Every so often in my life a musician makes their presence known to me, and my perception of the world is irrevocably altered. This happened with Franz Liszt, LeadBelly, John Coltrane, Smog, and Arab on Radar, to name a few. Now, I have to add Michael McDaeth to that list.
Hailing from Seattle Washington might hinder some with its mystique, but quite frankly, he sounds like nothing I've ever heard.
You will find Michael's music in two guises, first and foremost solo with an acoustic guitar and harmonica as Michael McDaeth, and then as the front man of a three piece known as Weeds Peterson.
This man is inspired. In response to one of my questions regarding the amount(if any) of musical training he has, he told me that "it would probably be more accurate for me to answer that it was always there. As soon as I could move my fingers on the fret board, I was off and writing songs. It was just there waiting for me - an easy natural thing."
Aside from his prolific output as a songwriter, is the fact of his four websites, each chock full of variegated types of visual media. I would press anyone interested to check out his videos, as the types of mixed media presentations are as individual as the songs, and truly complement the music. The video for "Take a Ride With Charles Bukowski" is real disturbing, and underscores the latent ferocity of the song.
In certain respects, I hear an older type of thinking going on in the music he makes, especially in his solo material. To me, this comprises his most personal output. He excels at very repetitive rhythmic motions, strumming patterns that accent in unexpected ways and has great instincts for welding his accompaniments to the melodic line. There is also attention to detail in the inner voices of his guitar parts, relating to the way the voicings move and his choice of chord progressions.
What strikes you immediately is the sheer force of his music. He reminds me of a dysfunctional LeadBelly, in the sense that they both use the same setup and produce phenomenal amounts of volume and energy. The difference is one of temperament. Michael's music strikes me as a journey of deconstruction, a probing of emotional possibility; an antisocial plea for some kind of connection.
The first track on his Myspace player, "Everybody's Fault," illustrates this point nicely. From the way he attacks his guitar at the beginning of the song, you get the idea that he is venting from an argument that just ended. This is the other side of the expressive aspect of his guitar playing, which consists in an extra-musical style of attacks and an inexpressible something that makes the acoustic guitar become so percussive and violent in his hands.
From what I could surmise on the basis of a couple of weeks of immersion in this man's musical world, his myspace player is well planned out. The collection of tracks there give a terrific overview of his extensive output, highlighting tracks from most of his albums.
In certain respects, my favorite song, among many, is Shimeleski Funtime. The construction of the ostinato-like main riff, with its ascending bassline that just keeps collecting energy, always induces the desire to jump through a window in me. The way he resolves the upward motion of that riff by moving to a higher fret and descending with the same rhythm, repeating this a few times and then puncuating the whole first part with a simultaneous guitar/harmonica hit where the rhythm just dies for a second, is brilliant in its simplicity.
The whole song, all two minutes of it, sums up everything that I am learning to love about Michael's vision: an organic approach to form that is dictated by the needs of the song, where the shape of the emotional life molds the song into something that breathes with its own life, something alive, communicating its own internal existence with elegant simplicity.
Check him out at these places:
www.myspace.com/michaelmcdaeth
www.mcdaeth.com
www.theblankalbum.com
www.shineinreverse.com
www.weedspeterson.com
www.myspace.com/weedspeterson
Posted by paul paradis at http://www.mymindisamuffler.blogspot.com/
Part Daniel Johnston, part Stravinsky, part Kurt Cobain, part Foggy Mountain Boys, Michael McDaeth breaks through all the frames of form and comes out the other side with something so odd, so brave, so beautiful and so irritating you won't know what to make of it. When it hits you, it may leave a mark i.e. I hope you don't bruise easily, i.e. I hope you don't cry easily, i.e. I hope you dig it. It's only one guy and only one guitar and one ill-used and slightly grumpy harmonica. How does it sound like a firestorm on Mars? Beats me. Beats me good. Go to mcdaeth.com and listen to "We're Anonymous" from Shine In Reverse. It'll ease you into it.
This is slam dancing for the soul. Hope you're insured. (hap mansfield - picassobriefcase.com)
You are always in the engine room of the universe. You work there. You sleep there. You eat and make love and shit and piss there. You get angry there. You find happiness there. If the universe was a shopping mall and you were looking for the cookie pizza/cinnamon roll/kettle-cooked fudge/freeze dried ice cream/candle place/martini bar and you couldn't find it so you went looking for one of those Lucite-encased mall maps to tell you how to get there, you'd see the Engine Room on the map with a little arrow pointing to it saying YOU ARE HERE. This is because everywhere you are is the engine room of the universe. The map would always tell you the same thing: YOU ARE HERE. Because you are always in the engine room of the universe.
Let's say you are listening to Mcdaeth's music and you are thinking, what is this? Is this guy crazy? What the hell kind of music is this anyway? Michael Mcdaeth must be the mayor of Crazy Town, you say to yourself. Maybe you say it out loud. You can if you want, we're not stopping you. You may be looking at the song titles and thinking, who the hell does this guy think he is, The Minutemen? Donald Wilson? (Of course, this would be contingent on whether you knew who Donald Wilson was but if you do know, you might be thinking it.) You don't know how long you can take this howling and that caterwauling and the incessant pounding on the strings and what the hell. Also, at this juncture you might even be thinking, what kind of lousy liner notes are these? Isn't Derrida dead?
They found green glass on the moon, did you know that? Also, there are some astronomers at Princeton who claim that all potential life flies around the universe on rocks. Scientists have found life existing in some form or another in volcanoes and in the deepest coldest ices of the Antarctic. You think you're special? Well, who says you're not, bub?
Perhaps now you are writing off Michael as one of those musical theory types. Maybe it's time for a sandwich or a beer. Maybe your mother's calling you. Maybe you have to be somewhere (which is, as I've already pointed out, pretty difficult for you because, do I have to say it? Fine. You are always in the Engine Room of the universe.) Ah, perhaps the music is finally sinking into you. Maybe you dig it. It could happen. It's bewilderingly refreshing, this music. MM is a solid sender. Of course, your engine room may not be able to handle the load. It's okay. It's a big universe.
Are you familiar with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle? I'm not. We've met but I'm not certain our relationship could be termed as familiar. This CD could be the musical equivalent of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Or maybe it's Glenn Gould playing the upside down sheet music for Blood On The Tracks on a guitar made out of auto parts. It could be the soundtrack for a knife fight on the moon. That could account for the green glass. Make up your own story, I'm tired. (Okay, I'll get you started; maybe the green glass was from a broken beer bottle. Maybe Brian Eno was there. Your turn. You make up a story. I'll wait..)
Finished? There's nobody like Michael Mcdaeth anywhere in the universe. This is his rock. You gettin' the hemi-semi-demi quavers? You rolling with the sarcastic laughter, frustrated tears, smoke-filled mystery? YOU ARE HERE; you dig?
Just because a few dozen people have passed through Michael while he sings doesn't mean he's channeling the universe. Oh, wait. That's exactly what it does mean.
Okay, the frame is broken on this picture. I'd be an idiot not to mention it. If form follows function then it's up to you to figure out why anybody listens to anything but Bach. Einstein liked Mozart. Just sayin'.
Michael made this with and for the universe. Which, now that I think on it, is you, pal. You were meant to take this personally. How else is there?
thx, m. Mcdaeth greetings from kansas i added yer anarchy song nice writing and sweet clucking in that other song. COMMERCIAL: (sorry) "Mi and L'au in the Middle Lands" a tiny film about minimalist singer songwriters NOW ON DVD web.me.com/handcut end commerce if you ever come to KC i'd love to shoot yer performance. happy food fest.
Just stopping by to show some love to your page and wish you a happy thanksgiving... I also have seven new poems up... If you got the time check them out.
Le Lapin Rose vous informe qu'il ne reste plus que 5 jours pour envoyer votre musique et ainsi participer au PILC! Faites nous parvenir vos morceaux à: le.lapinrose@yahoo.fr
Le Lapin Rose informs you that there are only 5 days left to send your music and to enter the PILC! Please send us your track at: le.lapinrose@yhoo.fr
thanks for the add, i like this style as well as the main group Weeds Peterson. I checked it out as well after reading the bio here on the page and have to thank you for illuminating me to these two great new avenues of musical interpretation. Will have fun listening and keep up the gr8 tunes :)
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