking pure commercial motive and releasing an invaluable teaching tool. (John Aiello, The Electric Review, March/April 2005)