iPod On Random

400th post (!!????)

1. Otis Redding - I Cant Turn You Loose ; In Person at the Whisky a Go Go
2. Roky Erickson - Things That Go Bump In The Night ; Dont Knock The Rok
3. Harlan T Bobo - God's Lamb ; Im Your Man
4. NRBQ - Bats In My Room ; Tapdancin Bats
5. The Cramps - Chicken ; A Date With Elvis
6. The Knitters - Trail Of Time ; Poor Little Critter On The Road
7. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Monkey Puzzle ; Take It From The Man
8. The Replacements - The Ledge ; Pleased To Meet Me
9. The Gentlemen - Let's Be Gentlemen Please ; Blondes Prefer Gentlemen
10. The Waco Brothers - Do What I Say ; Cowboy In Flames

Top Ten Albums of 2007

As a wise man once said:
"Alas, 2007 has come and gone and hopefully we have more to show for it than this collection of albums. Oh, let us raise our arms and heads to the Gods, and offer this music in repentance for our many collective sins. We shall pray that our chosen selections are worthy to enter the pantheon of the greats that have come before and will surely come after. Our Gods are not very forgiving Gods but they love to Rock with their Cocks Out. "

Here they are, the Top Ten Albums of 2007:

Hendo's List

1. King Khan & The Shrines - What is!?
2. The Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil & Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo
3. Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire - Punk Rock
at the British Legion Hall LP & Christmas 1979 LP
4. Mark Sultan - The Sultanic Verses
5. Demon's Claws - Satan's Little Pet Pig
6. The Warlocks - Heavy Deavy Skull Lover

7. Grainbelt - Trouble Coming Down
8. Brian Glaze - Rainsplitter
9. Richard Bishop - Polytheistic Fragments

10. Mary Weiss (w/ Reigning Sound) - Dangerous Game

Honorable Mentions: Harlan T Bobo - I'm Your Man ; The Broken West - I Can't Go On, I'll Go On ; The King Khan & BBQ Show - Teabag Party 7" ; The Final Solutions - Songs By Solution ; The Chesterfield Kings - Psychedelic Sunrise ; Two Cow Garage - III ; Miss Alex White & The Red Orchestra - Space & Time ; CPC Gangbangs - Mutilation Nation ; Tinariwen - Aman Iman ; Six Organs of Admittance - Shelter From The Ash ; Wooden Shjips - Wooden Shjips ; The Sadies - New Seasons


Niedermayer's List
1. the national - boxer

2. spoon - ga ga ga ga ga

3. the clientele - god save the clientele

4. elliott smith - new moon

5. charlotte gainsbourg - 5:55

6. Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew Spirit If...

7. black lips - good bad not evil

8. the treasury - the treasury ep

9. the warlocks - heavy deavy skull lover

10. radiohead - in rainbows


Shamsky69's List

1. The Black Lips-Good Bad Not Evil

2. Bruce Springsteen-Magic

3. Detroit Cobras- Tied and True

4. Jason Isbell- Sirens Of The Ditch

5. Terry Adams- Rhythm Spell

6. Tommy Womack- There I Said It

7. Two Cow Garage-III

8. Black Lips- Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo


Shrimp Cracker's List
1. Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
2. Radiohead - In Rainbows
3. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
4. Bruce - Magic
5. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
6. V/A - I'm Not There OST
7. Dr. Dog - We All Belong
8. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
9. Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis
10. Marah - Can't Take It With You EP

HM: 1990s, Black Lips, Robert Wyatt, Bright Eyes, Kings of Leon, John
Fogerty, White Stripes, Grinderman


No Name's List(s)
New Releases:
1. The Good, The Bad & The Queen - S/T
2. Bruce Springsteen - Magic
3. Rilo Kiley - Under The Black Light
4. The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
5. Jarvis Cocker - S/T
6. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
7. Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge
8. Dinosaur Jr - Beyond
9. The Mendoza Line - 30 Year Low
10. Lucinda Williams - West
11. Devandra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

Reissues, Comps etc.
1. Miles Davis - The Complete On The Corner Sessions
2. Sly & The Family Stone - There's A Riot Going On
3. Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall
4. Johnny Thunders & Patti Palladin - Copy Cats
5. V/A - The Sandinista Project: A Tribute To The Clash
6. Warren Zevon - Stand In The Fire & Excitable Boy
7. The Afghan Whigs - Unbreakable
8. VA - Music From The Motion Picture I'm Not There
9. The Beach Boys - The Warmth of the Sun
10. Carlton Patterson & King Tubby -Black & White In Dub

Honorable Mentions
1. Josh Rouse Bedroom Classics: She's Spanish, I'm American
2. Betty LaVette - The Scene of the Crime
3. Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade
4. Oakley Hall - I'll Follow You
5. Buffalo Tom - Three Easy Pieces
6. Robert Plant & Allison Krauss - Raising Sand
7. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
8. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
9. Antibalas - Security
10 The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse
11. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
12. Coco Rosie - The Adventures of...
13. Great lake Swimmers - Ongiara
14. Tegan & Sara - The Con

The Chesterfield Kings

I've always had a bit of a problem with a great deal of the music coming from the tail-end of the '70s, all the way through the '80s. For some reason, someone decided that over-producing a record was cool. Well, it aint. Due to my inability to look past the crappy production values, and appreciate the songs for themselves, I kind of missed the boat on a lot of the seminal 80s bands. For some reason, I had always kind of lumped The Chesterfield Kings in with a group of bands that had badly produced records, rendering them unenjoyable to me. Boy was I wrong, The Chesterfield Kings were one of only a handful of bands that really seemed to get it from this era. Forming in the late '70s in Rochester, NY, these guys were wearing much different influences on their sleeves from their pop contemporaries. Instead of looking to the future with bullshit synthesizers and awful dance music, the Kings looked back to the glory days of teenage garage bands - the mid '60s. Check out their website if you want a full history, basically, these guys have been the real deal for a long time.
Their new album, Psychedelic Sunrise, on Little Steven's Wicked Cool Records doesn't skip a beat. The album's opener, Sunrise (Turn On) is another one of my favorite songs of the past few months, but the whole album is pretty killer. The album is another entry into the ever expanding Thumbs Up '07 list.

Check it out:
Sunrise (Turn On)

The Warlocks

I just saw The Warlocks at the Knitting Factory last week. I picked up a copy of their album Phoenix when it came out several years ago. I dug it then, but for some reason, it never really sunk in with me at the time. This past summer, I kind of rediscovered them, and was listening to them a lot more, especially that album. The song "Shake The Dope Out" is in my top 5 songs of the past 6 months (for me that is, not new releases).
Live, they were mind blowing. With the stage lights turned off except for some low red and blue lights coming from behind them, Bobby Hecksher and co. were just oozing VU cool. They made a huge racket too, with 2 drummers, a bassist, and two guitars layering fuzz on top of fuzz.
The new album on Tee Pee Records, Heavy Deavy Skull Lover is another great notch on their belt. With their past few releases, they've slowly moved away from the more 3 minute psych/rock song format and into more extended fuzzed out jams if you will. The droney repetitiveness works really well for them. Except for one song around 3 minutes, most on this album are at least 5 minutes in length, and somewhat mid-tempo or slower.

Here's a tune:
So Paranoid

It's worth noting that the openers for The Warlocks that evening, Darker My Love, also completely blew me away. More on them later, but check out the video on the post below this, and you'll see what i mean

Darker My Love

Darker My Love - "Summer is Here"

The Sadies

Fresh off the heels of last year's Double Live Album and Rat Fink Soundtrack, The Sadies have returned with their first new studio album in a few years, New Seasons. When it comes to cosmic americana music, The Sadies deliver the goods better than anyone else out there. They effortlessly pull off that Meat Puppets/Byrds style of country rock, and then can easily switch gears and lay into some Morricone-worthy spaghetti western. These boys from Canada can really do it all. I also just came across a live bootleg where they are the backing band for Andre Williams, which is also amazing. Pick up the album when you get a chance, thank you.

Here's a tune:
Never Again

Metalocalypse

Last night I picked up the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse on DVD, and it rocks. "Throw it at that guy!...". I really don't like or care that much about Metal, especially Death Metal, but Dethklok kicks ass.
Seriously, check it out.

Top 10 pickups from the WFMU Record Fair

Me and no name hit up the most overhwelming record fair I've ever seen. Granted, that's not really saying much for me, but it was still an amazing amount of records. WFMU knows how to throw a party. For instance, at the Norton Records Table, I easily could have spent upwards of $500, no problem.

Here are my top 10 pickups from this afternoon thus far, and I haven't even been able to listen to everything else yet.
1. The New Chesterfield Kings CD from the Wicked Cool table
2. Les Sexareenos "Do The Nose Mustache" 7"
3. Roky Erickson "Don't Knock The Rok"
4. various CPC Gangbangs 7"s
5. James Blackshaw "The Cloud of Unknowing" - cool 12 string guitar shit in the Fahey vein - a style I've recently been digging
6. Knights of Fuzz DVD and interactive CDrom
7. Back issues of Big Takeover for $1
8. Dan Melcior's Broke Revue - Heavy Dirt
9. Mighty Hannibal - Hannibalism!
10. that sausage place with all the mustards......

Wooden Shjips

The Wooden Shjips new album has helped make my commute to work a little easier the last few weeks. I had always avoided bringing my iPod along for the ride, but I figured I'd give it a try recently, and I've listened to their album a handful of times on the commute. With headphones on, its been really easy to lose your train of thought, and let the mountains of fuzz wash over you. The guitars and organ are turned up to 10, and the delay and reverb-heavy vocals add to the psych feel. The songs are relatively simple and repetitive, and they've definitely listened to their fair share of Spacemen 3. I gotta say I've been digging the drone aspect of these guys along with a handful of other artists recently. Unfortunately, I missed their set during CMJ a few weeks ago, I'm sure they would be a cool band to see live. Add it to the thumbs up list for '07.
Here's a tune:
Losin' Time

I have seen the light

Last night I saw perhaps the best concert I have ever seen. Hendo Bendo HallofFamers King Khan and BBQ Show played Cake Shop and blew the roof off the basement. Fellow rocknrollers Benn and Alex (not to be confused with the famous CD binder of the same name...) and I got a front row seat for the mayhem. They're mix of 50s rocknroll/r&b ballads with balls out punk rock is not to be missed. It should also be noted that King Khan looks lovely in a dress that is at least 7 sizes too small for him.
Here's a photo of the opening raga jam courtesy of Benn


It's also worth pointing out that openers Live Fast Die fuckin ruled also.

BFF

Hey Buddy

Brian Glaze

Of all of the musicians/bands currently doing the psych/folk/fuzz thing, Brian Glaze may be one of my favorites. My cousin turned me on to one of his older albums, Let's Go To The Sea, and I've been really enjoying that for the past year. I was down at Other Music the other day with noname, and saw his new release on Birdman Records, Rainsplitter, I had to pick it up. I've got to say that this new release is another classic. The way he layers sounds/swirls is truly amazing. He also has a knack for writing really catchy tunes. Everything has a similar feel to the earlier Brian Jonestown Massacre stuff, who he was a member of at one point. I got to say, I'm not as wild about the drum-machine song 21-31 (the song itself is cool, but the drum machine is grating), but everything else is great. Appearantly, this whole thing was recorded in Greg Ashley's apartment during Thanksgiving of 2005. Thumbs up for sure.
Here's a tune:
Welcome To The Cinema



Also, check out this video of one of my favorite songs from Lets Go to The Sea, "Don't Believe In Love":

Hendo's Song Of The Day

It's a Tuesday morning, and I'm heading in to work early today to take minutes at another meeting. This seemed like an appropriate song for the day.

The Third Bardo - Lose Your Mind

Government Cheese

The Shake

The Shake. They're from Spain, and thier album Trippin The Whole Colorful World is out on Rainbow Quartz Records. They got a nice '60s pop/garage thing going on, and you should check 'em out.

Here's a tune: Untitled




Here's the video for Can't Fight Your Loving:

Hendo's Song of the Day

Here's a song by the Japanese band The Raydios. The band has ex-members of upper echelon MFs Teengenerate, so you know they kick ass. Enjoy.

The Raydios - Turning Blue

Hendo's Song of the Day

Here's an installment of my song of the day. I made a mix last night for my roomate that was supposed to be based loosely on the movie Terminator 2. While looking through my library of songs at my disposal, I found this one by Rose Tattoo, and obviously it fit the bill perfectly. Needless to say the mix sucked except for this one song. I just finished a long day at work, and I've had this stuck in my head all day. Enjoy

Rose Tattoo - Nice Boys

What I did on my summer vacation

Top 3 albums of the moment:
1. Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil
2. The Warlocks - Phoenix
3. V/A - Songs The Detroit Cobras Taught Us

What do you crave (besides White Castle that is...) ???

The Final Solutions

There must be something in the water down in Memphis...So much good music over the years (think about it, really). Another in a long line of Jay Reatard projects is The Final Solutions. For this band of merry men, Mr. Reatard bashes away behind the kit instead of up at the front of the stage. Handling vocal duties for The Final Solutions is a fela by the name of Zac Ives. Their new album, produced by Jay himself, is titled Songs By Solutions, and recently came out on Goner Records. These guys really rock, and some of the songs are insanely catchy. A lot of them straddle the line between arty punk, Pebbles garage, and more power-pop punk. All of this is done with a lot of distortion and snottiness. I could waste your time coming up with lots of comparisons, but lets allow the music to do the talking here:

Tammy
Brown Panther

Here's their myspace page

The Dilletantes

Joel Gion is back. The ex tambourine man for The Brian Jonestown Massacre has a new band, The Dilettantes. Musically, they don't stray too far from his former band. Perhaps there's a slight leaning towards the rockier side of the BJM stuff. Unfortunately, Gion doesn't have the prettiest voice, but it works for this kind of stuff. Gotta love the tambourine.
check it:
Like Crazy


Here's their myspace page

iPod on Random

1. The Reigning Sound - Straight Shooter ; Live At Maxwell's
2. The Singing Loins - Honest Man ; Songs To Hear Before You Die
3. Les Fleur De Lys - Mud In Your Eye ; Nuggets II Box Set
4. Wire - Strange ; Pink Flag
5. Drive-By Truckers - Your Daddy Hates Me ; Decoration Day
6. Link Wray - Friday Night Dance Party ; Missing Links Vol. 4
7. The Handsome Family - Down In The Ground ; Through The Trees
8. Radio Birdman - Anglo Girl Desire ; Live in Sydney '76
9. The Rolling Stones - Factory Girl ; Beggars Banquet
10. Loli & The Chones - I Hate Your Guts ; P.S. We Hate You

Teengenerate

This band kicked so much ass in the mid 90s. How did I not know they were back??????


Teengenerate Live at The Tote, Melbourne, Australia
12/29/06

Miss Alex White And The Red Orchestra

This is some of the best rocknroll being made right now. Miss Alex White has a great Patti Smith-esque (yes.) voice, and it is the perfect accompaniment to the Red Orchestra's brand of Fuzz. Space and Time is the new album on In The Red Records, and it fuckin rocks.

Checkit:
She Wanna

Turbo Fruits

A few weeks ago, I saw The Black Lips play at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ. Needless to say it was one of the better concerts I'd been to in quite some time. The show solidified their place near the top of my favorite current bands list. However, tonight, I wanna discuss the band that played right before them, Turbo Fruits. Turbo Fruits are a three piece from Nashville, TN who also blew me away. I rarely give a crap about stuff like this, but they even looked cool. They had a bluesy take on the typical 3 chord garage/rocknroll. I think what most impressed me though was how loud and explosive they sounded. (A drummer who loves to pound makes a huge difference). Singer/guitarist Jonas Stein has a great laid back drawl of a voice, and I was honestly dissapointed when their set was over. I think they won over a good chunk of the crowd that night. Unfortunately, I missed them a few days later when they were part of another equally cool bill at the Bowery Ballroom (along with Jay Reatard and The Ponys). Their self titled record is out on Ecstatic Peace Records, and here's a track:
Murder
You can stream the album on their website

These guys are also apperantly huge stoners, for whatever that's worth

iPod on Random

1. Ween - I'm Dancing In The Show Tonight ; The Mollusk (hell yeah wspn circa '00-'01)
2. The Cramps - TV Set (live at Max's Kansas City 1977) ; How To Make A Monster
3. Calexico/Iron & Wine - Red Dust
4. Neko Case - Brown Eyed Handsome Man ; V/A: Hard-Headed Woman
5. Aretha Franklin - Don't Let Me Lose This Dream ; I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You
6. The Clash - Clash City ROckers ; Clash On Broadway
7. Hawkwind - 7 By 7 ; Space Ritual
8. Husker Du - The Baby Song ; Flip Your Wig
9. Spacemen 3 - Mary Anne ; Live In Europe 1989
10. The Makers - Waste Of Flesh ; The Makers

Harlan T Bobo - I'm Your Man

A few weeks ago, Goner Records released I'm Your Man by Harlan T Bobo. Like a lot of the musicians on Goner, Bobo is from Memphis, and has an impressive resume including Viva l'American Death Ray Music, Jack Oblivian and the Tearjerkers, and a member of King Louie's band. Stylistically, Bobo is all over the map, similarl to the various musical projects of Howe Gelb. Some of the songs are superb hushed-voice Americana that wouldn't sound out of place on a Giant Sand record. Elsewhere, the honky tonk comes even more to the forefront, and on other songs he embraces the bar-rock sound somewhat like The Band in there more badass moments. Sometimes, these changes take place within the same song. Although there are moments where he digs in and unveils some crunchy fuzz-rock, from what I've previously heard on Goner, this overall sound is quite a departure from their usual garage/trash mainstays. This is a welcome addition the roster though, and a nice change of pace.
Check him out:
Pragmatic Woman
Last Step

King Khan & His Shrines - What Is?!

First off, sorry for being such a dingus and being lazy about posts the last few months. I have a whole bunch of current releases I want to write about, so hopefully we can kickstart this thing again. Post. (discount beverages)


What Is?! is the new album from Perrenial Hendo fave King Khan. He's back to his old tricks with his backing band The Shrines. Imagine the most badass soul/r&b group you can think of, and make the frontman a shriekeing, shouting lunatic with an affinity for punk rock, and you've got some fine rocknroll my friend. This new one may be my favorite of his records at this point. It's some killer r&b grooves and skronky Sun Ra freakouts coupled with some raunchy garage. I didn't realize this earlier, but apperantly, KK and some other cool bands like Black Lips, and The Spits did the soundtrack for some German film (??). Khan lives in Germany, so I guess it makes sense, but still, thats pretty cool.
Here's some stuff from the new record:
No Regrets
Le Fils de Jacques Dutronc

Radio Moscow

When I was flipping through the racks of a cd store, and saw a cd on the Bomp offshoot label Alive, it caught my eye. On closer inspection, I realized that the band is basically a two piece, and was produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. This was more than enough information for me to pick it up, and I was not disappointed. Radio Moscow is not your typical two piece. Front man Parker Griggs apparently plays guitar, drums, percussion, and sings, and the other dude just plays bass. Griggs used to be the drummer/singer of the band Duck and Cover, and later the solo project Garbage Composal. The band's myspace page gives a good history of the band, and also describes Radio Moscow as "garage-y but now channeled through the blues with experimental breakdowns, unpredictable tempo changes, crazy rave-ups and fuzzed out psychedelic guitar work." That's about as good of a description as I could come up with, so we'll stick with it. To my ears, there are definite parts that are straight up like the Black Keys, but they seem to take the psych/boogie rock aspect farther. So even though they wear their influences on their sleeves, they never sound like they're ripping anyone off. There's a few songs on the myspace page, (including a cool version of I Just Wanna Make Love To You) and here's one of them: Frustrating Sound.
If you dig the fuzz, it's worth checking these guys out.

ipod on random

The Fake Headlines - The New Pornographers, Mass Romantic
Soul Deep - The Box Tops, Dimensions
Slow Rollin' Low - Waylon Jennings, Nashville Rebel
Cynthia - Bruce Springsteen, Tracks
If I Have To Go - Tom Waits, Orphans, Brawlers, Bawlers
Rebel Am I - Aston Familyman Barrett, Familyman in Dub
Justice Tonight/Kick It Over - The Clash, Super Black Market Clash
I Should Of - The Pretenders, Loose Screw
Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying - Ricki Lee Jones, Live At Red Rocks
Crystal Frontier (Widescreen Version - Calexico, Even My Sure Things...
Somebody Changed - The Clientele, God Save The Clientele

Vegas Men Accused of Enslaving Chinese Acrobat Troupe

This is the best headline I've seen in a while:

"Vegas Men Accused of Enslaving Chinese Acrobat Troupe"


here's a little bit about in case your curious.

By the Associated Press
LAS VEGAS -- Three men enslaved more than 20 members of a Chinese acrobatic team, feeding them little, paying them next to nothing to perform and confiscating their passports and visas, federal authorities said.

CPC Gangbangs

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The Black Lips

The Black Lips seem like an odd choice to become a hipster chic band, releasing their latest live album on hipper than thou label Vice records. With their insane sloppiness, rudimentary playing and loads of feedback, i wouldn't assume they'd be one of the more accesible or listener friendly rocknroll bands out there. But through it all, they have a great melodic sense, and I suppose thats what the kids are latching on to. Songs like "Boomerang" were meant for campfire singalongs. On Los Valientes Del Mondo Nuevo, the self proclaimed flower punks recorded themselves live in the city of sin itself, Tijauana. Just from listening to the crowd's reaction, you could tell that the show must have been a crazy party. The band is smokin also, in all of their sloppy, gritty glory. From the drunken introduction in Spanish to the psuedo spaghetti western outro, this album is a lot of fun. These guys are also touring this summer, they're playing at Maxwells next month, just before taking the stage as part of this summer's Siren Fest on Coney Island. Check it.

Los Straitjackets

Instrumental rock heavyweights Los Straitjackets released their first album of songs sung in Spanish a few months ago. They usually team up with a stellar list of guest musicians to handle the vocal duties for them. For Rock En Espanol Volume 1, they worked with Big Sandy, Little Willie G (from LA legends Thee Midniters) and Cesar Rosas (of Los Lobos). The album is filled with covers of rock/r&b covers sung in Spanish like: De Dia y de Noche (All Day and All of the Night), Loco Te Patina el Loco (Wild Thing), and Dame Una Seña (Gimme Little Sign). The band is as tight as ever, and each of the guest vocalists compliment the band nicely. The slower paced songs (which sometimes bore me, but not these ones) work just as well as their rave-ups. They're touring the country and Europe this summer, so make sure to check them out when they come by you. I've never seen them live, but I'm sure they are really fun.

Here's a tune for you: Calor
Here's their website

Mark Sultan - The Sultanic Verses

Mark Sultan has done it again. Over the last year and a half or so, Sultan (aka BBQ) has steadily risen up the charts of my favorite musicians. I had long been a fan of The Spaceshits/Les Sexareenos, but his work as BBQ, King Khan and BBQ Show , Mind Controls, etc. has also blown me away. This new record (officially his "solo" debut??), The Sultanic Verses on In The Red Records certainly does not break the mold that Sultan has created for himself. It has more of the simple, trashy three chord rocknroll that fans of his have found on his other releases. It seems effortless for his to come up with insanely catchy songs at an alarming rate. I honestly feel that he has one of the better voices in rocknroll right now. He can croon with the best when he wants to. No news of another east coast tour at the moment, but I'll be there wherever he plays around NY.
Here's a tune from the record : Two Left Feet
Here's his official website

Philadelphia

Fancypants just forwarded me an article from the New York Times about the Philadelphia Phillies. Apparently, the team is about to achieve a milestone that no one would want to reach. They are 14 games away from losing their 10,000th game as a franchise. They have already officially lost more games than any other professional sports team. Philly fans have gotten accustomed to losing. Can you make a case for another team to be considered among the most pathetic in all of sports?

New Releases

Out Tuesday:

Sandra Bernhard - Everything Bad and Beautiful
Eli Cook - Miss Blues'es Child
Richie Furay - The Heartbeat of Love
The Ladybug Transistor - Can't Wait Another Day
The Long Blondes - Someone To Drive You Home (prod. by Steve Mackay)
Marilyn Manson - Eat Me, Drink Me
Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
Glenn Mercer (of the Feelies) - Wheels in Motion
Poison - Poison'd (Pick of the week as this is a covers album featuring Poison taking on Bowie, The Cars, The Romantics and The Stones).
Serena Ryder - If Your Memory Serves You Well
Sean Na Na - Family Trees: Or Cope We Must
Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
Bruce Springsteen w- The Seeger Sessions Band - Live in Dublin (CD/DVD)
Tesla - Reel to Reel (Pick of the week #2 - This is a covers album of 70's hits. How many times do we get washed up hair bands releasing covers albums? Let alone in the same week!)
VA - Anchored In Love: A Tribute To June Carter Cash (feat. Elvis Costello, Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris)
VA - We All Love Ella: Celebrating The First Lady of Song
Porter Wagoner - Wagonmaster

Reissues
The Afghan Whigs - Unbreakable: A Retrospective (Pick of the week: This is more of a mix tape of Whigs tracks than a greatest hits)
The Avalanches - Ski Surfin'
Chet Baker - Chet
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Caravan
David Bowie - Young Americans (CD/DVD Special Edition)
The Clash - The Singles
Stewart Copeland - The Rhythmatist
Bill Evans - Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Ella Fitzgerals - Lullabies of Birdland; Sweet and Hot; Love, Ella: The Original
Jimmy Heath - Really Big!
The Idle Race - Back to the Story
The Junior Boys - So This is Goodbye
The Mugwumps - S/T
Tom Petty Highway Companion (w- demo tracks and unreleased recordings)
The Police - S/T best of
Elvis Presley - Elvis at the Movies
The Pretenders - Learning To Crawl; Get Close
Jimmy Smith - Straight Life
Stanley Turrentine - A Bluish Bag
Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons - Jersey Beat: The Music of Franki Valli & The 4 Seasons (Rhino Box Set)
VA - Monterey International Pop Festival (2 Disc Set)
VA - New Wave: Gold
Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, James Cotton - Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down (live concert from 1977)

Books
Tearing Down The Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector by Mick Brown

iPod on Random

How Can I Love You If You Won't Lie Down - The Silver Jews
I'll Pretend - Dwight Yoakam
Changing Colors - Great Lake Swimmers
The Archetypal Man - Judee Sill
The Call Up - The Clash
Kids - The Pretenders
I Don't Want To Know - Fleetwood Mac
Dub Star - Wackie's
Neptune's Net - M. Ward
I Wish I Was In New Orleans - Tom Waits

Muswell Hillbillies

Check out the beard on Dave "Death of A Clown" Davies:

The Broken West

A certain fella I used to work with is a big fan of KEXP out of Seattle. He used to listen to that station at work on the computer every day. Overall, the selection of music is pretty cool (although if i ever hear that f'in Peter Bjorn & John song again I'll kill, i promise), and for a while they used to play this really cool power pop/rock song a few times a day. Every time it came on, I would ask my colleague to turn up his speakers. That song was "Down In The Valley" by the LA band The Broken West, whose album "I Can't Go On, I'll Go On" came out (relatively) recently on Merge Records. The song rocks kicks so much ass that I find myself listening to it several times every day. It has one of the most infectious choruses I've heard in a while, and the harmonies are amazing.
Check it out: "Down In The Valley"
Here's their myspace page

Also, I just noticed right now that The Broken West is playing TONIGHT at the Bowery Ballroom, but they are also playing at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ on the 31st. I really want to see them live, who else is down??

New Releases

Out tomorrow:

Johnette Napolitano (of Concrete Blonde) - Scarred
Russian National Orchestra - Dead Symphony: An Orchestral Tribute To The Music of The Grateful Dead
Satellite Party - Ultra Payloaded
Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior

Reissues:
Jeff Beck - Official Bootleg USA '06
Black Oak Arkansas - Live Mutha
Richard Hawley - S/T
Nils Lofgren and Grin - 1+1/All Out
Ray Price - The Essential
Judee Sill - Live in London: The BBC Recordings 1972-1973
The Smithereens - Green Thoughts
The Spinners - Love Trippin'
Various - The Transformers: The Movie (1986 Soundtrack)
Various - '90's Anthems (Import) (ed. Pick of the Week).
Various - Real Life Permanent Dreams: A Cornucopia of British Psychadelia 1965-1970 (Import Box Set)

DVD
Dinosaur Jr - Live From The Middle East

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Day 1

I was up in the Northeast area this weekend and by default found myself in a Newbury Comics. Amongst other finds, I discovered they had all the remastered "20 Bit K2 Super Coding" Creedence Clearwater Revival albums brand new for $5. I picked up a handful of the band's classic albums and have thoroughly enjoyed listening to them.

I figured I would do a series of CCR related posts (to justify my spending habits) including some album tracks, live cuts, John Fogerty solo work and cap it off with some selections of Fogerty backed by Bruce and the E Street Band from the good intentioned Vote For Change tour.

To get things off is Susie Q from CCR's first album. The reason I am posting this well known track is twofold. First, I went to summer camp with a girl named Susie Q (though I don't know how her family name was actually spelled). We pondered whether she knew of the song and would sing it to her along with playing her the track but sadly I feel she had no clue that the song was legit and felt we were horsing around at her expense.

The second reason is that Susie Q is a killer track. The band jam this rockabilly wonder out to over 8 minutes, something you will not have actually heard if your memory of this song is from the radio or the band's greatest hits which has an edited version at half the length. Trust me that this song has a groove that is indestructible and fucking jams.

Susie Q as mentioned is featured on the band's first album and is the standout track. It's a good portrayal of what CCR would unveil on its audience in the future. Sometimes I forget (because of their presence on the radio) just how dynamite an act CCR was and the power of their catologue. I'd even go as far as to state, that Creedence may be one of the more underrated groups of its time and its caliber as of today. There aren't many young bands citing them as influences or much scholarship noting their impact on popular music but it would be hard to ignore them in the pantheon of rock.

So take a listen and come back in the next few days to check out more tunes from CCR.

CCR- Susie Q

Antibalas and Your Gut

Antibalas started out as an afrobeat band, albeit a very good afrobeat band. But by their fourth release, Security, they have begun to reinvent the wheel and turned themselves and the genre into something that can be both traditional, experimental and a fucking hoot.

If you've never heard Antibalas before let me paint you a picture. Imagine your at the circus and in front of you is that tiny car and clowns just keep exiting from the passenger door. After a few moments you begin to wonder just how many clowns can fit in one damn car. No, maybe there's a trap door underneath the vehicle. Now imagine each clown is carrying an instrument. Congas, organs, piano, clavinet, synths, trumpets, saxophones, guitars, trombones, basses, drums, dulcimers, and things I can't spell and you may not be able to pronouce. Once out the car, they all assemble on some stage that can barely contain them, let alone, instruments, and begin to make music as magical and wondrous as the clowns piling out of the car.

That is Antibalas.

Security is comprised of only a few tracks but clocks in at a normal length. It's filled with horns that both pucker and blurt, synths galore and a rhythmic madness that is always dedicated to the groove which is why Antibalas remains great. For all the new sounds and fresh ideas the band keeps everything revolving around that groove, never letting it get out of its site for even a moment. Like a cautious parent at Disneyland. Except Antibalas aren't particularly cautious, at least they don't come off as such, they just know what is best to serve the music.

As with the group's last album, Who Is This America?, Security is political fare with tracks titled Filibuster X and War Hero and artwork featuring a painting of lots of colorful people pact in a stadium and lots of different flags running through the space's center. This record came out on Anti.

Antibalas - Sanctuary

The Go - Howl On The Haunted Beat You Ride

Detroit retro rockers The Go have released their new album, Howl On The Haunted Beat You Ride. I've followed the band since getting turned on to their 1999 Sub Pop debut "Whatcha Doin", which blew me away. With catchy tunes, and killer fuzz, The Go would have fit in well with their Detroit brethren circa 1970. They've since moved away slightly from the full throttle garage stompers to more mid-tempo rock songs. Their last self titled album from '03 had an almost glam/rock feel to it. On the new album though, songwriters Bobby Harlow and John Krautner have fully embraced '60s British pop/rock. Howl On The Haunted Beat You Ride has songs that sound like they could have been outtakes from Revolver, Between The Buttons, or Something Else. If you're into the Stones, Beatles, Kinks, Hollies, Creation, Pretty Things etc. then check out this album as soon as you can.
Heres a song: You Go Bangin' On, which is also available on their myspace page, where you can see their upcoming tour dates also.
Or Better yet, screw myspace and go to their own website.

Jesse Malin and Bruce Sprongsteen - Broken Radio

Check out whose driving cabs in NYC.

iPod on Random

So the Mets reader's of HBBB must be a pretty happy bunch while the Yankees fans around here are pondering their team's existence at the moment. Word is that the Yank brass may be getting trigger happy soon and there are a few heads in the barrel to shoot at though the most obvious choices to aim at really can't be blamed (it's not like Torre or Gator created Murphy's Law, though the Cash-Master could readily be at fault for putting this staff together). My favorite quote from this whole debacle, outside of all the amazing subtle threats to Pavano is Torre talking about the reserve pitching staff in AAA. He said something like, I knew we had a bunch of good players down there but I didn't expect to be seeing them all this year.

Anyway, I sort of hope they don't ax Torre and install Bova, Girardi or Matts since this is a mess no one should have to inherit and Torre deserves to ride the season out with his boys.

Up to tonight is John Maine against some guy named Tyler Clippard (11th Yanks starter of the season) who is making his major league debut tonight on national TV. The pressure is on.

Dead Faces - Okkkervil River - Down The River Of...
Blue Angel - Roy Orbison - The Essential
When You're Walking Away - Jackie Greene - American Myth
Get Off This - Cracker and Leftover Salmon - O' Cracker Where Art Thou?
Mrs. Robinson - The Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray
Fixture In The Park - Kate And Anna McGarrigle - Pronto Monto
Three Changes - The Good, The Bad & The Queen - S/T
Simply Thrilled Honey - Orange Juice - The Glasgow School
I and I Are The Chosen - Prince Far I - Free From Sin
Lullaby For A Girl Friend (Happy Trails) - Memphis - I Dreamed We Fell...

New Releases

Out this Tuesday:

Tim Armstrong - A Poet's Life
Meg Baird - Dear Companion
The Bravery - The Sun and The Moon
Michael Brecker - Pilgrimage
Chick Corea and Bela Fleck - The Enchantment
Erasure - Light At The End Of The World
Handsome Furs - Plague Park
Kidz Bop Kids - Kidz Bop Country
KRS One - Hip Hop Lives
The National - The Boxer
Uncle Monk - S/T
Loudon Wainwright - Strange Weirdos - Music From and Inspired By The Film Knocked Up
Adrienne Young - Room To Grow

Reissues:

The Beach Boys - The Warmth Of The Sun (ed. pick of the week: This looks like an excellent Beach Boys mix and not so much a best of).
Jeff Buckley - So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley
Maynard Ferguson - The Essential
Benny Goodman - The Essential
Charles Mingus - Tijuana Brass
Nina Simone - Just Like A Woman: Nina Sings Classic Songs of the '60's

On The Horizon:
Bruce Springsteen, Afghan Whigs, Mark Olson, John Doe, Sonic Youth, Traveling Wilburys, Bryan Ferry, The Mooney Suzuki, Nick Lowe

Warren Zevon Stand In The Fire

In the last few weeks a plethora of Warren Zevon material was released. First up was a wave of reissues on Rhino including two never before released on CD albums (Stand In The Fire and The Envoy). Also reissued and remastered was the classic and near perfect Excitable Boy.

New West Records released Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings and Crystal Zevon, Warren's ex-wife just published I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life And Times Of Warren Zevon. The book is supposed to be pretty interesting and very revealing of the Zevon that not many people knew.

Stand In The Fire is a Zevon live album recorded at the Roxy. It's pretty killer and makes me sad that the man ain't here to rock like this.

Here's Excitable Boy from that record.

Afrobeat

So far this year I think my favorite new album of the year has to be The Good, The Bad and The Queen. It's been the album I have given the most listens to and oddly enough the second most listened to new album I can claim is Jarvis Cocker's Jarvis so if one of the Oasis guys decides to record and release a side project or solo album I'd may have a Brit-pop trifecta on my shelves.

The other day, I thought I'd check out some music by Tony Allen who plays drums in TGTBTQ and is a well known and regarded afro-beat musician. I'd read somewhere that Damon Albarn appears on an Allen record and planned on picking that up and thought I did. Apparently though, I read the sticker on the album wrong and ended up purchasing an Afrobeat comp on Honest Jon's Records, Albarn's label, of tracks selected my him and his buddies while abroad.

I was bummed at first, but put Lagos All Routes - Juju & Highlife, Apala & Fuji on and was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying the whole thing. Afrobeat is a lot like Reggae in that it is highly effective in putting you in a good mood and keeping you there. It's music that keeps your head bopping and body a grooving and you got to love that.

The posted track is Eyi Yato / Elere Ni Wa by Ebenezer Obey. Enjoy

TREY DAY 1: UPDATED....

Dearest Readers,

I come to you with exciting news from the land of upstate New York! All you post-college, post-tour, post-post folks who pretend that you never listened to Phish, never jammed out to dank, crispy board tapes, never jumped the fence to sneak in to a summer tour show listen up... we've got a mystery on our hands....

Rumors have been flying about former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio and his current whereabouts since his sentencing for a recent drug possession and driving violation. He has been seen quite a few times in downtown Saratoga Springs, NY in the past month. I have been hired by the Hendo Bendo team to seek out as much information as possible, in the hopes that I can find the hero that is Trey. My identity will remain secret as I cannot let my "inside sources" be known.

RUMOR #1:
Trey is living in a mansion apartment on Circular Street in Saratoga Springs, NY; chance that this is true - 50/50 - certainly an appropriate location for Trey.

RUMOR #2:
Trey is living in a luxury condo above Banana Republic on Broadway in Saratoga Springs, NY; chance that this is true - 50/50 - also another appropriate location, although a bit "nouveau faux riche" for our hero.

RUMOR #3:
Trey was seen playing guitar in Congress Park in Saratoga Springs, NY; chance that this is true - 10/90 - would our red-headed wonderboy risk revealing his location by playing in such a publicly populated place?

RUMOR #4: (*New!*)
Trey will be teaching a music class at Skidmore College; truth chance - 80/20 - 95% of the Skidmore College population would drop their bongs and head for the music building if they heard that Trey was teaching.

TRUTH #1:
Trey was seen buying a large coffee at a local Saratoga Springs coffee shop this morning. No Starbucks for this star! Go Trey!

TRUTH #2: (*New!*)
Trey was seen at Borders on Broadway last week buying books. Boo Trey -- skip the chain and stop by the Lyrical Ballad!


Stay tuned for more Trey in 'Toga updates as the plot thickens! Feel free to share any intel you have in the comment section below....

Signing off,
Kenneth Gaines

Top Ten Songs You Would Live In

Ever seen Mary Poppins? There's a scene where Bert, Mary and the kids with a little magic jump into sidewalk chalk drawings and end up in a cartoon world where the animals dance and the merry go rounds come alive. So I got thinking while listening to something earlier today about a strange idea that reminds me of that. If you could jump into a song or a world of songs by one specific artists what would they be? Desolation Row? Yoshimi? I think you catch my drift.

I'm working on a post cum essay about the music of Jackson Browne but wanted to post Take It Easy today because it's where my heads at. One of my favorite things to do is bash The Eagles and I hate them because they recorded this song, denying Jackson Browne's version from being the famous one. Hell, he wrote the thing so his should be the one anyway. The song is great though, and even if a shitty band like The Eagles cover it, they can't wipe out its' inherent magic. Gotta love all that pedal steel too.

The Detroit Cobras - Tied And True

The Detroit Cobras just released their new album, Tied & True on Bloodshot Records. The Cobras have easily been one of my favorite bands the last few years. I have really loved their 3 previous LPs as well as the 7 Easy Pieces EP. The combination of rollicking r&b rave-ups with slow-burning ballads has worked really well. When you add the amazing vocals of Rachel Nagy, you get some really great records. However, I've seen the band live 3 times, and have left dissapointed each time. At best, it was just a good show, not great, and at its worst it was uninspired. The energy level just isn't the same as it is on record, and the band has just seemed like they werent really into it. Needless to say, I was a little worried about what their new album would sound like. On first listen, I was not really blown away. It seemed like the band had lifted a little off the gas pedal. The song selection, which has always been stellar, didn't seem to highlight the band's strengths. On further listens, the album has really grown on me. The overall sound is really great, with the band's sometime guitarist Greg Cartwright manning the controls. Whereas on previous albums, the ballads were some of the better tracks, I think the slower paced songs on Tied and True drag a little bit. Overall, the album is definetly worth a purchase, it's just not as amazing as their other stuff. It also features "On A Monday", made famous by the man Johnny Cash.

Check it out:
As Long As I Have You

New Releases

Out This Tuesday:

Tori Amos - American Doll Posse
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81
Doyle Bramhall - Foodland
Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond (ed. pick of the week)
Feist - The Reminder
Robbie Fulks - Revenge (2 disc live set)
The Puppini Sisters - Betcha Bottom Dollar (ed. pick - 3 part do wop female harmonies and covers of interesting tracks including The Smiths' Panic)
Rush - Snakes & Arrows
Tangerine Dream - Madcap's Flaming Duty (dedicated to Syd Barrett)
VA -Spiderman 3 Soundtrack

Reissue Front
Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True, This Year's Model, Armed Forces, Get Happy!, Trust, Almost Blue, Imperial Bedroom, Punch The Clock, Goodbye Cruel World, King Of America, Blood & Chocolate, The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years, Rock and Roll Music - Key Album Tracks, B-sides, and unreleased tracks

Steve Earle -20th Century Masters: The Best of Steve Earle - The Millennium Collection
John Eddie - S/T
Marcia Griffiths - Melody Life: Reggae Anthology
David Johansen - In Style
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Architecture & Morality
VA - Dirty Dancing: 20th Anniversary Edition (20 years, man!)
Warren Zevon - Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings (ed. pick of the week)

Books:
Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica 33 1/3 Series
MC5 - Guitar Army: Rock And Revolution With The MC5 and the White Panther Party
Charlie Parker -Chasin' The Bird: The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker
Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Legendary Neighborhood by Michael Walker
Warren Zevon: I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon

iPod on Random

Traces - Built To Spill - You In Reverse
Girl - The Beatles - Rubber Soul
Never Change - Jay-Z - Blueprint
I Just Wasn't Made For These Times - The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Shannon - Volebeats - Solitude
Greensky Greenlake - Dead Meadow - S/T
Watch Me Jumpstart - Guided By Voices - Human Amusements...
The Ballad Of Mott The Hoople - Mott The Hoople - Mott
I'm On Your Side - Patty Loveless - Honky Tonk Angel
What Do I Get? - The Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady

ACPC

Every once in a while, girlfriends do something that just knock you sideways with something amazingly cool. That's just the way it is. Well, recently I was blown away with a group project that my girlfriend, fancypants (formermly known as Break Me Off A Piece Of That Kit Kat Bar) was working on for her graduate school program in Museum Studies. They had to design a mock museum from start to finish, and they were able to choose the topic that their museum would focus on. And while other groups in her class chose topics like The Rainforest (which I'm sure was great), her group decided to make a museum of punk rock (now thats pretty sweet). The place is called The American Center For Punk Culture (ACPC). If it were a real place, I would pay whatever fee they needed to become a lifetime member. The goal of the museum would be to document, archive, and celebrate punk culture, with a focus on the nascent punk scene in New York in the 1970s. The paper that they wrote is beyond overwhelming, but here a few good tidbits. The board members for the ACPC would include: Jello Biafra, Lee Childers, Danny Fields, Debbie Harry, Richard Hell, John Holmstrom, Lenny Kaye, Don Letts, Leggs McNeil, Jack Rabid, Patti Smith, Steven Van Zandt, and Tom Verlaine. Some of the people on the advisory board would be John Cale, Lux Interior & Poison Ivy, Mick Jones, Wayne Kramer, Hilly Kristal, Mickey Leigh, Tommy Ramone, Mike Watt, Ron Asheton, and a whole lot more. Some of the specific exhibits include : "Raymond Pettibone: Posters, Prints and Drawings", "East Coast/West Coast : Punk Across The USA", "Afro-Punk: From Ska to Hardcore", "From Pop Art to Punk Rock: Max's Kansas City", and "No Home For The Blank Generation: The Turbulent Relationship Between New York City and The Early Punk Movement". Honestly there are too many cool things about this proposed museum for me to fit in here. Let's just say that this place would be absolutely amazing. How cool would it be if there was a place like the rocknroll HOF, but done corectly.... Nicely done fancypants.

Grinderman

Someone decided to give Nick Cave a guitar and told him to rock. For his latest project, Grinderman, Cave hand-picked 3 members of his long standing backing band, The Bad Seeds for a scaled-down, return-to-basics rocknroll outfit. The band consists of Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey, and Jim Sclavunos. Notably missing is Mick Harvey, who has been playing with Cave since pre-Birthday Party days. Personally, I have never been a huge fan of Cave's work, but I liked his last dual album Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus. When there was talk of Cave releasing a "garage rock" album, I was eager to hear it. The album does not dissapoint, as it features some gritty, demented rock/hard blues. With song titles like "No Pussy Blues", you know this one's a keeper. Also worth noting is that according to a recent interview in Harp magazine, this project marked the first time that Cave was open to any input whatsoever from bandmates on his lyrics.

Here's the first track from the album, which along with a few others is also available on their myspace page:
Get It On

Tonight Will Be Fine

"By and large, the more famous you are, the less of a journalist you are.” - David Halberstam

I've got an anal side to me. My bookcase would tell you that. I've had a series of books written by David Halberstam scattered throughout that piece of wooden furniture that I was purposefully saving so that over the course of my life, I would have something worth reading. Right now, there's a book about Vietnam, Basketball, the decline of this country's manufacturing force, a New York City Firestation, and the civil rights movement of the 1950's. But now there will never be another new book added to my shelf and in turn into my mind.

Taking a look at the quote up top from Halberstam is paradoxical in a way. If the statement is a true one then David Halberstam defied it. He won a Pulitzer early in his career for his Vietnam reporting for the New York Times and went on to a life of reporting. His topics were so vast but always interesting whether it was the rise of big media, the 1964 World Series or the decade of the 50's. And yet, he never became the story, never the main character in a Washington Post article about hobnobbing with his subjects. More importantly for a guy who wrote numerous books, there is no accusations out there that he plagiarized or anything of the sort. These days that is pretty commendable.

I think if I ever had chosen a career in writing non-fiction I would have tried real hard (and I mean real hard) to emulate a Halberstam-esque style. It wouldn't have been easy. Rather than just brainstorm a topic, conduct interview after interview, and finally begin the process of setting it all to paper, he made sure there was something else included in his account. Halberstam made sure that each and every topic he wrote about became the definitive work on that topic. One could obviously argue that no topic exists that can be definitively written about and that may be true in essence but in reality once a writer goes near something and makes it his own, other writers are thereby warned to stay away. This I believe, was not a tangible warning, instead the works spoke and speak for themselves.

Hitting to something close to creating definitive works, Halberstam could be trusted. As I recall the end of his books are filled with pages of his sources. Sometimes you read something in a book and want to to know how it got there and why you should believe it and most of the time there is nothing to support the point. I don't know why that is but I do know the credibility factor regarding the accuracy of the work goes down as does the interest one is willing to devote. Maybe I should have, but I never doubted what I was reading in one of his pages, I took it at gospel.

There is no doubt that Halberstam was a great journalist but it would be unfair to say that that was all he was. He was like the favorite college professor who condensed a whole area of life into an understandable course that was both interesting and riveting. I've sort of always equated a book like The 50's or The Powers That Be as being as important to my knowledge of this country's history as any classroom experience I've ever had.

I once heard the quotation upon a songwriter's death that went something like, "Now that the singer is gone where shall I go for the song?" The line is a powerful way to conjure up the importance of the recently deceased, but almost a trick to get some emotion out of your audience and come off poetic at the same time without having really done your work. The reason I bring the line up isn't for a cheap emotive pull, though that is always nice, but because I'm not really sure how else to say that Halberstam is gone and I don't believe anyone will be able to replace him or those books that slowly peel off my bookshelf.

GIVING AMERICANA BACK IT'S GOOD NAME

Not that it ever really had that good of a name 'till the Kamikaze Hearts came around....

Here's a scan of the May Uncut review No Name was speaking of:



VICTORY!!!! That definitely reads like a 4 Star review to me.. don't know where that 3 came from. Uncut, why you always so stingy??

If you haven't picked up a copy of Oneida Road yet, you're in for a big, tasty treat. Go grab it from now Collar City Records.

The Sonics

In the early-mid 1960s, the Pacific Northwest music scene was ruled by the kings of raunchy rocknroll and r&b, The Sonics. The Sonics followed in the footsteps of the legendary band the Wailers, and played the same rave-ups that the trailblazers had pioneered. In 1964 (?), Gerry Roslie joined the group on lead vocals, and they began to break away from the instro/r&b mold. Roslie was full of energy, had a great voice, and an even greater scream. Songs such as "Strychnine", "The Witch", "Boss Hoss" and "Cinderella" were instant classics and have become Garage staples over the years. Norton Records has just released Busy Body!!! Live In Tacoma 1964, an album comprised of two live radio broadcasts from 1964. The first set is all instrumental, and is overlowing with energy. The second set, from the Red Carpet Teen Club features Roslie on vocals and again, the band is smoking. My only complaint is that the mix isn't stellar, and the vocals are a little buried. Still, it is a record well worth picking up, as it captures a band on their way to greatness.

iPod on Random

Somebody Else's Girl - Randy Wilburn - Yellow Pills: Prefill
Kappa - Mogwai - Gov. Commissions: BBC Sessions
I Never Dreamed - Slumber Party -Psychedelicate
Accidents Will Happen - Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Armed Forces
Jets - Blur - Think Tank
Soul Serenade - King Curtis - Live At The Fillmore West
Please Stay (Once You Go Away) - The Twilight Singers - She Loves You
Lonesome Billy - Ennio Morricone - The Legendary Italian Westerns
Here & Now - Ride - Nowhere
License To Kill - Bob Dylan - Infidels

Jeff Conine And The Infield Fly Rule

Earlier this week I had Jeff Conine on my fantasy baseball team. He's a player on the Cincy Reds whose is listed as a DH. So, the story goes, I was watching Baseball Tonight on mute when I caught Conine and his manager screaming at the umpires. I flipped the volume on and what I heard was the tail-end of a situation that resulted in my boy Conine not getting the RBI's nor fantasy points he and I so deserved. Conine's bat broke as he made contact with the ball that flew over an infielder's head and was not caught. Conine landed safely on first but was told a few seconds after his arrival that he was out under the Infield Fly Rule. There's an article from the local Cincinnati paper describing the incident here - article.

The Reds naturally were upset as they had been robbed of a base hit and some runs. I wish I had heard the beginning of the conversation on Baseball Tonight talking about what had happened regarding the rule and incident because I just spent the last little while flipping through the MLB rules trying to figure out what the fuck happened.

The purpose of the Infield Fly Rule is to squelch fielder's from easy double plays when there are less than two outs. The ump calls an infield fly when there are runner's on first and second or bases are loaded, but not when there is only a runner on first. The ball must be hit into the infield and catchable. When the ump calls it, the batter is out and the runners on base have to tag the bags as normal, even if the ball is subsequently dropped by the infielder.

One such circumstance where the rule becomes necessary is when there are runners on first and second and the ball is hit to third. Rather than catch the ball, a third baseman, say A-Rod could drop it (purposefully), pick it up, step on the base and then throw to second to get the advancing runner out, leaving only a man on first. So basically, the rule allows the runner's already on base to not be duped by the shyster that is A-Rod. Really, it allows runners to advance and runs to be scored.

The reason Conine and the Reds manager, Jerry Narron, made a big stink about the play and call was that the ball hit the top of the infielder's glove and did not look like it could be easily caught so the play should not have come under the rule.

Here's the wiki page, though it makes less sense then what I wrote but this article makes some sense of the rule.

Below is applicable parts of Major League Baseball's rules regarding the Infield Fly.

Section 6.05 states a batter is out when an infield fly is declared.

It is defined in Section 2 as a fair fly ball (not including a line drive nor an attempted bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, when first and second, or first, second and third bases are occupied, before two are out. The pitcher, catcher and any outfielder who stations himself in the infield on the play shall be considered infielders for the purpose of this rule.
When it seems apparent that a batted ball will be an Infield Fly, the umpire shall immediately declare “Infield Fly” for the benefit of the runners. If the ball is near the baselines, the umpire shall declare “Infield Fly, if Fair.”
The ball is alive and runners may advance at the risk of the ball being caught, or retouch and advance after the ball is touched, the same as on any fly ball. If the hit becomes a foul ball, it is treated the same as any foul.
If a declared Infield Fly is allowed to fall untouched to the ground, and bounces foul before passing first or third base, it is a foul ball. If a declared Infield Fly falls untouched to the ground outside the baseline, and bounces fair before passing first or third base, it is an Infield Fly.
Rule 2.00 (Infield Fly) Comment: On the infield fly rule the umpire is to rule whether the ball could ordinarily have been handled by an infielder—not by some arbitrary limitation such as the grass, or the base lines. The umpire must rule also that a ball is an infield fly, even if handled by an outfielder, if, in the umpire’s judgment, the ball could have been as easily handled by an infielder. The infield fly is in no sense to be considered an appeal play. The umpire’s judgment must govern, and the decision should be made immediately.
When an infield fly rule is called, runners may advance at their own risk. If on an infield fly rule, the infielder intentionally drops a fair ball, the ball remains in play despite the provisions of Rule 6.05 (L). The infield fly rule takes precedence.
Regarding the scoring of an infield fly section 10.09(c)(1) states, When the batter is called out on an Infield Fly that is not caught, the official scorer shall credit the putout to the fielder who the scorer believes could have made the catch.

If all that isn't enough for you the League's official rules can be checked out here.

Two Cow Garage

On Friday night, I went to Valentine's to go see the CD Release show for Two Cow Garage, from Columbus, OH. Their brand new album, "III" officially gets released on April 24th, and I highly reccomend it. Anyone that like rootsy rocknroll will most likely enjoy it. They also put on a hell of a show, with guitarist Micah Schnabel and bassist Shane Sweeney telling funny stories and jokes between songs. You can tell these guys actually enjoy playing live, and their shows are all the better for it. I had only seen them live once before, and they played as a trio. The other night, they were joined on stage by an organ player, who appearantly is the only member of the group to be a huge Beatles fan (which they explained right before launching into a great cover of "Oh Darling"). The new album is similarly great, and shows their range from americana ballads to full throttle rockers. This one's a definite for the thumbs up list for 2007.

Here's a song from the new album: The Great Gravitorn Massacre

Check out their myspace page for some more songs and tour dates

Buy their album

The Kamikaze Hearts at The Living Room

Bubbaluvzbutta was kind enough to take some photos at the Hearts show last Thursday night at The Living Room in NYC.








In case your not in the know, The Kamikaze Hearts released Oneida Road last year. The current issue of Uncut raves about the review writing that "Like The Band before them, The Kamizake Hearts paint their upstate New York home as a havenfrom current musical storms...It's Gram harmonies and ambient, woodsmoke warmth give America back it's good name." Not bad guys, not bad at all.