Thee Oh Sees played in Brooklyn this past Saturday night, and I was highly considering going to the show. I actually spent the afternoon in BK apartment hunting, but was too burnt to stick it out for the show. I kinda regret it, cause I've been really digging their new record on In The Red, Help. Every time Thee Oh Sees get mentioned, the laundry list of bands that front man John Dwyer has played in always get discussed. Since I'm only really familiar with his most famous one, Coachwhips, I'll leave that for the more legit reviewers/blogs.
The whole album is pretty catchy, but I've had the first song stuck in my head the past few days, so we'll stick with that.
Every once in a while, a band/album comes by that just knocks me on my ass. that band right now is The Strange Boys. I was made aware of these TX killers a while ago by everyone's favorite bassist, doorknobs, but I had nothing of theirs until recently. Their debut album just got released on In The Red, and it is more or less amazing (of the BSE variety). It's like a combination of everything that I currently like about rocknroll - Garage, psych, twang (shitfi). HIGHLY reccomended to fans of this kinda stuff. Again, a tip of the hat to this guy for making us awares.
On first glance, Justin Townes Earle's new album, "Midnight at the Movies", is one of my favorite albums of the year so far. I've only listened to it twice all the way through, but the songs are really growing on me. It's been a while since I've been in the mood for mid-tempo Americana, but he does it really well. Oh yeah, his dad is kinda cool too...
NY rockers Weird Owl released their new record a little bit ago, and it is worthy of a mention here. Like some of their Tee Pee Records label-mates they specialize in the heavy rock/psych so prevalent in the early to mid '70s. The singer's voice really reminds me of someone else that I can't figure out. At this time, I'm still uncertain if its a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, the tunes are there.
Here's the 2nd song on the album, skeletelapathic. It has such a driving, propulsive rhythm that it immediately caught my attention. It's got a pretty cool riff, and every time it comes on, I usually want to hit the repeat button and hear it again.
Here's Tobin's Spirit Guide. If you had told me this was a cover of some obscure Neil Young/Crazy Horse song I would have believed you. See for yourself.
I'm not totally sold on the album as a whole. These are my two favorite songs (out of 8), but overall, its good enough that it deserves at least a few listens. .
Over the past 3 years, one of my favorite bands has been the Black Lips. I only found out about them when they released "Let It Bloom" which took time to grow on me. I wasn't immediately blown away by them, but after a couple listens, it became a go-to album. Both of their next releases were killer as well. The live album recorded in Mexico was incredible, and I loved "Good Bad Not Evil". About a year ago, I made a mix CD of their stuff for a friend who had never heard them, in hopes of convincing him to see them live with me - it worked. As a consequence, I listened to that mix of my favorite 16 or so songs more than anything else of theirs. I got to skip the filler, and only heard the classics. It would have been tough for a new Black Lips album to match a career-spanning greatest hits mix, which inevitably set the bar pretty high for the new album, "200 Million Thousand". On first listen, my opinion of the new album mirrored pretty much exactly that of the review at slang editorial. I heard the first few songs, and thought, "eh, they're ok i guess, but nothing too special". I was waiting for another Katrina, Boomerang, Fad, MIA, Stranger etc. I was just plain disappointed. I've now listened to it many times since, to make sure i understand what the deal is. Overall, the album isn't really that bad, but I prefer all of their previous LPs to this. There are a handful of songs I really dig though. Again and Again, and Body Contact both have that back from the grave fuzz stomp that the black lips pull off so well. I also like Drugs, Starting over and short fuse, but I'm already at the point where I started skipping a few tracks when I listen. Oh well.
Here's a video of them covering the KK&BBQ Show and then doing Stranger. Killer.
"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.
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.
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....
