The lyrics, however, are new and strange: "Karen died, she died, she lay down and died / then she stood up and walked into the next room." At first I feel tricked by the surrealism. The song opens with a mellow piano intro, a few rolling bars that sound familiar, maybe from a coffeehouse somewhere or lite FM. While the comma in the title makes the Kletters' CD an address, an open letter from the sisters to other people or even to each other, I wouldn't presume to read any part of this music biographically-not even with titles like "Father Song" and "Sister Song," and not even when "Sister Song" contains lines like "She's never embraced me and I've never kissed her / affection seems bland when you hate your sister." Because then what to make of the song "Maria Marie," about "the Virgin and the Physicist ," or "Anna O.," about one of Freud's patients, or "Blue Glass," about a "blue glass bottle rising up to the surface"? As the opening song, "We Died in August," makes clear, the Kletters play with metaphors. In the intervening years, Dana had led Dish, a four-member band from Raleigh, North Carolina, and sung back-up vocals on Hole's Live Through This (1994) Karen had been doing graduate work in medieval history at the University of North Carolina.Ī few months after Dear Enemy, was released, the Kletters performed at an intimate room in the basement of New York's Knitting Factory (to an audience of mainly friends and family), and I came away from the show very impressed but not knowing any more about them than those few facts, most of which I culled from the Rykodisk Web site and the All-music Guide. Blackgirls' two releases, Procedure (1989) and Happy (1991), foreshadowed the Kletters' sound, wrapping similar female harmonies in similarly sharp acoustic instrumentation, and seven years later Boyd coaxed Dana and Karen into recording as a duo. (on Fables of the Reconstruction), Billy Bragg ( Workers Playtime), 10,000 Maniacs ( Wishing Chair), and a very-little-known folk-punk trio from North Carolina called Blackgirls-three white women, one of them Dana Kletter. In the '80's, he'd worked with such "alternative" artists as R.E.M.
From late '60's production work with Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, and the Incredible String Band, Boyd had gone on to produce major recordings by Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson (with Linda Thompson and solo), Nick Drake, and Maria Muldaur. Think of the Louvin Brothers, the Everly Brothers, the Roches, and especially Kate and Anna McGarrigle, whose recordings on Hannibal were produced by the label's owner and operator, Joe Boyd. In my home and in my head, it's a classic.ĭana and Karen Kletter are identical twins, and they harmonize in the entwined way only siblings can.
The CD seems to have made virtually no impact on the world, but I'm always eager to hear it and pleased when I do. Sometimes I feel like the only person in the world (apart from the musicians' friends and family, I guess) who listens regularly to Dana and Karen Kletter's Dear Enemy, (1998, Rykodisk). Presents/Jivepress Ltd.Dear Enemies? By Kurt Wildermuth (November 2001)
#Scrawl velvet hammer free
“This album was given away free in 1993 by Blast First/Mute to “survivors” of the Afghan Whigs “Lost Weekend” set of shows September 10-11, 1993, at London Astoria II.Īll the bands and their labels and management (for participating) Writers: Proper-Sheppard/Fernandez/Austinįrom “The Desert Song” EP on Fiction Records The God Machine – Pictures of A Bleeding Boy
#Scrawl velvet hammer skin
Writers: The Hair And Skin Trading Companyįrom the album “Over-Valence” on Beggars Banquet Recordsī4. The Hair And Skin Trading Company – Levers Recorded: Memphis at Easley Recording, Memphis/Waterworks Recording, NYCĮngineered: Doug Easley and Davis McCain (Memphis) and Jim Waters (NYC)ī3. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Afroįrom the album “Extra Width” on Matador Records Published: Blessing and Curse Music (ASCAP)įrom the album “Veil” on World Service Recordsįrom the Simple Machines album “Velvet Hammer”įrom “Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements” on Duophonic UHF Discsī1. Recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN.Įngineered: Jeff Powell, John Hampton and John Curley. Writers: Anstell/Graham (Tyrone Davis cover)įrom the album “Gentlemen” on Blast First Records Melody Maker made copies available to the first 1,000 respondants to an offer in the Septemissue, for £1.50, shipping. Originally issued with ‘Lost Weekend’ carrier bag. Features Afro by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (from Extra Width). Compilation album with white die-cut paper inner-sleeve, issued free to “survivors” of the “ Lost Weekend” shows at the Astoria 2 in London, UK on September 10 and 11, 1993.
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