Lipchitz by The John Huss Moderate Combo

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Lipchitz CD

Lipchitz is the first full-length release from The John Huss Moderate Combo & is undoubtedly their finest. John Huss, singer-songwriter-guitarist, drummer J. Niimi (Ashtray Boy), & bassist John Greenfield (Slink Moss, John Greenfield’s Rock Band) teamed up with Boston producer Pete Weiss to produce a spectacularly varied pop album centered around Huss' cross-eyed lyrical vision. The 15 tracks on this album were recorded at Lair in Chicago & at Zippah in Boston. Guest musicians here include:

Saxophonist John Upturch of the legendary (but sadly defunct) Coctails,

Violinist Susan Voelz (Poi Dog Pondering, John Cougar Mellencamp),

Trumpeter and Trombonist Dave Max Crawford (Poi Dog Pondering),

Morphine saxophonist Dana Colley &

Boston’s patron saint of rock & roll Charlie Chesterman (ex-Scruffy the Cat).

Following the release of this album were some circumstances & events that helped raise the profile of the band & the album:

*"Lipchitz" was named the #1 local album of 1998 by Chicago radio station WXRT-FM.

*"You're So Basic" appeared on Local 101, a compilation cd put out by Chicago's alternative station Q101, featuring cuts from Liz Phair, Pulsars, Wilco, Local H, & other Chicago bands.

*Moderate Combo drummer/guitarist J. Niimi has recently published a monograph on the seminal REM album "Murmur" (Continuum, 2005).

*John Huss' article "Monty Python and David Hume on Religion" appears in the forthcoming "Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge Think Think" (ed. Gary Hardcastle and George Reisch; Open Court, 2006).

http://www.opencourtbooks.com/books_n/monty.htm

"Go" is sampled backwards in the track "That's a Good CD" on Sool's 2005 release "Sooltime"

PRESS:

SHAKE YOUR FIST: MID-90S FLASHBACK

January 7, 2006

A couple days ago I was going through some old mix tapes I'd made for the car in the mid-90s. These (rarer) tracks appeared on one I assembled, I'm estimating, somewhere in mid-to-late 1996. A good snapshot, therefore, of what I was listening to 9-10 years ago. Some names that will be familiar and a couple that have been lost to the dustbin of indie rock history.

Go - The John Huss Moderate Combo

A track that launched dozens of mix tapes/CD for friends over the years. This comes from a compilation of live performances on WHPK's long-running Pure Hype show. Sorry to say I don't know anything about these guys, but I'll hazard a guess (trust me, it's an educated guess) they were University of Chicago grad students. Check the nerdy key line: All travel's time travel anyway.

—posted by Amy

COLE PORTER + THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS = JOHN HUSS?

by MikeH, iTunes

OK, so it might sound far-fetched that anyone could write as cleverly as Cole Porter, but I submit for your review John Huss. Check out "Office Work," "Millenium," and "Suburbilly" and you'll see what I mean. There's a little bit of TMBG in here too, especially in the melodies and Huss's vocals. You definitely want to give this album a listen!

“If there are thin lines between clever, stupid, and genius…they just got thinner!!!!” —Roctober

“Huss, mainstay of the Chicago indie rock scene, has been called ‘Al Franken with a guitar’ for a reason… Sometimes there’s a serious method to Huss’s madness. In ‘How Can You Say There’s No God When the World is So Bent?’ he gets away with singing about things usually best left in the lecture hall or science documentary. Only God can make a tree? Maybe, but God was wrong when She made clout./There’s one detail she never worked out.’ Our world is so off-kilter, there’s even a movie about Steven Hawking’s physics: ‘Popcorn in hand, the Cosmos is grand./ It ends but expands without limits.’ The acoustic guitars happily churn away, a bluegrass violin dances on top, and Huss lands right on the line between comedy and philosophy: Mother Nature is a Frankenstein—or a Corvair. (‘I’d like to meet whoever made her/ and jot down his name on a card to Ralph Nader.’)

“He even sings about math, but keeps his feet on the ground. That’s where Huss found a tire tool, lying by the side of Lake Shore Drive. It’s “a positive thing—it’s shaped just like a plus/unlike something like a dollar bill which is shaped more or less like a minus.” Huss shares Jonathan Richman’s, and especially They Might Be Giants’, knack for seeing ordinary things in interesting ways. And his willingness to experiment with horns, sitars, and Mellotrons makes most of these songs compelling for sonic reasons alone.” ★★★★ — Stereophile

“Diese Platte zu besprechen ist für mich in mehrfacher Hinsicht etwas besonderes: John Huss ist ein Freund von den Ether Frolics, Musik, Gesang, und Prägnanz der Texte liegen irgendwo zwischen Jonathan Richman und Mojo Nixon, den Schlagzeuger teilen sie sich mit Ashtray Boy, zu den Gastmusikern gehören Susan Voelz und Dave Max Crawford (Poi Dog Pondering) sowie John Upturch (früher bei den Coctails). Die Moderate Combo dehnt den Bluegrass vom Swing bis hin zur Metallica, ohne jedoch ernsthaft in Gefähr zu geraten, den Bogen zu überspannen—so hat das bisher nur der ehrwürdige Mojo Nixon hinbekommen, mit dem sich auch den spöttischen bis zynischen Humor teilen. Die ganze wird immer wieder durch die eher geschmeidige bis sanfte Stimme von John Huss ausgeglichen. Große Underground-Kultur also, die durch ihre freche Verschrobenheit überzeugt und nicht durch die Perfektion in den Einzeldisziplinen.“

[Translation: "This record is in several respects somewhat special for me to discuss: John Huss is a friend of the Ether Frolics, the music, singing, and conciseness of the texts are appropriate for somewhere between Jonathan Richman and Mojo Nixon, he shares his drummer with Ashtray Boy, and the guest musicians Susan Voelz and Dave Max Crawford (Poi Dog Pondering) as well as John Upturch (in former times with the Coctails). The Moderate Combo stretches the Bluegrass of the Swing up to the Metallica, without however seriously in danger of being too turned out, the elbow too span so has that so far only the venerable Mojo Nixon gets, with which also divide the sneering to cynical humor. The whole becomes again and again balanced by the rather supple to gentle voice of John Huss. Large Underground culture thus, those by their impudent crankiness convinces and not by perfection in the single disciplines."]— Superstar (Hamburg, Germany)

“driving, literate pop” —Option

“charming, funny” — CMJ New Music Report

“great dancing music that will leave even the grouchiest sourpuss smiling … a weird, tuneful trip into Huss’s unpredictable imagination.” — The Onion

“rollicking folk rock that occasionally trips over jazz” — The Chicago Reader

“…an expansive and memorable musical persona… When you hear John Huss, you pay attention because it’s not much like anything you’ve heard lately.” — Chicago Tribune

DISCOGRAPHY

Folk ‘n’ Roll

John Huss & Weasel Parts

Format: audiocassette

Label: self-released

Country: USA

Release Date: ????

Length: ????

Notes: Huss first met producer Pete Weiss (Weisstronauts) in 1991 when he drove from Chicago to Boston to record these tracks. They were recorded in two sessions in 1991 and 1992 at Boston’s Zippah studio on 8-track reel-to-reel back when Zippah was called Zip-Loc. The Weasel Parts are composed of Huss’ Stoats bandmate (lead guitarist Tim Heffernan), as well as members (drummer Rob Rudin and bassist Matt Swift) of Heffernan’s former Band from Simon’s Rock College, Four Out of Five Dentists. Special guests include Pete Weiss and legendary Treat Her Right harmonica player Jim Fitting. Never intended as an album, but merely as a way to preserve the songs on some kind of recording, the results of this session were eventually assembled into Folk ‘n’ Roll, which was manufactured in two runs of 100, and sold at shows to recoup recording costs. The tapes were sold from the stage at Chicago venues such as Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap, the Avalon, the Gargoyle, At The Tracks, the Elbo Room, and Phyllis’ Musical Inn, as well as CB’s Gallery, Brownie’s, and Sin-E in New York. Since some of the songs were recorded in two versions, the cassette includes both versions, with Side One the Folk Side, and Side Two the Roll Side. The tracks on the Folk Side feature Huss solo on acoustic guitar. On a couple of tracks he is accompanied by Weiss on sand blocks, twelve-string electric, or backing vocals. The tracks on the Roll Side were recorded with the Weasel Parts.

Tracks:

Local 101: Volume 1

Format: CD

Label: Q101 LOCAL.101

Country: USA

Release Date: July 21, 1998

Length: 63:20

Notes: This CD from Chicago radio station Q101 was sold exclusively in the Greater Chicago area ( Blockbuster Music, Tower Records, and Sam Goody /Musicland locations) for $7.99, and proceeds go to M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).

Tracks:

Level On The Inside - Dovetail Joint (3:23)

I Know You Love Me - Smoking Popes (3:12)

Black Limbo - My Scarlet Life (3:26)

Pretty Little Orange - A Modern Joy (3:57)

You Are Ignored - Fondly (2:45)

Once Again - Claire (3:46)

Cool For Cats - Pulsars (3:26)

Nerve Gas - Kill Hannah (3:45)

Sitting On The Sidelines - The Rolls (3:33)

All You Need - Doris (2:59)

Freak Of Nature -Liz Phair (2:07)

You're So Basic - John Huss Moderate Combo (2:27)

The Mattachine Society - The Aluminum Group (2:56)

Audacious - Atrixo (3:22)

Play - Certain Distant Suns (3:27)

Talking Smack - Local H (2:36)

Flesh:wound - Massivivid (3:23)

Passenger Side - Wilco (8:50)

LYRICS

Basic

You're so basic, about half my speed,

but that's the kind of change of pace that this boy needs,

for I'm manic, frantic, subject to panic,

feel the gravitational pull of the Atlantic.

But you're basic. Let's face it:

it came to you—you didn't have to chase it.

You're beatific, context-specific,

pulse with the ebb and the flow of the Pacific.

I shake like a tommy gun rat-ta-tat-ta-tat-ta-tattin,

rise and fall like the heat of Manhattan.

You're cool and smooth as a bucket of Crisco.

You undulate like the streets of San Francisco.

I met your father. He was such a hayseed

he makes Howdy Doody look like Lou Reed.

But he gave you everything that you need.

You might not be a blueblood but you're sure a true breed.

You look ragged with twice my style.

You've been put together by error and trial,

but there's no error in the glint of your smile.

A city boy can sense it from a country mile.

You know, people tell me that I'm high strung.

I've been that way since I was young.

Lived most of my life on the middle rung.

Most of my stones remain unslung.

David, Goliath, I am neither, more like Eddie Haskell from Leave it to Beaver,

pretty well-liked but mostly wrong.

You? You're basic. Might as well embrace it.

Before I even kissed you I could already taste it.

You got it. We want it. You know it. Why waste it?

When something's so close to nothing, nothing's going to erase it.

You look ragged with twice my style.

You've been put together by error and trial,

but there's no error in the glint of your smile.

A city boy can sense it from a country mile.

Whaliens

don’t believe in unicorns but I

do believe they have one horn saw

someone eat an octopus today

do believe in Capricorns but I

don't believe that once you're born the

stars have much if any role to play

I believe that dolphins think that

when they die they will not stink that's

why they headed back into the brine

sometimes I wonder why we left the

webbing on hour hands suggest the

hair alignments on our arms and chests attest

we're whaliens

sometimes I theorize a time when

we and dolphins shared the drink sea

level fell that made the dolphins think it's

time for one of us to go and

you don't have a blowhole so your

upright posture ought to let you know

you're whalien

I do believe in Capricorns but I

don't believe that once you're born the

stars have much if any role to play

moon sun and sea are quite enough to

spin pull and provide enough for

us but make things mighty rough

for aliens

at night I am a whalien whose

eyesight may be failing him but

sonar navigates me through the sea

at night I am a whalien whose

grandma was Australian she

wed a six foot sea creature named Larry

Office Work

Chorus:

Office work oh office work

oh office work is the awfullest work

That I oftenest work oh office work

someone please get me off of this office work

When you pick up the telephone

You can't talk like you talk at home

You gotta talk in office talk

Or get fired and do the office walk

CHORUS

While I'm on the topic of office work

I'll tell you how the office onus works

The weight of the office lies on us jerks

Who don't even know how the office works

CHORUS

Office coffee's awful but

Doughnuts and coffee fill your gut

Till pants you bought so loosely cut

Strain to contain your office butt

CHORUS

HOW CAN YOU SAY THERE'S NO GOD WHEN THE WORLD IS SO BENT

how can you say there's no God when the world is so bent

something this big couldn't turn out half-baked by accident

I'd like to meet who ever built her

for even her axis is somewhat off-kilter

how can you say there's no God in a film about physics

with popcorn in hand the cosmos is grand

it ends by expands with out limits

I cannot fathom Screaming Jay Hawkins

so how can I fathom the great Stephen Hawking

something unplanned has the scent of the hand of a maker

I'd like to meet whoever made her

and jot down his name on a card to Ralph Nader

how can you say there's no God when the world is so bent

How can you say there's no God when the world screams indifference

there's sponges at sea

on land you and me

outer space must have equivalents

even some who think the world is chaotic

concede there is someone who first stirred the pot up

how can you say there's no God when the world is so bent

SUBURBILLY

I didn't learn my lessons in the back of a truck

Never had the good fortune of having bad luck

I can't sing the blues. I've never felt them really

I'm not from the hills. I'm a suburbilly

I wasn't born on the bayou

Not even a small town in Ohio

I grew up in a town where no one rents

A chain link mind needs a chain link fence

I've never been the porch swing sort

I grew up near an airport

I heard folks everywhere are the same

So once I tried moving to Maine

It felt like home to me but I was alone

There's no use being a weed among the homegrown

So I moved to a city where I could feel

A pulse of life that smacked of the real

But all the gals and all the fellers I met

were former suburban dwellers

Might as well have all stayed put and met our neighbors

Well you can be inert or you can take a chance

But you can't change your history 'less you do it in advance

My hometown bruised me like a banana

And there's no un-bruising fruit even in Montana

I wasn't born in a hollow

Nor partly raised in Colorado

I never learned to play the jug

I don't chew leaf and I don't chew plug

The sound of a frog on a water lily

gets drowned by the sound of a Hee-Haw billy

Well you can move to Chicago and meet people just like you

There'll be a new Chicago in a year or two

In a couple of years we'll be packing our bags for Boise

But Jersey hasn't left this boy since he left Jersey

TIRE TOOL

Running is the thing I do to help relax my mind

And as I run I think about the things I'd like to find.

Last week in the morning, I went running before school

And on the west side of Lake Shore Drive I found a tire tool.

Ain't got no car, ain't got no bike, ain't even got a golf cart.

Last week I found a tire tool. Don't laugh, man: it's a start.

I found a tire tool

A tire tool.

I ride the bus like most of us and dream about the day

That I can be behind the wheel of my own Cabriolet

Or Chevrolet or Hyundai -- I'd even drive a Yugo.

All I can say is till that day there is one thing I do know:

Ain't got no car, ain't got no fuel.

But till such a day as I get one of those two,

I've got a tire tool

A tire tool.

A tire tool is a positive thing — it's shaped just like a plus,

unlike something like a dollar bill, which is shaped more or less like a minus.

Lot's of people in this world, they think that they are buying us,

But as for me I'd like to think I'd never be that spineless.

You see I found this thing beside

A road I may never ride

At least till I'm the owner of a brand new Subaru.

I've got a tire tool

A tire tool.

USE YOUR HEAD

Lots of folks will tell you that print is dead

It's probably from some magazine they read

They'll say you can't have your cake and eat it too

Well I say you can't unless you do

The best things in life are free so are the worst

If you mix them up well you won't be the first to

Just do it is the cry of the gerbil

The habitrail horde shies away from the verbal

Well you ought to think back to what your father said

Use your head

Life's not a walk in the park

It's more like parking in Norwalk

Everybody gets a spot, but what's the difference?

Talk is cheap, time is money, no wonder money talks

They say that bullshit walks, but you and I both know that we've made it fly

The last will be first and the first will be last

So I guess the rest of us had best think fast

The less hard you think, the less hard it is

Unless you are the type that likes to think hard, that is

Don't dig deep if that's not you just 'cause somebody tells you to

Don't play yourself, just be yourself, 'cause if you're acting like yourself that means your really somebody else

Use your head

That's what your mother said

Which came first, the platypus or the first egg that she laid?

Swimming birds, flying fish, nature's not afraid

Nature's not afraid

Use your head

That's what God said

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