I’ve been pretty busy so here are three quick posts in one. Lots of stuff going on and during the holidays it is important to take a minute or two and think about the people you miss and people who made a difference in the world. Joe Strummer was one of those people.
CHRISTMAS MP3’sI’ve also been mining all the dang Christmas mp3 blog posts and top 2006 song posts. so if your are looking for music to spice up your mixes, well here you go:
I also, promised a mog review and I am now proud to say that I have risen from a below the radar user to a chill user while I tested and interacted on the site and got my music fix practically everyday since I joined. If you are looking to see what some of your favorite indie stars are listening too on the mog like: Mathew Caws from Nada surf or Mac from Portastatic you can do that. If you are looking for some quick music recommendations from people this is easy too. The mog-o-matic that interfaces with your itunes does slow down your computer processor a whee-bit but otherwise all the community magic happens right on site. The mog-sphere, where all your blog posts go, all land in the same pot. You can collect trusted moggers, etc. what is neat is that every connection is based how much interaction you put it. go ahead and try it. The mog has a much less corporate marketing feel than lastfm that only moggers can understand.
I thought this video of The Velvet Underground is fantastic.
Tomorrow: Gene(Aaron) and Dean(Mickey) Ween will be supporting Chris Harford when he appears on WXPN’s “Free at Noon” show, Friday Dec. 8th at NOON (duh, really?).
This is an hour long show that is performed live as it is broadcast from the “World Cafe Live” venue in Philadelpia. This very intimate event is open to the public and if you have never seen these guys perform together in a venue like John and Peter’s in New Hope, or at Stoneybrook farm years ago sucking on helium(fun story for another day), it is a once in lifetime opportunity to experience Chris’s “Band of Changes”; this time around it will be comprised of Dave Dreiwitz on bass (ween/instant death), Scott Metzger on guitar (rana, particle), Eric Slick on Drums (Adrian Belew), with Dean & Gene adding additional vocals & guitar.
“The boy Gedge has written some of the best love songs of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Era. You may dispute this, but I’m right and you’re wrong!” John Peel.
The premier screening of the film “The Wedding Present – Drive” is going to be on Thursday, December 7, at Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, which documents their first tour of the U.S. and Canada in more than 8 years. My old pal Steve from vital cog records and now third hand films tells me seating is limited so get in touch with the gallery or him directly. I went to one of the shows he taped at Maxwells and it was pretty much exactly as they were 10 years ago, so if you missed them this is your chance.
Now this is a ‘viral promo’ worth telling you about, by entering to win a free trip to Seattle to Death Cab for Cutie, MOG beta has enticed music addicts like myself to click-away and part-take in their community thing. I am in the middle of checking out their MOG-O-MATIC music widget and inteface so I can’t speak to it yet but since I like taking acid free trips it seemed like the impulse-net thing to do today.
THIS COMING WEEKEND IN ROCKN’ROLL: Sat December 02, 2006 – The Court Tavern Presents: A benefit for the Hub City Hellrazors roller derby team with: The Stuntcocks :: Felon :: The Hellcat Girls (a burlesque act—go Hellcats!!!) Do it or be square man $10
LIVE ROCK REVIEW: For being my first time seeing a show at Warsaw in Brooklyn and The Hold Steady it was pretty damn good time considering the low opinion of the venue on City Search. Their obscure location(definitely drive if you can), makes it a weird commute in and stay away from the food, although I didn’t try, the people were friendly enough, not sure if that had to do with live nation or not but the sound was pretty damn good and the price was reasonable; and I have to say the polish bottled beer was pretty good. From the moment THS were ready to rock, and it was obvious the kids were there to have a blast and get-down or kicked out, the energy was a like a mist. I dug the music of the first opening band, the singer needs some work but she’ll get there. The Constantines [mp3s from torture the garden], were groovy, musical and echo and the bunnymen-esque and better than some of their recorded material i’ve heard. They had this Talking Heads thing mixed with a bit of gang of four and were not afraid to get a little slow and dirgy, wah-wah out some guitar solos and keep some Who inspired rock fills in-between.
Once they were done, I scooted my self close enough to smell the Jameson from the stage and look into the eyes of the local stage hands, who were eagerly sizing up the audience and getting ready to pick-off the kids and throw them out. I think the singer was pretty much oblivious to this, enjoying himself a whole bunch, and guzzling budwesiers down faster than his twin city brethren from the punk days long gone he references. The past was a glossy glean as he stared into the future kids. A preacher-man, arms extended giving the kids the lessons from his dense storylines, crumpled brow, he said, and said, riff after riff. They certainly started out pretty sober and actually held it together as good as any first-half of a Guided by Voices set. The rock was steady, there was a bunch audience soccer hand-clapping participation, but I think this is what the kids are doing these days since there is no smoking anymore(clapping that is) as the drinking age is still applied, so they gotta do something with their energy and get down to the classic rock. The bouncing around was a refreshing thing to see actually, so if you can catch them while they are out this time around, it will be important for you to grab your bar stools you call friends and drag them away from their misery. These gentlemen are in ‘tip-tap’ shape and I can’t see them being able to keep the drinking pace-up for too many years without some serious AA but I have the sense that the words and stories will be there for a long time to come; long after they’ve hung up their livers and kidneys and need for some enablement and you’re still mumbling here comes a regular and I should have when… I was impressed, from my 10,000 foot Bukowski view, is the realness of this band. There is nothing faux about the hold steady, this is a real rock band once you get past the fact there is not much singing and more of the middle part like any decent ac/dc or Zep song.
So on one visit to Digitalpodcast.com this past week I’ve found some really quality podcast shows and I am greatful to know where the bar is production wise:
Not your usual bollocks | feed – rock and electronic music genres complete with English accent to make you feel cutting edge, in with the new wave. +++++
Radio Free Brooklyn | feed – “Their summary saysTwo guys from Brooklyn drink beer and play the best indie and unsigned music they can find” – which about sums it up. ++++
Sundays Away | feed – 52 songs over the course of year. A brave songwriting endeavor so check it out! ++
bands under the radar | feed The regular rules and filters apply here: unsigned indie artists, decent playlist gives it its edge. ++
Key: + = random needle drop quality controlRating systems are meaningless. Pay more attention to what were spinning and not what I’m saying – your good taste is the only thing that applies but thanks for stopping by.
As reported by pitchfork there are some live Chavez shows on the horizon. Nobody would confirm or deny new material eventhough I did get the word that there is actually some twiddling going on from a myspace pocket man insider. So hopefully some of the new noise will be spawned at the upcoming shows. Why else would you make a Men of Chavez website? Seems like an extreme amount of effort if new material is not in the works.
12-02 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar
12-09 Chicago, IL – TBA
12-16 Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
12-30 San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
Just playing the odds – dig a double hitter MP3 from Matador The Guard Attacks / Unreal Is Here [from the Better Days Will Haunt You reissue]
Also, don’t forget to RSS or download the latest djspork podcast as featured here. Podcast Show #13 themed ‘War all the time’ slated for release on mischief night!
…AYWKTBTTOD are musically a band under the terror of noise from Conrad Keely’s head and I think the band are just getting better at interpreting music and taking it all to a different level much in the same way the Stones did in the 70’s but this time for indie rock. Christ they’ve been keeping at for 10 years with no big hit but still manage to raise the proverbial bar to the point where indie snobs get noise bleeds and then break their neck after it was jammed in their ass (crude but fair- I know). I would be pretty bored if every record they made sounded what the early adopters discovered and then abandoned.
Trail of dead are yet another band in ‘rebellion’ and that is pretty much what they’ve have always been about (breaking live shit etc) so it is no surprise they leaked their album to stick it to the man. The conspirators may bring-up it up as something more calculated by the band, label or management to create a buzz (ok i’m starting the rumor but see how easy brilliant marketing spin control can be?) But will they remember? Will the kids care 2 months from now? Granted, I was able to get most of record for free on various blogs, so please grab some free mp3 while you can:
So Divided has secured it’s spot in my top 11 for 2006 and if they could only remove some other undeserving crap from the airwaves we could say we’ve witnessed some justice.
Now that we’re in Q4, it’s time to look back and see what releases have secured their spots in my top 11 for 2006, so here it goes:
radiodread by Easy Star All-stars- which if you haven’t the justice that prevails to the bands music, these dub-masters remake the classic ok computer as if it were their own. it is awesome
The outsider by DJ Shadow is quite the diverse mix from acoustic to blow your trunk open speaker bangin’ rok the house. I have turn it down at stop lights
Just like the fambly cat by Grandaddy, ok so totally bummed this is the last one but looking forward to his ‘solo’ material efforts.
curses by rye coalition, ode to jersey metal you can’t go wrong
At War With The Mystics by the Flaming Lips. Disguised anti-war songs and the regular fun art-rock associated with this modern day uplifting acid induced band.
The contenders: m ward, ben kweller, hold steady(haven’t heard the whole thing yet) tons of discovered bootlegs from r bally that might require their own category and perhaps a singles list, which the will include th re-mastered “you faded” by Chavez; as the number one single from their upcoming box set Better Days Will Haunt You dvd/cd, as there is no indie guitar rock band that even comes close to the tones, textures, drumming, and massive 10 chord attacks. I think I played it like 10 times in a row today having lost the original pentagram ring ep to my college days at RU, and to think this track is just the b-side! We’ll see what time allows but if you do anything and don’t know anything about Chavez. Do your guitar loving ass a favor and pick it up 10/10 and crank-it. It was cutting edge in the 90’s and yet the band still holds the bar way up there as far I am concerned and about 20 other snobs I know. If you know of any band that it reminds you of; I am all ears? Thanks.
Now i’m not used to major shows happening right around the corner from my house, but it seems The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders will present Music Fest ’06 on Saturday, September 16 in Cranford featuring Cheap Trick!(8:30) Mike Peters of The Alarm Is going to play the second set(2pm), w/ bunch of more expected performers like a beatles cover band Fab Faux and LaBamba’s Big Band with guest vocalist Southside Johnny.
On ther turn table is radiodread which OK Computer done by the Easy Star All-Stars. Highly recommended.
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