CD Review: Freedom Run [2011]


Band:
 The Rifles
Release: 9/2011
Label: ATC
Comments: There comes a time in a music reviewer’s life when it’s clear as day that a band has softened up. I like to call this trend ‘going softie’. Now, I heard a couple cuts off this record before it was officially released and held off posting them on here. I thought, well, The Rifles can’t be going softie! The rest of the new record won’t sound like this, right? Well, admittedly, The Rifles aren’t the brashest of rock and roll bands in the world. I don’t think they ever claimed to be. They are well-rooted in The Jam and maybe some of Weller’s other projects, including solo. So, yes, we aren’t talking classic punk rock here. Freedom Run is boring. The Rifles take some of their past tricks, which have been terrific, and dumb them down for a more mainstream audience. Shame! It’s hard to listen to them descend into some kind of Coldplay schtick. I won’t give them all the blame, though. As a fan of music, maybe it’s me after all. Maybe I’ve grown tired of the bright and twinkly stuff that I loved two years ago. Maybe this album is better than I’m making it out to be. Or maybe I just miss the heavy-hitting, rock N roll of “She’s Got Standards” and “Repeated Offender.”

Grade: C/C-

CD Review: Mikal Cronin – Mikal Cronin [2011]


Band:
 Mikal Cronin
Release: 9/2011
Label: Trouble In Mind

1. “Is It Alright?” – A-
2. “Apathy” – A
3. “Green and Blue” – A-
4. “Get Along” – A+
5. “Slow Down” – A-
6. “Gone” – A
7. “Situation” – A
8. “Again and Again” – A-
9. “Hold On Me” – B
10. “The Way Things Go” – A+

Comments: Mikal Cronin. Get used to that name. For those of you particularly in-the-know, you might not have to put that much effort into getting to know Mikal. In his own right, he is quite prolific. Perhaps not to the degree of friend Ty Segall, but still prolific at that. Now Ty and Mikal, I’m sure they both listen to the same kind of music. I don’t think picking a song to jam to on a crisp California night has been at all difficult. Hell, when you live in the same state as Oh Sees John Dwyer, it’s tough to imagine anything less than a spectacular event of music making. Of course, we have Dwyer’s flute on the first song and a — oh snap is it that a saxophone? — on “Apathy”. So yes, Cronin has been fed a healthy diet of mixed greens and fuzz rock by farmers near and wide. The bent, so to speak, that Cronin has is a bit more melodic than what we’ve historically seen from Ty. The core of the apple we call pop is ever present on Mikal Cronin. Even in such a heavy assault as “Green and Blue,” we get a drained out sort of Radiohead at their heaviest kind of thing going on. “Get Along” deserves a place right next to the “My Sunshine” and “Melted” of the world. It’s the heavy strumming, brah. Brah-Naymith. “Slow Down” is like “Get Along” slowed down seventy-five percent. Like that time Justin Beiber was slowed down to sound like Animal Collective. Gangsta slowcore shizz. Sounds like an organ/reed to me. A droning one at that. Notes are held. Chord progressions change like seasons. The Beach Boys revival ode “Situation” features Ty Segall on drums. “The Way Things” is particularly odd, but really great bait for the experimental at heart. If you like slow, heavy, weird, funny, etc, this is a particular nice one. There’s like six song ideas all combined into one closer. Good way to go out, I’d say.

Grade: A- (92)

The Music Nerd Declaration

We are music nerds, music geeks, whatever you wish to call us. I prefer the term “radical nerd,” but whatever. We follow in the footsteps of a long list of Music (radical) nerds that have enriched all of our lives. We are a different branch of geekdom, often more socially acceptable than your average dork- often, not always. Instead of cherishing “World of Warcraft,” “Dungeons and Dragons,” and “Star Trek,” Our Band Could Be Your Life (2001), the oft-nauseating, but totally relevent blogosphere/message board apparatus, and endless hours of Sasha Grey videos are our treasureed jewels. Instead of spending are teen years chasing hunnies or developing better social skills, we spent entirely way too much time debating whether or not major labels were good or evil. We are the proud, the few… the few that actually give a fuck about whatever we’re yapping about. We may never sleep with as many women as Gene Simmons, but we will know how many women Gene Simmons has slept with (4,600 approximately). The following is a list of some of my favorite music nerds.


Lester Bangs


Chuck Klosterman


Nadwuar, the Human Serviette


Anthony Fantano of the Needle Drop. Forever.

The dudes from High Fidelity (2000)

and who could forget…


Steve Albini, the “Noam Chomsky of Music Nerds.”

My Friend Dahmer

This looks like it could be the weirdo-bizarro cousin of “Spidey’s Curse.” “Dahmer’s Curse,”  a future Black Lips B-side, what a wonderful concept!

*Note this is not an actual plan or future release, but rather an odd fantasy of mine.  This comic is the work of John Backderf aka derf, a comic book writer that was acquainted with the serial killer Jeffery Dahmer in high school.  This came to my knowledge through Chuck Klosterman’s amazing, “low culture manifesto,”  Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs (2003). I highly recommend both.

My Thoughts On It’s Always Sunny Premiere…

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” has been my second favorite TV show for quite some time, second only to the glorious “Simpsons.” A full list of my top TV shows can be seen here:  https://klyam.com/2011/01/10/chriss-top-tv-shows/  , though there have been some differences in their order since the time I published it.  Anyway, as some of you may or may not know last night was the seventh season premiere of Sunny and unfortunately I was unaware of this, initially.  So, when I read on Facebook  that Alvin (from “The Cosby Show!”) made a second appearance on Sunny, I went bonkers! Seeing that it was 11:10  P.M. I rushed to my TV set and tried to catch the following 2/3 of last night’s premiere. Now, I know I said I was (am) a gigantic Sunny fan, but I must say I felt let down about last season. In fact, I will not purchase it on DVD as I consistently have for every other season, but to each his own, I know folks that adore Season Six. So, going into this premiere- missing the first ten minutes to boot, I was not sure how I would feel twenty minutes later. As I watched with my eyes glued to the boob tube, with the utmost fascination, all I could think about  was how more fucked up, dirty (figuratively and literally), and deranged can these characters get? Seriously, we have watched these people sink to the lowest of the lows, and I realized as this puke, crack, and has been-micro TV celeb drenched episode came smashing to its conclusion that that is specifically what every doe eyed sunny fan loves about this show. The fact that seemingly nowhere else will you ever see such high quality, live action sitcoms involving characters that are unabashedly immoral, to say the very least. It’s cathartic. Honestly as a viewer, there’s nothing greater than sitting back with an icy cold beer  (or several) after a long, tiring day and just watching four people fuck over everyone they encounter, including themselves. Every other show people are either acting nice or searching for a moral (even “South Park,” obviously). Sunny doesn’t give a fuck, it serves as a mirror for our own fucked up society, but in the form of a comedy, so we don’t have to take it too seriously. But, when I saw that dead hooker, just left abandoned, lying on the floor of Frank and Charlie’s shady, seedy apartment buidling to the tune of “Oh, Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison I had to applaud the creators for reigniting the spark that I missed last year and that kept me invested in the series in the first place. If this level of dark and savage comedy is any harbinger of what we can expect from the rest of  the season then I am totally excited and relieved from last year’s dissapointment.  It’s just that over the top satire that makes the show what it is. Dead hookers, crackheads, the whole nine. If you were channel surfing last night from 10-11:30 P.M. you may have came across a similar nasty scene on the news. In this horrible (yet hilarious) world, there is nothing much left you can do, but point, laugh, and make a pop culture reference. 

P.S. I dig fat Mac!

All Simpsons Channel!!!!!


http://splitsider.com/2011/09/wow-fox-is-considering-an-all-simpsons-channel#more 

If you couldn’t tell already from viewing this site, I am a humongus Simpsons nutcase and the idea of a whole channel devoted to the greatest television series of all time and my personal favorite show is simply thrilling.  It is not a certainty yet, but Fox is contemplating it and I for one am all for this. Let’s pray.

SOTD: Nirvana- “Drain You” (1991)/ 20th Anniversery of NVM

This has been my favorite Nirvana song for years; I heard this was Kurt’s favorite and that he actually thought it would be more popular than Teen Spirit. I don’t have any sources to back that up, but it really doesn’t matter who thinks what, it’s a great pop song, that’s all ther is to it. I love the little Sonic Youth esque middle part of the tune too. Does anybody else have a favorite Nirvana song?

*Also, I totally forgot this month (8 days from now, September 24) will be the twentieth anniversey of Nevermind. Love it? Hate it? How has it held up over the years- influence and who? Or how has it not held up over the years? Let us know. I have my own thoughts that I might share in a separate post when that day comes (if I remember of course). Here’s an interesting New York Times article on the anniversery.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/music/index.html