ALBUM REVIEW: Yea so if you told somebody to make a band that sounded something like Hole and but told them to make the music and guitars drill deep in your head they would sound like Sex Jams. While not as bombastic or crude as lets say Songs About Fucking the tunes have a sonic youth flare. In particular the 2 guitar attack is evident on the slow sex jam “Twist and Turns”. Now we you know we don’t just push any old crap on you so know that if you are a sex worker or a naughty librarian this music should speak to your inner throbbing nyc style punk rock. Not quite GG Alin gutteral punk but something that rises above the blood and bad smell of the rest. This is smooth when it needs to be in a etheral Ravenettes kind of why and so ungodly distorted at other times in the vein of No Age or GvsB you’d think you can actually walk on the music itself. Out March 1, 2013 from the mighty fine Austria label www.siluh.com.
DOWNLOAD: Shark vs Apple MP3 by Sex Jams from Trouble Honey No Face MP3 Free Single by Sex Jams
If you dig this you should try these MP3s: Pleasurized MP3 by Girls VS. Boys from Freak*On*Ica Il Doce MP3 by Big Black from 7″ TG95 Lonely MP3 from Rollins Band from Lifetime
To be honest I’m looking for motivation to get back into the 4 strings thinking. Besides literally trying to find the bandwidth to do it right with Eastern Anchors. I’m not sure why you’d need more inspiration than bands like Girls Against Boys for inspiration in particular when there is awesome tone, tube amps and distortion pedals are at play on every song. GvsB were a innovator in this spectrum of rock, however there are a crap load of other bass players who’s bass licks are just as stellar.
U.S. 80’s-90’s MP3 from Bend Sinister (1986) The bass playing on any of The Fall’s songs is just always so solid and straight forward it becomes innovative on it’s own mainly because who-ever is playing is try to stay ahead of the crazy amount of songs on any given album Gang of Four were also master of making the drumming just as important as the melody with bass making it work perfectly showing who is in control of the rythem section. Not Great Men MP3 by Gang of Four from Entertainment (1979)
Wartime A experimental project that features bass with sorts of effects and use of the “Phaser” is Wartime which was Rollins and Andrew Weiss making some funk w/ Sim Cain going nuts on the roto toms. Then again any song that Andrew played on I thought was awesome and big like on 1,000 Times Blind MP3 from Rollins Band’sLifetime record (1999). He breaks it down into a swinging bass distorted inferno on Lonely MP3 as another example.
Bassface by David Wm. Sims from Jesus Lizard
The Art of Self-Defense MP3 by Jesus Lizard – really any freaking song is an example of killer bass playing but the magic really happens when you have the whole band working hard like this and doing it fucking fast. Almost inconsequential what the singer is doing although you better keep your eye on David Yow because he might grab your private parts. As he and David Wm. Sims are going to be touring with Scratch Acid later this fall. She Said MP3 by Scratch Acid.
Lets consider this part 1 of some of the alternative players. I’m drawing a blank besides like John Paul Jones and particular songs it’s obvious I’ll need to revisit this short list. Please leave a note in the comments. What’s a good drummer gonna do if you can’t give the bass player some credit for making it happen.
City Gardens Riot on The Dance Floor film skate deck
As hard as we may try to write about new music the past keep coming up again and again like unwanted overgrown hair and reminds me just how truly awesome things were way back when the slang “that was so 10 minutes ago…” never crossed our minds because the landscape of haircuts were so diverse from band to band and scene to scene. We were constantly consuming so much great music at such a rate that personally I think you’d be a fool to stay affiliated to any one genre of music but lets just say punk and alternative music encompassed everything. Including the Skinheads, Skate punks, Ska fans, hardcore fans and metal kids all under one roof.
From about 1986 through 1995 or so I used to go to as many shows as I could at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ which was as dangerous as Newark. A couple times my friends and I showed up to a $5 show like Fugazi and it was just sold out with a line still wrapped around the 1,100 capacity cinder block club. This was pre-internet so the only way you’d ever know about a show in my area was by word of mouth or from a flyer. The best part was the diversity of bands that Randy Now used to book anywhere from The Ramones to Robyn Hitchcock to 24/7 Spyz. This club is where I stage dove for the first and the last time to Fishbone. I got kicked out of the club after falling on my back then paid my way back in again to see the rest of the show from the sidelines. Luckily it was raining and I convinced the door guy it was not sweat but I was just wet. I still think my back cricks from that fall but regardless it was so worth being part of historic venue and experience of really being in the mix at a live show.
There are a little under 5 days left to donate anywhere from $25 to as much as you want to become either a Crowd Surfer or attain Club Owner status over on Kickstarter page to help bring the story of City Gardens and Randy Now to the screen in the flick Riot On The Dance Floor. The more dough the better the soundtrack will be for this movie which; will help Director Steve Tozzi bring this film truly to life. Anyway, here’s some bands I can remember seeing and as I write I keep thinking of more bands I saw play there.
Some bands I saw at City Gardens: good clean fun MP3 by Descendents from I don’t want to grow up Knock It MP3 Fishbone from In Your Face (1986) I Just Want Some Skank | Beverly Hills MP3 by Circle Jerks from Group Sex The Godfather MP3 Dag Nasty from Wig-out at Denko’s (dischord) Turned Out MP3 The Rollins Band from Lifetime (1988) My Wife and My Dead Wife MP3 by Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians from Fegmania! (1985) Waiting Room MP3 Fugazi from 13 Songs Monkey Trick MP3 The Jesus Lizard from Goat Ocean Size MP3 by Jane’s Addiction from Nothing Shocking Hands All Over MP3 by Soundgarden from Louder Than Love We Care A Lot (Slash Version) | Epic MP3 by Faith No More from This is it These two songs pretty much almost demolished the building. I remembering back at the bar trying to get drink and then running right into the mosh-pit when they played Epic. Fun times.
There are bunch more bands of lesser status but none-the less of same level of importance so maybe I’ll do a follow-up post of tunes. I know I’m leaving out a few or at least ones I know I saw!
What? How did this happen all of a sudden? Sort of rellavation that two very different musical trail blazers turned 50 this year along with many other singing alternative icons. Daniel Johnston’s Birthday was in January and Henry Rollins’s was 02.13.61 to be exact. I know this because it says it on the spine of the Black Flag tour diary he wrote called Get In The Van||||. Fast forward and the Rollins Band is playing a show at The Fastlane II in Asbury Park and he mentions he just turned 30 and you could not trust him anymore. I can’t believe that was 20 motherfucking years ago! Daniel Johnston’s child like lyrics always were and will be trust worthy but Hank was trying to tell me something. Then Rollins released a song called “Liar” pre-shotgun in mouth right as everyone including were cashing in or checking out as the case may be. So I laughed so hard when I first saw the video in a AIM Marketing meeting. He was dressed up like a cop and I thought this has to be a joke. He hates cops but the other young phone retailers had never been exposed to him before and the company owners in particular didn’t understand this outburst. This was serious business marking the punk. We had to help sell this record into stores across North America and we did. That job didn’t last long mostly because I used to gather my info and then chat with folks on the companies dime about other cool music to help pass the time. Oh well. Ancient history but I guess the point is this was the moment when i knew alternative music was over as I knew it.
I’m not sure I buy the whole 50 is the new 40, and 40 is the new 30 because how do you explain those random gray hairs by my balls? The goods news is that these gateway artists are still looking from right side of the grass but who’s going to cary the torch now?
Boys Don’t Cry MP3 by The Cure – Robert James Smith. Born, 21 April 1959 It’s Over MP3 by Daniel Johnston from Hi, How Are You? [BUY] Happy Death Men MP3 by Echo & The Bunnymen from Crocodiles – Ian Stephen McCulloch, born 5 May 1959 [BUY] Gun In My Mouth Blues MP3 by Rollins Band from Lifetime [DO IT] I Will Dare MP3 by The Replacements from Let it Be – Paul Westerberg born December 31, 1959 [I HATE YOUR MTV} Catapult MP3 by R.E.M. from Murmur John Michael Stipe, born January 4, 1960 [CHRONIC TOWN] Master-dik MP3 by Ciccone Youth Thurston Joseph Moore born July 25, 1958
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