Weak Beats and Lame-Ass Rhymes

Two Dollar Guitar

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 25, 2000)
• Original Release Date: January 25, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Smells Like Records
• ASIN: B00003XAVP
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #448,378 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist
Two Dollar Guitar began in 1992 when Tim Foljahn landed in Hoboken, NJ after several years spent nomadding about the country, absorbing the cultures of a vivid cross-section of American turfs: New Orleans, Albuquerque, Chicago. Armed with a book full of damned, heavy soul ballads inspired by both his psycho-spiritual and actual physical travels, he recruited his friend Steve Shelley to help animate them for public consumption. The music mines a sound and vision based on "roots" music in the truest sense of the word, building on a tradition found in the work of fellow twisted classicists from Nick Cave to Townes Van Zandt, Serge Gainsbourg to Lee Hazlewood and Leonard Cohen, and transubstantiating these influences into something utterly it's own.

The debut single, a skeletal unrosined violinscrape and harrowing autobiog called "Lost Bird" was a mostly solo affair by Tim, with Steve percussing and producing. The first full length, Let Me Bring You Down, is a record crammed with squinty biblical allegory, more autobiog and tales of broken noses, buried babies and pussy-whipped philosophers. Around this same time, Tim and Steve were becoming a sort of an indie-rock Sly-and-Robbie for hire, rhythm sectioning in groups like Mosquito (with Jad Fair), Male Slut (with Thurston Moore) and Cat Power (with Chan Marshall). The follow-up, Burned and Buried, despite many guest musicians, fancy pedal steel, blues harp and a freejazznik's piano clusters, is a more cohesive collection. Recorded at the famous Easley studios in Memphis, Tennessee, it finds Two Dollar Guitar connecting up with a pervasive delta spirit mingled with their northeastern (via Midwestern) urban grit and continental (c.f. Gainsbourg, et al) pop sensibility. Burned and Burried also marks the drafting of bassist Dave Motamed. A pair of singles, "Woman Killing Man" and "Erl King," featuring unused gems from the Burned sessions, were released in 1997.

1998 saw the release of two unique projects: Hotel Opera, a spare solo album by Tim recording under the name La Lengua Asesina, and an album of instrumental improvisations by the trio, called Train Songs. Where the former release consists of pure song material stripped to its most intimate and revealing state, the latter maxes out the band's rich musical interaction in sublime instrumental drifts. It's as if the group decided to split its two dimensions, sound and song, in order to refine each half before reuniting them for their next full-length album.

In 1999 Two Dollar Guitar set up shop in SYR studios with engineer Luc Suer to begin work on what would be their fourth record, Weak Beats and Lame-Ass Rhymes. Working over the course of a year; friends were brought in to help render the new songs; the result was a fully realized Two Dollar Guitar. The arrangements draw as much from Buffalo Springfield and Gene Clark as they do from people like Astrud Gilberto and the works of Brigitte Fontaine & Areski ; Weak Beats and Lame-Ass Rhymes exemplifies the progression from the low-fi psychedelic folk-gone-country stylings of Two Dollar Guitar's previous outings. Recently the band's roster has undergone a shift from the Foljahn-Shelley-Motamed dynamic: playing as often as possible, the band has seen incarnations as a Foljahn/Shelley duo but more often it has expanded to include Janet Wygal providing bass and harmonies as well as Spanish singer/songwriter Christina Rosenvinge adding vocals and guitar. After a full year of recording, Two Dollar Guitar is ready to do anything but take a breather; through future extensive touring, a studio project with Christina Rosenvinge, and talk of a remix record; Two Dollar Guitar will continue to change and grow.

Product Description
Follow-up to 1998's 'Train Songs'. Guests include members of Fuck, Geraldine Fibbers, Scarnella and Beck's band. Hoboken act's fourth release and richest effort yet can only be described as Ian Curtis and Nick Cave meet Leonard cohen and Townes Van Zandt. Digipak.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore this other guy..., July 12, 2000

By	Stephen - See all my reviews

"Weak Beats" has got to be one of the most satisfyiing albums I've heard in a long time. Its amazing how Two Dollar Guitar is both sophisticated and accessible. Well, maybe not entirely accessible, as this other reviewer has pointed out to us that Tim Foljahn's dead-pan vocals aren't likely to land him a spot on any upcoming Broadways musicals. Two Dollar Guitar are one of those rare bands that can succesfully execute an entire album of downbeat, depressing songs without leaving us bored. (see also Black Heart Procession) The music is centered around acoustic guitars and the song structures are fairly simple. But thanks to the amazing interplay of indie superstars Tim Foljahn (guitar, Mosquito), Steve Shelley (drums, Sonic Youth), and Dave Motamed (bass, Cell), the album is brimming with melodies and subtle variations that make it an unexpected treat. Also helping are tons of guest appearances. This is really cheesy, but if I had to sum up the appeal in Two Dollar Guitar, I guess I would say its roots rock for the artsy-indie types.

1 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars THis band needs a singer badly, March 30, 2000

By	King Dice (OLMSTED, OH USA) - See all my reviews

Good music. Terrible singer. The guest appearance by Carla Bozulich is ruined by the lead singer's annoying voice.