Y’all don’t wanna see what we do to non Black Lips believers…
All posts by Chris DeCarlo
Classic Album Review: Animal Collective- Sung Tongs
Full Title: Sung Tongs
Artist: Animal Collective
Year: 2004
Label: Fat Cat
Tracks:
1) Leaf House- 7
2) Who Could Win a Rabbit- 9
3) The Softest Voice- 7
4) Winters Love– 9
5) Kids On Holiday- 7/8
6) Sweet Road- 7
7) Visiting Friends- 6
8) College- 7
9) We Tigers- 8
10) Mouth Wooed Her- 7/8
11) Good Lovin Outside- 8
12) Whaddit I Done- 7
Comments: Animal Collective is in the haus with some wonderful tongs for you and me. These tongs are brought to you by Panda Bear and Avey Tare, two of today’s greatest tongwriters. On this record, we hear mostly soft tongs, an incredibly warm, serene vibe is communicated. Much of the loud, manic, beastial quality to AC’s music as can be seen in their then previous release Here Comes the Indian (2003) and later recordings is absent here. Instead, we experience something much gentler and calmer- which isn’t bad, but at the end of the day isn’t what I chiefly adore about this group. With that being said, it works quite well on this record and emotional inducing songs like “Winters Love” and “Kids On Holiday” (particularly the former) produce a massive feeling of nostalgia and an almost quiet joy in me. WL is without a doubt one of AC’s best musical moments, powerful in it’s shamanistic yalping and simply acoustic guitar strummin’. Speaking of which, the acoustic guitar plays a crucial role in the sound and recording of this album; it’s all acoustic! Naturally, the lack of electric guitar has an undeniable impact on the sound/production of the album, and for fans of more folkier music this might be a positive thang, for those that dig heavier music, then I could easily see this as a turn off. In any case, I feel like the boys succeeded in what they set out to do and though it lacks in the oft-seen menace of AC, it still delivers a bizarre mish mash of humanity and insanity- especially on what is arguably the band’s first breakthrough “pop” song “Who Could Win A Rabbit,” which was my introduction to their music. Rabbit’ is both playful and savage and is perhaps the biggest song from Sung Tongs. As a whole, I didn’t love this record, but I really dig it; ST marks Animal Collective’s transition from unknown Neo-Psych Rockers to fairly recognizable underground stalwurts.
Grade: 7/10
SOTD: Animal Collective- Summertime Clothes
In general, this song always puts me in a fantastic mood, not easily topped by other tunes, but on this particular day with a glimmer of warmer weather, I am rocking out to this in my summertime clothes!
NEW WAVVES!: “TV LUV SONG”
I’m going to give this a 7/8, out of all the new songs Wavves have been conjuring up for us recently, this ditty is definitely one of the better ones. I really dig the “Post Acid” esque production: heavy percussion, loud guitars, prominent-poppy vocals, etc. Lyrically, we see the same themes of laziness and overall apathy that often appear in Wavves’ tunes. This track is certainly catchy, but doesn’t reach the emotional level of a “So Bored,” or the innovation of a “Linus Spacehead.” With that being said, it looks like they are moving in a positive direction and this is a step forward from King of the Beach, which admittedly is a hard record to top. In the end, there are no surprises here, but it’s also not a carbon copy of previous Wavves songs. Fans will most likely enjoy this, I did.
MANSON!
Charlie Manson would make a nice pet.
Concert Review: Hurricanes Of Love, Ladderlegs, Sinbusters, Human Tail, Thick Shakes @ Dirty Douglas (2/12/11)
Thick Shakes
Artists: The Human Tail, Thick Shakes, The Sinbusters, Ladderlegs, Hurricanes Of Love, Gangsta Love
Date: Saturday, February 12, 2011
Venue Dirty Douglas (Lowell, MA)
Comments: This was my first time at the Dirty Douglas, a DIY venue in Lowell, and from the looks of it there’s a pretty rad scene going on in this Heavenly city, as Frank- singer/guitarist for Hurricanes of Love would put it. Good old Frank is from Atlanta, GA and is well-acquainted with our tru gangsta home boys, The Black Lips! Frank and his saw playing bandmate put on a nice, warm folksy-bluesy set that didn’t blow me away, but was still solid. I also really dug Frank’s rastafarian esque interludes in which he always made it a point to thank his Heavenly brothers and sisters. The rest of the evening consisted of various Punk and/or potentially Garage acts. The Human Tail delivered a fast, rockin’ performance and I could easily see them appearing on a small, national label in the vain of Burger or Goner someday. The Thick Shakes bore a similar aesthetic and certainly rocked just as hard, but with a little bit more of a pop element. Speaking of “Garage” influence, Thick Shakes certainly displayed it more than any other band on the roster. Even on their myspace page they descirbe themselves as “Garage” and if their raw, 60s Hard Rock sound didn’t convince you enough just a glance at their influences: The Kingsmen, The Sonics, and In the Red greats, Thee Oh Sees (according to their myspace page) should be enough to end the debate. I suppose for these reasons TS stood out the most to me. The Sinbusters and Ladderlegs rounded out the show, each continuing the trend of heavier, energetic, Garage oriented Punk. Sinbusters actually reminded me of Thick Shakes’ faves, Thee Ohh Sees, especially listening to them now on myspace. Ladderlegs also contains an undeniable savage and certainly strange quality and reminds me of earlier hardcore punk, but a bit more experimental and also some early Reatards vibes, but much more fleshed out and musical. Overall, the sound was top notch for all of the bands, thanks in part to the venue’s audio, I assume. I can’t say my mind was blown by any of the artists, but I did enjoy myself and this show introduced me to several talented, garagey bands that I had never heard of before. Each artist was decent in their own right, so I can’t complain.
The following is a list of the bands and their myspace pages or websites. Check em’ out!
The Human Tail
http://www.myspace.com/thehumantail
Thick Shakes
http://www.myspace.com/thickshakesmusic
The Sinbusters
http://thesinbusters.bandcamp.com/
Ladderlegs
http://ladderlegs.bandcamp.com/
Hurricanes of Love
http://www.myspace.com/hurricanesoflove
Arcade Fire Wins Grammy…
Yes, Arcade Fire, a band on an independent label (Merge) won the award for Album of the Year (The Suburbs) at last night’s Grammy Award Ceremony. My thoughts? People on both sides of the fence are making a much bigger deal out of this. Maybe it’s just my perspective as a fan of mostly underground music, to one degree or another, but I don’t see Arcade Fire as being an “unknown” band by any means. So, I find it hilarious the way people are complaining about this obscure band winning Album of the Year instead of their ultra mainstream favorites, i.e. Eminem or Lady Gaga. What is the implication? That music somehow needs to reach a certain level of popularity to warrant acclaim or be valued as fine art and/or entertainment. If that’s your point of view, fine, to each his own. But, for me that’s insane! And to the folks that see Arcade’s win as some sort of “victory,” I have to disagree. I guess it’s cool in a way to see one of my favorite bands and a high quality one at that appear in a mainstream setting on such a grand scale. With that being said, I doubt, especially in this modern age of the internet where exposure to “random” bands is infinitely at one’s hands, a kid or two out there will see Arcade on their TV set and think “wow, what a cool band I’m going to start listening to them now and broaden my musical tastes.” Who knows? Maybe I’m wrong and that has or will occur. But, what is more realistic is AF fan boys and girls getting excited that one of their indie faves won an award at the Grammys and vice versa a bunch of mainstreamers infuriated, perhaps shocked tha their commerical faves did not win… and the majority not giving a flying fuck either way. In short, this changes nothing about how I view Arcade Fire or music as a whole and frankly I don’t think it should for anyone else, but obviously that’s not for me to decide. What do you guys think? Here is a site displaying the obnoxious, yet hilarious! comments of the mainstream, AF haters-
P.S. a special thanks to the Grammys for remembering the life and work of the late, great Jay Reatard…….
Another SOTD: Fear- I Don’t Care About You
Intense as fuck and yet comical in a way haha.
Tarantino’s Top Twenty of Twenty Ten
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/quentin-tarantinos-surprising-choices-films-67595
Being my favorite director, annually I check in on Quentin to see which films he cites as the “Best of 2010.” In the link above, he lists his twenty favorites from the past year. Most films on here I have yet to see, but of the twenty I have seen Toy Story 3 (1 on his list, 3 on mine) The Social Network (2, 1), Get Him to the Greek (13, not on my list- I’d like to hear his explanation for this one), and The Fighter (14, in the 2-4 range). I knew he would love SN, being an excellent screenwriter himself, I’m sure above all he really appreciated Aaron Sorkin’s script. Here is the list:
1. Toy Story 3
2. The Social Network
3. Animal Kingdom
4. I Am Love
5. Tangled
6. True Grit
7. The Town
8. Greenberg
9. Cyrus
10. Enter the Void
11. Kick-Ass
12. Knight and Day
13. Get Him to the Greek
14. The Fighter
15. The King’s Speech
16. The Kids Are All Right
17. How to Train Your Dragon
18. Robin Hood
19. Amer
20. Jackass 3D
Excellent “Bratty B” Cover
I know I know, I’m sure y’all are all Best Coasted out for this week, but I needed to post this. Here is a cover of “Bratty B” from an adorable girl (under the YouTube name “SJSancheese”). Keep On Rocking!
P.S. I dig the guitar :)
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 