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Thursday, November 30, 2006
IF YOU GO:
The Lot Six are officially disbanded, but if you think you’ll be seeing less of those guys, think again. Singer Dave Vicini plays solo as Dave Cave and with the backing of friends as Viva Viva and the Beat Awfuls. And drummer Aaron Sinclair's FRANK SMITH are already established as Boston’s answer to the Band or Magnolia Electric Co. The next Frank Smith album — their fourth — is due in February, and on this demo they sketch a representative scene. Settling in behind dusky banjo and whistle-round-the-bend harmonica blasts, Sinclair hollers secrets at the last glimmer of sunset as if he were slipping down the end of the loneliest street in Dodge City.
DOWNLOAD: Frank Smith, "Liar and a Thief" (mp3)
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
First, Jon Stewart, paying homage to Tom Waits's appearance (and performance) on "The Daily Show" Tuesday night, says his favorite musicians are "Tom Waits, Buffalo Tom, Beethoven, and Roxette..." Moments later, Colbert delivers the lead-in to his show by saying, "Why is an indie rock band ripping me off when they can be like every other indie rock band and rip off the Pixies"? (The band in question was the Decemberists, who have filmed themselves against a green screen and asked their fans to fill in the CGI/animation/ whatever, just as Colbert did a few months back when he jumped around in front of a green screen with a "Star Wars" light saber.)... There you go, Boston's indie-rock hegemony established once more. Eat shit, Minneapolis.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Chuck D
November 21, 2006
at Berklee Performance Center
Chuck D – legendary MC, Public Enemy founder, hip-hop philospher, activist, rap spokesmodel, all-round genius – was at Berklee last week to speak to a packed auditorium of high school and college students. Since it wasn’t open to the public, and since almost everything that comes out of his mouth is interesting, I hoofed it down on a press pass. "Jay-Z is the best rapper of all time," Chuck digressed, in the middle of a synopsis on the history of music, "but I'll get into more on that later."
A lecture by Chuck D is mostly a series of digressions; he bounces from subject to subject, and opinion to opinion, holding nothing back. It was much less a lecture in any traditional sense, and more of a dispersal of knowledge jewels mined from his 25 years of experience in the music industry. In Chuck-speak, the music industry is entirely distinct from what he calls the "record industry." "The record industry is in trouble," he likes to say, "but the music industry is not."
Chuck began his talk by analyzing the fall of the record industry, tracing this decline to the days of disco and of record execs who misspent their money on questionable marketing techniques – basically, bribing radio and club DJs with a popular powdery white narcotic. Marketing costs and distribution costs rose – shipping large amounts of heavy vinyl 12" singles wasn’t cheap. Profits fell and labels failed. The surviving labels hired a lawyers and accountants – corporate professionals with little allegiance to the labels’ creative mission -- to come in and clean up the mess. After the corporate pros resuscitated the record industry, they were kept on staff and gradually rose to exalted status in positions that morphed from "legal counsel" and "accountant" to "president" and "director of this-and-that." It’s an oft-told tale, but one that takes on the weight of gospel in the oral telling of a rap godfather, the money-lenders overrunning the temple of pop music.
It’s also a story that Chuck clearly feels a duty to tell, especially when in speaking in the presence of young, would-be musicians and music execs. He ran down the scheme the industry devised in the ‘80s: keeping its sale prices high in the face of changing technology. As technology progressed, the costs of manufacturing and distribution dropped but product prices rose – CDs were retailed at higher prices than LPs, even though they are far cheaper to produce. By the time the first Public Enemy compact disc came out, Chuck recalled, it was listed as $17.99 at your local Strawberry's. (This particular figure might not quite live up to scrutiny, although the gist of his narrative is dead-on.) And, as Chuck D freely admitted, "I wouldn't pay for that."
Like the indie-rockers of the early ’90s, Chuck maintains a special distrust for those true believers who have strayed from the path of the righteous. He underlined his distaste for people like Antonio "LA" Reid, now an executive at Universal Music Group, who was a founder of the formerly independent LaFace Records. In mid-November, UMG announced a lawsuit against MySpace for allegedly "leaking copyrighted music”; in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Reid had singled out the leak of Jay-Z’s new album. In Chuck's parlance this is seditious on Reid’s part – Reid and his LaFace business partner Babyface were once artists in their own right, fighting the power of corporate conglomerates. Now, Chuck believes, they are swept up in the machinations of corporate power, and, more significantly, have forgotten where they came from.
Like many old-school vets, Chuck has little patience for contemporary hip-hop – but unlike those contemporaries, Chuck tempers his nostalgia for rap’s pioneering years with the belief that a new golden age is inevitable. Hip-hop, he says, has not yet hit its peak. If the Roots are hip-hop's preeminent live band -- and in Chuck’s mind they are -- then who is in second place? "Why is there no second Roots band?” he asked. At one point, Chuck asked the students and aficionados in the room to name five all-female rap groups; the crowd could name but one or two. "Hip-hop is like a dude's nasty college dorm room," Chuck said: there's empty soda cans, stained carpets, crumbs, dirt, and girly mags strewn about, so when a female walks in there, of course she's disgusted, and can't hang out for long.
With the excepti on of a hallowed few, namely Jay-Z and Nas, rap has few true superstars, Chuck lamented. "The audience has lost it's 'awe'," he said, and then drew up a sports comparison. "It's like, when you go to a sporting event, and see Michael Jordan play, you're like, 'Damn, I could never do that in a million years.' You should have that same feeling when you go to a live concert." Instead, he said, it’s more common that fans pay $40 to see a performer at the TD Banknorth Garden, and there's a guy up on stage cussin' at everyone, and at least half the dudes in the audience should be saying to themselves, "Shit, I could do that."
"Never stop doing your music," the aged rapper motivated the young musical minds, while heaping the highest praise and enthusiasm for websites like YouTube and Myspace. He emphasized, these portals help up-and-coming filmmakers, writers, and musicians get their work out to the masses in a cheap and efficient way. Through this, we can be our own marketing department and establish and populate new communities of fans, collaborators, and like-minded souls. "The artist Prince said it best," Chuck relayed to us, "Be on top of technology, or else it will be on top of you."
-- Mac Carroll
Sunday, November 26, 2006
DOWNLOAD: Roh Delikat, "10 Brand" (mp3)
Having dropped the stylishly percolating ProTools pop of their debut like a cheating boyfriend, ROH DELIKAT ditch the sequencer and fall in love with the sound of guitars on their new disc Sunny. Their matching of a pretty voice with dark, askew melodies winks back at the old-school 4AD roster, the sound of pale girls junked on goth and dub. On "10 Brand," a dancehall-like bass line and an ominous, sinewy guitar line catch fire and burst into a distorted clang; even diminutive singer Kristina Johnson's soft-focus purr curls into a sneer. Rocking that loud-quiet shit like a dude popping collar on his throwback jersey, Kristina's right in the pocket for your back-to-the-early-90s party.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
  ^YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley ^ DJ and Phoenix columnist David DayFlipping through the brand-new Wired this morning on the train and we were like, 'David Day got into Wired? Awesome!' Then we realized that the photo our thumb was dirtying up was actually YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley and not Forced Exposure's unshaven hustler. Then we started thinking, 'Who else locally reminds us of somebody sorta famous?' This is the first thing that popped into Cami's head:   ^ Kotter a/k/a Gabe Kaplan ^TD Sidell, one-half of Big DigitsLeave your other separated-at-birth suggestions in the comments section. We know you're not working today. (Hi TD! <3) DOWNLOAD: Big Digits, "Music is Magic" (MP3)
11/22/2006 12:13:03 PM by Cami | |
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
1. Tell all your friends: it's time to change the default "one Boston rapper I know the name of" config file in their brains from "Mr. Lif" to Termanology. One of our pet peeves around here is people don't seem to realize what's happening in their own backyards. You got kids getting excited-excited when white backpack punks on dope come to town and do the rappity-rap early-'90s jig at the Middle East, but a Puerto Rican dude from Lawrence (who already done rocked mics with Christina) hops on a commercial track with the biggest producer/rapper in the world and all we hear from Boston is sleeping in stereo. . . zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZ. Download his new jernt with Kanye "Million Dollars/Pam Anderson/Jumping Across Canyons" West below. Be sure to cop Term's Hood Politics 4, in stores now, hosted by Clinton Sparks. Or cop his anti-war steez at MySpace. Mixtape release parties this weekend: 11/24 at McGann's over near North Station and 11/26 at Who's on First, which we haven't been to since college a dozen years. We recall sawdust and picnic tables -- same place?
DOWNLOAD: Termanology & Kanye West, "If I was Diddy" (mp3).
2. Kelly Clarkson's new bassist: Mike Watt. Ted Leo: soooooooo jealous.
3. "Take me off your mailing list": Man posts first review of new LCD Soundsystem album Sound of Silver. Leaks expected by Thanksgiving.
4. The Rub's DJ Eleven: Gangsta Classics Mixxx. Essential. Doubt it? Check the tracklist.
5. Bill Reilly links iPods, terrorism. Bloggers, pundits point out the hypocrisy. C'mon people, read between the lines: if you were going to dream up the perfect Apple advertisement going into Black Friday, wouldn't it be a right-wing demagogue condemning the product? We're in the middle of a subliminal marketing blitz. See also: iPod saves man's life. Well, actually, an iPod and a cellphone and a gang of rescuers. But let's see your Zune wi-fi its way out of that!
6. Dean Wareham tells P4K he would do Galaxie 500 reunion "if the price was right." We checked in with the other members of Galaxie 500 and here's what we got back: "Damon & Naomi were unavailable for comment because they are currently attending an international ampersand piracy convention." Translation: not bloody likely.
7. Still more Boston bands fall victim to vicious European criminals. Latest peeps to get gear ripped off: Neptune and Animal Hospital, in Madrid. Boooooo.
8. Nothing to do on Thanksgiving? Volunteer (or just eat some turkey) at Great Scott. True story: free meals for everyone, no one turned away, even if you're not homeless. Has been happening since before hipsters took over a perfectly nice jock hangout.
9. Just when we thought nothing could tear our attention away from that five-disc Sufjan Stevens holiday set, along comes A Dipset Christmas.
TODAY'S SHOWS:
Monday, November 20, 2006
 
    The most photographed dude at the party.Part I: ThunderdomeOur heads nearly exploded this weekend. First off, Thunderdome was like hundreds of people, seven or eight DJs, two floors, tons of sweaty asses, and one popular Moosehead. DJs wore antlers, Providence's
Triangle Forest [see Miliard's post for mp3s] were way better than their obtuse name suggests, good streetwear went super-bad, and the downstairs dancefloor was so hot, the wall mirrors done gone foggy. Remind us why we wore a hoodie again? Our only complaint was the ridiculous line for the post-Bushmills bar (we had to leave and go get a drink elsewhere to keep our BAC high), but that probably says more about our bad habits than it does about
the party. More photos here from OTD bretheren and all-around swell girl Tia (pizza-carrying fool, leave the girl alone!) and even more Circuits columnist/resident party-person David Day.      photos by Cami
PART II: Guitar Hero II release partyDownstairs at the Middle East Saturday, November 18 More photos from some guy named Mauricio Tejerina who evidently wasn't zonked as us, since he managed to take photos of more than just Vagiant and Bang Camaro. Full report on this one coming soon.
11/20/2006 9:08:08 AM by Cami | |
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Friday, November 17, 2006
IF YOU GO:
A lot's happened since we introduced you to AbCity's "God Is Going To Get Sick Of Me" back in July of 2005. Back then we predicted they'd end up opening for U2. So far, they've made it as far as opening for Electric Six -- ehh, close enough -- while piling up FNX airplay, Boston Music Awards, an MTV "You Hear It First," and a deal with Columbia's RedInk imprint. There are now scads of Boston bands playing, with varying degrees of polish, this brooding, anthemic, Euro-centric rock that (if pressed) we'd trace back to the Pill and the Sheila Divine. But out of all that crew, Aberdeen seem to get it rightest. They play a homecoming show tomorrow (Saturday, November 18) at Great Scott before hitting the road again with Rasputina. For your gift bag: an exclusive, intimate take on one of AbCity's best album tracks. It's the sound of cold sexy killers beginning to thaw, airing out their achy-breaky AOR side, looking fabulous in the process, and reminding would-be suitors that regret is a man's best friend.
DOWNLOAD: Aberdeen City, "Pretty Pet (Live Acoustic)" (mp3)
ON THE WEB: http://www.aberdeenmusic.com/
BUY: The Freezing Atlantic at Amazon
All photos (c) Matt Teuten, except top photo (c) Byron Smith
Had the Lot Six's farewell gig at the Middle East not coincided with the Phoenix's 40th anniversary at Avalon, there would've been a lot more of us there. As it is, we sent Will Spitz -- and the rest of Age Rings -- in our stead. Also on the bill were Mittens, Headband, Eyes Like Knives, and -- check second photo from bottom -- an impromptu reunion by Officer May during the intermission. We'll be front and center at the first L6 reunion gig, and in the meantime there's so much music in the pipeline from the ex-Sixers that you'll barely notice they're gone.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
1. Name all the faces on the cover of the Phoenix, and we'll email you a ticket to the paper's 40th b-day tonight at Avalon with OKGo. Sike, you don't have to guess the names. Just print this out and we'll see you at the club. But better get there early.
2. Shadows Fall partying with Dave Grohl. We're all for those dudes wasting as much of Atlantic's money as possible. As a rule, metal bands from Massachusetts never make back the advance. Unless they're called Godsmack.
3. Ryan Adams records rap album as "DJ Reggie." Included: battle verses ("rhymes" would be inaccurate) about P4k and Stereogum. Oh jeez. Even worse, he's streaming seven more albums' worth of crap on his website.
4. The Explosion, whose Virgin debut was DOA, are on their way back. Two new songs streaming at MySpace. The chorus of "Image of a Son" -- "Where have we gone?" -- pretty much sums up our feelings. Poppy. Polished. Nice doods, tunes don't suck, but we really thought they were destined for better things. New album coming in March 2007 on Virgin.
5. George Martin's son releases "official" Beatles mash-up sans Jay-Z. Danger Mouse, sue the bitch.
6. So, um, the Jay-Z song with Chris Martin blows. Song's like a Hallmark card. It took us three listens to figure out what Martin is singing in the chorus isn't "I hear my agent sing." Note to the CEO: MySpace references are played out. Also, how much do you think WBR paid to have Jigga shout out "My Chemical Romance" and "The Black Parade" in "Oh My God"? If you're one of the three people who hasn't downloaded this album yet, ClearChannel is streaming it.
6. Now that SFJ has come out of the closet as an admirer of Deftones, we have some confessions to make. Let's talk about Chris Daughtry's "It's Not Over." Sorry, we like this song. We also like Evanesence's "Call Me When You're Sober," for which we'd like to imagine "It's Not Over" as an answer track. Also, on a related WTF?, Ashlee Simpson likes Glassjaw. [Via B9Board]
7. Pics of the ongoing O'Brien's gutting/restoration. [Noiseboard]
8. Baseball Tavern booking shows. Let's just hope Martin doesn't lose the calendar this time. [Noiseboard]
9. New ridiculous photo of person with absurd face tattoo. This one based on the Misfits' fiend. Earth Crisis kid is off the hook. [blt]
10. Robby Roadsteamer, this is Tia's brother. The next time you drag her up on stage to read dirty poetry, we're going to kick your fucking ass. In all seriousness, we heard the Joyce reading was a blast. A Phoenix employee who shall remain nameless fell in love with Ryan Walsh. If anyone sees Ryan, tell him to aim us. Full report coming soon, Tia's photos up here.
Today's shows:
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Green Line nerd graffiti so real.
1. Nick Sylvester faints, again.
2. Spitz went to the Joanna Newsom show last night and says that for at least half-hour or so it was the best thing he's ever seen, then it got a little boring. She came out and did a couple Milk Eyed Mender tunes, some Scottish thingee, then brought the band out and did Y's, front to back, in order. This is us wishing we'd gone. If you haven't already, read Parker's interview, if only to try imagining her cursing in that voice.
3. Back when OTD was a lowly intern, we used to spend lots of time digging through the library stacks and reading old issues. There's some amazing shit back there. Nobody ever believed us when we told people that we had someone in Atlanta when the Sex Pistols played their first US show. So when it came time to do some crate-digging for the 40th anniversary, we headed straight for the 70s and dug it up. Read it here. (But keep it quiet, nobody's supposed to see it until Thursday.)
Today's shows:
Hidden Cameras
November 14, 2006
at the Middle East, Cambridge
all photos (c) Sam Thompson
Monday, November 13, 2006
1. It's D-day for Microsoft's Zune, the iPod competitor you can use to broadcast your annoying music to your annoying friends . . . if you don't mind DRM-ing the crap out of stuff. Wired wonders: what about wi-fi virii? [WIRED]
2. New Bloc Party album leaked. [Hipinion] Almost makes up for them cancelling their US tour with Panic at the Disco. [P4K]
3. Mick Jagger's dad dies at 93. [CNN] ClearChannel stocks up on Depends, braces for 30 more years of geriatric rock tours.
4. Fall Out Boy leak new song to AbsolutePunk without telling their label [MTV]. Which still doesn't make them even a little bit punk.
5. Duran Duran working on songs with Timbaland and Timberlake. [AP] Have you heard the one T&T did with Nelly Furtado? [Low-Bee]
6. A rash of Boston bands getting ripped off in Europe. First Grizzly Bear gets their van cleared out in Brussels. [Gigwise] Then the Unseen gets their van broken into . . . and the thief steals Tripp's books! Aiggh! Thank god he gave us that mp3. [Punknews] Culprit watch: um, anyone seen Whitey lately? On the upside, we heard Mike Rivard got his bass back. Sweet.
7. ASCAP, the organization responsible for collecting licensing fees, is not the first name you think of when you think of podcasts, unless you're thinking, "Shit, I sure hope ASCAP doesn't sue me because I used unlicensed music in my podcast." Presenting: the ASCAP podcast, featuring Stephen Brodksy. [ASCAP] Recorded live, so they didn't have to pay royalties to the label.
TONIGHT'S SHOWS:
IF YOU GO:
The bad news: Wayne Marshall, the smartest person we know email from time to time, done moved to Chicago. (Dude, there's a hole in our heart that can only be filled by you. Although if anyone knows another Boston-based ethnomusicologist/DJ/producer/blogger, get at us immediately.) The good news: he's put together a farewell ode to Boston in the form of a followup to his awesome Boston Mashacre mix, this one called the Boston Smashacre. Even better news: he's in town again tonight to DJ at Enormous Room.
But first, let's talk Smashacre. In his words, it's an "anti-canonical" mix that includes local faves from Big Digits to Luny Tunes, but that "generally sidesteps the pop and pop-rock referents of last year’s 'Mashacre' and instead claims for the Hub's sonic profile some homegrown hip-hop, bellydance, ska, new jack, quirk rock, boss bounce, and reggaeton, among others. Although I still attempt to make some gestures toward breadth and familiarity, including some poppy faves, in general I have tended here to the obscure, to the weird and the dark and ironic-exotic, seeking to plumb the town’s dirty water depths more than skim its surfaces."
In other words, the same awesomeness you've come to expect from our favorite braniac DJ.
It's also the jumpoff for what Wayne describes as "semi-regular, relatively longform musically-expressed ideas about music" -- i.e., a podcast, or in Wayne's world a Waxcast, which you can sign up for here.
DOWNLOAD: Wayne and Wax, "Boston Smashacre" (mp3) [TRACKLIST]
Thanks to the dudes over at Arts & Crafts, we've got AMY MILLAN tickets and CDs to give away in advance of her solo gig Wednesday at the Paradise. Those of you who don't know Amy, check the video and track below. We'd post more of her bio here except that we'd be spoiling the super-easy "trivia" question you'll need to answer in a second. Suffice it to say that our Simon W. Vozick-Levinson said some nice things about her solo disc Honey from the Tombs: "Millan reinvents herself as a sad sweetheart of the rodeo, pouring out her sorrows over simple beds of guitar and mandolin. 'Baby, I'm going on without you,' she suggests hopefully before letting out a resigned sigh, 'I'll get over you when the moon gets tired of chasing the sun.'
To win tix and CDs, simply send an email to contest@arts-crafts.ca with the subject "Phoenix" and include your name, age, address, and the name of any one of Amy's previous bands.
DOWNLOAD: Amy Millan, "Skinny Boy" (zipped mp3, via Gallery AC)
WATCH: Amy Millan, "Baby I"
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Leaked. Point your browser at your favorite p2p/messageboard/blog for details.
If you can stand Shade 45 DJs shouting over snippets, Jay and Nas's non-album track "Black Republican" -- ?? -- has surfaced.
WATCH: Jay-Z, "Show Me What You Got"
Saturday, November 11, 2006
IF YOU GO:
DETAILS: Bob Dylan and the Raconteurs at Agganis
DETAILS: L.E.O at T.T. the Bear's Place.
DETAILS: Campaign for Real Time at Great Scott
1. Generally we'd rather listen to Dylan on the radio than in the club. But the addition to the bill of Jack White, who's taken 2006 off from the White Stripes to take a victory lap with a real band, not to mention kiss the asses of aging rock stars from the Stones to Lou Reed, almost made us want to see these BU shows. Almost.
DOWNLOAD: Bob Dylan's "Theme Time Radio Hour: The Devil" (mp3 via WhiteManStew)
2. Obsessed with the eccentric, overblown studiocraft of Electric Light Orchestra mastermind Jeff Lynne, mutton-chopped power-pop guru and Boston expat BLEU rummaged together members of the Black Crowes, Chicago, Papas Fritas, Hanson, and the criminally underrated Self to create L.E.O.’s Alpacas Orgling (Cheap Lullaby), a disc that pays homage to the sumptuously self-indulgent arrangements (but not the actual songs) of ELO. You don’t have to be an engineering nut or a pop lifer to appreciate the disc’s hyperbolic grandeur or its three-dimensional stereo separation, the product of four years, 12 studios, and countless guest appearances. But tracks like "Ya Had Me Goin'" sound as if they’d been unearthed from some velvet goldmine in the sky, a place where no falsetto is too false, no hook is too sugary, and any chorus worth singing is worth being sung by no fewer than 30 people. For tonight’s local CD-release party, Bleu is promising a reunion of his enormous Get Up Choir and other “special guests.” With openers the EVERYDAY VISUALS, the SNOWLEOPARDS, and the ANIMATORS.
DOWNLOAD: L.E.O., "Ya Had Me Goin" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Snowleopards, "Hipmatize Me" (mp3)
3. Hot on the heels of a triumphant two-week tour of the UK (in its review of a Newcastle gig, Brit Web ’zine PowPowPow said the band had the venue “on its hands and knees”), Boston’s own time-traveling, harmony-happy synth-rock polymaths the CAMPAIGN FOR REAL-TIME do a two-night stand at Great Scott to celebrate the release of their new 12-inch, Let It Rise (Wonderdrug/Curve of the Earth). The record’s A-side features four typically funky, bombastic new songs; the B-side comprises five remixes by a diverse crew of friends from Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou to electro-dance dudes Certainly, Sir. The record also comes with a CD version that includes a sludge-blues bonus track by Cave In/Octave Museum frontman Stephen Brodsky. The opening bands for the two shows are just as excellently eclectic: tonight it’s ROBBY ROADSTEAMER, HO-AG, and JOEY MOUSEPAD; tomorrow it’s HOORAY FOR EARTH, PROJECT MOVE, and BOSTON TYPEWRITER ORCHESTRA | 1222 Comm Ave, Allston | 617.734.4502.
DOWNLOAD: Campaign for Real Time, "In Your Dreams (Sir Certainly Remix)" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Hooray for Earth, "Simple Plan" (mp3)
Friday, November 10, 2006
DOWNLOAD: Dear Leader, "Monuments and Shrines" (mp3)
They Google much better these days — no thanks to nuclear nutbag Kim Jong Il — but otherwise DEAR LEADER are the same gorgeously, mournfully grandiose bastards they’ve been since Aaron Perrino left the Sheila Divine to explore the emotional potential of stadium rock, or the stadium potential of emotional rock, or something like that. “These are dangerous times!” he howls on the opening track, and on The Alarmist (Lunch), DL find their ways to pricklier places — some unexpectedly quieter, others (like this one) angrier and louder. The joke about their debut was that it sounded like U2 minus the humility; here they could almost pass for the Pixies, with Perrino's TK subbing for Frank Black's . . . They celebrate the CD release tonight at the Paradise.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
OTD just friended Nick Cave's new band, Grinderman. Details, in a nutshell: Warren Ellis, Nick Sclavunos, Martyn Casey -- "Foul-mouthed, noisy, hairy, and damn well old enough to know better" -- have album due in March. Instant internerd adulation in 5, 4, 3 . . .
The one song up on MySpace is pretty badass. (The photo does not lie.) Better than Iggy's neo-Stooges material. Lots of people who have never heard the Birthday Party will attempt to compare this to the Birthday Party, and then when they actually hear the Birthday Party they'll realize what morons they are. The Mute press release is certainly pointing people in that direction, but "No Pussy Blues" is more scorch than skronk, in line with Honeymoon Killers/Knoxville Girls and the rest of the NY garage bands who knocked off the early-Cave ouerve and made it accessible to '60s-garage-punk-loving Americans. Also, any song that begins with the sound of a typewriter and culminates with this lyric --
I thought I'd have another go
I called her my little ho
I felt like Marcel Marceau
must feel when she said that she just never wanted to
she just didn't want to
I got the no-pussy blues
-- is clearly courting the type of people who write blogs. In any case, for anyone who snoozed through the last couple Bad Seeds records on Epitaph, this is good news. If someone had said to us the other day, y'know, "Check it: in the next 36 hours, Britney's gonna dump K-Fed, Bush is gonna dump Rumsfeld, Massachusetts is gonna elect a black governor, the Democrats are gonna pwn Congress, and Nick Cave is gonna put out a ripshit rocknroll record," we'd have been pretty fucking stoked. So: color us stoked.
DOWNLOAD: Grinderman, "No Pussy Blues" (mp3 via Inkiostro)
Straight crushing you
Can't forget where I come from
so I extend my hand to my man, screaming, "I'm on my way!"
Uncharted territory, Massachoonians. Shouts to Roxburyans and Mattapanians who endured trickeration to join the landslide for MA's first black governor. OTD almost didn't vote today, figuring done deal and all, until a Healey phone-banker spooked us at 9 am and sent us, fuming and sputtering, to blacken our circle for Deval. Hope, hope, hope.
DOWNLOAD: Clipse and Pharrell, "Hello New World" (mp3)
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006
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