So i got lazy this year and plain old overworking. However you want to look at it but my friend Matt put his Christmas Playlist together. Actually he has been working on The Great Unheard covers project for many years. Check out the awesome covers by all the sorts of folks for music lovers. He sure did save me a lot of work so welcome him on the launching of his new mp3 site. glad I can check make killer Xmas playlist cd off my list. Good job Matt!
Album Review: Glowing Bird by the band known as Arizona. I had a dumb idea for a comp the other day which would feature 50 bands from 50 states. Probably do-able but you would end up with some crap. Although we’re a little late to the game we are always weary of a band falling through the cracks. The good news is that these guys would be a good opener for said project. No doubt about it. Studio geeks beware of the state of the band Arizona currently 3/4 parts Asheville North Carolina and 1/4 part of course Brooklyn. One band guy is still holding on apparently. Pretension aside, this band has none, this review is about the art of making an album. Something that is missing these days in 9/10 of the releases out there. More than likely because it’s so easy to make a record on a computer but composing one like this is a whole other level. It’s obvious they worked hard at the knob twiddling to create the ear candy on this shinning release borrowing some from the reverb playbook with their brand of folk-electronica guitar rock and things that sounds like a melotron and um’ talent? Yes, it’s a damn fine release put out by echo mountain records with so many layers of feel good harmony in the vain of yes the Beatles (on the McCartney side), Sunny Day Real Estate, and contemporaries Okkervil River. A complete pleasure to listen to the two singers trade the lead role seamlessly that they seem as one. At times they get a little proggy and southern rock with their guitar jamming but it’s ok we forgive them for thinking big and letting it rip on the title track. They are best on the last couple simple ditties like “The Fairly Light” and “Whiskey Or Wine” which is mollusk-esque(Ween) but I say just go for it all. You can’t go wrong.
Seven Inch Friday: Noise pollution sometimes can be seen as good thing. The east coast was fortunate to have plenty of bands stricken with the need to play fast and loud with the vocals and melody playing a backseat. Enter the Toms River New Jersey band Baxter and Unsane from NYC. Although they were around for short blip in time the punk rock continuum they put out one hell of 7 inch on their own make-shift label Velocipede. Mark (vocals/Guitar) and Daneal(drums -later to play in Aviso’Hara) were the Jersey shore’s king and queen of indie. This blistering inferno of a band was known to play 4-5 sets tops and then cut the chord. Mark would later go on to form The Trans Megetti and put out a couple releases on Art Monk Construction and full length on Southern Records. Photo by your’s truly.
Baxter an accident waiting to happen Velocipede 7″ mp3 car twenty seven – Side 1 mp3 simba – Side 2 mp3 superstar BONUS: The Trans Megetti (pictured above) mp3 – “Opposite of Techno” (Courtesy of Southern)
Now onto one of the most morose record covers I own by a band that made a interesting turn post-hardcore. mp3 – Concrete bed A side mp3 – El Mundo – B Side This is probably a little tasteless considering the Cobain reference below but then again I feel this is the premise. The music of the UNSANE should scare you out of your gore. Chris Spencer(Guitar.vox) and team were big time into horror flicks and the german Glitterhouse(GR0090) label were more than willing to accommodate. Now for some this straight forward display of rock was everything the new york noise scene stood for and umbrella’d like Foetus, the Swans, Sick of it all, etc. I saw them open for Crash Worship once (more on them sometime) and the unsane just made such a awesome wall of sound. Delivered with a scalpel precision which was only to be washed out by a literal flood and fire by CW. Amazing show. I remember Allen Ginsberg’s boy punk rock lover David Greenberg cowling over them one time. I didn’t get it at first but then I was like this rocks to holy hell. Damn. Don’t expect a melody to catch you. Just let the molten guitar power grab ya which is akin to electrifying a vacuum cleaner sucking the air right out of you right to the end. Unsane @ Wetlands NYC – More fanzeen rock scene photos up on the facebook
Nothing really is the answer, unless you consider SY the only band of it’s type of which case you live in a very narrow universe. So the other night a post caught my eye on mog by a mogger posting a Live Bush tetras video at the knitting factory, which i have scratched up, i mean really scrappy 7″ copy of “Things That Go Boom in the Night” (i think), and was then subsequently chatting with my friend Jim about Danceteria and couple bands from the past including Mission of Burma and the one other bands that came up during the conversation were of course the Dustdevils and I said holy hell I just ran into this band accidentally again…blah,blah,blah. Seriously file Dustdevils with your noise bands on the farther end with neurosis and live skull as far as I am concerned. SY is a pop band compared to this drug smuggling outfit or least in the middle of their output. for the most part Dustdevils are a really noisy rock band founded by English Guitarist Michael Duane and Aussie vocalist/guitarist Jaqi Dulany. They started the band in the Mid 80’s in the UK then transplanted themselves to NYC. With a inconsistent line-up of now well known NY scenesters playing in the band on and off again up until the late 90’s where they toiled their brand of sonic pollution. The exact dates for these things are not so important sometimes if the discography overshadows it in the annals of rock history. Probably a foot note (if that) for some but for others a major part of a scene along with thinking fellers union, Fly Ashtray, Wider, Gerard Cosloy Matador owner, and Crown Heights among other band folk; all whom did time as part of the Dustdevils. I can’t even keep up but this trouser press discography review does a good job naming names. Now seriously, you really need to be into dissonant guitars and feedback that creates this aural landscape to enjoy it. The later stuff gets all trance and mixxy but you’ll like it. I have.
Here are a few choice selections: Mp3 – Young Moss Tongues – from Geek Dip (Matador 1989) where you really get that SY comparison to something could have easily been on EVOL and you would be none the wiser. Mp3 – Encient – from Rhenyards Grin (Rouska/Fundamental -1987) – This album starts does hit part of pop department alla throwing muses a whee bit but i think it has to do more with production and more apparent song structures. I honestly start with this one then work you way up or down. Mp3 – Receiver – From Extant EP (Matador – 1996) Recorded in 1993 sometime and released posthumously after for good parting of Duane and Dulany.
Welcome to 7 inch Friday. I really miss picking up releases in this format so I’m going to be recycling some for you here every once in awhile. This week we bring you a early release from Monster Magnet on Primo Spree which was “distributed” by Caroline records. I picked this up a long time ago at Vintage Vinyl Records in Fords NJ on translucent green vinyl. I think it’s a collectors item because it was not released by the band officially. Who knows what the story is maybe somebody can enlighten us heh? The record that followed for me as thee glue sniffing grunge drug rock album was Spine of God that came out on vinyl on the Beverungen, Germany Glitterhouse label and then I was hooked. Soundgarden was also fave and then Nirvana got bigger and overshadowed the whole scene and then it was over just like that. Catch Monster Magnet live if you can. Dave Wyndorf still rocks friend him on facebook.
Download and nod off:
A Side: Murder
B Side: Tractor
Always good to see tris mccall jamming on the keys. Here are some more photos from the NY Popfest at the cake-shoppe. My Teenage Stride do this alla Jay Reatard a little bit. Total low-fi with the high fidelity quality of great 60’s singles and their Creep Academy single is great example of this psychedelic influence of the velvet underground mashing up with the pop aesthetic. Ok so the singer Jedediah Smith looks like he’s in his 40’s and that is ok. Pollard was in up there too when he broke to masses on college radio. So easy to say a creative peak indeed! Let your ears do the listening and your feet do the dancing as this music reminds me of what i got with wfmu Michael Shelly bonus pledge cd Cut that out! Sampled below for you to dig man.
Way back in the mid-80’s there was a great local alternative band called Animation that borrowed from Echo and The Bunnymen, Lou reed and whatever was hip at the time. The town benefited from having a pretty decent local record shop called the Music Staff. Life was good. Animation’s release Loud Day had everything; a great intro song with a stomping bass part promised you that the rest would be great and it was with suburban themes and a cover of The Velvet Underground. It didn’t get any cooler. Ok maybe, I’m lying. Westfield High School in the 80’s was not a normal place when I think about it. One of the school clubs was called the Young Leftist and another one The Radical Rock Reactionaries (RRR) that was found by the Margulis Brother’s Oren (88) and Gil(86). They put on shows and is where I got my taste of original live music not just attendee but as a musician. i was part of the scene and where i got to know the Don, Jerry and Bob from the Whirling Dervishes (pictured) – i probably saw them play more times than I can count. The good thing it was great every time. One of the bands RRR got to play early on was Animation who originated black T-shirt as far as I was concerned. Other bands that made appearances for RRR were Hoboken’s Tiny Lights, Das Damen (SST), the Whirling Dervishes of course, Spiral Jetty, The Unemployed (haha a one off band of mine) and Psychic Fair (WHS 86-88). There were probably others and maybe I’ll remember them later but in the meantime here are some selects by said “local” bands that enriched my life and introduced me to whole other world of alternative music. Another band that was in a parallel music universe to Westfield was Skunk from Maplewood, NJ. Enjoy. More later.
MP3s: Animation – What goes on (Velvet Underground cover) Animation – Hide & Go Seek off of Loud Day(Vital Records) Das Damen – Gray Isn’t Black from Jupiter Eye(SST) Tiny Light – Sweet Solutions from LP Prayer for the halcyon fear Spiral Jetty – The Hour from Dogstar LP (Absolute a go go/Rough Trade) Skunk – (There’ll Be Other Girls) Hoss from Last American Virgin LP (Twin/Tone) Skunk – Chezone and Trevor Whirling Dervishes – Cop from the CD Strange & Wonderful Whirling Dervishes – Your Little Finger from the CD Strange & Wonderful
If you are planning on escaping for the weekend and taking off on a friday let me help with the summer mix. Hopefully you’re headed to someplace hot and with A/C. There are a few classics on here with a little bit of twist backed with some golden nuggets. From the newish bin are Desolation Wilderness from their record White Light Strobing; lots of twirly reverb and delay that can help you get lost during the driving process. To help with surf are The Woggles (not be confused by the Boggles) do Got a Heat on, circa 1993 off their excellent record on Ragged But Not Right. I also put the Wipers from the Is This Real? Box set, who were a huge similarity to Mission of Burma and were a huge influence on nirvana and post-pink bands like fugazi. Download and enjoy.
Dear young performers, Psychobilly, reverb and The Bigsby would not exist the way we know today if it were not for Lux Interior and Poison Ivy of The Cramps. Shit I might not know how cool the 50’s really were unless I never heard Bad Music for Bad People way back when. The songs were simple, easy to play but the crazy slow feel catapulted you into this alien world of weird science, hot rods mixed with Bohemian beer (very disgusting by the way). Lux was a avid record collector and covered some jems and was covered almost as much as Elvis. Ok maybe that is stretching it a bit but not far-off. He was up there as far as rock icons go and on the same level as Strummer, Joey Ramone and Iggy Pop (still kicking). Leaders of the underground like it or not. This music is the devil’s music to some and drunken bliss for others. These are the people who die, die.
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