“If drugs are so bad for us, how is Keith Richards still walking?”
Monthly Archives: October 2010
The Pains of Not Being Able to See a Favorite Band
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart will be playing tonight at the Paradise Rock Club and unfortunately I will not be in attendance, but I highly recommend this show to all because they are one of my favorite bands right now. I might see Louis C.K. at my school (UMass Lowell); it’s not a substitute, but it will do.
Film Review: The Town [2010]
Director: Ben Affleck
Release: September 17, 2010
Comments: This is a good one. I’m decently familiar with Charlestown…did the Community College thing there for a semester, climbed the Bunker Hill Monument when I was twelve, etc…so I sort of knew what was up. It was nice to see MBTA stations, grimy bars, and the Town Florist. The bank robbers were characters that I felt like I know. It could have been the reasonably accurate Boston accents, but maybe it’s the dickhead, but nice guy “townie” psyche that brought me to that conclusion. For what it’s worth, the plot is great. Extremely fictional, but great. Again, my favorite aspect of the film was setting. Thumbs up for the Fenway Park scenes and even the scenes just outside of the Park itself…at the Howard Johnson, at the (no longer?) McDonalds on Boylston, etc.
Grade: A
Album Review: Maine Coons-Maine Coons
Artist: The Maine Coons
Full Title: Maine Coons
Year: 2010
Label: Spent Planet
Tracks:
1) My Kinda Luv- 9
2) I Am a Motherfucker- 9/10
3) Hey Dickhead- 9
4) Ghetto Queen- 9
5) Pull the Plug On Grandma- 9
6) Hologram (Urinals)- 7
7) Uniform Choice- 8
8) Tired and Unispired- 8/9
9) Fast and Easy Livin’- 7/8
10) Can’t Follow Thru- 7/8
Comments: This is good jerkin off music. Yeah, I said it. I figured the nature of this band fit such a description. This is truly slimy Punk Slime right here, guerrila pop art at its finest. The first five tracks serve as instantaneous catchy classics. With very little effort they seap into yer psyche and crawl around for a while. Just fast, punk ditties with that gorgeous garage rockin’/ early Black Lips/King Khan & BBQ underbelly. This album has an incredible beginning, like nothing else I have seen in a while. Rarely, does an artist hit me with a ton of bricks like these guys- from “My Kinda Luv” to “Pull the Plug On Grandma,” I’m totally hooked. I love the direct vulgarity of tracks like “I Am a Motherfucker” and “Hey Dickhead,” where fans of Garage Punk, so to speak, will find themselves chanting the lyrics everytime it blasts thru their speakers. Alas, after “Pull the Plug” I am somewhat severed from the initial appeal.”Hologram” is okay, but feels more like a filler track. “Uniform Choice” and “Tired and Uninspired” are really good songs and definitely save the second half of the album from spoiling the whole LP. The last two tracks are not terrible, but simply do not cut it, at least for my money. Overall, this is a fun, invigorating, and at times fantastic record that needs to gain more recognition. Musically, I am always fascinated by the sparse production, which is relatively easy on the ears and that is not a bad thing; the simplicity of just vocals, keyboards, guitars, percussion. Two guys run this show- one on vocals/keyboards while the other bro plinks his gee tar, commands the drums a la Mark Sultan (with his feet) and shares vocals duties with his comrade. Lastly, I missed some of my favorite MC songs in “How Long Is It Going to Take For You to Find God” and “Inside You,” both of which do not appear here and I think should have replaced some of the weaker numbers. Ohh well, if you like immediate pop hooks in the vain of Black Lips, Jay Reatard, King Khan BBQ, Box Elders, Harlem, and others usually featured on this site, then I am positive you will enjoy this motherfucker. Without a doubt, the Maine Coons are amongst my new favorite bands and I hope to see them live again soon. Peace out, I gotta go kill some dickheads and then piss on their graves.
Grade: A-
An Evening With Greg Dulli- Concert Review-Brattle Theater
Yesterday was the moment I have been waiting for quite a while for a chance to see Greg Dulli live in concert, and even though it was an accoustic show, its a chance I have been waitng for since I first heard the Afghan Whigs 6 years ago (I was late to the party, I know)
Opening Act: Craig Wedren from Shudder to Think
Anyway doors were supposed to open at 7:00, they actually opened at around 7:20. First let me just say although the Brattle theater seems like an odd choice for a venue, for this show it worked at least, it was intimate, the sound was great, and everyone had a good view of the stage (which probably couldn’t hold more then 3 people). The opening act Craig Wedren ex lead singer (or current he didn’t seem that sure himself) of the band Shudder to Think. His set consisted of him with a guitar and a few pedals which he used masterfully. It was an experience in minimalism, and he really seemed to enjoy being on stage, all musicians do but he really seemed to relish the opportunity. I wasn’t familiar with his solo work or his work with Shudder to Think, but what I heard I liked, he defiantly falls into the singer-songwriter category of music, in fact for one Shudder to Think song he said here is the song ‘drastically reinterpreted’ and I got the feeling it was reinterpreted not only because of necessity of being the only man on stage, but because this was the song of he had envisioned, and that’s probably the best way to describe Craig Wedren’s music, it was solely is vision. Truth is Craig is just a very, very talented guy who was doing playing his songs, the way he wanted them to be played, and it worked, the set was strong and it set the mood for the main act.
B+
Greg Dulli Setlist
1. St. Gregory
2. God’s Children
3. Blackbird and the Fox
4. The Lure Would Prove Too Much
5. Bonnie Brae
6. Kings Only
7. Fourty Dollars
8. Hyperballad (Bjork Cover)
9. Step into the Light
10. Gunshots
11. If I Were Going
12. Summer’s Kiss
13. Follow You Down
14. The Stations
15. Never Seen No Devil
Encore
16. Candy Cane Crawl
17. Down The Line
18. Teenage Wristband
19. Twilight Kid.
Encore 2
20. Black Love
After Craig left at about 8:35 Greg Dulli and his back up band Twilight Singers guitarist Dave Rosser and multi-instrumentalist Rick Nelson of the Polyphonic Spree, took the stage at about 9:00. Throughout the show they seemed relaxed and was joking around with the audience. Greg told a story about the last time he was in the Brattle Theater, that was good for a laugh, and he called out someone in the front row for checking his email while he was playing, also good for a laugh. I guess my one problem is their should have been more audience interaction, the Brattle only holds about 235 people and Greg really could of turned it into an event, something like VH1-Story Tellers, except people would be watching this. Musically what can I say the man has his detractor’s, just before I left, I read something in Blender saying he was embarrassing himself now on this tour, me I thought he was great, his voice sounded strong, the band was in synch, the setlist gave the audience a nice career retrospective plus a little taste of some new material. Since it was an acoustic show everyone was in their seats the entire time, nobody got up until the encore, the atmosphere was very mellow, but the audience was composed of die hard Greg Dulli fans (tickets sold out in under a week) and Greg really put on a great live show, I know I left happy.
A-
Vice Interview With Nobunny!!!!!!
“A bunny has got to eat!”
NOBUNNY INTERVIEW from VICE on Vimeo.
More Hunx!
That video just got me really pumped haha, so here’s an old interview for all of you Hunx fanatics out there, such as myself.
Hunx and His Punx Sign To Hardly Art/ New Song!
Blurb from the Hardly Art website:
News headlines don’t lie! The titillating bubblegum pop outfit Hunx & His Punx have signed with Hardly Art, with a brand new full-length forthcoming in early 2011. The new lineup – featuring an all-girl all-star group in addition to Hunx – is currently in the studio in NY and will perform their last show of the year at the Hardly Art showcase at Shea Stadium in Brooklyn on 10/21. Find more details on their artist page, stream a handful of tracks over at the band’s MySpace, and stay tuned for more info on the band’s new LP!
Hardly Art is a sister label of Sub Pop Records.
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New song and music video alert:
Quote of the Day- John Brown
“I want you to understand that I respect the rights of the poorest and weakest of colored people, oppressed [to deny others their rights or liberty] by the slave system, just as much as I do those of the most wealthy and powerful. That is the idea that has moved me, and that alone.”
John Brown at his Virginia Court Hearing, 1858
And you Klyammy cats thought Jay Reatard was wild at Harpers Ferry, you should have seen John Brown in 1859!
Classic CD Review: The Rekoys [2003]
Band: The Recoys
Label: Troubleman Unlimited
1. “Song on the Paper Dolls” – A
2. “Shake Off Your Nerve” – A
3. “Over Your Shoulder” – A-
4. “That’s the Punchline” – A
5. “Blizzard of ’93” – A-
6. “Let’s Get Educated” – A
7. “Let You In” – A-
8. “Modern Art Museum” – A-
9. “Look Out Your Window” – A-
10. “Roy Orbison” – B
11. “Tribute: The Recoys” – A
Comments: As a big Walkmen fan, I’m impressed by the mere fact that Hamilton Leithauser was playing stuff this good when he was only 19 to 22 years old. You’ll be able to tell these guys had been playing in bands since middle school. Right off the bat, “Song of the Paper Dolls” is distinctively Hamilton. It’s clean garage/power pop — at least compared to most of the stuff I call that on this site. “Shake Off Your Nerve” has shakers and saxophones. It’s a dancer that’s more punk than most of anything that would end up coming out of The Walkmen catalog. Speaking of The Walkmen catalog, “Over Your Shoulder” starts a trend on this collection of tunes (The Recoys never released an LP) of “Walkmen” songs. “Over” has all the niceties that Leithauser and Bauer would wind up incorporating in their future band. Of course, “That’s the Punchline” and “Blizzard of ’93” (renamed “Blizzard of ’96) wound up on the Walkmen’s debut full-length Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone. This has nothing to do with anything, but when Ham says “that’s a change of style” on “Punchline,” I realized that these songs actually do represent a change of style. “Blizzard” is sloppier and heavier on Rekoys. “Let’s Get Educated” is perfect garage rock revivalist material. It’s like the Strokes, but before the Strokes. Dirtier than the Strokes. Nice and dirty. “Modern Art Museum” is a passionate rocker. You can really hear it in Ham’s voice. “No one understands The Recoys” is sung on the very last song. Don’t worry, though, when their “ship comes in” you will understand them. What that means I don’t know! Fans of The Walkmen, definitely try to get your hands on this. You’ll appreciate this as a reference point in Hamilton Leithauser’s (and Pete Bauer’s, if you’re really looking) career. The Recoys broke up in 1999 after a three year stint.
Grade: A- (92)
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 