Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Seth Howard – The Meaning of Life

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Levi Fuller

One benefit of convening our giant group of 40 BoW alumni for Ball of Wax 40 was bringing a number of people back into the fold who’d been quiet for a while. People like Seth Howard, who’s been part of this thing since the very beginning, but who hasn’t shown up under his own name in quite some time. (Is it possible Volume 23 is the last time we heard from him? Scandalous!) I’m very glad he has remedied the situation with his “The Meaning of Life” song for Ball of Wax 42. It’s a delicate, haunting tune, mostly finger-picked acoustic and Seth’s hushed vocals, capturing a moment of beauty and contemplation. It’s wonderful to have Seth’s voice back on Ball of Wax!

As if the return of recorded Seth Howard weren’t good enough news, the Ball of Wax 42 release show will see Seth’s first live, full-band performance in quite some time. As wonderful as his quiet acoustic stuff is, it’s a huge treat to hear Seth’s songs fleshed out with a band, and you should grab the opportunity while you can. I certainly hope your next chance to see him live will be a matter of months rather than years, but I wouldn’t risk it.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Travis Champ – The Meaning of Life

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Levi Fuller

Jon Rooney’s favorite frontier surrealist Travis Champ is back, and his take on “The Meaning of Life” doubles down on the surrealism – which makes sense, since it was inspired by a dream he had about listening to the lost folk recordings of Adolf Hitler. (“I don’t think the first verse will offend too many people,” he assured me.) The lyrics aren’t entirely clear – perhaps due to the song being recorded on a phone inside a shipping container (no, really) – but suffice it to say it’s another satisfying dose of subversive strangeness delivered in Champ’s inimitable cowboy baritone.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: The Foghorns – The Meaning of Life

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Jon Rooney

For “The Meaning of Life,” the Foghorns have assumed their most unassuming permutation – just Bart Cameron, his voice and an acoustic guitar.  The result is, not surprisingly, stark, moving, and foreboding in a Midwestern Old Testament kind of way. Bart chronicles a litany of man-made horrors, commonplace atrocities of what Bob Dylan christened the “New Dark Ages” a quarter century ago. The lyrics mention “a boy on the bus again, a bomb” and “washed on the shore, a toddler in his shoes / face in the sand, next to a soldier’s boots,” imagery more terrible in the mind of a father of a young boy, which Bart happens to be.  The song finds grace in the inexorable love of fatherhood, sloughing off both the threat of a man left to the devices of free will and the need for ontological wholeness with the very human “there is no meaning / I need to hear you breathing” and “I don’t need a lover’s kiss / like I need to hear you breathing.”

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Louis O’Callaghan – The Meaning of Life

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Jon Rooney

Whether as the Graze or Sun Tunnels or even the long-lost Indie Rooney, Louis O’Callaghan has been one of my favorite Ball of Waxers over the years, an unheralded and often unmatched creative figure in a town stuffed to the gills with self-appointed creative types. What sets Louis apart, for me anyway, is the fact that his creative output is accomplished and wholly enjoyable – he’s a top-notch, not-just-local-good, gifted pop songwriter. His take on “The Meaning of Life” boasts a host of endearing indie rock and lo-fi pop touches: simply-arranged, down-stroked guitar parts, yearning double-tracked vocals, subtle synth and drum machine, all in service of a sad, dogged earworm of a melody. The lyrics are mumbled but poignant where discernible, like small musings on the inevitability of cosmic annihilation: “the star will break / there will come a day / someone leaves a mark / you won’t think at all.” You might think that I’m overdoing things, but you’re wrong. You’re just not listening to enough Louis O’Callaghan.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Robb Benson – The Meaning of Life

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Levi Fuller

Robb Benson is nothing if not prolific. He has started more bands (more good bands) than I can count, and early on in our acquaintance it became clear to me that songwriting for him is just one more essential function of life, like eating, sleeping, and breathing. The guy can’t not write songs. You could even say a big part of the meaning of life, for Robb, is making music; so how could he resist my call for songs about the meaning of life? He could not, and I’m very glad he didn’t. Like Holly Small, Robb went irony-free for this one; his take on the theme is earnest, and perhaps a bit dark, but ultimately (to my ears) sweet and redemptive. It starts with the question “What’s the meaning of life?” and ends with the refrain “I’m just so glad to be here with you all right now.” Community, friends, collaboration, singing and playing and listening together – that sounds like a pretty great dose of meaning to me.

Speaking of which, I hope you will join me and Robb (and many other fine artists) at the Ball of Wax 42 release show on December 3rd! It will truly be a meaningful occasion.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Holly Small – The Meaning of Life

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Jon Rooney

Holly Small was last heard from on Ball of Wax Volume 40, as part of the instant, ephemeral band I Am the Deciders. Small returns to volume 42 to offer her take on the meaning of life as effusive bedroom synth pop. Subtitled “Unconditional,” the retro drum machine pattern and relentless synth arp in the first handful of measures suggests the kind of nervy soundtrack you might have found on The Terminator or a Death Wish movie from the eighties. Once the vocals come in, however, you can tell that something more period R&B is going on, with lyrics like “connection everlasting is heaven sent / we just don’t see clearly, that’s our predicament.” The chorus is carefully double-tracked, the lyrics continue on as guileless relationship advice, the song does not waver in tone or intention – Small isn’t messing around with sarcasm or irony. This song appears to be a loving re-imagining of a Jody Watley song or an early En Vogue demo. I thought that the self-harmonizing toward the end of the song momentarily evoked tUnE-yArDs or something from the Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca, but I was reaching because I’m a pretentious music jerk. Small’s “The Meaning of Life (Unconditional)” is apparently all about love and the music I remember most from middle-school dances in the years before e-mail, chill wave and everything being terrible. Now, if you’ll excuse me.

Holly Small will be performing at the Ball of Wax 42 release show on December 3rd at Conor Byrne. Don’t miss it!

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Ball of Wax 42: The Meaning of Life! 12/3 at Conor Byrne

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Levi Fuller

Ball of Wax 42 poster by Jon RooneyBall of Wax Volume 42 Release Show
Day Laborers & Petty Intellectuals / Seth Howard / KAPtN AtAK  (Strong Like Woman) / Holly Small / Robb Benson
Thursday, December 3rd, 8pm
Conor Byrne Pub
21+ / $8 (Ball of Wax 42 CD included with entry)

As you should be aware by now, for Ball of Wax Volume 42 I tasked the songwriters of the world with submitting songs titled “The Meaning of Life,” and boy did they deliver! On December 3rd we will release into the world over an hour of songs by that title by artists spanning from Ballard to Madrid, and that evening we celebrate the release with a diverse and kickass lineup of life-meaning-investigating artists.

The disc includes the above five fine artists and groups, as well as BoW mainstays such as The Foghorns and Virgin of the Birds, among many others (including me, of course) and even a couple brave newbies! As always, we’ll be rolling the tracks out between now and the release date (it has already begun). I don’t know if you will know more about the meaning of life after listening, but you will certainly have heard more songs titled “The Meaning of Life” than you ever thought possible, and that’s gotta count for something, right?

Right. See you on December 3rd at Conor Byrne!

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Visceral Candy – The Meaning of Life

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Jon Rooney

Seattle locals Visceral Candy return to Ball of Wax for the second straight volume with their take on “The Meaning of Life.” Like “Catastrophe” from volume 42 and Visceral Candy’s Seth Swift’s other band, Soft Blows (see volume 39), the music is kind of dark and a little bit funky (I immediately fall back on the Afghan Whigs as a reference, please suggest other RIYL bands in the comments, people of the internet). Subtitled “The Red Wheelbarrow,” the song is propelled by a sparse drums and electric bass groove, with Swift’s slinky, semi-R&B voice pleading “so much depends on / a red wheelbarrow.” So, according to Visceral Candy, the meaning of life can be found in the great William Carlos Williams poem “The Red Wheelbarrow,” with commentary from the band in the bridge, with the refrain “it ain’t what you think.” Nicely done, Visceral Candy – there’s lots to chew on there.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Christopher Kelley – The Meaning of Life

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Levi Fuller

As you might have heard, Volume 42 of Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly will be composed entirely of songs titled “The Meaning of Life.” I was delighted by how many submissions I received, and I think you all will be as well. As per usual, we’ll be posting the tracks one by one between now and the release date. (December 3rd! Mark your calendar!)

We begin with a fine new song from our Providence pal Christopher Kelley of Invisible Hours* His take on the theme has this wonderful feeling of build and anticipation that I find makes for a great opening to this 19-track exploration of the meaning of life. An acoustic guitar chugs along with a steady 1/8 note rhythm, backed with synth and simple percussion, while Christopher delivers the most succinct story of the Earth and humanity I think I’ve heard. There’s no chorus here, no repeating hooks, and no big epic conclusion. Kind of like life, now that I think about it – if life ended with a guitar solo, that is.

*I must mention here that I’ve been occasionally confused as to whether they are “The Invisible Hours,” as their Facebook and Bandcamp pages suggest, or just “Invisible Hours,” as they have always referred to themselves in communications with me. A similar issue has come up with some of our BoW 42 artists, who have attempted to title their songs “Meaning of Life,” rather than “The Meaning of Life,” as instructed. I’ve come to the conclusion that some people just don’t care as much about articles as I do.
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Submit to Ball of Wax 42: The Meaning of Life!

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Levi Fuller
Photo courtesy Flickr user Yaili

Photo courtesy Flickr user Yaili

Ball of Wax 42 is coming! If you are a nerd like me, that means one thing and one thing only: the answer, per Douglas Adams, to the ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. So I figured why not create a compilation completely consisting of songs called “The Meaning of Life”? (With a little nod to Monty Python in there, too.) Songs can be instrumental, they can be dead serious, they can be tongue-in-cheek or satirical or whatever. They just have to all be titled “The Meaning of Life” (or the equivalent in another language).

Please have all submissions in by October 23rd (or if you totally plan on doing it but just need a little more time, please drop me a line by then). Submission guidelines right here.

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