Friday, August 18, 2006

Cover it with gas and light it on fire by ween

I am getting very excited for the PA ween show on Aug 31 with the Lips and sonic youth. To get me in the mood I've been digging into the archives over at ween.net's audio archive that has classic duo ween at The court tavern where they futz with cassettes inbetween songs, hassle their friends to bring them beers to stage while Kirk Miller their sound guy messes with the analog delay. I was always inspired by all the folks and rabid fans ween had that have been following them around since the days of fanzines and cassettes.


Some other ween related bands and cast of characters that have played a part in lives of ween are for starters: Amandla which is Claude Coleman;s band who also played in Skunk with Sweeney of Chavez fame. Chris Harford, is another awesome fellow with lots of great recordings with Mickey. Probably one of my favorite singer song writer types. Sim cain and Andrew Weiss(Rollins band/ Gone/ Greg Gin Band / Ween producer) have also done stints along with Coleman in Harford's Band of Changes. other goodness to seek out is False Front which is Guy’s or band Dickie Moist the singer in moistboyz.
Tiny lights and instant death a drums and bass duo were Dave Dreiwitz. Their classic 'The Enabler' as relived by ween with Dave singing is great.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Who the hell is Sebadoh?

I completely agree with Brandon Stosuy that "those stoner fucks created something essential" as he remembers the indie glory days with the re-release review of Sebadoh III over at pitchdork. Mr. White Bread (Brandon’s old self published zine) makes you want to relive the hey-day of indie-dome. He or Lou Barlow might not say it but they seem to speak of a certain time period that reminds me of the moment when you peeled apart his zine, Boiled Angel, Crank, or some other rag like Insight there in print was some band you’ve never heard of or some off the wall reference. You knew you found something real in some little dustbin of a shop, a nugget amongst the stax of wax and in the corner hidden like porn. In our case one of the congregrasion shops was Cheap Thrills(RIP), in New Brunswick for local rags, mail order or literally trading shit through the mail. Postage was somewhat cheaper and everything was new well sorta because we still remembered the 80's, or at least I did, and all the cool crap that it had to offer (sst, twin-tone, homestead ) and then we were presented with lo-fi. "Oh lordy" I was pretty dumbfounded to be honest at first, although I did quite thoroughly enjoy the Lync cassette Brandon passed over to me, icky mettle from Jim T and No Pocky for Kitty from my housemate rocker Ted. There was a charm to be had, music revealed itself much slower than it does today but like all cool things there was some hurtin' material out there, so like any good discerning shopper you will need to check it out for yourself. What makes music essential these days? Somebody please answer.
I know like all good music blog readers today, you relied on the guys who's only reason to start a fanzine was so they could get some free swag at first(my story) but told it like it was or it least they tried until somebody else convinced you otherwise. I remember having unhealthy amounts of Epitaph swag in my po box all the time that paid for a few six-packs over the course of a couple years. I usually dug all the Dischord stuff (in particular Fugazi on vinyl) and usually found a home for the empty records and a few other record peddlers. You had fun poking fun at the ones you didn't get but you didn't abuse your power for fear of literally getting into fight with some band because you slagged them.

Anyway, the true test of overly hyped bands is that if when you can spin it 6 month to 10 years later and if does not make you sick to your stomach that it is still fresh, it takes you on a time warp but for a moment. The Meadowlands get me a little queasy because I did overdose on it a little for awhile when it came out and it has past the test. Looking forward to the new one fellas!

Sunday, August 06, 2006

The best bastard pop mp3 music blogs

Personally I look for variety from mp3 bloggers. They are my modern day djs and heroes. Their tastemaker agenda is usually pretty clear: They breath music on their sites through one another and like rapid fire they constantly feed off each other to produce some great content. For instance I read an awesome review of the Scratch documentary on I am Fuel, you are Friends and got 'Rock it' by Herbie Hancock, and The Ultimate Lessons 'tracks 1,2 & 3' by Double Dee & Steinski and then down the bottom I was reminded of The Whitey Album by Ciccone Youth(1988) which was Sonic Youth's inside joke project that was released after Day Dream Nation, which i just saw on the counter of Tunes in Hoboken just last week. She give props toYou Ain't no Picasso, for posting and then I spied a bunch of songs Beck has covered including 'Pink Moon' by Nick Drake and 'Clementine' by Elliot smith. He's seems to be out having fun at Lollapalooza in Chicago enjoying things the way us old music scenesters used to.

You get the idea. The rules are simple and road is deep and wide. If you see something you want removed they will oblige with obligatory purchase link; simple freakin enough rule to follow i would say. The new is always mixing with old and nowhere is this more evident than on this mash-up of the The Clash's 'magnificent seven' and basement jaxx by 2 Many djs(soulwax) posted by Analog Giant.

What is strange is the language of music is compiled of jargon and the 'next thing' as the kids just want to be different for sure PDB. We know we were once these kids. I was so out of the loop a little and I had no idea what a mash-up was until a friend at work gave me whole bunch of flaming lips mash-ups or 'Bastard pop'. Once the alignment was straightened out, I might not have been paying close attention, almost like drunk driving; if it weren't for the fact these blogs keep me somewhat in tune and on course fill the addiction. I of course being able to smell re-hash in 2-3 chords or less using my sonic ears I can dissect boring rock from somewhat innovative music as like my spanglish. I am an immediate fan of any new band that can pass the spork test, give a decent nod to old ideas and take "it" to that next level even if it is 1.5 degrees removed. Does real music need decades or centuries to take a large leap or will it matter soon? Someone smart said years ago that pop music would turn into coverland and so it is bastard pop is born.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Free Majestic Twelve mp3 swag

Ok, If you like that 'I'm on the Mexican radio' song by Wall of VooDoo mixed with your beer and politics then my dear friends you will dig North Carolina's Majestic Twelve's new album Schizophrenology
which they are distributing for freakin' free on my space and their site. The single is "Condoleezza Check My Posse" which is pretty funny in a puppet sort of way. My particular favorite standard indie track is called "Cry". All tunes have politics and a nod to the earth that makes the music personable. This Kenyata guy is somebody you could hang out with late at night and just kick-it. Oh, wait I've done that over at wefest a hundred times where DIY lives and your mother wonders what a we-tard is because you seem to have an average iq, 'you went to college, and you have a decent job but you won't blink at driving 500 miles to hang with a bunch of music loving freaks. Anyway, check out the tunes.