Category Archives: Art

Art, Band of the Week, Music, Punk, Video

Band of the Week: The Beets

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When you see them on the righthand side of this page you will know that they are The Beets, our Band of the Week. One of the finest bands around, these Queens, New York natives play a soft, but comically meancing brand of Punk Rock that for me draws comparisons to the Maine Coons, Black Lips, Beat Happening, and even Gangbang Gordan. My favorite tunes include “Broken English, “Flower Girl,” “I Think I Might’ve Built a Horse,” and “The Devil,” just to name a few. Below is a link to their myspace page.

http://www.myspace.com/thebeetsbeat 

 

Art, CD Review, Honorary KLAYMERS, Hunx and His Punx, Music, Punk, reviews, Video

Album Review: Shannon and the Clams- Sleep Talk

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Artist: Shanon and the Clams
Full Title: Sleep Talk
Year: 2011
Label: 1-2-3-4 GO!
Tracklist:

1. Baby Don’t Do It
2. You Will Always Bring Me Flowers
3. The Cult Song
4. Done With You
5. Tired of Being Bad
6. Oh Louie
7. King of the Sea
8. Old Man Winter
9. Toxic Revenge
10. The Woodsman
11. Half Rat
12. Sleep Talk

Comments: I was going to make a valiant effort to not mention Hunx and His Punx during this review since they are obviously a separate entity, but I can’t help it. I’m a superfan! I’ve said it before and I certainly will say it again, the Hunx song “U Don’t Like Rock and Roll,” exemplifies my current thoughts on most of the music I’ve been enjoying for the past couple of years. In that song it is made clear what is Rock and Roll what is not. Fuck U2! Morrissey is okay lol. All jokes aside, for several of us music lovers there is only one true Rock and Roll, and now I will finally get to my point: Shannon and the Clams is the real deal- if you don’t like Shannon and the Clams then I don’t like you! The Clams do a great job of recreating the old sounds of the 60s (amongst other eras/genres- but I’ll get to that later). Both stylistically and sonically they revive the music of decades prior, though they aren’t a complete revivalist band and I’m glad for that. In terms of the recording, they have that great analog sound that once again makes the music feel more like the good old times. In particular, the drums sound excellent, you can hear them very clear, the whole record is very clear and sounds pretty clean, but in a good way. The high quality of the recording and production really complements the fabulous performances and songwriting. The band explores various classic styles of Rock and Roll: Girl Groups (“Baby, Don’t Do It,” “You Will Always Bring Me Flowers”), Teen Tragedy Ballads (“Done With You,” “Oh Louie,” “Tired of Being Bad,” and “The Woodsman”), and loud, fast driving Ramones-esque Punk numbers (“King of the Sea,” “Toxic Revenge), just to name a few. This mixture of different staples of Rock really spices up the album and keeps the listener entertained and excited for most of the record; it makes the band that much stronger and better than many of their peers. Concerning the structure of the record, overall it works well, the different kinds of songs are smoothly thrown in at different moments in the record, so you never really feel overwhelmed or like any style is overstaying its welcome. “Baby Don’t Do It,” is a truly solid opener and gets you pumped for the rest of the record. Essentially it does what every intro should, set the mood for the record and make your eyes light up enough to want to hear what will happen next. The awesomeness continues with “You Will Always Bring Me Flowers,” one of the strongest songs on this LP. Just a great example of how The Clams can be really soft and sweet at one point and then really let the song take off and go into a new dimension; I love when the song starts to pick up and gets louder, I really feel the passion in Shannon Shaw’s voice, a lot of power. Which by the way, I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned her voice in this review up until now. Her vocals are incredible- top three best living singers, and probably the best part of this record, but I’m not totally positive on that yet, since there’s so much to admire. With that being said, I’m not completely in love with this LP. There’s nothing I hate about this record and every song is at least decent (most are quite fine), but at the same time, for me anyway, the album starts to drag or settle down and I lose some of my initial excitement. I sort of get really used to the aesthetic of the album and I’m looking for something more. Some of the songs just pale next to others, but that could just me my tastes. A song like “Sleep Talk,” however leaves the album on an especially high note. Definitely one of my favorites from the record, the title track is an excellent closer that just has that wonderful feeling of completion to it. Almost like when you hear the first Ramones record for the first time and “Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World,” kicks in. You know it’s the end, but there’s still enough time to have fun! Certainly one of the catchier songs on the album and mixes both the softer and heavier aspects of The Clams very nicely, the best track to dance to lol. In this same vein, “The Cult Song,” is by far the best track here. It exemplifies everything great this band has to offer and has their sound down pat. The song is heavy and bizarre and surely gets you rocking. Another flaw for me in this record is the lack of interesting subject matter, but that’s not really a major concern of mine because I don’t pay too much attention to lyrics anyway. But, “The Cult Song,” is pretty sweet both lyrically and musically. On this cut, the band makes a humorous reference to the Pre-Pre Punk, Ramones-inpsiring, Horror classic Freaks (1932) through the constant, psychotic chanting of “ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!” Fo sho, Cult’ contains the most fun you’ll experience on this record. So, yeah I recommend this to people that really dig this kind of sound- if this old school Rock and Roll and old school Punk is your thang, then you will most likely love this to death. If that’s not your cup of tea, you will probably get bored easily. I’m more of the former and I can tell now this will appear on my “Best of 2011” lists. This is a great companion with (the aforementioned) Hunx and His Punx’s Too Young to Be in Love (2011), Shaw’s other band, but Sleep Talk has more of a Rock edge to it, though just as much as fun and heart.

Grade: 8/10

Art, concert review, Music, pictures, Punk, reviews, Video

Concert Review: The Beets, Briliant Colors, Honeysuck @ Problem House (6/16/11)

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*My apologies for the extremely late arrival of this review. Better late than never!*

Artists: Honeysuck, The Beets, Brilliant Colors, Libyans (missed- next time!)
Location: The Problem House (Allston, MA)
Date: Thursday, June 16, 2011
Comments:

Act I: Honeysuck– Honeysuck was a real treat. They played a brief, but energetic set filled with frenzied, classic hardcore punk styled songs- a nice way to kick off the evening. They were kinda mellow in terms of their performance, but musicially they were really loud and as I said earlier energetic. I tend to not like current bands that play in the style (at least to me) of the old school hardcore stuff, but Honeysuck is an exception. I’ll keep my eye on them in the future.

Act II: The Beets– Ahh The Beets, one of Queens’ finest, just the guys we were looking for. These cats can really tap into some truly demented psychedelia. Shit makes you wanna float around all day on acid and move to another groove. They’re so laid back in their approach, yet the music is enticing. One of my favorites of the evening was “Flower Girl”- one of the sweetest in The Beets’ catalog. When I heard that quintessential line “All is good when I’m with you, I cut my balls off, gave them to ya, I don’t need them as long as I got you!” my eyes lit up. I mean that line sold me from the beginning. Just that line makes them a more qualified group than just about any other schmuck with an acoustic guitar. There’s this great, “I don’t give a fuck, whatever” quality to The Beets, and yet at the same time they offer thee utmost sincerity in their delivery and as evidence here their lyrics. It’s hilarious, but at the same time, what a better way to say I love you then telling your significant other that you could exterminate your manhood and it would not matter because you have them by your side. Oustanding. Then the biggest highlight of the night came when the guys played (at my request!) my Beets fave- “Broken English.” That song simply evokes complete euphoria in me and it was just as good live. Beets need to come back soon. From Boston with love.

Act III: Brilliant Colors – I honestly can’t really remember too much about Brilliant Colors. I remember thinking they were decent, but I don’t remember them being spectacular either. This could also have to do with the fact that for their performance I was closer to the back of the room, so all I saw were bodies in front of me. Typically, I need to see the band perform for it to really kick in.

Here’s a great video of The Beets.

Art, concert review, Honorary KLAYMERS, Music, Nobunny, pictures, Punk, reviews, Video

Concert Review: Nobunny, TRiPLE THiCK, Tampoffs, Party Pigs @ Church (6/30/11)

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Artists: Nobunny, The Tampoffs, TRiPLE THiCK and The Party Pigs.
Date: Thursday, June 30, 2011
Location: Church aka Church of Boston
Comments:

Act I: The Party Pigs– Alright, alright I like what I see here. Party Pigs are a two piece- drummer/singer, guitarist/singer, you know the deal. It’s like the gah ridge (Mark Ronson for “garage”) version of No Age you could say. Volume was key to this band, for they were quite loud, but not in an obnoxious way, the “noise” complemented their playing; I wouldn’t call them a noise band though. The vocals were screamed in a sort of a drill sargent esque manner, which was pretty cool. The songs didn’t totally come through to me, but their set was tight and highly entertaining, I felt Needy Visions vibes. Like NV, their joy for performing music was extremely apparent. Solid opener, the best for the evening as far as I’m concerned (in terms of opening acts).

Act II: TRiPLE THiCK– These guys shared the same energy as The Party Pigs, but didn’t nearly thrill me as the first act. I think this was more of a case of my personal tastes because I could tell several others around me were really into TT and thought they were awesome. I definitely enjoyed their performance, but I was just left with a feeling of wanting more.

Act III: The Tampoffs– Perhaps the opening band that garnered the most attention… thee audience interaction was taken up a few notches when The Tampoffs hit the stage. A nice mosh pit erupted when they started playing, which is always fun. Naturally, their music was a bit heavier and faster than the other bands and the moshing was a reaction to this… OR… there were a lot of Tampoffs fans in the audience, or maybe it was just time to mosh. In any case, as much I love slamdancing to use a term I don’t seem to hear as often anymore, one drawback is that I can’t really pay attention to the band on stage and what their set is like, instead their music is just a soundtrack to the moshing. That’s fine though beacuse I didn’t know The Tampoffs, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Alas, I really don’t know how I feel about their music/set, but from what I can gather it was decent.

Act IV: NOBUNNY!!!– Aww man, Nobunny has some really excellent Boston fans, I should know! But seriously, I see a lot of bands in this circuit, if you will, of underground music and a healthy chunk of concert attendees at these shows tend to be of the hipster variety or just seeing a show for fuck’s sake ane not necessarily coming out to support their favorite band. Which is fine, I’m not going to comment on that here, that’s just an observation, or at the very least a perception. But with Nobunny it’s a totally different story… at least in Boston. The crowd at the Church knew their Nobunny and seemed to know it well. I mean even if you don’t know the words, you can easily tag along, that’s one of the great things about Nobunny. Though I never really recongnized how awesome these tunes are to sing a long to, very anthemic in a way. The show kicked off with the bunnyman himself in the crowd banging on the stage as his bandmates (guitar- Jason “Elvis Christ” Testasecca, bass- Touchy Tony, drums- Danaheim ) hopped aboard. Ready to Rock and Roll, the crew launched into the always euphoric “Nobunny Loves You.” Just like at home with my speakers or earphones, whenever I hear those first few chords I’m sent into an anticipating frenzy. Without any hesitation the crowd started movin’ and shakin’ and singing along to the immortal “Nobody But Me” esque chants: “NO NO NO, NO NO NO, NO NO NO!”-except Nobunny’s version is way cooler. For the first few songs Nobunny rocked on the guitar, then he placed his axe down to get a little bit more intimate with his audience, especially the ladies. For cuts like “It’s True,” our hero got down on his knees and lowered the mic with him to sing the special song for a cute honeybunny in the first row. I’d have to say this was some of his best showmanship, at least from what I’ve seen and he really interacted well with the fans. Of course, the fans’ participation was key. It really energized all involved. People were really into the songs and the whole time there was a great deal of stage diving including some from Mr. Nobunny himself, which is always a treat. In terms of the songs, well what can you say, it’s Nobunny, they speak for themselves! In particular, I enjoyed ” I Am a Girlfriend,”(“I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” interlude and all), “Chuck Berry Holiday, “Live It Up,” and “Not That Good.” Best of all, however, was a rendition of Hunx and Punx’s “U Don’t like Rock and Roll.” A neat little surprise indeed, especially since I adore the music of Hunx. And of course anytime I get a chance to ask U2 fans “what the fuck is wrong with you?!” is a good time. My one gripe is that I wish the show was longer, but timing aside, it was one of the best shows I have experienced. Can’t wait to see Nobunny and the guys again! BOSTON LOVES YOU!

Grade: 9/10

Set List (in no particular order):

Non Album Cuts:
I Cant Wait (Sneaky Pinks)
U Dont Like Rock n Roll (Hunx and His Punx)

Love Visions:
Nobunny Loves You
I Am a Girlfriend
Not That Good
It’s True
Mess Me Up
Chuck Berry Holiday

First Blood:
Live It Up
Gone for Good
Blow Dumb
Motorhead With Me

Raw Romance:
Hippy Witch

Art, Bradford Cox, Deerhunter, Music, Punk, Video

Deerhunter @ Bonaroo

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“Wash Off” (above)

“Memory Boy”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0LgrJbC9K8

“Helicoptor”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yW5zsaJVSQ&NR=1

“Little Kids”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9U1x2mv7_g&feature=related 

“Nothing Ever Happened”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1G7tahRSmM&feature=related 

“Desire Lines”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea5pNK0agxA&feature=related 

“Hazel St.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoT61Ziq8Qs&feature=related 

“Octet”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhEJ_MQd2m0

Yeah yeah, I know this is like a month later, better late than never, which seems to be the mantra of  my posts these days. I heard “He Would Have Laughed” was amazing, but I couldn’t find any videos. This is one of the finest Deerhunter performances I’ve seen on You Tube, wish I was there!  Bradford looks like David Bowie haha.