Bob Marley Vs Lee Scratch Perry by the Upsetters was recorded in 1970 and originally released as two LPs, Soul Rebels and Soul Revolution. To say Bob touched many facets of life would be a understatement as he brought Reggae and peaceful idea of brotherhood to the masses. The Clash recognized Lee Scratch Perry just as much as what Bob and the Upsetters laid down early on before the Wailers existed. This record has some killer psychedelic reggae that Lee Scratch Perry produced and even had influence on Hendrix & Sly and Family Stone. I think I knew about Bob Marley before The Clash but when they did their reggae like on “The Guns of Brixton” it was as natural for as them as embracing disco.
The Guns Of Brixton Mp3 Live in Passaic NJ, 1980! Police & Thieves MP3 by The Clash Written by Junior Murvin and produced by Perry. Apparently way back in 1977 Perry mentioned this cover to Bob and he in turn gave them a shout out in a song called Punky Reggae Party MP3. I need to find a better version of it! Revolution Rock MP3 by The Clash from London Calling originally written and performed by Jackie Edwards, Danny Ray as Danny Ray and the Revolutioneers in 1976.
This is a original written by Joe Strummer and was played at his funeral. Here’s Joe doing the song with The Mescaleros in 1999 at a festival in Cologne, Germany. I originally thought it was a cover but apparently not!
“I got you Babe” by Sonny & Cher and “Nothing Compares to you” by Sinead O’connor are a couple of those songs I can’t stand sometimes but we all can admit love stinks right sometimes? Mostly because it’s so hard to explain as we go and as the explanation gets fuzzier and fuzzier and we turn into some stale marshmallow on the couch. Love’s meaning changes as you go through different stages of life too but one thing is for sure; there are songs that strike a note in our blackened caverns and makes us all light headed as if we just got the wind knocked out of us. How many ways can I break your heart? Here’s a 13 pack of some of the most “hated” and beloved Valentine’s Day songs. You probably have yours but here’s some of mine.
Some classic and eclectic Love Songs:
07) Love Stinks MP3 by The J Geils Band (1980) [Buy]
06) To Love Somebody MP3 by Nina Simone w/ a little intro by Joe Strummer from the Future is Unwritten soundtrack [Buy some Nina]
05) Will You Love Me Tomorrow MP3 by The Zombies doing Carole King and Gerry Goffin song Live At BBC 1965-1968.
04) Love Is For Lovers MP3 by The DB’s originally from the 1982 record Like This. Taken from the Poptopia! Power Pop Classics of 1980’s Compilation.
03) I Don’t Love Nobody MP3 performed by Jerry Lee Lewis -Originally written by Roy Brown. This is from the Sun Rockabilly Meltdown comp I high recommend compilation.
02) Between Two Sheets MP3 by Fred Wesley & The Horny Horns taken from the Mojo compilation James Brown’s Funky Summer
00) Here’s the original psychedelic version by Roky You Don’t Love Me Yet MP3 from You’re Gonna Miss Me: Original Soundtrack. I think the song was originally released in the UK in 1988 as a 12″ by Roky Erickson & Evilhook Wildlife (ET) and also a single on Fundamental Records Pray 7.
In keeping with our fem fatale singers theme this week. Here’s a a couple crushers that could easily mystically cut you up with their guitars or voice or both! Leaving behind a puddle of manhood from their gaze if they so deemed but they’d surely prefer to keep you standing for their performance because they want to be adored as they should be! These bands are full of sonic awesome sauce – if the teary parts of gram parsons or whispyness of Cocteau Twins heal you. Fit it with a guitar hammers with these two bands.
ALBUM REVIEW: First up here’s the UK’s The Sorry Kisses new one Keep Smiling (the music always tastes better from England sometimes) featuring the very angelic Hayley Hutchinson as the singer songwriter with the support of her gentleman caller Sam Forrest. This being valentines month and all I asked Sam how he met Haley. He says “They both were playing music in York England for too many years and eventually one summer we hooked up over whiskey, cats and a few gram parsons records…“ OK she might have a different notion of this but allas they make some amazing cosmic music that is as thick with distortion as it is gritty at times with a confluent delivery. Peppered with a healthy does of melodic flavors fit for any music collectors disparate moody taste. Needless to say they are a very prolific couple because of this meshing. If your’re a cat lover or a hater or fan of Hum there’s a few tracks on this one that will make you seek out your perfect match or at least a few biscuits to eat while you gaze in amazement at a poster of Gram Parsons as it were a dream that’s become real. Ok, but lets not stop the dream sequence there; as there’s three dimensions to the Kisses’s music. One of which has this whole 80’s nod to Smiths/cure/echo all in one acoustic pop-ditty vibe with a song called “Blue Skys” that you should check out. Further evidence is backed up by of their passion for country evidenced by a bunch of covers they did during a winter hibernation. We’ve included one here for your love affair to begin. I see another video with the stalker ode (we love those) with the track called “Fanboy” that talks about the good nature that can turn sour where the star actually gives the fan a chance. Sounds like a country theme to you maybe? Give these tracks a listen and mix them up with anything in your Poptopia fantasy band. You’ll do alright. Because the kids are alright!
The Joy Formidable – In anticipation of the Big Roar being released as a follow-up to A Balloon Called Moaning. Here’s a live video to get you excited. This Ritzy Bryan can sure deliver swiftly some serious songstering wrapped in this subtle and delicious alternative Scottish like sounds of Cocteau Twins reverb blanket. If you don’t believe me just grab a song and check it out for yourself. You’ll be an instant fan and all we ask is for you take a hit, breath and exhale. The music is that energized as if you were swimming in a room filled with static electricity.
Here they are performing the lead-off track “The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade “on Rabid in the Kennel with Jack Rabid’s (The Big Takeover) radio podcast broadcast show that they sometimes film/document in Brooklyn USA. The recording is real pro so the band sounds like super awesome sauce.
More extras: Lorelei MP3 by Cocteau Twins from 1984’s Treasure Carolyn’s Fingers MP3 also by CT on 4AD Blue Bell Knoll (1988) | This is some beautiful music [Buy some Vinyl] Sounds best this way.
SINGLE REVIEWS: The inbox has been flooding with music on a daily basis so the listening queue is getting longer and longer. So if I don’t get right back to you please don’t take it personally. When my ears perk-up like a dog that hears a sound with that sound is when I get excited and reminded why I do this for ya’ll. To be fair though and as a general FYI I grab everything and put it in a For Review playlist and do the due dilligence and drop the needle in there and listen. Here’s a bunch of tracks and bands that have stood out recently in said playlist. We might do this monthly to give everybody a chance. Not sure what I’m going to call it but it will definitely not feature well known groups but it will be the farm team and it will always be good. No point in writing about stuff that sucks.
Here’s a Tacoma, Washington band called SLOWWAVE via the kind folks Savings n Loan Records with a track called “Pour” from their new EP Drag Lake Sin this week. The mellow like garfunkel vocals and found folky zipher sound builds on this track. After bridges you might find yourself in a dream sequence sounscape that reminds me of something in-between In Rainbows & Misery Is A Butterfly. Stalk them for sure. Download:Pour MP3 by SLOWWAVE
Kraftwerk inspired keyboard thonking with a Of Montreal Depeche mode-ish vocal delivery is what you get from James Curd Presents Ziggy Franklin’s disco. This track is as much song as you could squeeze out of one 80’s underground dance beat but when “Shelter” plays it reminds me that alternative dance music scene was cool and you’d listen because you got to wear black a lot. Download:Shelter MP3 from No Need To Fight About It [Buy it from Smash Hit Music Co]
San Francisco’s Shuteye Unison have come a long way from their post-punk daze. Here’s the title track from Our Future Selves that can best be described as a enigmatic dose of rock. Big word we know but it is what happens when music is distilled this well. You’ll be a fan if you like Silver Pick-ups or that Canadian Broken Social Scene. Awesome record. Download:Our Future Selves MP3 by Shuteye Unison s/t [Buy]
Ok, here’s part two of the girls that rock the underground. If there is a young or unknown upstart you think we should know about please let us know and we’ll get their music out. These next ladies have been there and done that. Surely setting the bar for girls in rock.
Juliana Maxwells 05'
Juliana Hatfield – The years have encroached on Juliana but she’s somehow managed to make a lot of really consistant records since going solo after the break-up of the Blake Babies. She has long hair again in this video with Even Dando and compared to when I saw her a few years ago with really short hair (see how skinny in photo left -she’s a lot healthier looking now). Crap, I barely recognized her without the long hair as she was buying a whiskey next to me at the bar I thought she was a wanna be (ha!) but then my friend introduced her to me and then she sauntered on stage to play a set with her band. Anyway, she has always been super nice whenever I’ve met her. There’s a funny spam comment from Jule’s on my old blogger account offering up her panties for $20 as one of her minimal services. Never received any spam like that before so has to be her right? Yup, shit like that happens fellas if your’re a musician/music writer. Anyway you should check out here new self recorded home lap top album Peace & Love has lots of 70’s song sensibility – in particular the psychedelic cover art. She’s a real acoustic troubadour on this new one, it’s as if she’s right right in front of you playing these lovely tunes for you and you only alone in her room. To get some more flavor about this real gal check out Juliana’s tour blog. In her recent free-form rants she discloses some very personal and not personal insights. How she does not download music; even refers to her CD player as a Walkman. She’s truly a old fashioned girl and has issue with love as a childless woman (this has to be tough one) but yet she shares. Deep stuff and with her words you really get in her head and makes you fall in love with her talents all over again.
New Waif MP3 By Juliana Hatfield from Made in China Every Breath You Take MP3 Police cover from Beautiful Creature (2000) but if I were you I’d buy Peace & Love to support her in the right now.
Neko Case is also known as the supporting singer in The New Pornographers and also having The Sadies be her supporting band along with some of JSBX. She has lots of rock friends. Also, has a knack for great country covers and it’s also said she’s banned from the Grand Ole Opry for exposing herself there once though she claims it’s because she was dying of heat. Regardless this super redhead has a sexy voice that can melt hardened lava with a strum of a guitar. The Needle Has Landed MP3 by Neko Case from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006) [Buy] Look For Me (I’ll Be Around) MP3 original by Sarah Vaughan. Which is totally oldschool.
Chan Marshall’s Cat Power – All artists struggle with sobriety of some sort and she is no exception. Beside the erratic live performance behavior that has been taken care of via some anti-pharma her music is mostly a sparse amd melancholy scene that is beautifully dark like the Velvet Undeground’s Nico but strong like Patti Smith it’s saying a lot of her talents.
Lived In Bars MP3 by Cat Power from The Greatest (2006) [Buy] The End MP3 Nico covering The Doors (1974) [Buy] Gloria MP3 by Patti Smith from Horses (1975) [BUY]
I realize we left off a lot music off here so far but check out women.
This is no way a complete list of alternative underground female singers. Not even close to a short artist list either. Lets call it the first entry. Mostly independent non-super-star artists who have stamp their name clearly in underground music. We’ll have to revisit for sure as this always part of the music discovery process. Mostly obvious choice with some new faces which is awesome to see and hear.
Liz Phair from a recent show at Maxwells doing the teenage dream song “fuck and run” because she was much better than that and she didn’t think it would happen again. Even with her best intentions Liz is still rocking, even panned for some time for joining in the majors she is a true heroin as she was not addicted to substance like a lot of her contemporaries. This mommy rocks and has a lot of fun doing it. She empowered a lot of women with the lyrics on Exile In Guyville and some of the fruits are starting to become apparent.
Big Eyes – songwise I actually like this punkband better than Screaming Females for some reason because they remind me of songsters The Muffs a lot in their simple delivery -SF are still a powerhouse. Please don’t get me wrong Marissa Paternoster rocks and her solo no-fi effort called Noun is pretty cool too. Big Eyes have apparent melodies delivered in a pop-punk style though which pushes them out of indie ghetto. So super excited to see what comes next. Here’s a young Kate Eldridge doing “Since You Left” on the little video show If You Make it. She’s one to watch. Debut full length coming this for her band this coming May on DonGiovani Records.
Since You Left MP3 by Big Eyes from their Demo 7″ Outerspace MP3 by Noun [Buy] features Marissa Paternoster solo from Screaming Females w/ Miranda of Full of Fancy. Another killer track done with a piano is “Call Earth” — get it from [Buy]
Last one: Here’s a song by the California band The Muffs which is led by Kim Shattuck. They spent some time on Warner Brothers right out of the gate in with a single or two on Subpop. They are still playing with a recent reissue release with some extra bonus B-side called Kaboodle. She knows how to use a distortion pedal and is not afraid to use it. Check out the muffs blog.
SOMETHING EXTRA: Big Eyes MP3 by Cheap Trick from the In Color Albini mix and recordings. Obviously not a gal band but love the homage to this song. If indeed they named the band after the song. [Buy Some Cheap Trick] You deserve it.
ALBUM REVIEW: Benjamin High’s Green Arrows record Matters is pure like salt. The music and lyrics can melt the ice off young and old hearts in it’s simplicity, confidence and cadent delivery. Ben was a regular young man. He played video games, listened and wrote music with his friends. His pal Joe D’Agostino even tattooed a simple note on his right wrist “1,2.3” which is a song on this incredible record to remind him of those halcyon days. See Ben even had a stint in a early version of Joe’s band Cymbals Eat Guitars and if you’ve ever seen CEG play. You know that Joe plays with a vengeance as if his guitar owed him something. But this story is about Ben’s recorded zest for life which is apparent in this New Jersey Freehold’s kids music. He wears his low-fi 4 track culture on his sleeve with influences in all the right places and I’m sure nothing could have prepared him for his exit. At times this record rings a lot like uncle tupelo while it echoes working man themes and it rings it’s simple refrains freeness alla Guided by Voices & EELs. One thing is certain though, his soul has been here/there and everywhere before and with that in mind the music is free from pretense and pure like golden indie honey.
Untitled MP3 shows Green Arrows Pavement influence pretty nicely. Super catchy indie song. Like a teenage dream so buy it!
His music legacy on Matters is documented here clearly and in his honor his family and friends have created an organization dedicated to helping young musicians like Ben called The Project Matters because it really actually fucking matters. There is no label perse but a youth movement. TPM organization hopes to support other musicians like him to sheppard them into pursuing their passion for music by helping them with a show or just good advise.
ALBUM REVIEW: Something between the electronic gadgetry of grandaddy, Rufus Wainwright’s vocal flair and Mike Peters’s acoustic Alarm marches is Joshua Flowers’s SOMASEKLondon Recordings. Floating in spacey vibrations plush with wall to wall carpeting set for that modern music you may imagine in A Clockwork Orange’s record store scene. Where they cater to a debonair and young Malcolm Mcdowell’s taste as he flips through records and picks up some play things for a quick roll in the hay. Other times there are some wicked guitar tones in particular on the track “Time Bomb” which scrambles in-between 1-2 drum machine beats but Joshua’s fancy sleeves certainly are most pronounced in the elevated break-up hit “Hologram”. I don’t know maybe this is truly sexy 70’s milko-bar-music but with less of a perverted Eno thing. You definitely may need a compass to navigate these dreamy pop songs but the fantasy will be safe as each of these tunes floats like their own secret magical ruin. Check it out!
Greek Song MP3 By Rufus Wainwright from his record Poses to see what we mean.
Q&A:: Joshua Flowers answers the dreaded questions which albums would you take with you to a deserted island and goes into the making of London Recordings on a laptop and corresponding via email with the mixer/producer “…felt old-fashioned… It was like working through morse code or something.” — Read more »
The Project Matters Benefit w/ Charles Bissell + music by Green Arrows
BENEFIT SHOW: From what I can gather the Project Matters Organization will help fund and give good advise to young musicians under 21 who aspire to play music. Sort of a PAL for kids who maybe went to School of Rock but maybe just need some good legal advise. Which I think is great. I wish this sort resource was available to guide me as I figured out the music scene landscape.
“TPM’S goal is to empower and encourage these young musicians to reach their creative potential.“
TPM sounds benevolent enough and they are looking for young bands and mentors so get in touch. Back in the day at Westfield, Highschool in Jersey we had the Radical Rock Reactionaries where we took matter into our own hands with a actual club designed to put on shows. Was also a place where some misfits happened to gather and rally around music. The jocks had their sports we had R.R.R. This organization honors a kid named Ben High who was recording a record for his band Green Arrows and Cymbols Eat Guitar with Charles Bissell from the Wrens when he passed away. This show is in effect postumous record release as he and Cymbals Eat Guitars, Escape Directors, and singer Carah Faye Charnow of the band Versant will be playing a song from the record at Maxwells, Jan 23rd,2011 (TOMORROW!). The interesting thing about Charles Bissell solo is that it’s pretty dynamic sounding and trilly at times. The sounds go right up your spine. Meaning if you check out the couple live solo tracks below he’s full electric as if the wrens were behind him filling the space with guitar squealing effects and a subtle groove all around you. We’ll see what he does for this coming show. Lord knows the fans are starving for some new wrens music so maybe he’ll play one (that is if they’ve written any) I’m not sure the 10 years are up since the meadowlands was released. Other than that never heard of these other groups but here’s a couple track reviews. There’s a pretty good backstory on the wrens site for his benefit and that goes into the Cymbals Eat Guitars connection.
DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN:
1. Heartbeats by Versant s/t features Carah Faye Charnow. Think a modern rock version of ABBA with some keyboards whipping around your ears. [BUY]
2. Car Crash by Escape Directors from their release Ladders. There’s a nice balled on her called “Take Me on Home” alla goo goo dolls. The hit “Chicago” is lyrically up there with Gaslight Anthem in it’s narrative form but a little bit more modern rock mid-western. Over-all really good stuff for such young band. One to watch for sure! [ GET THEIR RECORD FREE ]
3. Indiana by Cymbals Eat Guitars from Why There Are Mountains. This is outstanding rock guitar record and totally makes sense the wrens were involved somehow. This track is spooky and spacey which actually sounds like a happy drive through the state of Indiana. [BUY]
4. Everyone Choose SidesCharles Bissell Live at Maxwells 09/26/2004
5. This Boy Is Exhausted Live at Schubas 08/19/2004
Jack Endino is one of the godfathers of the Seattle grunge scene. Mainly because he recorded bands cheap and fast for a bunch of Sub Pop bands. He also was pretty good head banging guitar player and Skin Yard was his band which literally influenced Screaming Trees, The Melvins and Green River. Matt Cameron was the original drummer before going over to play with Soundgarden. Skin Yard had releases on Toxic Shock, C/Z and Cruz Records. I got to see them on the 1,000 Smiling Knuckles tour at Maxwells. In fact I still have the T-shirt! Somehow it’s made it through several moves and girlsfriends. Sort of a hat trick if you ask me to still have the relic. They eventually broke-up shortly after recording Inside the Eye which was one of the cool 10″ records they put on C/Z. Which was in fact their last official active release. The other notable 10″ had a cover of “Hey Bulldog!”(Beatles cover). Anyway. Dig it.
Here’s The Sirs from the New Brunswick, NJ punk creep scene on Psychic Volt & Devildance records. This is a rip right from the 7″ so go ahead and buy the rest of the 4 songs on this record. Pretty good stuff paying homage to sing-alongs akin to Pegboy or Social D in certain spots. This song should not be confused by The Stuntcock’s song “She gets her pets high“.
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