Rock n Roll Court Tavern Seminar Sat 4-25-09

Andy Diamond presents a rockn'roll seminar at the Court Tavern this coming Saturday, April 25th, 2009 featuring sets by The Stuntcocks, Eastern Anchors, Harlot and from Baltimore LandSpeedRecord![ View FB Event invitation ] Now in order to take advantage of this special offer you don't much preparation to do except get there early by 10PM EST to enjoy everything the bands and court have to offer. You don't even have to bring your friends. You will make friends but it would be nice if you brought your chick and some money to drink with.

Sample some mp3s by the bands:
"Punk Rock Guy" by The Stuntcocks
"Release the Dogs" by Eastern Anchors Listen to more on last.fm
"Dead girlfriend" by LandSpeedRecord!

The Meatmen play the Brighton Bar

Monday, April 21st The Meatmen are playing the infamous Brighton Bar with The Takers, The Sexzombies and American Speedway.
Get yer punk rock on.

Mp3's from Go Cart Vs. The Corporate Giant:
Morisey Must Die
Abba, God and Me
Buy some Tesco Vee vt The Meatmen on Emusic

Radical Rock Reactionaries

Way back in the mid-80's there was a great local alternative band called Animation
that borrowed from Echo and The Bunnymen, Lou reed and whatever was hip at the time. The town benefited from having a pretty decent local record shop called the Music Staff. Life was good. Animation's release Loud Day had everything; a great intro song with a stomping bass part promised you that the rest would be great and it was with suburban themes and a cover of The Velvet Underground. It didn't get any cooler. Ok maybe, I'm lying. Westfield High School in the 80's was not a normal place when I think about it. One of the school clubs was called the Young Leftist and another one The Radical Rock Reactionaries (RRR) that was found by the Margulis Brother's Oren (88) and Gil(86). They put on shows and is where I got my taste of original live music not just attendee but as a musician. i was part of the scene and where i got to know the Don, Jerry and Bob from the Whirling Dervishes (pictured) - i probably saw them play more times than I can count. The good thing it was great every time. One of the bands RRR got to play early on was Animation who originated black T-shirt as far as I was concerned. Other bands that made appearances for RRR were Hoboken's Tiny Lights, Das Damen (SST), the Whirling Dervishes of course, Spiral Jetty, The Unemployed (haha a one off band of mine) and Psychic Fair (WHS 86-88). There were probably others and maybe I'll remember them later but in the meantime here are some selects by said "local" bands that enriched my life and introduced me to whole other world of alternative music. Another band that was in a parallel music universe to Westfield was Skunk from Maplewood, NJ. Enjoy. More later.

MP3s:
Animation - What goes on (Velvet Underground cover)
Animation - Hide & Go Seek off of Loud Day(Vital Records)
Das Damen - Gray Isn't Black from Jupiter Eye(SST)
Tiny Light - Sweet Solutions from LP Prayer for the halcyon fear
Spiral Jetty - The Hour from Dogstar LP (Absolute a go go/Rough Trade)
Skunk - (There'll Be Other Girls) Hoss from Last American Virgin LP (Twin/Tone)
Skunk - Chezone and Trevor
Whirling Dervishes - Cop from the CD Strange & Wonderful
Whirling Dervishes - Your Little Finger from the CD Strange & Wonderful

Live Video Indie Rocker - Zac Clark Tycoon

Always love it when a music fan puts so much energy into seeing live music. Zac Clark the Rocker Tycoon is one of those open minded guys that cares and comes armed with cameras in tow and stands in the front row. He made one song videos for Frankie and his Fingers, No Pasaran!, Eastern Anchors, and Binky Bianca at a recent Jersey City show at the IMAC. I wish there were more folks like them and not just those mp3 bloggers or reviewers who hide behind their blog. It's refreshing and helps that the quality is good too! Friday nights are for dancing after all...

Summer Surf and turf driving Mix

If you are planning on escaping for the weekend and taking off on a friday let me help with the summer mix. Hopefully you're headed to someplace hot and with A/C. There are a few classics on here with a little bit of twist backed with some golden nuggets. From the newish bin are Desolation Wilderness from their record White Light Strobing; lots of twirly reverb and delay that can help you get lost during the driving process. To help with surf are The Woggles (not be confused by the Boggles) do Got a Heat on, circa 1993 off their excellent record on Ragged But Not Right. I also put the Wipers from the Is This Real? Box set, who were a huge similarity to Mission of Burma and were a huge influence on nirvana and post-pink bands like fugazi. Download and enjoy.

01. Forget Everything - mp3 by Desolation Wilderness [ Buy ]
02. Got a Heat on mp3 by The Woggles [ Buy ]
03. Doom Town mp3 by the Wipers
04. Venus in Furs Remix mp3 (velvet Underground cover) from the chrome kids blog
05. Run Run Run (another velvet underground cover) by Capsula. This is a killer version.
06. Good friends have gone by Pronto [ buy ]
07. ...and you will know us by the trail of dead - Inland Sea mp3 [The whole new album rocks buy it ]
a.mp3
08. Fallout mp3 - The Weirdos
09. I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass mp3 - Nick Lowe - from Jesus of cool (reissue)
10. Lost In The Woods mp3 by Pete and Pirates from Little Death [ buy ]

Here's the end of summer playlist from 2008. This one is for the beginning.

Review Pronto All Is Golden today and always

The early description of 70's icons like Randy Newman, Jackson Browne and Glen Frey come to mind when listening to Pronto's debut All Is Golden. Under the analog edge is a indie band playing retro, sparse and working to let the core of the song bring it on home like a inspired yelling carpediem. No massive amounts of compression, comfortable sweaters, or studio trickery can fool the good song radar. The tracks are purposely sparse with just enough musical layers to keep it honest and golden. ha! In the middle of the record there is an attempt to get a little proggy in a AIR sort of way but it's quickly abandoned for higher ground. This is all Mikael Jorgensen. Labeled as his solo project he is supported by long time friend and drummer Mr. Greg O’Keeffe and some other indie guys from Iron & Wine, Califone, and Antibalas as a the namedrop bio's goes on. He could have picked up anybody in all honestly and I wouldn't have noticed. The New Jersey roots are having played in Movere Workshop and Lizard Music. If this band would have come in 1978 nobody would have noticed but being that the time machine was fixed and have transported 30 years later. Their debut is much welcome in the emosoundscape and the mushrooming repeater stations. The music is proof positive that the art of song writing is alive and well and has not changed much since that time. You can even twitter them in the prontospere but no modern marketing tool gimic will change the connection the music makes all on it's own. I'm not sure how access translates into live performances or music but what do i know. The couple sample tracks here are quite good cuts like a freshly poured beer. They refresh and numb the palette. There is hope for people who will take the the time to seek out music. Catch them live starting in March and thru out the spring of 2009.

Precious Like A Sneer by Pronto | Buy some
Good Friends Have Gone | Label Contraphonic

Later.

Time to pledge to WFMU.org

Hey, so you like music? You like independent and strange artists? Ever wonder why the radio sucks so bad? Seriously you must not know about wfmu.org. Do your kids, your kid's kids and your family a favor and start listening to FMU. You won't ever be able to listen to regular pop-music ever again! Beware of the blog.

Mr. Thumb Flowers are not Evil

Based out of New Brunswick, NJ in the early 90's there was prog funk alternative rock metalish band called Mr. Thumb. The group had two singers and a running gaggle of drummers. Above is the cover for a 3 song ep called "This time it's gonna fuckin' Hurt" on Hub city label Well Primed Records. The track we are featuring in this post was supposed to appear on a follow-up 7" and self titled album on Behemoth Records but it never was released due to financial issues at the time(isn't this always the case?). The band recorded its full length at Trax East in South River New jersey with Eric Rachel and Steve Evetts. Drumming on said record was Dave Rosenberg (AKA Dave Crayola from Deadguy). The original singer Karl Munzel only appears on the Well Primed released. For the rest of the duration of the band the torch was carried by D.Buzz operating the bassness, Bil Weis vox and Jhon Thumb as the nutty jazz rock professor on guitar. You can still catch the Jhon Thumb band or something very close to it. If you ever get the opportunity to see him play it comes as a highly recommended live experience. The kind of thing you should see before you die in lieu of seeing Frank Zappa, Hendrix or a wasted John Frustrante. D.Buzz went on to form Aviso'Hara.

Grab some mp3 trax:
Mr. Thumb "Flowers are not Evil"
Deadguy - "Running with Scissors" b/w "Police Story" (black flag cover) [ buy some ]
Aviso'Hara - "Conspiracy Au Go Go" [ buy some avisohara

Dear Grammys,The Britsh are coming, the British are coming

As I sit and watch the Grammy's and actually enjoy Coldplay, despite their fruity Sgt pepper outfits, I put my trolling skills to work and found some great nuggets and music posts for you. I'll also say the one country band had a ripping guitar player. I didn't care too much for the song but the solo was hot. Other than that the Grammys sucked but I had to watch. Who dressed Katie Perry as Chequita banana and told her she could dance? I can't believe somebody convinced her to perform without a mic? She looked totally out of place. Hats off to Rick Rubin too for winning an award and Radiohead was bringing the marching band in style -- stellar

Deeper Shade of Soul - has a American Sam & Bootleg from from 1967 and some Matts circa 1987 (that's the replacements). You either love them or hate them but Westerberg pulls off Gimmme Shelter. Great mp3 blog btw.

Ryan's Smashing Life - Features a bunch of random live Flaming lips tracks and in keep with Stones theme here they do stellar version of Moonlight Mile among others. Dig deeper down and you find a Zeppelin zip from a 1975 Physical Graffiti tour.

Debbie D from WFMU blog posts a odd track by the stones called "I'd Much Rather Be With The Boys" plus a bunch other old crap by Bo Diddly, The Gentrys, The Monks and Tom Waits. Great tracks!

DUH New Jersey punk rock band

New Jersey yielded some great hardcore, Thrash and punk bands in the 80's. One of them was a band called DUH with ties to Westfield, NJ which featured drummer Ben Forgash and guys from Rutgers( think one was named was just "J"?) I can't remember exactly. Anyway, I'm not even sure that this 11 song record was called Trout (I made that shit up but it seems appropriate). Whatever the case here are 11 tracks I made from a cassette I had of their full length demo lp. I saw them play a few times in high-school and I always thought they were sort of goofy and sometimes akin to the philly band that did bitch' camero. These guys wrote songs and goofed very sarcastically about fishing, Apex tech and Quick Chek (making fun of jersey maulers chicks with lots of hair spray). Your normal white suburban textbook theme i guess looking back at the songs now.

01 Fish House Road
02 Poison Ivy
03 Put the mask on
04 oeieoeo
05 Swamp Thing
06 Chopping up your friends
07 New by Ronko
08 Anaconda
09 Quick Chek Baby [ Download mp3 ] This is a WRSU classic
10 Apex Tech [ Download mp3 ]
11 Trout

Get the whole Trout ZIP here [ You are Welcome ]

I've also discovered a great list of older thrash/Hardcore by Dirge and Ripping Corpse, etc up on FB the other day. You'll find old demos and out of print 7 inches and lps and some hilarious photos. Check out NJHC Jerseyshore reunion group. later.

Lux Interior punk icon dies at 62

Dear young performers,
Psychobilly, reverb and The Bigsby would not exist the way we know today if it were not for Lux Interior and Poison Ivy of The Cramps. Shit I might not know how cool the 50's really were unless I never heard Bad Music for Bad People way back when. The songs were simple, easy to play but the crazy slow feel catapulted you into this alien world of weird science, hot rods mixed with Bohemian beer (very disgusting by the way). Lux was a avid record collector and covered some jems and was covered almost as much as Elvis. Ok maybe that is stretching it a bit but not far-off. He was up there as far as rock icons go and on the same level as Strummer, Joey Ramone and Iggy Pop (still kicking). Leaders of the underground like it or not. This music is the devil's music to some and drunken bliss for others. These are the people who die, die.

Get some Music by The Cramps on Emusic
Sample mp3s here:
Garbage Man
Goo Goo Muck

Review: Andalusians Do the Work Indeed

Dear Andalusians, the womyn in rock sometimes try and sound like the musical genius that were Throwing Muses and end up sounding like a Scrawl record on slommo. I'm more of A fan of the Donelly / Hersh contingency and always appreciated the soulful swirly vocals and absent crash cymbals. Liked that there were no solos and chorus's to be had. The comparison for the new 7" ep on Dischord by Andalusians is uncanny for the title track "Do the Work". Lots of quirky guitar melodies backed by a solid rhythm section that compliment the vocals organically. This collection of songs has the House Tornado vibe for sure but also shows me that indie rock lives strong like a ghost know its home. Earthy, warm and all sorts of analog fills this music and picks up right in the sweet spot. I will even dare to say that some real chops are channeled and reworked so it's all new kids. See them on their tour of America now!

Dig the tune "Do the work" 3 more are available when you buy the record from Dischord

Catch them on Tour right now:
Thursday, Feb 5 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Friday, Feb 6 - Richmond, VA @ Rumors Boutique
Saturday, Feb 7 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Night Light
Sunday, Feb 8 maybe driving, maybe playing? HELP!
Monday, Feb 9 - St. Augustine, FL @ Nobby's
Tuesday, Feb 10 - Orlando, FL @ Starlight Cafe
Wednesday, Feb 11 - Gainesville, FL @ Common Grounds
Thursday, Feb 12 - Atlanta, GA @ Wonderroot
Friday, Feb 13 - Johnson City, TN @ TheHideAway
Sunday, Feb 15 - Somerset, KY @ watershed gallery
Monday, Feb 16 - Louisville, KY @ Skull Alley
Tuesday, Feb 17 - Chicago, IL @ The Ottoman Empire House
Wednesday, Feb 18 - Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
Thursday, Feb 19 - Kalamazoo, MI @ 4th Coast Cafe
Friday, Feb 20 - Detroit, MI
Saturday,Feb 21 - Wilkinsburg, PA @ Mr. Roboto

The Living End of Punk by Zeke

World Famous Zeke is heavy-grass ladden smoke out American Rockn'Roll punk rock. Take the really ugly side of MotorHead and mix it with something really fast from Crypt Records and you've got the dark tattoo that is Zeke.

Dear stoner go get the rest of The Living End by Zeke punk article on the newly referbished Review Stalker Music MP3 Blog.

Quality MP3s and more words after the jump!