Family tree connections to The Fluid aside, the above single is the greatest thing that ever happened in the city of Denver other than the time Denny Neagle sang “Caught With The Meat In Your Mouth” at karaoke. Thanks to the folks at Smooch Records, it is now available on the popular compact disc format for a price everyone can afford. Well, everyone except Denny.
The above is the first chapter in the “random single from the collection” series, which will be happening as long as I can annoy people with it. This one is, appropriately enough, an incredibly boring French-Japanese childrens-lounge music single from 1997, recommended me by Yasuharu Konishi at a store in Tokyo the year it came out. Maybe one day it will be cool.
snazzy, albeit brief video footage (above), in honor of Dave Bass’ Distortions releasing ‘Government War Plans’. OK, maybe it came out a while ago, but I just found a copy the other day.
As far the clip above, I recognize Dave Smalley and Jamie Sciarappa in the chorus line. Who knows? Maybe you’re in there, too.
Cleveland guitarist Jim Jones, a member of Pere Ubu from 1987-2002, and a player with bands including Home & Garden, The Mirrors, the Styrenes and the Easter Monkeys passed away on Monday evening. Jones was 57.
(an obituary from the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s John Petkovic)
We’re gonna have a long, thrilling announcement for you very shortly concerning the new Matmos LP/CD, but prior to that, here’s the latest bit of extracurricular news from Drew Daniel :
Pardon my mass missive but I wanted to spread the word that I am now a published author. Thanks to the trusty/crusty crew of the Continuum imprint, I now have my own contribution to their 33 1/3 series of books, complete with an ISBN number and a Library of Congress Data tag and everything. My book is called “Twenty Jazz Funk Greats” and it is about the album of said name by the English band Throbbing Gristle. It weighs in at 176 (teensy) pages. It features original interviews with all four members of Throbbing Gristle, some never-before-published photos and/or drawings from their private notebooks, and lots of interpretive blood sweat and tears from yours truly. Check it out!
Nils and Zach both celebrated birthdays earlier this week and it seems the tasty Carvel cakes I shipped to each of them ended up melting in the lobby of 304 Hudson St. (something about how the cake didn’t have proper ID for security). Sorry, dudes.
That said, I was able to find the very next best thing in the entire world. Vintage footage of Siege rendering music, video and American flags done and dusted, back in the year 1984. Don’t bother sending me a thank you note — I already know you’re thrilled.
Though the excellent 3rd solo album from Arab Strap guitarist Malcom Middleton , ‘A Brighter Beat’ (Full Time Hobby) is getting a bit dusty, there’s been an effort in the UK to push the single for “We’re All Going To Die” to an improbable Xmas no. 1.
Based on the clip above, we hope he gets there. (video link courtesy Jesper)
SS Decontrol – The Kids Will Have Their Say ACETATES
Masterdisk Corporation NYC, USA May 1982. The set of two 1-sided 12″ 45rpm acetates for the later XClaim-release of Boston`s first straight-edge hardcore LP: Disc 1 (Side a): Boiling Point, Fight Them, Do You Ever Care?, Not Normal, Wasted Youth, Jock Itch, Fun To You, Violent Attack, How Much Art. Disc 2 (Side b): The Kids Will Have Their Say, Headed Straight, War Threat, Teach Me Violence, Screw, Who`s To Judge, Police Beat, Unity, The End. In white gatefold cardboard cover with sticker on front. The acetates are in finest condition. Photocopy of the original invoice enclosed. Postage costs depend on your location. Payment can be made by bank transfer, Paypal, IMO or something other. I will soon sell more records so stay tuned.
The Girls : Daved Hild, Robin Amos, George Condo, Mark Dagley, circa 1978, long before Boston was Titletown and even longer before people like us figured out how to commodify stuff like this. YouTube link courtesy Jane, Pat.
OK, not Thor himself, but the percussionist extraordinaire’s 1999 solo album ‘Fields Of Innards’ has been re-released by I Eat Records. In commemoration, Thor and friends are playing tonight at Austin’s Club DeVille along with Yellow Fevor, the Shaky Hands and the excellent Denton, TX trio Tre Orsi, who feature Shearwater’s Howard Draper.
Though I've seen terrific sets thus far by MIA, LCD Soundsystem, Queens of The Stoneage and (most especially) our own Yo La Tengo, I'm happy to reveal a scoop so intense, not even the combined forces of Austinist, the Austin Chronicle or Statesman were on top of it.
When Saturday's headlining White Stripes cancelled on short notice, the promoters insisted there'd be no big name replacement flying in.
With another 5 hours to go, I'm happy to report they were just trying to throw you off the scent of greatness :
What in blazes does soul legend George McRae have to do with Matador Records and Filmworks? Well, unless you count Yo La Tengo's inspired cover of "You Can Have It All", of the Frogs' paen to George's longtime muse, "Gwedolyn McRae", absolutely nothing.
That disclaimer aside, the official George McRae website is a terrifying blast from the past. The past in this case being the heady interweb design days of 1994.
Former Panty Line Fever editor Rick Hall was moved to write, "check out his rather primitive WEBPAGE that makes my browser crash. Read his grandiose BIO that, with its superstar hyperbole, deserves an audiobook reading by the guy from J&H PRODUCTIONS". And Hall's right on the money, it's a doozy. Were you aware, for instance, that McRae was the recipient of the Luxembourg Golden Lion Award for Outstanding Achievement By A Foreign Artist in Germany ? ("Frank Sinatra is the only other U.S.A. Recipient of this award" – huh, eat shit and die Hasselhoff!)
Anyhow, read it at your own risk. And if there's anything about the site's layout that seems a tad familiar, just remember that George isn't merely "The Disco Pioneer", he's also an HMTL innovator to boot.
Wilson will be eulogized far and wide in the days ahead, rightfully so, and rather than add to the pile, we'll instead link to the following bit of youtubage.
Suffice to say, when it comes to newsreaders turned label dudes, Wilson's Factory was a much better label than Chuck Scarborough's.
At the height of his creative powers, Stabb was one of the nation's more charismatic, witty front-humans, and in a just world, roving packs of teens would be vying to buy him drinks or dinner rather than nearly beating him to death. Here's wishing the Stabbster a speedy recovery.
With all due respect to Angus Young, Rowland S. Howard and Steve Lucas, The Coloured Balls' Lobby Loyde might be the most important Australian rock guitarist of his generation or any other. Loyde passed away Saturday after a struggle with lung cancer — he's capabaly eulogized at WFMU's Beware Of The Blog by Brian Turner. Starting off in 1963 with various combos including the Stilletos, Purple Hearts, Wild Cherries, and Thorpe's early Aztecs, Lobby took his amazing guitar playing through many phases from straightforward R&B through acid psych and spacerock soundtracks and schooled countless countrymen for years to come.
1. Shearwater playing at the Central Presbyterian Church. With a Steinway concert grand, the audience in pews, and acoustics to die for ("the best sound I've heard at a rock show in years," said an industry veteran to my right). Some audience members were crying. This was one for the ages.
2. In total contrast, Jay Reatard at the Victory Grill. Jay had been up for 3 days straight and was angry. The oversized bassist in the faded Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt was angry too. They were hurling nearly full cans of bud into the audience, directly at moshers' faces. The sound was perfect. The experience was genuine. Actual punk rock like I have rarely seen since the mid-'80s.
Sorry for the Matador-centric picks… inevitable when your bands are playing 17 gigs in 4 days, you spend a lot of time seeing them! But of course it helps that they're all great, too.
the following message arrived in our super urgento box a few minutes ago :
This week on the almighty PIZZA PARTY East Village Internet Radio show Early Mike himself will be making a very special guest appearance. And the plot thickens because weekly host Max Wowch and Mike will be playing ONLY television and film theme songs. That's right, two full hours of that crap. You don't want to miss it. It might be your only chance to hear two grown men disect the brilliance of the Golden Girls theme.
Tune in Thursday, March 1st at 4pm by going to http://www.eastvillageradio.com
If you miss it you can still download it after the original broadcast. No excuses.
If the gullible general public are willing to tolerate AC/DC without Bon Scott and the Dead Kennedys without Jello Biafra, what's the big deal about the Jam reforming….sans Paul Weller? From the Guardian's Alexis Petridis.
Should you wish, you can see The Jam, with new vocalist Russell Hastings, performing in May. The venues they're playing are some way off Wembley – their appearance at The High Rocks, Tunbridge Wells, represents something of a departure for a venue best-known for its Wednesday afternoon tea dance ("ballroom dancing with Peter Harvey, tea and cake, £6"). Nevertheless, it's clearly a step up for Rick Buckler, who last year was to be found drumming in a Jam tribute act called The Gift (from whence Russell Hastings has also sprung): "you could say that Paul Weller is a tribute band because he plays The Jam's songs live," he suggested at the time.
That seems a bit of a hopeful argument, but perhaps the kind of high-minded principles that Weller espouses are a luxury that a multi-millionaire rock star can afford, but his less successful former cohorts can't.You could argue that – ahem – this is the modern world, and that The Jam touring without Paul Weller fits with the current vogue for musical nostalgia, in which trifling matters like the absence or death of a key member aren't allowed to get in the way of making some cash or, apparently, audience enjoyment: after all, plenty of people are willing to go and see Queen live without Freddie Mercury, so why not The Jam without Weller.
Then again, twenty-five years ago, anyone who publicly suggested that The Jam had anything in common with Queen would have swiftly been kicked to the floor by several pairs of bowling shoes. After all, die hard fans will tell you that what made The Jam special was the fact that were about more than just the music. They were about fashion and politics and, yup, our old friend principles which, with the best will in the world, isn't something that anyone's going to claim of Queen.
With all due respect to Mr. Petridis, I'll happily suggest the Jam and Queen have all sorts of things in common. Vox amplifiers for one, the crazed nostalgia addiction of their fans for another.
