Sooo, what have I been listening to as of late…..?
Well, for starters and definitely a no-brainer, I have been gobbling up the new Buffalo Tom release, Quiet and Peace by the plateful. Released as an early present on Christmas Eve 2017 to all those Pledge Music band donatees and finally released to the masses earlier this month with some extra bonus tracks, my Boston heroes have proven once again that they still have a lot of shake left in their tush with this solid release. Such stand out tracks like “All Be Gone”, the Big-Star-ish flirtations of “Roman Cars”, “Freckles” to 1998’s Smitten feel of “Least That We Can Do” and the Brit-Pop lyrical positivity of “Slow Down”, there are many great tunes to be found here that blend well with the rest of their discography. My pal Jerry Lardieri of NJ sensation The Brixton Riot is going to guest spot a more in depth review of album in the near future (right Jerr?).
So what else, oh….been becoming re-acquainted with Memphis, Tennessee’s “alt-country” kings, Lucero, especially since missing a recent acoustic gig by front-man Ben Nichols at Garwood, NJ’s Crossroads recently. I find myself returning to such great records as 2009’s 1372 Overton Park and 2002’s Tennesseemore often.
Also lately (re-) discovering Gainesville, Fla. punk-n-roll heroes, Hot Water Music in a major way. Heard a lot about them over the years and took a dive with their album A Flight and a Crash (2001) back in the day , which in hindsight, was the wrong place to start. After multiple false starts, I hastily and unfairly chalked up the band as meh and moved along. And then with a lot of nudging from Snapcase front man Daryl Taberski, I slowly discovered the absolute beauty the band has to offer with such records as Caution(2002), No Division (1999) and their first release Finding the Rhythms(1995), which kicked my ass upon first listen on a 7 mile weekend run. Their latest offering, Light It Up (2017) rocks and they even release a couple of awesome live albums (Chicago and at their hometown Hardback Cafe) the same year. Not sure what took so long but I am now an official convert!
Unfortunately The latest Superchunk, What A Time To Be Alive (2018) is predictable, quick and uneventful, at least for me. Some songs like “Lost My Brain” and title track aren’t too shabby, but I’ll take Foolish (1994), And Here’s Where the Strings Come In (1995), even Majesty Shredding (2010) over this new offering.
The latest offering by ex-Gaslight Anthem front-man Brian Fallon, Sleepwalkers (2018), is pretty decent. The three singles released up to the album debut, “Forget Me Not,” See You On the Side” and “If Your Prayers Don’t Get To Heaven,” all solidly rock, but other tracks like “Etta James”, “Little Nightmares” and “Her Majesty’s Service”, to name just a few, all hold their weight. Fallon sounds much more comfortable and confident with this sophomore effort when compared to his premier solo efforts Painkillers(2016), which is a great album, but does sound like he is trying to find his footing at times.
Tripped over a cool Spotify Sessions with Weezer playing a number of acoustic tracks that span their career. After last years disastrous release, Pacific Daydream, it is refreshing to hear their old songs stripped down. I love the band best when they stop trying so hard to not take themselves seriously.
Also rocking out to The Bouncing Souls a lot these days and good timing with the recent acoustic set announced at Crossroads recently. This awesome club just 15 minutes from my house is having a lot a great shows lately….Dag Nasty (with Shawn on vocals) is coming up on March with three nights with The Menzingers a few weeks ago…with more punk-based shows to come!
I am sure this going to sound very “America-centric” but when I think of straight edge, posi-core bands the last place I tend to think is well….nowhere else on the planet except for the USA, which is clearly my bad. But the genre is internationally alive and kicking and in full force, especially in the UK and especially in cities like Manchester where bands like The Smiths, Oasis, Joy Division and The Stone Roses come to mind but not bands like Insist. Such bands are bringing back the posi-core sound of 80’s and 90’s which is definitely a breath of fresh air with so many American bands beating the dead Hate Breed horse to death with the dark, metallic flirtations and modulated vocals, all while draped in black clothing.
Not that metallic hardcore is bad, in fact I recently discovered Brooklyn’s Incendiary with their latest release Thousand Mile Stare which has very in your face Inside out/Rage Against the Machine groove/vocal metallic vibe.
Speaking of new bands that are replicating the awesome sounds of yesterday, Los Angeles’ Fireburn is another “Super Group” and the legendary Bad Brains reincarnate for a new generation of kids with their hardcore punk/reggae dub sound. But despite the glaring similarities, the former still refreshingly rock.
I also finally got around to listening to the band Bane (I know, weird right?) and love their debut record, 1998’s Holding This Moment.
One band/album that I always missed and could never find for years is BL’AST “In My Blood” (1987) which use to kick me square in the balls every time my younger self listened to it. It sounded so later Black Flag-ish too the point that Henry Rollins and Greg Ginn allegedly hated them so much that the latter still released iton the infamous hot mess label, SST Records. Lo and Behold, it is apparently Dave Grohl’s (yeah, that fucker) favorite record too from back in the Scream days and he remixed it a few years ago, stripping it down to what BL’AST would sound (driving and loud) and releasing it under the name Blood!I may give Grohl shit but man, he and the band teamed up and nailed this project perfectly with this re-release. Check out this cool video of the project and original recording below.
My other pal, Mark Segal (of NJ powerhouse, Atom Driver ) turned me on to the Brooklyn punk sensation The Royal They with his own recent Reviewstalker.com review. Holy fuck moly this band is good and their latest release, Foreign Being has already made it on my top of 2018 list.
Finally, more Brooklyn bias as power duo Tuffy returns with another killer release, Lighting Things On Fire with 15 songs of witty, indie pop brilliance. Like her days of Bear Trap, I can listen to front woman’s Yasmin Dalisay sing soft and sultry all day….
Until next time, enjoy the Spotify Playlist below with songs from the bands above ! xoxo
03: Destination Unknown MP3 Performed by Erectus Monotone, originally Written By the Bozzio’sand Cuccurullo in their group Missing Persons.
04: How Much More MP3 Performed by Redd Kross, originally by The Go Go’s
05: 5′ 1″ MP3 Performed by the Hoboken based band Tiny Lights. Originally written by James Newell Osterberg, Jr. AKA Iggy Pop
06: Pump It Up MP3 Performed by Mudhoney, originally composed and performed by Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus AKA Elvis Costello in 1978.
07: The Wait MP3 Performed by Das Damen, originally by The Pretenders.
08: Tainted Love MP3 Performed by The Finger, originally written by Ed Cobb for Gloria Jones but made famouse in the new wave scene by the Soft Cell version in the 1980’s.
LISTEN TO THE ORIGINAL VERSION BY GLORIA JONES WRITTEN BY ED COBB
Check out Northern Soul for more like this. Incredible sounds.
09: Wishing MP3 Performed by It’s OK, Original by A Flock Of Seagulls. From what I can tell It’s OK was a session band that put a cover together. Anybody?
10: Dreaming MP3 Performed by Yo La Tengo, original by Blondie, Make sure to catch YLT on wfmu’s fund drive marathon where they play a all request a cover set!
11: Wuthering Heights MP3 Performed by White Flag originally by Kate Bush
12: I Got You MP3 Performed by The Connells, Originally written by Tim Finn from New Zealand from the Split Enz.
13: Homosapien MP3 Performed by Big Dipper, originally written by Pete Shelley from The Buzzcocks.
WATCH WALL OF VOODOO – “MEXICAN RADIO”
14: Mexican Radio MP3 by Polvo, originally written and performed by Wall Of Voodoo. The original one for this was one of better MTV videos back in the day. Also song is full of hooks. So there is that.
15: Antmusic MP3 Performed by Hypnolovewheel, originally by Adam and The Ants.
16: Don’t You Want Me Baby MP3 Performed by Chia Pet who were a Kokopop band one of Kramer from Shimmy Disc off-shoot labels. This song was originally by Human League.
17: Hero Worship MP3 Performed by Permanent Green Light, Originally written by Ricky Helston Wilson (RIP 1953-1985) from The B-52’s.
18: Girl U Want MP3 Performed by Superchunk, originally written by Casale and Mothersbaugh from Devo.
Lots of heavy as shit singles and bands to watch for you today on review stalker. Keep things coming and know that we do listen and share things first on our soundcloud.
To start check out the A-side off this new 7″ from this noisy band from Queens called Dead Waves. Recorded in one take with Mr. Albini – just how he likes it. This tune has got enough stomach churning distortion to make your seizures and morning shakes feel like a good thing. PRF crew alert here this is right up your melvins encrusted alley.
Next up is Weird Womb from NY and the A-side “Pale Piss” from their 7″ ep Ruined by the 90’s recorded at Vanancy nyc. Tighter than mudhoney with Henry Rollins style singing. Maybe a little more on the Guy Picciotto style in the vocal department when i think about all the tracks. This is more punk than 90’s grunge in southern California Wasted Youth kind of way. You can order the 7″ WEIRDWOMB.COM.
Check out the grinding grunge off of the Bay Area’s post-punks Street Eaters. Here’s a track from their upcoming release Blood::Muscles::Bones on Nervous Intent Records. The 1st track reverse tracks from this coming record starts off like Hüsker Dü’s Dreams Reoccurring off of Zen Arcade then it goes strongly forward. Female fronted vocals which reminds us of Amanda Black Wine(Don Giovani).
On tour now doing all of North America so be brave and indulge yourself and check them out live they will be on the East Coast in July! Full date listing on streeteaters.com
These next guys called Hive Bent – reminds me of a version of Battles meets No Age. Really all there is to say. Check them out pretty big sounds for what sounds like drums and super sonically heavily distored bass. Sure to break a bass string near you or at least your punk hymen. Whatever comes first.
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Photo: 223 Livingstone Ave – home to BGT, Aviso’Hara & a few basement shows
PART 1: Before todays bustling New Brunswick, NJ basement scene, Screaming Females and Don Giovanni Records there were 6 clubs to play a gig at that were not sequestered or are hard to find in the 1990’s. The times o’ plenty. We had The Melody, The Roxy, Plum St. Pub, Budapest, Bowl-o-drome and the still standing Court Tavern. This might seem like ancient history. For every club there were about a 100 bands that frequented the clubs in rotation. Some of them made broader strokes playing gigs down the shore, Hoboken, Philly, NYC and beyond. If you told somebody you were playing Brooklyn they looked at you strangely because there were really no places to play there. Although a gig at a old mustard factory comes to mind but still blurry. Bands that played basements like Louis St stayed there for the most part unless they were a hardcore outfit of which case we know of the success stories there ranging from lifetime to deadguy then those pesky and annoying emo bands. Now the scene has changed to an extreme 180 degrees in 2014. The balance of “official” live venues that served alcohol slowly have long been eaten up by Johnson and Johnson and UMDNJ to a eradication of mass proportions. New Brunswick is down to one place that we know of. Yea you probably know a guy who blathered this to you. In turn underground places started to have a insulated affect on the scene. It’s totally foreign to us suburban outsider now but we know it exists. we hope it does. Maybe not as publicly as it once did but we feel the force. What is amazing to see is that the caliber of bands has not changed. There’s kooky bands, to downright terrible ones too. They just happen to do things differently with a tremendous output from just one label (that we know of). Plus that whole internet placebo effect. (We will get into this later.)
The point of this pointed post series is to shed some light on the swath of bands we enjoyed watching, much thanks to a couple long threads on the FB’s led by queen-scene bee Amy Saville from Prosolar Mechanics and Jim Testa from the ever present Jersey Beat. Gigs were happening all the time. Actually, when we started doing the zine thing back then; we always wanted to have a local point of view and bring to our readers new bands they have not heard of yet from inside or outside of the scene. All in an effort to make things less insular –you know hippie-dippy punk. Not just for our knowledge but for all. Not much has changed as far as our special purpose in life. You can read our about section if you want. Hopefully we can go as deep with a lot of bands and include friends (jim/amy, etc) doing the writing to give you a different perspective. I’m sure we seem like aliens because in the era where anybody can have their first debut “EP” release in a matter of one weekend is deeply confounding and troubling. There were a lot more hoops to cross to get people to check out your music, record it, etc. Again, we can dive into this trouble in a later post but for let us drag you to the water.
BGT recording in Steve Albini’s old studio basement, Chicago. Turning knobs.
So lets kick this off with BubbleGum Thunder. Here’s a video of a song that was recorded by Steve Albini at his home studio in Chicago. Plus a bunch of tracks that were never released “officially” on any LP or CD. Here is a posthumous video premier. The band had released three 7″ singles before it’s demise. The best official release was Coward b/w Cheater 7″ on Model Rocket Records. Trust me the irony of posting mp3s of the tunes Steve recorded is not lost on me. He mixed the tracks identified below. They were never mastered properly but herein are the best of tracks from my point of view that the band did. What was great about this band is the chord progressions were bit complex but the playing was ballsy. Joseph the guitar player/singer used lots of open chord tunings to make his life simple and stupid. The results were a very unique sound you rarely hear in my humble opinion in bands today. There was songwriting at work.
RIYL: Cows, Hum, Unsane, Helmet
DOWNLOAD:
01. Bedwetter MP3(basement recording)
02. Cheater MP3(Albini)
03. Coward MP3 (Albini)
04. Ghost Town MP3 (Albini)
05. Sad Man MP3 (Albini)
06. Safe from Me MP3 (Albini)
07. Acid Gravy MP3 (Albini)
08. Swallowed MP3 – Basement recording. Probably one of meanest sounding bass parts I’ve ever played. This is nasty and will rip you up like the little music whore you are. Wait for it at the :46 second mark to feel what I am talking about. You might want to amp up this up in iTunes a little for playback.
If you never had to pay Mark your entry fee to see a band at The Court Tavern. You really are part of the new generation of bands.
“If you ain’t playing. You are paying.”
INTERVIEW: He might not mention Johnny Marr or Ed from Ohio as his guitar heroes but Mr. Doug Gillard is one of those guys who you should just know as such. For Christ’s sake just one glance at his wiki page none the less re-affirms that the guitar has infinite possibilities in the right hands. A few years ago he put his 2nd solo album called Call from Restricted and is now working on a follow-up in-between touring and playing with Nada Surf and producing like the Eternal Summers and playing with a bunch of different bands. His pedigree is as rich as it gets. You know that killer epic 90’s song “I Am a Tree” on Mag Earwhig(Matador). He wrote that tune with some bro named Gem then recorded it with Pollard where he did a stint in GBV between 1996-97 with his band mates Cobra Verde. In addition to Death of Samantha; plus a shit load of other appearances. He has a single out too which you should just own. He took the time out of crazy schedule to put pen to paper to a few caffeine inspired questions. So here you go.
RS: Who and where are you recording your new album>
DG: I’m recording it here in NYC with Travis Harrison at Serious Business, and in Austin with Louie Lino at his Resonate studio, with George Duron on drums there.
I’m also in the process of producing the newest LP by Eternal Summers. Louie Lino & I recorded them in Austin, and I played a little on the songs, helped them co-write a section here & there.
RS: A we never heard of the Eternal Summers until we saw a photo posted of them with you; too many bands not enough time really. Very cool you’re working and producing with them. We did notice the big pro-tools monitor display on your FB page. Do you miss recording to analog or has digital made life easier?
DG: I miss analog a bunch, but it is easier to record digitally, and I’ve come to expect the visual of the files as well – helps you see sections of the song to punch in at, etc…
Analog vs. digital isn’t the debate anymore for most. Rather, its “How does this get distributed and heard?” RS: Lots of words of wisdom. We wholeheartedly agree. Sometimes we think the concept of demoing tunes for a album has gone out the window for new bands. Do you think it’s too easy for up and coming bands to record their music?
DG: Yes. Though I do demo most of my songs, and get too lazy to want to play them again in the studio, so I fly them in from my garageband demos a lot. Its not just laziness- its also knowing I wouldn’t capture the same spark if I replayed it. RS: Do you think they skip right to album and lack a song writer process? Of starting with an idea and then proofing on 4track?
DG: Not sure what you mean by this question, but everyone has a different process. I do think that not enough people try to avoid typical chord progressions, melodies or add interesting basslines to their songs. They should live with the song idea for a bit, and then see if it needs something else. Most times it does.
RS: Right who the hell knows what a 4track is. We personally make music when we’re all alone. What is your song writing process been like?
DG: I always have riffs or parts that I record or voice memo. Sometimes I will marry some of those together, or sometimes a complete song will come to me wholly. It varies, and I’m glad it does. The best are ones that happen by imagining or singing, & I haven’t arrived at it by having a guitar on. I like figuring the chords out later, knowing what they should be beforehand, as opposed to knowing what the moves on the fretboard are as I make it up. Those times are rare, though.
RS: What was your first guitar? Mine was a taped up tennis racket that I played air guitar along to van halen II.
DG: I had some small toy guitars when i was really little, then at 5, I got an almost full size plastic guitar with steel strings from Sears that had the brand name “Emenee”. We had a reel-to-reel tape recorder in the family for trading audio letters with my sister who was living in Germany, so I would use it to record and write songs, until i was about 9.
RS: Does you new record have a title and planned release date?
DG: No title yet, and no release date, as of yet. I’d like to see if a label would like to put my LP out as well.
RS: Any special guests planned?
DG: Aside from Travis Harrison and George Duron both on drums & maybe Sally Crewe on a couple backing vocals, none that I know of just yet. My pal Kendall Meade may be tapped for some bv’s. If my last single “Breaking In Two” makes the record, there’s a very special guest in NJ native Erik Paparozzi on that song.
RS: Do you plan on playing some new tunes in may?
DG: Yes- hoping to have at least 2 ready.
RS: Cool we are very psyched for the show! Any covers you would like to play?
DG: Sometimes i do a slow, glammy “Boney Maronie”. Used to do “Some Might Say” by Oasis and “Stop Me” by the Smiths, and in 2009 we did Buzzcocks’ “Autonomy”. Probably one or none at the Asbury show, though.
RS: Nice my band rarely gets our act together to do cover songs. We’d love to do a nada surf song but they are so perfect. We figure so why mess it up. But what has it been like recently touring and recording with Matthew Caws & the guys?
DG: I love playing in Nada Surf. They’re the best guys to hang around & be on tour with, every one of ’em. And they choose crew people that are really nice & good folks, always. And that’s important. I love the songs, and Matthew & I are around the same age, and have a lot of musical tastes in common, Oh, and we’re both WASPS. Wait, we never even talk about that! The tours went great, and that band has sown the seeds of great friends & fans all over, so its always a positive atmosphere wherever we go. Looking forward to recording our next LP within the next couple years. Ira Elliot is an amazing drummer, and also my bandmate in Bambi Kino, the Hamburg-era Beatles band we have. (We play only the covers they played in clubs from ’60-’62).
RS: Seems as a working musician and the number of groups you have been in over the years it surpasses what any one person would strive for in their musical career. What keeps you inspired?
DG: I always have more music to get out. Always more songs I’ve written that need to be heard. That’s the main driving force with me , always has been, but I also love co-writing with people (Mascott/Kendall Meade, Sally Crewe, and Eternal Summers recently) and seeing what I can add to someone’s song idea. I’m a pretty good bridge writer when someone needs one. The other part of course is that I always enjoy adding guitar textures or solos to others’ work.
RS: We should have been more careful to ask you this but here it goes. Who are your guitar heroes
DG: Oh man, too too many. James Honeyman-Scott(The Pretenders) has always been up there at the top for me. Mick Ronson (David Bowie -The Spiders from Mars), Robert Quine (Richard Hell & The Voidoids), John McGeoch (Siouxsie and the Banshees, PIL), Billy Bremner/Dave Edmunds, Pete Townshend, Glenn Tilbrook, Marshall Crenshaw, Geordie, Phil Manzanera, Chet Atkins, Robin Guthrie, Tom Jobim & Joao Gilberto, Bill Nelson, Jerry Reed, Marco Pirroni, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Adrian Belew, Les Paul, Pat Place, John Lennon, Andy Gill, Chris Spedding, Will Sargent, Verlaine/Lloyd, Rew/Hitchcock. I’m sure there’re a ton more. Dave Gregory (XTC)
RS: Damn this is a list. I’ll admit though I know half of these guys but once I looked them up I was all smart and stuff. Last nerdy question. Do you think social media has made things easier to be a full time musician/ artist?
DG: No. Its made it easier to tell people about a show & “invite” them, advertise product, but that goes hand in hand with there now being 10 million artists all doing that, all fragmented into whichever genre someone’s individual tastes zoom in on. So it seems tougher to reach people, especially beyond the several that pay attention to your particular page or feed.
RS: It’s a bender for sure. I was talking to friend of mine who is a used to play in bands for forever and who has been Highschool teacher even longer than . He said something interesting that kids these days don’t consume music in so many ways we did by genera or label. They actually don’t distinguish between genres and on one play list might be listening to Snoop one minute and then Eternal Summers the next.
RS: Last Question, what’s your goal for 2013 into 2014?
To record as much of my own music as I can, while I can, and, to paraphrase a King, to live a little, love a little.
I like days when we get a bunch of great songs that somehow magically all gel together. That or the RS fans are getting smarter of what they send us. Anyway, here’s are two videos by bands we dig: Speedy Ortiz and Sex Jams filtered for your auditory and listening sonic loving pleasure.
First up is a 90’s guitarist wet dream in the very capable hands of the indie band Speedy Ortiz with their video debut of “tiger tank” via Wreckroom. This is from a coming record of their’s I would assume. Real solid playing and straightforward rock video.
“I got a boy who likes to fuck to CAN” Probably one of the greatest lines ever. Here’s a live version of them doing a song formally known as “Taylor Swift” at Shea Stadium in Brooklyn or at least I thought they had to change the name of the song. Anyway. Good stuff.
Speedy Ortiz Livage:
Jan 27 T.T. the Bear’s Place Cambridge, MA
Feb 23 Cameo Gallery Brooklyn, NY
Next up is our new favorite Austrian band Sex Jams that is every bit punk-noir as EVOL era Sonic Youth. Their full album titled Trouble, Honey comes out March 1st on Siluh Records. This one ditty “Shark Vs Apple” is every bit psychedelic as it is a pagan punk sing along. A big beer can and concert party scene ensues in this one; with guitars as clangy as Polvo or something off of Day Dream Nation era SY. I think pretty close to what The Pony’s were going for when they were around. Yeah, we know you will love this.
This is a great a sex jam by Sex Jams:
If you love these songs you’ll love these bands or vice/versa: Touch Me I’m Sick MP3 by Sonic Youth MP3 from 1989. (Mudhoney Cover) Reverberation(Doubt) by The 13th Floor Elevators from The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators Poser Psychotic MP3 by The Ponys from Turn the Lights Out
We’re long time fans of the Quarterstick Records band from Michigan known as MULE. We got to see them a bunch and even played a show with them on their first tour at The Court Tavern in New Brunswick NJ when all they had was a casette. Those were the days. Now it would be cool I guess to just release a cassette that no one would be able to listen too. Here’s a couple tunes from their first EP with illustrations by Steve Canaday. Nobody plays like these guys did.
In 1994 1/4 Stick records put out Rodan‘s rusty album. Which you would think the singer is a dead ringer for Albini on vocals but in reality it was just the attitude for this musical indie prog nighmare. They’re proverbial jam band in comparison to the finely knit indie of today. This single record you could safely say set the bar for noise and the insult of melody. Beautiful dissonance at it’s best.
Ween Court Tavern, New Brunswick circa 1993 God Ween Satan Era
Ween is the kind of band that you either love or you hate. They originated from the 4-track cassette culture I grew up on so once you get over that hump you are half way there. They created this reality that was inhabited by the entity known as The Boognish. In this head space they played with tape speeds, drums machines and the occasional puff of pot and called each other dude and Jimmy Wilson a lot. I’m not sure they realized when they were in their teens and late 20’s that suddenly this whole hippie culture of college kids would cling on to them. You know burkenstock culture who also like the Grateful Dead, Phish and James Taylor but it happened and kept them alive and working band for over 25 years. Who knows Aaron Freeman (Gener) and Mickey Melchiondo (Deaner) may come to terms once the glory of Aaron’s solo career won’t be able to put asses in seats. We do hope Marvelous Clouds is successful but to not notice the giant conceptual similarities would be deaf, dumb and blind my dear kiddies.
MoistBoyz City Gardens 2nd show 1995 Photo by The Review Stalker
Mickey has had his solo projects and jam sessions with Chris Harford and the Band of Changes, The Jimmy Wilson Group, and recently local New Hope “old farts” Blueballs and of course the notorious Moistboyz. They even did a set with False Front doing Meddle by Pink Floyd end to end.(which was fucking awesome and I was there.) Anyway, the whole musical ‘click’ down in New Hope is fairly close but what’s really humble about Mickey is he runs a fishing charter service, plays in the local softball team and in general is a very un-rockstar in his off time. I guess the point is he found about his band how everybody else did saying “it was news to him” on their ween facebook page. Which is the sort of crap somebody has to deal with when there is substance abuse and recovery involved. He’s been there the whole time while creating moments of brilliance with his buddy and the occasional turd.
So we think this is a low in the bands history and time will tell what will end up happening. Their 30 year anniversary is just around the corner. All fans of the brown can only hope that slight reprieve will be a short blip for some more songs like Dr. Rock, Puerto Rican Power, Coke on my dick, Spirit of 76 and so on. Lets hope; as there is nothing like what they created but for now enjoy the set from their 1993 tour below. Which was ween at their fucking best. When they became a band it opened up things for them which we love just as much. Starting with Kramer (from The Pod) on bass, Claude Coleman Jr(Drums), Andrew Weiss(bass) and Dave Dreiwitz (bass), Glenn McClelland (keyboards) etc. Seeing these guys was like at one point like going to see Led Zeppelin or at least what we envisioned the long jams were like – truly epic. We also can’t forget their long standing sound guy Kirk Miller who always gave them awesome sound. He was the guy fucking with the delays for their in-between rants. Anyway for some other old photos check out ReviewStalker bookface space.
SINGLES: Every month we look in our inbox and wonder what sort of banal crap are we going to have to weed through now. Every once in awhile we go down the nostalgia road and try and relate with the things that are burned like ancient meaningless wall graffiti into our ears. On first listen of Sadie Dupuis’s band Speedy Ortiz we knew something was up when we heard the guitar tones. This short road led to a mecca of influences and opened right up. Not all the music we get seems to be inspired or takes a bow to something pre-dating their birth in fact we think technology makes it a bad thing and some sort of passion for listening before you create is required. Anyway, a couple things we confirmed is; yes sure she worked in a record store and loves collecting 90’s records. The two songs on this latest single have got plenty of distortion and big melodies in a Dino Jr kind of way with lyrics that are as rich as the music itself. She paints with lines like“I have a boyfriend who likes to fuck to Can” ok we like her. She’s on the sleeve. On the vocal timbre side she sounds like Tanya Donelly from Throwing Muses a little bit with her own melodic grit. I will dare to say here; this band is as close to a female fronted heavier version of Nada Surf as it gets with lots of guitar schronks that are going to make a lot of mustache-nerds wish they were hipsterer than her. Check out “side 2” here and get side one “Taylor Swift” from them which I think there may be a trademark issue with but who cares the tune is good – my vote is to change the name of the song to “Taylor Swift Jr”. They were just recently headed into the studio to record a 10″! so if these latest track are any indication of music to come we’re very excited and big fans already. The previous full length release is more hum spun but still pretty great in it’s own right in a Lou Barlow kind of way. Anyway, you get the point. Check them out.
Mar 22 Sierra Grille Northampton, MA
Mar 28 Flying Object Hadley, MA
Mar 29 Shea Stadium Brooklyn, NY
Mar 30 Wesleyan Middletown, CT
Apr 09 Great Scott Allston, MA
Other music like this: Yr Light MP3 by Black Wine from Dark Energy EP Mexican Women MP3 by Throwing Muses from House Tornado A Weirding Away MP3 by Helms Alee from Night Terror Boyfriend MP3 by Janitor Joe from Big Metal Birds (am/rep) I’m So Green MP3 by CAN from Ege Bamyasi (1972)
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