Wednesday, February 25, 2009

feast on my heart.

Pylon cofounder/guitarist Randy Bewley died today.

Pylon = by far, the best band to ever come out of the Athens scene (REM/B52s...pffft).
Gyrate = by far, the best minimal postpunk record ever to be made, on a Feelies level of jangle, on an Au Pairs/Maximum Joy level of arty angularity and groove.
Also, Pylon has been back at it in recent years, so this is for sure a sad ending.

Listen to "Danger." RIP.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Vee Dee Upon Us.

thanks to Darius of Criminal IQ and Nick D'Vyne of Vee Dee, i am "leaking" one (previously unreleased) track off the forthcoming 2nd album, "Public Mental Health System." holy shiiiit:

Vee Dee- Out of my Skin

this is the shortest and most "punk" track on the record, which is a fucking masterpiece of epic proportions; oozing psych fuzz, punk/garage mania, and bluesy drawls...and the world has been waiting 5 fucking years for it!

check it:
-Public Mental Health System is out March 17 (gatefold 2LP!).
-record release show at Empty Bottle, March 21, w/Krunchies, Dials & Daily Void.
-(the best band in Chicago be makin' a well-deserved comeback)

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

jan/feb faves.

first of all, wtf on the news that Touch & Go is folding most of its operations.

i'm extraordinarily curious (in a not-excited-at-all kinda way) to see how much this is going to change the indie rock biz landscape in the next year (not to mention how many people/bands/labels are going to be majorly fucked). bummer jams, indeed. it seems that some less-extreme business decisions can be made in this situation, but wtf do i know. regardless, RIP T&G, the most important indie label/distribution of the past 25 years.

...on to the fun stuff...
Favorite Releases of 2009 at the Two Month Point Edition:

two releases at pretty opposite ends of the spectrum are already heading the little "2009 Fuck Yes!" list in my head.

#1. Antony & the Johnsons- The Crying Light
talk about bummer jams, this album is chock full of 'em. Antony & co.'s third full length is completely void of anything that could possibly be classified as 'rockin,' but is absolutely full of gorgeous, confessional, orchestral and (of course) torchy gems. this record is a huge step forward in terms of compositional aspects (exceptionally arranged strings, horns, acoustics, electrics, vocal patterns), and Antony has come into his voice 100%. lyrically and thematically, there is not one song that's nothing short of heartbreaking. 100% beautiful.

#2. Marked Men- Ghosts
i have to say that this is the worst album cover i have ever seen in my life. wtf, guys?! this is like some late 90s high school graphic design shit, really, it's just terrible. but as long as you can disregard the unfortunate cover, you will find exactly what you might expect from them on their 4th album: catchy, stripped, poppy garage punk. 15 songs in 30 minutes. infectious hooks abound. done in a way that only the Marked Men can do it. sometimes, sticking to the familiar is a good thing.


in the land of reissue material, hooooly shiiiiit:

--4 Men With Beards does it again with the release of Jorge Ben's "Forca Bruta" on 180-gram vinyl. Jorge Ben is the completely overlooked master of brazilian grooves, kneading samba with soul, mixing complex percussive arrangements with traditional orchestrations like it ain't no thang. although Jorge was aligned fairly tightly with the Tropicalia movement (Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, etc.) his music was nowhere near as "radical," but every bit as lovely.

--Secretly Canadian killed me with CD and vinyl reissues of the Zero Boys "History Of" and "Vicious Circle" albums. pretty major reissues for what was pretty much the only punk/hardcore band out of Indiana in the early 80s (and pretty much one of the best punk/hardcore bands to come out of the midwest in general). "Vicious Circle" is an obvious classic but "History Of" is way more exciting... collecting a bunch of stuff that has never been released on LP and/or CD (ie: "Livin in the 80s" 7", comp tracks, etc.). i love the Zero Boys because as brutal as they were sonically, they trumped typical hardcore aesthetics with major doses of melodic and rhythmic experimentation. ridiculously awesome stuff.


also, we finally got in some german import copies of the Lover "Gather in the Graveyard LP at the store. i have been touting the shit out of this band since first rocking that damn "Booger in your Asshole" jam last year, and if you have picked up all their easily-attainable singles and loved them as much as i, i highly recommend laying down the cash for this. perfect poppy punk rock weirdness, mixed and mastered by Jay Reatard, etc.

oh god and the new Mi Ami record! it's fantastic! dudes from the Black Eyes rockin' minimal dub weirdness...just get it. ok no, maybe listen to some of it first because i can see people not being down with the vocals, which are definitely....fucking irritating. but it fits the artistic vision 100% and this full-length is fully representative (and then some) of the few 12"s they have put out in the past year or so ("Ark of the Covenant", "African Rhythms", "Echoonecho"). so yeah, it's called "Watersports" and oddly, is on Quarterstick/T&G.

and that's all for now...

Monday, February 02, 2009

foot set.

foot set 1/26/09.

split set with the great Tim of Laurie's Planet of Sound. he is not as nerdy as i, therefore no setlist for his time at the turntables.

coconut coolouts- nerd holocaust
sweet faces- on top of that girl
sexy kids- sisters drown me
canadian rifle- follow the leader
buzzer- disco kiddz
perfect fits- radio transmitter
king khan & bbq show- animal party
hank IV- feeding me back
rats- rat race
middle class- out of vogue
big boys- we got soul
_________________________________

marked men- ghosts
paxola- steal it
real kids- all kindsa girls
exploding hearts- busy signals
milk 'n' cookies- just a kid
nerves- hanging on the telephone
xtc- my weapon
the clean- anything could happen
animals & men- don't misbehave in the new age
urinals- black hole
coathangers- a real honey
_________________________________

gories- can't catch up with you
eric & the happy thoughts- ride ride ride!
nobunny- give it to me
traditional fools- get off my back
romance novels- hang on sloopy
debris- tell me
method actors- dancing underneath
bauhaus- in the night
die haut- the victory
ice- la grande guerre
_________________________________

tv ghost- the nihilist
unholy two- altamont 1969
pack- st. theresa
nice face- exterminator
fnu ronnies- meat
hunches- ate my teeth
mystery girls- i took the poison
eddy current suppression ring- i'm guilty
intelligence- bulbs