The Decemberists' Chris Funk Helms The Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble
We have news of a Decemberist going it alone, at least for a home recording release and a string of West Coast dates as the Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble. The guitarist who dueled with Colbert Frampton in a battle of the shred offers up Plastic Bag In The Tree, a collection of tunes featuring mainly Mr. Funk, along with some of his Portland neighbors, featuring covers (Radiohead, Fleetwood Mac, the Pretenders, Massive Attack) and a couple of originals. No shanties here; the Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble specializes in acid-tinged instrumental folk ditties which are, as Chris jokes, "good intermittent music for NPR's All Things Considered!" Find a taste from the record below. We like this song's tuning, which he nicked from John Fahey; tab fiends, he "thinks" it's a low C (CGCGCE).
Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble - "Chained To A Pole" (MP3)
Head to MySpace for a sweet cover of Massive Attack's "Teardrop." You can catch Chris with a veritable ensemble of support players (including Norfolk & Western's Peter Broderick and fellow Decemberist Jenny Conlee) on a string of west coast dates. Chris booked the tour without remembering the Fahey tuning, so maybe just go to relish the potential dissonance. Take the jump for the dates.
06/01 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile
06/02 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
06/06 - Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
06/07 - San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord
06/08 - Sacramento, CA @ Blue Lamp
06/09 - Sam Bond's Garage @ Eugene, OR
Plastic Bag In The Tree is out 5/15 on Hush.
Posted at 11:40 AM in MP3
Tags: Chris Funk | Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble | The Decemberists
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I've always kind of admired The Decemberists' style music... this one with Flash Hawk is kind of interesting, though I wish it had words. If I had to give Chris one word of advice it would be this; ditch the gorilla mask. It makes him look like his dog. In fact, it's an insult to his dog, more or less.
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Fahey didn't invent the open c-ish, but he did use it alot. He called it the Sun Tuning, that scamp.
http://www.johnfahey.com/TuningsPage.htm
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Norfolk & Western - not Norolk & Western!
The Flash Hawk record RULES, BTW.
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Been eyeing up this album since it first appeared on Hush's website. I'd highly recommend checking out the Jeff London album when that comes out as well.
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Carson Ellis is in the touring band too, for all you Decemberist illustrator fans.
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Am I wrong, or is this really boring?
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Am I wrong, or are you really boring?
Yeah, what?
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