Franconia Station

HEY - WE ARE MOVING

2010-05-28T16:50:00.000-04:00

HEY, WE ARE MOVING TO WORDPRESS. I do a zine sometimes. It turned into a zine, podcast and blog. Multimedia. I am a conglomerate. I'm sorta fucked up on medication at the moment. We're moving here. For a while updates will be here until you realize we are moving. Then I'll let you know when Franconia Station gets re-branded. Word.

Reviews By Beau Beau

2010-05-16T10:06:00.001-04:00

My name is Beau Beau. My feeder is too busy working on his house this week to do any blogging, but I am more than qualified to review the crappy fucking music he listens to. So this shit is going down like this.

First off, I just want to say that most of the music you so called "feeders" create and listen to is total shit. 99.9% of the time I am running from the room any time the dumb ass that feeds me plays anything on his stereo. I mean, for god sakes, it's called melody people. Timing doesn't hurt either. You fuckers are pathetic.

So anyway, first off we have Puerto Rico Flowers. They have a four song single they put out on Fan Death Records. Over four songs, and twenty terrible minutes this guy bemoans himself over slow, trudging riffs. It sounds like when the other cat in the house is throwing up, only slowed down and with synthesizers. Fuck this sad bastard. Seriously dude, your a pansy. The sunny shores of Australia aren't doing it for you? Dumb ass. The feeder can't stop listening to this shit. He says it reminds him of Joy Division and The Jesus Lizard. It sounds to me like those people are just as terrible.

Fan Death records did happen to put out an album that I actually like though. Twin Stumps Seebed is the sonic equivalence of life as we know it, fucking terrible. Imagine yr trapped in a house, partially crippled because your mom was basically a feral cat that lived in squalor, you have a small urethra which makes you nearly die and you have to have your cock cut off, then you are forced to endure some idiot lunatic and his whimsical, psychotic stressed out bullshit. Imagine that, you piece a shit and go to hell. This record relates to me and I relate to it. See the balding piece of crap on the cover, yea, his life is terrible too. The album is mostly unlistanable and brings no joy or sunlight or positivity into this world. Because all of those things are fucking dead in this world. Way to go Fan Death, you finally did what you were searching for. Hey shit fucks, I heard Pitchfork gave this album a 7.4. Bet that critical recognition from a bunch of half witted twats really got you guys stoked. Idiots.

Yea, so the feeder has also been playing Get Rad's I Can Always Live. Oh Boy, another hardcore record with a vocalist who can't sing. Oh yea, and your not cleaver with the Get Rad, I Can Always Live thing either. I mean I know it snows a lot in Minneapolis and that slows down the cerebral functions, but seriously. And that song "Drug Off Choice" which is about pizza, that's what your bringing to the table? What are you guys 15? I could write a better song than that and I am a cat without thumbs. For the love of god, what is wrong with you people? Feeder boys and their arrested development. Your blazing fast hardcore and gruffy vocal stylings are no more artistically insightful than Minor Threat back in 1981, okay. Shit was played out when they did it, you're not really adding to the cause. Oh and the cover art, really? I mean the man hasn't even been in the ground for a year. Tasteless, absolutely tasteless. Your attempts at humor and irony fall short of the punch line fellas. Jesus, I can't do this anymore. What the fuck.

So that's all from me this week. God I hope I don't have to do this again. Music is fucking terrible. You're all fucking stupid.

Editors Note: The views expressed in the above post do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff here at Franconia Station. While we normally strive for integrity and honesty and review music we actually like, the fact is, house work is fucking stressful. We regret handing over the controls to Beau Beau the cat. But lets face it, he was doomed from the start. He was after all named after this guy:

photo by Colin Germain. .

I mean, that shit is fucked up right? Who does that to a cat?

Slices are Cruising

2010-05-11T21:23:00.001-04:00

Slices
Cruising
Iron Lung Records

Look, I'm not gonna lie, I've been trolling the internet for "free" music lately. I do this now and then. I stumble across a blog that rapidshares albums of bands and I start reading what they have to say and then eventually I down load one or five albums, records or whatever. I don't practice that behavior on this blog for a few reasons. 1. I don't know how to zip folders together. 2. I don't want to sign up for another account of anything on the internet. 3. I think that stealing music is ultimately wrong. Even though I don't practice this last one as well as I should and am a total hypocrite douche bag for even talking about it, I can't, in good faith allow others to bogart work from my shitty blog. If you want to steal music on the internet, well I'm not gonna save you the hassle of using google. I find this shit by mistake, and you can probably do it a lot easier then I can.

I came across Slices on one such blog. I don't even remember which. In fact, I found this band originally through Last.FM as a band I might be into and someone posted a link to a blog and I went and read about the band and downloaded the album cuz it sounded kind of cool. It's fucking AMAZING. I know what you are saying, "Dude, you say every album you review is fucking AMAZING. If you think everything is AMAZING how am I to know what is truly amazing and what is just crap? Dumb Ass." I know, I agree, and seriously, this time, I mean it.

The sonic similarities to fellow Pennsylvanian sludge fuck band Pissed Jeans can not be understated. Dreary, sludgy, loud as fuck piss rock seems to be gaining momentum in the wake of Pissed Jeans and a lot of the bands make Pissed Jeans albums sound like Micheal Jackson Records. Drunkdriver, Twin Stumps (both on Fan Death, which is a twisted fucking label) and now Slices all delve into the depths of desperation and near unlistanability (Twin Stumps have a sanctioned download of their new album at this blog and looking at the sound waves, I can't tell if it's supposed to be mastered to full peak, or if there just fucking with their fans, but seriously, you have to turn the speakers way down, just to comprehend what's going on, shit is serious). Slices, for their part are far more manic on the record then their sonic forefathers in Pissed Jeans, at least out of the gate. King of Jeans becomes more aware after several listens, and seems to catch up in intensity to some of the bands that have followed in their example, but Cruising just comes at you full tilt, with no warning.

Cruising is a punishing album where everything is in full on overdrive And all the yelling and screaming barely lets up enough for you to catch yr breath. Even the interlude "Mike's Insane Problems" is a frantic scale jam on the piano. But it's nervous and twitchy and doesn't settle you down so much as set you up to get kicked in the balls when "Guide to Incest" kicks in. This is neurotic rock music, taking all the great pieces of outsider rock and making it intense and lively again. And with nine songs in twenty minutes, Slices does it right. They don't drag you through the ringer so much as drop you into a wood chipper and laugh as yr guts are poured out all over the place. Get fucked up.

Just Like Roger Ebert, I review movies too

2010-05-09T09:05:00.000-04:00

Crazy Heart
Directed by Scott Cooper, Staring Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal
Fox Searchlight Pictures

Though it doesn't happen here very often, I really like to analyze movies. It was a practice I first learned in high school and later pursued in College film classes. Film is actually one of my favorite methods of story telling, and a good film also has great photography as well, something I quite enjoy. So, I try to watch a lot of movies. As of late though, this hasn't been the case. I've been busy working on my house, so going out to the theaters or sitting in front of my TV with a rental has been a scarce activity. But last night I was hungry and needed to unwind, so I hit ye ole Red Box and got the Academy Award Winning film Crazy Heart. And after watching it, I can see why at first the industry was weary of this film, and then ultimately accepted it as one of it's own. Of course, saying "rejected" for a film that still probably cost millions of dollars to make is a bit of a stretch, especially seeing as it was released by a fucking Fox affiliate.

Now, I love Jeff Bridges. He was in two of my all time favorite movies, Tron and The Big Lebowski. The man is a fine actor, and his performance as Bad Blake is spot on with these classic works. His face lends itself to the harsh, desert atmosphere, small clubs and shit venues as well as to the dilapidated hotel rooms he finds himself in. All of these places are caught beautifully by Cinematographer Barry Markowitz. In fact the scene in which Bad Blake is lounging in his crappy hotel room with Jane, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, is so rich in color and mood, it's worth the price of admission just for those few seconds as the smoke twirls around the battered, but not beaten Jane.

But, as I get older and notice more repetition in film, I can't help but be eagerly annoyed by the fact that this is another movie about an older, rugged man, and a younger woman who gives him salvation and ultimately leads him to redemption. And while the ending of the movie is less Hollywood and classic romance bullshit, why, why, WHY do we always have to see this relationship over and over again. Young women are not the way to salvation. And while the movie does a fairly good job of knocking the youth out of Gyllenhaal and showing her as a struggling, working mother, it just regurgitates the same, old story line. Reinforcing the ideal that older men are still sexy and older women are nothing but haggard throw aways, which both Beth Grant (TV's Wonderfalls, and so many other small but penetrating roles. Woman is a Goddess, seriously) Debriana Mansini's barfly characters portray. These one night stands of Bad Blake, with aged, star struck women is such a terrible ongoing theme in our culture these days, devaluing a woman as she ages. These minor characters are also a personification of the future that Jane has for her too, should she not settle down and find herself a man. After all she chases Bad to his hotel room at 1 A.M. despite a child with a babysitter at home.

I can't condone this film, which is very difficult, because on so many other levels, it's a great movie. But while it allows Bridges grace, its insistence on setting up women as broken creatures who age into haggard dispositions just doesn't cut it for me anymore. The performances are Academy Award worthy, the music is brilliant, even the cinematography, non-obtrusive or slick, is subtle and beautiful. But we need to tell stories where people find salvation in themselves and stop devaluing the ladies as they age. That shit is just fucked.

Trash Talk - Explode Video

2010-05-08T15:48:00.000-04:00

Sacramento has produced exactly two culturally relevant artists. First, erotic performer, film maker and post modernist Sasha Grey. Granted, not everything she's done works on a high-art plane, but porn that is cerebral, is fucking sexy. The other is hardcore act and pot smoking maniacs Trash Talk. I have a special place in my heart for Trash Talk because they are from Sacramento. Having spent my formative years of 2-12 there, the fact that anything cool could come from such a bizarre place kind of blows my feeble, overwrought mind. The band is totally intense, frantic, violent, spastic and a force to be reckoned with. With a new album on the horizon, it's time to get fucking psyched. They also have a new video, of which you can view below. Do it now and break all the shit in your room and then go get high as shit. It's the only way to cope with this war. Peace.

http://trashtalkhc.com/

Cops with Mohawks hired by club owners to police the clients at rock and roll shows

2010-05-08T02:19:00.002-04:00

I wanted to bring you an amazing set of photos tonight from some amazing bands that played in the District of Columbia. I mean, lets face it, my writing sucks. I have not found the ultimate, most poetic, brilliant way to write about music. I just blabber words that make less sense as time goes by, resorting to daft bullshit and now I am even making up words. The photos really, really help. Unfortunately for you, and especially for me, that isn't happening tonight. Apparently, this time around, the Rock and Roll Hotel, located in the fast moving gentrified area of H street in North East DC decided to implement a no flash policy tonight. This is a shame, and it angers me, and I hate the fuck out of it. I managed a few shots and we'll get to that in a minute, but for the time being, I want to rage out.

First and foremost, and this is gonna be very very very mean of me, to the young lady with the Mohawk, ripped jeans jacket, punker boots and tights, I have a question for you. Did you get into punk rock solely for the uniform and to impose rules on others? Because there are other jobs you can get to do that and actually look like less of a douche bag. You're cliche presentation of yourself in a rock and roll club is alarming. Granted, by the looks of yourself that is all you are qualified to do, and I wish you much luck and success. Congratulations genius, you know how to use a flash light.

To the owners and managers of ALL the clubs in DC that host live music, I recognize that you are all in this game to make money and sell beer. I've come to accept this based on the fact that every single club in this fucking city has two floors and one of them is exclusively designated for the sale of alcoholic beverages. Further, the concert rooms also include these fine distractions. I realize that music doesn't pay the bills and isn't profitable for you, but because you have decided to all collectively get ANAL RETENTIVE about what your patrons do, I will no longer be purchasing food or alcohol in your establishments. If I want to enjoy the music I love in a live setting, I have no choice but to pay the cover price you set at the door. I accept that as a sacrifice I am willing to make to partake in this lifestyle I am endeared to. But I will not give you any more money then I have to. With rising door covers, I am sure less than half of which are going to the actual bands, I will continue to be more selective about the shows I go see in your establishments as well. The older I get, the harder it is for me to get out on weeknights anyway and this city still manages to provide enough shows in alternative spaces that I am able to maintain. But if your bottom line is to sell beer, I am going to fuck you by not buying beer. I realize that I can not convince others to take this stance, and that is fine. But in the past I've engaged in this practice, but that shit is done.

Also, you may not realize this, but the visual images of the bands you hire to sell beer in your crappy clubs actually serves as free advertising. See, it's ironic that a place called the ROCK AND ROLL HOTEL, which has mimeographed fliers from legendary punk shows adorning their walls, alongside photographs of some of these anti-heroes of yore in action would not allow people to utilize a flash to capture other AMAZING bands inside their walls. I mean, if you don't want to be a part of the tradition you are co-opting then just give Wicked Liquid a residency on Friday nights. I mean, seriously, yr gonna pack the place with that no-talent pretty boy, week after week.

Rock music, youth music, hip hop, rave culture, that shit used to be dangerous. The images of the people throwing down, night after night, losing their shit, fucking breaking their lives and shedding the despair on the stage, on the dance floor, in the parking lot or where ever used to be powerful. Now it's nothing more then young professional hipster-turned-yuppie fuckwads at shows that I would not expect them. And what do they do, they drink 24oz cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon at unreasonable prices, act like fucktwats, get drunk, smell and bump into people. And I can't take a photograph with a fucking flash? Seriously?

I'm so bummed, I can't even talk about what I saw tonight. It was amazing. And there is some evidence of that. We'll put it like this, if you aren't with the pulse of Buildings and Imperial China click these fucking links and download these albums and next time you see there names on a marquee, go to the fucking shows. Maybe the next club they play at will at least give me three songs. Who ever thought I would actually wish for that. Here are some photos. I hope you enjoy them at least a little bit. There were so many great moments that my eyes were dying to capture. It's you, the public that suffers the most. Sorry.

Connect the Dots (La La La)

Buildings (at least I got one good shot)

Buildings

Imperial China

PS All these images are Copyrighted by me. If yr in one of these bands or they're on one of yr labels use this shit. If you are the club where I took these photos and you try to use them for promotion I will fuck your shit eight ways to Sunday. Please link this post widely if you live in DC. Thanks.

Mi Ami - Steal Your Face

2010-05-04T22:02:00.000-04:00

Mi Ami
Steal Your Face
Thrill Jockey

Sometimes I like my music raw and unrefined, mixed with intellectualism, sarcasm, wordplay and frenzy. Sometimes it annoys the ever loving shit out of me. Mi Ami has both sucked me in and driven me crazy with their new "album" Steal Your Face. The Bob Marley re-appropriation on the cover, mixed with Cherry Garcia the wastoid and what I believe is Karen Carpenter on the inner sleeve speaks to the title, and tears at the icon. I think. Honestly, I haven't put a lot of effort into it. The images are slashed and pasted and copied and frankly old Bob looks like a junkie down from a binge. The visual blasche flax on the front, the dark hues surrounded by rainbow bright niftyness speaks to what is the package holds. Broken guitar lines, rich, drum circle beats and driving, funkified bass lines.

Straddling all this is Daniel MrMith-McCormick's vocals (this is not his real name, but I am too lazy to look it up because it's too long to actually remember. I don't remember the drummer or the bass players names either, so I will make those up to). On Watersports the trio's debut album, the screechy, falsetto, out of tune vocals took up way too much space. I wanted to punch that kid when I heard it and made the record mostly unlistenable, which was a shame, because it showed promise. By here on Steal Your Face Mac-Winterface has mixed the caterwauling down a notch or three, allowing the important parts to take front and center. What emerges is a tight as fuck band, and all this despite the most cracked, reworked and unplayed guitar I have ever heard. The shit is genius, it's a six sting language that no one has ever heard before on this planet. It's spastic stretches of electricity, shattering yr inner cortex and it's laid out over dance beats and bomping jams that are stretched tight but totally elastic.

The lyrics are ironic or post ironic, or just a mess. And though Moore-Wentworth delivers them with a more contained air, I'm not going to bother deciphering them after just a few listens. Frankly, it's the pulsations of the meter that make them worth while, and though there is message buried in there I'm sure, I'm too old and have too much to do to extract it out of the cut and paste poetry. Lyricism like this often irritates me, contrived Burroughs flavors, mixed with a Fab Five Freddie delivery or slacker laziness most of the time. And while Want-Wallworth is guilty of the first, his eager expressions set him apart from slack mofo's of yore that bore me to death (I'm looking at you Beck and Malkumus, right fucking at you, grrrr).

Steal Your Face suffers from truth in advertising, because it's a maddening good time. I want to hate it, I really do, but it's too good a record to ignore and it's totally infectious. Mi Ami has done something spectacular, combining influences with the desire to break free from those same shadows. Steal Your Face is a keeper, even if you have to make up names and words to describe it.

*************

A note on the Amazon Links: After much deliberation I have decided to add monetizing links to Amazon for downloads. I buy all the music that I review (with the exception of the occasional album I am lucky to have gifted to me by a rad friend or label). I will often chose to buy direct from the labels, but as CD prices have increased and record stores close, I find myself driven into the digital download world. I like Amazon a lot. They are easy to use, often cheaper then iTunes, offer great deals on stuff and have a lot of great indie records. Not that much, but I am hoping they will start providing labels and artists more direct to consumer shops like they do for resellers, etc. Well, anyway, if you want to get these records and want to help a struggling writer out, click on the links. I promise I will work on my proof reading (eesh it's getting bad).

Punk Shows Happen In Churches

2010-05-03T21:06:00.019-04:00

It's Monday, May 3rd. Yesterday I turned 33. On my last day of being 32, Saturday, May 1st, International Workers Rights Day incidentally, I went to a punk rock show. I did this after working on my house, a domicile I own in preparation to relinquish it to someone else who might want to live here.

Today I went to work, and what I really wanted to do was write this piece about the awesome bands I saw on International Workers Rights Day. But I can't concentrate, and I fear and fret for another post that lacks the quality and insight that I might otherwise release upon you, my loving, adoring public. I may have a lost a lot between the hours when I was 32 and my first days of being 33. This is not really how I wanted to start 33 as I have a good feeling about 33. But this is usually how things go these days. Without further ramblings, lets just get into it.

St Stephens church has been holding punk rock shows for quite some time. I may or may not have seen Fugazi here once. I can't remember if it was this church or the other church on 16th in that neighborhood. I don't know, the decongestant I took is kicking in. I am slow moving on the keys and I am thinking about that Fugazi show. Amanda MacKaye went tribal in the middle of the floor while Fugazi played. It was a little unsettling. A week later I ran into Joe Lally, while I was drunk, and told him I thought the show was awesome and that the new songs reminded me of arena rock. He looked a little scared and I don't blame him. I also saw the Dismemberment Plan at the Wilson Center that night I ran into Mr. Lally. I've lived a strange life, mapped out mostly by the shows I have seen. I wish I could remember them all. But I can't. Which is why I am writing about a show, that actually, so far I haven't revealed one detail about. Lets get into this. Again.

The Fordists are, like all the band that played this night, a local group. As I watched them, I could not help but think of another band that sounds like Fordists, also had three people in it, and were from the suburbs of DC. Yes, Frodus would be who I am talking about. It's not like The Fordists played manic, screaming, screeching hardcore inspired, "post-punk". They did have a tight locked rhythm section that more and more reminded me of the lock step that FCI had especially during the Cinca/Burke/Hammacher days. The singer of The Fordists even sang where the top part of his head moved instead of his jaw. It was a bit of a time warp moment where the present mirrored the past, allowing nostalgia to seep in. I'm not sure how I feel about that, waxing on the past while some band rallies on in front of you. But I did appreciate the memories that came rushing at me. The Fordists have something going for them. I hope they stick around long enough to rock the kids.

Hugh McEl roy is at it again. I've seen a lot of the bands he's been in over the last ten or so years and I probably haven't seen half of them. For my money, I still wish The No-Gos had stuck it out longer before morphing into Black Eyes. Also, I can't remember if Hugh was in Trooper or not, but that pre-Black Eyes band was fucking awesome too. The thing about Black Eyes that I really liked was that it was five people working against each other trying to make music and it turned out brilliantly. The thing I hated about it was it was uncontainable, had no common ground, and was too loud in a way that was difficult to put together while the five guys smashed about together. Cephalopods is Hugh's new band, and it fucking rules. I think this was like their third show but at the time they were playing I couldn't tell. Hugh delivers his vocals so clearly and with such a fantastic enunciation, it's its own quasi-rhythmic instrument. The interesting thing is that it's classic Hugh delivery on the bass and vocals but their drummer is fucking BOMBASTIC with crazy facial expressions and flailing arm movements. Then their guitarist, a subtle, non imposing young lady, plays this very intricate, weirdo guitar part. I don't mean to get all gender specific, but it's a style I've noticed over the years that other women have employed in bands whose names I can't remember at the moment. The notes were precise, the chords held with determination and it set it's own tone. On paper, this band would not seem like it would work out, but somehow, they did. Either way Cephalopods were impressive as fuck and I wish they had a record out already and hope one is coming soon. Also, as I was writing and thinking about bands made of ladies from DC I was reminded of the Stigmatics who only put out one 7" before they faded into obscurity, but I saw them a bunch of times and they were awesome.

BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP BODY COP

Body Cop are fucking INTENSE. They formed specifically to sound like Swans and well they sounds like getting punched in the face, having your eyes pushed in, someone pulling out your teeth with pliers, having your fingers busted in a car door, drinking battery acid and then having to go to work for some middle aged prick who doesn't respect you, listen to you or consider you as a person. Turboslut was something unseen before in DC, making music that this town is not known for and Body Cop is the direct successor of the musical ideas and aesthetic set forth by that coven. I can not get the images of this band out of my head, I can't get the sounds out of my ears, I can't get the rumbling out of my heart, I can't escape the images of them dancing frantically in my eyes. As great as all the bands were this night, Body Cop stepped it up a notch, and that is what good bands do, continue to take the given and make something so unexpected that it pulverizes your senses and makes everything destroyed in it's path look pedestrian.

Have I not told you already about Birds and Wires? I believe I have just a few moths ago. Are you fucking sleeping? Where the hell are you? Seriously, you weren't at the show and that's total bullshit. You are a failure, your life is a failure, your kids, your job, your prior commitments, your dance parties and drinking at stupid clubs or watching bullshit sporting events, it means nothing. What the fuck have you done with your life? Apparently, nothing. Just thinking about that miserable existence makes me sick to my stomach. Here's the deal. I'm not even gonna talk about Birds and Wires like you would understand it. I'm not going to say that they are a melodic explosion of shimmering vibrations that rock your cerebral cortex, vibrate yr lifeless heart, tickle your feet and then slam your face in with a rock. Basically, they played seven songs with mighty ferocity, streamlined precision, and gunning brilliance. John Seager, drummer extraordinaire slammed down his stick to the floor after the last drum hit with such a satisfaction that the ending seemed almost unexpected. It was like being awoken from a dream. I will bitch and moan about the fact that this band does not get to play enough, does not release new music fast enough and aren't bridging the gap the way Dead City so desperately needs.

I'm older now then when I started writing this. My memories of a show, a day I am trying so desperately trying to hold on to in the wake of under appreciated office work, long dreadful hours where I don't care about what I do. This bookend reminder of why life is worth living, these moments so few and far between. Everyday of all our lives should be like the moments that move us. Maybe one day I will find the focus, get all my shit together and wax long and poetically about these experiences. Maybe I won't feel like a fool and actually add something to the discussion instead of recounting my visceral responses in repetitive language. I'm currently dreading going in to work tomorrow, wishing for a massive stock market crash or the hostile take over that never seems to happen. I'll settle for my boss calling in sick or generally just leaving me to my work without interruption. I'm looking for the next show, the next experience, the next wonderful surprises, reverberating with electricity through a bare church hall.

Title This Mother Puncher!

2010-05-02T19:19:00.001-04:00

Hey,

I have some photos and a show review to do and I got two awesome records today. That shit will come later in the week. I saw this though on Chunklet. It rules. Watch it. Then read my blog because I have EXCLUSIVE CONTENT about what I am listening to.

peace

Another Batch of Reviews of Stuff

2010-04-23T17:10:00.006-04:00

For whatever reason, over the last week or two I've actually, somewhat, sort of been able to write about records and stuff. It's Kind of hard to say why, but I've worked on both issues #4 and #5 of my zine, which should make for an interesting release schedule, especially since I don't think I'll have a way to scam copies of said articles and said articles are not to be paid for when copying. That's a rule of law. I've been fancily dancily writing on this here blog a bit too. I even, maybe, possibly, started a podcast. Though there are some technical complications that I am having a bit of time over coming. We shall see, shant we? We shan!

So, I'm a bit looped on codeine at the moment. My head is stuffed and I am listening to the new Murder By Death album called Good Morning, Magpie released on the fine people at Vagrant records. The volume is down low, due to physiological senses, but that doesn't mean the title track isn't piercing through though. In fact it is this title track that bridges all that we know and love about Murder By Death with all that they have begun to explore on this album. The post punk tendencies are all but quashed this time around, giving way to explore succinctly the tender, more Americana aspects they've operated under over the last ten years. They get all Tom Waits on "You Don't Miss Twice (When You're Shaving With a Knife)", invoke The Pogues on "As Long As Their is Whiskey in the World" and just flat out blow you away with the moving, face paced ballad "Foxlove". Redtooth and Claw, the previous effort felt like it tread too much upon past territory, and Murder By Death close it out in comfortable fashion with the eerie "White Noise" and dusty setting of "The Day". Should they play this album from start to finish, it's easy to think that these last two tracks were part of the back catalog. But even these songs have more in common with the current set then anything previous. Good Morning, Magpie might be less of hybrid and more straight forward, but for Murder By Death it shows their strength and really showcases Adam Turla as a fantastic songwriter.He's been compared to Johnny Cash in the past, both unfairly and unfortunately, but those same plains and fields are ever present, the music spoken with a similar vernacular. I was expecting more of the same, despite the reviews, but this is a refreshing change, not unfamiliar, but also completely new.

So, you know how I know I am getting old? I'm picking up new bands by listening to Public Radio. This week alone, there were two very peculiar bands offered up at me. The first was Buke&Gass as duo from Brooklyn of all unfortunate places lauded by Radiolab. This duo made modified baritone guitars and bass ukuleles, got some percussions activated by there feet and make some of the most beautiful noise I've ever heard. Once I get the album I'll do a full review, but man, go check out the podcast if you can. The other band was pitched by none other than Kurt Anderson, who is like the coolest, dorkiest old man with his Studio 360 show. I'm not always sure I trust Kurt's taste, being a life long New Yorker I questions his filters. But he did play Take it Easy Hospital, a pair of expat Iranian's who are in a new movie and have a debut EP out. The movie is called No One Knows about Persian Cats which is a movie about two Iranian musicians that play in the way underground and are forced to flee Iran due to political pressure for playing Western Music. That's kind of an oversimplification of the story, but you know, work with me. I'm breathing weird fumes. The EP, Human Jungle is a dance rock inspired bit of revelry. The female vocals leave a little to be desired, I'm not going to lie, but the music is infectious. Almost reminiscent of The Rapture if they were more interested in making something actually danceable and a little more into Radiohead and a little less into Prince. The bass lines are absolutely swanky, the guitar work is unreal and the drumming is solid. By far the best track on the offering is "Me and You", which is sung in Farsi (if I am not mistaken, and if I am please correct me) and based on a traditional Iranian poem (again the origin escapes me and I am too lazy to go back and listen to the podcast, but you can and should do so here). It's pretty freaky music my friends. Recommended to you to ease the stress of a respiratory infection for sure.

I kinda went apeshit on iTunes today for no other reason then I am sick and I can't get my shit together. I bought a bunch of singles from No Idea Records (including the The Measure (SA)/Ergs Splits and both the new Small Brown Bike singles) as well as the Mi Ami single "Cut Men b/w Out at Night" which is so much better then their debut LP Watersports. They also have a new album out that I hope to check out shortly. Also, I heard a new track off the freshly released Medications album Completely Removed which sounds nothing like the jockular, over drive riff rock shit they used to play. I am thinking about checking that album too. But I am gaurded and skeptical.

Well I gotta go shell out forty bucks for some part so I can have a kitchen sink or some shit. Never buy a house. Its total bullshit and selling them is bullshit too. I just want to go to sleep and instead I am waiting for shit. Houses are bullshit. Fucking hell codeine fucks you up. Ain't doing shit for this cough or pain though.

Korrupt YR Self #4 Lost Reviews

2010-04-19T21:14:00.002-04:00

So I do this zine called Korrupt Yr Self. I was gonna work on it tonight, but I can't seem to concentrate on the story at hand. However, I realize that the reviews I wrote are both dated and not going to fit in the print version. So, I published them at the blog I set up for just this purpose.

If you are so inclined you may go here to read them.

For a copy of the zine, leave a comment with your email and I will get in touch.

Later.

Some actual detailed reviews of some more new music I've been into over the last week or so

2010-04-18T10:28:00.008-04:00

Young Livers
Of Misery and Toil
No Idea Records

There is no other record label that I can think of that has been more consistent the No Idea Records. The home grown Gainesville, Florida label, modeling itself off of Dischord records, has been putting out great, intense records for many, many years. Young Livers is one of those bands, spurn from the swamps and heat of Gainsesville to reinterpret the gritty, post punk, post hardcore rock and roll sound. Their long awaited second album Of Misery and Toil delivers the gut punch, but this time with more finesse and skill.

The band debuted with a frantic, visceral debut The New Drop Era back in late 2007. That album was eight songs of pure instinct. The songs were bursts of angular rock music, styled similar to Hot Water Music and Leatherface, but providing much more fury in the place of impassioned anger. With this new set, Of Misery and Toil shows a band that has grown by leaps and bounds, defining their own sounds and style. Along the way they've added some extra emotions to the mix.

The guitar playing has grown, organically with more melodic resonances. You still get the amazing riffs, but the added layers of guitar really make the songs brighter and more full. The full on overdrive exists, but it's like going from a muscle car to a German engineered luxury car. Never has dirty and heavy sounded so beautiful. the interplay of the guitars is reminiscent of the best parts of Braid, but without the pesky mid song tempo changes.

At first listen the addition of Mike Carter of Glass and Ashes felt like it was taking some of the identity of Young Livers away. But his distinct, shredded vocals add an extra dynamic. Young Livers are superb at this sing song shouting vocal style. There is no other band like them, so at first, when Carter's Glass and Ashes injection hits, it's noticeable, and suddenly you feel like maybe the band has given way. But after more listens, it's clear that Young Livers are there own project.

Songs like "In Rapid Succession" are indicative of this, starting out almost verbatim to the Glass and Ashes destructive sounds. But the melodic chorus, with thundering drum hits courtesy of Chris Jordan, give it a much more tribal, upbeat drive. This is the distinction. Young Livers has the challenge of towing the line between original and bearers of the "Gainseville Sound". But they are unrelenting in their uptempo and energy, never slowing for a moment to give the listener a break. Hot Water Music may have defined a stylistic aesthetic, bread from listening to Inquisition and Avail. But where they favored a little bit temperament, Young Livers are an onslaught of bombastic drums, grumbling bass, gritty shouting and excellent guitar work that is both crunchy and pretty.

I had very high hopes for this album, and Young Livers did not disappoint. Of Misery and Toil makes my heart race. I want to run around the block. When listening to it while driving I pound on my steering wheel and shout along with the few lyrics I can remember. The territory is familiar, but the details are accentuated with ease and grace. Young Livers obviously love the bands that influenced them, but they are so much better. It's hard to believe, but it's true. Gainesville has a new hometown hero.

Bridge and Tunnel
Indoor Voices
No Idea Records

This EP, no joke is so much better then East/West that I can't even listen to that record anymore, and when that shit came out, I was all about Bridge and Tunnel. This band keeps getting better and better as time goes on. Similar to the sonic beauty of Young Livers, Bridge and Tunnel layer that awesome guitar noodeling over crunchy chords. But this band is way more pop friendly and sing-a-long inspiring. Also, they vary things up a bit with interludes between parts. The Braid influence really comes out pretty strong on these five songs.

That's actually my only complaint though. The last track "Room to Let" starts out very slow and pretty, but then the Bridge and Tunnel A.D.D. sets in and they just go for it, pounding and strumming like their lives depend on it. And that shit has it's place, but I almost wonder if they could write a post punk ballad like "I Keep A Diary". They've definitely had there moments at that, but I feel the urge to rock just takes them over a bit too much.

I read recently that this band lost it's bass player and got a new dude. I am going to see them in a few weeks, so I hope the dynamic hasn't changed to dramatically. Because seriously this band is pretty fucking awesome. I haven't seen them in a few years, and last time I did it was at a basement show I actually played. But these kids fucking slayed shit like no one's business and had a lot of fun while doing so.

Jonsi
Go
XL Recordings

I will admit, I don't really know a lot of Sigur Ros, the Icelandic band fronted by Jonsi Birgisson. A friend of mine gave me a copy of one of their albums, and I found it intriguing, but I couldn't really sink my teeth into it. I don't really know why. On paper, they should be right up my alley. Weirdo dudes that make lush music and sing in a language they made up. Oh yea and this Jonsi guy plays the guitar with a bow like Jimmy Page did on some Led Zepplin video I saw when I was a kid, the images of which I can't get out my head, despite not being into Led Zepplin at all. So when my same friend told me about this pop album I was like, let me hear that shit, not thinking it would be my thing, but whatever. This shit is magical. Seriously, I'm gonna have to go back and check more of this Sigur Ros stuff out because this guy is a genius. I know this is nothing like Sigur Ros, but it's clear by the presentation of this music that Jonsi Bigisson does not fuck around.

Go is a big sounding record. Everything sounds so clean and crisp. The drums are loud, boomy and have lots of room without overstating themselves. The vocals and pretty and glossy. There are lots of odd little blips and bleeps throughout that help transition between the different modes. "Animal Arithmetic" is an upbeat, almost gay nightclub dance beat. The only reference I can find is that song "Let Go" by Frou Frou from the Garden State soundtrack. Actually this whole album kind of reminds me of that song, but way more interesting. The songs are well structured, but they go to very weird and unexpected places.

The vocals are awesome as shit too. They kind of remind me of Jeremy Engick a little bit. They have that same, high pitch warble that sounds almost child like and innocent. There is a certain peaceful quality to Jonsi's voice. But of course, picturing it emanating from a grown male also gives it a bit of spooky, gothic quality. It's soothing, but uneasy at the same time. Talk about a head fuck.

This dude is probably gonna have a set audience and people are probably gonna go see him, but if you are not yet in the know, get in the know like I did. The bandwagon is filling up, the hype should come and Go should be a record we look back upon in a few years and see it's influence. This music has a place in all types of collections. I have a feeling Hip Hops gonna notice and yr gonna hear this shit in new ways in a few years. If it doesn't and I am wrong, oh well. This record is burning it's way up my play list.

108
18.61
Deathwish Inc

Hardcore music was never that interesting to me in the past. I find listening to a lot of the "classic" hardcore bands fairly pedestrian. Product always seemed like it was more important then production and I never found much to latch onto in those thin sounding records. Pretty much if you think a certain hardcore record is the shit from anything before 1995 I would probably disagree with you. In fact it wasn't until No More Dreams of Happy Endings by Damnation AD that I even remotely considered hardcore, and it was probably another 11 or 12 year gap between that album and anything else that I cared for. No joke. So, no, I never got into 108 before about two weeks ago when I listened to A New Beat from a Dead Heart. That album was punishing. I couldn't believe Hare Krishna's or ex Hare Krishna's could put out something so violent.

I will also fully admit that the whole Hare Krishna business put me off to 108 and their brethren Shelter back in the 90's. Much like their ideological relatives in straight edge, I found Krishna consciousness to be a false positive movement, shrouded in ego centric, self righteousness as well as plagued with homophobic and sexist rules while pretending to be spiritual and righteous. A generation of punk kids, emulating the mainstream but pretending to be searching for nirvana or some bullshit was wholly unnecessary.

Sadly, I feel the same way about 18.61 too. Intended to be an EP at first, 108's instinct was probably correct and they should have stuck with it. Where A New Beat from a Dead Heart showed a reunited band at an musical exploration peak, 18.61 just feels watered down and lacking focus. This is generally the case for anything created in the studio. I don't believe that hardcore and punk rock lends it self to spontaneity all of the time. They are very structured types of music, even in their most simple form. But another quality of punk rock that is important is confidence, and spontaneity can lack that a lot of times.

This seems tragically unfair, for a novice to review this album and not give it any credit. But even in new findings, where I am relatively uneducated, I expect the best. I've gotten into quite a few Deathwish bands over the last few years and they have delivered. 108 has even done it for me too. But 18.61 just lacks the prowess and power I have come to expect. Blacklisted's latest No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me nearly rejected hardcore, had odd elements that seem ill advised and was a wholly confusing record. But even with in that, those boys were confident as all hell and it seeps though ever pour of that record. 108 has a legacy that is loved by many, and have reinserted themselves into the hardcore music arena, but age should have tempered their impetuousness. Yes, I believe they should have known better. If you want to get punched in the face and have a bit of mysticism to boot, check out A New Beat from a Dead Heart. Otherwise, 18.61 can get a pass.

Pissed Jeans

2010-04-17T01:48:00.001-04:00

Pissed Jeans
Originally uploaded by goodgovernor

Welcome Back

2010-04-14T22:26:00.004-04:00

It has been an exceptionally long time since I have written here. My last post touches a bit on why. This is a music blog. But what are music bloggers to do when the music coming out is boring. They ignore the shit. Well, some people don't. Some people celebrate it and others pretend to critique it by lazily utilizing negative adjectives to describe music. I'm not really interested in either. There has been some pretty good music that has come out lately though, so in haste I am gonna try to rock it for you.

Minutes are a band from Kalamazoo, MI that feature DC expatriate Ryan Nelson and home town hero Chaffe Hensley who played in this great band called Trocar. I saw Trocar twice with The Dusters and The Most Secret Method, whom Ryan used to play drums in. Well, they are both in a band now and it's pretty awesome. They have a seven inch you can buy from Dischord. Or if you want to be lazy you can download it for free here. The first song is the stand out track, a lament for the days of being young. The rest of the record stands up pretty good. Obvious linkage to Ryan's Soccer Team project, but this is a little more punk and less indie rock.

Double Dagger are from Baltimore and I saw them open for The Jesus Lizard late last year or early this year. I don't remember the date, but the show was unfucking real. They were a frenzy of spastic, out of control energy. Their singer, Nolen Strals, has this sarcastic, dead pan delivery that he pushes through urgent, crazy eyes. There was blood, some kid got knocked over in the pit, everyone had a good time, but it was intense and my old ass was a little bit scared. When music scares you, that's a good thing. The trio has a new EP called Masks which you can buy from Thrill Jockey, but unless you are into over priced records, I say find it on iTunes or something. I mean, they are design kids, but ten bucks for five songs, no matter how good they are, is just uncalled for. The songs, are really good though. The wire sounds pick up where their lauded full length More left off. The lullaby instrumental "Song for S" is really surprising for the group though. It's a near tender moment of guitar noise rendered against a sleepy bass line. Some might call this a throw away track, but I find it soothing. I wish this was an album, it's more precise then More, which was a mighty album, but Masks brings their jams to a whole new level.

I've been really into the new High on Fire album Snakes for the Divine. I saw this band open for Converge and Mastodon and wasn't overly impressed. I also wasn't too thrilled with my impulse purchase of their Death is this Communion record. It was a little too much Sabbath and not enough Motorhead for a band that reminded me a lot of Motorhead. Snakes for the Divine however does not disappoint in the least bit. The songs sound covered in motor oil, making them both slick and heavy at the same time. The bass was given an added punch, adding the sonic blast and drive this band lacked on their previous album. Snakes is an eight song album that spans forty five minutes, which as you may know, could really push my attention span, but there isn't a dull moment. High On Fire is pure octane, never slowing down the pace. I'm kind of kicking myself for not going to see them in DC, because I bet it was a great show, but with four bands on the bill that night, I just couldn't get excited. Snakes for the Divine however is an unexpected surprise and a high point during a year of terribly dull music.

Finally, if you like straight up punk rock that doesn't suck, No Friends has a new EP, which you can download for free here thanks to the kind folks at Kiss of Death records. Much like their self titled debut, No Friends gives us the anthems, with tough guy vocals from party master Tony Foresta (Municipal Waste). I mean, what can you say about punk rock in general and this record specifically? It's fucking good and you should get it because it's fucking free you cheap fuck.

This stuff has been getting me by. I've also listened, with various degrees of enjoyment Broken Bells (featuring the dude from the Shins and the dude from Dangerdoom, bought on a whim, find it refreshing if not flawed), Plastic Beach by the Gorillaz (don't bother), and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists The Brutalists Bricks (it's alright, but don't believe the hype). I was and remain skeptical of these hyped projects and feel you should to. There are many blogs and music web sites that would have you believe that what they like is what you should like. However, many of them are so narrow in scope that I can't really say how their critique can be validated. Reviewing one or two metal records a year and profiling only mainstream hip-hop is hardly any different then what Rolling Stone and Spin did for years. The immediacies of the internet has turned criticism into nothing more then over-glorified fanfare or out right slander, mostly written by people who fail to grasp the simplest concepts of what the purpose of a critic is. It's not to give an opinion, it's to be critical of the music, the process and the product. Not because you hate it, but because you love it. I'm not hailing my writing here as any great shakes, it's mostly a personal report on the music I listen to. I didn't really get into the meat and potatoes of the music and the art here today. But I'm tired of people passing off a string of adjectives filled with complex syllable structure as journalism or criticism.

Further, the lack of coverage of important sub genres of Rock and R&B, especially for American websites covering American music culture is substandard and frankly, boring as FUCK. I'm also sick to death of genre specific sites not offering decent reviews of records. In the age of immediate availability I can just listen to the music myself and cut out the hype of every popular band. Most of the popular bands in sub genre's are boring. Why? Because most bands are fucking terrible. Just because a band is on a well run label with a budget and just because they sent you free records and advertise on your web site does not mean you have to kiss their ass. Case in point, the Onion did an interview with an actress in a newly released movie. The movie had a full page add in the paper. The guy who interviewed the actress also did the review of the movie and he lambasted it as a piece of crap. It's called honestly.

These are adults for the most part peddling this music to you. Though they love and care about what they do, if they couldn't handle some honesty, they wouldn't be in this shrewd business that is the record industry. Don't hold back. Look at what you love and be honest about it. A shit record can be made by anybody and frankly, every once in a while people need to make shitty albums. That way they can make awesome one's next time that are far reaching, mind blowing and stretch the limits beyond expectations.

Alright, well that's my rant for the day. I'm gonna go drink some tea and go to bed. I hope you found this worth while. Peace.

2010 - The Year to Suck Eggs

2010-02-27T09:53:00.004-05:00

At least for this hapless blogger, 2010 is shaping up to be a shitty year for music. The second month of the year comes to a close tomorrow and I can count on no hands the number of new releases I have purchased thus far. I can count on one hand the number I am looking forward to. We'll talk about those soon. That there is nothing on the horizon, at least that has come to my attention make me sad. Music is a growing form of expression. And though I love a lot of "old" music (and lets be frank, there isn't much music made before 1970 I do listen to, so old is relative), music needs to grow. But in the last few years I feel that music has declined. Bands take less risk, fit more easily into genre molds, shoot not for artistic grandeur but commercial success, katowing to the rise of a new era. But if you think the blogs of the world would pay homage to The Minutemen, The Clash or even the Pixies and especially the early workings of Sonic Youth were they to be born today you are mistaken.

So there are a few records I am wanting to get my teeth into. Beauty Pill, the master works of Chad Clark are said to have a slew of releases this year. There is a rumored 12" EP thought to be close, the release of the music from suicide.chat.room and allegedly another LP. I've even seen the possibility of two LP's being released. All of this is speculative based on the poetic tweets of Clark but if any of it is true I will be on that shit immediately.

Sacramento hardcore outfit Trash Talk are to be releasing a new album, Eyes and Nines. This record was recorded by one of the dudes in The Bronx and if it's anything close to the last album, I'm stoked. I hope they flex out a little bit more. I don't think they need to get too crazy, but I enjoyed "Revelation", the four minute opus from their self titled outing in 2008.

And lastly, des_ark are releasing a new album this year. This I actually know for a fact. The shit is done, mixed and waiting only on artwork to be completed. The eight song collection, titled Don't Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker is going to be unreal. The quite stuff was recorded by Jonathan Fuller who handled the boards for the split with Ben Davis and the Jetts. The loud stuff, which features former MMMBrains member Ashley Arnwine on drums, was lovingly captured by hardcore bro Kurt Ballou. Seriously, this album is going to fuck up your life in the best way possible. This record can not come out soon enough.

If you got anything you think I should check out, drop me a line. Otherwise I am gonna listen to a lot of Funkadelic and the Minutemen. Fuck shitty safe music. It's total bullshit. Listen to The Watt from Pedro Show. That shit will blow your fragile little mine.

Fuck you snow

2010-02-11T06:33:00.003-05:00

Unlike so many other people in the DMV, I actually have to work from home during this. Should be an interesting day today, for there may be no snow left to shovel, I have pulled muscles in both my right leg and right arm and feel completely fucked. But the pain is so minimal now because des_ark has released a new song from her most recent WXDU performance. This recording is AMAZAZING and the song is totally fucking beautiful. This comes correct with news that both the WXDU performance AND a new full length are shortly on the horizon. If Aimee doesn't rip at yr heart strings then seriously, you have terrible emotional problems.

If you head on over to Day Trotter you can check out three new No Age songs. These are brand spanking new. I must say, they are really getting there shit together as a band too. The latest EP Losing Feeling released last year is leaps and bounds over Nouns in my humble opinion. They have reigned in the excessive noise, retained the lush chorus induced distortion and made some great new songs. Check that shit out.

Finally, the most prolific band out of Long Island has once again drop some serious pop punk/ska infused rockery upon us. Yep, Bomb the Music Industry is fucking BACK again with, take a breath, Adults!!!..Smart!!! Shithammered!!! And Excited By Nothing !!!!!!. I think I got all of the exclamation points. Probably not. Who gives a shit though, because they do not undercut the excitement slapped in your face. It's free, but you can pony up and donate to the boys if yr feeling up to it, which you should be.

Alright, well I am gonna go fucking die now from excruciating pain and then go hack at my work computer and attempt to get caught up. Fuck the snow. Winter is bullshit. Being cold and wet sucks. Thank goodness for a three day fucking weekend. To all you people that work for the government, thanks for getting me a job, assholes!

Late to the party, late to the wake

2010-02-05T18:00:00.002-05:00

Def Jux is saying....uh something not good. This week, CEO, artists and amazing performer El-P basically laid out the future of Def Jux, saying the premium independent hip hop label was going on a hiatus as it reorganized.

This, for many fans is sad. Def Jux was a lot of people's connection into the Hip Hop world. Indie Rock fans, turned off by the corporate sheen of mainstream hip hop found something engaging in the Def Jux roster. It's approach to branding while heavily influenced by hip hop history, was also tied very closely to punk rock origins. I think of Def Jux as being closer to Dischord, Jade Tree and SST in there respective heydays. Every release Def Jux put out was something you had to at least check out. Plus there trifecta of Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock and head honcho El-P were unstoppable. The best tracks on I, Phantom, Bazooka Tooth and Fantastic Damage were unreal. The way those three different personalities hit the songs they shared was a kick to the face of the rest of the hip hop.

Least we forget Cannibal Ox. If you do not know CanOX, you don't know shit about hip-hop. The Cold Vein fucks your mind, body, head and soul. Vordul Mega and Vast Aire backed again by the genius of El-P made a work of art that is still so fresh and beyond what anyone in music, let alone hip hop has done since it's 2001 release. I don't care how long you've listened to hip hop, how many records you have, how many shows you've seen, if The Cold Vein isn't in your collection, you are fake as fuck.

Seeing Aesop Rock and El-P live in 2007 and 2008 were some of the best shows I've ever checked. Hangar 18 killed it so hard with their track Bakin' Soda that I made two friends go see them in Chicago in '08. Cool Calm Pete killed it for us. Cage frightened us. Camu Tao, never got a record out before he past on this year, but 2010 will see his album. Shit, Def Jux brought Dizze Rascal from England and even put out the first Del album in over a decade too. They were unstoppable.

So to see that they are stopping, even for a small spell is shocking and sad. I've only begun to start branching out to other labels, but none of them have the appeal, camaraderie or talent that Def Jux had. I don't like this shit at all.

So to Def Jux, thank you. You are a rare label, one that I could get behind, support and be proud to be a fan off. I felt an affinity for what you did. I hope this is not good bye, but just a down time. Hip Hop needs you, but bigger than that, the music business needs you. Peace.

suicide.chat.room - Flashpoint Theater

2010-02-01T19:20:00.001-05:00

suicide.chat.room

Taffety Punk Theater Company
Flashpoint Theater, Washington D.C.

Back in 2000, on a bar stool at the Galaxy Hut, when Marc Nelson, now Marcus Kyd, told me that the Most Secret Method was going on hiatus so he could study Shakespeare and pursue acting I was devastated and agitated. Any one who knows me well enough is aware of my violent aversion to Shakespeare and my great love for the Most Secret Method. I got a DUI two days later from that meeting. I do not believe they are unrelated.

Fast Forward to 2007, it's the summer, Marcus Kyd produces a one act play called The Devil in his own Words. This piece is culled from dozens of texts about the devil. Using literature and religious texts, Kyd created a singular, striking, compelling and dare I say in this Christian climate, sympathetic voice for the fallen angel. Seeing this performance was akin to watching Lungfish play music, or a screening of the film Gas Food Lodging. It stuck with me as the greatest thing I have seen on the stage of actors. Watching this, I knew that despite my own hurt feelings, Kyd had made the right choice. A fine musician, singer and lyricist he may be. But his passion is for the theater. It fuels his life's blood.

So with the arrival of suicide.chat.room once again Kyd has re-appropriated the text of others. A Shepard Fairy of the theater almost, Kyd takes what we believe we know and feel about something and renders it into a new, more intense image. And this time, he has help from two very talented people, that bring this dark, mysterious world to light.

With everything in this play that is striking and intense, the piece that captures the urgency of the topic begins with the choreography. Designed by Paulina Guerrero, the weaving of these handles nearly accepting and always rejecting each other, displays the longing of the words found from a screen and turns them into wanting voices. Without these movements, so intimate and longing and yet still dismissive and full of agony, we have vacant words pulled from a computer screen. The anonymity of the internet always seems to forget that there is a voice behind that written language. Guerrero's choreography highlights the humanity.

Along with music by The Beauty Pill, it also visualizes the internet as actual, physical space. The broken soundscapes that accompany the chaotic movements helps to highlight the same anonymity these chat rooms employ. Under this social confidentiality contract, people weave there innermost anguish in full public. These are not closed forums mind you, but the desire to enter them is singular to one type of person, those who have considered, attempted or witnessed suicide. Ultimately, we find that the movement and sound become the internet space, fractured and separated, but no less real or intense. Chad Clark, Beauty Pill's mastermind, cracks open his masterful song writing, and lets the contents spill into a beautiful chaos.

And so now we face the text. Before seeing this play I was very angry about it. Kyd after all took much of this text from actual suicide chat rooms. These are the true and real words of actual people. And though I trust, and have now witnessed, Kyd's delicacy with this world, I still feel as though some violation has occurred. But, much like the subjects of this play, I can not articulate this anger. I find there is a fine line between what Kyd did with the texts of religion and literature and what he has done with the words of those who want to end their lives. Having said that, it is a beautiful, necessary and intense piece of art. And until I can articulate this fury (and I hope never to be able to) I support this vision. suicide.chat.room is what art should be, controversial.

From the subject to the pretext of the source, the music, the body movements, it is confrontational and contentious. The audience will not be rendered the same before they enter that black box. Even if you lack the understanding as to what brings people to this point, and I do not believe that is the aim of this piece, you will be supplied with fodder for the brain. No one talks about suicide, no one talks about depression. These ideas are considered abnormal, but suicide.chat.room, in exploring the anonymity of it all shows us, that it is very real and very prevalent. The voices in this play could have come from anyone, anywhere, for any reason. They resonate as the voice of so many among us all. This is where dialog can begin.

TerribleTumors - January 2010 Recordings

2010-01-30T21:56:00.004-05:00

Omnibus Snowstorm (1:20)
Prior to creating this song, I was creating instrument profiles in Garage Band. This was a direct result of this. I smashed out a chord on the keyboard and was messing with the octave buttons on my MIDI controller. I liked the chord, so I recorded it, sustaining it as such for 1:20 seconds. I came up with the melody based on the chord. I tried a few different deviations with it, but ultimately ended up with the simple progression that ended up on the track. I really wanted a beat in this song, but it had to be very subdued. I managed to play with some of the sounds and came up with a great, simple kick/snare combo beat that I think sits just far enough under it, that it's unobtrusive nature actually makes it central. I added a reverse cymbal crash to give it just a bit more texture. I thought about getting a bit more complex, but figure that this track would serve as a nice segue or interlude between some other tracks. It was snowing out when I started this track. But Ominous Snowstorm sounds like a stupid title. Omnibus sounds more interesting.

Brett Easton Ellis (3:34)
I follow Brett Easton Ellis on twitter. I am waiting for an announcement for his new book. On the day that JD Salinger died, Ellis's reaction was less than mournful. I am not sure how I feel about that. JD Salinger wrote one of my favorite books, Franny and Zooey. I've explored most of Ellis's work over the last decade. I really enjoy the first chapter of Lunar Park. The self awareness and self satire are quite entertaining. This song sounds nothing like what I think Brett Easton Ellis represents in literature however. Mostly he was on the brain while I was creating it. The only analogue instrument on hear is the bass. It employs the open E I enjoy utilizing. The drum beat includes some "other" sampled sounds included with my drum machine. It is these sounds that I specifically hope to import from my own sources soon. This song for me, punctuates the limitations of the tools at my disposal where "Omnibus Snowstorm" illustrates the possibilities.

Crucified the Womb (3:54)
This goes from being a mellow bit of riffing to a bright explosion of notes. I also utilize part of a riff as a breakdown, which I enjoy. It's economical. Something I learned from the Minutemen, the theory, I don't mean to suggest this song is reminiscent of their sonic qualities. I do think there is a bit of Sonic Youth in the end. Also, after listening to Joy Division today, I am beginning to see some subconscious influence in their approach to the drums. Lungfish, The Minutemen, Joy Division, thrifty music makers who make some of the most interesting and intense music ever. Also, this song has some happy sounding guitar playing. This type of music is coming from a part of me that I just don't quite understand. So yea, I had to call in "Crucified the Womb" because that shit sounds evil. Actually, I think it's an interesting concept, crucifixion, and how it is used in language today. We seem to use it as a way of exalting someones innocence.

Janice Ate My Brain (3:32)
I am not sure if I like this song. I doubled the drums on two separate tracks utilizing two different kit sets and two different types of effects applied. This song was more of an excuse to play with that. I wanted to play with some technical ideas and this is the result. The song isn't that great and I don't think I succeeded in melding the two drum tracks.

3 Eyes and 32 Faces (3:11)
This song has been around for a while. But I hated it the way I was playing it. Then, when cleaning up files on the computer I found a sketch demo. Something in that demo made me try again. I changed the rhythm guitar parts to fit into a 4/4 beat and added some guitar parts. Also came up with a bass part that I really like. My tube preamp always comes through. All the bass and guitar I record goes through that. I actually prefer it to using an amplifier. This song also has vocals, they are pretty much about nature and human kinds assumptions of dominance. The title comes from a story I heard on The Moth, a story tellers podcast. It was a story by a young man from New York who was growing up gay and dealing with his family that didn't accept him. He said that when he dressed more effeminate his brother looked at him like he had 3 eyes and 32 faces.

My Education in DC Hip Hop

2010-01-26T21:33:00.004-05:00

2009 DC Hip Hop finally existed. I mean, maybe it existed prior to then. But fucked if I knew anything about it. It's not like I haven't been looking or reading or trying to find out about it. And I'd like to say for a suburban white boy weened on heavy doses of Black Flag during my formative years, I'd like to think I know a hint or two about independent hip hop. I knew about Del the Funkee Homosapien before he was on that Gorillaz album. I got down with The Coup before they almost put out an album that had a picture of the World Trade Center being blown up. It's not like I'm not into the shit. Still, DC has not been known for a strong, cohesive Hip Hop scene. In 2009, thanks in no small part to Wale, DC's hip hop scene got some serious coverage. Below is what I've learned about. Get in on it.

Rosetta Stoned/Food Chain Collective.
The Kingdom of Kush
Mix Tape Download (here)

I literally discovered this band on the photo sharing site flickr. This dude SexyFitsum took some AMAZING photo s of this band and after seeing them I hit the internet and was surprised to find a bunch of free music. This mix tape, credited to the Food Chain Collective is some serious fucking hip-hop. I've never heard anything like it in any of the hip-hop I've listened to. It's some demented, energetic shit. The beats are big, the sounds are crazy and schizophrenic and the MC's drop some retarded mouthfuls of word gymnastics. The song "Fungi" (the Metaphysical Remix this collection) is so fucking sick it hurts my brain. How this band is not getting more props I will never know. I know so little about them that it disturbs me. Sometimes I think this shit only exists in my head, but it can't be. Rosetta Stoned are currently releasing a bunch of new songs every week which are just as fucking crazy as Kingdom of Kush. Download this shit NOW. You will not be underwhelmed.

The Cornel West Theory
Second Rome
Sockets Records

With a name like The Cornel West Theory, how can you not be intrigued right? I have been for a while. As I stated in my last post, I finally got to see this band. While I was expecting more Dalek, the comparison was not unfounded, but they were much more subdued and chilled out. There album is pretty chill too. It's an easy listen, with great delivery. Timothy Hicks is the straight man, and his smooth delivery is complimented by Rashad Dobbins drunken zen lyricism. I can't help but also be reminded of Public Enemy either. Again The Cornel West Theory are not as abrasive as either of the two groups I've mentioned. Second Rome is more of a shoulder shaker and head nodder than a fist pumper. Blasting from the windows of your hoopty is probably not going to get you stares from frightened pedestrians, but this shit is going to infect your blood. Like many hip hop albums, it's a bit long in the tooth with 21 songs. But it holds up pretty well and manages to keep one's attention for the long haul. Least we forget that Cornel West also drops some knowledge. That's fucking cool.

Diamond District
In the Ruff
The Mello Music Group

Originally released as a clean-version mix tape, this debut album by a collective made up of producer Oddisee, YU and X.O., snuck up on me from nowhere. It was XMAS day, I had a bunch of iTunes gift cards (because people love me) and I was ready to spend that shit. I found this as a best of 2009 indie rap recommendation and when I saw it was from DC, I downloaded it without listening to it. Needless to say, I am pretty happy with my impulse purchase. Diamond District has a harder sound, with a definite urban feel to it. The beats are harsh and central to the sound, and if anything is going to define a sound for DC Hip Hop, it's going to be this. As a whole, the album certainly has it's memorable moments ("Streets Won't Let Me Chill", "I Mean Business" and "First Time") and is a pretty strong debut. There are some average moments, but Oddisee at the boards and YU and X.O. on the mic are pretty strong. In The Ruff is catchy as hell, but by no means mainstream.

X.O.
1.1.10
Mix Tape Download (here)

On the heels of In The Ruff, X.O. released his debut mixtape. While not as fleshed out and not quite as adventurous as In the Ruff, 1.1.10 provides a showcase for X.O. to showcase some of his skills. I need to spend a little more time with this, which is not that easy with Diamond District still pretty fresh on my iPod, but X.O, does have my attention. And shit, it's free. My feeling is the mixtape is where hip hop artists flesh out ideas, work on their skills. There not demos per say, because many of the songs on mix tapes don't really make it on to "official albums", but it does allow these kids the opportunity to get there name out.

Wale
Attention Deficit
Interscope

After two fantastic mix tapes, a single with Lady Gaga, Remixes by Mark Ronson, MTV, Rolling Stone and all types of record industry establishment hype, including big ups from the king of emotional outbursts, Kanye West, the kid who put D.C. hip hop on the map drops his debut album, finally. And frankly, I can't get into it. The delivery leaves a lot to be desired. The production is standard and boring. The album cover even sucks. And I truly am not trying to be a hater here. I was into 100 Miles and Running. I lost my shit when the Seinfeld informed Mixtape About Nothing went viral all over the internet. I even dropped cash on the CD for more than what I could have got it for on iTunes at a local shop, but I just can't get into it. The song "TV In The Radio" (emphasis mine) which happens to be produced by TV ON the Radio's David Sitek, really just is not good or inspired at all. Mixtape About Nothing was pretty much amazing, and everyone should download that shit right now. Otherwise, I say pass on Attention Deficit.

Sockets Records Five Year Anniversary

2010-01-23T09:09:00.016-05:00

Local music geek (I use this term with reverence and affection) Denman Anderson recently declared to me that, within the boundaries of Washington D.C., hipsterism was dead. And I must say, that I agree. There is no one really "cool" in this town. Our music scene has been in dire need of rejuvenation for years, without the inventive bands, and amazing show makers our history has provided. However,if you missed the Socket Records five year Anniversary show at the Black Cat, then you my friend are not part of the new anti-hipster collection of weird ass people that actually like music in this town and are willing to support it. Seriously you missed the first music event of the year, and something very special and LOOOOOOOOOOONG overdue.

Quick overview of Sockets Records. This dude, Sean Peoples, he made lots of weird music, and knew other people who did too. So he put out CD-R's of crazy weird shit. He met a lot of people that way that also made music and people liked what he was doing. Then he started putting out a few records by some non-conventional, but less bedroom bound groups and people got interested. Now, pretty much he's got his finger on the pulse of what's going on in this town and making shit happen. Thank you Sean Peoples.

So, for the show, first up for the evening was Big Gold Belt. Imagine, if you will, that Mark Mothersbaugh is in the studio, a little high on laughing gas, and he's producing a record by Madonna circa 1985. But this Madonna is self aware of her career and decides to make an ironic, semi humorous album. Then, after the studio closes for the evening, Thurston Moore sneaks in and remixes everything in his devilish manner. Yeah, that's Big Gold Belt. I am not sure if I loved them or hated them, which means they are doing something right. Fronted by Christina E., I can't help but be reminded also of Tiffany, Samantha Fox and of course Sheila E., as she pops her hips on stage delivering a sweet, sugary vocal. The soundscapes, lovingly looked over by guitarist Luke (last names people, last names) are replete with lots of pop music essentials, but they've been skewed just a little bit. A band like this is hard to pin down, because they are so saturated in the influences of the 80's. But the music was bold and daring, too much so to be ironic. Big Gold Belt may be giving a nod to the goofy shit of that goofy decade, but it did not feel insincere.

For my money Buildings owned the fucking evening. A fairly new band and, instrumental to boot, the DC Trio did what could be called post-rock with DC punk flavors. But honestly that description seems to undercut them. Frankly it's been a long time since I was instantly taken by a band, but everything they did was intense. Mike Watt says that the Minutemen played 100% each time because they thought it would all come to an end and B uildings seem to have adopted that sentiment for themselves. I'm not sure how many people were familiar with them, but I guarantee when they play again, this town is gonna post up and it's gonna be an amazing time.

In the wake of Buildings full out onslaught, Imperial China had a lot of room for failure. My first interaction with this band was from their Dissonance Radio show a few months ago. I liked the play list, and the conversation engaged me, but the track they played left me wanting more. However, I opened my mind to the performance and was pleasantly surprised. The trio approaches music much the way Black Eyes used to. Imperial China is more economical however, and they use that to their advantage, making for a much more pleasant, but equally intense live show. Of all the bands that played this night, they seemed to be the best link to DC's post-punk past of the last two decades, but their utilization and adoption of influences beyond the diamond district was executed with more precision than any of their forefathers.

The showcase has been getting a lot of press from the DC press machine this week. Personally, I think this is a really good thing. It means we are on the cusp of something big and lots of people are not only taking notice, but are generally interested. It could be the case of right place, right time, but of course it's always more than that. The bands that played this night were really really good at what they did.

One of the bands that seemed to have a lot of hype was Hume. The brainchild of Britton Powell, Hume has become a group of wonderkids with the recent adoption of Christian Brady (Mass Movement of the Moth, Antlers) and Joey Doubek (MMotM, Ingrid). Rounded out by Wilson Kemp on drums, this was the band that everyone came to see. And with a line up like that, you know at the very least the musicianship is going to be very good. Which is how I felt about the performance. Of all the bands that played, Hume was the most accessible and probably has the best opportunity to introduce Sockets to a larger audience. And they are all exceptional musicians. I mean crazy fucking good. Doubek is the the kind of kid I hate, because he is not just good, but amazing at every instrument he picks up. So even though the songs didn't really grab me, just watching him play bass for 35 minutes was fucking outrageous. Complemented by the playful Christian Brady, who knows the guitar well, but has the decency to approach it with child like glee, Hume definitely set out to impress. I do feel though they could use a little more grit and a little less self indulgence. For my tastes a punch to the gut and a little less meandering would make Hume unstoppable. But I don't suggest they listen to me, because the sound they have now is sure to wow more people then me.

Closing out the evening was The Cornel West Theory, a hip-hop band that's been making waves in the Districts recent 1st wave of hip hop. For mainstream tastes, they are a bit on the edge. But they blend soundscapes with hip hop in a nice, laid back way that comes to party as much as it comes to chill out on the couch. I've been wanting to see this band for a long time, and was very pleased that this was the night I got to take them in. However, I am calling out, right now the 50% of the audience that appeared to have bailed out between Hume and The Cornel West Theory. Because seriously, you are a fucking IDIOT if you left. This really does make me wonder if indie rock and hip hop can be bead fellows. Sometimes genre mixing on shows does not melt well together. But The Cornel West Theory being on this bill was not only vital, but closing out the night was the only way it could be. While all the other bands were really confrontational in their own ways, The Cornel West Theory was inviting. This is what Hip Hop has that rock music seams to lack. rather then steam roll over you with power, The Cornel West Theory invites you in. I left wanting more, and glad of that. DC Hip Hop is on the map, The Cornel West Theory deserves props for doing their part.

After the show, I hit the merch table and bought three CD's. I can't remember the last time I went to a show where I felt as engaged and uplifted as I did by this Sockets Records Showcase. Every band existed within their own musical plane, finding their own sounds and presenting it with conviction. And while shit was deadly serious, it was also fun as hell and most importantly it was really good. Washington D.C. so desperately needs a new musical voice, and I believe that Sockets Records has that ability. After this evening, I instinctively trust the curating of Mr. Sean Peoples. In this new climate of musical distribution, the only thing an independent label can do i create a trustworthy brand. I am not talking brand loyalty like corporations seek, but the kind of affinity that a label like Dischord or SST created, by producing legendary music that was accessible to it's fans, even as it grows. I shook Mr. Peoples's hand last night as he handed me my new music. But as taken as I was by the evening, I could tell by the enthusiasm of his grip and shake that he was just as awestruck.

Two EP's From Washington DC

2010-01-19T06:00:00.001-05:00

Birds & Wires
S/T
Amor Y Lucha

Birds & Wires is a very difficult band to write about. Not because they aren't an amazing collection of intense, superb musicians, but because they are a bunch of dudes my age, spread over three cities that don't play music together as much as other bands that are half as good as they are. Frankly it's been a very very long time in Washington D.C. since a band has utterly blown me off my feet. Birds & Wires have done that. Their debut EP leaves me panting, thirsty like a begging dog for more.

For the first time in my life, I would say it is unfair not to compare Birds & Wires to Fugazi. There is so much of that intense energy and sharp dynamic in these four songs, that it seems almost unkind not to mention them in that same breath. But lets not be mistaken, Birds & Wires are not a hopeless bunch of failing copycats. No, they burst through with an energetic, thick post punk punch.

My boy John Seager, this is where I love him the most, when he flexes his musical skill. Yea Aghast and Lotus Fucker are fucking great, loud fast bands. But in Birds & Wires, Seager's talents not just as a drummer, but a musician shine through. I've been waiting for this since the unappreciated A New Spelling of My Name LP.

Further still the production on this is sharp. Big ups to Hugh McElroy behind the nobs. It's dirty enough that it has that Rites of Spring feel, the energy comes first for sure. But unlike all those near forgotten gems from DC punks history, this record sounds fantastic. Those clean guitars resonate, the bass rumbles your feet and the vocals aren't buried in the mix. Joao Da Silva's sing song bark is trademark type vocal delivery, and it is captures so crisp and clean. Not many DC bands have been this articulate, but the quality matters.

Four songs though? Fuck that's just not enough. I know these boys are in their 30's, managing personal lives outside music, but these are sounds worth the sacrifice. I don't fault them for their decisions as people, but there is so much music out there that just isn't as urgent or engaging as Birds & Wires. I am being greedy as fuck, but I want more from these four lads. DC needs more bands like this. Hopefully this EP will bring a resurgence. If your in a band consider this recording a challenge to step the fuck up. You're on notice.

Voyage in Coma
Cartography
self released

I saw Voyage in Coma this summer at an intimate show at St. Stephens Church. From the very first few bars of their very first song I knew that this was a band that was going to blow me over. I also knew that they had the best two guitar players in the city in one band. The interplay between Andy Freedman and Henry Mills was like watching Omar Rodriguez Lopez cloned into two. Seriously, watching this band was like when I saw At the Drive In when Vaya came out. It was fucking unbelievable. People should not be this good at music, especially in their early twenties. But they were and I got to see them.

So, naturally, when the internet told me they had an EP recorded I was desperate to get that shit. Luckily I ran into Henry at the des_ark show this Friday (where I met his dad, which is awesome. Seriously, how many people take their dads to punk rock shows? Not many. Henry Mills: Cooler than You) and procured a copy of their EP Cartography.

This shit is no joke. When dudes ten years younger than me can make music that takes me back ten years AND think of it in a good light, that's fucking success. It must be said, the generation that Voyage In Coma is coming from is way smarter then my own generation. They are taking in such an extreme amount of music and turning out such incredible songs. But where most bands fail in being consistent, Voyage In Coma far exceeds any one's expectations. In a world where so many half assed dicks are playing melodic rip off kids shit and singing about their precious selves, Voyage in Coma are made up of some virtuosos. People SHOULD be paying good money to check this band out. With four songs in twenty-one minutes, this band is doing some acrobatic shit. It never gets tired but more importantly it never gets overbearing and pretentious, which lets face it, virtuosity has a tendency to do.

Word is that Andy has left the band. Such is the impetuousness of youth I suppose. Who knows what drew him away from this band. Whatever it is, it's a shame and I hope that Voyage in Coma can find someone else that fits the mold and carry on. They've taken a lot of risks, venture into a lot of familiar territory, but treated it with reverence rather then just imitating it. Of course they have the skill to pull it off. Lets hope the world gets to see more of it.

des_ark

2010-01-16T00:21:00.001-05:00

des_ark
Originally uploaded by goodgovernor

It's honestly very difficult for me to talk about how much Aimee's music means to me. Taking photos of her playing music is like breathing, except that sometimes I have to stop and take a breath. A note, a word, an ascent in her voice, or a soft whisper can really take you out of stride. I honestly think that I could watch her play music every night, taking photos every night and never really capture everything that she accomplishes while she plays her songs. These odd moments, stolen from time, in milliseconds are shuttering to me, and yet it's what my eye has captured, at least as fast as my finger can react. There is no other artist on this planet like AImee Argote, and to see her play music is a gift. I am so grateful for these pictures.

Jolene Van Vugt - The Face of Feminism for the New Decade (in my not so humble Opinion)

2010-01-14T18:00:00.001-05:00

The other day, I sat down on my couch, resting my fat, white, middle class, 30 something ass in front of my 32 inch tube powered television to watch four hours of Nitro Circus on the Music Television Channel. While I realize I may be slightly outside the intended demographic for this show, I must confess, I love stunts. Jackass, which premiered at the beginning of the last decade, is one of my favorite shows ever. It is dumb and crude but the stupid, wacky shit those guys did, was awesome. The Nitro Circus crew has refined (mostly) the formula, driving motorcycles, jumping out of planes, wrecking Monster Trucks. It's less poop and more action. And though it too avoids the concept of race by having an all white cast, much like it's older cousin Jackass, it does have a female presence in Jolene Van Vugt.

Jolene Van Vugt is a champion motorcross champion and world record holder for Longest Female backflip and being the first Female to record a Backflip. As a member of Nitro Circus she has jumped out of planes, been boosted into the air and nearly shattered bones, flipped bikes, jumped hectic gaps, and slammed, smashed and scraped her self with the rest of "the boys" she is surrounded by. Though sidelined for most of Season Two with a broken wrist, Van Vugt still participated in many of the shows.

And it is for these reasons I think that Van Vugt is a great face for a new generation of feminism. Though she is often refered to as the "girl" on the show, and when she clearly exceeds in skill against others, her gender is often used as a slap in the loosing male opponents face, her presence on the show is, I believe, invaluable to young girls. Van Vugt is performing stunts that are dangerous, gut wrenching and of the variety that induces fear in all the cast members. And she has never once backed down, even in the face of her own fear. She goes for it every time. If she falls, she gets back up and tries again, persevering against the obstacles.

We could talk about her looks and how she feeds the blonde haired, blue eyed, beauty model that MTV is so in love with. And that's probably not a coincidence either. But I feel that also distracts from what she has accomplished by being a female, breaking barriers into the white boys club. MTV is not known for having many positive, female roll models. You can't really include anyone from the several seasons of "Real World" or their new reality program "The Jersey Shore". And while there was Daria, an offshoot of Mike Judges Beavis and Butthead, I can't think of another show that had such a strong female figure representing. We have a long way to go with media still. Jolene Van Vugt's persona on television is is a small, but monumental step along that pathway.

Vic Chesnutt

2010-01-14T17:59:00.001-05:00

So, technology is weird. On Christmas day I got a tweet from someone I followed talking about Vic Chesnutt being possibly dead. And then my twitter account kind of blew up. And it was really weird. Granted I should have spent less time looking at my stupid phone, but death will draw yr curiosity.

I'm not even going to lie and pretend I was a fan of Vic Chesnutt. I had downloaded a few sampler songs his label was offering when is newest album, At the Cut was released last last year. I liked what I had heard and the record was on my list of stuff to purchase. But I slept on it. I also slept on his October 30th show at the Black Cat, even though the chance to see Guy Piccioto in action again was highly appealing.

And now he is gone. Which is a shame because his music is amazing. He's on the level of Elliott Smith in terms of emotional impact and craft. It seems he was one of tose artists totally under appreciated by the public, but other artists really made the connection with him. I wish I could have experienced more of his career first hand, but he has left this world.

I urge every one to check him out. There was a great piece on NPR about him in which Piccioto, along with Micheal Stipe and Jem Cohen, talked about this man. At The Cut is his latest release and it's truly a stunning album. Thanks Vic for the tunes, even if I found them just a bit to late.

The Decade We Made Love 2000-2009

2010-01-08T07:00:00.003-05:00

Talking about an entire decade of music is not something I am ultimately prepared to do completely. It was a long ass decade to be sure, my first as a real adult and almost a third of my life. From 22 to 32 music became the most important part of my life. A marker for so many things. But to even remember and catalog all of of these things seems daunting. Even as I look over this list I think about all the great albums Lungfish made, or the unrelenting beauty of Karate, neither of which are represented because those albums have more of an emotional impact then a strict musical impact upon me. It was also a decade in which I watched Washington DC, the city I love, go from producing all my favorite music to almost none of it. Fugazi, The Most Secret Method and The Dismemberment Plan all broke up in this decade. It's hard to even talk about the latter two bands on a personal level and so there great contributions are also left off of these lists. Which seems a bit odd, but I can't even talk about them. Our Success and Change are some of the best works ever produced locally and yet I can't put them in context outside of that. Something I could do with Q and not U, for reasons not entirely clear to me. So anyway, without further ado:

Probably my Five Favorite Albums of the Decade

1. EL-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead

Def Jux - 2007

Somehow, I believe anyway, it's no coincidence I am writing this on an overcast day, where I don't remember what the sun looks like, my stomach is in knots, as it has been for weeks, I am on all kinds of drugs (both over the counter, and old pain killer prescriptions) just to try and feel better. The anxiety of the end of the year has fully set in. This seems to be an annual occurrence now for me, where everything just feels like it's gonna fucking fall out. Maybe it's my life purging another year, like a dying phoenix, getting ready for rebirth. Or maybe I'm just fucked up. But at least El-P made I'll Sleep When You're Dead. At least someone out there is just as fucked up as I am.

The difference of course between me an El-P is he has the talent and vision to coherence his demons into something tangible. It may have taken five years between albums to expunge this masterpiece, but the results are comforting in their own terrifying ways.

What I like most about I'll Sleep When You're Dead is his amazing use of guests to stand in for the voices that seem to be bashing around his head. On the first track he utilizes squealer Cedric Bixler-Zaval from The Mars Volta to caterwaul over a nice guitar bit by his buddy Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Or when Aesop Rock steps in on "Run the Numbers" to drop shit about razor wires and detonators in his sarcastic dead pan, egging you on, rather then offering any encouragement. Or when how Trent Reznor dusts off his own childish hell on "Flyentology," perhaps one of the most ridiculously sick songs of all time, and actually delivers something truly desperate and isolating. Hip Hop's strength always comes in it's belief that collaboration is the best way, and with I'll Sleep When You're Dead, as isolating as the lyrics are, this is completely true.

This of course says nothing short of El-P as a producer. He's twisted knobs on some of hip-hops most highly regarded underground albums, created Def Jux which brought life to Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock, Cannibal Ox, Cage, Camu-Tao (RIP) and so many other sick fucking MC's. But his music is a wall of noise, more Sonic Youth then Slick Rick. He may not be as extreme as his closest musical kin Dalek, but the songs are filled with bombastic beats, low octave piano hits, airy white noise and mind melding sounds, clicks, binks, chimes and all kinds of retarded shit. It's easy to feel like psychosis has set in, listening to the layers of sound that are overpowering and subtle at the same time.

Mental Health is such a taboo subject in America, and I'll Sleep When You're Dead is a testament to the horror of an otherwise functional on the surface human existence. We consider our general wealth and health in America to be above all else. And while we often, at large anyway, do not suffer the hell of war and poverty and repression of thought and belief, we are none the less a very sick country, filled with toxic narcotics, mood stabilizers, pain killers, illegal drugs, alcohol, sex addiction, cigarettes, anxiety, stress and all kinds of fucked up shit. Something is obviously wrong and El-P offers no solutions, only a self-referential exploration of the chaos that many of us, fuck it, all of us tend to deal with. No one is safe in El-P's hands. He understands the power of hip-hop and uses it to reflect the isolation we twist ourselves into, staring at the day-glo of computer screens day in and day out. We have become more like the machines we manipulate and I'll Sleep When You're Dead shows us just how fucked up that is.

2. The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!
Fat Wreck Chords - 2006

I find as I get older, that punk rock is the music that seems to be created by people my age, but marketed and sold to the emerging generation. Many of my peers, dudes in their 30's, have seemed to gone one to more "refined" tastes, or just not kept up with new and emerging bands that seem to pop up all over the place. And that's part of the problem with "white youth oriented pop/rock" these days, there are a million fucking shitty bands playing power chords and singing harmonies. And there all about how pathetic and lonely and love lorn and angry these guys are. It's totally fucking boring. And so when there is a band like The Lawrence Arms, made of three dudes now in their 30's, writing poetic lyrics about drinking beer, common man politics and the utter isolation the western world seems to impose on us, and they don't get their due in the cannon of punk rock, well it pisses me the fuck off.

I saw The Lawrence Arms open for Against Me! a few years ago, back when The Greatest Story Ever Told came out and I was fucking floored. They made pop punk sound arty and cool. They weren't academic snobbish like Bad Religion, but they were smart as fuck. And unlike NOFX, they weren't buffoons, but they still knew how to have fun. The were the perfect combination of smart guys and drunken nights. I could instantly relate to this, emerging into adulthood, facing new challenges, while still retaining as much of my youthful zest as I could. The Lawrence Arms were kindred spirits and provided the type of support music should, full understanding.

So in 2006, when Oh! Calcutta! emerged from out of know where seemingly, I kinda lost my shit. The magic of The Lawrence Arms was that they had two really good, really different song writers, who could somehow sequence an album perfectly, while sounding so different from song to song. Oh! Calcutta! put that idea on it's head and instead Brendan Kelly and Chris McCaughan came together, mashing up what they both do best as individuals and creating an album that was unstoppable. From the burning opening track "The Devil's Taking Names" to the melodic and beautiful "Great Lakes/Great Escapes" to the ferocious rager "Key to the City" Brendan and Chris cross swords, bang on their instruments and pummel the hell out you.

Oh! Calcutta! is conscience and to the point. There is not a wasted breath or wasted moment. And while it's a lot of rapid fire delivery, it isn't over saturated. Nothing is forced in any of the fast flying riffage, spitfire vocals or intense pounding drumming. Frankly, this record is fucking sick.

3. The Good, The Bad and The Queen - S/T
Parlophone - 2007

While it's very easy to say that Damon Albran was the prince of the 90's, what with the mega-hits he had with Blur, and the fact that you can not go to a sporting event without hearing the opening bahrs of "Song#2", I feel that the turn of the century is where this master songwriter came into his own, fully and completely. At the turn of the century Think Tank emerged as Blur's swan song. Without Grahm Coxon, Albran took full reins of the song writing and introduced us to what his uncompromised genius could achieve. Then a few years later he dropped Gorillaz on the world, a trippy, cartoon engaged, hip hop influenced record that was so out of left field it seemed destined to fail and yet it blew up all over the place, making Albran the international name that Blur only hinted at before. Having taken the America's with Gorillaz and a second album Demon Days, Albran retreated back to the mother country, hooked up with the Clash's Paul Siminon, and made dense album saturated in English pride in the self loathing that only the Brits are capable of. Yes, oh yes, It is The Good, The Bad and the Queen.

I am an Albran enthusiast. In my eyes, since the early nineties, he could do no wrong. His snarky delivery, pop sensibilities, and the ability to offend American's and yet be so charming was very intriguing. But something about The Good The Band and the Queen just knocks all that shit off the wall. In a large part, it's due to the fact that Albran steps away from the comfortable places he's created. Every project he does has his aesthetic attached to it, something he can't escape of course, but with The Good The Band and the Queen it's apart from anything. There is a very empty feeling, lonely and melancholy space, haunting the dub style echos that penetrate through out. Most striking of all though, is how analog the record sounds. The bass and the guitar are electric, but the centerpiece for this record is the piano, and not the digital keyboards that Albran normally spills out on. This record makes me wonder if this is where everything starts out, after all, so much of Albran is straight forward chord progressions in straight 4/4.

I want so much for another album with this lineup (augmented by Simon Tong from the Verve and Tony Allen who came up with Nigerian Afrobeat mastermind Fela Kuti) in this new decade. The prospect of another Gorillaz album doesn't seem to excite me as much as what this band did together and where Albran went. But if this ends up as a one off, then so be it, because it's a one off that out does so much of what others strive over entire careers to achieve.

4. Q and Not U - No Kill, No Beep Beep
Dischord Records - 2000

For all intents and purposes this is probably the last great album to emerge from Washington DC. The 1990's were very good to the District city music scene. It seemed the country and even the world had embraced the DIY work ethic promoted by so many of DC's best bands. Q and Not U exploded locally and appeared set to be the torch bearers of a new generation for the city. No Kill, No Beep Beep was and is an exceptional record capturing the excitement and buzz of Washington as a new decade and new century was ushered in. Sadly, things seemed to sour fast. With Fugazi going on "extended hiatus" for most of the decade and The Dismemberment Plan calling it quits midway through the oughts DC's two anchor bands left a giant hole. Q and Not U was able to step in and step up and continued to wow audiences locally and nationally, but without a lot of support The DC music scene seemed less illuminated.

No Kill, No Beep Beep however remains an amazing testament to the limitless qualities that guitar rock can have. Q and Not U captured so succinctly the amazing power that ingenuity can have. Plagued with the shadow of Fugazi looming over them, they rose to the occasion and out did their predecessors for the short amount of time that we had them around. When I think of my time in Washington DC, as I left the confines of college and home and struck out into the world, this album remains a very important time piece. Q and Not U were unlike any band and they earned the rights to be mentioned in the same breath as so many great bands from the Down City.

5. Aesop Rock - Labor Days

Def Jux - 2001

That Def Jux has not one, but two entries on this very odd list does not really surprise me. The fact of the matter is In the new century, Def Jux ruled Hip Hop. I didn't get in on the action until Bazooka Tooth was released, after reading an interview with Aesop Rock about it, in I believe, Punk Planet. But when I picked up that record at Tower Records I entered a world I had been searching for many years. As with any artist that takes you, Aesop Rock creates his own world, and Bazooka Tooth was that incredible post-9/11 world of fear and anxiety that everyone was carrying around with them. But what is even more terrifying was the album he put out just prior to the American psyche being turned on it's head.

Labor Days is two hip hop, what What Makes a Man Start Fires (by the Minutemen) is to punk rock. It's a rallying cry for the average man. And it's potency, much like it's punk rock sibling, is that it is aimed at young people just entering the work force. It's a picture of dead end jobs, life draining tasks, and the understanding that employment is nothing but paid servitude, elicited only for the benefit of someone else, always for the benefit of someone else. And I can't help but laugh at the unfortunate similarities to my own life, a decade into working for the man, in comparison to this record. Frankly, it's helped me from going fucking crazy. When I want to punch my boss or tell the person on the other end of the phone to go fuck themselves, I put on Labor Days and let the camaraderie calm my nerves.

It also helps tremendously, that at least for me, this shit turned Hip Hop on it's fucking head. Not since Del the Funky Homosapien had I much considered Hip Hop in my life. The thug life and glamor and glitz, sexist bullshit that is mainstream hip hop was both trite in lyrical delivery and so repetitive in production and style, that I still feel it hardly merits mention in the cannon of art and expression. Aesop Rock, along with his collaborators Blockhead and Omega One truly made a record that defines what Hip Hop is. The beats for each song were unique, the style and sounds pulled from jazz and other sources outside of funk and R&B. The layers were dark and brooding or even at times playful and uplifting.

Since it's release, Aesop Rock has actually been distancing himself from this release. Labor Days has kind of defined his career to the public, but not for Aesop Rock himself. And over time he has developed his own style, stepped away from the jazz sampling that set him aside and delved deeply into live recorded instrumentation. But Labor Days is a testament to what would have been, a decade of wondering what all this work bullshit was about. When that was twisted on it's head, Aesop Rock responded with the paranoid super hero chronicled in Bazooka Tooth. And that's what he's done, adapt, not to the climate, but to his own skin, which he's clearly not comfortable with from time to time. Labor Days is a classic album. This can not be disputed.

***
It's hard to really consider art in terms of quality over another piece of art. Above are five records that really resonate with me. On a personal level, each one of these albums was a part of my life, usually during a turning point or difficult time in my life. To actually say which albums are the best in any given time period is kind of stupid. Because after all, music, art, literature, all of that stuff means something to each person, how the respond to it. Some of these albums listed above and below I didn't even hear upon release and only found later. Some of them I anticipated with great anxiousness. But above were five albums I really felt I could write about. Below are a few more of my favorites. There's a lot of shit left off of here, but that's life. Enjoy.

Other considerations
Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein
The Dismemberment Plan - Change
The Most Secret Method - Our Success
Trash Talk - S/T
Propaghandi - Supporting Caste
Frodus - And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea
Planes Mistaken For Stars - Up In Them Guts
Dillinger Four - C I V I L W a R
Blur - Think Tank
At the Drive In - Relationship in Command
Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City
John Doe - Forever Hasn't Happened Yet
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Heathers - Here Not There
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Outkast - Stankonia
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Elan Vitale
Pygmy Lush - Mount Hope
Sleater Kinney - The Woods
Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
Ted Leo - The Tyranny of Distance
Zegota - Reclaim!

Top Five Albums of 2009

2009-12-26T10:40:00.000-05:00

The decade comes to an end and I must say I am left somewhat at a loss. The internet has completely removed me from my favorite past time, record shoping. Of the top five listed below, I only own one of these in physical format. Record shops are scarce and overpriced in hopes of staying afloat. Never mind that release dates are often announced before bands have even entered the studio. I know more useless crap about my favorite bands then ever before.

Also, Hip Hop kinda sucks. While there were some bright lights this year by Mos Def and Q-Tip, most of the hip hop I heard was weak sause. The music that I heard and loved this year came from unexpectad places. I heard new music that I wasn't neccessarily looking for, but the internet did make it a lot easier to explore. It's hard to say. There are a lot of good albums not even mentioned below. But again, not much in the way of GREAT. We shall see what the next decade has to offer.

My Top Five of 2009

1. Propaghandhi - Supporting Caste
This year's race for the number one spot was tough and ultimately it was decided by one factor and one factor alone: Propaghandhi fucking RULES live. This is what tipped the decision making here at Franconia Station. It's been a long time since I saw a band as intense and insane as Propaghandhi. But this is not the only reason why they deserve this distinguished position atop the pile of records. In what seems like another year of mostly okay albums, my attitude towards almost everything I bought was "but it wasn't as good as Supporting Caste". This is crucial, because there were a lot of insane records this year, and I bought a lot of punk and hardcore music this year, but truly, nothing can touch Propaghandhi.

Aside from just being a punishing 40 minutes of fast as shit metal riffs, militant, homicidal vegan righteousness and a really easy album to listen to, Supporting Caste is just really beautiful at times. The opening track "Night Dreams" has just a very beautiful melodic quality to the vocals that carry some really solemn and yet very touching lyrics. And how much better can you get than a song that pontificates upon political ideology and hokey after an amazing intro of metal thrash the breaks into some of the best sounding guitar chords this side of The Most Secret Method. And of course there is "Human(e) Meat {The Flensing of Sander Kates}" which is essentially the vegan day dream of cooking and eating a former vegetarian who willfully accepts faulty logic that the humane killing of animals for food somehow makes it all okay. And sure Sander Kates may be an AIDS advocate and die titian, but there is nothing unjustifiable about Propaghandhi's attack. After all, we have to review our dominion as the supposed top of the food chain. This song had a direct impact on me becoming vegan this year. Propaghandhi are that good.

Which is another thing about this album, it engages and challenges you. Many people would probably consider Propaghandhi didactic and preachy (or just self righteous and full of shit) but in their despair, anger and frustration is compassion and love. These decisions aren't made all willy nilly. These ideas are not the constructs of some psychobabble political machine. These are just four hokey loving Canucks who also happen to love Thrash Metal and want to preserve this world that has given them both of these things.

Their political approach isn't for everyone, but they aren't backing down. After nearly twenty years of just getting better and better, Propaghandhi delivers a career worthy album. Sure, the grander music world doesn't care. But if you can't see the finesse and musical genius in this band then frankly, as far as I am concerned you don't know shit about music. If you refuse to be challenged by your art then you're just fucked. I tend to say this every year, but again I am presented with an album that speaks to me musically and challenges me personally. I can't help but think that Supporting Caste has made me a better human being.

2. xx - The xx
When I first heard this band, I really tried hard not to like them. I knew they were going to be the buzz band of the year and that fuck heads with ironic mustaches and fancy hats, donning fucky skinny jeans would be blogging about them from their iPhones. But fuck man if xx didn't just blow me over. At first listen I was reminded of when I was introduced to Unrest. There was something so subtle about this band. It's the power of hushed silences that permeate a room and the xx say more in the absence of space then most bands say filling every inch of the room with whatever cacophony they can throw at the listener.

And fuck me if these little twenty year old bastards aren't some of the most sexual tension expressing fuckers I have ever heard. Again, I go back to Unrest comparisons, because a band hasn't made sexual tension and straight up fucking seem so innocent and so fun too. These English brats are at that age where they are old enough to have had their hearts broken, but horny enough to know that getting it on is fun, the emotional consequences be damned. By the time we file in for the closing song "Stars" your pretty breathless and so what does singer Oliver Sim whisper to you with his gravely, off key voice? "I can give it up on the first date". I mean WHAT THE FUCK? Seriously? You spend the previous nine songs professing love, dabbling in obsession, disregarding heartache and running back to jilting lovers all to end the album with a song about being a horny slut? I'm too old for this shit! But damn if it isn't beautiful.

To make matters worse, this is a debut album. If the hype machine doesn't kill them, this minimalist love pop fiasco only has upwards to go. Because as good as The xx is, what makes it great is the future possibilities. This is a debut album made by some kids only at the beginning of their unsure experimentation and obsession. What happens when they actually know what they're fucking doing? I can't wait to see personally.

The band is already down a member after constant touring. But there recent show in DC showed me that they are getting restless and already playing with the foundation of what they laid down. There is a bit more confidence in the xx and perhaps they are playing it safe by working this album to death by staying on the road constantly. By the time they get done they will be sick to death of it and ready to explore a very available pallet in which they already have definitive command over. This band makes me fucking sick how good they are.

3. Pissed Jeans - King of Jeans

In the movie This is Spinal Tap one of the reviews read by Martin DeBergi describes the bands music as "treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality". And while this is meant to be a joke about music that is itself a joke, I can't help but think it fits Pissed Jeans perfectly. After all the protagonists of singer Matt Korvette's tortured vocal flailings all seem socially undeveloped. I imagine a sea of fat, slovenly gamer geeks, lanky music dorks or just oddly bespectacled man with greasy hair rocking back and forth in their chairs. It'd be sad if it wasn't so funny. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. But somehow, even in their reclusive defense stance, these fringe members of society seem to be getting by. There is a lot to be said about perseverance in the face of adversity. Especially when the establishment is just as fucked and cock-eyed as the people they cast judgment upon.

This record gets a visceral reaction out of me, and yet I am able to transform those feelings into words so easily. When I wrote about this record back in August, I couldn't think of a time I had more fun listening to and waxing on about an album. Because of this, Pissed Jeans are totally from their own planet, in a sense imbibing the same screwed up hopelessness of the stories they tell and yet fashioning on in spite of what the larger community has to say about them.

Pissed Jeans are a love them or hate them kind of band. Invoking some of the greatest bands to come ahead of them and yet existing in such a unique sonic natural disaster. The comparisons to Black Flag and The Jesus Lizard are not inaccurate and as a listener and critic, totally welcomed, because those bands are fucking amazing. That anyone even wants to touch upon either of those intensely uncomfortable and sacred cannons is actually a relief as year after year music gets safer and more boring. Pissed Jeans have dirty faces and slobber at your feat. While the music and lyrics are creepy, their perversion is not derived from cynicism or sinister angles. Instead they undulate like an unruly child too emotionally immature to express themselves constructively but with the complete understanding that what they are doing is completely infantile.

4. The Twilight Sad - Forget about the Night
For me this record represents the interesting state of music. There is no doubt that this is a very Scottish album. It certainly is the vocal inflections of lead singer James Graham that make it such. The music itself owes a lot to the English dream pop and noise rock, equal parts The Smiths and My Bloody Valentine. But The Twilight Sad emerge from what appear to be obvious influences with a sound that is very distinctive. Much the way Ian Brown's voice speaks the streets of Manchester, somehow James Graham elicits the senses to invoke Glasgow, Scotland. I've never been there, but I feel like I know the city just a little bit better now.

What I love about Forget the Night is how massive it sounds. The instruments are so distinct, separate from each other and yet they are cohesive and make such a big fucking sound. It's the kind of record that overcomes you and your senses. And rock music has a hard time doing that. After all, there is so much of it, and the old tricks just seem to get recycled. And this too separates The Twilight Sad from all the rest, they don't have any tricks up there sleeves. The music is sincere, almost dryly so. It's evocative of something very serious, often feeling like it's directed to the bottom of a pint glass in some very dark bar where there aren't many patrons, even though it's Friday night and every one on the bar stools are relatively young.

This is a record that is more than just sound, it's feeling. You can feel the wetness and rain falling on your shoulders and the guitars shimmer brightly from the speakers. The drums, they rumble like a storm, the bass the thunder that shakes the windows. And back to Graham's voice, it's a wind that blows fervently, but is none the less gentle.

Honestly and truly I am surprised at how much I love this record, because it is so straight forward. But this is music made for the sake of making music, passionately and fully. There are not a lot of bands like this, and that it came unexpectedly was quite a treat. It has also peaked my interest in what else is going on over the pond on that small island. My record collection's foreign entries are dominated by England's best and have far over shadowed this great Scottish city. But The Twilight Sad has changed all of that. Glasgow is the place to be, Forget about the Night makes that crystal clear.

5. Russian Circles - Geneva
I have never, ever been a fan of instrumental music. And as a music geek I have always found this disheartening in myself. I truly can not get into Jazz music because the human voice is my favorite instrument of choice. I feel that way because the human voice is limitless. Instrumental music always feels like it hits a glass ceiling. However Russian Circles have transcended that and there second album Geneva more than put a wrench in my musical world view.

From a strictly aesthetic presentation Geneva has all the right things. In this day and age, where everyone has a guitar, great guitar work is a must. Guitarist Mike Sullivan, does not disappoint. While Russian Circles over all gives nods to Isis and Neurosis, Sullivan's playing at times reminds me of the masterful work of Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo. In fact, much of the time I feel like he is bringing the best of Ranaldo and his sidekick Thurston Moore together in one package. So already we have a band that can bring together the power of epic metal bands and the sonic clusterfuck of indie rocks greatest music makers.

In fact drummer Dave Turncrantz approach and finesse reminds me of Sonic Youth's skinsman Steve Shelly on a little album called Daydream Nation. This band is eager to rock the fuck out, but they understand so clearly the subtlety of what makes a song. They are powerful and mighty, the gut punching bass lines of Brian Cook won't allow you to forget that, but Russian Circles aren't merely plowing the audience over with volume. They are constructing pieces of music. Not just songs, but what feel like very meticulous compositions.

And yet there is so much room that Russian Circles are exploring this time out. To much surprise they employed the use of violin on several tracks on the album. And while the placement of those songs leaves something to be desired, it indicates that this band is thinking about the music, not just bashing it out in a room together. The first ten minutes of the album seem to fly by, and the start of "Melee" suggests more of the same. But rather then swipe at the jugular, Russian Circles steps back and tugs at the heart strings, pushing and twisting the muscle to it's will.

The best thing a musician can do is know their instrument intimately. Geneva is sure proof that the members of Russian Circles are quite close to their chosen tool. Though it probably is a band made up of virtuosos, they are master craftsman that understand very clearly what they want to communicate and each person's role in that process. They very rarely step on each other's toes, and often seem to each be in there own world, but the voices emerging from the speakers is powerful, subtle, beautiful and absolutely intense.

Other Considerations
Dalek - Gutter Tactics
Dalek offer the most intense version of hip hop the world has to offer. Closer to The Twilight Sad then they are to Wu-Tang, none the less they put out an amazing album once again. Sadly once again it is terribly overlooked. But there is no justice in this world so long as Dalek is terrifying hip-hop. With the amount of weak ass, cry into your shoulders bullshit mainstream hip-hop offered us this year, Dalek is the antidote to that blues jam.

Dead Friends - S/T
Gainesville, FL is a magical place, where magical men with beards grab fucked up, watter logged guitars and make the most regional rock sound of the decade. Dead Friends is no exception, but they are fucking awesome. Short songs, covered in layers of dirty Nirvana songs and buzzing Jesus Lizard tunes, Dead Friends teaches some old dogs new tricks.

Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart
Every song on this album had the potential to be a radio hit, and across the Atlantic I believe this Norwegian rookie made quite a splash. She didn't do to bad over here either. Surely her Scandinavian sensibilities were a bit too odd for the larger public at first taste, but there is no denying this infectious pop-rock music. Though as an album, the songs don't totally mesh, but the beauty of Ida Maria is that she has such a command over each song that they are distinctly hers. It's too bad the industry is the way it is these days, because ten years ago, Ida Maria would have been one of the biggest waves in the ocean. She's under the radar now, but I suspect she will get better with time.

Bomb the Music Industry - Scrambles
Bomb the Music Industry are a hyperactive mess, and Scrambles is the most indicative of this. Jeff Rosenstock shoves a lot of lyrics into three minute songs, so much so that it's hard sometimes to keep up, but there is no denying how energetic this band is. You can't listen to Scrambles and not want to just stage dive off the hood of your car. Don't do it though, there is no one around you in the parking lot and everyone will just look at you like an idiot while you bleed from the skull fracture.

Paint It Black - Surrender/Amnesia
If Paint it Black had packaged the nine songs that make up these two EP's together they easily would have found there way into my top five this year. But sequencing is such an issue with albums, and having to build my own is frustrating as all hell. However, this is the best music this band has ever produced. Gone are the days of trying to prove to the old school that the new school is worthy. Closer to 40 then 15, Dan Yemin has harnessed this band into a full on machine and proven that hardcore has no age limits. And while it is loud and fast, I truly believe that Yemin and company make music that can reach beyond the hardcore/punk rock underground ghetto. They may not do it now, but history will tell.

Vacation, all I ever wanted.

2009-12-14T18:29:00.000-05:00

Vacation, vacation, where will you go? Somewhere exotic? Brazil, perhaps? Nope, not this guy. Maybe somewhere fun, like New York City? Fuck that place. Seriously. Worst East Coast City EVER. What about a tropical island, you could lay on the beach, get some sun, go swimming. HELLO? SKIN CANCER ANYONE? Fuck no. Where am I going to spend my winter vacation? In Washington D.C. That's right the Down Low District, Diamond City, South of Heaven, North of Hell. The greatest fucking city to ever be a city.

I opted to drive to the metro today. It was cold when I left my house, just after the 10:00 AM mark. It took me a bit of time to decide that this was what I wanted to do. Despite a curtain of fog, draped over the earth from the heavens, I grabbed my camera, fresh memory card in tow and hit the metro. I love taking the train into the city. It is so much more relaxing then driving. I can actually pay attention to the music, today's selection being The Most Secret Method. I also took the opportunity to snap some shots from the moving train. Spying opportune scenes of graffiti, I was able to catch a glimpse of some great suburban art before I descended down into the tunnels.

My first stop was American Apparel. This store has replaced my visits to record stores. It is my mecca for guilty consumption. Like this white boy needs another fucking t-shirt. But I did have some gifts to buy and very much wanted a "Legalize Gay" Human Rights Campaign t-shirt. It feels a bit more universal than the Prop 8 one. But lets face it, it's an American Apparel t-shirt in support of the gays. Like I need more of an excuse. Even though the beautiful looking boys and girls that work there make me feel like a bridge troll, I left very satisfied with my purchases and decided to seize upon the day.

I headed up 12th or 13th. I don't remember which exactly. I came across some science foundation building. It had this weird looking sculpture by the front window. I felt like it depicted the universe being destroyed or something. It was kind of evil. At least I thought it was. As I was taking this picture some little kid was watching me. I think he was trying to talk to me, but between Paint It Black blasting from my iPod and his mother yelling at him, I think he gave up pretty quickly. Kids are kind of awesome. I wish I was less shy about the camera and people. I don't really like asking people if I can take there picture. You never get a good, honest reaction. But this kid was rad. I tried to sneak a shot, but he ran off his over-bearing mother. She was probably from the suburbs. Or really rich. Or just an asshole. Whatever. It was time for me to move on.

I decided that Ben's Chili Bowl was my destination for the time being. I must have somehow decided that subconsciously already, because I was walking north after all. Further, I must confess, that I decided I was going to hit up Ben's at least once on my vacation, having just seen State of Play, the Hollywood thriller staring Ben Affleck as a politician and Russel Crow as a reporter. Despite Crow being far too muscular to be any kind of reporter I have ever seen ever, the movie rules. But what rules most about the movie is that there is a scene that takes place in Ben's Chili Bowl. This dude has a small speaking part in it. Dude has been serving me veggie chili and veggie burgers for a long fucking time. He was stoked when I told him I saw him in that movie. It's well deserved. He played the part like a natural. No one could have done it any better. I sat at the counter, drank a root beer, murdered another set of Veggie Chili Fries and red the new Burn Collector.

A visit to Ben's Chili Bowl is not complete unless you are approached by someone with a CD-R of their new album. I think there must be some sort of hierarchy, because some people are allowed to solicit inside Ben's while others seem banished to the alleyway outside. I don't know what the deal is, but as I was destroying more starch and soy, a dude who calls himself Pookanu started chatting me up. He went into his spiel pretty quickly, and usually I smile, nod and say I only have enough money for my food. But fuck it, I was on vacation and he was only asking five bucks for twenty songs. I am now the proud owner of S.M.E.A.R.S, the new demo CD by Pookanu. Available at Ben's Chili Bowl if he's there. (The internet is telling me he actually works at Ben's, so I guess that's how he gets slinging rights within the holy walls).

After Ben's, it was time to walk off the delicious meal and lethargy that set in from too much sitting. Realizing I was just shy of the great meridian that marks my fair city on the map, I headed just a bit further north to the seat of Malcolm X Park. This little oasis has long been a favorite photography destination of mine and now was the perfect time to return to it's beautiful surroundings. I had one statue on my list to make sure I captured. For whatever reason, the Serenity statue has always seemed to elude me. I honestly didn't even know it was there until I drove home from a show at St. Stephens last fall. It's tucked at the bottom of a hill, and I've missed it during every trip. This time however, the decaying beauty was all mine. The face of the statue looks at though it's been chipped away, and it's arm has been severed. I took a bunch of shots of it however, and had a great time climbing all over it. Unfortunately, some weird dude was eyeballing me, so I decided to ascend up the hidden hill and make my way towards some of the other sights. I was sad to see, as I approached her atop her horse, that Joan of Arc is looking even more unkempt then usual. The copper is turning into that turquoise color, like the statue of liberty, the city obviously loosing interest in this park. She is not alone in this however as both Dante and Buchanan are also slowly being overtaken by oxidation. At the rate the city is going that park will probably be sold off and turned into more condos. But who am I to bitch? I've lived in Virginia my entire life. But seriously, Malcolm X park is one of the reasons I keep coming back to the city. It's state of decay is a fucking shame.

At this point, I didn't really know where to go. I felt like I went to all the best places the city had to offer. I had a new T-Shirt, I read my book, I was listening to Fugazi and I was getting a little sleepy (not to mention, for reasons still unknown my glutes fucking hurt and my legs were stiffening up). But soldier on I did and decided to walk to Dupont Circle. I wanted to pay my homage to Lamda Rising, DC's oldest gay bookstore which is closing the beginning of January. With the Blade having the rug pulled out from under them and now this, I truly wonder where the important writing and conversations are going to come from. As I walked towards Dupont the streets became more crowded. I saw a dog park that had astro-turf. What the fuck? Really? How is it a city like DC has money for shit like this and not, I don't know, schools? The mystery will never be solved. As it stands, this was my last straw. I wasn't going to linger much longer. I hit the Circle and immediately someone tried to get me to sign a petition. Fugazi was still going strong in the ears though, so I just walked by, like a smiling asshole. The streets suddenly seemed to erupt with people, my cue to exit stage left. I dropped down into the bowels of WMATA and quickly caught a train. Not really paying attention too much at this point, Amy Farina's drums banging in my ears as Alec Mackaye screamed "CHUCK YOUR BRAINS OUT", I missed Metro Center by about three stops and had to switch back directions.

The rest of the ride home was pretty uneventful. I read DC Agenda, the new paper trying to replace the Blade. Some old dude gave me dirty looks. But that's to be expected, train bound for the suburbs, back home to Franconia Station.

forgetters

2009-12-13T07:34:00.001-05:00

forgetters
Originally uploaded by goodgovernor

forgetters, The Max Levine Ensemble, Police and Thieves. St. Stephens Church, Washington, DC. January 12, 2009. A Positive Force Benefit for We Are Family (http://www.wearefamilydc.org/)

Zomes - S/T

2009-12-09T17:38:00.002-05:00

Zomes - S/T
Holy Mountain

As the year comes to an end, most of my CD buying focuses on stuff I've missed over the years. I usually hit the used place a couple times to see if some of the stuff over the last 12 months have hit their shelves in time for holiday thriftiness. Occassionally however, I managed to stumble on something I should have picked up and failed to. This is the case with Zomes. Man I really fucked this up. I should have been on top of this, and I wasn't and boy are my ears mad at me.

I caught Zomes, the solo project of Asa Osbourne, best know for his work in Lungfish, last Friday night. He set up a tape player hooked up to a bass amp and a Casio keyboard run through some effects peddles into a combo amp. The shit was loud. I mean loud as Lungfish used to be. And despite the change up in instrument, it was just as hypnotic and meditative as Lungfish. The instrumental pulsating waves over the thunky, desolate beats was mesmerizing and trans-formative in a way that so little music is. The sparse crowd mostly dispersed as Asa calmly sat in front of his machines, but his monk like presence seemed little disturbed by the reaction. Much like Lungfish, if you don't get it you won't get it until you get it. And you may very well never get it.

As for Asa's solo debut offering, it's a low-fi affair, replete with sixteen far too short tracks. The quality and brevity leave a bit to be desired. It has always been repetition on these amazing notes that has made his work so lovable, but I feel like for the most part these songs are just a taste, self edited by an unsure artists branching out into new territories. But no one makes music like Asa on this planet, and I suspect in the universe and so the songs could due with a little more time on them. But it is a joy and a treat to have this music. To feel this musical language again, and now transformed into new sounds and pulses. It's the dialect of a native tongue and I couldn't be happier to hear it once more.

There may never be another Lungfish album, and the world is that much darker because of it. But in that void, that dense and empty space, collapsing upon it self, Zomes offers some comfort, the repetitious lull, the overwhelming calm, the changing shapes through time and space.

Pardon the dust

2009-11-18T19:27:00.002-05:00

We are working on the year end stuff. Probably slap it up the second week of December. In addition to my top five records of the year I am trying to get something up about my favorite records of the decade. But otherwise, you know, there aren't any new albums coming out except Blacklisted and it's not like you care about that album anyway because you are sissy little shit. So fuck you. Come back later.

(If I have time I will probably review that Blacklisted album. I'm pretty psyched for it).

New Versus Old

2009-10-30T11:34:00.006-04:00

Converge
Axe Will Fall
Epitaph Records

For me, Converge sits at the crux of why I love some music, and why some bands drives me up the fucking walls. They are loud and abrasive and technically superb. They cover every inch of sonic space possible in the sound waves available to the human ear. They are aggressive and pummeling and make you want to break shit. They also push the boundary between genius and unsustainable, sometimes not knowing when to pull you up from the water, giving you that breath of hope before submerging you once again into the hell they produce. Axe to Fall is nothing short of a metal masterpiece, but it doesn't quite cross over, which is a shame. Having said that, this is a great fucking record.

To begin with, much like Russian Circles recent outing, Converge give nods to modern metal's greatest band, Neurosis. But it's not through waves of drumming, instead it's through short bursts of beautiful riffs. The first four songs alone are Converge at the best they have ever been, and though the album sorta drags into Metal Noodling territory a bit, the intensity is kept up throughout. And speaking of Neurosis, Steve Von Till lends his excellent, weary, rusty voice to "Cruel Bloom," a song that owes a nod to the great Pygmy Lush, a band guitarist Kurt Ballou has recorded and nurtured to great acclaim. The song gets help from Pygmy Lush's Chris Taylor and sadly under utilizes Aimee Argote from Des_Ark. This is my only true complaint, because I hear it as duet between the two voices and the shit would be unstoppable.

Axe to Fall is a driving force of metal and post hardcore destruction. Converge shows their true colors as artists here, even if only in short bursts and flares, thundering a wall of noise at you. They may never really temper themselves, and you can't really argue with that when they aggression has never sounded so good.

Sunny Day Real Estate
Diary (reissue)

Sub Pop

I need to clarify something out right here. I'm not a huge Sunny Day Real Estate fan. When I first heard this band back in the early nineties, this album specifically I found it annoying. And frankly after almost twenty years, it's still not really doing as much for me. Though this band was instrumental in so many bands I dug that followed (Promise Ring and Braid especially) I think what they inspired was far more noteworthy then what Sunny Day Real Estate actually accomplished musically.

But I bought the reissue anyway. Why? Well it was a bit of an impulse buy, but it serves as a perfect comparison point to Axe to Fall which is the art of mastering. Despite Diary being remastered, it doesn't sound updated at all. The initial sonic feel that Sunny Day Real Estate wanted to capture is preserved. This is how you re-master a record. It is not kowtowing to the current trend to boost all the levels of all the songs to indistinguishable wave patters. Sunny Day Real Estate were Pixies enthusiasts, much like label mates Nirvana, and utilized the loud.quiet.loud formula to great effect. Thankfully, it is preserved for a future generation of sad sack white boys to brood over.

So, Diary is not as bad as I recalled it. Frankly it's no worse then it's most blatant rip offs that soon followed throughout the nineties. But boy is the sound sourly dated. It's was a reflection and reaction to so much that was going on in music at the time and so much that proceeded it, but the style didn't really last and it doesn't quite hold up. Still, I appreciate the effort. There was no other band like this (save for their predecessors Shudder to Think, which the liner notes give a nod to for good, deserved, measure) when Sunny Day Real Estate landed. And fuck if Jeremy Engick

isn't a great singer, even strained and road worn, his voice resonates like very few before him.

I wasn't really looking to relive the 90's that much when I brushed pass this record. But Diary is a decent place holder to have in my collection, a reflection on what was, what became of it, and where things went to.

Tons and Tons of New Music

2009-10-23T17:50:00.004-04:00

Man there is so much music I want to write about. This is gonna be a very different post. Right now I am listening to Spoonboy. He was in Europe over the last 7 weeks. He came home and played a show this week. I went to it. He has a demo of new songs. I love it. There's a lot of Lou Reed type lyricism. Especially on "Not Coming Home". Find Spoonboy. He'll hook you up.

A few weeks ago I got Music for the Motion Picture Where the Wild Things Are credited to Karen O and the Kids. The songs on here are great. It plays pretty well as an album. It's very playful and bright. A lot more uplifting then the movie really. But I think it fit. "Capsize" was a rad song not in the film. Highly recommend this jam.

Suicide Squeeze Records released Russian Circles new album. Holy mother of our floored, Geneva is fucking amazing. Drummer Dave Turncrantz is on some Neurosis type shit. Fuzzy bass from Brian Cook that rattles my car windows. Hints of Explosions in the Sky, but it's more of a nod then an influence. I don't like the sequence, I feel like that needs to be played with, but that's a lot easier to figure out in the digital age.

Another eMusic discovery was We Were Promised Jet Packs. Label mates to The Twilight Sad, they are a bit more rambunctious. The album falters at parts, but over all it's a fairly strong debut.

Delay would probably be bigger than Green Day if there was any justice in this world. But there isn't. There is however a new Delay album out on Plan-It-X called Plain Language. A notch up on the recording tip, probably one of the best sounding PIX albums ever released. You will bounce off the walls.

Actor Ryan Gosling has this musical project called Dead Man's Bones. It's decent. It's not quite as stunning as I had hoped for. It could use a little more Waits influence I think. A better recording, it just feels a bit subdued. Some what similar to The Gothic Archies record "The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events". That album was awesome. This one could use another pass.

Also bought the new Strike Anywhere album out on Bridge Nine called Iron Front. It sounds like a Strike Anywhere album. The snare drum is not nearly as annoying as on all their other albums which makes it their most enjoyable record. Way better than Dead FM which I can't even listen to because the drum mix is so fucked up. Flight of the Conchords offer up their likely swan song with I Told You I Was Freaky. Some of the songs I don't even remember from Season Two, but "Sugar lumps," "Too Many Dicks On the Dance Floor" and "You Don't Have to Be a Prostitute" are instant classics.

Finally, another Plan-It-X album. Stressface put out an album called "Oi...You're Welcome" a few years ago. It's got some Avail influence to it. The dudes run No Idea Records which is where you should buy most of your music if you can. This record rips it. It has a song about a dude that looks like Captain Lou Albano, rest his soul.

Man, that's a lot of music. I think I covered most everything since last time. What a relief.

More Album Reviews

2009-10-04T08:53:00.002-04:00

The XX - xx
Rough Trade

This week we are going to explore my musical problems. I am a member of eMusic, an online digital web music browser. A few weeks ago they caught me with an offer to reactivate my account (again!) with 50 free downloads or some such offer. Naturally it wasn't a hard decision to make. For $11.99 I get my 30 downloads, then I get 50 more free. That's a lot of music for a really low price. During my shopping experience they kept shoving this record by some band called The XX in my face. So I caved and previewed the album. That was all I needed.

The XX make me incredibly self loathing. Why you ask dear reader? Because they are four twenty year old kids from South West London who have made one of the most stunning debut albums for a new band in many many years. I have been addicted to this music since I purchased it. So much so that during a recent record shopping excursion I had to buy it on Vinyl when I saw it. I love vinyl, it sounds AMAZING. but my life does not allow for a lot of vinyl listening opportunities. So that shows you my dedication to this fiendish habit of mine.

This album is a delicate journey into pop minimalism. What is so striking about The XX (the band) and The xx (the album) is that the band looks like a bunch of hipsters from several divergent musical genres and yet some how mesh together in this amalgamation of experimental music. And the use of the word experimental is not to suggest some type of deconstruction of form or the distortion of sound into collage, but a true experiment into how music can be made. The songs of The xx are hollow and haunting. And though they do not posses any huge blasts of guitar and drums, or any kind of symphonic hits or trashy beats, it's no less engaging music. It's musical fucking heroin.

The basic set up for the band includes two guitar players, a bass player, a kid who has a drum machine, and shared vocals. One of the guitarists spends a lot of time on the keyboards too. But these instruments are used sparingly. Through out the album, not one song has even one instrument playing through the entire song. Even during their most dense track "Crystallized" they manage to subtract at times. But the open space isn't so much empty as it is stark. The focus any minute on a vocal melody, a thudding bass line, or a whispered longing lyric in intense. You can't look away, even if you want to.

Since this record hit my ears, I've had a very hard time listening to a lot of guitar bands. Since The XX draw from so many different sources it seems, they make their predecessors look arcane. There is a less is more approach going on here, but not in your typical three chord punk rock song or folky acoustic guitar music. There is a bare exposure laid out across their entire album. The xx is a chilling debut. A classic English band straight out of the gate. If they can keep it up they will sit along side the likes of Blur, My Bloody Valentine and Joy Division. That's no small feat for music that is so barren.

The Twilight Sad - Forget the Night Ahead
Fat Cat Records

What is it about Scottish bands that makes them so engaging? For me I think it is the drunken haze that they exist through. I can't really say that's a good stereotype or rule in which to hold any of them up to. It's completely unfair. Just because it made the great Glasgow rockers Arab Strap the intense juggernaut they were, doesn't mean that Mogwai or The Twilight Sad are a bunch of drunken buffoons putting on their best Jim Morrison impersonations. In fact the sonic similarities between Mogwai and their suburban friends in The Twilight Sad make you wonder what the hell is going on up in Glasgow because this shit is amazing.

What The Twilight Sad does to great effect is sound unabashedly mournful. James Graham is a front man on arena rock type levels. There is nothing over powering about his voice, he uses it to great effect. The building, budding rise of "The Room" is a fine moment. A song rooted on the growing intensity of the drummers pounding appendages, Graham sings the song upward from a quiet bedroom demo to a musically crushing rock fest.

This is found music for me. I relate to it's similarities with Mogwai and Mogwai friends Envy. In fact I would put this band somewhere between the two. Though surely they aren't as over powering as their Japanese counterparts, they certainly understand the effect of and how to apply electricity to music. It's powerful without just being overpowering in volume. This is such a key to rock music. Steady as it comes, it's nearly unhinged in places, and gets mad with piercing guitar sounds, but it's always in the right places.

Volcano Choir - Unmap
JagJaguwar

Sometimes the music I like surprises me and that was the case when I perused the Volcano Choir's debut album Unmap. The first fiddly notes on the guitar of "Husks and Shells" reminded me of the earliest works of Tim Kinsella of Joan of Arc. When the off kilter ohh's and ahh's come in, I was totally taken back to listening to How Memory Works while sitting on the shore of the pond circa George Mason University 1998. Shit was weird and wild. For me there is no doubt that music was pulsing through the arteries of this project. But I was pretty impressed. Tim Kinsella hasn't done Time Kinsella as good as Volcano Choir.

I was shocked when I found out this was made up of one of the dudes from Bon Iver. I couldn't get into that band at all, and yet this collaboration with Collection of Colonies of Bees is something special and spectacular. In fact it is interesting to listen to something so influenced by music that proceeded it by ten years. Unmap totally captures a moment in time. It's quirky, layered and loose music, sometimes featuring not that much and sometimes featuring a chorus of improvised sounds. Justin Vernon's almost unintelligible but beautiful falsetto vocals seem so well trained for this music. It's a rare occasion when you get that type of vocal timbre to really work, but Vernon does it well.

Music is a funny thing. In the middle of rocking out with Raekwon's thudding hip hop or bouncing around to Shang-A-Lang's garage created pop punk, I still find time to travel through experimental, art rock. I have problems, deep rooted problems. I probably need a three month detox program. But I doubt even sobriety could keep me away for long.

Hip Hop's Big Week

2009-09-20T10:03:00.007-04:00

Commercial hip hop had a big week here in September recently. Not that this is surprising. For as long as I can remember now, Hip Hop has pretty much dominated a large part of the record release calender. This is only news worthy in the fact that this week I fell head first into it and bought four CD's on major labels. Why? Because I got swept away in the hype. Three of the four albums I bought on any other week were albums I would have very little interest in. But what can I say. Sometimes, as a music connoisseur, I buy shit I don't necessarily need. I really should work at trying to get promo's of shit. But since the whole journalism thing is going to hell, thanks in no small part to bullshit blogs such as the one you are reading now, I doubt Warner, Universal and the like are gonna be hooking me up any time soon.

So this week were gonna try something different. Two of these albums I would actually recommend. Two I think are full of a lot of hype, but ultimately short on substance. So were gonna play a game called "What You Bought/ What You Should Have Bought". Here we go.

-WHAT YOU BOUGHT -
Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon:The End of Day
Dream On/G.O.O.D Music/Universal

Kid Cudi got some hype off of one song "Day n Nite" that came out on a mix tape last year. Most of the Mix Tape is not that good, but this track does properly showcase that this kid does have some skills. So when this record dropped I decided to see what a budget and the Kanye West seal of approval (which I disapprove of) did. What we have is mostly a lopsided, but lush, emotional soul journey with some pretty bad side steps.

Kid Cudi may be the first black "emo" rapper. A label often tossed at a lot of white indie rappers these days, it's as bad for hip hop as it was for rock music. And normally I wouldn't sink so low, but this is a hip hop album replete with Kid Cudi's personal diary entries it seems. He is sad, he gets stoned, he feels alone and he likes to fuck women. The proper opener "Soundtrack to My Life", the second song on the record opens with the wonderful line "I got 99 Problems and they all bitches". Great. Kanye West's 808's and Heartbreak introduced the public to a sad sack lamenting about his women problems, his money and his heartbreak. Kid Cudi took this idea and ran with it. The effects are often cringe worthy.

Musically, the album is pretty chill. And with the consistent references to getting high (were not complaining here) people will be lighting up to this album on many a late nights. It's appropriate. The track "Solo Dolo (Nightmare)", a song where Cudi laments how he's an outsider, has a nice beat constructed out of orchestral sounds. It's subtle, soft and striking. The whoa is me trip our man is on doesn't sound quite so self serving here. In fact if most of the album was more outstanding maybe I wouldn't be so harsh. But listening to grown men cry is a hard pill to swallow. Especially when they have songs on there record like "Make Her Say". This is a song so terribly out of place on this album it's begs many questions. A radio hit that perhaps his career in the short term couldn’t resist to pass on, but in the long run seriously detracts from the overall quality album. It is simply a song about getting head from women. A trite and overdone topic in hip hop. King asshole Kanye West throws down a typical verse that only makes me wonder when the fuck that man child is going to grow the fuck up. And yes Common, well he shows his true colors. Way to go man. Finding Forever wasn't enough of a sell out, you had to write the line "You say be on that conscious tip/get your head right and get on this conscious dick"? Really? Needless to say this well produced, head nodding hit leaves anyone older then 17 with any sense of the world cringing.

The song ruins an interesting, well produced album that otherwise does put Kid Cudi on the map. But no matter how good the songs are, the repetitive nature of Kid Cudi's lonely nights is mostly depressing. At no point does he frame it in any kind of universal mode. He's sad, yes, but why? We all have our demons, we all have our fears, we've all been scared. Emotional health is a worthy topic, but Cuddi fails to be effective with his poetry. The music is often good enough to overshadow this, but I'm not looking to this guy to change major label hip hop.

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT
Q-Tip - Kamaal the Abstract
Jive Records

If you want to see hip hop change, then you need to look no further then this album. Shelved years ago by his record label, Kamaal the Abstract was just one of several projects the mighty Q-Tip worked on that got lost in major label bullshit. One comment I read on an interview Q-Tip begged the questions of why didn't Q drop records on some indie's? And this album, had it had it's proper due back when he made it, may have been perfect for such a label. But even that would be a hard sell.

Kamaal the Absract is first and foremost an artist's album. Q-Tip simply made this record for his own sanity. There is no question about it. While he burns the mic when he steps up to it, this is a record about music, not about hip hop, not about dope rhymes and sick lines. Q-Tip wanted to step away from that game in 2002. Seeing as he had made a career out of positive, booty shaking hip hop records since he was a teenager, it's not hard to see a grown up Kamaal Fareed want to make his own record. There is no doubt that is exactly what he did.

This is not an easy album by any means. It's a jazz influenced record that sounds unreal. The production is spot on, with a warm, full drum sound that I have yet to hear anywhere. The record is smooth, but the guitar chords are powerful, resonating. The bass jumps out and shakes you at the foundation. Q-Tip was not messing around when he made this album. And right away, "Feelin'" shows a direction Q-Tip would eventually get to showcase on The Renaissance and album he recorded nearly six years later. In fact, with how good The Renaissance was, it's only natural to be curious about the other lost Q-Tip projects.

But as I said, Kamaal Fareed really owns this album. Q-Tip shows up often at the front end of the track and drops his signature smooth lyrical magic. But afterwords the music takes center stage. I can only think about Travis Morrison, the former Dismemberment Plan front man who released Travistan to much public confusion. I can only wonder what people would have thought of Kaamal the Abstract had it been released in 2002. Q-Tip went on a public musical journey asking for trust from the audience as they experimented with their sound and voice. Would this record have been a success had it been released when it was made? It's hard to say. It's easy to see though, how it might have made a lot of people scratch there heads.

The album is after all out there. A lot of press around the record, much of it from Q-Tip himself compares it in part to Andree 3000's The Love Below. Andree's half of an Outkast double album that was filled with prince references and way out trippy jams. But Andre’s album felt more like an homage to his influences, wearing them brightly on his sleeves then an attempt to find himself. Andre made a record in spite of hip-hop, Kamaal the Abstract was made instead of a hip hop album.

The record doesn't feel completely fleshed out and I think could have done with more structure. Like I said, Q-Tip comes out on almost every track blazing the microphone with more intensity then I've ever heard from him. But he drops the microphone on all the tracks. The music is strong, but it lacks purpose a lot of times. All that said, it's a fantastic record and as a long time fan I am glad to see it has a proper release. It's loose, relaxed feel is a comfortable, flavorful and all around worthwhile experience.

What You Bought
Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3
ROCNation

I don't really like Jay-Z. In fact I will say that the two Jay-Z albums worth owning have little to do with him. One is MTV Unplugged, a record he made with the Roots that, in my mind anyway, made Jay-Z actually seem viable. This was after listening to Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life in college over and over and over again. It was an album I did not like, but could not stop listening to. The other album of his, that can hardly be attributed to him really is The Grey Album, Dangermouse's mash up record combining samples from the Beatles' The White Album with Hova's The Black Album. Where the latter just seemed mostly a boring excursion in hip hop production The Grey Album made me like the Beatles and Jigga at the same time. Hardly a small feat if I may say so.

So why do I check back in with Jay-Z now? I can't really say with any concrete ideas. Even after reading Chris Richard's review in the Washington Post, I was still somehow intrigued. Maybe it was the cover art, a white painted shit pile of instruments that caught me. I can't say I am not a sucker for good album art. So I bought the album.

It starts out pretty strong. "Death of Auto Tune (D.O.A)" to me is one of Hova's most insightful tracks I have ever heard. I've never felt he was leading hip-hop, at least not to somewhere I was ever interested in following it. "Only rapper to rewrite history without a pen" is allegedly his call to his free style skills, but Jay-Z has always been to precise for that, and this is the one time his OCD like delivery rains supreme. When he calls out "Nigger just get violent, this is death of auto tune, moment of silence" I am happily watching the trend of robot vocals die quickly. He is the CEO, he said so.

Following this song is "Run This Town" which opens with a sick intro by Rihanna. Frankly if more of this album was like this. I'd be totally hooked. Not even Kanye with his self loathing yet boastful verse can sink his well produced ship. Kanye, stay behind the console. You actually made me think Jay-Z had some fucking amazing skills.

From there, the album already starts to sink. By the sixth track he's got Young Jeezy who I can't fucking take. The song it self makes it difficult to absorb the rest of the album, cluttered with too many guests and not enough good ideas. Like every other album I've ever head by HOV The Blueprint 3 has a few big thrillers and shit ton of overbearing filler.

In the beginning Jigga What brags about outselling Elvis Presley. And thank goodness for that. I've never been a huge fan of the raps or the albums, but the persona has always struck me. He states he's outsold everyone but the Beatles. And chances are he won't stop until he takes that title. But will Jay ever out sell the Beatles? It's less likely after their reissue project hit the shelves the same week. But we are still in that era of super stardom. Jay-Z has turned that game on it's head. Maybe he redefined it during the Mop Top era, but he hasn't made millions jump ship, though I wish he had, personally.

What You Should Have Bought
Raekwon - Only Built for Cuban Linx...II
ICEH2O

Wu Tang Clan is the other great dynasty of New York. If Jay-Z is Coca Cola, Wu-Tang has to be Pepsi. I've always felt they were something of their own world, their own universe even. It's like hip hop in one sense, but mostly whatever Wu does belongs completely to them. Hit or Miss, there is nothing like an album from a member or satellite rapper of The Wu Tang Clan.

For that Raekwon has received his fair share of limelight. His first solo album Only Built for Cuban Linx is considered one of the top three solo outings of any Wu Tang member by many critics. And certainly I hope one day someone writes a long ass book about the Wu Tang universe. If I had the patience and had I jumped on the solo album game a lot longer ago I would tackle that, because Raekwon's position in that universe I think is crucial.

Only Built for Cuban Linx...II is years and years in the making. The master tapes being passed around from producer to producer, label to label. There is a yo mamma joke in there somewhere. But in the end we get a classic Wu Tang album, on par with Enter the Wu and Forever. This is what Raekwon is mostly known for, being most true to the classic Wu Tang sound while delivering mafioso inspired lyrics. Look no further.

What is most striking in fact about this album is how classic Wu it sounds considering there are no less than 12 producers over 22 tracks. Most striking to me are the J Dilla produced tracks. Dude is best known for his work with Tribe and Q-Tip and before he passed he gave The Chef three dark and brooding tracks to lay verse over. The results of our man Raekwon working with so many different people keeps a thick album interesting. It's also fairly clear that Raekwon knew what he wanted and was able to extract it from many talented producers.

The Wu Tang Clan needs another critical hit record. Sure they have sold a mighty few albums in their time, but it's been a while since the hype machine has rallied around one of their member's albums. Raekwon delivers what is needed, perhaps unexpectedly but none the less done. Sometimes you want hip hop to reinvent itself. It seems the most malleable musical genre ever as it pulls from so many different sources for it's inspiration and musical back drop. Only Built for Cuban Linx...II doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it reminds us of why we love The Wu Tang Clan and it's many personalities. That in it self is worth writing to moms about.

Antlers, The Catalyst, Magnetic Band

2009-08-20T23:26:00.001-04:00

Antlers
Originally uploaded by goodgovernor

sometimes you just need to be reaffirmed in life. Tonight was one of those nights.

This morning on the way to work, I forgot my computer, so I had to turn around and get it. Now, I don't mind being late for work. At my age, after all the years I've been going to the same job, I could careless. But I hate sitting in traffic. Sitting in traffic and listening to Heathers sing "Waiter" which is a song basically about feeling like a fucking zombie and wondering when time, which will not wait for you, will kick in to gear and life will start again. Yea, when yr in a metal box going zero miles an hour, fuck it, shit is lame.

So going to see some of Richmond's best at my friend Gideon's house on a Thursday night was no fucking joke. First up, the Magnetic Band, Gideon's new project. They were fucking out there. Total noise jam shit. Dudes were having a good time and a good time setting the mood for a house show is very necessary. I hope in this town, a band like The Magnetic Band can find an audience.

Following them was The Catalyst. It's been a few years since I last saw this band and boy have they gotten AWESOME. They were pretty fucking good before, but now they are amazing. They have sort of come into their own, taking the Nirvana and Sabbath riffs and making them into something more their own. They have adopted a more post punk stance, but they still know how to have a good fucking time too. I need to get me a copy of their last EP, but the new album Swallow Your Teeth is pretty fucking bitchin. Get it, you will not be sorry.

Antlers is another band I haven't seen in a while. I don't think they've played DC since the last time I saw them. They have also gotten seriously tight too. They played a batch of new songs that are just as fierce and powerful as their debut album. They also added a new bass player who seems to add a bit of a sonic gut punch that makes them all the more dynamic.

The photo you see here is of Christian Brady of Antlers. It's the last shot of the night, and I think one of the best I took. Check out the rest of my flickr page for more awesome shots. Music is awesome. You should listen to some of it right now.

Peace.

Pissed Jeans - King of Jeans

2009-08-17T21:20:00.006-04:00

Pissed Jeans
King of Jeans
Sub Pop

Within 10 seconds of dropping Pissed Jeans new album King of Jeans into my CD player I was pulverized. I've never been overpowered and held down by a CD before. I mean the choke hold was placed and I decided my best defense was submission. By the time I got to the end of the album I felt beaten, battered, abused, kick and spent. This album isn't just good, it's fucking amazing. Pissed Jeans operate on their own plane of musical battery. It's poetic in it's depraved, self inflicted violence. The disgust is turned inward, and pulled from the guts is a pummeling chaos. But Pissed Jeans are probably to sullen to actually give a shit.

Two years ago Pissed Jeans entered the lexicon of punk rock with the stunning drudge filled Hope for Men. Some how these four rust belt rockers wanted to bludgeon their unsuspecting audience, replete with lyrics exacerbating the mundane. But it caught on and created a buzz. I admit that at first I didn't really get it. It was just so self evasive, but under the reverb toned guitars and slurred, grumbled vocals was an explosion waiting to happen. King of Jeans is that explosion. It forgets none of what made Hope for Men exceptional but turns the loathing into a celebratory party. The music is almost perverted, but not objectifying. It's the perversion of self. And rather then sulk in their room they're going out in public, seeing movies, pounding the pavement, and worshiping punk rock fashion. But only from afar. The Pissed Jeans are way too nervous, self aware and awkward to actually talk to anyone.

So where to go when an album does the unthinkable? We embrace the shit out of it. This album is the epitome of a new era, the isolated digitally induced and poorly named "information age". It marvels in it's absurdity, but it's realistic in all the ticks, twitches, and shame. Pissed Jeans may or may not be tongue in cheek in their delivery, but it doesn't matter because the music is going to hit you over the head. No one is doing that anymore. Maybe they want to bore you to tears. Maybe they want to chase you from the room, but they sure have a hell of great way of going about it.

We could talk day in and day out about their influences and many of those names would pay homage to the record collections of these four goof balls, but really who gives a shit. Music doesn't come from thin air and if it did, it wouldn't be that interesting. Most of the time, it isn't very interesting. Pissed Jeans aren't trying to engage you on any level but there own. And it may seem like it's at the bottom but no one's fucking touching this.

Magrudergrind/Asshole Parade and More at St. Stephens Church, Washington DC

2009-08-16T10:10:00.001-04:00

Magrudergrind
Originally uploaded by goodgovernor

This Friday I went to an awesome hardcore show. I am not the biggest fan of hardcore music. I think there are some great bands, Trash Talk, Paint it Black, Eating Glass, Blacklisted, but over all it's not my thing. I feel a bit too old at shows like these anymore. This rings especially true at hardcore shows where the audience is generally younger than your average indie show. But I totally didn't care. I knew the week was gonna be kind of tough and that some smashing, crazy, loud hardcore would be good for me. It was a lot of fun. Following is a quick rundown of what I saw:

Positive Noise: A thrash, skate punk influenced band from Michigan. These dudes are pretty dedicated to paying respect to the old skool sound, but they defiantly don't mind letting go a bit.

Crucial Cause: This band was great. They are from Oakland, CA and sound exactly like some of the first punk bands I had ever heard growing up in Sacramento. A great old skool west coast sound.

Sick Fix: These locals I think are underrated and could have easily headlined this show. I guess they are a newer band then Magrudergrind but they were totally awesome. The opening instrumental song was fucking amazing. Lady singer, great tight playing. Can't wait for an album by this band.

Coke Bust: Fast, loud and lots of jumps. The kids love them.

Assholeparade!: Old dudes can still play thrash music. I was really into watching this band. Not a tone of movement but an awesome onslaught of noise and short musical bursts. Rumor has it after 14 years they are putting it to bed. I hope not. Some of the dudes are in Religious as Fuck and Dead Friends. Awesome bands.

Magrudergrind: I haven't seen a grind band this good since Pig Destroyer. They were loud as fuck. A little more rudimentary then the Pig Destroyer kids, but no less brutal and no less loud. The kids were going off and their new CD is fucking triumphant.

So there you have it. Another good show for the books. Too bad you weren't there. Get awesome, live trying.

Peace.

Vinyl Review #1

2009-08-03T21:30:00.003-04:00

It is pretty much a shame that I am writing about vinyl records on the internet. It makes me incredibly sad. It is not made any easier by the fact that I am doing it while listening to Paul Baribeau is playing over my speakers. But I have recently decided to re-enter the world of analog buying after a good five year boycott on vinyl. Which means there are a lot of records I have missed out on. I think it was the CD collections of The Make Up and Discount that pissed me off. I owned pretty much all those singles by both those bands. What the fuck? That was before the internet too. Those CD's just made those pieces of vinyl feel worthless.

But the hum of a slab of vinyl can not be beat. I have denied that in the past, but listening to "The Rolling Clouds" makes me eat those words. This is Paul Baribeau's contribution to this split 7" with Your Heart Breaks. It is a very beautiful release. Black and White line drawings and the record is white vinyl. It feels almost sacrilegious to be pressing the needle against these beautiful groves. This song is Paul Baribeau's magnum opus. It's gotta be three minutes at least and it's really sad and subdued. If this is the new direction his output is heading I am intrigued. The song is amazing as expected. The reverse side is Your Heart Breaks with "Torey Pines". It is a soft rocker with a little more instrumentation. It's reminiscent of early nineties pop. Sorta Vaselines or Beat Happening-ish. The sleeve lists Kimya Dawson as a contributor. A nice poppy track.

I also received today a Bomb the Music Industry/Laura Stevenson and the Cans split 7". This piece of wonder is from the awesome people at Kiss of Death. Bomb the Music Industry is perhaps one of the most consistent bands I have ever heard and they do not disappoint. Their original contribution "This is my Bailout" is pretty flippin awesome. Do they break new ground, no. Is it quality music like they always deliver? Fucking right. They also do a cover of Laura Stevenson's "A Shine To It" throwing her bedroom pop through their filter and making it a fun party song. It's got a bit of do0wop swing to it and I think an accordion as well as some bells. Stellar times as always. Laura Stevenson is not my cup of tea. It's not bad music by any stretch, but I can't really say it grabs me and that's a shame. She offers a version of BtMI's "It Ceases to be Whining if you're Still Shitting Blood." It could be your thing. It's just not mine, but I don't feel let down or anything.

Pink Razors are probably the best pop punk band since The Max Levine Ensemble and I finally got their Rorschach Records seven inch. It's only three songs, but they are awesome. It was recorded sometime in 2006 and shows the growth from their first release Scene Suicide and foreshadows their fantastic Waiting to Wash Up. The A-Side offers up "First Degree" and it's probably my new favorite Pink Razors song. The B-side offers two more awesome tracks. It was supposed to have a digital download but the site is no longer there. I guess that's what I get for getting on this band wagon three years too late. Whatever, glad I got this. Buy all of their stuff. The new album just got pressed to CD by No Idea and is available on iTunes.

Two weeks ago I picked up the Pizza/Tideland split 7". I think Mike Taylor (who plays in Pizza) put this out. It's pretty weird and not what I expected at all. Pizza reminds me of Sebedoh from back in the day. That Mike Taylor is in this band doesn't surprise me. Tideland is pretty noisy and somewhat a-Tonal and dirty sounding. Both bands are definitely paying homage to the grunge/Seattle/90's indie rock years. Sorta scary music, Tideland gives me the chills. Pizza just trips me out. It doesn't sound like Sebedoh I should clarify, it just reminds me of their weird records.

Finally, in my package today I got Chris Clavin's newish album The Roads Don't Lead Home, The Roads Lead Everywhere. It's kinda like his band Ghost Mice's Europe CD both in approach and style. Each song is about a city, he tells some sort of story from each of these towns. Of all his "solo" stuff I have heard so far, this is his best in my opinion. The song writing seems a little more rehearsed and precise. Also the sound quality is pretty top notch. It's a well mastered piece of vinyl and considering dude probably recorded this on his iBook on Garageband, it says a lot about the whole approach to the album compared to some of the Captain Chaos stuff. If you are a fan of Chris's work then you will fall in love with this album. I did very quickly and know I will be listening to it quite a bit over the next few weeks.

I ordered most of this stuff from No Idea Records. It only took a week and a half to get them by media mail which is pretty good, even if I did get antsy. All in all it was like 22 bucks, plus I got the new Cometubus (which I never read before) and a free single (which is good but unidentified). I think I want to try to do this once a month. I will write about it here. I am really stoked about this stuff. I hope you check some stuff out too.

Weekend Round UP

2009-07-26T08:20:00.004-04:00

Not that I have done anything to prove it lately, but I am a photographer. I found out I have a photo up on DCider for an interview about my friend Katy's band, Trophy Wife. You can check that out here. Yes I posted the photo credit. I hate the internet. No one gets credit for shit. Also I never got told it was used. Similarly, a photo I took at Pygmy Lush is in the new Give Me Back. I really like this zine. Fil is doing an awesome job and told me he might be using my photo. I wish I had know before I bought a copy though. Punk rock likes to take a lot and while I would never ask for payment in the form of cash, I fully believe if you contribute to something, a show, an album, a magazine or a web site you shouldn't have to pay to play.

Resources are tight these days, I get it. But even if it is a labor of love, the fact that it is something that I love makes it that much more invaluable to me. So in instance one I neither knew ahead of time, nor got credit for my work which is actually a violation of the Creative Commons licence I operate under. In Give Me Back my sweet photo got a credit. Plus I only paid a dollar for the magazine which I would have bought anyway. But the offer to send me a few copies would have been nice.

This whole post however is partly due to said issue of Give Me Back. I went record shopping this weekend. Quite unexpectedly. Smash in Washington DC is always a good time for me and this visit was no exception. I should make the trek to Adams Morgan more often, because I always walk out of there lighter in the wallet, but richer in the music department which is of way more value to me.

So I had actually started off my day at DuPont and hit up Lambda Rising, to finally procure a copy of Jon Ginoli's book Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division. Dude did a reading there a few months ago but I missed it because I slept in too late. This is a re-occurring theme in my life by the way. But after buying that book I wanted to get the new Pansy Division CD. I hadn't really checked in with them in a while. I owned Undressed on tape a few years ago, but that was about it. They were a band I supported more in theory than practice. Their music never did that much for me, but I think they have been so integral in shaping this countries slowly changing views on homosexuality. Or at least they certainly helped me out as a kid to understand such things. So I got their new album, That's So Gay, and it doesn't disappoint. Musically, they haven't changed much, still playing that same sugar laden, heavy pop, slightly punk music they have since 1992. It sounds great and fun and poppy and really you can't go wrong with a little Pansy Division in your collection.

The weekend would prove to be very Lookout Records heavy. I had recently read an interview or two with Ben Weasel of Screeching Weasel and this actually got me thinking about a lot of old Lookout bands I never really got into. The Mr. T Experience was one of these bands, so I stumbled on to their seminal and crucial Revenge is Sweet, and So Are You release. Man I have been missing out. 15 of the 16 songs on this album are just awesome. A little more punk than pop, but a perfect complement to their former label mates Pansy Division. I did not buy any Screeching Weasel as Ben Weasel slagged on The Max Levine Ensemble on his radio show and that's just bullshit and weird. Screeching Weasel ripped off the Ramones to no end. They never said otherwise and I respect that, but if all you do is play three power chords in every song you have no business talking shit on any band at all.

Public Image Limited is a sorely overlooked band. Far greater than his infamous outlet, the Sex Pistols, PiL shows what a great singer Johnny Rotten really is. That What is Not is a fantastic album. Totally weird nineties alternative pop. This ranks up there with Big Audio Dynamite's The Globe. For anyone over the age of 25 this music still stands up and will freak out those little shits listening to Cobra Starship, Attack! Attack!, and Broke In Syde or whatever the fuck they are called. Little fucking bastards. PiL actually made music, really freaky, far out and weird music, and it's just as terrifying as it was in 1992.

My Al Burian consumption has been way up lately. I just finished reading the first collected works of Burn Collector and so I've been listening to a lot of Milemarker's fantastic Frigid Forms Sell. I also recently downloaded his one off project Challenger. That album, Give People What They Want in Lethal Doses is so severly overlooked and forgotten that I often wonder if there truly is too much music. I used to own a promo copy of it, but it suffered an unfortunate fate during a move, before the time of iPods and external hard drives. Anyway, I re-purchased Anaesthetic by the mighty Milemarker, another casualty in that move. Not quite as compelling as Frigid Forms Sell, I consider this their space jam album. Long long songs, but still a great listen. Glad I finally revisited this one. Al Burian, guys he is way underrated. Great writer, intense musician. Check out his books and music ASAP.

This next bit is gonna sound really bad. But I was keeping with the theme of re-buying music that I didn't own anymore or only had on tape. I am happy to say that I once again own Dixie by Avail. OH MY GOD. I forgot how awesome this album was. It hints at the height they would reach with 4A.M. Friday and stands up as one of the best records they ever did. The copy I found was actually a Lookout version, which pleased me greatly, since I have most of the back catalog that was added to the Jade Tree reissues. Along with this I also found Live at the Bottom of the Hill from this mighty band. The sloppy, yet powerful live show is everything I love and miss about Avail. I had a lot of nostalgic feelings overwhelm me this weekend listening to these albums on my drive home. I honestly can't see how anyone could have parted with these, but I am so glad that they did. A hole in my life has been filled now. Dear Avail, please do another show in Washington DC. Hell do one in Richmond. Please show these kids how it's done.

Smash once again gave what other record stores do not, lots of great punk rock music and used no less. I also bought a slab of vinyl, but I will get to that when I receive my No Idea order. I bought a lot of music last week. Over $90 dollars worth. Pretty excessive even for me. But man there is just so much awesome stuff out there. I wish I had more time to listen to music. So until next time, keep awesome. This was a long one, thanks for reading.

Against Me - The Original Cowboy

2009-07-09T17:53:00.003-04:00

Against Me!
The Original Cowboy
Fat Wreck Chords

This record breaks my heart in so many ways it's not even funny. My first listen to it, driving around suburbia was that this was nothing more then a money grab, facilitated by whom I don't know. I don't want to point fingers here. I've been an ardent fan of The Eternal Cowboy since it's release and maintain it's the last good album Against Me has left in them. But at first spin this collection of demos just felt cheap to me.

Then I listened to it again and it really made me sad. I'm not going to lie, I tried really hard to stick with this band as they rose from basement shows to opening for the Foo Fighters. But New Wave is a shitty, mid-tempo, boring rock record that this band is so much better than. In fact it is The Eternal Cowboy that proves this and these demo's just remind me of that fact. In their some what more raw and unpolished form, this is the album they should have released. I don't fault them for signing with Fat and reaching for the stratosphere. I think it's a fair goal to have. And even when they signed to a major, I hoped that they would make a really great album again because Searching for a Former Clarity had some great songs, but it was sagged down by a cloud of pot smoke and self pity. New Wave for me was just proof that the nail had already been driven into this bands coffin.

Now it's been announced that drummer and all around nice guy Warren Oaks has left the band to be replaced by George Rebelo from Hot Water Music. A more hard hitting, consistent drummer is not to be found in the swamps of Gainesville, but he's got no funk in his beats. At least not as far as I can tell. And despite everything, that funk is still there. I'm not sure a middle aged post hardcore drummer is going to save this band for me. And so when I listen to Oaks smack around on the skins during this informal session I just get sad once again.

If this session was the rumored record recorded for No Idea (the band and Fat state it was the demo's, but conversations I've had lead me to believe otherwise) it would easily have been hailed by the underground kids that quickly turned on Against Me. And I'm not sure why, because The Eternal Cowboy is a much better album. The polish and shine they added transformed this band, even if only for 25 minutes, into something to hope for. Which The Original Cowboy just continually reminds me of too. It's a hard pill to swallow because I so want to love this band again, the way I did when I saw them in a church "back in the day". I would have been happy had they continued down this path and still achieved what they did. And I do truly believe they didn't change to be rock stars, I think they just burnt out really quickly. The Original Cowboy reminds me of what once was, but I don't think I really wanted that reminder.

Ender

2009-06-27T22:19:00.001-04:00

Ender
Originally uploaded by goodgovernor

Lots and lots of new photos exist at my flickr site. I am hoping to shot at least one show a week. Hopefully more. We shall see. I'd like to get into doing some portraits too. Anyway, come to the flickr site often.

Thanks.

Slingshot Dakota

2009-06-25T21:36:00.003-04:00

Slingshot Dakota put this album out last month it seems. I wish I could say I was on the first wave bandwagon, but it is my sincere hope that after posting this blog post on my blog where I post stuff that other people will get into this band. Comprised of Keyboards and Drums with a lady and a dude that both sing, the Matt and Kim references are not that unfair in that both bands totally fucking ROCK with what would appear to be minimalist instruments. (To be fair I think that DC's highly over looked Aquarium was the first keyboard/drum duo as they have been kicking it low-key since 2001). But the set up of the band pretty much ends the comparisons between Brooklyn's finest. Slingshot Dakota are driving melodic post hard core breakdowns but they reveal the poppy prettiness of it all. Carly Comando soars rather then yells or barks. They grew up on punk rock, pop, early nineties emo, all the good music no one is listening to. But no doubt they will infect your soul should you allow yourself the sinful injection.

The band is full on DIY, releasing their self titled album which you can pay pal order through their myspace site. If funds are tight though, pick up their new three song demo at If You Make It. It features their cover of Fugazi's "Waiting Room" which wins the Franconia Station award for being the one and only band that has successfully covered and there for is allowed to cover a Fugazi song. They don't quite adopt their own melodic leanings to the track, which after hearing more of their music is a bit of a shame, but it's a fun cover and sounds totally awesome.

So deffinately check out this band. I know you think I am a fucking dick nob, but no joke, this shit would slay even the dickless fucks at Pitchfork. Luckily it's too DIY and off their radar. Remember you heard about them here first. Check out the videos below.

Slingshot Dakota Waiting Room

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Slingshot Dakota - Until the day I die from If You Make It on Vimeo.

A Lot of Ground to Cover - Lets Go!

2009-06-23T18:18:00.004-04:00

Paint it Black
Amnesia
Bridge 9 Records

Pretty much after New Lexicon last year I figured it would be a while until I got to check in with my favorite hard core band. But I guess the new line up is really clicking and Paint It Black drop five fast and furious songs on the public. Amnesia doesn't fuck around and though it's only five songs, it's kind of rad to have a band contain themselves a bit by a classic format. This of course is classic hardcore. People seemed to love Paradise (which I too think is awesome) and if you thought they couldn't do it again Amnesia will prove you wrong. 5 songs, ten minutes. This band is brutal. We get chugga chugga verses, hooky break downs and a three minute thirty one second epic closer track, "Bliss" where the band has hit a peak. There is a promise of another joint in September from this session. I personally can't wait. Those two releases combined could easily make for a "Record of the Year".

Lotus Fucker
Answer - Bloodwashed Noise
Demo

I have this friend John Seager who plays in this band. I never get to talk to him because I lost his phone number in some old phone and his emails get bounced back to me. But I saw him earlier this year and he told me he was in this band called Lotus Fucker which is the greatest band name ever. I found their demo online (not sure if this is sanctioned boys so sorry if it's not) and it fucking rips. I wish I was better tapped into the sludgy, dirty, way under ground side of punk rock. You know bands that don't have myspace pages and put things out only as demos or 7"s because Lotus Fucker is amazing. They actually make a lot of other heavy music sound boring and reserved. Parts noise, parts old school hard core, Lotus Fucker deliver. One of these days I will run into John again and maybe even get to see this or one of the other nine bands he's in. He still owes me a copy of Agahst's Deformed Frogs record that came out forever ago. I need to get unlame and start buying vinyl and get hip to the scene.

Street Sweeper Social Club
Self Titled
Some Major Label of some sort

Look, I really did not want to buy this album. The curiosity got the better of me. I mean shit, Boots Riley from the Coup dude. I love the guy. And I always feel like maybe one day Tom Morello will live up to his potential. I rocked Rage Against the Machine when I was in high school. I'm not gonna front on that. But that dude has been pulling the exact same riffs for 15 years or more now. Tom, fucking work this shit out man. Basically this was probably gonna be a new Rage album, but every one else balked so Tom got Boots to rap over his distortion funk music. I love hearing Boots Riley and he doesn't disappoint in this context, but not even he can make Mr. Morello's music sound new and exciting. 15 year old kids who think the world sucks will be way into this, and if Boots can show them the light, I can't harsh too bad on it, but this was definitely an impulse buy and not something I endorse at all.

Various Artists
Prete n d Record
No Idea

You can download this sampler of new music released or distributed by No Idea records. If you're looking for some new punk rock bands then this sampler might help you find something new. Dear Landlord has a new song from their debut album Dream Homes (which I pre-ordered and still haven't gotten - grrr), there is also a song from Pink Razors which is off their album that No Idea is issuing on CD. Tracks by No Friends, North Lincoln, Screaming Females (who are gonna be huge next year) and some other stuff.

Sonic Youth released their 10 billionth album The Eternal which features the first time Thurston and Lee sing on the same song. It's not as awesome as I hoped, but after 8 trillion years, it's about time. Pretty much if you love Sonic Youth you''ll probably be into this album. It has some nuances as usual and some of there most energetic music since Dirty. I'm not totally blown away on the experience, but it's consistent with everything they've been doing over the last decade. Pick it up if your into this sort of thing.

Mos Def also dropped some new science with The Ecstatic which actually is a good complementary album for The Eternal and because they were released on the same day I have been listening to them together like some nice binary star type thing. If I had more time, energy and brain power I would probably dissect the two together but last time I wanted to do that I went crazy and couldn't write on my blog for a month. Any way this album is pretty solid and has some wicked shit going on. Dude samples some Bollywood tracks on here. Talib Kwelli makes and appearance over one of J-Dilla's finest beats, as does Madlib on a few tracks, including "Whaid" which is a great fucking song. This shit should be played at parties and in your car. Get into it.

Lastly for this week I want to steer people towards Statehood. Last week the world lost Clark Sabine to an intense battle with cancer. Clark was an intelligent, intense, funny and amazing person. I have said a lot of words about this dude to a lot of people. The loss I feel in my life because this man is no longer on this earth is very intense and I think a lot of people feel that way too. I knew him only peripherally through the DC independent music scene, but he was such a kind and passionate guy that his energy being taken from this small planet is immense. While Clark was known locally for his antics with the short lived, and underrated Motor Cycle Wars, Statehood was the beginning of Clark blossoming into a full on force to be reckoned with. Their debut album Lies and Rhetoric was self released late in 2007 is an energetic explosion that only hints at what this band would have been capable of. There are more fitting eulogies for Mr. Sabine, this barely touches on the man, but for anyone out in the world who reads this blog I urge you deeply and passionately to check out Statehood in honor of Clark. You will be missed dear friend.

Please read below

2009-06-21T10:28:00.001-04:00

Please read below
Originally uploaded by goodgovernor

I posted this picture because last night at the Black Cat, after 16 years of taking photos, for the very first time, someone told me midway through Frodus' set, that I wasn't allowed to use flash photography. This of course is about the dumbest rule ever in the history of dumb "rules". The employee that asked me to stop pulled at my shoulder and then, when my finger slipped and took this well framed shot, started to get all agro on me. Way to act like a cop. So this photo will be the last time I shoot a band at the Black Cat. Since they do not feel what they do is worthy of documentation I will no longer extend the offer.

The older I get, the LESS tolerant of clubs I get. The rules they impose on patrons add to the division between band and fan and help to facilitate the rock hero worship bullshit that kids grow up to have. Add the barriers to the alcohol consumption and there you have less of musical journey but a typical act of consumerism.

I know and have known many people that work at the Black Cat and it has historically always been a place I have felt welcome and because of that been treated very well. And despite the fan boy poses, I feel like what I do with my camera offers a service at NO CHARGE to that club, the bands and the fans. While I am no Glen Friedman, people do view these photos and ask me about them. People want to remember the shows and see the bands they love captured by the lens. It helps feed the economy of independent music. This extends to the venues that hold these types of shows. I have never been, nor will I probably ever be paid for what I do. It's a labor of love, one part of an awesome whole that makes up the community of punk rock. But last night I no longer felt that way, again after 16 YEARS of taking pictures. You will no longer see photos from me at this venue.

If anyone from the club would like to have a dialog with me, please email me at goodgovernor@yahoo.com.

Hannah Jones - Ghost Mice

2009-06-11T07:50:00.001-04:00

Hannah Jones - Ghost Mice
Originally uploaded by goodgovernor

This is just a small taste of what I will be witnessing over the next two or three days. It is very early. I should be sleeping, but I am too excited to see Heathers and Ghost Mice and spend some time with these lovely people over the next few days. If you didn't see Heathers last night (and I suspect you did not because I would have seen you) then you totally fucked up your life and I really feel so sorry for you. If they are playing anywhere near you, you pretty much need to go. This show last night was fucking amazing. And I can't wait for it to happen again tonight.

Bike Punk Day #47

2009-06-06T13:58:00.003-04:00

It's been raining a lot in Dixie. It kinda sucks. I feel like I should move to Forks and take advantage of stupid teenage girls by pretending to be a vampire. I mean if I am going to have to have my life ruined and my emotions fucked with by rain I might as well ruin other lives too. So I haven't ridden my bike much over the last few weeks. Last weekend was really nice, but I moved some friends to a new apartment so that pretty much killed it for me. This weekend however, the rain was supposed to let up so I made a plan to wake up kinda early, check out the movie times at the closest theater to me and make a plan to ride.

After my last post, my friend Blake told me to ditch the water bottle (I didn't), get a Chrome bag (which I did) and welcomed me into the world of biking. I jammed some books into the bag, my keys and wallet and hit the road. I decided today I would explore the mostly forgotten bike trails that exist in the massive subdivision landscape that exists across the street from my house. I gave my self two hours to get to the theater and eat some food. I wasn't sure if I should eat and then ride or not. I seemed to do okay with it. But those trails, well they are a little advanced for me. You see I resemble more a bean bag then a human being with my rotund mid section. The shit jiggles when I ride and the extra weight is hard as fuck to pull up hills. So after the second massive hill I just walked up the steady incline for about ten minutes. Next time I do this I'll take the straightforward way. Even though it's shorter I need to build up to the hard shit.

I got to the theater in about a half an hour. This is three times as long as by car. But I actually felt good. I watched the marquee and saw that Hangover was playing. I had set out to watch Drag Me To Hell but it was a half hour later and I figure I can go see it my next weekend and plan a little bit better. The Mediterranean place I wanted to eat at was also closed (LAME) so I went to a sandwich shop where I spent way too much money for not that much food. But it seemed to satisfy my basic need and I got to waddle through a few pages of The God Delusion.

Hangover was good after I finally go through the endless commercials and previews. All of which I forgot. It was so damn long wading through that crap that I actually forgot what movie I was seeing. I started to relax and laughed my ass off from beginning to end. Todd Phillips does well with the genre and getting some lesser known comedians to pull out great performances. I hope my Vegas trip in July is just as fucked up.

After the credits rolled, I clanked my buckle against all the plastic chairs and headed out for my bike. As I made my first pushes up the small hill I realized my legs were kinda sore. I am probably gonna hurt like a mother fucker tomorrow. Worst still I have to go into the office. But I have already decided that rather then drive I am going to bike to the metro and take my bike around Arlington for a bit. I'm still pretty terrified of cars. Some asshole in an F-150 making a left turn into my path didn't give me the right of way that was clearly mine. This is suburbia too. All my veteran bike friends are probably rolling their eyes at me now, the visions of being doored, sideswiped or nearly killed by maddened Metro Bus drivers fresh in their heads. I know I know, I am a rookie, but those stories had an impact on me. I try to be a more cautious driver. Plus, I purposely bought a bike to drive less. So that rather then going to the movies in my car, I have to kinda work for it. I feel more satisfied by the whole experience. Even the chain store sandwich and Fiddy Cent promoted Vitamin Water tasted more lively after my ride.

If I am feeling feisty I may ride to the library today. I doubt it though. I enjoyed the outdoors fully and I am fully sweaty and resembling jelly both in appearance, movement and feeling. Plus I just dominated a beer while I wrote this. I must undo what ever it is I do. Such is life. Biking is fun as shit though. The dropping hill I took, the wind slapping my face and the water splashes from the puddles I ran over was a sense memory I had abandoned. I will not grow old. I will not give in. Fuck that shit.

The Language of Termites - In a Different Time and Place

2009-06-04T17:30:00.003-04:00

As any regular reader of this blog understands, I do this because I love to write about music. I have, since college, in some form or another written about music. I don't feel I approach it from a very academic or critical place. Music means far too much to me to write about it in any other fashion. This is true of my first article about the Capitol City Dusters in the Broadside at George Mason University and it is true now.

So when someone writes you an email and says they were looking for a review of a band and found your sight, as a laborer of love I get kind of excited. I especially get excited when they tell me it's a review of a band I hold very near and dear to me. In this case that was Out_Circuit and when I received the correspondence I got happy. Someone else out in the interwebsphere cares about that band. Maybe they don't care what I have to say (and I don't believe they should), but just to know that people are seeking the things I care to write about makes me feel a bit better about the world.

The scary thing is when a stranger asks you if you would review their music. Because this is a labor of love, I want to write about things that either interest me or that I love. Generally everything I write about is stuff I seek, find by accident or buy. People rarely recommend music to me, and I am almost always skeptical. But, the music geek in me can't resist. After all, the guy that asked me to review his band likes and knows the Out_Circuit. They aren't exactly on the tip of everyone's fingers. It takes effort to know about them.

So here I am, listening to In a Different Time and Place the debut album by a musical project called The Language of Termites. As I drift through this album tonight, after a day where my brain is exhausted, I find the space and atmosphere pleasantly comforting. The music is dynamic, but it is not demanding. The soft songs let me sit gently with in them, letting me take my time. This, tonight especially, is good.

The first thing you must know about this band is that they use the acoustic guitar as the primary melodic instrument. Through the whole album, nothing but acoustic guitar (okay I am at track 9, "This is the Ocean," the stand out track so far, at the moment). This is a bold move and it serves this music well. I fear the employing of distortion and electric sound waves from the now standard instrument would disturb the area the listener has to breath. I don't know the process in which they arrived at this aesthetic choice, but I feel it is the right one. While I think, maybe, and may agree with later, that some variance in that department might be interesting, I can't help but applaud this move in a landscape of rock music so determined to beat you over the head with electricity and volume.

As a reviewer I could throw a lot of references at you in regards to The Language of Termites. This would give you a general idea of the approach, but it would be a far cry of explaining what you might hear. I never was very good at that to be quite honest. But I can tell you these things, I am reminded of bits of Cursive, though they sound nothing like them. The room left to breath is reminiscent of instrumental juggernauts The Mercury Program, but you will find no wondering, booming bass or xylophones. There is an approach to song that is familiar if you are a fan of John Frusciante. But this is, as a whole, a lot less frustrating then Sir John can be on an album. And as for Emily Frembgen, the vocalist, she sounds in tone and inflection very similar to Melissa Quinley sans the East Coast skepticism. She is soft and delicate and her voice seems to work in opposition and in conjunction to the music being made. It brings out the subtle hooks that are just becoming evident to me as I sit down with this music for the first time. So now, as a reviewer and geek I have given you references, that chances are you are not intimate with as much as I am. So they will mean little to you, but they mean a lot to me, because they speak to me.

I'm not sure where a band like The Language of Termites fits in with music today. They are not rock music, though they get their cues from that approach. They are not sugary pop, but they have hooks that are the foundation under the lush surface. They aren't post rock and loud, but they have that type of intricate musicianship and yet they aren't in your face. It's music that is different, difficult and beautiful all in one package.

I can't really sum up this band. If you asked me what I felt, at first listen I couldn't tell you. Maybe that's why I felt compelled to write this. I mean I had the choice of blowing it of. The person that sent me his art is a stranger to me and this is the internet, the most vacant space in all the universe, lush with meaningless ramblings and shit covered opinions. It's music that challenges you, but it doesn't bully you around and say "hey look at me fucker" and that is so incredibly rare. The images of their front page on their web site seems to say everything you could say about this band. Much more then I could. You should visit it now, here. You should think about taking this outside with you. That would probably be a good idea.

A Free WIlliam Elliot Whitmore Show and other fun stuff

2009-05-29T17:28:00.003-04:00

If you go here you can download a free live show of William Elliot Whitmore. If you recall this blog post I spoke very highly of this man and his newest album Animals in the Dark which I recommend to no end. If that were not enough for you, Whitmore did a second session over at Daytrotter. He covers "Don't Prey on Me" a Bad Religion song from Recipe for Hate penned by Anti records label head Mr. Brett who was smart enough to sign my Whitmore. The first session is available here.

Also, Pitchfork is getting funny. Or at least more funny in a haha sense these days. First they have a great story about some band called Wavves (that is not me misspelling the name either) having a meltdown in Barcelona. I enjoyed this story on a personal level as I too once had a meltdown on stage (well it was at a roller rink) in Ocean City many years ago. Musicians are stupid.

Also they are currently hosting a video by a metal band called Children. The guitar shredding is pretty awesome, but the lack of bassist leaves something to be desired. However the video is pretty awesome. Not quite as rad as Mastadon's "Divinations" video that I told you about. But it's pretty cool. Peep it below.

So that's what I have for you this week and today. Expect a review of the new album by Paleface soon and a new feature that I hope to call "Song of the Week" where I talk about a song that I obsess over. Oh yea and I will be working on a post about albums I bought because I read an article about the group or performer or whatever. Hope you are awesome.

Cage - I Never Knew You

2009-05-25T09:28:00.002-04:00

Cage's album from 2005, Hell's Winter scared and impressed the hell out of me. Chris Palko weaved his way through a harsh, dystopian sounding album of a personal hell of abuse, institutionalism and drug use that made hip hop turn it's cheek. It was a violence that was a far cry from gang banging bullshit that went from being telling white America what was up as a way to sell records and put no talent ass clowns all over MTV, replete with women in bikini's and dollar bills "raining" from the sky. While Hell's Winter may not be It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back it was a far more personal and self realized album then Amerikkka's Most Wanted.

Since then it seems Cage went way underground. The promise of his follow up Depart from Me seemed to be pushed back and pushed back with a lot of secrecy and not much in the way of pre-release material that Def Jux, the mega underground label that Cage calls home, is known for letting out. So when news that he would be prefacing the new album with a free download EP came this winter I was stoked.

At five songs and just 16 minutes Cage does a lot on I Never Knew You. It's got the slow dark and dirty coming at you with the title track. It's got a fucked up party song closing it out with "It's the 80's Again". It's got scrary, stalker lyrics, it's got hopelessness and loss. It packs a bite for 16 minutes and it definitely leaves you wanting more. Cage, a master of making his listener salivate, cock teases you quickly, and leaves you breathless, blue balls and all.

Cage has the distinct misfortune of releasing an album after Aesop Rock and El-P both released some of their best and most left field work to date. And for me Cage has always seemed like the little brother or cousin tagging along with the big boys. He's got the talent like those around him and maybe he has to overcompensate because he's not getting his due, but I Never Knew You shows Cage growing into his own. He may not spit fire like Aesop Rock and he may not have the obsessive production skills as El-P, but he does have a wild imagination and through his almost calm, yet disturbingly easy delivery Cage is poised to deliver 2009's best hip hop album.

In a world full of T.I.'s and T. Payne's and Lil Wayne's and auto-tuning bullshit trying to sound like emotional robots Hip Hop badly needs Cage to step up and scare the fuck out it's constituents. The flannel clad, Kurt Cobain looking white boy seems to be raps least unlikely unsung hero, but if hip hop keeps letting sand bagging crying as rich boys like Kanye keep ruling it's course, it's gonna look like shit. Cage is gonna shove coal in your mouth and punch you in the ear, but when you finally come to, your gonna thank him for it.

NOFX - Coaster

2009-05-25T08:57:00.002-04:00

I did not intend for this to happen. But there is a bit of a story here. I was at work last Friday (not this most recent Friday). Things had slowed down, included in that was my brain. I was thinking about the world and music and some how my mind wondered over to the new NOFX album Coaster. This was a fairly unusual thought to be having on a Friday night, except that I had recently read that FAT WRECK CHORDS were cutting prices on CD's to $10.00. So somehow I decided that spending ten dollars on a CD was worth it to listen to a band I hadn't checked in with since the 90's. This is what we do in this country. We spend the money we earn on shit we don't need and there are two things I can say about the new NOFX album. #1 is I certainly don't need it. I own Punk in Drublic. Frankly I don't need any other pop punk album other then that because the genre was perfected upon this records release in 1994. #2 is that yup, this is a NOFX record. It's got power chords, that signature bass sound, rapid blast beats and lyrics that are, sadly getting increasingly less intelligent and worth while.

This isn't to say there aren't some highlights. One of them is that the album is only 12 songs. Coaster never gets over burdened in repetition, at least not any more then pop punk can. And no doubt the first four tracks are strong. It seems over the years that Fat Mike has gotten a bit more "politically minded" (never mind the fact that Propgandhi is no longer on the label and that rocking just against Bush isn't really exploring all options, but I digress). So "We Call it America" comes as a bit of a surprise from a dude that wrote "Liza and Louise" and so many sequels to that male fantasy of the lesbian experience story. He also tackles, for perhaps the first time, something personal with "My Orphan Year" which is a pretty fantastic song musically and somehow endearing despite Fat's gross out humor and drug addled topics that litter the album and the history of the band. Hearing Fat Mike sing about the death of his parents and getting personal on a NOFX album for the first time is refreshing.

After that it's down hill. "Creeping out Sara" just feels awkward as Fat Mike pontificates about a drug induced meeting with Sara from Tegan and Sara. The line "This Jew knows about the Juno's" has to be one of the worst lines ever etched in a song by anyone. Yes, I get it, it's supposed to be funny. And I do appreciate that NOFX has always tried to add some humor to their music, but this just isn't really that insightful. So when you add in songs like "The Quitter" and "I AM an Alcoholic" and drag out all the other instances when the band is getting drunk and high you realize that perhaps NOFX has lost that creative edge they once had. And while I appreciate the Atheist sentiments of songs like "Blasphemy (The Victimless Crime)" and "Best God in Show" somehow I think the grand argument could do with out these entries. While I certainly agree with the message, the delivery just falls short for me.

Also, and this has to be said, there are no EL HEFE songs on this album. What the fuck guys? I am in need of the Hef here. There is something about those reggae inspired jams, complete with trumpet that just seems to be a defining aspect of NOFX. Without that stuck haphazardly in the middle of the album I get fatigue. By the time we hit track 7, "Eddie, Bruce and Paul" which is probably the strongest track on the album I seem to loose interest. Which is probably okay because the album just continues with more of the same.

The upside to all of this is that I have revisited much of the NOFX back catalog from yesteryear. I also don't want NOFX to go away. For all the problems they illicit, I feel that if a band like this can survive for over 25 years now, that maybe punk rock and the sub genre of pop punk has a shot. Because pop punk music, while juvenile and often appealing to the lowest common denominator of my musical intellect is fun as shit to listen to and bounce of the walls with. That NOFX still wants to provide this for a new crop of snotty nosed, doe eyed 15 year old boys makes me feel a little better about the world. Yea, I wish they would do a slightly better job (The Ergs and Dillinger Four come to mind), but you can't ask a 15 year old boy to grow up when they are 42.

Bomb the Music Industry on Tour

2009-05-14T18:30:00.002-04:00

Bomb the Music Industry on Tour
Originally uploaded by goodgovernor

It's always flattering when a band uses your work. Especially when it's a band yr really hyped on. Go see them if they are playing your town.

I Paid for Internet Music

2009-05-12T20:08:00.003-04:00

Here at Franconia Station we pride ourselves on giving you dear reader links to free/donation based music from time to time. Well here I am again for you dear readers. Hopefully you checked out Mike Hale last time. If you haven't, you should. It's a very descent release and a song on it may end up on my top 5 for the year.

So the other day I had this dream that involved Indie Rock Goddess Juliana Hatfield. The dream was weird as fuck but I took it as a sign and went to the local used CD store and picked up any and all used albums of Ms. Hatfield's available. They happened to be her debut Hey Babe and her most recent How to Walk Away. Anyway, all this Hatfield got me thinking and I checked out her web site. It seems Ms. Hatfield offers a lot of music on there for donations. So, for the first time ever since Radiohead, I donated $5. I downloaded all the songs available (as opposed to her suggested price of .99). I have not listened to any of them yet so I can't speak to them, but if you are at all interested in what the pop princess has been up to, go hook her up. (as an aside I just want to publicly propose to the Ms. Hatfield and let her know that I can play bass in her backing band but will not, under any circumstances impede on her creative process. Were talking backing band only. So you know, just throwing it out there.)

So the decision to pay for Juliana's music led me to think of all the great music I have copped for free at Quote Unquote Records over the last few years. So I was feeling guilty at this point and headed on over there to make a pay-pal donation. Happy I was to find that Bomb The Music Industry! has released there first singles collection Others Others Volume 1. So I dropped another five dollars through Paypal and downloaded the awesomeness. So, please, I urge you now, if you haven't checked out this fun loving band, please do so NOW!

Finally, my day of web surfing brought me to Liza Kate. Liza Kate makes songs on her guitar down in Richmond that I love so much. She has a new album coming out on Holiday for Quince records in about a week or so. In the meantime you may get yourself acquainted with Ms. Kate by downloading a seven song live set hosted by RVA News. Once you hear that order her new CD from the label that loves you the most this year.

So that's all for now folks. If you can give to these artists that offer music, do like I finally did and hook it up. I know you can't always do it, but try to chip in as much as you can. These people work hard and it's kinda awesome.

The Bell Curve Shift - John Doe and the Sadies live at Iota Cafe, Arlington, VA 5-8-2009

2009-05-09T09:05:00.002-04:00

Most times I go to shows these days I am the oldest person in the room, often by a decade and sometimes more. I mean really, BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY? They're great, but apparently that's music for the kids who still have some faith. It's become sadly apparent that my crowd is becoming more and more of the shows at Iota in Arlington, Virginia and this show was certainly no exception. Of course, now at the ripe ol' age of 32, I was on the younger side of that bell curve and that always makes me feel giddy, but also a little sad. Let me tell you why.

If you are not aware, John Doe is a living legend. He is a learned song writer in his own right, first with his many many years in X (how do you not know this?) and then of course his fantastic solo out put. He may very well be the first rock musician that can be put on the same level as guys like Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard (to name of few) when it comes to the quality of his song writing. Song writing that has always been informed by country music. On his new album, and at this fine show at Iota he now pays homage to the genre.

Like every John Doe show I go to see, it's in conjunction with a new album. In this case it is [i]Country Club[/i], the new Yep Roc release he bashed out with The Sadies. This album is largely made of deep cut country songs, tunes that a true and learned country aficionado would know. They are songs I remember vaguely from my childhood, driving to Placer County with my father to go to his store. At Iota, John Doe and the Sadies ripped through a good chunk of the recorded album. For me the highlights were "Stop the World and Let Me Off," Merle Haggard's "Are the Good Times Really Over for Good" and "It Just Dawned On Me" penned by Doe and former partner Exene Cervenka.

The night also included some great songs penned by The Sadies for which Dallas Good's amazing range penetrated the room. Standing on stage with a man of Doe's stature the Sadies more then kept their own and were probably the most proficient backing band Doe has had to date.

While it seems the peers of my age group are off having children and getting boring, I see now that the future for me is a life time surrounded by old, gray haired dudes hanging out on Friday nights in smoke free bars with polo shirts tucked into jeans. These grown ups, who are so regimented by there time at the office can't even break free in their "leisure time" to literally let the shirt tails hang out. John Doe somehow makes that okay. He started out as a rebel and now exists on the fringes of mainstream. X will play at the 9:30 club in a few weeks and I am sure there will be more people my age and even younger in attendance. And while it thrills me to no end that X can still captivate the masses, I feel they are missing out on John Doe. He writes songs and plays music to an even finer degree then he did when he was bashing it out with X. While you can't beat a sell out crowd, no matter the size and the intimacy of Iota lends it self to fantastic experience, John Doe deserves more respect then he's getting. But the bottom line is, he's one of the best out there today.

Rattle Do

2009-05-07T20:23:00.003-04:00

I have been listening to an inordinate amount of Team Dresch the last few days. This is a good thing. Any regular reader to this blog (of which it is said there is only on average one reader per blog, and that is the writer, but I don't have time to read this shit) should have a pretty good idea of how important I find Team Dresch. Today, as I was walking to my car I had a fantasy where in all the songs they released on singles were suddenly remixed and remastered and released on CD by Kill Rock Stars (Tobi Vali if you are reading this, or if someone who IS reading this knows her, TAKE NOTE). Then I could properly listen to Hand Grenade (which I was happy to find featured on the film The Itty Bitty Titty Committee) (here I go with the parenthesis again) on my iPod since my vinyl copy of all their singles I have suck and can not properly be converted digitally.

I've also really gotten into The Kills lately. Allison Moshart from my beloved Discount is the singer of this band. When they first kicked out the jams in 2003 I couldn't really get on the band wagon. But now, for whatever reason I get it and really like the fuck out of this band. I just bought Keep on Your Mean Side today. Allison is a spot on vocalist and she has such an awesome, vintage delivery on this album. It's weird though because she does sound so much different then she did in Discount, but unsurprisingly, no less vital.

My original thought as I was driving home tonight and thinking about all of this was to sort of talk about how influential and important the women of these two bands are to me. I am not sure if my brain can handle it as it responds to the pain shooting from my bank, but I will give it a try. Allison, for her contributions in Discount and now the Kills is that of an artist that, to me exists in a different world. She speaks in a unique language not unlike the chaotic art work of Jean-Michel Basquiat. It's crafted from a connection to the world around her that taps in at different channels then the rest of us. As for Team Dresch, well what can be said about four women who get together and make art out of sheer need. Everything they say, weather it's something that I have experience directly, or ideas that seem to make sense, just resonates with me so deeply. I really truly don't know what type of person I would be without Personal Best and I suggest every one pick it up.

I will end this hopeless post by stating that I am seeking the following:
any albums by Jonathan Fire Eater
The Pee Tanks Pro Fun 7" (still) and Picnic with your Mom (actual cd, I have several back up copies of this)
Anything you would think I might be into.

Hope you are well

xoxo

GET IT

2009-05-05T22:15:00.001-04:00

The video for Mastodon's song DIVINATION of their new album Crack the Skye is available for free downloading from iTunes. Get it now.

Good Luck - The Stars Were Exploding

2009-05-04T22:23:00.002-04:00

More Yummy Goodness from If You Make It

Punx Not Dead (It's Live)

2009-05-02T16:27:00.003-04:00

Today I turned 32. 32 is a weird age I guess. It's that time now where I am "in" my Thirties. I guess. Truth be told, the only thing different about me now and me when I was 16 are I have a mortgage, shorter hair, more tattoo's and got way fat. The only things I am still down with are music and reading. I'm a little bit smarter, I guess, but not by much. I still have a skeptical outlook on just about everything.

For my 32 birthday I did what I do best, used CD shopping. I was looking for copies of the first two Kills CD's (no luck) and instead did something very unusual. I bought three live albums. The live album, that elusive offering of bands hoping to capture that magic of the ever popular live show. I love a good live bootleg, but to be honest the live album has never captured me. Except for All's Trailblazers album, which happens to be the only All album I own anymore (for reasons I will get to shortly). So it was a rather odd revelation driving home to discover that in y haze to procure CD's, three of them were live recordings offered up by three bands that are no longer.

At DC's Smash I found a copy of Hot Water Music's Live at the Hardback. This gem, recorded in Gainesville, Florida was the first album by Hot Water Music I ever heard. I still think to this day it is the best release they have ever done. It is that rare album that does in fact capture the band at it's best the way a studio never could. I often think of the No Division album that followed this once the band decided to reunite and think the songs are great, but it's a godawful listen in retrospect. Afterwords this band got slick and the songs seemed less urgent. But this album is Hot Water Music fighting for survival. The show was supposed to be there last and was one of the last at Hardback (if not the last) and the energy of the band shows. You can practically feel the sweat falling off of their heads and onto the instruments for a rest before sliding to the ground. It sounds like it was recorded by hot mics turned up in the closet, but somehow that just makes the intimacy of the moment reign through.

The Descendents were the pre-cursor to All, which for the uninitiated are mostly differentiated by singers. Early All albums sounded really weird to me growing up, especially after Two Things at Once and Trailblazers which discovered towards the end of my illustrious high school career. When All signed to Interscope Records they put out Pummel which had two very blatant homophobic songs written by ultra homophobe Bill Stevenson. I ditched that album soon after buying it and pretty much said I would never purchase a Descendents or All album that was brand new and line dudes pockets. I have not done so since. This all occured of course after I bought Two Things At Once which has "Loser", a song which contains inflammatory homophobic lyrics. When I bought the album it was out of curiosity, not because I knew it contained such lyrics. I should have known better when I got into All. Such is life. So it's a rare find, used Descendents CD's, and Liveage is one I've wanted to check out. It is the older brother to Trailblazers with a less entertaining cover and the unfortunate inclusion of "Loser". But it sounds really great and serves to show that despite being an asshole homophobic dick, Bill Stevenson wrote great, catchy songs and the Descendents were a great band.

What lavish praise can I give Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia band Scream that hasn't already been said. They are local legends, even for and especially to aging punk kids like me that missed the golden years of 1977-1985. I mean that's when I was born. But in 1996 the original line up, plus the adopted Harley Davidson reunited for one night at the Black Cat, which I attended at the tender age of 19. This CD has been kicking around the area since it's release to much fanfare and it's kinda weird to own music of shows you were at. I own a copy of the last Elliott Smith show at the Black Cat I saw and I can literally remember every moment of that show because of it. This Scream CD is a little odd. It is after all a reunion concert by a band that is sorely overlooked in the annals early punk rock. This is a band that defined and clarified a lot of the first wave bands and should be considered direct descendants of bands like The Clash and Bad Brains. In 1996 they played a show that proved they were a force to be reckoned with.

Crisis of Non Faith

2009-04-30T19:25:00.003-04:00

On Saturday I turn 32. This normally isn't the type of age people think of as a milestone, but for me it is. I graduated from college ten years ago this May. Since then I have done a lot of unusual things, things that I didn't necessarily think I would do, and things I am not really sure I should have done. Lately, as anyone unfortunate enough to be a friend of mine on ye old social network site, I have been feeling largely at odds with the universe. Perhaps it is karma kicking my ass left and right, trying to knock me off my stubborn seat.

The fact of the matter is I don't have faith. And while we are going to get to music in a minute this is an important point. Faith to me is a very frightening word. It feels like a suspense of reason in that word. So, because I don't have a magic afterlife or a personal savior or any of that stuff, I have to rely on humanity. Humanity has been failing me a lot lately. I see a world that doesn't feel familiar to me. It doesn't feel safe, or smart, or nurturing. I see a lot of people hiding behind screens, texting, tweeting, blogging, updating facebook pages (I am guilty of this stupid shit too) and generally being self involved assholes with no accountability for the stupid, ignorant, and down right mean shit they do. It's getting a little overwhelming.

But as always, the universe continues to give me clues and hope. This week, as I stare down another birthday, trapped in the adult world of mortgage payments and passive-aggressive shit heads, the universe gave me a sign. His name is Mike Hall.

Mike Hale used to play in Gunmoll, a band on the awesome Gainesville, FL label No Idea Records. He now plays in a band called In The Red somewhere in California, I think. Earlier this month Mike quit his job as a carpenter to play music full time. Mike is just a regular guy, like so many other people , who just has a dream of playing music. Currently, he is crossing back and forth around the globe playing music as much as he can. Dude is chronicling his life basically at punknews.org in the colum For Those Still Standing. Also, as if that wasn't rad enough, Mike has a new album out that you can check out for zero dollars here. The dude is on tour and if you have a chance to see him, please do. At 34, Mike Hall is an inspiration to everyone. He's turning his back on convention and doing what he believes in. To me, that is as revolutionary as you can get.

Mike is currently featured over at the awesome DIY site ifyoumakeit.com with a video on the Pink Couch featuring the title track of his new album "Lives Like Mine". I have embedded it below.

Mike Hale - Lives Like Mine from If You Make It on Vimeo.

On "Re-Education Through Labor" by Rise Against

2009-04-25T20:50:00.003-04:00

I am a sucker for pop punk and I am certainly a sucker for political punk. Major Label darlings Rise Against fit this perfectly. A few yeas ago I was really drunk and bought "Siren Song of the Counter Culture" because I had one of their songs on a Fat Records Comp and I was in the mood for some pop punk. They put out another album after that. I didn't buy it, because I don't like buying music put out on major labels.

But a few weeks ago I saw their new video "Re-Education Through Labor". This video is very interesting. The Chicago four piece is located in an underground, unidentified location. They are rocking out like rock bands should. Intercut with this footage is a group of motorcycle riders. We shortly find out that this black clad gang are putting bombs together and then stuffing them into back packs. The motley crew then disperses amongst the city, riding their bikes under the midnight sky. The romantic scenes of wind wiping them in the face follows them as they break apart. One by one they approach towering buildings and lay down the bomb stuffed back packs. I'll leave it to your imagination to guess how this short film concludes.

So what strikes me about this is that Rise Against is the new youth generations Rage Against The Machine. A major label band with deep political rhetoric that utilizes the imagery of radical action as a means of promotion. I'm not so interested in the debate about selling out, or calling them out for being radicals on the payroll of an international corporation. Though I think these discussions are important, I am more interested in the impact that this video, sure to be on heavy rotation on MTV (this is after all where I saw it. Well it was probably MTV2 or something of that nature) and with over a million hits on YouTube, is going to have on the young kids.

Rage Against the Machine didn't last too long for me. It was mostly musical. The second album didn't show a lot of growth for me and by the time it came out I was fairly heavy into my local music scene that was way more accessible then the rock bands of Lollapaloza and Rolling Stone. I wonder though now, in these days of direct media how a band like Rise Against fairs amongst it's target audience (which I clearly am not, though, as it's been pointed out to me they are catchy as hell). This radical idealism is being used to sell albums and concert tickets. The imagery being shown would, under current laws be considered terrorism despite it's obvious echoes of Fight Club. And yet the video was paid for and is being promoted by the same conglomerate the destruction of this video is celebrating.

What does this all mean? It can't simply be written off as bullshit, and yet the romantic notion of (mostly) white, punk, svelte kids is being broadcast next to Brittney Spears. Is anyone taking it seriously? Can it have any impact if it does in fact sit next to Pop Princesses like a commercial that unfortunately music videos are considered to be?

This is obviously not a new discussion and it certainly won't be the last. But it is interesting to me that bands, born claiming radical politics, can manifest popularity and sell themselves with this imagery. Part of me feels like this is arrested development. While direct, violent action is an option, it's not necessarily the best option. I can't help but think of the lower working class toiling in those buildings after hours now the victims of some one else's ideology. This was the point made in the movie Fight Club that makes that book have a bit of truth and hope in it. But this video doesn't but the bricks in their hands. It seems idealistic and romantic and I don't think this is something that should be taken lightly.

I'm not really sure how I feel about destructive action. The mild, quiet, gagged in the closet Buddhist in me finds these ideas difficult to reconcile. While I understand the frustration and passion that fuels these ideas, I can't help but think that destruction only builds destruction and not the chance for rebuilding in it's wake. At least I haven't found a tangible connection. But that's just me and it's not based on any type of study or reading, it's just how I feel inside.

It's funny that a punk band from Chicago, Van Sponsorship behind them and probably a nice tour bus can spark so much in the way of thought sometime. Of course I spent this glorious day inside my house like a vegetable, and these ideas are just a distraction from my own reality, that truth be told seems a lot more complex and pressing to me at the moment. Selfish I know, but I can only do what I can do in the moment that I am presented with these choices. I can only grow and evolve as fast as I do. This is life.

The link to the video for "Re-Education Through Labor" by Rise Against is below. The Universal Group would not let me embed it. Major Labels just really fail to get it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHv_1Jct9NA

Bike Punk Day #1

2009-04-21T18:31:00.002-04:00

I am psyched to call my self a bike punk finally. Even if I am a giant poser. You see, I've wanted to be more of a bike rider since I moved out of my parents house. I just happen to keep moving to the suburbs a lot and buying a house, keeping a corporate job, blah blah blah. And though the deep inspiration (read:guilt) I felt the night I saw World/Inferno Friendship Society in the basement of Al Fishway in Washington DC. They introduced their song "Thumb Cinema" with a tale of some punks in San Jose screaming "BIKE PUNK" when they played at a bike collective. I felt left out. I drove to the show in my car. I wanted to be a bike punk.

The freedom of riding a bike is the only freedom I have ever known outside of riding a skateboard. As it stands I can not skateboard any longer due to a bunch of head shots and unending vertigo. So biking is about the only shot I have at finding that freedom. So here I sit, nearly $700 dollars later new bike and more debt. Some punk I know, but sometimes the financial hit is the only thing that makes me commit. I have to earn it. Besides I am a suburbanite all my life. Suburban Punk through and through.

So today was my first real bike day. After a trip to the bike store again to get helmet, pump, lock and gloves I headed home as fast as my car and traffic would allow and rocked it into the basement. I attached the hand pump and slapped on my helmet and headed out to the first and best destination I could think of, the Library. After all, this whole process is about changing my life, getting exercise, readjusting my perspective on the world and finding that calm abiding that my life in front of screens so severely lacks.

Let me tell you what, riding on the streets is scary as fuck. I still don't have the whole direction of riding down. Some people say you should ride against traffic so you can see ahead of you, but that just seems like certain suicide. I rode with traffic on my short 1.2 mile trek down the road. The cars passing me at top speeds all seemed to veer away from me as they passed, but the sounds of the engines and tires moving behind me honestly made me pedal a bit more then I really wanted to. I have always respected my many friends who live on bikes in DC. And while I have heard terrible and many stories of accidents they have incurred at the hands of motorists, I truly am beginning to understand the danger they put themselves in day in and day out. I think in the suburbs I am probably a lot better, but I am definitely not going to be hitting unknown streets until I feel a little more attentive and alert.

I arrived safely at my destination, a bit winded (did I mention I am an out of shape, pudgey fat ass?) but sweaty and stoked. I hooked up my bike to the bike rack (how awesome are libraries?) outside and headed in to return my borrowed wares. After wandering around and picking up a few items (McMafia by Misha Glenny and Me of Little Faith by Lewis Black) (I really like the paranthesis in this paragraph, don't I?) and I checked out. The sky outside was ominus, dark, thick gray clouds rumbling quickly above. Oh yes, another challenge for this cherry popped biker. Needless to say that my ride back was a lot quicker then my ride to. But I pulled up to my quaint little townhouse just as the first big drops of rain started to fall. I was victorious.

I have not felt this level of physical exhilerance outside of the bedroom in a long time. I was out of breath and tired and I think I ate like a million bugs, but I totally felt alive, like my body had a purpose. Each momevent of my legs felt like an accomplishment against every day I have lived over the last nine years in a way. I was free to go and do anything, without the rules and expectations that mundane life brings. There is no pathway beaten out for me. I can go anywhere there is land, so long as my lungs take in air and my water bottle still has water.

* * *

This is my Bike Punx Mix Volume One Made off the Top of my head:

1. Bikeage - Descendents
2. Thumb Cinema - The World/Inferno Friendship Society
3. Bike Test 1 2 3 - Bomb the Music Industry
4. Of Chivalry and Romance in a Dumpster - This Bike is a Pipe Bomb
5. Bike and Bridges - Defiance, Ohio
6. Some Sinatra - The Secret Stars
7. Not a Track Bike (Live) - Thorns of Life
8. Pajammin - Good Luck
9. Bike Song - Zegota

We Interupt this blog for an important public service announcement

2009-04-04T21:48:00.002-04:00

We regret to inform you that we are currently offline. It appears our brain has ceased to function in the ways necessary to write about music. We are a bit overwhelmed at the moment by life, the universe and everything. We are sorry we could not bring you planned contents such as "Supporting Caste vs. All I Ever Wanted" or a reflection on Run DMC being inducted into the hall of fame (editors note: Raising Hell was the first tape I ever bought with my own money). Unfortunately we have hit what is called a writers block, a dry spell if you will. We have nibbled at a few poems here and there, but we haven't so much touched the novel we are working on, or busted out a short story in months. While this blog was intended to keep the practice of writing on a irregularly scheduled but frequent basis, we just seem to have lost the fuel to keep it up for the time being.

Rest assured we will be back with content soon. We can't really say when and we can't really say what that is either. These things happen to writers. Not professional ones that work for news papers or the AP or NPR or any of that shit. This weeks This American Life had a really good story about a kid that hopped in photos of all the clubs in his high school for the yearbook. I had a friend do that one year. It was funny. You should listen to that. It also had a ghost story. Ghost stories make me sad.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. Sign up for the whole subscribe to the feed thing on yr right there. Then next time there is something worth reading you can read it. Alright, until then, keep yr shit real and yr unit on you.

xoxo
Franconia Station Manging Editor and Staff.

Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson or....

2009-03-26T07:00:00.001-04:00

Kelly Clarkson has a new album out called All I Ever Wanted. On it is a song written by "I Kissed a Girl" Kate Perry called "I Do Not Hook Up." Included here is a version by Kate Perry and Clarkson's for those who care to compare. While I think, like any good artists in mega-world music, Clarkson owns the track. It's a good, catchy song, but like Cash did in his twilight years with Rubin, Clarkson take ownership.

Listening to Perry's version though, I'd like to hear Scandinavian bombshell Ida Maria belt this tune out. Perry's version hinges on the rough edges which makes rock and roll awesome and is not really a part of Clarkson's lexicon. Ida Maria has both the talent and the balls to do this track justice.

It's a great track. Good break down, funny use of flanger in Clarkson's version. See for yourself.

A Reunion I can get behind

2009-03-21T13:23:00.003-04:00

It is bloody important to relive your past. This most recent Wednesday, plagued with a sinus infection and beyond exhausted, I was able, for a short hour, to relive my past. Thanks in no small part to the reunited Frodus (with Liam Wilson from Dillinger Escape Plan playing the part of bassist) I felt that energy of being young once again. Surrounded by familiar faces, some of which I hadn't seen since Frodus disbanded in 1999.

Crammed into Murky Coffee House with a bunch of other thirtysomethings mulling about, the giddiness I felt was shared by everyone else in the room. The trio struck out into classic songs from Conglomerate International and the crowed began to sway. Somehow the eruption of bodies did not incur until the band announced their rendition of Devo's "Explosions". As if on queue the rusted bones and muscles of the older kids did as they were directed. From then on it was a sea of thrashing bodies, body surfers and microphone sharing. By the time the show wound down with "Feel Good Song of the Year" I felt the ten years since I last thrashed about with this Fairfax trio melt away from my body and my soul. The rehersal room version of "Cha-Chi" ended the night, people bouncing all over the place and sore and bruised. I was sweating from all parts of my body. The smile on my face radiated from my body.

Since this show I have been in a confused daze. I am not sure if it's the sinus infection, pseudophedrine intake, the sleepless nights, the general anxiety. In those moments I felt found again, reborn. It was something akin to a religious experience almost. I don't believe in a "higher power" kind of thing. Music has always been sufficient enough for me, and this show was proof of that. But somehow I feel left behind again. The time I spent over the last decade seems a little less vibrant. Somehow, I can trace the last spiritual moment I had like this to that day in December of 1999. Somehow after that night, things were never quite as vibrant, never quite as loud and powerful.

"We like new places until they're over-run. We do like music - loud bang from the big spudgun"

William Elliot Whitmore - Animals in the Dark

2009-03-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

William Elliot Whitmore
Animals in the Dark
Anti

Last night I had the pleasant surprise of catching up with my good old friend, William Elliot Whitmore. By a stroke of divine grace, the universe smiled on me for an evening and I got a call from my friend Laura Jane Hamilton who had read a blurb in the Washington Post that he was playing an called me. She didn't remember his name by the time we actually talked so I had no idea who I was seeing until we were half way there. Anyway, I met William about three years ago when he opened for Murder By Death. He gave me some beer and we talked about where he grew up, which is Lee County, Iowa. My man grew up on a true to earth farm, the kind city dwellers like myself have no real concept of and have only romanticized through our dumb imaginations. The truth of the matter is, Whitmore is a living, breathing piece of Middle America. He looks and sounds like he comes from a place that has wide open fields of golden corn and dusty roads. He was born to play the music he plays and there is nothing else he could be doing.

He has also recently released a new album called Animals in the Dark. I have to admit I haven't kept up with his music as much as I should have. Since last time he has released one other album and moved to Epitaph imprint Anti Records, home of such luminaries as Tom Waits and Bob Mould. But there couldn't be a better home for Mr. Whitmore, for though he is young by comparison, his songs and voice have a wisdom to match these heroes.

And true to form he approaches song in a very nontraditional way, utilizing traditional, Americana instruments. He kicks of the album with a stomper called "Mutiny" which features his dirty howl backed only by slapping drums. Though he may take his cues from the mighty Waits now that he has a bit more of a budget to play with, it is only in approach that they share similarities. Waits can be found rummaging around in the dark of city streets or creepy abandon homes. Whitmore is more interested this time around in the human experience and sharing a common bond. His natural use of banjo and guitars conveys a historical familiarity that is instantly engaging and familiar.

Though he is by now means a thrasher of a musician, his kind and steady approach to his instruments suit him the best. A familiar song "Johnny Law," reproaching the ever increasing and suspicious police state finds Whitmore coasting around the acoustic with a copper slide against the steel strings. "Old Devil" is another typical Whitmore song, but the slow, deep thudding of a kick drum adds to the tension as Whitmore slowly increases tempo and tension.

Sometimes thought he added instrumentation takes away from the power. "There's Hope For You" was a gentle, beautiful tome, executed with Whitmores graceful insight. But the recorded version finds him accompanied by organs and a full band and for such a delicate song, it takes away from the power, rather then add. His front porch power is transformed into a hymn, which, fitting though his voice may be, does not do this song justice. The song eventually ascends into an E-Street like presentation, ripe with saxophones and dirty guitars. A fine performance, but so not necessary, in this blogger's opinion. A stark and dark and simple approach, dropping the guitar and drums even might have made this version the center of the album. Whitmore's power are in his words and voice. His songs and gentle in craft and his talent carries them. He doesn't always require the added flavors to make his songs taste good.

Aside from all these petty personal preferences, Animals in the Dark is a fantastic album, one that I am glad I was whimsically allowed to catch up with. In these high paced, technological times where we are spread across the globe and engaged with each other in such impersonal ways, Whitmore reminds us of the human condition. We are organic animals. Our beauty, he reminds us, comes from our culture and experiences both shared and unique. It is the coming together of people that makes us what we are. In this day and age there is no better voice to deliver that message to us then William Elliot Whitmore.

photo courtesy of Anti Records. By Chris Strong.

Shocking News: I Don't Like Jack Whites New Band

2009-03-16T06:59:00.000-04:00

It seems that lovely Jack White, hero to many for reasons still inexplicable to me, is at it again with another band that sounds pretty much exactly like his first band, The White Stripes. Might I introduce you to The Dead Weather. It seems our boy Jack can't get enough of slow, jangly garage rock music. Now he has to drag Allison Mosshart from my beloved Discount into this mess. Which is the reason I am writing about this, because Allison Mosshart has strayed so far from the lovely lovely pop punk roots that I just have to beg now. Ms. Mosshart, in the wake of the mighty conglomerate known as Frodus reuniting, I ask for one more show as Discount and to leave this bad bad bad music to rest. Your penetrating, dark and skillful poetics deserve to be heightened by engaging, energetic and enthusiastic musicians. Not Jack White and his band of awkward barr chords.

For people who are into jangly guitars, the link is available above. The dude with the glasses from Raconteurs is also in the band as well as some goof from Queens of the Stoneage. Indie Rock weirdos are stocked. We're still scratching our heads over this one.

Thursday - Friends in the Armed Forces

2009-03-14T00:40:00.003-04:00

Instead of that fake ass bullshit patriotism the National Guard and Kid Rock would have you believe is true, try this song by Thursday from their new album, Common Existence, "Friends in the Armed Forces". We can support human life everywhere and still be proud of who we are and what our culture is about.

Faith is Blind Deaf and Dumb

2009-03-12T17:00:00.002-04:00

The other day I went to see Watchmen on the grand silver screen. The epic cluster fuck of a film was a hard one to sit through, but in the end I felt, well worth it. Despite numerous shots of Dr. Manhattan's radiating blue penis which deserves another post all together, and awkward sex scenes between Nite Owl II and Silk Specter II (really Alan Moore?) the movie did have an interesting premise. The Watchmen wonders, loudly and clearly if the sacrifice of some is worth it for the thin security and prosperity of the majority. We also find a trans-dimensional, universally connected "superhero" that is an atheist in Dr. Manhattan. Radiating blue penis and all. These two pseudo spiritual questions fall on the world at a time when we are plagued by unending wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and the real threat of greater wars with Pakistan, India and Iran loom. Least we forget the violence that is occurring at our borders amongst drug lords, in the heart of Columbia funded by American tax dollars and we have an abject amount of killing of animals occurring every minute to sustain an untamed and unintelligent hunger.

In the mist of all this, your self proclaimed Atheist friends here at Franconia Station World Industries in the Philosophy department have been inhaling as much of the On Faith columns as possible. Understanding perspective is what we do here. And it is in fact an op-ed piece by Anthony Stevens-Aroyo that inspired me to make a last minute decision to see Watchmen. In this piece of opinion Aroyo states first that Watchmen should sound the alarms for Catholics everywhere as the funeral pyres of Atheism are being lit. Comic Books, Aroyo states, are replacing religion as these spandex clad superheros can offer more in wow and dazzle then the church and religious texts can. In the old days it seems, the glorious imagination of the first religions and their fantastic stories were enough to captivate and trap the minds of the flocks. Today, this type of fanfare has been replaced by our comic book style tales of larger than life, and thus God like superheros doing the unimaginable and kicking as while doing so.

Aroyo also states blankly "People are moving away from Atheism." He says this the day before Trinity College, A Catholic institution, released the results of a study showing that membership in established churches are falling and that the growth of people who claim "no religion" has increased. IT would be irresponsible for me to claim that this means the Atheist society of the world is growing by leaps and bounds as Brad Hirscfield points out in his own op-ed piece. It does seem however to ring true Aroyo's statements of concern for the Catholic church. Suspect and spooky in it's practices in the Vatican, the righteous protectors of Christ have been plagued with scandal for decades now. Never mind they hoard the wealth the accumulate from their congregation in a wicked compound at the heart of Italy. The Catholic church needs a PR make over in a bad bad way. No doubt the pulpit is rising from it's knees and rejecting it.

The complicit language and practice so often taught to us in religion is driving many people away from churches. We in America are not stoked on being told what to do. We don't like orders and we don't like our relationships defined by others. This is certainly true in our spiritual relationships. And so we are redefining spirituality. For some of us, this means outing ourselves as Atheists. For others it means joining Universalist Unitarian Churches so that the community that Churches, Mosques and Temples provide is maintained. We also live in fear of what we define as "Islamic Terrorism" (a term this Atheist finds disgusting I might add) which no doubt is driving Muslims into hiding or possibly even away from their churches. I have not read anything on such trends, but I wouldn't be surprised if many Muslims were trying to suppress their faith. Which, though I don't agree with it, is sad to me. Expression of self is hard enough without persecution or the threat of violence from anyone for any reason.

Thus I have a bone to pick with Aroyo who says that Atheists have room in this world as long as they don't impose their "belief" on the rest of the world. This is of course a dangerous thing for any Catholic to ask as they have imposed violence through action and ignorance on the world for 2,000 years now. First and foremost, the word belief only applies to religious thought. I don't "believe" in anything. There are things I know and there are things that I don't know. We can't apply words that are ascribed to one facet of the world to another. Using the world belief in the context of Atheism is like using baseball terminology to describe love. It doesn't work and shows a complete lack of intelligence and understanding about the world. Watchmen does not suppose their is no gods, it certainly believes in masters however. The question of doubt however remains. An honest, human and crucial human emotion. This is where we self check our notions and actions. It's unfortunate that the character who has doubt (contrasted with Rorschach who deals in absolutes) is also non-human and leaves the earth for good.

I don't share Aroyo's view that the sleek Hollywood superheros will replace religion. They are filled with the stories of lone rangers, fighting a solitary fight, outcast and dejected from a world. There is nothing deeply meaningful in the end about these figures. Spirituality is about so much more than just the fantastic power of God and it's wrath and might as the Catholic religion likes to portray. There are terms like redemption, salvation and grace that are so often used when talking about religion and spirituality. Watchmen certainly did not provide any of that. It did have some awesome fighting scenes though.

Teen Dream

2009-03-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

Over the last few years of my life, I've been having this reoccurring panic attack about getting older. It wasn't helped out too much by seeing Jeffrey Lewis and Kimya Dawson for some reason. Standing in a room full of teenage kids, listening to two overgrown kids in their thirties play music and sing playful if sometimes somber songs, made me freak out a little bit, much the way I do pretty much on a weekly basis. It comes as no shock to anyone I am sure that I don't seem to have a handle too much on this whole adult thing. And that's kind of what this post is about. Hopefully without getting too graphic or personal. I don't like getting too personal, though that seems to be the point of this whole writing thing.

I was reminded, a lot recently, of a person I knew when I was younger. Through many weird, reoccurring instances where this boy (now he's a man I suppose) popped up on the world wide web and in a chance encounter with my mother. I was triggered back, as I usually am when I run into these things in the universe. I dug out some old tapes, some old tapes I find very embarrassing and made them into some digital files so I could send them to another friend (which I haven't done yet). It made me really really sad. The tapes captured us playing music and we were really really not that good. But I still remember how good it felt and that's a piece of my life that has been missing for a long long time. I could never really find that piece again. And that bothers the fuck out of me.

So today, as I write this (not when I post this, I future post this stuff) I read a blog post from a friend of mine who lives in California. He is a childhood friend of mine that I had the pleasure of reuniting with a few years ago. I read today that he and his wife are having a baby. A lot of people I remotely keep track of on this internet thing have babies. Many of them are people I probably know more intimately and closely and deeply then this dude. But something about this baby hit me. Now, here in this moment, on this day I feel truly like the cycle is continuing. It probably has to do with the fact that I've known this person since I was three years old and even though I moved from California when I was twelve and have seen him only twice in the twenty years since I left the left coast, I see this life cycle now in full. I have this very strong desire to go out and visit him when this child comes and if I can ever reach back up and pull my self back on my horse of this fucking merry go round maybe I will.

So much of this is fueled by anxiety and depression. These feelings that seem so unfamiliar and yet are so prevalent in my daily existence. There is a veil around my life it seems, covering me, coveting me in this state of arrest. I still wear hoodies, the tattoo's are crawling quickly down my arms, I still believe in the power of punk rock, no matter how much it lets me down. I try to spend as much of time doing the things I have always done, listening to music, writing, day dreaming. Sometimes I feel childish, my interest never really grew, I never really developed as an artist. Or maybe I have and I just don't have the ability to see it through the veil. Now, it's just circular thoughts about gender binary, human dominion, passivity vs. violence, and trying to rectify the external with what is really going on internally.

Lately it's all too overbearing. I spend a lot of time watching TV, daydreaming in front of my computer or looking at statistics of my music listening. I consume too much in terms of bands and songs. I spit out first impression reviews and call it writing. I've neglected my novel for over 60 days now. On the other hand, the new Propaghandi album is amazing and Turboslut has released the most important side of vinyl this decade. I'm going to Baltimore this week and despite what is probably really stupid planning on my part I am excited to get my new tattoo's this weekend on my forearm. Tattoo's that will effectively seal my fate as a person never to be taken seriously by any one, especially those who hold domain over employment opportunities I may or may not require. I'll be sure to post pictures and updates.

So here is another whoa is me bullshit post. But this is where we have to go in order to free ourselves and find that voice. I want to make things that make sense to me, that live up to the standards I have. I'm not sure I am setting them high enough. Or maybe I have set them too high (but judging from my obvious lack of grammatical talent and an inability to spell even the easiest words, I doubt it). I don't really know how to gage such things. I don't think any level of "sucksess" would ever be satisfying. Any moments of glory I have ever had have fallen short and just driven me to go at it harder. Until I got knocked off the horse recently. But we've already talked about that.

Here is to you then dear reader. A chance at reflection and to find some common ground. I'm not aiming at bummersville with this one. I know I seem so over dramatic on this interweb thing. At least that's how the persona appears to me. Honestly, the new Propaghandi album, Supporting Caste, is playing as I write this and it's fucking amazing. Life can't be all that unfortunate. After all they have a song about being vegan and chopping up vegetarians and eating them. Best Canadian Band EVER!

Peace be with you.

Quickie Reviews Episode One

2009-03-11T08:00:00.003-04:00

Welcome to a new feature where I try to do short reviews of more of the new music I listen to. Lets see how this crap works out. Please note I am watching House M.D. while writing this.

Mi Ami
Watersports
Quarterstick

I picked up a promo copy of this a couple of weeks ago because it was only four dollars. This band has some of the dudes from Black Eyes who were like the last major band on Dischord. I was never a huge fan of that band live, but I thought the music they made was pretty intense and interesting. It sounded jarring and pulling, like a bunch of people going in several directions at once (which according to this interview is pretty true). This CD is okay. It's a lot of free form jamming and it doesn't help when Daniel Martin-McCormick starts screeching like a pre-pubescent banshee, which was my least favorite part of Black Eyes. In the end, it's an interesting experiment with some great rhythm expressions. If yr into music that lets go of structure and exists out of a need for journey then Mi Ami will kick some ass.

Turboslut/Pygmy Slut
Split LP
Exotic Fever

These bands were going to save DC. However Turboslut is breaking up and that sucks ass. Their side of this split LP is nothing short of brutally amazing. I have to admit I haven't totally absorbed it yet, but when I was transferring it to digital (this sucker is only available on vinyl and it's the first piece of vinyl I have bought in years) I was encapsulated by just how incredible this band is. Loud, rumbling, noisy, angry, vicious amazing music. This band had a bright future and I am sad to seem them go before they really hit their stride. Pygmy Lush has two identities a very loud and bombastic one and a very amazing and quietly beautiful one. For my money they excel at the later and this album has their best quiet tracks to date. "Proud King of the Doomed" pretty much flattens me right out. The loud songs are loud, but a few of them are ridiculously short, which actually made me smile. I can't really get into the split personality on one slab of record, but it's still another quality release from the boys.

Jeffrey and Jack Lewis
City and Eastern Tapes
Self Released

I caught Kimya Dawson this weekend at the Black Cat. The show was awkward. Her music is great, but it's not made for casual internet kids and the impatient masses in beer swilling clubs. Jeffrey Lewis was her direct musical hero who inspired her to pick up the guitar and write songs. It shows too in his music. He's a New York City artist who has probably lived there too long and not really made it, though he seems to be doing alright. This CD is a collection of demos and it's a good indication of what Jeffrey Lewis is all about. It is a collection of demo's though, so it's a bit inconsistent as a piece of collected work. But you should know that going in. His song "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" is totally amazing and "Anxiety Attack" is a true to life account of said afflictions which this blogger identifies with.

Radio Dissonance

2009-03-10T07:00:00.001-04:00

I am sad to say it's been a while since I checked out Dissonance. But with the news of Frodus doing SXSW hitting Vegan Brooklyn, which led me to an interview with Shelby Cinca with Frodus, I went and checked it out again. The interview is fantasti c (though unfortunately it seems cut short). Dude says a lot of great things about music, touring, internet culture and shares other fantastic insights about music today. I highly highly highly recommend checking this out. It's been a while since I've run into Shelby which is always a treat. He's such an enthusiastic person and interesting artist. But he also loves to hear about what other people doing. So check out what he has to say. You will enjoy it and absorb some new ideas.

Also in rotation for me today was Amanda Mackaye who talked about Fort Reno last year. Also I checked out about half of the great Alec Bourgeois before my work day ended. That shit was amazing. If you have ever wanted any insight into the inner workings of Dischord records you should definitely check it out. I can't wait to hear the rest of it. Probably one of the best interviews about DC punk history and the growth of Dischord I have ever read.

Dissonance doesn't update as regularly as it used to about once or twice a month on average. Danger Mike just gets better and better as a host and the program continues to be a vital piece of the DC music scene. So take some time and check out the love.

Peace Out Kids. FCI transmission.

The New Mastadon Video is amazing.

2009-03-07T19:20:00.002-05:00

Pretty much the best video ever.

Mastodon - New Music - More Music Videos

Brain Shits

2009-03-05T19:56:00.001-05:00

I don't believe in writers block. I believe in the brain shits though. It's the state you find yourself in when the ability to write anything of substance, longer than a paragraph is crippling and impossible. In the winter time this leads to ever lasting depression. The kind of soul fuck that you can't shake. The one wherein your walk to work in the cold air is so devastating, that even giving up isn't worth the effort. It's just better to let life steam roll itself over you.

I find myself here, at the mouth of March in the best financial shape I've been in for a long time. And yet the economic anxiety I have felt for the last six years hasn't really gone away. It's probably because every day I hear about somebody losing their jobs. It just seems like ducks lined up in a row. I'm wondering whose ass is in my face so I can anticipate the buck shot that take me out too. This type of anxiety also is not great for the creative juices. Sometimes it is, but not when your brain is so destroyed and fatigued that you can't even complete normal functions. The nerves are fried, every one is an asshole and you just snap at them half the time and ignore them the other half the time.

So I haven't touched my novel in over 60 days. Does that mean it's officially done. 80 thousand words in. The most of any story, anecdote or observation tied together in a loose narrative I've ever shat out of my Vienna sausage fingers. In these times of fantastic loathing of self and the world around me I want to smash the computer, quit my job and walk into the woods. Or sit on my fat ass and wait for House, M.D. to pop up on the television. Ah yes, the massive, mind numbing, soul sucking piece of shit I spend far too many of my hours embraced in. The warm, fuzzy glow of nothingness washes smoothly within my brainwaves. What's left of them anyway.

I can't seem to finish anything. What the fuck? I want to be a writer, but what do writers do when they can't write. Some of them go on spiritual journeys, some of them drink, fuck and fight, some of them go play with their kids and wife and then return to drum out bullshit that gets on Oprah or reviewed in the last dying places that still care about writing and literature. None of which I actually engage. Some writer. It's like the bands that don't watch the other bands play on the same tours and bills. Painters that don't go to gallery's. I read. But not nearly enough. What a fucking dipshit.

So yes, I have brain shits. The fucking winter is killing me again and if it doesn't get warmer outside, I'm going to see Kenny Brown and get a F.T.W tattooed on my neck and and saying the hell with all this bullshit. I just want to smash this fucking laptop on the floor, drink a beer and sit on the porch. If it wasn't covered in ice and dirty snow.