» NEW NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE

May 2nd, 2012

Oh Susanne is the lead single from Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s comeback, Americana. Neil hasn’t played with the full line-up of Crazy Horse for some time. The video is like a dream. Depressions were much cooler back then.

Here’s the tracklisting by the way:

1 Oh Susannah
2 Clementine
3 Tom Dooley
4 Gallows Pole
5 Get A Job
6 Travel On
7 High Flyin’ Bird
8 She’ll Be Comin ’Round The Mountain
9 This Land Is Your Land
10 Wayfarin’ Stranger
11 God Save The Queen.

Looks like someone has been flickin’ through their songbooks.

 

» 5 SONG THURSDAY

April 26th, 2012

 

***I HATE THURSDAYS ***

The Black Angels- Watch Out Boy

It seems The Black Angels are dipping their toe into the Spirtualized pool. Strings? Overwrought vocals? Heroin guitar swayings? Atypical Angels. It’s just a one-off for record store day…or is it the foreshadowing of newer artistic explorations?
The Burnt Ones- Meet the Golden One
Is it safe to declare San Francisco ground zero for the best new-old music being made right now? The vortex of garage and good time, thrashing about, pulsating through the wires and machinery of the interweb to tickle your auditory receptors with collective memories of a time long gone and never been? Hailing from that De facto Capitol, The Burnt Ones offer up this T-Rex styled clap-along boogie, for a mere $1 donation on their bandcamp. Perfect accompaniment for wasting away your Friday night, or re-enacting scenes from Dazed and Confused.
Animal Trophies- Epique

And let’s say Lyon is the evil mirror image of San Fran in the world of stellar, kick in the door garage punkage. Visual/Audio evidence A is presented above. Excited for more 1) future output from Animal Trophies 2) French bad kids to spread their catchy brand of youth worldwide via the Azbin label.
The Flying Burrito Brothers- Sin City

Gram Parsons will forever be known as the holy man who married country and rock. Born into a wealthy family of alcoholism, cheating hearts, and depression, he channeled the hard-luck down and out honky-tonking of the rural blue collar into the more suburban sensibilities of the emerging rock culture/music business. The Cosmic Cowboy was also known to team up with Keith Richards to drop acid and wander the desert searching for UFO’s. Legend says that among the decadent drug orgy known as the “Exile on Mainstreet” sessions, Gram is hidden somewhere on the tracks. Drug abuse and bad scenes aside, here is a man who saw American music in a sort of unified light that only made sense to him at the time, and then to everyone else afterwards. Covering soul songs with a country bent, rearranging old standards with a more amphetamine sheen, and taking up the mantle of a “contemporary” songwriter, his vision(s) is (are) eerie with the righteousness of the Lord and the hey daze of the late 60’s. This original number is one of disillusionment with the excesses of LA and the record industry; a vindictive, apocalyptic righting of wrongs in the form of earthquake and fire from heaven for the fat cats. The matter of fact vocal convictions, the beautiful falsetto of the pedal steel, the piano smuggled in, all add up to a truly haunting foreboding.
Bäddat För Trubbel – Snälla, Snälla

About a year ago, these guys were popping up all over the punksphere. If it slipped your notice, consider thyself now hipped. Bare-knuckled, fast and dirty rock’n’roll from Sweden. Should your band completely rip them off, we won’t complain; in fact, we’ll encourage it. Seriously, why are you goofing off with re-doing Joy Division for the trillionth time? Don’t put people to sleep; kick them in the crotch!

Words: Brad Krohe

» WEIRD DREAMS- CHOREOGRAPHY

April 26th, 2012

Choreography by Weird Dreams has earned such adjectives as “dreamy” and “jangly”, which one should just read here as trendy. This is not a dig; it’s an objective observation. Weird Dreams is good in a way that everyone can agree upon. It’s similar in principle to the way David Lynch uses the music that he does in his work; drawing on the familiarity, the cultural association, and the collective idea of what something should be and playing off of it. From the noir inspired snapping fingers of Twin Peaks, to the sweet 50’s innocence of Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” featured in Blue Velvet, Lynch invokes our individual, yet general associations with the music to bring context to the story.
And this is what I feel Weird Dreams has done. The sounds are diffused; from the high vocals (which are gorgeous), to the edge backed off the cymbals. Even the clean tones of the guitar are slightly softened. This cues listeners in that the music is sincere. A Smiths comparison can be drawn, but it also fits into the larger currents of instagram haze, wayfarers, and endless summer youth forever aesthetics. It’s vaguely familiar ala other bands labeled indie or _______ pop. But the trick is in their appropriation, and this is the solid part. They craft those influences/forces, direct them in a unique way into melodies and tunes and the resulting album. My top pick for the album is “Little Girl”, a shuffling number that conjures up visions of the “Enchantment Under The Sea” dance.
Of special note: the bass parts on this album are great. If you’re using crummy ear buds it’s hard to pick up, so do yourself a favor and crank it on a hi-fi and let it shine.
All in all, some may be skeptic of Weird Dreams (perhaps fairly), but it’s everything that was and is NOW.

Words: Brad Kroe

» SEXBEAT RELEASE WHITE FENCE

April 24th, 2012

SEXBEAT have announced they will release Green Balloon, a new single from White Fence, on May 21st. Only 500 copies will be available in the UK so get your pre-order on here. You can stream Green Balloon above. Last chopper out of ‘Nam sort of music.

» SONNY AND THE SUNSETS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM DETAILS

April 23rd, 2012

Sonny and the Sunsets’ new album, Longtime Companion, will be released via Polyvinyl Record Company on June 26th. The lead single Pretend You Love Me can be streamed above. It takes me back to long car rides as a kid. Does that mean it sounds like Simply Red?

» YUGO-A-POGO

April 23rd, 2012

After the Sex Pistols said some naughty words on the Tedd Grundy show punk spread like the plague. Here four young Yugoslavians show the early symptoms of the contagion.

 

» 5 SONG THURSDAY

April 19th, 2012

5 Song Thursday is back!! Stop chewing your elbow and listen. 

Andrew Leigh- Magician

Obscurest hippie carousing at peak freak out levels. Sitar scatterings and flute divinations, Andrew Leigh’s joyful epode to The Magician is artifact and prophetic yearning. Released in 1970, it contains all the optimism of the 60’s coated in histrionic, new agey folk.
King Tuff- Sun Medallion

A sun medallion lying in a bird’s nest of chest hair is a statement; King Tuff breaks down the nuances of such a statement.
The Clash- Charlie Don’t Surf

One of the many rewards of working through the laborious, voluminous tour de force of Sandanista. Buried on side 5, Charlie Don’t Surf seems to expect the coming decade of 1980; the popping bass and the guitar work textured with a slight synth ( or overdubbed with a weird pedal) all carry a certain sound one may inarticulately call “eighties.” In case you need to be reminded what crack musicians/artists/people The Clash were; but really, who forgets that kind of thing? More aptly stated: it will cultivate a deeper appreciation for the rare genius of The Clash.
The Gaye Blades- His Girl

Fantasy Narrative: a group of musically sound crust-wavers are recruited by Zelma Sanders as the house band for J & S records. After writing, recording, performing, and producing several chart topping hits for The Hearts, Rita Zell, and The Endeavors, The Gaye Blades cut a special one-off solo record. It makes sense that Norton put this album out.
The Antartics – Runaway

Choice cut from the fantastic compilation Steam Kodok: 26 A Go-Go Ultrarities from the Sixties Singapore and South-East Asia Underground. Rivals anything made in the west at the time. Interesting movements, a super-hip guitar solo, and over all melancholic energy make this an instant outsider dig.

Words: Brad Krohe

» HAIR COMMERCIAL

April 19th, 2012

Allen Ginsberg has come back from the grave to present this commercial for White Fence and Ty Segall’s collaboration, Hair.

» STRANGE BOYS LIVE AT THE GARAGE 2/4/2012

April 16th, 2012

animated gif maker

Funnily enough, I hadn’t seen The Strange Boys live before their show at the Garage. In my mind they were sort of like Todd Haynes’ depiction of The Beatles in I’m Not There. I don’t know why, but I’d caricatured them; mentally, I’d turned them into funny little creatures. I guess that’s because I’ve listened to their albums countless times but never had the opportunity to put a living image to the sound. Not that that’s important in any way. It was sort of funny though. Anyway, when I saw the four of them on stage and in person it was quite a shock. Ryan Sambol, who had been cast as the mischievous ringleader in my cartoon interpretation, came across more like a Levon Helms than a Paul McCartney. In a down home sort of way he was very country. Not like Webb Pierce decked out in a nudie suit but more Dylan on the front of Nashville Skyline. There’s plenty of mischief in him though. This is a long shot, but at times I got the impression that The Strange Boys is a vehicle for the mischief inside of him; it seems like songs are spontaneously adapted on the night to fit the mood of his mischief, while phrases are slurred, words are barked out and yelps and hollers keep the audience on their toes. It takes a lot of energy and a great band to pull this off, two assets that The Strange Boys possess in bulk.

It’s clear by now that The Strange Boys aren’t a band that let themselves be bossed around. After two hell raising rock and roll albums, Live Music, their third album, found them departing to somewhat different territory. Tonight, while the band make sure that older songs aren’t simply repeated from their recordings, I was somewhat surprised that they revisited older territory. A shout for Should Have Shot Paul, however, was met with some sermonising from Ryan. “That’s a song of hatred” he retorted after playing a few bars of Wings’ Band on The Run. All good fun. All very mischievous.

The Strange Boys at the Garage wasn’t your typical rock and roll show. There was no bravado or mystery (the lights were kept on during the set and smoke? Forget about it). Maybe these things are just gimmicks in the eyes of the Strange Boys. Whatever. They didn’t need it anyway. There’s something much more inscrutable about this band, something that can’t be hit upon in a few phrases. All I can say is, if you have enjoyed The Strange Boys’ records you’ve only had half the fun. Go and see them live and a few more pieces will be added to the puzzle.

Words: Joe Stevens