Comments: I believe the late Ubangi was once called the king of the three chord garage song. I see why! Ubangi sounded like a slightly more accessible Jay Reatard. Perhaps too like super lo-fi Ramones or the Beach Boys on salvia. B Jay’s catchy tunes no-doubt made him a legend in Atlanta punk circles. Real sappy stuff as Jared Swilley would probably say.
Grades: “Another Girl Like You” (9.8); “Greasers Lament” (9.2); “Back To You” (9.7)
——— If you are more interested in reading about Ubangi and the months and days leading up to his July 1, 2009 death check out this article.
Comments: Pretty good shit from Sultan here. Nothing too exciting, yet nothing too depressing. The music is vintage, as expected. “Hold On” has the pace of an above average 50s/60s rock & roll piece. The B-side, “I Hear A New World,” is experimentally satisfying, sounding at times a bit like a mixture of a Christmas tune and a freak folk campfire classic. That said, it won’t knock you off your ass. No one said it should.
Grades: “Hold On” (8.0); “I Hear A New World” (8.6)
Yahoo!
BOSTON – Mary Travers, one-third of the popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary who were perhaps best known for their hit “Puff (The Magic Dragon),” died in a Connecticut hospital after battling leukemia for several years. She was 72.
The band’s publicist, Heather Lylis, said Travers died Wednesday at Danbury Hospital.
Bandmate Peter Yarrow said that in her final months, Travers handled her declining health with bravery and generosity, showing her love to friends and family “with great dignity and without restraint.”
“It was, as Mary always was, honest and completely authentic,” he said. “That’s the way she sang, too; honestly and with complete authenticity.”
Comments: Here is a case of a band that I’ve heard a shit load about, but never really sat down and gave a meaningful listen. LB’s “noise rock” tag is appealing, but for me that “noise rock” must make some kind of sense in order to be listenable. LB has a two man set-up: a drummer and bass guitarist. Formerly in the band was a man now called Soft Circle. Yes, that guy. These days he plays loopy experimental stuff by himself (drums, guitar, vocals). Believe it or not the only things he did in Lightning Bolt (which he lasted in for all of three days…kidding) was sing and play guitar. Anyway…let me not side track too much. Getting into this album, my thoughts are kind of scattered. I conjure up a lot of elements upon listening: heavy metal, screamo, extreme noise-punk (there Brian Gibson that’s three words not two)…just to name a few. Maybe I’m just not ready for this kind of stuff. Or maybe it’s LB perfecting their image of being “loud and aggressive.” I see a lot of great bass guitar riffs and random drum beats, but I don’t see a lot of structure. Is that what we call “art rock” nowadays? Even the best sounding tracks just barely squeak by as decent. Am I listening to noise or music? Is there a difference at all? I can tolerate noise, which is why I give some of these tracks higher grades than they probably deserve — at least from a critical perspective.
There’s a few of my songs in Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut “Whip it”. Drew was really nice, she flew me out to LA, we had a cup of coffee and she showed me some clips from the movie. Usually I say no to film synchs because you just get a short synopsis from someone’s agent’s agent, and I always feel awkward my song will end up in the wrong context. You know, I write my songs for specific people, I find it hard to find them applied to someone elses story. But Drew listened to my concerns and we discussed the scenes she had in mind.
At some point our conversation drifted away and I think we were talking about monkeys, and it just struck me right there and then how surreal my life has become. And how absurd it is when anyone expects any kind of real compensation in this business. Compensation for what ? I’ve been touring on and off like crazy, I’ve put so much work into recording and writing. And in the end what I make my money from is talking to Drew Barrymore about monkeys…
The soundtrack is compiled by Randall Poster, who put together the soundtracks for the Wes Andersson movies among others. His soundtracks are like amazing little jukeboxes of random goodies. I haven’t seen the movie but it seems to be falling smoothly into the category of American movies about teenage love and alternative sports. From Breaking Away to Bring It On.
LONDON (Reuters) – Food aid is at a 20-year low despite the number of critically hungry people soaring this year to its highest level ever, the United Nations relief agency said Wednesday.
The number of hungry people will pass 1 billion this year for the first time, the U.N. World Food Program budget shortfall. (WFP) said, adding that it is facing a serious
To date the WFP has confirmed $2.6 billion in funding for its 2009 budget of $6.7 billion.
“This comes at a time of great vulnerability for the hungry,” the WFP said in a statement.
“Millions have been buffeted by the global financial downturn, their ability to buy food is limited by stubbornly high prices. In addition, unpredictable weather patterns are causing more weather-related hunger,” the WFP said.
1. “Switched On” – 9.0 2. “No You Don’t” – 8.8 3. “Vapours” – 9.4 4. “Devout” – 8.3 5. “Disarming the Car Bomb” – 8.9 6. “Tender Torture” – 8.5 7. “Shining” – 8.2 8. “On Foreigner” – 8.5 9. “Heartbeat” – 7.9 10. “The Drums” – 7.3 11. “EOL” – 7.6 12. “Everything Is Under Control” – 8.0
Comments: Technically Islands are sell outs because they signed to ANTI-, a sister label of Epitaph, after they released their first album Return to the Sea in 2006 on Equator (the record label of Lovely Feathers). Anyway, I’m not too familiar with Islands besides their song “Rough Gem,” which is truly a gem! The “indie-pop” world has been buzzing over it for the past couple of years. I looked at this album with only that one song in mind. This album screams Vampire Weekend in the sense that there is some extra musical ingredient that turns away mainstream pop listeners YET draws in hordes of so called “indie” listeners. There are a few songs that are a combination of Handsome Furs and Backstreet Boys…the result being something average as fuck. The middle/end of the album contain great examples of the album mentioned.
me and kk wanna do some kids shows on our next US tour at elementary/special needs schools/classes during the afternoon. if you have an idea, hit me up.
Name: Lightning Bolt
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 