Joanna Newsom's Have One On Me: Drag City Always Wins
Tristan Eden
Issue date: 3/9/10 Section: Tristan's Tracks
Joanna Newsom is not to be taken seriously. In fact, it is important to understand that the artists on Drag City--the Chicago-based indie label that is home to Newsom and a number of other semi-geniuses--is not to be taken seriously. Of course, in no way does this mean that Newsom's releases--or her label mate's releases--are not brilliant, beautiful, and fully realized perfect pieces of music. Not at all: they almost all are. The thing is, though, the major artists in the Drag City family are just not as serious about their work as they (or most of their fans) seem to be. Drag City's roster is full of ultra-intelligent almost-geniuses who, like Newsom, simply have too many ideas and too much talent to take their music completely seriously.
Some examples: Drag City's golden boy, Will Oldham, has been recording avant-garde folk music for Drag City since the early 1990s. He records under various names, including Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Palace Brothers, Palace Music, and sometimes just Will Oldham. Once, he released an album of Bonnie "Prince" Billy covering Palace Music, which is actually just him re-singing his older songs kind of differently. In his official photo on the Drag City website, he's wearing a bright orange hoodie and eating an ice cream bar. He writes maddeningly great misogynistic lines like, "Don't you know that I see/ Ahh she'd strip for me" and "It's time I had some love/ Have the ladies gather 'round/ And do me from above." He is not serious. And he knows it; it's the whole point. The thing is, though, it's not that obvious.
Bill Callahan, another Drag City veteran, who, again, records variously as Bill Callahan, Smog, or (Smog), operates in a similarly brilliant but insincere and playful way. His first album is a lo-fi epic full of screechy and "difficult" sub-2-minute noise-songs; his incredible 2000 album, called Dongs of Sevotion, is cleanly produced and every song lasts almost 6 or 7 minutes. The photo he decided to use on the back of his second album, Forgotten Foundation, released in 1992 on Drag City, is of some old man sitting in a chair and smiling while opening a present. He is not serious. And he knows it; it's the whole point. The thing is, though, it's not that obvious.
Some examples: Drag City's golden boy, Will Oldham, has been recording avant-garde folk music for Drag City since the early 1990s. He records under various names, including Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Palace Brothers, Palace Music, and sometimes just Will Oldham. Once, he released an album of Bonnie "Prince" Billy covering Palace Music, which is actually just him re-singing his older songs kind of differently. In his official photo on the Drag City website, he's wearing a bright orange hoodie and eating an ice cream bar. He writes maddeningly great misogynistic lines like, "Don't you know that I see/ Ahh she'd strip for me" and "It's time I had some love/ Have the ladies gather 'round/ And do me from above." He is not serious. And he knows it; it's the whole point. The thing is, though, it's not that obvious.
Bill Callahan, another Drag City veteran, who, again, records variously as Bill Callahan, Smog, or (Smog), operates in a similarly brilliant but insincere and playful way. His first album is a lo-fi epic full of screechy and "difficult" sub-2-minute noise-songs; his incredible 2000 album, called Dongs of Sevotion, is cleanly produced and every song lasts almost 6 or 7 minutes. The photo he decided to use on the back of his second album, Forgotten Foundation, released in 1992 on Drag City, is of some old man sitting in a chair and smiling while opening a present. He is not serious. And he knows it; it's the whole point. The thing is, though, it's not that obvious.
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