I don't know how I missed them for so long, but I only first heard the Jacuzzi Boys when they were on tour with The King Khan & BBQ Show this fall (although we missed their set...). They have definetely gone to the same school of trash/rocknroll as KK&BBQ and Black Lips. Here's their song from the split 7" they did with King Khan last year.
"Choral", the newest album from NYC's Mountains is another gem, and an early entry to the top records of 2009. One of my first few purchases after signing up for emusic several months ago was their self titled record. I've returned to that album numerous times since then, and "Choral" will absolutely demand repeat listens again. Their mix of acoustic instruments with electronic swells makes for incredibly warm, hypnotizing music.
I got up pretty early this morning (for a Sat. that is...) because the people next door were making a ton of fucking noise for some reason. I figured I'd do some straightening up, and the best music to listen to while cleaning is the blues (proven fact you MFs).
I bought an awesome album by Mississippi Fred McDowell a little while back that hasn't been more than 2 feet from my stereo since I got it. Perfect. I thought I'd post a cool video of him in leiu of a link to a track this time around. Haunting.
Mississippi Fred McDowell - Goin Down To The River
Here's a song from the most recent Psychic Ills album, Mirror Eye. Cool psych/drone band from Brooklyn thats been around for a few years now. Also, check out the amazing review the record got from our friends at Pitchfork. Hotness.
I have only read about 4 or 5 books in the series, and I've found them to be hit or miss. The ones I've read have all been about personal favorite albums, so its hard to say for sure whether I'm chomping at the bit to see books about particular albums. So much depends on who the author is, and what their method of handling the project is (it can vary widely...). Here's (just) a few from that list I would be interested in:
Bob Dylan – Self Portrait The Cramps – Songs the Lord Taught Us Drive-By Truckers – Southern Rock Opera The Incredible String Band – The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter The Mekons – Fear and Whiskey Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night Pussy Galore – Exile on Main Street Richard Hell and the Voidoids – Blank Generation
Any recommendations for what should be covered next? (the dictators)
Last fall, Greg Cartwright got everyone frothing at the mouth by mentioning a potential mini reunion tour with The Oblivians and The Gories on the Goner Message Board. He mentioned Detroit, Memphis, and then off to Europe at the time. Just thinking about it makes the wood get all sporty...
There will be a new Billy Childish record (gets released in a few weeks), and in my opinion it is amongst the best things he has released in recent years. Billy, Nurse Julie, and Wolf have revisited the Chatham Singers brand this time around with the Damaged Goods LP, "Juju Claudius". I found the album on another blog, I was curious to get a sneak preview. Buy it when it comes out, or pre-order the album here.
"Juju Claudius" has some of the best gritty, stripped-down blues/folk Billy has ever done. He sings some songs, Julie sings some songs, and they sing some together, and it all works. Also noteworthy is the fact that the name "Wild Billy Childish" is absent from the band name now....
If you like your rocknroll with an extra dose of snot and tongue in cheek fun, then you should check out Nobunny. 2008's "Love Visions" comes across like a sloppy, lo-fi Ramones/Buzzcocks/Jay Reatard/Groovie Ghoulies. (do i get an douchebag award for naming 4 bands as a comparison???) The songs are insanely catchy, and if you don't take things too seriously (he wears a bunny mask...), this album is a lot of fun. He apparently gets naked at his shows too...
After serving time in the '90s with Americana band Souled American, guitarist Scott Tuma has gravitated towards ambient music. His first two solo records, "Hard Again" and "The River 1 2 3 4" both have a warmth that make them sound effortless. His last album, "Not For Nobody" has been a staple in my listening rotation for the past month or so. It's got a hazy, ethereal quality that is a perfect choice for falling asleep.
At what point does a hobby take over too much of your time and become a problem?
I don't have too many true hobbies, but I do play fantasy basketball. I've played the past 5 years or so, but this year, the intensity has gone up several notches, and I find myself spending much more time than I ever did (which is really saying something) researching/worrying about my stats and the rest of the league. I have basically lived and/or died this NBA season along with my team.
Right now, I want to murder/maim someone. I made a trade that at the time was a surefire great move. Within two days, it was a disaster. At the time, Lamar Odom for Jameer Nelson was a steal, then, on the day the deal was finalized...
Hojo Hi5's List King Khan and the Shrines-The Supreme Genius Of..
The Hold Steady- Stay Positive
Jamie Lidell- Jim
Birdmonster-From The Mountain To The Sea
Two Cow Garage- Speaking In Cursive
The Replacements- Reissues (except All Shook Down)
Blitzen Trapper- furr
Roger Bryan and the Orphans -Recovery
The Gaslight Anthem -The '59 Sound
Dr. Jake's List 1. Tell tale signs:the bootleg series
2. Midnight Organ fight - freightened rabbit
3. Pete and the pirates - little death
4. Vampire Weekend
5. Fleet foxes
6. Attack and release - the black keyals
7. Army Navy
8. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT
9. Brighter than creations dark - drive by truckers
10. In loving memory of... - let's Wrestle
Honorable mention:
1. Bon iver for emma forever ago
2. Lesser deamons - My Teenage Stride
3. Ways to Make it through the wall .... Los Campesinos
4. Park Avenue - plants and animals
No Name's List 10. Marah - Angels of Destruction
9. V/A - Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story
8. Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs - Dirt Don't Hurt
7. Steve Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
6. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
5. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
4. Black Mountain - In The Future
3. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creations Dark
2. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
1. Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series: Tell Tale Signs
Honorable Mentions List (In No Particular Order)
10. American Princes - Other People
9. The Baseball Project - Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes & Dying Quails
8. The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost
7. David Garza - Dream Delay
6. Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
5. VA - Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-76
4. Nick Cave - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
3. VA - Miles From India
2. The Magnetic Fields - Distortion
1. Mudcrutch - S/T
Shrimp Cracker's List 1. Mike Viola - Lurch
2. Baseball Project, The - Volume 1: Frozen Ropes + Dying Quails
3. Marah - Angels of Destruction
4. Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
5. Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
6. Jay Reatard - Matador Singles '08
7. James Jackson Toth - Waiting In Vain
8. Black Keys - Attack + Release
9. Hold Steady - Stay Positive
10. The Dutchess + The Duke - She's The Dutchess, He's The Duke
Top EP
John Prine - Fair & Square
Top Bargain Bin Pick
Paul Westerberg - 49:00
Top Reissue
Dylan - Tell Tale Signs: Bootleg Series V8 (3 disc version... go DL it)
Hendo's List 1. Jack Rose - Dr. Ragtime & Pals/ Self Titled
2. V/A - Spiritual Jazz
3. Hauschka - Ferndorf
4. King Khan & The Shrines - Supreme Genius Of..........
5. Brethren of the Free Spirit - All Things are From Him, Through Him, and in Him
6. Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire - Thatcher's Children
7. James Blackshaw - Litany of Echoes
8. Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07 + Singles 08 (06-07 is better though)
9. Cheap Time - Cheap Time
10. Black Mountain - In The Future
Honorable Mentions (alpha order - band name only, otherwise it would get unwieldy)
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO, Bipolaroid, The Black Angels, Boredoms, Brian Jonestown Massacre, C Joynes, Calexico, Deerhunter, The Dirtbombs, The Drive By Truckers, Dungen, Earthless, Giant Sand, The Hold Steady, Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, Howlin Rain, Marah, Mister Lonely OST, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Pelt, Pete Molinari, Peter Walker, Religious Knives, Sennen, Seun Kuti, Spiritualized, Terakraft, The Baseball Project, Toumani Diabate, V/A - Imaginational Anthem Vol. 3, V/A - Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6, Valet, Wavves, Wooden Shjips
Pigs-on-a-Ticker-Tape Parade's List
1. Hold Steady - Stay Positive
2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
3. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs Bootleg Series 8
4. Santogold - Santogold
5. Malcolm Middleton - Slight of Heart
6. The Gaslight Anthem - '59 Sound
7. Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creations Dark
Here's a batch of songs for you to prep you for the most important day in recent memory. There isn't really a theme (which I will try to focus more on in later posts...), beyond the fact that this is all stuff that I got recently, and has all been released relatively recently.
One of my projects since moving to a new apartment has been to go through the collection of cd's I have which were affixed to magazines I bought. This has helped me to discover or re-discover artists and bands and helps pass time.
Josh Ritter is an artist I know almost nothing about save he was on a label that merged with one I used to work for. And Shrimp Cracker and I saw him perform The River at a Bruce Springsteen tribute show. And he has curly hair. I guess I also know that he must be a decent songwriter/crafter as evidenced by Girl In The War, a track included on Uncut's April 2006 Playlist.
While writing this, I googled Josh Ritter and found out he's from Idaho. If I had ever given it thought before, I would imagine singer-songwriters from Idaho would sound a lot like Josh Ritter but if that were the case then guys like Josh Ritter wouldn't be all that special, if they indeed are.
I like this song but before you guys start making fun of me for that triple-A shit you pull whenever we're out together (however rarely that is) I just want to state that this song is no worse or better than some of the other crap we've posted on this thing. Also I've seen some of your emusic downloads. How's that for a complex?
One of the coolest albums I've heard recently is the self-titled release from Wavves on Fuckit Tapes. I only first heard the album about a week ago, but this has really grabbed me by the charlie browns. Wavves is the work of Nathan Williams, and this MF likes to make some noise. The album ranges from heavy fuzz melodic garage, to full on trash/thrash, to tweaked out psych. There seems to be a follow up full length on the way, along with a slew of 7"s, and I for one am very eager to check out anything this guy releases.
Here's a classic one that inspired one of the best, and most vivid dreams i ever head (not featuring a scantily-clad No Name.......). I wrote it down at one point, if asked, I'll go looking for it.
Today I was going through some stuff on my ipod and ran into my study playlist from the dark days immediately prior to when I took the NY bar exam. This is normally a hectic time for any person but my situation was worsened when my computer crashed and died taking all my bar notes along with it. The only plus to something like that happening is a. your backpack on the trips to and from the library becomes much lighter. b. you have less stuff to study. c. you have a good excuse if you fail the test. (though if this happens, I can assure you I will never post on this blog ever again-maybe you'd like that, huh?).
Finding the mix reminded me of those days where you get up and study, take a piss, study, eat, study and sleep. Repeat. It reminded me of those days but it did not make me yearn for them. Here's my mix and some links. Now you will know why I may have failed.
While I've been watching this "Town Hall" style debate tonight, I've been making a short playlist. Since McCain was pissing me off so much, the mix favors the short fast rocknoll/punkrock blasts. I think watching it on CNN and seeing that "squiggly line" on the bottom, and realizing that people were eating up some of the utter BS that McCain was spewing pissed me off further. What a dingus.
One of my recent discoveries courtesy of Emusic is Pakistani Qawwali singer Badar Ali Khan. He was the cousin of world-renowned Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I've had an appreciation for this kind of music for a while, but never really paid much attention to it. I've been drawn more to eastern music these past few months as I've been seeking the perfect drone. Qawwali music is very rhythm-based, which makes it easy to get lost in the mesmeric groove of the longer songs. I'm not going to pretend to know much about it, and I'll just let the music do the talking. Here's a song from Badar Ali Khan's album, Lost in Qawwali III. His voice really is insane. Dance the J5 (or whatever the kids call it these days), put on your headphones, and lay back. You'll be glad you did.
One of the top releases of the past few months has to be the lastest from Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire, "Thatcher's Children". The album doesn't find Billy straying too far from the last 2 albums, but if you dig him, you'll dig this too. Once again, Billy doesn't handle all of the lead vocal duties, as Nurse Julie takes the mic a couple times. Some of the songs continue the "A Quick One" era Who-isms, while others are closer to straight up punk. He still likes to revisit melodies of past songs and give them new lyrics. At this point, there's not much new to say about the music, but he's still one of my personal favorites.
Thursday night, I got to go see Dinosaur Jr and Built to Spill courtesy of Shrimp Cracker. I really didn't know much about BTS, but I am a fan of Dinosaur Jr. I've liked them for a long time, which means I don't listen to their records that often anymore. I spent most of the evening thinking to myself, "hey, i wish they would play my favorite song "______________"' and then completely drew a blank. I knew it was relatively poppier then most of their other songs, but I couldnt even remember the tune at all, or what album it was from. I asked the others I was with but my vague description did nothing to help them either. Needless to say, this bugged the hell out of me for the rest of the night. When I got home, I went online to do more detective work.
Turns out, the song was "Not You Again" from the EP, Whatever's Cool With Me.
Here's a youtube clip of J Mascis playing it solo:
1. Black Lips 2. Black Flag 3. Black Mountain 4. Black Sabbath 5. Black Keys 6. Black Angels 7. Band of Blacky Ranchette 8. Black Time 9. Ludella Black 10. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
1. The dB's - Dynamite ; Stands for Decibels 2. The Flamin' Groovies - Sweet Roll Me On Down ; Flamingo 3. Man Man - Man Who Make You Sick ; The Man In A Blue Turban With A Face 4. The Louvin Brothers - The Great Atomic Power ; The Best Of... 5. Thee Fine Lines - Open Up My Heart ; S/T 6. Jennifer Gentle - The Garden Part 2 ; Valende 7. Jon Rauhouse - Mannix ; Steel Guitar Heart Attack 8. The Dukes Of Strasosphear - 25 O'Clock ; Children of Nuggets Box Set 9. Twink - Suicide ; Think Pink 10. The Leaving Trains - Osmosis ; The Big Jinx
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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......
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
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.
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":
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 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
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:
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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"
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.
