More talking by a fan of the Big Takeover music magazine outside for the 30th Anniversary Bell House show featuring For Against! For Against are this wonderful combination of New Order meets bubble-gum dream scapes from the meadows of Nebraska. It’s no wonder BTO has been their champion. If you dig the prettier side of shoegaze without the drug fuzz haze any tunage out of this trio will suffice. Check them out after you see this live track.
Aftertaste MP3 By For Against from Shade Side Sunny Side (2008) Fuel MP3 by For Against from Coalesced (2002)
More alternative sounds like this band: Ceremony MP3 by New Order from Substance Strange MP3 by Pains of Being Pure of Heart from Belong (2011) Real Thing MP3 by The Wedding Present from Saturnalia
ALBUM REVIEW: If you’re going to name your record Space Jam there is no way of getting around the fact I’ll think of Space Balls. Thanks John Candy; but if you made a statement like it’s a speed amp test that seems to use different flavors of reverb and a bunch of spastic guitar moves it would be a whole other thing. Oh wait! That’s my job music fans. While I’m not going to re-name this record by The Trashies they are personified in their name. So where do you go from here? In this experiment you’d put a mic a in a metal dumpster and bang it erratically with a bat and it will give you an idea of what this Seattle basement band sounds like. Maybe for an element of danger you’d stand in a puddle but somewhere between you may realize this surf music has had it’s polarity switched and that maybe you’ve been saved from electrocution by pure chance. Lead by a singer who’s falsetto vocals somehow land you in what is the relentless song world of The Fall – you’ll quickly realize you’re good with these risks. They deviate a little with the sleigh bells on “sippin on a coolie” (I collect these by the way so send me some – coolies not sleigh-bells) with something sounding like it was hatched in Ethiopia but then they bring you quickly back with something sharper and bo-diddle-esque where the beat is humpin’ on “i wanna destroy”. While they won’t win the award for the tightest band in the world this psyche pastiche is about being a sloppy work in progress that uses reverb as an instrument. You ought to love The Trashies because they just don’t fuckin’ care.
schultz mask MP3 by The Trashies from Space Jam (2011)
This psychedelic trash punk music is also like: Terry Waite Sez MP3 by The Fall from Bend Sinister (1986) Bad News MP3 from The Great Lost Trashmen Album D.W.I. MP3 by The Ribeye Brothers from If I A Horse
DOCUMENTARY: Joe Strummer hustlin’ folks to go see him play in Atlantic City back in 2001 in the film “Let’s Rock Again!”(released in 2004). A documentary film Directed by Dick Rude. Needless to say we’ll always miss Joe for his honesty and candor. From “hero to zero” his ambition was to be able to survive the post-Apocalypse of The Clash and make more records by just breaking even and being able to entertain himself, his friends and feed his family. Hard to imagine in this scene that barely anybody recognized who he was when to a whole culture in the 80’s he was cultural rebel as big an icon as Dylan ever was but for a brief minute in time. Miss your way Joe so yes lets rock Again! If I could have a wish come true it would be being able to buy you a beer. Up In Heaven (Not Only Here) MP3 by The Clash from Sandinista! Burnin’ Streets MP3 by Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros from Streetcore Love Kills (dub) MP3 by Joe Strummer from the 12″
Here’s the second installment from the 30th Anniversary Big Takeover show documented at Bell House in Brooklyn last summer with Jon Auer from the The Posies playing solo. This one features Billy the engineer chatting it up bit. He helps produce the internet radio show Rabid in the Kennel on breakthrough radio for Jack Rabid. Jon Auer did a lot of great songs during his set and was quite the personality – i had no idea he was so dark and funny at the same time. This is the encore and judging by the slew of covers you can find he really loves music. All good things. no wonder he was part of the Big Star thing. We also have the opening song he did on video covering a Chameleons songs.
Tunes: The Year Of Our Demise MP3 from Songs From The Year Of Our Demise by Jon Auer Grant Hart MP3 by The Posiesfrom the DGC release Amazing Disgrace (1996) doing a song about the drummer of Husker Du. Solar Sister MP3 by The Posies originally from Frosting on the Beater(1993). I got this classic jam from Poptopia! Power Pop Classics Of The ’90s. Green Eyes MP3 by Jon Auer from 6 1/2. Yes this time a husker du cover. Swinging Party MP3 covering a Mats song! Live at Schubas 05/17/2006
It used to be that there was nothing more American than beer, bar-b-ques, Air Conditioners, TVs, car washes, and rock music. You could always count on things that were made proudly in the good ole’ U.S.A. We know where this went. However, the one thing though that will always remain true is on this very short playlist is american made rock-n-roll until they figure out how to outsource that shit. Ok with the exception of the U2 track you know what I am getting at. Here’s some choice ones. Happy 4th!
Happy Banjo MP3 by Dark Mean. On the face this song sounds like the title and builds in off-shoot homage to The Gaslight Anthem. With a modern take on old 70’s americana it is pretty authentic heart on your sleeve. This is the new american. Although the flag, suspenders and the beard are gone it’s got feel and on this track a banjo and horns for most of the first half. This music is recorded with care. Check them out.
Annie MP3 by New West from a coming release. I’m not sure how you start off as a Mars La Volta basement cover band then end-up making a pretty song like this one. Here’s Chris Zurich and his band which is more roots rock influenced than anything West Philly could ever offer. Band site.
Seventeen Once MP3 by Slothbear 7″ – This is the A side and it’s good in a undercooked New Order kind of way . It’s got jangly reverb and a arty atitude feedback solo suited for your late night drive with your teenage honey. The “B” side is a whole 46 seconds. Not sure what the point of that is since it’s not even speedcore or what you could accomplish in that kind of time (ok maybe I do…) except for the basic idea which we get “Oxus Armlets” and some chuckling at the end. Ok you’ve got my attention. Now what? Drop this track in your mix for sure.
SEVEN INCH FRIDAY: We’ve been avoiding our 7″ Friday posts shamelessly for months on end and finally here’s a good reason to bring you one. Fuckin’ Up Young by The Dirty Nil. Fucking-A! Blindly and without even thinking about it you should send them 5 bux for making a record like this. The b-side “Verona Lung” is just as good as the A side with it’s raw and distorted guitars. The vocals just belt out melodies and it’s indie rock just like should be. Reminds me of Tim from Kentucky or something from Tossing the Seeds by Superchunk.
LIVE REVIEW: Such a great performance the Archers of Loaf put on the other night at Webster Hall. This band created a indie rock time capsule way back in 1990’s and then proceeded to back it up with one amazing record after the next until they decided to fold-up shop.
So here they are repeating what seems to be like a great re-start and a chance of being a real working band again! Thanks goodness they are back in favor with Merge Records and it doesn’t hurt either having Bob Weston re-master Ickey Mettle — which you can pre-order now. Beats living in a van Mr. Eric Backman. If you had to explain what the hell indie rok was to an alien or to people in the future all you’d have to do is point them to the music on Icky Mettle. Trust me. I loved Crooked Fingers when it was good and when you fiddled solo on stage at Brownies with a bunch of guitar effects or invited the whole world onstage but AOL is like an old girlfriend that’s good in the sack and your’re glad she has come back to give you some lovin’. Lets hope they stick around to make some new music – hell I’d settle for some well chosen covers because I’m not going to find a beach band who could capitalize on it (Fantasy scene …and now some bands interpreting their favorite songs as covered by AOL…). So 2 encores and just about all the hits you could get drunk on is not too band — (See set-list below) only these guys can play their music. One of the down-falls any band that plays out constantly is road-burn and the sets and music literally slow down to a boring crawl. Bands these days just can’t just take-off to Jamaica or France to recharge like the Stones used to do so no surprise it happened to AOL I’m guessing. This set had a great rhythmic sense of high-points to it and didn’t fall into their previous downer neutral modes. So totally uplifting to see a revitalized energy put towards their amazing landscape and catalog of music. So in future ignore management, make the wife’s happy and focus on the fans. Because the fans will be happy so long as they have cold beer and this music to sing along with. Thanks Guys maybe I see you in Philly!
Here’s the set list from Sunday night’s show. (WHO HAS THE BOOTLEG?):
Strangled by the Stereo Wire
Wrong
Plumb Line
Nostalgia
1985
Fabricoh
Dead Red Eyes
Let the Loser Melt
You and Me
Might Revenge MP3 from The Speed of Cattle
Smokin’ Pot in the Hot City
Greatest of All Time
Lowest Part Is Free Freezing Point MP3 from The Speed of Cattle What Did You Expect MP3 from The Speed of Cattle
Web in Front
Slow Worm
Matt Gentling not fooling anybody in-between the encore -photo by Monsieur McFartbag
Encore 1:
Step Into the Light
Audiowhore Harnessed In Slums MP3 from Vee Vee
All Hail the Black Market
There are 5 great toe-tappers on this EP by The Eversons from New Zealand. I am always amazed that young bands can always improve on this genre or keep it fresh. With just the right amount of jam, a dash marmalade reverb and friendly vocal melodies the music becomes instantly familiar like your favorite order at the local deli. Although I would not know what to order in New Zealand eatery I’d imagine it may have to be the lamb with some sort of goat cheese right and side of local chips? Anyway, the point is there is a nice ring to their self narrated style lyrical musings. The music is overly familiar not too far away indeed of the self referential conversational sounds the Modern Lovers created. It would be nice for you to invite them to your next house party as I’m sure they may be just as chatty as they are good band.
You will like them if you like: Year’s Not Long MP3 by Male Bonding from Nothing Hurts (2010) Real Thing MP3 By The Wedding Present from Saturnalia (1996) Ill Love MP3 by Pete & The Pirates from Little Death (2008) Road runner MP3 by The Original Modern Lovers (1973)
I’m going to try and keep these documentary style installments coming. Part II is already done. Here’s Part 1 of the what will be a Über trailer from a truly american shoegaze treasure as Jack puts it – The Sleepover Disaster. Long story short this is part of larger “non-musical” documentary project I work on called create or else about inspiration or at least that is how this started – I ended up with a ton of footage. So these are the musical fruits of which I intend to share all the great moments with you rock fans. When it’s done it will be a nice short documentary on Jack Rabid’s Big Takeover fans, friends and bands he featured last summer at the Bell House in Brooklyn. So subscribe to the RS channel on the Utubes or RS in the twitterverse to be in the know. Lets see I can keep this up all summer long! Lord of the rock gods like Krokus only knows I have enough music to make it so. So your encouragement will be needed. I’m just psyched to watch my editing skills get better with each one. We’ll see.
Next week: A song by Jon Auer of The Possies.
The Sleepover Disaster at The Big Takeover's 30th anniversary show
Shoegaze fans: Dark Star MP3 by The Sleepover Disaster from their release called Hover. Somewhere between space walking and swimming in a clear ocean where you can breath the elements is where the beauty of this Fresno California band’s shoegazer music lives. Get Some »
More music like this: 100 Million MP3 by Sunny Day Real Estate from How It Feels to Be Something On Confess MP3 by Catherine Wheel from Chrome (1993) Only Shallow MP3 by My Bloody Valentine from Loveless (1991) Sci-Flyer MP3 by Swervedriver from their album Raise (1991)
Related Stories:
Create or Else: The Big Takeover by Jack Rabid – A Super Fan – see his mini documentary that I produced for Ogilvy & Mather.
Article: The Big Takeover Turns 30! – From one email a year ago from Jack telling me about his amazing 2 day line-up is what started this whole thing. Life is not a practice run.
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