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

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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.