Riffmongery!

Robert Crowther Jan 2022

Back in the article on River Rock, I talked about Flipper as river rock. But I began to see a need to open out. See, there is a bunch od bands who fit into River Rock, mostly, but would not fit most listener expectations.

Listen up, I’ve heard a lot of musicians from the inept (myself), to the bedsit geniuses, to the highly trained (Jazz college) to the ‘talented’ working musicians (stage musical performers, TV orchestras, L.A. sessioneers) play “The Blues”. And they can’t. I remember a film clip I saw somewhere, where some Blues guy sat about with a bunch of friends, talkin’ round a table, “That ain’t got The Mule”, he said, laughed, and they all laughed. Once we get to Rock music, The Mule becomes an expressive mark, sometimes conscious aesthetic, sometimes a result of compulsive practice.

Just as you can’t play The Mule, you can’t play like Flipper. They may or may not be virtuoso, it doesn’t matter. Stonehenge riff it may be, but you can’t imitate that rhythm section, and any listener will tell you. If you can’t function without your references (why are you here?) you know that recently Krist Novoselic of Nirvana hooked up with Flipper? As a friend said,

…“Punk”, (in the confusing to Brits) American sense where you can be middle class and play your instruments well.

From the same source, a further patch of thinkin’ lays down a good lead,

But, as you say, if it’s stretching out, and they can play, they can hold it together with good interplay, or hold interest by throwing something else in the mix as they go, it’s certainly something distinct, but that shouldn’t mean it has to be lumped in with [the Emerson, Lake and Palmer track] Tarkus!

(worried by the definition of Prog yet). Anyway, this is the base proposition of why Flipper categorise as River. Part of their plan is/was to go on a long time. The vocals were reputedly improvised. Joe Carducci reports Flipper on stage might hurl life advice or abuse at their audience, while Ted Falconi “tortured his guitars for the sounds that matter”. Even though the rhythm is locked on riff, I figure this probably rates as long‐form collective improvisation.

That said, Flipper are against or on the edge of audience enthusiasm. I can’t buy that if you fancied tonight listening to Flipper, you might substitute The Soft Machine, or visa versa. In other words, Flipper may be River, but we need new thinkin’ for this kind of music. Enter the Riffmonger.

Let’s get it down, shall we? Riffmongery is when when a Rock group (mostly) sit in a riff, and drive it endlessly so the leads can go where they will. The open highway of America. Since this is open‐ended, the rhythm section may wander off‐stage for a sandwich, a smoke, or a beer, in which case the sound starts to approximate to the form of late‐sixties improvisations such as A Sailor’s Life, or Moon in June. But mostly Riffmongery bands keep riffing, even in non‐River bands like Ten Years After . The open road means they will make progress, like the Pere Ubu song (Drive, St Arkansas album),

And I drive
Into the endless night.
And I drive, to find a sense of purpose
And the radio,
AM radio,
And the radio
will turn you on.

Note that riffmongery may not be heavy. And heavy is not riffmongery, ok? Black Sabbath are not riffmongery. They are way too composed and exploratory.

Definitions of Riffmongery to the side, here’s a short list. You’ll get the drift. Fair game, come up with some of your own,

High Tide are particularly interesting, as non‐metal but heavy‐central riffage with prog touches. But then High Tide are one of Rock’s most unknown bands. They sure fit here.

There were predecessors to the riffmongers in Rock music. Joe Carducci’s pick of Louis Jordan was important to Rock, and Mr. Jordan was a Jazzman, so even if The Tympany Five never went on at length, the rhythmic flexibility and improvisation was there. As usual, Surf Guitar/Dick Dale need credit, as the after‐school band that was essentially a Rock unit. And the likes of Quicksilver Messenger Service tried this for different, sometimes more art‐orientated purpose.

Ok, I admit a problem with bands that develop their riffs e.g. High Tide, St. Vitus and, to some extent, Kyuss, fall into this? Are they improvisatory in any way, or stretching put at length for the freedom of it? Right now, I’m erring towards the generous, especially if there is ample soloing or instrumental variations over the top (but not for a string of handover solos).

There are also non‐rock musics that verge on Riffmongery. Now, far‐as‐I‐know, the original aim of Western‐Art Minimal Music was not to create ambience or elevator music. It was to strip back the gaudy and elaborate constructions of Art music by minimising the changes to Zen‐like touches. The repetitiveness has some similarity to Rock riffage, though the impulse and effect is different—excitement vs. mantra and, in ambient musics, numbing. Anyway, Western Art Minimal music has found crossovers into both Rock and New York Art‐Pop (man, the definitions!). Resulting in what may be a reference to Rock riffage, as Pop, captured in electronics. Way back, there was Suicide, a premonition of nineteen‐eighties pop synth duos. And then Street Hassle by Lou Reed (the violin as the rock instrument never used, and when it is, poorly at that). There is the Glenn Branca event, which later gave birth to Sonic Youth. Then later on, Laurie Anderson’s Art‐Pop crossover smash (Mr. Reed and Ms. Anderson later married).

Another puddle of bands lies close to Riffmongery, and one of my friend’s scenes too. These were Eighties bands who appropriated the form of rock as style. But in concert they were, like the old rock bands, oddly different to the CD. For one, The Verve, who in concert were nothing like their pop singles, and their fans knew it. The American band The Pixies were similar but less split‐personality, and it’s no surprise that these bands featured adventurous lead guitarists.

But enough, enough of edge cases. Riffmongery exists, and mostly overlaps River rock, but is distinctive on it’s own. And, the background question, even if there are those who call it ‘Prog’, Riffmongery mostly is not. In fact, there are Riffmongerish bands such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra (or are they River?) and Focus (when they’re not warping into flutes and yodelling) who may get called as ‘Prog’, but are they? I don’t think so, not always.