Gold Brick by Jon Langford

“I’ve rarely if ever witnessed an artist on this kind of roll.” –Robert Christgau, Village Voice Devilishly crafted and scarily melodic, Gold Brick is Langford’s third solo album and the proper follow-up to 1998’s Skull Orchard. It finds him back with ROIR, the pioneering New York label that released The Mekons’ classic New York album in the late 80s. Collaborating with a band that includes Pine Valley Cosmonauts John Rice & Pat Brennan, Waco Brother Alan Doughty, Jean Cook and Dan Massey, this is probably Langford’s most consistent and coherent recording to date. While 2004’s All The Fame of Lofty Deeds (Bloodshot) took about a week to record and was described as “an Alt-Country Ziggy Stardust,” Gold Brick is a far more lush & expansive project that draws parallels between the bloody birth of America and the seismic shifts of today’s globalization. Subtitled Lies of the Great Explorers and Columbus at Guantanamo Bay, it’s just as much about America and its way of life as it is about Langford’s own search for community within those bounds. Jon taps into universal themes of exile, exploitation & extremism by observing and participating in quintessentially American activities as a Welsh expatriate—from the strip joint to the strip mall and every bar in between. He even has balls enough to cover Procol Harum’s classic “A Salty Dog.” "The other solo albums were pretty tightly focused; but Gold Brick is much more wide-screen, drawing on the whole sweep of history and the sorry state of the planet. I’m an exile and an immigrant, a fish out of water, just one of the millions who rode the wind and woke up one day an American.” The album’s closing track “Lost In America” was written for National Public Radio’s This American Life and features members of One-Day Band, the ensemble Langford put together from the Chicago Reader’s Musician’s Wanted ads to record Elton John’s “Rocket Man” for the show’s infamous “Classifieds” episode. Langford had decided to record his latest album away from the usual suspects that he’d been working with—Touch and Go Records and Bloodshot Records—and went to work with Lucas Cooper at ROIR. Lucas’ father, Neil Cooper, was a dear friend of Jon’s, and Langford felt the alliance was timely: “Neil Cooper was this amazing New York record guy who was situated in the same building on Broadway as the Mekons’ agent and Peter Wright our publicist. He put out loads of cool New York punk rock and crazy dub reggae on his cassette only label Reach Out International Records and the Mekons put out a live album (later CD) with him just before we signed with A&M in the late 80s. (The album was called New York– a live album of sorts full of nonsense and banter recorded in the van and in hotel rooms on our first 2 American tours.) The Three Johns (my art death metal disco trio) did a thing called Death Rocker Scrapbook with him which was just a load of bonkers stuff from rehearsals. I used to enjoy walking round the Village with Neil, he knew everybody and he was hugely entertaining, this older guy, loud, tanned and very generous introducing me to everyone on the street and in his bank. I'd call the office from the UK and he'd say ‘Hey Jon Langford, do you know Marty Rev from Suicide, hang on he's here...Marty I've got Jon from the Mekons on the line...’ so I'd have a weird little chat with Marty Rev from Suicide...” The band on Gold Brick is Jon Langford with John Rice on a multitude of instruments (guitar, mandolin etc.), Pat Brennan on keyboards, Dan Massey on drums, Alan Doughty from the Wacos on bass & backing vocals, and Jean Cook on violin, plus members of the This American One-Day Band. What the Press Had to Say “Smart, cynical and still impassioned about the state of humanity, Langford has recharged his music by stripping away any indulgences.” – Jon Pareles, New York Times “The underlord of contrarian pop.” – Rolling Stone “Immediate as bulletins from a sinking ship...” – Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune “Langford performs his simple, direct tunes with amazing energy and passion.” – Entertainment Weekly ℗ 2006 Low Noise Music (BMI)