The duo tradition of musicians goes back a long ass ways. Local H is one the greatest unknown bands who are cocky in their own right and maybe a little pissed they weren’t as cute as Jack White’s counter part. Alas on album their records sound just as full as their live show. They started their thing pre-grunge in 1986 and have been somehow managing to keep bringing the music post Cobain. Tonight this working band will jam it out at Brighton Bar in Long Branch New Jersey 4/23/11. You should go but if you can’t it’s alright. On album they simply just rock like superdrag and have more hooks than your standard tacklebox. This is not your mom’s boring alternative music. If you go scream for them to play “Puss” by The Jesus Lizard for me. Fine and Good MP3 by Local H from pack up the cats [BUY] Blood Stains (Agent Orange Cover) MP3 by Local H from their Awesome Mix Tape #1 release (2010) Lets just hope they don’t become a glorified cover band. That would be sad. Most great bands like this one know their influences so it’s cool to hear them pay homage to the music embedded in their sound because they do it damn well! [BUY] Puss MP3 by The Jesus Lizard [BUY]
Other Rock Duo Bands: Water Is Better MP3 by Bubble/Gum from their self-titled debut (2003). Wish this local Jersey shore band were still around. They had such heart and really wrote some amazing songs. Big Fan. Miner MP3 by No Age from Nouns [BUY] Noel, Jonah And Me MP3 by The Spinanes from the LP Manos (Sub Pop 1993). At some point Ted Leo made them a trio for a short stint. Regardless this album is amazing. Singer Rebecca Gates did some back-up vocals on Elliott Smith’s song “St. Ides Heaven”. Great simple bare-bone songs and thirsty like voice on her in the vain of Liz Phair. [BUY]
WHO: It’s not a huge trade secret or maybe it is that I work for a pretty big advertising company. You can follow my every madman move on the twitters if you want. WHERE: Over the past year I’ve been working on this original creative content series called Create or Else that lives on a youtube channel and focuses on artists, creators and people who basically do some interesting shit. WHEN: We revealed the channel last year in Cannes France and now we’re in the running to win a Webby People’s Choice Award. Total honor. The Voting ends April 28th. WHAT: I need you to help us win by going to this Webby Awards link in the Online Film & Video category for documentary series. Just register quickly and VOTE so we can win. That is of course after you watch the above trailer and concur that this series is a good thing for creative types.
Here’s one of the videos we’ve been able to produce that features my pal Jack Rabid who publishes the epic music magazine The Big Takeover talking about the current state of music and how get started doing what he does.
Anyway if you like this mini doc would be super awesome if you voted — Thank You!
ALBUM REVIEW: Howdy psychedelic music fans here’s some jams from a Moscow band called June Hunters. If you are a aficionado of Psych Rock and house of LSD’s light touch like faves 13th Floor Elevators or Black Angels you might dig this trip. They are pretty good genre emulators and I think we have the internets to thank. They verge a little on a 80’s alternative interpretation similar to The Psychedelic Furs with the use of some of the extra keyboard sounds. They are power trio and none too far off of what The Faint were sorta trying to pull off except with a actual drummer, nothing to do with Disco though and the ability to sling a tambourine track like Jonestown Massacre as logged by their track called “More” available exclusively here for the first time with that unmistakable Rickenbacker bass sound to drive this closing track on the EP. Now where are my bell bottoms and funky shades?
More MP3 by June Hunters from their self titled EP.
Something Psychedelic like music: Love My Way MP3 by The Psychedelic Furs Reverberation(Doubt) MP3 by The 13th Floor Elevators (1967) The Black Angel’s Death Song MP3 by The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967). The Black Angels named their band after this song. Which features this repetitive violin sound with this amazing sense of melody by Lou Reed in-between the noise. Amazing song.
EDITORIAL: Over-all I feel Record Store Day was a smashing success all over the world and as I watched the tweets and the enthussiam eb and flow it’s apparent the fans sort of loosely fall into a few categories. 1) Ebay swindlers 2) Rabid Early Bird fans 3) Slackers. I fit into category 2 & 3 for the most part. I’ve only bought the occasional item on ebay all of which were implements for making noise as I prefer the hunt. Anyway, a lot of what the stores get depends mostly on what they can afford to buy from their regular stock purchases. The store with the deeper pockets received more of what they requested for their particular clientele at least what my understanding is. So until they opened their boxes of goodies they could not even begin to hold stuff for their preferred customers. I don’t think a RSD point system would work but perhaps a lottery for entry might be better? Which would allow for the frequent customer to get a edge over the shysters. Also, not to mention Record Store Day is about celebrating commerce with your local merchant instead of cowardly downloading gobs of music you’ll never appreciate. For me it’s about the interchange of art but at the end of the day first come first server is pretty damn fair.
The bigger picture is really centered around the indie retailer staying alive and re-engaging music fans to take part in celebrating and re-discovering music not just one time a year but all year around. Us oldsters knows there is just too much music to consume in any given day; which is why we’re addicted to every part of the pleasure of listening. Sure we’re all going to download stuff to see if you like it (em-hem this music blog) but what happens when you hard-drive crashes? Isn’t it nice to be able to go to your own “record” library and reload the CD? Of course collectible vinyl is little bit harder to do and it’s an expensive habit to keep up – Trust me I’m a bandito with not enough time to even listen. I know I’m being really rightious but I’ve paid my dues and know it takes money to keep the good stuff coming. I see it as a re-investment into something I care about. All this schwagg I bought also reminds me personally of just sharing and spinning music for the shear enjoyment of it and a little bit is the music snob in me or sucker – however you want to look at it but damn is this new to me FELA 45 Morning in Lagos Part I & II awesome. When I find the time it’s bliss. Which is the point. Musicians and artists need to make a living so fans should PAY tribute every once in awhile not just every 364 days. Anyway enjoy some of the spoils that were available. What did you get?
Out of Print Again! D-7 MP3 by Nirvana covering The Wipers from the Hormaoning EP Pay To Cum MP3 by Bad Brains from their 1st 7″ Black Grease MP3 by The Black Angels EP from Light in the Attic which sounds amazing on vinyl like if a orgasm were like hot melting thick chocolate to yours ears. Crank to 11.
Tomorrow you shall Carpediem the crap out of some amazing schwagg and limited record releases. One spot and item that you should know about is this rarities Tape being offered to special customers at the Sound Station in dear old colonial Westfield, NJ. They have a special offer on freakin’ cassette. The contents of which are evem super secret and rare even to me. When you get there ask for Bob or Liz and tell them The Review Stalker sent you. They will know what to do. No you won’t need kevlar or anything like that but be prepared to imbibe some live music starting at noon by Milan, or catch some Reggae music, maybe catch a set by locals 117 Band or Daveen Decite. Anything could happen on Record Store Day! Be sure to check-in at Foursquare at The Sound Station in Westfield and try and kick me out as Mayor. The challenge is on and maybe you will find some of this stuff.
Documentary: It’s a lofty goal to try and answer the question “What is Indie Rock?” and capture the whole of the late 80’s to early 90’s scene before the great music blog plague that is upon us now. Indie rock splintered pretty much as soon as it was born into all sorts of sub-genres.
…We had paper zines back then to rely on and the internets was not accessible to everyone – it was a discreet affair. Sure in there were music scene curators like epitonic who were listening, and many amazing fanzines and then there were dickheads like pitchfork who were not always so praising to deal with but underneath the airwaves was a sense of community. Somewhere in-between the music was exploited and well the rest is loosely documented history. Brad Katz, Myron Kerstein, Linda Cohen and Tricia Halloran want take this challenge and make a Indie Rock documentary. We all have our opinions. I know I tried my best on the east coast writing zines and playing in bands of merry-men. I think there has to be more stories out there right? I Know there is and it’s one of things doc people are looking help in. I personally think it would be an interesting story to talk about the transformation and answer the question: What happened to Indie Rock thru the eys of some of the fanzines? Under the shadow of Nirvana were all these bands that did not have a chance in hell of making a living out of their music. Just do a quick search in your iTunes for “indie rock”. The genre is used loosely to describe all sorts of shitty bands. I think alternative or “Other” is more appropriate sometimes. That’s a sign of something good when you can’t quite put a label on something.
The over-celebrated term at some point splintered into and then gentrified into a corporate rock category where Fleet foxes and the kings of Leon reside but that shit ain’t indie rock at all. Here’s a few things that distinguish the genre with community in mind. (1) DIY self releases e.g. bandcamp in modern terms for you youngsters. (2) You sold records/cds, 7″s and tapes not free downloads (seems absurd no?) (3) It didn’t matter what your band sounded like it as long as it did not sound like anything on the mainstream radio. Once you got major airplay you crossed the line into having an actual job. (4) Slacker was a fun thing. No promises. The thing is about the music is that there was no defining sound but lyrics and pieces by a variety bands like some of the ones below who actually knew what a melody was and they used it with their other tricks and was always part of their diverse delivery.
Some of my Indie’s Heroes: Sense Of It MP3 by Polvo from Cor-Crane Secret I saw Polvo a couple times and they were the quirkier version of SY. Almost songs re-interpreted as noise or vice-versa. Hard to explain but the music is backwards but still had hooks. Great music and totally worth a deep dive. [BUY] Slack Motherfucker MP3 by Superchunk from Tossing Seeds Singles (89-91) This is one of the Anthem’s of Indie Rock. [BUY] Plumb Line MP3 By Archers of Loaf from Icky Mettle More hits on this record than any noisy record of it’s kind maybe since mission of Burma or Husker Du. “She’s an Indie Rocker and nothings gonna stop here” [BUY] For Respect MP3 by Don Caballero from S/T Blown away the first time I heard and saw Damon Che play the drums like some drunken bull on a folding chair. So much energy with no singing ever to be had. [BUY] What Goes On MP3 By Built to Spill (Live) I was a treepeople fan before a BTS. In fact I had no idea they were both Doug’s bands. Fact that 4 guitar parts can inhabit one band’s sound and without that magic it would still be cool. Always discovering some counter melody in this music. [BUY] Gimme Indie Rock MP3 by Sebadoh from III One of the funniest things that random people always told me is that I sounded like Lou on bass with the free use of distortion. Happened a few times. Then they’d describe him to me as the dickhead who played with J in Dino. Always came across as an ass to me when I’ve seen him. Maybe he’s perpetually uncomfortable with his talent? Funny impression but there it is. [BUY] (I Got A) Catholic Block MP3 by Sonic Youth from Sister SST. Silver Rocket MP3 from Daydream Nation. [BUY] In 86-87 I had all of Sonic Youth’s releases to date. I was a indie rock kid. In to everything really. First time I saw SY was a pre-release show of Day Dream nation one hot summer night at CBGB’s in 88′. Lunachicks and Skunk(Aka Mighty Joe Young) were playing with them which was fronted by Matt Sweeney of the epic guitar band Chavez. They played the album front-to back and it was like being on drugs. All the guitars had letters on them and they just whipped through this huge wave of sound. I’ll never forget it. [Our Band will shine tonight] Boilermaker MP3 by The Jesus Lizard from Liar – If you don’t break your neck listening to this music something is wrong with you. David Yo his singing sounds like somebody is slopping paint over the mic. [Buy] Nirvana tried to champion them just as much as the Melvins. I have the 7″s to prove it but sometimes the drunken ranting is just not fit for radio… allas the problem with Indie Rock. Corporate Alternative Rock wanted something easy to sell and most of these bands just weren’t handsome enough.
Mala in Se is this metal punk noise outfit from Cincinnati, Ohio which could be art if you consider huge cannon like nailguns something you’d want to hang in a audio gallery. This is what the music sounds like. Have no fear for a trio they sound like 10 men battling to an epic death with their guitars on fire on Phratry Records. If you like the boredoms you surely will pick up on the strangeness of music that Mala in Se sculp. Not sure what the hell the band name means but they do their thing fast too with classic thrash style tweeps and twerp notes that will fuck with the sense of what you think your inner metal actually is. Decide for yourself but enter exposition at your own risk.
Other experimental sonic art metal stuff: Bo Go MP3 by Boredoms from Pop Tatari Lucky Star MP3 Tristan Psionic from TPA Flight 028. This a Canadian band Aviso’Hara played with once at The Bug Jar in Rochester, NY. They really made the show a lot of fun. Total energy which brought up our game. If you like the sonic youth you’ll love these guys. They were on Sonic Unyon.
Just the other morning I was thinking about the Double LP compilation Burning Ambitions: A History of Punk because I realized I left off the song “1,2, X U” from the Wire posting this week which seemed like an obvious track to gab about anyway being that even the likes of Dag Nasty had covered it. This 1984 comp is where I first heard of a lot of UK punk bands who seemed old or passe in my youth at the time like the Adverts, X Ray Spex, UK Subz, etc, etc but others who were on still thrill me today like the Fall, Swell Maps and The Stranglers. All were brilliant actually as they really had already made their impression on music history.Here’s the whole playlist. Then shortly there after sometime in the mid 80’s i got wind of the NJ/HC thrash/hardcore band scene with bands like Lethal Aggression, Dirge, Crucial Youth and a few others thanks to Hardcore Sundays at CBGB’s (whole bunch of stories there in the future). I had no clue who Social Decay were as I’m sure there are many all of which Devil Dick talks about on the Demo Tape blog in much greater detail than I’ll ever be able to. Bands like seem to just pop-out of the Jersey devil ridden woods back then and here they are again making new music!
A bunch of these bands will be playing a BYOB show at The Players Rock Lounge at Club XXXV, 7090 Rt 35 N, Sayreville being produced by DAA Entertainment. I can’t make this shit up. there is actually full on punk/thrash show going to happen at a nudie club with Mcrad w/ Chuck Treece, Social Decay, Lethal Aggression, Jumpship, The Vivid twisted, Fight Back and Casting ships. I’m sure most of the bands will be fronted by a bunch of old guys.
Ghos†Smile MP3 by Fight Back [Free Demo here] This is pretty good hardcore. Lots of variety. Worth checking out for the price. Kill-or-Die MP3 by Social Decay1985 demo Fiend MP3 by McRad from Absence of Sanity (1987)
Once punk got started major innovations were happening all over the place as early as it began in the 70’s. Wire were among the musical scientists who experimented with short and long form along with kraftwerk and Gang of Four. On Tuesday April 2011 they will be playing for the first time live on wfmu’s Brian Turner’s radio show between 3-6pm est. Be sure to tune in as they resurrect punk on the airwaves. Their third album 154 is among the trilogy of their break-out experimentation that pushed what art music could be. While Gang of Four were like political mechanics and Kraftwerk the robot space makers — Wire were the sonic mixers making unique pastiches of keyboards and distortion unique from to song to song – some fast some slow. On their first album you were lucky to find anything over a minute long.
MUSIC REVIEW: Ambient music for movies about ghosts and televisions that could eat you. Lowland’sThe Void samples some tv, has some meandering guitar and low beats. I picture a pretty desolated cityscape with dim lights and nobody on the streets then the people are there suddenly; translucently floating by you. They are really just people’s left over auras from years gone by. Impressions in your imagination from the back of your eye socket. Then they are gone again like a blip or a blue screen of death (oh the bitter irony in this statement) the sense ripples away. You question if it really happened. If you think you’d like a sparser sounding grandaddy with a mix o’ Air and a serious nod to 80’s industrial or even the likes of the Notwist in your ears then you will appreciate the music of the lowlands. Summer of Regret MP3 [Get The EP for Free]
Sorta reminds me of these groups: Where in this World MP3 by The Notwist from The Devil You + Me (2008) Hey Cowboy, The Phone’s For You MP3 by Grandaddy from Now It’s On (2003) 1979 MP3 by Meat Beat Manifesto (ok maybe this one is a reach sound wise)
Backstory:
Literally 20 minutes after i drafted this fuckin review Saturday my hardrive decides to take a crap. Everything just froze. No recovery. No last rights. I’ll be back soon… Fuck You Computer it’s not ok.
Recent Comments